Denis M. S. Lee

Critical skills and knowledge requirements of IS professionals: a joint academic/industry investigation

This study was initiated in response to concerns expressed by the membership of the Boston Chapter of the Society for Information Management (Boston SIM) to investigate anticipated changes in the information systems (IS) profession, to study the impact of these changes on the skills and knowledge requirements, and to relate these requirements to the academic preparation of future IS professionals. To provide as broad a perspective as possible, the study was conducted by a joint industry/academic group of investigators. A series of focus group meetings was conducted first with representatives of the professions different stakeholder groups (i.e., IS managers, user managers, and IS consultants) for issue generation. A survey instrument was then designed for data collection on computing trends and changing knowledge and skills requirements.Overall, our study suggests that industry will demand a cadre of IS professionals with knowledge and skills in technology, business operations, management, and interpersonal skills to effectively lead organizational integration and process reengineering activities. The lower-level IS jobs are rapidly disappearing, and the requirements for IS professionals are becoming more demanding in multiple dimensions, particularly in the areas of business functional knowledge and interpersonal/management skills. Our results also found some clear patterns in IS staffing and activity trends that point to the shift in emphasis from a traditional, central IS organization toward a more decentralized, end-user-focused business orientation. Aligning IS solutions with business goals and needs, as well as building the infrastructure for technological integration are becoming the top priorities for IS activities. Our results indicate these changes will likely lead to different career tracks with differing emphasis on the multi-dimensional knowledge/skills for IS professionals.The realignment of IS activities in organizations will require corresponding re-structuring of IS curricula at universities. Our findings suggest that current IS curricula are often ill-matched with business needs. Many subjects emphasized in the typical IS curricula are assigned low priorities by practitioners, while there is pressing need to add both breadth and depth to the education of IS professionals. We argue further that the concept of a generic curriculum to meet the educational needs of all future IS professionals is obsolete, and different IS curricula must be tailored to meet the needs of different IS careers. These career-driven IS programs will require the adoption of multi-disciplinary approaches and educational innovations for adding breadth, depth, and relevance to the curriculum in accordance with the focused mission of each specific program.

The Impact of Supply Chain Integration on Mass Customization Capability: An Extended Resource-Based View

This study investigates two key issues: 1) how internal integration, customer integration, supplier integration, and the interplay among them jointly influence the development of mass customization capability (MCC), and 2) how environmental conditions (i.e., demand uncertainty and competitive intensity) moderate the impacts of supply chain integration on this development. Based on the extended resource-based view (ERBV) of the firm and contingency theory, we build a conditional indirect model and test it using a dataset of 289 manufacturers from nine countries. Our results are consistent with the ERBV, showing that internal integration not only has a significant direct effect on MCC, but also plays a central and strategic role in building customer and supplier integration. However, although customer integration is found to improve MCC directly, supplier integration appears to have no significant impact. Finally, internal integration has a positive indirect effect on MCC through customer integration, and this indirect effect is amplified when demand is uncertain and competition is intense.

Performance measurement system and relationships with performance results: A case analysis of a continuous improvement approach to PMS design

Purpose – This study aims to address an important gap between the normative view of an integrated performance measurement system (PMS) design that assumes a clean slate and the organizational realities of a PMS design as an ongoing analysis, coordination and improvement process.Design/methodology/approach – The authors present a framework for evaluating the effectiveness of a PMS based on three criteria – i.e. causality, continuous improvement and process control – and use a case study to illustrate the application of the methodology and the interpretation of results for PMS design.Findings – The determination of “driver measures” in an integrated PMS involves a complex process that requires a number of considerations not adequately addressed in prior research.Research limitations/implications – This study involves only a single case study and the model presented involves only a two‐tier analysis.Practical implications – The framework provides a simple methodology that organizations can easily adopt to an...

A new paradigm for IS. The educational implications

An Is paradigm shift will create problems of adjustment and new opportunities for IS professionals. To function effectively in this new world, current and future IS professionals must acquire new knowledge and skills. This will not be easy to accomplish and will require the joint effort of both industry and academia. However, the payoffs from such human investments will be enormous. The existence of a cadre of capable IS professionals who can intelligently and effectively apply emerging information technologies not only affects the success of individual organizations but improves the competitiveness of our nation.

Social ties, task-related communication and first job performance of young engineers

Abstract This study investigated the relationships among social ties, task-related communication, and first industrial job performance of a group of young engineers by utilizing a cooperative (coop) engineering program as a natural study. The coop arrangement allowed the researcher to examine the work behavior of these young engineers with similar academic training who were working on comparable work assignments in the same set of organizations. The study found that the job performance of the coop engineers was related to the pattern of work- related communication but not the total number of contacts. Specifically, high performance new engineers were integrated more broadly into the interpersonal communication networks than low performance new engineers. Moreover, high performance new engineers exhibited communication patterns similar to those of high performance veteran engineers working on similar types of technical work. Social ties with the company staff was found to be related positively with job performance, but social ties with other coop engineers was found to be related negatively with job performance, a result which challenges an implicit assumption often made by researchers and managers about the organizational socialization of newcomers. Overall, this study provides an integrative framework for relating social ties and communication as key factors for understanding the job performance of young engineers and presents a methodology for assessing their organizational assimilation.

Job challenge, work effort, and job performance of young engineers: a causal analysis

The author explored the causal relations among job challenge, work load, and job performance of a group of young engineers during their first industrial work assignments as coop engineers in college, then three years later as professional engineers. Causal relations among the three key variables were analyzed using both path analysis and the method of cross-lagged correlation differentials. The results showed that the job challenge and work load not only have direct causal effects on current job performance they also have indirect causal effect on current job performance. Moreover, work load was found to have a more dominant effect on job performance than job challenge. This study points out how different causal assumptions can lead to different interpretations of observed results by prior researchers as well as different theories of professional development for young engineers. Overall, the findings support the proposition that it is work experience that determines job performance. The implications of the present findings for management policy are also discussed. >