IT Talent Research Articles

Tackling Talent Acquisition Challenges in Nigerian IT Sector: Problems and Prospects

The Information Technology industry in Nigeria is experiencing rapid growth and development yet faces significant challenges in talent acquisition. This article explores the key problems and prospects associated with attracting and retaining skilled IT professionals in Nigeria. Through a comprehensive review of data from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics and industry case studies, this study identifies several critical issues, including a shortage of skilled professionals, intense competition for talent, inadequate infrastructure, and limited career development opportunities. Using case studies of System Specs Nigeria, BOK TECH- Addressing Turnover Through Flexible Work Arrangements, and D_Market Seller - Leveraging Diversity for Innovation to examine how they navigated the IT talent acquisition challenges in Nigeria. Using the Human Capital Theory, the article examines potential solutions and prospects for addressing these challenges, such as improved leadership and management, advocating for positive government policies, enhanced collaboration among stakeholders, and effective crisis management. The study recommended effective recruitment strategies leveraging social media and partnering with universities and professional organizations to identify and recruit skilled professionals. Adopting strong Career Path Development and Professional Development Opportunities will attract prospective employees and the utilization of emerging technology to streamline recruitment, onboarding, and performance management processes, making it easier to manage talent. By addressing these challenges, Nigeria’s IT sector can better position itself for sustained growth and competitiveness in the global market.

Digital Transformation and Career Opportunities at the RSPCA

Abstract Grant Powell MBCS talks to RSPCA Assistant Director, Nicholas George, Senior Programme Manager, Donna Nichols and Technology Programme Manager, Laura Edwards to learn how digital transformation has improved animal welfare processes while also presenting new opportunities for IT talent.

The Impact of IT Evolution on Industries and Workforce Skills: A Systematic Literature Review

Aim/Purpose: To investigate the impact of the evolution of Information Technology on global workforce skills and explore emerging approaches that address the IT talent shortage faced by diverse companies in finding skilled IT workers. Background: This paper explores diverse approaches to bridge the skilled IT workers shortage gap, especially in the context of the widening gap following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study emphasizes the need to consistently leverage business and information technology strategies for competitive advantage. Methodology: This study followed the systematic literature review methodology on 809 articles from ACM, IEEE Xplore, and Scopus digital libraries by utilizing an integrative mixed methods approach with topic modeling and manual content analysis. Contribution: This paper aims to understand and describe the impact of the evolution of the IT industry on its workforce. It contributes additional evidence to our understanding of IT workforce development to support researchers and educators working towards developing effective strategies to bridge the IT talent gap. Findings: On the one hand, the study finds that the evolution of the IT industry produces a shift in required skills and knowledge, resulting in workers needing to adapt and embrace lifelong learning. On the other hand, the evolution of IT creates new opportunities for workers and results in a more globalized and interconnected workforce. Recommendations for Practitioners: Practitioners are recommended to adapt to the shifting skills landscape, encourage lifelong learning, explore new opportunities for workers, and embrace a more globalized workforce. Recommendations for Researchers: Researchers are encouraged to further explore the identified themes and delve into the nuances of the evolving impact of information technology on workforce skills. Impact on Society: The findings have implications for industry growth, emphasizing the importance of aligning business and IT strategies to address the shortage of skilled IT workers on a global scale. Future Research: Future research should focus on the continuous evolution of information technology and its impact on workforce skills, considering the identified themes as a foundation for further exploration.

System Architecture for IT Talent Ecosystem Using Service Oriented Approach

The purpose of this research is to propose a System Architecture to facilitate the IT Talent ecosystem using a service-oriented approach. The need for this is important to support digital transformation in the IT Talent ecosystem. Human resources in the IT field are one of the key factors in implementing IT in organizations. However, the availability of IT human resources has not been able to meet the needs and challenges of the organization in synergizing IT and business. Meanwhile, on the other hand, the qualifications of IT human resources do not meet the existing competency standards. In this research, we use a service-oriented system development method. It consists of three stages, such as (1). Analysis and Observation, (2). Analysis from an in-depth interview, and (3) System Architecture Design, which includes Analysis Features of the Systems, Service Analysis and Identification, Specification of Architecture, and Layering. The novelty and findings of this research are a system architecture, which is called a middleware architecture, that can bridge entities in the IT Talent ecosystem to provide and use services to each other for support collaboration. In this study, we proposed a system architecture that acts as middleware to support collaboration and integration in the IT Talent ecosystem. We proposed TALENT-IT, which acts as a service bus mechanism. We used a service-oriented approach to develop this platform. The results of this study are: list of features, list of services, SOA layer, SOA architecture, and monetization feasibility and challenges. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2023-04-04-03 Full Text: PDF

