IT Workforce Research Articles

Understanding the "Mommy Tracks"

Despite the recent growth in the number of women in the American labor force, women are still under-represented in the IT workforce. Key among the factors that account for this under-representation is balancing work-family issues. This article presents a framework for analyzing work-family balance from a field study of women employed in the American IT workforce. The findings are examined through the lens of the Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT to show the range of ways in which work-family considerations influence women’s IT career decisions. The framework is used to support the theoretical argument that women exhibit a range of decisions regarding career and parenthood: the non-parent, the working parent, the back-on-track parent, and the off-the-track parent. These findings illustrate an identifiable theme that crosses geographical regions and timeframes; societal messages are complex and difficult to digest and are processed in different ways by different women, yet they contribute to the decisions women make about their professional and personal lives.

IT Workforce Trends: Implications For IS Programs

Findings in an IT workforce study support the emphasis of business content espoused by IS curriculum guidelines. Business domain and project management skills are critical to keep in house while technical skills were cited as the top skills sourced. Paradoxically, technical skills are those cited for entry-level positions. We discuss the issues raised by these findings and recommend several approaches for IS programs to consider. IS programs must offer a functionally integrated curriculum and deliver it in an experiential business context. We provide several examples of innovative pedagogical approaches and industry alliances which demonstrate mechanisms to provide students with a stronger business orientation in applying IT. We recommend a more proactive approach to enrollment including better promotion of IS programs.

Gender Differences among IT Professionals in Dealing with Change and Skill Set Maintenance

Background For individual IT professionals, the demands associated with constantly learning and adjusting/updating their skill sets can be stressful and compromise overall productivity in a number of ways (Lee, Trauth, & Farwell, 1995). On the whole, changes in technology significantly affect overall burnout in IT jobs. Sixty two percent of IT professionals claim to operate in crisis mode most or all of the time (Fischer, 1998). Given the effect of coping with change among IT professionals, IT managers have to be concerned with methods of keeping employees up-to-date on new technologies, as well as providing some form of infrastructure for answer-seeking when problems arise. While academic studies of how organizations manage change and take on the challenges of employee training abounds, there is a dearth of research into the strategies employed by IT professionals themselves. Many authors have also focused specifically on women in the IT workforce, but those studies typically address the problems women face in IT, rather than exploring what makes them successful. Research has sought to identify gender differences that may explain the low participation rate among women in the IT profession, but consistent patterns of differences rarely emerge. Moore (2000) was able to make a connection between low job satisfaction and gender. It was hypothesized that women perceived little benefit to themselves or their organizations in the effort required of them to maintain an updated skill set that would allow them to perform adequately. Further analysis of that data suggests, however, that when controlling for job rank, the gender effect goes away. While Moore's initial hypothesis is complicated by the introduction of job rank as a variable, there does seem to be agreement that rank is at least somewhat tied to gender, perhaps making this a second-order effect. Many authors have identified and addressed the that prevents women in IT (and several other professions as well) from advancing beyond a certain point in rank and wages (Ahuja, 2002; Baroudi & Igbaria, 1995; Harris & Wilkinson, 2004; Igbaria & Baroudi, 1995; Kaminski & Reilly, 2004; Perrons, 2002; Ranson & Reeves, 1996; Smits, McLean, & Tanner, 1993; Sumner & Niederman, 2003). The potential explanations for the glass ceiling are too numerous to list here, ranging from educational interests at a young age, to gender roles in personal lives, to blatant discrimination. With respect to the IT field specifically, women tend to enter the professional workforce with less training (Francis, 2000), but tend to demonstrate no significant differences in productivity among high-performing men and women (Smits et al., 1993). This seems to indicate that, despite different educational foundations, women in the workforce are capable of compensating for the difference in background. This may be due, in part, to women's increased willingness to admit to a lack of knowledge or understanding, and to seek help (Baroudi & Igbaria, 1995; Venkatesh, & Morris, 2000). The extent to which women will utilize technology to seek help when confronted with a problem or to meet an information need has been explored by a number of researchers studying overall IT use. Gefen and Straub (1997) found that women and men differed in their perceptions of e-mail, but not their use of it, because differences between genders lie in their expectations for performance. Women place more communicative value on e-mail and are more inclined to give more time and care to composing and reading e-mails. Venkatesh and Morris (2000) were able to identify usage differences between men and women, tied to perceptions and level of adoption. Men's technology usage decisions were strongly influenced by their perception of the usefulness of the technology, while women were more strongly influenced by perceived ease of use. Venkatesh and Morris' findings on the communicative value of e-mail for women can be extended to information and communication technologies in general, thanks to data collected by national agencies in the United States and Japan and summarized by Ono and Zavodny (2005). …

