At that point, I recommend finding the functional team. Even the most dysfunctional companies have teams that work. It could be Maria and her sales team or Floyd and the gang in finance or old Ed's group on the shop floor -- somebody somewhere is doing something right. Find that team, and then solve its immediate IT needs.

In some cases, you will need to start small, working on things that may seem unimportant to you or beneath your skill set. Solve these, and you'll look like a hero. Use these small victories to build trust. Ask the functional team's management to help you acquire the resources you need to help them solve their bigger problems. Very soon, you'll be working on some very cool projects that add meaningful value to the company.

2. How does an application team cope when it's blamed for an implementation that failed because of what, in hindsight, were unclear requirements? When a company is dysfunctional, IT can end up being blamed for problems that aren't of its making. I have seen companies waste millions of dollars on new systems that didn't meet their needs.

Was IT at fault? No, the real issue was that the senior managers couldn't decide what they really needed. It's the old story of unclear requirements, but from the perspective of executive management, it's another case where the guys in IT failed the company.

The first thing to do in these situations is to fix what isn't working, championing whatever investments are required to make your systems operational.