An Exploratory Analysis of the Value of the Skills of IT Personnel: Their Relationship to IS Infrastructure and Competitive Advantage

Determining and assessing the requisite skills of information technology (IT) personnel have become critical as the value of IT has risen in modern organizations. In addition to technical skills traditionally expected of IT personnel, softer skills like managerial, business, and interpersonal skills have been increasingly cited in previous studies as mandatory for these employees. This paper uses a typology of IT personnel skills—technology management skills, business functional skills, interpersonal skills, and technical skills—and investigates their relationships to two information systems (IS) success variables, IS infrastructure flexibility and the competitive advantage provided by IS. The study investigates these relationships using the perceptions of chief information officers (CIOs) from mostly Fortune 2000 companies. The contributions of this study are: IT personnel skills do affect IS success, technical skills are viewed as the most important skill set in affecting IS infrastructure flexibility and competitive advantage, and modularity is viewed as more valuable to competitive advantage than integration. Several explanations are offered for the lack of positive relationships between the softer IT personnel skills and the dimensions of IS success used in this study.     

The Impact of Information System Personnel Skill Discrepancies on Stakeholder Satisfaction

System development efforts depend to a large degree upon how well information systems (IS) managers, IS specialists, and IS users work together in a project team structure. Yet, these individuals frequently work under different perceptions about matters of importance to development, management, and success. This paper introduces a framework for examining IS specialists' skill requirements from a multiple‐stakeholder perspective. Derived from discrepancy theory, the framework concedes that different stakeholders hold a variable set of expectations for IS personnel skill levels as well as a perception of skills held by IS personnel. We examine differences in expectation and performance expressed by each group and describe the impact of the discrepancy on user satisfaction, career satisfaction of IS specialists, and on job performance evaluations by IS managers. Results confirm that a discrepancy between an IS specialist's expectations of skill and their perceived skill self‐proficiency impacts career satisfaction. Similar relations hold for IS managers and users. Since different stakeholders may hold different perceptions, satisfaction of all parties becomes problematic unless a common frame of reference can be determined.     

创业型家族企业政府交往能力的归因研究——以日本三井公司与河北大午集团为例

针对转型经济背景下创业型家族企业成长中的政企关系问题,运用扎根理论,以日本三井公司与河北大午集团为例,探讨了影响该类企业政府交往能力的深层次因素。研究结果表明,在家族人脉累积、企业家个体特质、创业导向3个政企关系要因的综合作用下,创业型家族企业会依赖自身的政府交往能力使企业具备一定的构筑良好环境界面的能力,最终实现可持续竞争优势的获取与维系。研究结果发现,政企关系要因中单一要素的强化不足以构筑长效的政府交往能力;不同外部环境下政府交往能力表现是有所差异的。在经济环境趋于规范的过程中,创业型家族企业处理与政府关系的样式应该变"非正当性的寻租"为"正当性的影响",由"违规"到"合规"。     

A Review of Political Skill: Current Research Trend and Directions for Future Research

This paper reviews theoretical and empirical research on the use of political skill in organizations and proposes some agendas for future research. Although political skill is a relatively new construct in organizational politics research, a large number of theoretical and empirical studies have been conducted. Five major themes were identified in previous research. These are: (a) definition and measurement of political skill; (b) political skill and stress management; (c) political skill and career success; (d) political skill and individual performance; and (e) political skill and leadership effectiveness. This review critically examines previous empirical studies in light of this theoretical background and points out that, although previous empirical studies support the theoretically assumed effects of political skills, they fail to confirm how and why these skills bring about these effects. Based on this examination, the author suggests the examination of mediators and dimensional differences derived from theory that can lead to more effective exploration of the impact of political skill. In addition, several issues for future research are proposed, which may provide useful insights for both literature and practice.     

