Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Analysis & Design rated highly, whereas COBOL was becoming less important, and
procedural languages such as Pascal, ADA and BASIC were rated lowly but with little change
between 1990 and 1996. Lu and Wang (1998-1999) investigated the skills and knowledge
needs of IS graduates in Hong Kong. Respondents were mainly middle-level managers, with
a smaller proportion of IS professionals. They found communication skills, management
issues and project management skills were among the more desired; technical skills sought
included programming, systems analysis and design, data communications, and database.
They also noted a relative lack of possessed skills in all IS core areas. A number of
recommendations were proffered to address the problem, including the adoption of the IS
curriculum model with modification to suit local Hong Kong needs.
Athey and Plotnicki (1998) investigated the changing skill requirements in the IS fields.
They found that while there was a reduction of demand in some areas such as COBOL, none
had completely disappeared, and the levels of demand varied across different parts of the
United States. They noticed a strong growth in Internet technologies and client server
technologies, suggesting that any IS program lacking these components would be failing the
student.
Khalil, Strong et al. (1999) presented a framework of competencies for inclusion in an
IS curriculum. They identify a mismatch between the needs of organizations for delivering
high-quality information-to-information consumers and what graduating IS professionals
are equipped to provide. They suggest substantial curriculum changes in respect to skills
in information quality (IQ) necessitating the re-education of educators.
Kuras et al. (1999) reported on problems associated with teaching IS at a school of
management in Poland. They mentioned the problems of employing programmers who could
produce technologically sound but unsatisfactory for the end-user programs, and mentioned
that information systems is not seen as a domain of instruction. They presented recommen-
dations for a new IS curriculum for Poland to address these problems.
Wong (1996) noted the need for IS people who are experts in areas of IT and IS; those
who realize the importance of business functions and understand how to fit IT and IS into
a business, helping it to gain strategic advantages over its competitors. Westfall (1999-2000)
noted that there is a need to address the IT technology-related or hard skills, and interper-
sonal/management or soft skills in the IT curriculum. He proposed a “learning needs model”
to address some of the problems associated with keeping up to date with developments with
the rapidly changing field.
The past decades have been characterized by a rapidly and constantly changing
business environment. Lee, Truath, & Farwell (1995) argued that technological and socio-
logical developments facilitated by evolving information technology and changing business
needs have made it necessary for IS professionals to develop a wider range of nontechnical
skills than was previously the case. Similar views have been expressed by many others,
including Burn et al.
(1995), Cafasso (1996); Lowry et al.
(1996), Main (1995), and Morgan et
al., (1996). Competition for the best entry positions has been heightened by IS outsourcing
(Slaughter & Ang, 1996). Students have become more aware of the need to insure that they
develop “career resilience” (Waterman et al., 1994) to prepare themselves to manage their own
careers through regular self-evaluation and ongoing, self-initiated training and skills devel-
opment.
Gupta and Wachter (1998) saw a need for IS students to develop skills and abilities in
various areas, including teamwork, creativity, and communication and proposed a capstone
course to achieve these aims. Kakabadse and Korac-Kakabadse (2000) highlighted the
