Section II: Case Studies

Jack Jones was a senior IT analyst for a leading national food company. Jack had been with the company for over 30 years, beginning work at the company initially as a summer casual whilst completing his university degree. On completion of his biology degree he took up a full-time position with the organisation head office, working initially in the food hygiene section. However, over the years Jack undertook a variety of positions as he moved up through the organisation. With little experience in the area, Jack joined the IT section as it expanded and rose to the position of senior analyst quickly. As a result of his skills and knowledge of the company’s new IT systems, and his communication skills, he was approached by senior management to help set up the system in other states where they were still working on manual arrangements that relied on the tacit knowledge of the senior logistics people. Whilst this worked at a local level the increasing need to manage the systems and logistics nationally meant that the local systems had to be integrated into the new system.