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT & IT’S EFFECTIVENESS AT AMAZON AND ACCENTURE

In recent days Employee Engagement is booming talent manager and employee engagement goes hand in hand Involving employees helps create a culture that motivates employees to collaborate, share ideas, and create breakthrough solutions. Providing excellent customer service and support, company value, teamwork with colleagues and contributing to a healthy working environment in his IT industry where customer experience is essential for customer retention and loyalty. An organization with a reputation for high employee engagement may be more attractive to her top IT talent. Companies that value employee well-being, provide opportunities for advancement, and promote a healthy work culture are more feasible to attract potential prospects, to Analyze the relationship between employees Gender and Employee Engagement at workplace, Co-relation, the sample consist of 126 employees from both the companies i.e 64 from Accenture and 62 in Amazon, the opportunity to build workplaces where employees feel empowered, valued and inspired to do their best work KEYWORD : Effectiveness, Employee Engagement, Effectiveness, Employee retention Corporate Culture.

Attracting the Best Talent by Being A Great Workplace

Abstract The market for top IT talent is incredibly competitive. Helen Thomas, CEO of Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW), tells Martin Cooper MBCS why communicating your values can help you find and retain the best people.

Impact of Employer Value Proposition and Social Media Use on the Intention to Apply for a Job in the IT Industry of Vietnam

Research Aims: Human resources are critical for success in the digital economy. However, IT human resources are predicted to be scarce and attracting IT talent is difficult for many enterprises. Currently, employer branding and social media advertising are possible solutions to these problems. This research aims to evaluate the influence of EVP and social media use on the intention to apply for an IT job. Design/Methodology/Approach: The quantitative research method is used to verify the research model. The sample includes 240 valid respondents from HCMC, Vietnam. The research model includes six independent variables (5 values of EVP and social media use) affecting the intention to apply for a job through organisational reputation. Some analysis methods used include Descriptive Statistics, Cronbach’s Alpha, EFA, Multiple Regression, and Bootstrap Analysis. Research Findings: The results show that 4/5 of the values (except management value) and social media use have positive impacts on reputation and, in turn, on the intention to apply for a job. Theoretical Contribution/Originality: This research clarifies the role of employer branding and social media use in attracting talent to the Vietnamese IT industry. The mediating role of organisational reputation is also confirmed using the bootstrapping method. Managerial Implication in the South East Asian Context: Based on the results, some recommendations have been made to improve the attractiveness of the IT industry in Vietnam and the ASEAN context. Research Limitations & Implications: Limitations of the study include the small sample size and lack of other aspects of employer branding. So, increasing the sample size and adding some other factors could be implications for future research directions.

Gender equity is not the only challenge women CIOs face: an interview with Anu Varma, CIO for the communication solution segment at TE connectivity

This interview offers rare insight covering the recent triangulation of events - technology churning and crunching more bytes, COVID presenting more supply chain and analytical challenges, and more female CIOs entering the C-suites. Anu Varma, Vice President and CIO of the Communication Solution Segment at TE Connectivity, sat down with JITCAR to offer a rare insight into the evolving CEO-CIO dynamics, particularly from the women CIO perspective in these challenging and also promising times. In the interview, Anu shares how the CEO-CIO dynamics have changed significantly in the past ten to fifteen years. She also highlights how IT is now driving the business strategy, and the CIO is trusted with business roles rather than a back-office role. As a female CIO, Anu offers unique perspectives on the challenges faced by women in the IT world, particularly at the CIO level. During Covid, she and her team embraced the supply chain challenges and turned those into an opportunity to transform IT operations at TE Connectivity. Their efforts have also driven the analytics and insight-driven culture and created more demand for analytical-driven solutions within the business. The interview also discusses several other pressing issues facing CIOs in the manufacturing industry: IT talent acquisition/retention and costs of IT and cybersecurity. The interview also discusses how business leaders can support women in balancing their work responsibilities and family obligations in IT and elsewhere. The interview was conducted by Dr. Gaurav Bansal and transcribed by Dr. Zhuoli Axelton, both from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Differentiated Management of IT Service Workers

This article examines how the widespread adoption of IT service management best practices challenges traditional approaches to managing IT workers. Via a multiple case study of servitized IT functions, it was found that IT service workers might be usefully segmented into four groups: ‘Customer-focussed Technicians’, ‘Developing IT Talent’, ‘Skilled IT Artisans’, and ‘Skilled IT Locals’. It is proposed that this segmentation is useful for managers practicing in IT functions that combine compatible IT service management and IT project management ‘best practices’. Specifically, such employee segmentation may enable differentiated people management practices to improve worker performance within IT functions delivering IT service projects and ongoing service provision.