Getting started as a physician executive

In clinical practice, technical skills often outweigh interpersonal and leadership skills as success factors--you can be a great doctor and a so-so person. But the reverse seems to be true in the physician executive role; it is precisely the intangible leadership skills that contribute to and determine potential success. And they can be tough to master, especially when you focus on them for the first time, partway through an already-successful career. Practicing leadership is like practicing medicine. It's not just a matter of learning some new things--if it were only that, physicians are known to be excellent learners. Nor is it just a matter of determination or application--this is not a battle that sweat and effort alone can win. Most physicians will want to "try on" the executive role before making strategic moves in that direction. But be clear about what you want to get out of any project or activity before you jump in. If you're seeking a management degree, the best approach is to tie together developing your technical and interpersonal skills, as well as the formal credentials.     

Who will lead?

A recent survey conducted by the UCLA Center for Health Services Management and the Physician Executive Practice of Heidrick & Struggles, an executive search firm, sheds light on the emerging physician executive's role. The goal of the research was to identify success factors as a means of evaluating and developing effective industry leaders. Respondents were asked to look at specific skills in relation to nine categories: Communication, leadership, interpersonal skills, self-motivation/management, organizational knowledge, organizational strategy, administrative skills, and thinking. Communication, leadership, and self-motivation/management emerged, in that order, as the three most important success factors for physician executives. An individual's general competencies, work styles, and ability to lead others through organizational restructuring defines his or her appropriateness for managerial positions in the health care industry.     

Utilizing fuzzy compatibility of skill sets for team selection in multi-phase projects

In this paper, a model is developed for the selection of personnel for a multiple phase project which takes into account the match between the skills possessed by each individual, the skills needed for each phase, and rather flexible budget considerations. The algorithm uses the fuzzy construct of compatibility to measure the fit of a person’s skill set to the goal set for each project phase. Based on the individual fuzzy compatibility measures, the team is formed from combined levels of compatibility and acceptable levels of quality defined for the goal set. 1 and 2 present the background information necessary to an understanding of project management phases and compatibility of skills. The development of the model and subsequent algorithm in 3 and 4, respectively rely on fuzzy measures of compatibility. Finally, an application is presented in Section 4 with conclusions stated in Section 5.     

Skill Management in Large‐Scale Service Marketplaces

Large‐scale, web‐based service marketplaces have recently emerged as a new resource for customers who need quick resolutions for their short‐term problems. Due to the temporary nature of the relations between customers and service providers (agents) in these marketplaces, customers may not have an opportunity to assess the ability of an agent before their service completion. On the other hand, the moderating firm has a more sustained relationship with agents, and thus it can provide customers with more information about the abilities of agents through skill screening mechanisms. In this study, we consider a marketplace where the moderating firm can run two skills tests on agents to assess if their skills are above certain thresholds. Our main objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of skill screening as a revenue maximization tool. We, specifically, analyze how much benefit the firm obtains after each additional skill test. We find that skill screening leads to negligible revenue improvements in marketplaces where agent skills are highly compatible and the average service times are similar for all customers. As the compatibility of agent skills weakens or the customers start to vary in their processing time needs, we show that the firm starts to experience sizable improvements in revenue from skill screening. Apparently, the firm can reap the most of these substantial benefits when it runs only one test. For instance, in marketplaces where agents posses uncorrelated skills, the second skill test only brings an additional 2% improvement in revenue. Accounting for possible skill screening costs, we then show the optimality of offering only one test when the compatibility between agent skills is sufficiently low. The results of this study also have important implications in terms of the right level of intervention in the marketplaces we study.     

The influence of learning activity on low-skilled workers’ skill improvement in the South Korean manufacturing industry

The main purpose of this study was to explore how low-skilled worker’s learning activity influences skill improvement. Using a unique 2007 Human Capital Corporate Panel data-set from the South Korean manufacturing industry, we operationalize skill improvement over time among low-skilled workers. A worker is classified as ‘low skilled’ if he or she has a low education level and poor technical skills. Regression models show that low-skilled workers’ informal learning positively influences their skill improvement. In contrast, we note that supervisors negatively influence skill improvement of low-skilled workers when measuring the change in technical skill proficiency. Quality circle programmes also have a positive influence on skill improvement. In conclusion, skills can be improved through planned interventions that increase collaboration on the job. The results from this study help to highlight the importance of designing learning interventions for low-skilled workers that take account of their underlying education and skills.     

