Certainly all organizations are political to some extent and all workers are political animals to some degree. Even so, some CIOs do not feel they are greatly impacted by internal politics. According to one CIO who is not particularly concerned about organizational politics, it manifests in people pushing their own agenda through other than the appropriate channels. "Primarily it's the business head-type levels who push things along that they are interested in, and going through alternative channels to make a noise to the CEO to apply pressure back on me to realign my thinking."

Having a clear IT strategy that links to the business strategy is the best political prophylactic, he says. Unless the program fits with the IT strategy, which has been clearly demonstrated to fit with the business strategy, it will not get the oxygen to survive. "The way to circumvent politics is to really engage with the business. Generally people are reasonable — but not always," he admits. But he argues that open and honest communications with the business about what IT is doing and why can defuse much of the political noise.

Another CIO who runs one of the nation's largest IT teams and supports one of its largest user bases believes the thing we all need is to take the time to manage the relationships upward and outward. "Unfortunately I really don't get enough time with the IT groups." Time management aside, he does agree that open communications are the best way to defuse most political problems. "If people know something is going to happen, even if it's negative, then they are more likely to work with you than if it's a surprise."

Dialogue cannot solve everything, though. Another CIO who has experienced significant political interference says the business sometimes attempts to white ant technology transformation initiatives by withdrawing their support and constantly referring to old issues of expensive technology failures.

In extreme cases a breakdown in communications can lead to the business developing their own skunkwork teams to develop systems without involving IT. "All this is intended to question the credibility of the CIO and it often pits the CIO against other executives, saying: 'I've got a business to run and I need this now and your team can't do it quickly or cheaply'," says one.

"I had to fight the finance organization to get a particular strategy across the line and kick off the projects to support it. The fight took place as 'dirty politics' with finance people constantly sniping without proof about the decisions and our capability. The interesting thing is that this situation is about lack of trust and it is usually developed over years. Often people need to change — that is, leave — to overcome this."

Although CIOs may emerge bruised from politicking, the real victims are the information systems, according to one CIO. "It's kind of sad because I see this trend at board and CEO level and it's all about juggling assets rather than seeking quality. I was talking to someone at [an aeroplane manufacturer] and said I'd love his job because they factor in 10 percent for quality. If they don't then planes fall out of the sky. But in IT they don't factor in quality.

"We're always talking about getting CIOs educated about business and on the board. Maybe we need to focus on getting a better quality of CEO in this country."