The number of IT leaders who sit on the management team, 37 percent, also declined this year, by 10 percent. The majority of respondents (54 percent) aren't members of their companies' executive management teams. (According to our 2008 State of the CIO research, 71 percent of IT executives report sitting on their companies' executive management teams.)

Nevertheless, CIOs think they're making strides on the IT-business alignment front: Some 73 percent of respondents believe their IT departments are integrated "well enough" with the business, according to the Harvey Nash survey.

CIO compensation is increasing at the same time that CIOs feel their influence is waning because employers see compensation as a way to attract talent — especially from larger companies — and address turnover, says Anna Frazzetto, Harvey Nash's vice president of technology solutions. According to the survey, CIO turnover hovers around nine percent per year.

The survey also shows that companies might improve CIO retention if they gave their CIOs more responsibility as opposed to more money: One-fourth of CIOs surveyed say they'd be happier with their jobs if they had more management responsibility and decision-making authority.

CIOs who want to improve their standing with the executive management team should be proactive, says Frazzetto. "The role of the CIO has always been perceived as reactionary to the demands of the company," she says. "The more CIOs can switch that, and be more proactive and talk about the technologies that can help their companies get a competitive advantage, they more they'll find themselves engaged at a strategic level."

They survey was conducted online between November 15, 2007 and January 18, 2008. See Harvey Nash's website for full survey results.