Cheney.hale.1990. Competencia e Habilidades Prof

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Information & Management 19 (1990) 237-247

North-Holland

237

Research

Knowledge, skills and abilities of

information systems professionals:

past, present, and future

Paul H. Cheney David P. Hale

and George M. Kasper

I nf ormation Syytems and Quan tatioe Sciences, Coll ege of Busi-

ness Admini stration , Texas Tech Uni versity, L ubbock, Texas

79409, L SA

This study provides information and direction regarding

the skills needed by current and future information systems

(IS) professionals. Based on information gathered in 1978,

1987, and 1988 through structured interviews with a total of

one-hundred-eighty senior information systems managers re-

sponsible for planning, training, and hiring IS personnel, the

trends in the current and future usefulness to project managers,

systems analysts/designers, and programmers of twenty di-

mensions of knowledge, skill, and ability are evaluated. The

results indicate that senior IS managers believe that human

factors and managerial knowledge, skills, and abilities have

and will continue to increase in importance for all IS profes-

sionals, particularly for project managers. The findings also

confirm the increasing need to personnel with knowledge of

advanced technologies and an increased awareness of the value

of information as a corporate resource. Collectively, the results

suggests a clearer division of labor among IS professionals,

precipitated by advances in technology and their application to

ever increasingly complex and ill-structured problems.

Keywords; Information science education, Curriculum, Project

and people management, Training, Staffing, Information sys-

tems occupations, Information systems skills, ACM model

curriculum, Information systems personnel management.

* Some of the data presented in this paper is reported in

Information Systems Professions: Skills for the 1990s. in

the Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Annual Hawaii I nrer-

national Conference on System Sciences, January 3-6, (1989).

Vol. 1, 331-336.

Paul Cheney

is currently the Area Co-

ordinator and Professor of Manage-

ment Information Systems in the Col-

lege of Business Administration at

Texas Tech University. He received

his Ph.D. in MIS from the University

of Minnesota in 1977 and had taught

at Iowa State and the University of

Georgia prior to joining Texas Tech

University in the summer of 1988. He

has published over 30 articles in such

journals as Decision Sciences, MI S

Quarterly,

and

I nformation and Man-

agement.

He has also conducted numerous professional devel-

opment seminars and consulted widely for firms

such s

FORD,

IBM, AT&T, and EXXON.

David P Hale is Assistant Professor of

Information Systems and Quantitative

Sciences at Texas Tech Universitys

College of Business Administration.

He received his Ph.D. in Management

Information Systems from the Univer-

sity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1986.

His research interests include col-

laborative problem-solving systems

and software engineering. His papers

on joint human-computer problem-

solving systems, data base manage-

ment systems design, decision-group

connectivity, and software maintenance have appeared in

Management I nf ormation Quarterley, Journal of Management

I nformafion Systems, and several conference proceedings.

George

M Kasper

is Associate Profes-

sor of Information Systems and

Quantitative Sciences at Texas Tech

University College of Business Admin-

istration. He received the Ph.D. from

the State University of New York at

Buffalo. His primary research interests

are decision support systems and ex-

pert system-aided decision making.

His research has been published in

such journals as Decision Support Sys-

tems, Journal of Management I nf orma-

tion Systems, I nformation and Manage-

ment,

Decision Sciences, and others. Dr. Kasper has also

served as a visiting member of the Faculty of Informatics,

Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, and has

worked and consulted for both government and private in-

dustry.

0378-7206/90/ 03.50 0 1990 - Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland)


2/11

238 Research

Information Management

1 Introduction

Although employment in the information sys-

tems (IS) field is expected to continue to grow

rapidly through the mid-nineteen-nineties, much

of the work currently done in these professions is

changing. The changes force IS educators and

practitioners to constantly evaluate and upgrade

their professional skills. Much uncertainty sur-

rounds these decisions. Individuals must decide,

almost daily, what seminars and tutorials will best

position them for career advancement. Managers

must make the same decision for groups of

workers, as well as match tasks with the skills of

personnel and make long-term resource allocation

decisions based on their perception of tomorrows

IS environment. In addition, educators must

monitor curricula to ensure that students have the

skills needed to meet the expected challenges of

tomorrows work environment.

The purpose of this article is to provide infor-

mation and direction regarding the skills needed

by current and future IS professionals. Informa-

tion was gathered in 1978, 1987, in 1988 through

structured interviews with a total of one-hundred-

eighty senior IS managers responsible for plan-

ning, training, and hiring IS personnel. Although

the data gathered in 1978 [4] and 1987 [5] has been

reported, neither a comparison of this data (show-

ing the change in skills required of project

managers, systems analyst/ designers, and pro-

grammers over the last decade - collectively, these

three categories are referred to as IS workers in

the remainder of this article), nor the 1988 data

showing labor force and skill requirement projec-

tions for these professionals in the future (1995)

has been published.