The disruptive physician. A quality of professional life factor.

Medical leaders need to understand that attending to quality of professional life issues includes dealing with the insidious costs and stress associated with disruptive physician behavior. The disruptive physician or professional undermines practice morale, heightens turnover in the organization, steals from productive activities, increases the risks for ineffective or substandard practice, and causes distress among colleagues. Physician executives need to help reduce or prevent this behavior and develop accepted systems in which to manage, confront, and rehabilitate the person labeled "disruptive." Suggested strategies to consider in developing a system include: (1) Defining reasonable and competent interpersonal behavior; (2) educating in interpersonal skills; (3) evaluating interpersonal skills; (4) developing disruptive policy; and (5) assessing, confronting, and rehabilitating.     

Skill utilization and well-being: a cross-level story of day-to-day fluctuations and personal intrinsic values

The opportunity to use one's skills at work is an important prerequisite for employee well-being. Drawing on self-determination and person-environment fit theory, this diary study aims to add to our understanding of this important phenomenon in two ways. Firstly, we examine the associations of within-subject daily variations in skill utilization with well-being. Secondly, we model work value orientation as a between-subject factor that moderates this within-subject relationship. Specifically, we advocate that daily skill utilization is more beneficial (in terms of more daily work engagement and less daily emotional exhaustion) for employees holding predominantly intrinsic (i.e. self-development, community contribution) as opposed to extrinsic (i.e. financial success, status) values. Results of multilevel modelling using diary data from 99 service workers over five working days, supported the assumption that daily skill utilization was positively related to daily work engagement, particularly among employees holding a predominantly intrinsic work value orientation. Contrary to our expectations, daily skill utilization was unrelated to daily exhaustion, both for employees holding high and low intrinsic values. The discussion highlights the importance of, and employees’ receptiveness to, variations in beneficial working conditions.     

International Joint Ventures: Partnering Skills and Cross-Cultural Issues

Cooperative activity has become an important element of strategic behaviour and, with increasing globalisation, many alliances are being formed across national boundaries, with the attendant challenges of surmounting linguistic and other cultural barriers. This article provides new perspectives on the partnering skills needed for success in such international joint ventures (IJVs). Based on the analysis of 60 personal interviews from a sample of 20 Anglo-European JVs, four categories of skills are analysed: inter-partner skills, managing the IJV managers, the “upward management” skills of IJV managers managing the ‘parent’ partners, and those of managing the IJV itself. The article presents a matrix to examine the four categories of skill in the context in which each are used. Serving both as an analytical device and a diagnostic tool, this matrix offers results that have important implications for the management of IJVs with regard to the selection and training of managers and the inculcation of the skills required for each level of operation.     

After the revolution: the physician executive of the future

There is a revolution in health care occurring in our midst. The roots of this revolution are explored. The physician executive of the future will need a new set of skills because the health care system will change. This new, evolving set of skills includes being: Savvy about business; simultaneously employer- and customer-focused; and technologically driven. This manager must be a team builder rather than a lone ranger. These skills are learnable, just like piloting a plane or doing a surgery. None of us was born with the skill to practice medicine any more than we were born with business skills. While many physicians are depressed by the present health care climate, feeling a loss of power and a loss in spirit, the vision of the physician manager must carry them and the organizations they build forward through uncharted waters to a future which is every bit as exciting as our past.     

The importance of practical export skills: some evidence from Canadian agribusiness

This paper compares the practical export skills needed by Canadian Agribusiness for sales to the U.S. with those for Overseas markets. Seventy skills in global entrepreneurship, international marketing, international finance, and international trade logistics were ranked and used to gauge the influence of export market on practical international trade skills. The findings show that practical export skill requirements vary substantially by firm and export market. Generally, basic management, marketing, finance, and shipping skills are most important to successful agri-product exporting. Advanced skills in strategic management, export marketing, and export finance are not important to most exporters. Instead, most Canadian agribusiness exporters consider the ability to use international trade specialists to be a key export skill.     