The Early IT ecosystem: Re-envisioning dual credit, college access and affordability, and teachers as professionals

The Early Information Technology ecosystem (Early IT) developed at a large R1 university in the Midwest has created a direct linkage between K-12, higher education, and industry, eliminating barriers throughout the pipeline for students. The program was created within a unique policy window, with the shortage of IT talent in the workforce converging with both the call for computer science education at the K-12 level and for dual credit options to reduce the cost of higher education. The limited capacity of K-12 schools to meet these demands on their own resulted in a window of opportunity for disruptive policy innovation. This opportunity resulted in a program that is broadening participation in computing and meeting the call for a scalable and sustainable talent pipeline, but that also serves as evidence for the potential of transformational change across various education policy domains. We use early successes in the program to highlight potential futures in the areas of dual credit, college access and affordability, and teacher professionalism.

Talent management in the “new normal”—Case study of Indian IT services multinationals in China

AbstractEmerging market multinational corporations (MNCs) are coming under increasing scrutiny for their international performance. While the success of Indian IT multinationals in the West has been extensively researched and reported, there is a lack of research on their relative failure in China. The rise of economic nationalism and the COVID‐19 pandemic pose challenges for the mobility of professionals and the global talent management (GTM) strategy of MNCs. Through in‐depth interviews with senior managers from four well‐known Indian IT services multinationals, this article presents an evidence‐based critique of the design and implementation of their GTM strategy both inside and outside China. It focuses specifically on the quality of the IT talent pool in China, control and coordination issues, and the challenges of workforce localization.

IT Workplace Preferences, Job Demands, and Work Exhaustion

ABSTRACT Work exhaustion has become one of the main job stressors that leads to dissatisfaction and worker turnover. To retain IT talent, managers seek ways to reduce stress, such as lowering workload or increasing monetary compensation. In this paper, we explore work exhaustion in a developing country to examine antecedents and mitigating factors for work exhaustion. Using a survey of 289 IT professionals in Vietnam, a developing country with high turnover rates and limited IT resources devoted to talent retention, we test how job demands and workplace preferences impact work exhaustion. The findings show that a preference for strong workplace structure suppresses workers’ perceptions of work overload and work/home conflict. Additionally, preference for strong workplace autonomy surprisingly amplifies perceived work overload and has no impact on work/home conflict. Our findings suggest the importance of workplace characteristics as well as IT occupational culture in mitigating work exhaustion for IT employees.

Agile Corps - A Public Service-Learning Program Part II

Annually, the U.S. government invests $94 billion on IT products and services. The majority of these projects fail--they are late, over budget, canceled outright, or, if delivered, are outdated or not user-friendly. Due to barriers in hiring and training, the government tends to outsource IT talent at a premium through contractors, but outsourcing talent has not changed the results. Inside the government, the small amount of talent that exists tends to be senior, and there currently are very few, viable options for high-quality, junior and mid-level technologists to find a job in government and professionally develop and progress. Agile Corps is a program designed to identify, recruit, train, and retain junior and mid-level technology talent in the government. Agile Corps exemplifies public service-learning, a learning approach and strategy that combines learning objectives, instruction, and reflection with government service for the public. After completing a discovery research process followed by prototyping and testing the program design, we piloted the Agile Corps program at the US Department of Labor. This paper presents the Department of Labor pilot of Agile Corps and the concept of public service-learning, and measures the impact of the Agile Corps pilot at the Department of Labor.

How to Build a Strong it Talent Pipeline

Abstract When it comes to building an IT talent pipeline, Claire Dudley from QA says culture, engagement, and continuous learning are all important considerations.

Research on the Construction of Post Competency Model of Informatization Talents Based on Bimodal IT Mode Under the Background of Digital Transformation——Take a Power Grid Company as an Example

Under the background of digital transformation, the rapid development of information technology promotes the transformation of business model of power grid enterprises. The demand difference between traditional business and new business for information construction is gradually significant, which puts forward new requirements and challenges for the ability of information talents. Based on the theory of Bimodal IT and the theory of post competency model, combined with the current situation and characteristics of the informatization development of a power grid company, this paper uses literature research, workflow analysis, expert interview, questionnaire survey and other methods to build the traditional mode and the new mode of Bimodal IT talent post competency quality model, and analyzes the application of the model in the power grid enterprise, so as to It will lay a foundation for the construction and training of information professionals in the future power grid enterprises.