2. Previous Job Skills Research

For more than 30 years, job skills obsolescence

has been a recurring theme in the human resource

management literature, often achieving promi-

nence in the wake of major changes in the en-

vironment (such as technological leaps, economic

globalization, and energy shortages). Some authors

have investigated the organizational and personal

factors that contribute to skills obsolescence

[10,12]. Others have studied several methods for

counteracting skill obsolescence, such as: job rede-

sign [9], continuing education, and retraining.

However, little of this work has been empirical.

Obsolescence occurs when personnel and job

requirements that were congruent at one time no

longer match, due to a change in the job, a change

or lack of change in the individual, or both. In

most staffing and selection models, jobs require

particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs)

for the effective performance of tasks and duties.

Knowledge refers to the content or technical infor-

mation needed to perform adequately in a job and

is normally obtained through formal education,

on-the-job training, and information media, such

as manuals [18]. Skiffs are the specific psychomo-

tor processes necessary to meet the current re-

quirements of a specific job. They are manifested

through behaviors such as conducting an effective

information gathering interview, writing a well-

structured COBOL program, or developing a

structured system specification. Skills also include

the facility to select from among a repertoire of

possible actions those that are most appropriate

for a particular situation. Abilities refer to the

cognitive factors that represent present capabili-

ties or achievement levels [18]. The productive

potential of employees varies through differences

in the types and levels of acquired KSAs.

Although jobs are most often defined in terms

of tasks, duties, elements, responsibilities, or be-

haviors that are necessary to obtain an organiza-

tions goals, they have also been characterized by

the KSAs that are inferred as necessary to per-

form the required behaviors [12]. Given that the

employees KSAs were at one time congruent with

the demands of the job, obsolescence occurs when

the jobs current demands, duties, and responsibil-

ities are no longer supported by the stock of KSAs

of the job holder. The driving force behind chang-

ing job requirements is most often change in the

external environment; for the IS industry, this

typically means change in technology. Likewise,

the job holder changes by making re-training deci-

sions and gaining experience that result in ad-

ditional KSAs that are more or less congruent

with the demands of technological development.

3. The Study

The specific KSAs that will be needed in the

future are unknown, however, the purpose of this


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Information anagemeni

P. H. Cheney et al. / IS Sia ffi ng Requirement s

239

study is to help individuals, managers, and educa-

tors make more informed decisions as to what

may be needed. This requires an examination of

technological trends and projections. To provide

IS personnel, managers, and educators with infor-

mation on which to base their professional deci-

sions, a total of one-hundred-eighty senior IS

managers were interviewed at three times during a

ten year period (1978, 1987 and 1988). The

closed-form structured interviews collectively re-

flect changes in the perception of senior IS

managers about the KSAs needed by IS workers.

The job categories of project managers, systems

analysts/designers, and programmers were select-

ed because of their predominance in terms of their

numeric size and KSA requirements. Senior IS

managers were interviewed because they are re-

sponsible for planning and hiring these IS workers,

and are arguably best positioned to predict future

personnel needs and requirements.

3. I.

I nterviewees

By design, the demographics of those inter-

viewed (position title, years of IS experience, and

industry) did not differ substantially across the

sample periods.

Table 1

presents an analysis of the

senior IS managers interviewed in this study by

title for each of the three sample periods.

As these data show, a majority of the inter-

viewees are senior level MIS executives. Although

the term chief information officer (CIO) was not

common in 1978, when the first phase of the study

was initiated, most of those interviewed are senior

IS executives in their company, and report directly

Table 1

Interviewees by Job Title

Job Title Number of Interviewees

by Job Title per Sample

1 2 3

1978 1987 1988

VP of IS

8 5

24

Director of IS

6 9 28

Data Center Manager 9 6 2

Director of IS Development 22 14 15

Information Center Manager 0

10 0

Technical Support Manager

0 12 10

Total

45 56 79

Table 2

Percent of Industries Represented by Sample Period

Industry

Percent of Industries

by Sample a

Manufacturing

Service

Government

Retailing/Wholesaling

Banking/Insurance

1

2 3

1978 1987 1988

54 27 17

13 29 40

19 18 10

9 14

17

6 13 17

a Due to rounding, to columns do not sum to 100 .

to the chief executive officer, an executive vice

president, or a group vice president. Regardless of

their specific title, the interviewees are heavily

involved in determining the strategic direction and

goals for MIS within their respective organiza-

tions.

