IS downsizing is a significant tool of management in the 1990's. A key element in downsizing success is how it is perceived by employees. Still, no widely published study has examined the attitudes of IS survivors to downsizing. Moreover, in the age of a new psychological contract between organizations and employees, employees have assumed responsibility for managing their careers. However, no studies of the career management strategies of IS survivors in the downsized workplace are found. In addition, studies of downsizing in the general workforce have shown that demographic differences may affect employees' responses to downsizing. Again, no study appears to have focused on Information System personnel. For all of these reasons, this study examines the attitude of IS employees toward downsizing, the career management approach of survivors, and whether demographic characteristics of IS survivors of organizational downsizing are related to their attitudes and strategies. The results of a survey indicate that IS survivors, regardless of their demographic characteristics tend to be neutral toward downsizing as a means of improving the organization. Demographic characteristics were also unrelated to internally-oriented career management strategies but were related to externally-oriented strategies.
{"title":"IS downsizing survivor's career management attitudes","authors":"James J. Jiang, S. Margulis, G. Klein","doi":"10.1145/274879.274880","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/274879.274880","url":null,"abstract":"IS downsizing is a significant tool of management in the 1990's. A key element in downsizing success is how it is perceived by employees. Still, no widely published study has examined the attitudes of IS survivors to downsizing. Moreover, in the age of a new psychological contract between organizations and employees, employees have assumed responsibility for managing their careers. However, no studies of the career management strategies of IS survivors in the downsized workplace are found. In addition, studies of downsizing in the general workforce have shown that demographic differences may affect employees' responses to downsizing. Again, no study appears to have focused on Information System personnel. For all of these reasons, this study examines the attitude of IS employees toward downsizing, the career management approach of survivors, and whether demographic characteristics of IS survivors of organizational downsizing are related to their attitudes and strategies. The results of a survey indicate that IS survivors, regardless of their demographic characteristics tend to be neutral toward downsizing as a means of improving the organization. Demographic characteristics were also unrelated to internally-oriented career management strategies but were related to externally-oriented strategies.","PeriodicalId":426630,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigcpr Computer Personnel","volume":"09 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127377886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The business community has frequently complained about the poor quality of college graduates' communication skills, with information systems and computer science graduates often criticized most severely. The purpose of this research was to investigate and analyze the communication skills of information systems (IS) personnel in terms of current and desired skill levels as perceived by their managers. This paper presents a survey of IS managers which revealed findings concerning: (1) the perceived importance of communication skills to technical professionals, (2) the perceived communication skills levels of these employees as compared to those of employees in nontechnical fields, and (3) the expected levels of communication skills of college graduates in technical fields. For example, the findings reconfirm the need for more communication skills education and training for IS students. The findings and their implications for graduates and professionals in technical fields are discussed.
{"title":"Communication skills of technical professionals: a report for schools of business administration","authors":"J. Becker, Robert G. Insley, M. Endres","doi":"10.1145/568495.568496","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/568495.568496","url":null,"abstract":"The business community has frequently complained about the poor quality of college graduates' communication skills, with information systems and computer science graduates often criticized most severely. The purpose of this research was to investigate and analyze the communication skills of information systems (IS) personnel in terms of current and desired skill levels as perceived by their managers. This paper presents a survey of IS managers which revealed findings concerning: (1) the perceived importance of communication skills to technical professionals, (2) the perceived communication skills levels of these employees as compared to those of employees in nontechnical fields, and (3) the expected levels of communication skills of college graduates in technical fields. For example, the findings reconfirm the need for more communication skills education and training for IS students. The findings and their implications for graduates and professionals in technical fields are discussed.","PeriodicalId":426630,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigcpr Computer Personnel","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131407078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A concern of many information systems (I/S) managers is the ability to attract, retain, and motivate their I/S professional staff, particularly those who have the potential to be high performers. However, many of the attitudes and attributes of these newly-hired employees are formed prior to entering the workplace; they are shaped by the students' college studies and by their personal backgrounds and characteristics.This study investigates the career progression of nearly a thousand I/S majors from 38 colleges and universities who have been tracked over several years as they complete their college studies and move into their first I/S jobs. It examines three aspects of this progression: career preparation and entry; work adjustment; and career outlook, both at present and long-term. A number of key variables are identified, derived both from theory and from the empirical results of the study. In particular, the balance between developing technical skills and "people" skills as individuals move through the early stages of their careers is given special attention.
