Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The following measures could be applied to take pressure off IT professionals
and to make their working environment less stressful: guaranteeing IT professionals
enough income for their living expenses, including such expenses after retirement;
guarantee of status; recruitment of a sufficient number of employees; clear presen-
tation of the typical career path; intrinsic motivation through challenging tasks;
manifestation of the business organisation's values; and provision of mental health
care.
In order to construct such a working environment, whereby IT professionals
would be supported in conducting their duties with professionalism, both
organisational business measures and social measures are required.
4.4.2 Social Measures to Support an Appropriately Professional
Working Environment
An appropriately professional working environment for IT professionals is benefi-
cial to society; poor working conditions tend to cause fatigue and apathy in them,
which can lead to insensitivity to technological, social and ethical issues, ensuing,
ultimately, in failures within society. Conversely, because IT development and use
now underlie such a wide range of economic activities, the production of reliable,
quality goods and services by IT professionals with a developed sense of profes-
sionalism can contribute to the activation of economic activities. In this way,
support for the construction and maintenance of an appropriately professional
working environment is socially meaningful.
The following measures may be effective in supporting such a working environ-
ment for IT professionals: establishing official certification for IT professionals;
forming a trade union of IT professionals across businesses; creating legislation to
protect whistle blowers; and setting up social safety nets for IT professionals.
Improvement of the IT working environment is a major requirement for improv-
ing IT professionalism in Japan, and this is an urgent social issue. One way to do
this would be to create an independent industry-wide organisation to support the
improvement of the social status and the working environment of IT professionals.
The Programmers Guild ( http://www.programmersguild.org/ ) would be a good
example of this. However, to ensure the effectiveness of the activities this
organisation undertakes, Japanese IT professionals who join the organisation
must recognise it as being their primary group. The tradition of co-operative in-
house unions in Japan would be an obstacle to the effectiveness of such an
organisation.
Developing self-motivation among Japanese IT professionals is a prerequisite
for improving the IT working environment. However, almost all IT professionals
are salaried employees, and the amount of their pay is not based on their perfor-
mance. Any pay differences among members of a system development team are
intentionally small; significant differences would degrade the team effectiveness
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