Perspectives on the academic preparation of MIS professionals

ABSTRACT

To a greater extent than other functional areas, the MIS function is experiencing pressures originating from an amalgam of ongoing technical, organizational, and environmental trends. Information technology continues to change rapidly. The role of information in achieving organization objectives is becoming more critical. The intensity of competition is increasing both nationally and internationally.

Although perhaps not at the same pace, academic programs designed to prepare MIS professionals have also developed and changed in response to those pressures. The number of undergraduate and graduate degree programs is still on an upward trend, but the nature of academic institutions has, to some extent, made the response to needed curriculum revision slower than practitioners might wish.

The panel identified the following issues related to the academic preparation of MIS professionals:

• • Organizations are increasingly recognizing the potential of information technology to add value to products and services and to improve relationships between an enterprise and its customers and suppliers.

• • MIS jobs are undergoing fundamental changes. Some technical skills are becoming obsolete and are being replaced with new ones, e.g., the ability to use computer aided software engineering tools and artificial intelligence technology.

• • MIS professionals must become more business oriented. This means they must possess more highly developed business skills in order to compete successfully.

• • MIS professionals must possess considerable political, organizational, and communication skills rather than just technical competence.

• • Users of information systems are more knowledgeable about computer capabilities. They are thus more demanding and require more sophisticated systems.

• • MIS professionals must take greater responsibility for their own career development.

• • MIS professionals should adopt an “infopreneuring attitude” and become more flexible, adaptable, and versatile in responding to technological developments and competitive pressures.

• • Colleges and universities must continuously examine and update the content of their MIS curricula to keep pace with environmental, technological, and organizational change.

• • Graduate studies for MIS professionals should be balanced among technical, political, organizational, communication, and business theory and skills.

• • The linkage between academic preparation and professional practice could be improved through closer cooperation between businesses and colleges and universities.

Index Terms

• Applied computing

  • Operations research

    • Decision analysis

• Human-centered computing

  • Human computer interaction (HCI)

• Information systems

  • Information systems applications

    • Decision support systems

• Social and professional topics

  • Professional topics

    • Computing education

      • Computing education programs

        • Information systems education

    • Computing profession

      • Computing occupations