The 2019 SIM IT Issues and Trends Study

These are the findings of the Society for Information Management’s 39th Anniversary IT Issues and Trends Study, with responses from 1,033 IT executives, including 376 CIOs, and 618 unique organizations with total revenue of $2.5 trillion and $133 billion in IT spending. Internal IT headcount continues to grow and projected growth for next year is also strong, but the number of external consultants and contractors declined, a pattern continuing from the last three years. IT salaries are up, as is the total spending for IT, although next year’s growth is expected to slow somewhat. Unsurprisingly, the use of Cloud is increasing, but there is a shift from internal to external services. The five largest IT investments in 2019 were: Analytics, Cloud, Cybersecurity, Software Development and Maintenance, and CRM. The personally “most worrisome” IT management issues for CIOs were: Cybersecurity, Alignment, IT Talent, Perception of IT Leadership, and Compliance and Regulations. Respondents acknowledge that cybersecurity readiness is not adequate. Average CIO job tenure is over six years, with about a third of CIOs not previously having IT jobs and almost 80% coming from other organizations. Over 50% of CIOs report to the CEO, the highest level ever for the SIM study; under 25% report to the CFO, the lowest ever. CIOs are also spending more time interacting with other C-suite executives, further confirming that the role and importance of the CIO continues to grow.

Software availability and entry

AbstractResearch SummaryWhat happens to market structure as an industry's operations lean ever more on software? We find that software availability is associated with an increase in entry and an increase in exit by the oldest and most established firms. We suggest three potential mechanisms and, through post hoc analysis, determine which is most consistent with observed patterns. We find the effect of software availability on entry is stronger in settings with more available IT talent, more permissive labor policies, and greater demand uncertainty. Observed patterns are most consistent with software enhancing labor productivity and thus reducing exposure to uncertainty.Managerial SummaryManagers and policymakers are concerned with whether technologies like software and robotics spreading to new industries can make powerful firms even harder to unseat. For software, we find evidence consistent with the opposite: as software becomes more prevalent, entry by new firms increases and the likelihood that older firms exit increases. The patterns of entry we observe are consistent with the following mechanism. Software allows the same number of employees to serve a wider range of production levels, meaning that potential startups are less likely to be deterred by uncertain demand.

Prosocial Motivation of Private Sector IT Professionals Joining Government

Attracting highly skilled IT talent has become a priority and an immense burden for government organizations—especially when they have other—higher paying—employment opportunities. We set out to explore why IT professionals choose a government job to make an impact on society. We aim at disentangling the effects of different types of motives, such as extrinsic, intrinsic, and other-oriented motivational forces on the decision to accept a challenging government IT job. We use self-determination theory (SDT) to analyze publicly available statements of former private sector IT professionals reporting their reason for joining 18F. Our study is one of the first attempts to use SDT as a comprehensive framework for conducting qualitative research into work motivation in the public sector. We shed light on the conceptual and empirical distinctiveness of motives, behaviors, and perceptions of prosocial impact, which are often lumped together in the public service motivation (PSM) literature. We contribute novel empirical evidence to a nascent stream of research that uses SDT to disentangle the intrinsic, prosocial, and purely extrinsic motives that drive individuals’ decisions to join public-sector organizations.

Exploration and Practice of “3+3” IT Talent Training Mode

On the basis of in-depth study of 40 items of the "Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of High-level Undergraduate Education and Comprehensively Enhancing the Ability of Personnel Training" issued by the Ministry of Education, and in response to the new requirements of new technologies, new industries, new formats, and new models for talent training in the new era, this paper tries to build a student-centered "3+3" high-quality applied IT talent training mode, with adhering to the "student-centered" teaching concept, focusing on the construction of connotation, relying on "school-enterprise cooperation, integration of production and education". The School of Computer and Information Engineering carries out the practice and active reform and exploration in teaching theory and teaching methods. This mode has a good effect on practice and has certain reference value and reference for similar majors in applied undergraduate colleges.

Status survey of informatization infrastructure development of 155 hospitals in Anhui province

Objective To learn the informatization infrastructure of Anhui provincial hospitals. Methods Questionnaire data of 155 public hospitals in Anhui province in the year 2017 by CHIMA were analyzed and compared with the national level.Based on the questionnaire survey, hospitals were randomly selected to interview their IT support staff.Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. Results Only 5.30%(43/804) of the IT staff had master′s degree or above as found in their IT department.Network trunk bandwidth of 31 hospitals(20.00%, 31/155)reached 10 G; A total of 44 hospitals(28.39%, 44/155)had formulated comprehensive IT development plans. Conclusions Hospitals in Anhui province should strengthen their IT infrastructure construction and IT talent team building.On the other hand, the province should improve the informatization level of primary hospitals, and further hospital informationization by means of innovation in interconnections. Key words: Information management; Informatization construction; Infrastructure; Anhui province