In terms of the distribution by professional

experience, there was little difference among those

interviewed across the three sample periods. Col-

lectively, seventy-four percent of the interviewees

had over ten years of IS experience. In fact, forty-

three percent of those interviewed had in excess of

fifteen years of IS experience. This extensive expe-

rience within the IS field was consistent with the

position and responsibilities of senior IS managers.

To prevent the results from being dominated by

the needs of any one industry, at the exclusion of

others, an attempt was made to interview managers

from a diverse set of industries. Table 2 shows the

percentage of different films per industry repre-

sented in each of the sample years.

Although availability necessarily influenced in-

terviewee participation, the data show that a broad

cross-section of business is represented, including

the service, manufacturing, and not-for-profit sec-

tors. The interviewees were employed by corpora-

tions with national and international offices and

distribution channels. It should also be noted that

as a percentage of the sample, the participation of

IS managers representing manufacturing organiza-

tions has decreased over time .

r This reflects the 25 decrease between 1976 [6] and 1988 [7]

in the percent of the work force employed by the manufac-

turing sector in the American economy.


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240 Research


3.2. Identification of Knowledge, Skills, and Abili-

ties

The set of knowledge, skills, and abilities

(KSAs) selected for the first (1978) interviews was

derived from the recommendations made by the

first two ACM model IS curricula (1972 [l] and

1973 [S]). Based on the major topics in these

curricula, thirty-six KSAs were identified. These

were then distributed to five IS faculty to confirm

that they accurately reflected the intent of the

recommendations. Based on responses, twelve

KSAs were dropped from the original list and two

were added, resulting in a total of twenty-six for

the first (1978) sample. In 1982, the ACM revised

their model IS curriculum report [17] to reflect a

decrease in the role of quantitative management

KSAs for many job classifications. Based on this

report, no new KSAs were added, but six of the

original twenty-six KSAs were eliminated. The

remaining twenty KSAs were evaluated by the

participants in the interviews conducted in 1987

and 1988. A complete list of these KSAs is pre-

sented in Appendix A. A more complete descrip-

tion of the interview instrument can be found in

[4] and [5].

3.3. The Interviews

At the beginning of the structured interviews,

senior IS managers were asked how many em-

ployees they had in each of several areas. For the

interviews conducted in 1988, respondents were

also asked to estimate the anticipated number of

employees needed in 1995. Next, they rated the

importance of the twenty specific KSAs on a

Lickert scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning not

useful and 5 meaning essential for each of the

three major IS worker job categories. These are:

Project Manager - one who coordinates the teams

effort and determines how the teams resources

should be allocated to produce a working system

that complies with a given set of specifications on

time and within budget;

Systems Analyst/Designer - one who defines the

users information needs and designs systems to

generate the required information, including defi-

ning the content and structure of input forms,

output reports, and files; and

Programmer - one who is responsible for program

creation (development and documentation).

The interviewees responses were recorded by

the interviewer, and, when necessary, questions

were clarified. Following the structured portion of

the interview, the interviewee was given an open-

ended opportunity to suggest additional KSAs

and to rate these on the same 1 to 5 scale.

Throughout the three sample periods of the

study, the actual job descriptions and duties asso-

ciated with the job categories have remained

fundamentally the same, despite slight changes in

job titles. For example, in 1978, many systems

analysts/designers were simply called systems

analysts even though they performed technical

design tasks along with analysis activities.

4.

Data Analysis

The studys results are presented in two sec-

tions. In the first section, the 1988 collected data

showing current and projected labor force require-

ments are presented. The second section reports

the change in the perceived value of KSAs for IS

workers over the 1978-1987 period and the 1987-

1995 projections, which were collected in the 1988

survey.

4.1. Labor Force Requirements

During the 1988 interviews, interviewees were

asked the number of employees currently working

Table 3

Current (1988) and Projected (1995) Work Force by Area

IS Area

1988 a

1995 b change

COBOL Programmers

11,151 6,480

FORTRAN or BASIC 300 300

PASCAL and C

2,050

4,180

Database Management

1,480

2,180

4th Generation Languages 1,105

7,401

Systems Programmers

401 600

Data Communications

401 1,400

Systems Analysts/Designers

2,840

4,150

Operators

850

400

Data Entry

330

0

Information Center Personnel

2,400 4,100

Total

23,308

31,191

-43

0

104

41

570

50

249

46

- 53

- 100

71

34

a Current employment figures.