{"title":"The career dynamics of information systems professionals: a longitudinal study","authors":"E. McLean, S. Smits, J. Tanner","doi":"10.1145/244934.244935","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/244934.244935","url":null,"abstract":"A concern of many information systems (I/S) managers is the ability to attract, retain, and motivate their I/S professional staff, particularly those who have the potential to be high performers. However, many of the attitudes and attributes of these newly-hired employees are formed prior to entering the workplace; they are shaped by the students' college studies and by their personal backgrounds and characteristics.This study investigates the career progression of nearly a thousand I/S majors from 38 colleges and universities who have been tracked over several years as they complete their college studies and move into their first I/S jobs. It examines three aspects of this progression: career preparation and entry; work adjustment; and career outlook, both at present and long-term. A number of key variables are identified, derived both from theory and from the empirical results of the study. In particular, the balance between developing technical skills and \"people\" skills as individuals move through the early stages of their careers is given special attention.","PeriodicalId":426630,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigcpr Computer Personnel","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128800290","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Using an order of magnitude more subjects, this replication of a study by Dos Santos and Hawk confirms its finding that system development professionals' attitudes can be classified as user-oriented, technically-oriented, or socio-politically-oriented. Furthermore, we found that these attitudes are related to such demographic individual differences as age, education, system development experience, and managerial position. We also looked for differences by gender, but the data do not support differences in attitude according to gender.
{"title":"Individual differences and system development","authors":"James J. Jiang, G. Klein, R. Pick","doi":"10.1145/241051.241052","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/241051.241052","url":null,"abstract":"Using an order of magnitude more subjects, this replication of a study by Dos Santos and Hawk confirms its finding that system development professionals' attitudes can be classified as user-oriented, technically-oriented, or socio-politically-oriented. Furthermore, we found that these attitudes are related to such demographic individual differences as age, education, system development experience, and managerial position. We also looked for differences by gender, but the data do not support differences in attitude according to gender.","PeriodicalId":426630,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigcpr Computer Personnel","volume":"35 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125301215","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Career orientations of employees play an important role in affecting the selection of specific occupations and work settings and the employees' reactions to their work experience. The role of information technology in creating and sustaining competitive advantage has focused research attention on the career management of MIS professionals and the strategies used to realize their career aspirations. Data about the career orientations of 90 MIS employees in Taiwan and their relationships with selected demographic and career variables show that the highest orientation was job security, followed by service, challenge and life-style, respectively. The lowest orientation was technical competence, followed by autonomy and entrepreneurship. Differences in the pattern of career orientations across several demographic variables (gender, marital status and job type) were also explored. Correlations were found to exist between certain career orientations and career outcomes (satisfaction, commitment and intention to leave). Differences between the orientations of MIS employees in Taiwan and in the United States are discussed. Suggestions are offered to MIS managers on ways create flexible career structures in order to attract and retain MIS employees.
{"title":"Career orientations of MIS employees in Taiwan","authors":"M. Igbaria, D. McCloskey","doi":"10.1145/227728.227729","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/227728.227729","url":null,"abstract":"Career orientations of employees play an important role in affecting the selection of specific occupations and work settings and the employees' reactions to their work experience. The role of information technology in creating and sustaining competitive advantage has focused research attention on the career management of MIS professionals and the strategies used to realize their career aspirations. Data about the career orientations of 90 MIS employees in Taiwan and their relationships with selected demographic and career variables show that the highest orientation was job security, followed by service, challenge and life-style, respectively. The lowest orientation was technical competence, followed by autonomy and entrepreneurship. Differences in the pattern of career orientations across several demographic variables (gender, marital status and job type) were also explored. Correlations were found to exist between certain career orientations and career outcomes (satisfaction, commitment and intention to leave). Differences between the orientations of MIS employees in Taiwan and in the United States are discussed. Suggestions are offered to MIS managers on ways create flexible career structures in order to attract and retain MIS employees.","PeriodicalId":426630,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigcpr Computer Personnel","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128941564","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Information technology has expanded into the realm of almost every organizational environment. The past 30 years have witnessed an emphasis on the technological attributes of these systems, often with little regard for human factors. Even more importantly, as information technology use becomes nonvolitional, assessment of the impact of these systems on end-user job satisfaction becomes essential for successful implementation and use. This research presents and empirically tests a theoretically sound model of how information system management support, system experience, and ease of system use affect the end-user's sense of computer self-efficacy and outcome expectancy. Subsequently, the impacts of computer self-efficacy and outcome expectancy on the end-users' satisfaction with their jobs are examined. The empirical results validate the model indicating that computer self-efficacy and outcome expectancy affect the end-user's job satisfaction as well as mediate the impacts of management support, system experience, and ease of system use. From these results, implications for practicing managers and directions for future research are discussed.