International business and MIS approaches to multinational organizational research: The cases of knowledge transfer and IT workforce outsourcing

This study proposes that multinational business issues are enriched by analysis from multiple perspectives. This is illustrated through two cases: knowledge transfer and offshore work outsourcing where each show value from the combination of both international business and management information systems perspectives. This paper also discusses some of the social realities that may present barriers to synthesizing knowledge from these two disciplines.

Offshore Outsourcing

The offshore outsourcing of IT services has become increasingly important for the global IT industry and is creating new uncertainties for the IT workforce in the USA and Western Europe. It is easy to overestimate the benefits of offshore outsourcing, however, if only wage cost differentials are taken into account and the many hidden costs are ignored. The following article discusses the advantages and risks involved in the different phases of offshore projects and presents some conclusions with regard to prospects.

Information Technology Student-Based Certification in Formal Education Settings:Who Benefits and What is Needed

Introduction The growth and use of IT and the resulting demand for workers with specialized skills have placed a considerable demand on the traditional educational system to provide a qualified and sustainable IT workforce. According to the U.S. Department of Labor statistics (2004), information technology is the fastest growing sector in the economy with a projected 68% increase in growth rate between 2002 and 2012. In response to advances in computer technology, rapidly deprecating skill sets, and the slow response of traditional education, the IT industry uses certification a way to train and accredit its own (Clarke, 2001). Cantor (2002) defines certification as a confirmation of one's adequate knowledge and skills in a specified occupation or occupational specialty. Further, Cantor classifies IT certifications into two areas: (1) certifications issued by industry that are product-related and (2) certifications issued by organizations or professional associations. In 1989, Novell created the first IT certification in response to a lack of trained individuals to support their mission critical tasks and the inability to turn to the traditional educational system for a trained supply of workers (Ziob, 2000). IT certifications have since grown a result of the need for the IT industry to support its products and services (Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, 2001). As of January 2000, 2.4 million IT certifications have been awarded worldwide (Adelman, 2000a), and there are more than 120 IT vendors offering more than 1000 IT certifications (Rowe, 2003). IT certifications are developed by professional, trade, and industry associations well independent vendors and can be grouped into two general categories: vendor-specific and vendor-neutral. Vendor-specific certifications and curricula are developed and monitored by a particular vendor and focus primarily on an IT-related discipline surrounding a company's technology, service, and product line. Vendor-neutral certifications are developed and monitored by a consortium of experts from industry, public, and private sectors, and focus on methodology and technology surrounding a particular job role. Obtaining a certification requires that an individual pass a criterion referenced assessment, acknowledging the attainment of specific skills (Carnevale & Desrochers, 2001). IT certification assessments are administered by the vendor or third party testing firm, and many vendors require that certificate holders re-certify after a specified period of time to demonstrate continued competency (Cantor, 2002). Certification vendors do not require students to provide poof of preparation before attempting an exam and, unlike the preparation for traditional course work given in formal education settings where curricular materials leading up to the exam are prescribed, the choice of preparation vehicles is left to the student (Koziniec & Dixon, 2002). Preparation vehicles for IT certification exams might include computer-based training, books, CDs, simulation software, exams cram sessions, vendor sponsored curricula, and instructor-led training offered at formal and non-formal educational institutions. IT certification vendors may suggest exam preparation materials or even provide proprietary IT curriculum at a cost to students and educational institutions. The rapid pace at which technology evolves creates a need for highly skilled individuals to enable, apply, support, configure, and adapt IT products and services. Because IT certifications represent a standard measurement for specific IT skills, companies are seeking out professionals with these credentials (Al-Rawi, Lansari, & Bouslama, 2005). IT certification programs are considered by many to be responsive to industry needs and providing up-to-date, relevant training for continuously changing skill sets. Industry-based IT certification have become a standard precursor to employment for many IT job roles serving an indication to human resource managers that specific precursory knowledge or competencies have been met. …