Projected employment figures.


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Information Managemeni P.H. Cheney et al. / IS Staffing Requirements 241

in each of several areas and the project their

personnel needs in these areas for 1995. Table 3

compares by area the current work force reported

by the 1988 interviewees with those they projected

for 1995.

These results indicate that the senior IS

managers except a net increase in demand for all

areas of IS personnel with the exception of those

with knowledge limited to traditional high-level

languages (such as COBOL and FORTRAN), and

computer operations, while data entry clerks are

projected to be eliminated. They also expect the

demand for workers with knowledge of more

powerful procedural (Pascal and C) and non-pro-

cedural languages to increase dramatically, and

the aggregate number of programmers to in-

crease because of a substantial growth in the pop-

ularity of fourth generation languages (4GLs).

The results also indicate that there will con-

tinue to be a substantial demand for database and

systems programmers. The advantages of database

management systems have been known for years,

but the cost of converting existing applications has

prevented many companies from fully utilizing

this technology. Many of the interviewees indi-

cated that their firms use a phase-in/phase-out

approach as the means of converting to database

management system (DBMS) technology; that is,

when new applications are designed to replace

existing ones, DBMS technology is used, but mod-

ification of existing programs to employ DBMS

technology is not actively pursued. As more soft-

ware applications are designed to utilize DBMS

technology, the demand for database specialists

will increase. Another factor affecting the demand

for database specialists is the increasing and

widespread use of DBMSs such as IBMs DB2.

Many of the database specialists who support

microcomputer-based products are located in the

organizations end-user support centers (informa-

tion centers) or in user departments. Consistent

with this, the interviewees project an increased

demand for information center personnel through

1995. However, because not all companies repre-

sented by the interviewee had formally chartered

information centers, the reported number of infor-

mation center personnel includes resident end-user

support experts in functional areas.

IS personnel that specialize in the use of 4GLs

are in demand, and the interviewees expect that

this trend will accelerate dramatically. The need

for 4GL specialists may be tied to the movement

toward using microcomputers for an increasing

number of small applications, and the use of

database management systems, which facilitate the

utilization of 4GLs. In addition, some 4GLs such

as Applied Data Researchs

Empire

and Informa-

tion Builders Focus are used as prototyping tools

and are rapidly replacing procedural languages

[13,15,19].

Consistent with the trend in most organizations

to integrate computer and communication facili-

ties, those interviewed report a continued and an

anticipated increase in the demand for data com-

munication specialists. The dramatic increase in

demand for this specialty is motivated in part by

the economies-of-scale that integration affords, as

well as the move toward distributed IS [3,8,11,14,

161. In fact, eighty-six percent of those interviewed

in 1988 reported that their firms have extensive

distributed IS networks.

In general, these projections are remarkably

consistent with those of the United States Bureau

of Labor Statistics (BLS). For example, the BLS

expects a seventy-two percent increase in the need

for all types of computer programmers over the

1984-1995 2

time period, whereas those inter-

viewed in this study expect a collective sixty-one

percent increase in the demand for traditional

(COBOL, FORTRAN, Pascal) programmers over

the 1988-1995 time period. Likewise, the BLS

predicts a sixty-eight percent increase in the de-

mand for systems analysts over the 1984-1995

period and the senior IS managers interviewed

in this study expect their demand to increase by

forty-six percent from 1988 to 1995.

4.2. Changes in KSAs by Job Category

Based on the interviewees value ratings for

each of the twenty KSAs within each of the three

job categories, t-tests were calculated on the

pooled sample variance and the significance of the

change over time was determined using statistical

significance alpha levels of 0.01 and 0.05. Signifi-

* The BLS provides three projections for 1995 employment for

each occupation. The 586,000 figure represents moderate

growth in the employment of programmers, ranging from a

low of 559,000 to a high of 609,000 workers by 1995 [2].

3 The BLS expects the number of systems analysts to range

from a low of 498,000 to a high of 539,000 by 1995.


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242 Research


cant t-values by KSA, within job category, are

shown in Table 4 for the 1978 and 1987, and the

1987 and projected 1995 comparisons. Significant

positive t-values indicate that the KSA has in-

creased in importance (the 1978 and 1987 com-

parison), or that it is expected to increase in

importance (the 1987 and projections for 1995

comparison). Conversely, significant negative t-

values suggest that the KSA hs or is expected to

decrease in importance, depending upon the com-

parison. For clarity of presentation, the specific

values of non-significant changes are not given.