Development and evaluation of cognitive and metacognitive measures for predicting leadership potential

This article describes the development of an on-line computer-based cognitive and metacognitive skill assessment battery (the MLE) designed for assessment and development of high-level executives. The reliability and validity of the skill measures were calculated on a sample of senior officers at the National Defense University, Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Significant criterion-related validity of the MLE assessment battery was obtained, which confirmed the hypothesis regarding the importance of these skills for solving problems involved in high-level executive leadership. The special importance of metacognitive processing and solution construction skills was confirmed.     

Development of leadership skills: Experience and timing

To develop organizational leaders we need to understand how requisite skills are acquired over the course of people's careers. In this article, a cross-sectional design was used to assess differences in leadership skills across six grade levels of officers in the U.S. Army. Increased levels of knowledge, problem-solving skills, systems skills, and social skills were found at higher grade levels. Certain skills and experiences, however, were found to be particularly important at certain phases of leaders' careers. These findings are used to propose an organization-based model of skill development. Implications of this model for leader development programs are discussed.     

Leadership skills for a changing world: Solving complex social problems

Leadership has traditionally been seen as a distinctly interpersonal phenomenon demonstrated in the interactions between leaders and subordinates. The theory of leadership presented in this article proposes that effective leadership behavior fundamentally depends upon the leader's ability to solve the kinds of complex social problems that arise in organizations. The skills that make this type of complex social problem solving possible are discussed. The differential characteristics and career experiences likely to influence the development of these skills also are considered along with the implications of these observations for leadership theory and for the career development of organizational leaders.     

Mitigating the Impact of Functional Dominance in Cross‐Functional Process Improvement Teams

Manufacturing process improvement teams often draw upon cross‐functional expertise. However, teams dominated by a single or few functions often do not achieve the desired interdisciplinary learning and cooperation, which in turn could negatively affect the performance of that cross‐functional team. Through an empirical analysis of 149 manufacturing process improvement teams in six SIC industrial categories, we show that even after controlling for several factors such as team size, number of functions, gender diversity, ethnicity, number of management levels, and geographic dispersion of team members, psychological safety of work environment fully mediates the relationship between functional dominance and team performance. We also confirm that a team leader possessing high interpersonal justice mitigates the deficiency of dominated teams and improves team performance by fostering a psychologically safe work environment. Our recommendation therefore is that when a dominated team is unavoidable due to the needed skill sets or other organizational considerations, to ensure success it is imperative that the firm chooses a team leader who can promote psychological safety by being just, and who can effectively encourage input from all functional team members and give them objective feedback.     

管理技能的因子分析及其对绩效影响的实证研究

本文以在沪三资企业中12家电子制造企业管理人员的有效问卷271份为第一手资料,用因子分析等方法分析了构成这些人员管理技能的四大要素为:领导与激励技能、计划组织与协调技能、决策与创新技能、控制与授权技能;研究的结果表明,并非每项管理技能对提升企业的绩效都起同样的作用。不同绩效企业的管理者对各种管理技能的运用程度是有所不同的。     

Preliminary Validation and Training of Supervisory Interactional Skills

Employee job satisfaction and performance are critical to the effectiveness of an organization. Although satisfaction and performance are not determined in total by a supervisor's interactional skills, it appears that interactional skills can significantly influence employee satisfaction and productivity. This research was conducted to further validate the types of interpersonal skills important in supervisory interactions, and then to evaluate the effectiveness of a supervisory training workshop in improving these aspects of managers' repertoires. In the first study social validation and survey procedures were used to identify supervisory behavior that employees judge to either facilitate or inhibit their job satisfaction and performance. Based on these results, the workshop training program was developed and tested in a second study which revealed a significant improvement in the group of supervisors who underwent training versus a no-training control group. This study provided a preliminary demonstration of the efficacy of using a behavioral training program to improve supervisors' interactional skills judged to be related to an organization's level of satisfaction and performance.