Human resource development policies and practices for the IT and information workforce in Kuwaiti companies

This study explores the human resource development policies, strategies, and opportunities in 30 Kuwait corporate companies for its IT and information professionals. Questions addressed were related to induction and orientation programs; approaches for developing capabilities for change management; in‐house training policies, resources, and facilities; and policies for sending employees for training. Data were collected through structured interviews with key human resource managers of these companies. It was found that almost all the companies had intensive programs for providing systematic induction to their new employees. A majority of them had in‐house resources and facilities for training. A majority of them considered outside options for training and had developed policies for the purpose. These companies were not satisfied with the role of higher education institutions in providing useful training to their employees. Administration of training awards was biased in the favor of seniors, managers, and natives that defied the parameters of organizational needs.

An Exploration of Dualisms in Female Perceptions of IT Work

Introduction This paper examines the perceptions of in the IT industry as expressed in their discourse about IT work. Giddens' structuration theory is used to illuminate how construct and express their everyday experiences in this very competitive, declining female workforce. In particular, Giddens' notions of dualisms, routinisation and ontological security have provided a different perspective on women's perceptions of their work. The research data was collected primarily through interviews with female IT Professionals, and a small number of male IT Professionals and is part of an ongoing project (WinIT), commenced in 1995, that seeks to understand the declining female participation in IT education and work (von Hellens & Nielsen, 2001). Research work is continuing on the construction of female identities and the question of gender differences in IT work (Anthias, 1999; Nielsen, von Hellens & Beekhuyzen 2004). The declining participation of in the IT industry is a complex issue and there is now a considerable body of research literature; for example, see the review by Ahuja (2002). There has been a small, though noticeable, rise in female participation in the traditionally male-dominated professions of science, engineering and medicine. However, there has not been a corresponding trend in the information technology sector. At the end of 1999 represented just 29 percent of the workforce in the US technology sector, according to a study by the White House Council of Economic Advisers (2000). That is down from 40 percent of the workforce in 1986. By the start of the last decade, the proportion of females in the IT workforce was beginning to decline in most western countries (von Hellens, Pringle, Nielsen, & Greenhill, 2000). This is despite the idea that women may prove to be a key resource of skilled technology workers for International IT markets (Maitland, 2001). The WinIT research carried out to this point has sought to develop an understanding of complexity and social embededness of the problem of IT recruitment. Particularly, the research has focused on the cultural and gender factors affecting female recruitment (von Hellens & Nielsen, 2001). A conceptual model of the identified factors was developed and such an approach was found to be useful in examining the situation with relation to high school students and first year university students (Nielsen, von Hellens, Pringle & Greenhill, 1999). The research considers factors such as media representations of IT, peer, school and parental influences. Both male and female students lacked information about IT work and education and did not demonstrate any understanding about the nature of IT work. Overwhelmingly the students perceived IT as a masculinised domain and the female students mainly saw IT courses as boring and difficult. Our more recent research has focused on working in the IT industry and IT academia, where the significance of informed choice is more evident (Pringle, Nielsen, von Hellens, Greenhill & Parfitt, 2000; Trauth, Nielsen & von Hellens, 2003; von Hellens et al., 2000). These have resisted in some way the influences that discourage young from entering IT and have persisted in developing their IT careers. This paper presents early attempts to reexamine texts of professional women's interviews using some concepts from structuration theory. These concepts were initially established as relevant through a rereading of the interviews. Until 1999, the first and second authors of this paper (the primary researchers of WinIT) had been primarily focusing the WinIT project on university and high school students. In 1999, the WinIT research was extended to cover female IT professionals and initial results were published (Pringle et al. 2000; von Hellens et al., 2000). In collaboration with Professor Eileen Trauth in 2000, the research focus further expanded to include more interviews with professional in IT. …

IT employment prospects in 2004: a mixed bag

Signs of general economic recovery and renewed IT sector growth are dampened for IT workers globally by improved productivity and locally by a global labor market. Since 1999 - when US business magazine cover stories described IT positions going unfilled and extensive congressional lobbying to increase quotas for overseas workers to fill them - the US IT job market has changed drastically, losing more than a million jobs. For US workers, this change raises two different but complementary questions. First, what are the prospects for the global IT workforce in the near and longer term? Second, how will IT jobs be distributed among competing labor markets around the world? The first question addresses total demand for IT workers. The second addresses the economics of business investments and how governments, universities, communities, and individuals can compete successfully for them.