For completeness, both the significant and non-

significant t-values are presented for all KSAs in

Appendix A.

These results show that the current and future

Introductory Computer and Information Systems

Concepts

is appropriate for IS workers. The value

Table 4

Significant Changes in the Value of IS Workers KSAs

KSA Categories Project

Manager

Systems

Analyst/

Designer

Programmer

1. Information Gathering

Techniques

2. Systems Design

Topics

3. File Design

4. Planning and Control

of System Projects

5. Human Relations in

Systems Development

6. Human Factors in Equipment

Design and Work Layout

7. Introductory Computer and

Information Systems Concepts

8. Application Programming

Languages

9. Job Control

Language

10. DBMS

11. Operating

Systems

12. Mainframe

Hardware

13. Micro/Minicomputer

Hardware

14. Telecommunications

Concepts

15. Computer Security

Controls and Auditing

16. Software Package

Analysis

17. Computer

Operations

18. Legal Aspects

of Computing

19. Computer

Simulation

20. Statistical

Decision Theory

2.406

* * - 3.913 * -5.507 *

3.100 *

_ _

-5.415 *_

_

-4.010 *

_

_ - 5.794 *

_

-3.951 * - 3.211 *

2.011

* * -2.011 * * - 3.001 *

_

_ -5.637 *

_

_

_

-3.341 *

2.801

* 3.111 * 2.998 *

_ _

_

_ _

_

_

- 2.042 * * -3.540 *

- 3.814

* - 3.011 * _

_

_

_ _

-2.011 * *

_ _ _

_

7.140 * 6.145 *

-4.263

* -7.180 *

- 3.941

* -2.140 ** -3.101 *

-3.847

* -2.142 ** _

-6.401

* -4.333 * _

_ _

- 2.001

* * _ _

-2.952

* -2.650 * * _

4.980

* 7.114 * 6.804 *

-5.959

* -2.341 ** - 2.723 *

3.801 * 4.900 * _

-4.328

* 4.218 * 2.403 * *

3.881

* 7.100 * 2.080 * *

- 2.080

* * 5.183 * _

_ _

_

-5.107

* 2.039 * * -2.145 *

2.001

* * 3.853 * 2.011 * *

3.531

* 4.608 * 2.723 *

5.130

* 2.011 * * 2.001 * *

4.005

* 5.802 * _

6.145

* 4.001 * 2.141 * *

* alpha = 0.01;

* * alpha = 0.05; For each KSA, the first row of t-test values is based on the range from 1978 to 1987 and the second

row on the change from 1987 to that projected for 1995.


7/11

Information anagemen t

of Operating Systems, however, has decreased and

is predicted to decrease in importance for all

categories. Likewise,

Mainframe Hardware

is ex-

pected to be less valuable for both project

managers and systems analysts/designers in the

future, but the current level of Mainframe Hard-

ware is expected to remain the same for pro-

grammers. With the exception of project managers,

Planning and Control of Systems Projects is cur-

rently and is predicted to be a less valuable KSA

for systems analysts/designers and programmers.

Similarly,

Systems Design Topics

is currently and

is predicted to be less valuable for programmers,

but retain its current level of importance for pro-

ject managers and systems analysts/designers.

The need for ever increasing KSAs in Computer

Simulation and Statistical Decision Theory is evi-

denced by the consistently significant positive

coefficients across IS worker categories. Although

the value of Software Package Analysis decreased

for project managers during the 1978-1987 time

frame, the value of this KSA increased for both

programmers and systems analysts/designers and

is predicted to increase for all job categories. The

most dramatic changes have occurred in the per-

ceived value of Telecommunications Concepts,

Computer Security Controls and Auditing, and

Legal Aspects of Computing. The KSAs are not

only expected to be very valuable in the future,

but many of them represent complete reversals

from what was perceived in the 1978-1987 com-

parison.

4.2.1. Project Manager

Within the project manager job category, Infor-

mation Gathering Techniques, Computer Simula-

tion, and Statistical Decision Theory are and are

expected to continue to be valuable. Conversely,

Operating Systems and Mainframe Hardware are

perceived to be of significantly less value for pro-

ject managers now and in the future than they

have been. Compared with the 1978-1987 results,

dramatic positive reversals in the value of Tele-

communications Concepts, Computer Security Con-

trols and Auditing, Software Package Analysis, and

Legal Aspects of Computing are expected. Those

KSAs that are predicted to be less valuable to

project managers are Application Programming

Languages and Micro/Mini Hardware, although

the reverse is true for Planning and Control of

System Projects and Human Factors in Equipment

P.H. Cheney ef al. / IS Staffing Requirements 243

Design and Work Layout, which are expected to

become more valuable.