{"title":"Computer self-efficacy and outcome expectancy: the effects on the end-user's job satisfaction","authors":"J. W. Henry, R. W. Stone","doi":"10.1145/219716.219722","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/219716.219722","url":null,"abstract":"Information technology has expanded into the realm of almost every organizational environment. The past 30 years have witnessed an emphasis on the technological attributes of these systems, often with little regard for human factors. Even more importantly, as information technology use becomes nonvolitional, assessment of the impact of these systems on end-user job satisfaction becomes essential for successful implementation and use. This research presents and empirically tests a theoretically sound model of how information system management support, system experience, and ease of system use affect the end-user's sense of computer self-efficacy and outcome expectancy. Subsequently, the impacts of computer self-efficacy and outcome expectancy on the end-users' satisfaction with their jobs are examined. The empirical results validate the model indicating that computer self-efficacy and outcome expectancy affect the end-user's job satisfaction as well as mediate the impacts of management support, system experience, and ease of system use. From these results, implications for practicing managers and directions for future research are discussed.","PeriodicalId":426630,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigcpr Computer Personnel","volume":"53 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114576569","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Past studies have found different dominant career anchors present among information system (IS) personnel. This study provides additional evidence that IS personnel have a diversity of career orientations and that the orientations can vary according to external conditions. A survey of IS personnel supports the premise that each professional situation and each individual is unique. Organizations are better off creating flexible career structures rather than rigid career paths and must be prepared to adjust to changes in the environment.
{"title":"The diverse career orientations of MIS personnel","authors":"James J. Jiang, G. Klein, J. Balloun","doi":"10.1145/219716.219719","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/219716.219719","url":null,"abstract":"Past studies have found different dominant career anchors present among information system (IS) personnel. This study provides additional evidence that IS personnel have a diversity of career orientations and that the orientations can vary according to external conditions. A survey of IS personnel supports the premise that each professional situation and each individual is unique. Organizations are better off creating flexible career structures rather than rigid career paths and must be prepared to adjust to changes in the environment.","PeriodicalId":426630,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigcpr Computer Personnel","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114460453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper discusses attitudes toward ethical issues in information systems. Approximately 120 subjects were drawn from two populations: full-time undergraduate business students and full-time MIS employees who were also part-time students studying for a masters in MIS. Both groups were enrolled in an MIS course at the time of the study.The subjects read twenty information systems-based scenarios and classified the 31 behaviors described in them as Unacceptable, Questionable, or Acceptable. The results were compared to each other, as well as to the results of prior studies using the same instrument. The replication of earlier work with somewhat different subject groups provides the foundation for the present study. The prior studies showed South African students to be more "ethically lenient" than corresponding American students.The hypothesis that the MIS professionals would demonstrate a greater sensitivity to MIS ethical issues than either the undergraduate business or information systems majors is supported. Although earlier researchers have used undergraduates as substitutes for information systems personnel in many ethics studies, these two population groups do, in fact, differ.
