Developing managerial skills in IT organizations—a case study based on action learning

Abstract

Information technology (IT) organizations are facing important challenges. They must respond to new technologies and business applications and at the same time provide quality services that satisfy the present needs of their client organizations. The Chief information officer (CIO) of a Danish financial institution experienced increasing problems with internal recruitment of managers with sufficient and suitable competencies to face these challenges. As a consequence, he decided to establish an ambitious in-house training program aimed at developing appropriate managerial skills and attitudes. The paper presents a number of tales about this training program, each of them told from a different perspective and with varying degrees of interpretation. The paper first describes the training program, its context, the initial design, the process, and the results. The program is then evaluated from different viewpoints: the sponsor and designers, the trainees, and the IT organization. Subsequently, the program is discussed as an action learning activity in which individual learning interacts with the organizational context. Based on these analyses, normative propositions are made about action learning as a strategic thrust for developing managerial skills in IT organizations.