4.2.2. Systems Analyst/Designer

Software Package Analysis, Legal Aspects of

Computing, Computer Simulation, and Statistical

Decision Theory are and should be valuable KSAs

for the systems analyst/ designer. Conversely,

Planning and Control of System Projects, Applica-

tion Programming Languages, and Mainframe

Hardware are and should be significantly less

valuable. Compared with the 1978-1987 change,

dramatic positive reversals in the value of Tele-

communications Concepts and Computer Security

Controls in Auditing are expected. One KSA should

be less valuable in the future - Operating Systems.

The opposite is true for File Design, Human Fac-

tors in Equipment Design and Work Layout, and

Database Management Systems.

4.2.3. Programmer

Software Package Analysis, Legal Aspects of

Computing and Computer Simulation are and are

expected to be valuable to programmers. Con-

versely, Systems Design Topics, Planning and Con-

trol of Systems Projects, and Operating Systems,

are perceived to be significantly less valuable.

Compared with the 1978-1987 changes, dramatic

positive reversals in the expected value of File

Design, Human Factors in Equipment Design and

Work Layout, and Legal Aspects of Computing are

anticipated. The KSA that is expected to become

less valuable to programmers is Job Control Lan-

guage, although the reverse is true for Telecom-

munications Concepts and Statistical Decision The-

oy .

5 Discussion

It must be emphasized that IS workers did not

rate the importance of KSAs in their work; in-

stead senior IS managers rates them. As a result, it

is likely that IS workers would have answered

these questions differently. However, as a practi-

cal matter, the perceptions of senior IS managers

are the most meaningful, because their judgment

is most important in planning and hiring.

In general, by 1995 the interviewees expect

knowledge of telecommunications concepts, file

and database design, human relations, and human


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244

Research

Informdon M anagement

factors to be increasingly important. The continu-

ing importance of telecommunications concepts is

the product of advancements in data communica-

tions, office automation, and network support.

Based upon post-interview debriefings, file design

was interpreted by the interviewees to mean

database design, which (with the growing impor-

tance of DBMS KSA) explains its increase in

importance. Computer security controls and audit-

ing are also viewed as being increasingly im-

portant, indicating an increasing awareness of the

need for improved controls. The increase in im-

portance of telecommunications, file design, hu-

man factors and relations, and computer security

parallels the increasing demand for end-user com-

puting; they may reflect the expertise needed to

support this activity.

5. I. Project Manager

For project managers, Information Gathering

Techniques were valued more and Computer Oper-

ations less by the interviewees in 1987 than they

were in 1978. Both shifts may have resulted from

the fact that scheduling and computer operations

were more of an issue for senior IS managers in

1978 than for their 1987 counterparts. In the 10

year period there has been an increased emphasis

on the separation of operations and systems devel-

opment functions; project managers are less in-

volved in computer operations. The demands

placed on information requirements analysis to-

day may explain why the current senior IS

managers consider Information Gathering Tech-

niques more valuable for project managers than

did their predecessors, and why the value of this

KSA is expected to continue to increase.

One of the most interesting results for project

managers concerns the perceived declining impor-

tance of several technically oriented KSAs (i.e.,

Operating Systems, Applications Programming

Languages, Mainframe Hardware, and Micro/

Mini Hardware). Senior IS managers expected

either no significant change, or a decline in their

importance for future project managers. Perhaps

project managers are, at last, being viewed more

as managers and less as technicians. This may also

reflect a division of labor and maturity within

modern IS departments.

The senior IS managers belief in the increasing

importance of both Computer Simulation and

Statistical Decision Theory for project managers is

also informative. This may reflect an increasing

emphasis on decision support systems (DSS) and

expert systems (ES) in todays organizations. Con-

sistent with the emergence of these technologies,

Software Package Analysis is also expected to be-

come increasingly important to the project

manager. The latter is not surprising, because the

movement toward purchasing rather than custom

building software products has been the trend for

two decades and has increased in the nineteen-

eighties with the proliferation of personal com-

puters. The interviewees predictions are consistent

with a continuance of this trend.