Special issue on the evolution of the CIO role

Articles in this special issue address the evolution of the CIO role during the past and predict drivers for change in the future. This Janus approach is well-represented by an in-depth study of the IT leader's role over more than forty years at Texaco and by a study using interviews with over fifty IT leaders about the "future of in-house IT organizations." The enthralling Texaco study should be required reading for all IS graduate students. As a saga of our profession's history and the evolution of the CIO role, this article provides a painful, personal view of IT leaders' struggle to gain recognition for the IT function's real contributions. "The Evolution of the Corporate IT Function and the Role of the CIO at Texaco -- How do Perceptions of IT's Performance Get Formed?" (Hirscheim, Porra, Parks) questions a basic assumption of prior research, that the IT function and the CIO have failed in some way: failed to establish a relationship with top management, failed to demonstrate value, failed to improve the performance of the organization, failed to provide an IT vision or link that vision to the organization's strategy. This longitudinal study demonstrates clearly that "Texaco's IT function did a stellar job," and that the "small investment in IT was put to an increasingly effective use at a staggering rate." CIOs or IT leaders have been effective at Texaco, some amazingly so. Yet during all these years from 1957 on, there was not a time when "top management or users expressed their satisfaction with the IT function." The authors conclude that "top management perceptions of the IT leaders' and IT functions' performance developed in a vacuum." Applying Peppard and Ward's perceptions gap categories, Hirscheim, Porra, and Parks call into question the very questions which have been asked in IT leadership research, and offer some new directions. Interestingly, the authors posit that charge back systems which reflect cost but not contribution and which are accumulated in overhead accounts may be the "most consequential mistake the IT profession has made so far." The perception gap is also a theme in Reich and Nelson's "In Their Own Words: CIO Visions about the Future of In-House IT Organizations." They conducted interviews with fifty CIOs and IT leaders in twenty-two organizations. As the technology has become more complex, user expectations have become very high: "Expectation is instantaneous delivery at zero cost, with zero bugs and zero defects." Their findings are presented in two sections: "Drivers of change" and "Transitions in in-house IT organizations." The richness of experience and insights into the future revealed by the authors' analyses of these fifty interviews is rare. Quotations selected for inclusion are memorable: "the IT workforce are the coal workers of the 21st century." Primary future trends are projected and leading research opportunities identified. Some interesting subsidiary future trends also emerge: systems analysts in-house providing requirement for outsourced development, a natural evolution toward "a significant increase in telecommuting," consulting as a career path for aspiring CIOs, the importance of the transition from individual-based IT work to team-based work and mindset, the need for both a CTO and CIO as complementary functions. Reich and Nelson's in-depth view of the evolution of the CIO role and the IT function should help academic research to "lead practice rather than follow it."

Training the knowledge worker: a descriptive study of training practices in Irish software companies

The IT workforce of a company may embody its most important strategic asset. Such an asset needs to be managed. At a company level, measures that support and encourage knowledge transfer amongst employees can help minimise the effect of the loss of skilled staff. This paper details the results of a survey administered to 200 employees across 39 software companies in Ireland. The study assessed the impact of training practices on employee retention, gathered data on the effects of training initiatives, the types of training in use, and the influence of training on knowledge retention. Results demonstrate that organisational attitudes and provision for training relate positively to employee expectations and requirements. Well‐engineered training initiatives lead to increased organisational strength, job‐related employee competencies, and job satisfaction. Training helps in retaining knowledge within the organisation, but may not help in retaining employees. Almost one third of respondents believe that training received has not helped to reduce job‐related stress and more than one quarter indicate that their organisation does not structure training based on employee feedback on requirements.

