Development and Career Opportunities of IT Professionals: The Virtuous Cycle
Fernando Paulo Belfo
Conference Paper in the 2nd International Conference on Managing Services in the Knowledge Economy, MSKE 2011, Lusíada University, Famalicão, Portugal. 13-15 July, 2011
Abstract:
One consequence of the Knowledge-Based Economy (KBE) is that organizations will need more qualified professionals. These workers should be sufficiently educated with new and specific knowledge, appropriate approach about knowledge processes, ability to use and expand supporting tools like knowledge management systems and also an open-minded with regard to knowledge acquisition. KBE is typically supported by services; therefore, supported by Information and Technology (IT) and its professionals. Consequently, this potentiate the offer of some new career opportunities to IT staff. Specific incentives may be added to general policy trying to capture or keep talents and skills. Besides traditional monetary compensation, other specific dimensions may represent special incentives, like the development of new skills. Studies found this may represent one important job characteristic by IT employees. Motivated, IT professionals may better support business, contributing to a higher business and IT alignment and so, contributing to improve organizational productivity and competitiveness. This article proposes the possibility to create and stimulate a virtuous cycle, taking into account one main objective: the creation of value to the firm. This virtuous cycle is composed by four steps: (1) productivity and competitiveness enhancement, (2) knowledge skill’s expansion, (3) reinforcement of IT staff incentives and (4) business and IT alignment. Article shows interconnections between achievements, research gaps and future research directions in order to advance research and practice about development and career opportunities of IT professionals.
Keywords: Career Opportunities, Knowledge-Based Economy, Human Resource Management, Recruiting and Retention of IS Professionals, Training
Pages number: 225-233
Publisher: CLEGI - Centro Lusíada de Investigação e Desenvolvimento em Engenharia e Gestão Industrial
Editores: Prof. Doutor Rui Silva e Prof. Doutor Eduardo Tomé
ISBN: 978-989-640-103-0 (Book) | Legal Deposit: 330838/11