Determinación de los rangos de los cuadrantes logarítmicos

The job category of information systems manager, can include middle and upper levels of management. The job title tends to change to reflect the tone of the era, and so could be information systems manager, DP or MIS manager, information services manager or Chief Information Officer (CIO) in the United States. lvan Jackson suggests that the ever expanding role of EDP will see the emergence in New Zealand of the position of information resource manager (Jackson, 1983:61), but even if organisations regard data as a resource and an asset, few have elected to adopt this title. Likewise, a position that has not survived in New Zealand is that of manager of what is known as an information centre (IC), a separate function in large companies dedicated to end-user support (Department of Labour, 1986 :11).

This managerial group has received little attention from researchers. The reason may be

that they fall into the category of any other line manager in a functional area where it is a case of blending general management skills with more specific functional skills. For the IS manager it is a matter of how he or she approaches the issue of technical skills. Metzger, as part of a lengthy discussion of first and second level managers' need to understand things technical, makes the following observations:

Many newly anointed first-level managers immediately distance themselves from the nuts-and-bolts technical work and begin empire building ....

Some managers distance themselves from the technical work for another reason: They are insecure and feel incapable of both supervising the work and supervising the people ...

.... One reviewer of this manuscript pointed out that very often even second-level

managers must be very technically competent, as well as good people-managers. As you "climb the ladder," you'll fmd some rung at which you'll need to concentrate on the essence of the product, not its details. The further up you go, the more the balance shifts away from technical work and towards planning, setti�g goals, measuring progress, appraising, reviewing, inspiring, hiring, and firing. ( 1 987: 1 1 -

Ironically, it is those same technical skills that seem to cause cultural resistance in their workplace:

CIOs are often portrayed as victims of merger mania, decentralization and cost­ cutting programs. But the 1 989 Coopers & Lybrand/DATAMATION CIO survey of 550 IS leaders clearly shows otherwise. What CIOs say they are really victims of, the survey reveals, are unsympathetic corporate cultures, uncertain job expectations and the stigmas attached to IS because it is an immature discipline. In

fact, the survey reveals that IS is not even viewed by the executive suite as a real profession. Instead, it is thought of as a poorly managed craft.

Furthermore, the survey reveals that leading IS executives are mourning their inability to penetrate the inner circle of top management at their company. Many feel like outsiders looking in; only 1 2.7% believe they strongly influence overall corporate strategy. (Carlyle, 1989: 1 2)

If the manager has risen from the ranks of systems analysis or programrrung, the tendency will be to emphasise technically-oriented skills. Another approach is to appoint a manager from outside the IS profession in preference to the 'technical types' (Jackson, 1987:6). In an effort to arrive at a balance between business-related and technology­ related skills the concept of a hybrid manager has been actively supported by the British Computer Society (Earl & Skyrme, 1992). Earl and Skyrme defme hybrid IS managers as a 'breed of managers who blend information management skills with general management skills'. In an earlier work Earl also suggests that they could be in line or functional jobs:

.. people with strong technical skills and adequate business knowledge, or vice versa ... hybrids are people with technical skills able to work in user areas doing a line or functional job, but adept at developing and implementing IT application ideas. (Earl, 1 989)

This emphasis on sound managerial skills for an IS manager is confirmed by a study conducted in New Zealand by lvan Jackson (1987). As a result of questionnaires mailed to over 200 organisations and interviews with 15 of them, Jackson lists a comprehensive inventory of skills for DP managers, grouped under eight headings:

Administration

provide desired level of service manage change

manage computer environment monitor perfonnance against plans make decisions

Communication

communicate at all levels

contribute to corporate management marketing (rather than selling) make presentations

Contract

negotiate with users negotiate with suppliers Education

Finance

develop user management awareness implement IS staff training programme implement user training programmes

prepare cost benefit analysis: understand financial management

Personnel

ensure adequate working environment motivate staff

develop career paths

Planning

forecast business environment impact investigate marketing opportunities establish strategic objectives plan to meet strategic objectives

research and forecast technological directions Apply Technology

maintain an awareness of technology advances

(summarised from Jackson, 1987: 1 6- 1 8)

The IS managers who participated in this study are acutely aware of the need for what Jackson terms 'generalist' and 'detailed' management issues as distinct from a single grouping of 'technical' issues (pp. 13-14).

More recently an Australasian survey of over 200 semor IS managers from large organisations includes 12 per cent of respondents from New Zealand. A part of the research focuses on the skills gaps for IS personnel. Participants are given a list of ten skill areas and are asked to indicate both the current and required skill level on a three point scale (Low, Medium, High) in their organisations. The list is presented here in

descending order of ranking from the results of the survey (p. 8):

aligning business and IS strategies marketing of IS services

project management

management of IS professionals business cases for IS projects enterprise, business data modelling

systems development techniques including CASE information broking, linking requesters

knowledge based or expert systems

organisational politics (Broadbent, et al. , 1 992).

Only three can be classed as purely requiring technical skills (6th, 7th and 9th) while the top four are concerned with issues external to the IS function and are management oriented.

In conclusion, the management rung could be that of IS manager, manager of IS development, information centre (IC) manager or project manager, positions that require a more diverse set of skills primarily due to the cross-functional nature of IS (Perry, 1991:12). Perry details the technically-oriented challenges of the modem IS manager as: changing technology, when to abort a project, executive management ignorance of MIS, user ignorance of MIS, audit requirements, use of consultants, ability to keep current technically, complexity of systems, new system development standards, how to evaluate MIS products, professionalism ( pp. 11-16). The set of skills are very people-oriented and yet are still very much technically-based.