Defensive climate in the computer science classroom

As part of an NSF-funded IT Workforce grant, the authors conducted ethnographic research to provide deep understanding of the learning environment of computer science classrooms. Categories emerging from data analysis included 1) impersonal environment and guarded behavior; and 2) the creation and maintenance of informal hierarchy resulting in competitive behaviors. These communication patterns lead to a defensive climate, characterized by competitiveness rather cooperation, judgments about others, superiority, and neutrality rather than empathy. The authors identify particular and recognizable types of discourse, which, when prevalent in a classroom, can preclude the development of a collaborative and supportive learning environment.

Designing an Information Technology Curriculum: The Georgia Southern University Experience

The paper describes the curriculum offered at Georgia Southern University, and shows how the various courses in the curriculum contribute to the graduate’s acquisition of the relevant skills. It pays particular attention to the inclusion of so-called second disciplines, a feature that distinguishes Georgia Southern University’s curriculum from Information Technology curricula offered elsewhere. Second disciplines are 21 credit hour programs of study that give students an in-depth exposure to an IT application area and were included in response to the complaint made by many IT organizations that they have difficulty recruiting entry-level staff with both a good grounding in IT and in the particular application area of interest to the company in question. We believe that the process that Georgia Southern University used in the design of its IT baccalaureate curriculum in general and the inclusion of second disciplines in it, in particular, will lead to graduates who are more likely to meet the human resource demands of companies with a large IT workforce.

The IT Workforce Challenge:Adoption of IT Careers by Minority Groups - Issues and Recommendations

America faces an internal challenge to its position as a global leader in information technology. This challenge is real, and it impacts the core of this country’s historical greatness – the preparedness of the national workforce. Simultaneously, the 21 century worker is facing a dynamic environment where technology and workforce diversity are key drivers for organizational change. The skilled workforce of the future must identify and evaluate opportunities and risks, leverage knowledge competencies, and effectively integrate information in a manner that creates value for their organizations. We suggest that re-designing courses in non-core technology disciplines, such as business, can be an effective factor in addressing the needs and expectations for a technologically prepared workforce. Using five undergraduate courses, we identified relevant “front page” business cases/issues that garnered significant student interest, whereby student teams examined critical technological implications associated with managerial decision-making. The tutorial provides an in-depth discussion of the technology workforce challenge, and uses cognitive theories to examine how changes in awareness and attitudes, with regard to career options, can impact the minority presence – women, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans – in the 21 century workforce.

The IT work force in China

The IT work force in China

Immigration and the global IT work force

Immigration and the global IT work force

The global IT work force: introduction

The global IT work force: introduction

A comprehensive curriculum for IT education and workforce development

Noting the shortage of IT professionals nationally [1], we propose a comprehensive curriculum that supports a variety of programs geared to all ages from early school years to retirement and beyond. Current IT workforce development efforts are limited to training, and have not as yet focused on education and professional development. Largely, this is due to a lack of a science underpinning for IT related curricula. Without such a unified science component, a structured organization of information related concepts cannot be derived.Our proposal includes the development of a number of programs addressing the needs of a variety of learners ranging from elementary school through college and beyond. Seven programs, each with a specific emphasis for various groups, are being developed. Such essential issues as industrial-academic liaisons, workforce (re)training, promotional and awareness programs, teacher training, and IT professional role redefinition, are integral pieces of this project. All developments will be firmly founded on the scientific framework of information science and engineering [2].This work is supported by NSF grant DUE-9950168.

A moving target: studies try to define the IT workforce

Several agencies and associations are now attempting to track the IT workforce. Studies like these will be used by governments to help set economic strategy, employment and trade policies, training priorities, and legislative and regulatory initiatives, among other things. This article summarizes the findings contained in reports issued by: the US Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLSs) Occupational Outlook Handbook; the United Engineering Foundation (UEF); and the Computing Research Association.

Up from the DP tar pit into the IT mosh pit

In IT, there is no downtime. Changing careers, the "experts" say, is difficult, if not impossible, and, because programming techniques have fundamentally changed, data processing (DP) experience counts for nothing. However, you can re-enter the IT workforce or change technical specialties if you are prepared to start at the bottom, work long hours and risk being elbowed aside initially.