5.2. Systems Analyst/Designer

According to the senior IS managers, the trend

for systems analysts/designers is toward an in-

creased knowledge of people and problem-solving

KSAs (e.g., Statistical Decision Theoty, Human

Factors in Equipment Design and Work Layout,

Legal Aspects of Computing), and away from de-

veloping application software. As the purchase of

packaged software technology becomes the norm,

Software Package Analysis is and is expected to

become an extremely valuable KSA for systems

analysts/designers. Consistent with the view of

using technology to find solutions, Telecommuni-

cations Concepts and Database Management Sys-

tems are also increasingly more important now

and in the future than they were in the past.

5.3. Programmer

For programmers, the interviewees believe that

Telecommunication Concepts and Database Man-

agement Systems are expected to have the greatest

increases in importance. This may reflect the in-

creasing emphasis on data communications, dis-

tributed processing systems, and the utilization of

DBMSs. As the division of labor among computer

personnel increases, many basic KSAs are no

longer the direct responsibility of computer pro-

grammers; this includes Operating Systems. Per-

haps this is the result of new operating systems

and application development languages that rnini-

rnize the programmers need for such knowledge,

skills, and abilities.


9/11

Information Managemenf

P. H. Cheney et al. / IS Staffing Requirements

245

6 ACM IS Model Curriculum Comparison

The ACM IS model curriculum is used as a

reference to identify possible discrepancies be-

tween practitioner and academic perceptions of

the KSAs needed by IS workers. Three editions of

the IS model ACM curricula have been published:

in 1972 [l], 1973 [8], and 1982 [17] *. Although

the 1972 and 1973 curricula emphasize technologi-

cal knowledge, they explicitly recognize the educa-

tional requirements of two types of college

graduates: (1) technically trained systems desig-

ners, and (2) managerially oriented IS analysts.

More detailed than its predecessors, the 1982 cur-

riculum recommended that undergraduate and

graduate programs emphasize the integration of

people, management, and technological KSAs. The

curriculum contains the following major changes:

_.

integration and increased emphasis of manage-

ment and communications KSAs;

_~

inclusion of data management and data com-

munications courses;

__

inclusion of the American Assembly of Col-

legiate Schools of Business (AACSB) common

body of knowledge as a foundation; and

_

introduction of a capstone MIS policy course.

The interview responses support many of the

KSAs recommended in 1982. In general, the re-

sults of interviews indicate that human factors and

managerial KSAs have and will continue to in-

crease in importance, especially for project

managers. This suggests that senior IS managers

are beginning to view the role of project managers

as more managerial than technical in nature, re-

quiring greater data gathering, planning and con-

trol, and human relations. This change in perspec-

tive is also occurring for systems analysts/

designers and even programmers, who are increas-

ingly being viewed as the users of systems design

and development technologies and prototyping

tools. The advent of these powerful non-proce-

dural tools has resulted in a shift from merely

building systems to providing value and func-

tionality. The interviewees suggest that all IS

workers increase their software package analysis

4 The ACM Model Curriculum for undergraduate education is

currently under revision. An exposure draft of the third

edition is expected to be released in the spring of 1990.

KSAs. THe advent of these technologies and their

application to increasingly complex and ill-struc-

tured problems has resulted in both a greater

division of labor among IS workers and the need

for greater insight into the application domain

and general management process.

The desire to automate increasingly complex

and ill-structured problems, and the additional

demands that this places on project leaders may

be reflected in the senior IS managers belief that

project managers must have a greater exposure to

planning and control techniques. These topics are

normally included in an Information Resource

Management course or some other management of

MIS capstone course, as suggested by the ACM

curriculum. Although these results may not con-

firm the need for an individual course, the increas-

ing importance of these topics suggests the need

for more extensive coverage of these areas in the

IS curricula and professional continuing educa-

tion.

The desire to automate increasingly complex

problems may also account for the belief that

more KSAs are needed for all IS workers in statis-

tical decision theory, computer simulation, data-

base management systems, and telecommunica-

tion. This is consistent with the ACM curriculum

recommendation to increase the emphasis on deci-

sion-making and management techniques by in-

cluding the AACSB common body of knowledge.

These results are also consistent with the senior IS

managers response to the open-ended portion of

the interview, in which the most frequently sug-

gested KSAs were the improvement of oral and

written communication abilities and knowledge

of business - accounting, marketing, finance, and

manufacturing.

These changing needs reflect a shift from

centralized, single-mainframe systems to distrib-

uted, heterogeneous computer clusters, and from

procedural to non-procedural languages, possibly

indicative of the emergence of end-user computing

as a major form of IS usage. Consistent with this,

those interviewed suggested that IS workers in-

crease their KSAs in software package analysis,

database management systems, telecommunica-

tions, human relations, human factors, computer

simulation, computer security, and statistical deci-

sion theory. These are all critical to the success of

any end-user support system.