{"title":"A comparative study of ethical attitudes among MIS students and professionals","authors":"Harry C. Benham, J. L. Wagner","doi":"10.1145/224475.224479","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/224475.224479","url":null,"abstract":"This paper discusses attitudes toward ethical issues in information systems. Approximately 120 subjects were drawn from two populations: full-time undergraduate business students and full-time MIS employees who were also part-time students studying for a masters in MIS. Both groups were enrolled in an MIS course at the time of the study.The subjects read twenty information systems-based scenarios and classified the 31 behaviors described in them as Unacceptable, Questionable, or Acceptable. The results were compared to each other, as well as to the results of prior studies using the same instrument. The replication of earlier work with somewhat different subject groups provides the foundation for the present study. The prior studies showed South African students to be more \"ethically lenient\" than corresponding American students.The hypothesis that the MIS professionals would demonstrate a greater sensitivity to MIS ethical issues than either the undergraduate business or information systems majors is supported. Although earlier researchers have used undergraduates as substitutes for information systems personnel in many ethics studies, these two population groups do, in fact, differ.","PeriodicalId":426630,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigcpr Computer Personnel","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115194930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Organizations are facing a world which is becoming increasingly more global and where many are now forced to operate in a cross-cultural environment. For the Multinational company (MNC) this implies the development of corporate personnel policies which can be effected and effective in a multi-cultural environment. This is particularly relevant to Information Technology (IT) personnel who, by the very nature of their job, have to participate in the development of Information Systems (IS) that transcend cultural barriers.The effective deployment of IT staff has long been an issue of concern coupled with the scarcity of IT professionals in many countries. The global nature of IS, however, also implies the formation of multi-cultural project teams where management must take into account the different expectations and motivational patterns of IT staff worldwide. The problem has intensified with the growing utilization of outsourcing as a means of supplying cheaper trained IT staff.This article reports on a cross-cultural study which addresses some of these issues. The study examines the career expectations of IT undergraduates with the perceived reality of the IT profession through the eyes of graduates. Hong Kong based IT professionals are compared at both stages of the study against their United States counterparts. Not only is there a severe mismatch between the expectations and their realization but significant differences exist between the two cultures. These differences relate both to staff development needs and management approaches. This has a number of implications for IT personnel policies and for IT management worldwide.
{"title":"Managing IT professionals in a global environment","authors":"J. Burn, Louis C. K. Ma, Eugenia M. W. Ng Tye","doi":"10.1145/224475.224480","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/224475.224480","url":null,"abstract":"Organizations are facing a world which is becoming increasingly more global and where many are now forced to operate in a cross-cultural environment. For the Multinational company (MNC) this implies the development of corporate personnel policies which can be effected and effective in a multi-cultural environment. This is particularly relevant to Information Technology (IT) personnel who, by the very nature of their job, have to participate in the development of Information Systems (IS) that transcend cultural barriers.The effective deployment of IT staff has long been an issue of concern coupled with the scarcity of IT professionals in many countries. The global nature of IS, however, also implies the formation of multi-cultural project teams where management must take into account the different expectations and motivational patterns of IT staff worldwide. The problem has intensified with the growing utilization of outsourcing as a means of supplying cheaper trained IT staff.This article reports on a cross-cultural study which addresses some of these issues. The study examines the career expectations of IT undergraduates with the perceived reality of the IT profession through the eyes of graduates. Hong Kong based IT professionals are compared at both stages of the study against their United States counterparts. Not only is there a severe mismatch between the expectations and their realization but significant differences exist between the two cultures. These differences relate both to staff development needs and management approaches. This has a number of implications for IT personnel policies and for IT management worldwide.","PeriodicalId":426630,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigcpr Computer Personnel","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129010745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Despite the existence of laws and much publicity surrounding illegal software copying, it is widely believed that software copying is commonplace. Yet reasons why such illegal behavior continues to occur are lacking. This study used a model of ethical decision making as a guide for research and found the individual factor of other-directedness helped explain IS personnel's intentions toward illegal software copying. No such individual factor was related to judgments concerning right and wrong. These findings suggest that highly other-directed IS personnel may behave against their better judgment, especially in cases where they perceive unethical behavior is commonplace. Implications for management and ethics education are discussed.
{"title":"The anomaly of other-directedness: when normally ethical I.S. personnel are unethical","authors":"S. Harrington","doi":"10.1145/202896.202898","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/202896.202898","url":null,"abstract":"Despite the existence of laws and much publicity surrounding illegal software copying, it is widely believed that software copying is commonplace. Yet reasons why such illegal behavior continues to occur are lacking. This study used a model of ethical decision making as a guide for research and found the individual factor of other-directedness helped explain IS personnel's intentions toward illegal software copying. No such individual factor was related to judgments concerning right and wrong. These findings suggest that highly other-directed IS personnel may behave against their better judgment, especially in cases where they perceive unethical behavior is commonplace. Implications for management and ethics education are discussed.","PeriodicalId":426630,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigcpr Computer Personnel","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116627125","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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