10/11

246 Research

7 Summary and Conclusion

The results of the study provide information

and direction regarding the skills needed by cur-

rent and future IS professionals. Based on infor-

mation gathered from senior information systems

managers in 1978, 1987, and 1988, the trends in

the current and future usefulness to IS workers of

twenty dimensions of knowledge, skill, and ability

were evaluated.

The results indicate that senior IS managers

believe that human factors and managerial knowl-

edge, skills, and abilities have and will continue to

increase in importance for all IS workers, particu-

larly project managers. The findings also confirm

the increasing need for personnel with KSAs of

advanced technologies, such as database manage-

ment systems and data communications. This sug-

gests an increasing belief of the value of informa-

tion as a corporate resource. The emergence of

more distinct sets of KSAs for information workers

may indicate a clearer division of labor. The spe-

cialization may also be attributable to the collec-

tive advancements in technology, systems analysis,

and systems design techniques; the development

of project management procedures that exceed the

KSAs of any single individual; and an apprecia-

tion by senior IS managers of the increasingly

complex nature of todays application areas.

In conclusion, development and maintenance

of the KSAs needed to meet job requirements are

important topics for both the IS practitioner and

educator. Due to rapid changes in IS technology,

there is much uncertainty in selecting appropriate

topics for professional development. This article

provides insight into the evolution of KSAs for IS

workers. The results suggest that although IS per-

sonnel must remain abreast of technological ad-

vancements, there is an increasing need for human

factors, problem-solving, and business related

KSAs. This evolution is also contributing to a

clearer division of labor among IS professionals.

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11/11


P. H. Chewy et al. / IS Staffing Requirements

247

Appendix A

KSA Categories Project

Manager

Systems

Analyst/

Designer

Programmer

1. Information Gathering

2.406 * *

- 3.973 *

-5.507 *

Techniques

3.100 *

1.441

1.004

2. Systems Design

1.394

- 1.170

-5.475 *

Topics

0.740

0.901

-4.010 *

3. File Design

1.354

- 1.133

- *.794

1.805

3.140 *

3.114 *

4. Planning and Control

1.248

- 3.951 *

-3.211 *

of System Projects

2.011 * *

-2.011 **

-3.001 *

5. Human Relations in

1.898

1.030

-5.637 *

Systems Development

1.011

0.671

0.600

6. Human Factors in Equipment

- 0.847

0.012

-3.341 *

Design and Work Layout

2.801 *

3.111 *

2.998 *

7. Introductory Computer and

- 0.042

- 0.641

-0.595

Information Systems Concepts

0.601

0.401

-0.310

8. Application Programming 1.015 - 2.042 * * -3.540 *

Languages

- 3.814 *

-3.011 *

1.035

9. Job Control

- 0.486

0.276

- 1.131

Language

- 1.201

- 0.488

-2.011 **

10. DBMS

1.402

1.865

- 0.051

1.041

7.140 *

6.145 *

11. Operating

-4.263 *

- 1.741

-7.180 *

Systems

- 3.941 *

-2.140 * *

-3.101 *

12. Mainframe

- 3.847 *

-2.142 * *

- 1.913

Hardware

- 6.401 *

-4.333 *

- 0.081

13. Micro/Minicomputer

1.939

- 0.093

-0.781

Hardware

- 2.001 * *

0.080

0.040

14. Telecommunications

- 2.952 *

- 2.650 * *

1.704

Concepts

4.980 *

7.144 *

6.804 *

15. Computer Security -5.959 * - 2.341 * * - *.723

Controls and Auditing

3.801 *

4.900 *

1.800

16. Software Package

-4.328 *

4.218 *

2.403 * *

Analysis

3.881 *

7.100 *

2.080 * *

17. Computer

- 2.080 * * 5.183

*

1.771

Operations

0.433

- 1.047

0.444

18. Legal Aspects

-5.107 *

2.039 * *

-2.745 *

of Computing

2.001 * *

3.853 *

2.011 * *

19. Computer

3.531 *

4.608 *

2.723 *

Simulation

5.130 *

2.011 **

2.001 **

20. Statistical

4.005 * 5.802

*

1.883

Decision Theory

6.145 *

4.001 *

2.141 * *

* alpha = 0.01; * *

alpha = 0.05; T-test Results Showing Differences in the KSAs. For each KSA, the first row of f-tests is based on

the change from 1978 to 1987 and the second row the change from 1987 to that projected for 1995.

Documents

Cheney.hale.1990. Competencia e Habilidades Prof