Workplace Briefly Describe Your Current

¶ … Workplace

Briefly describe your current workplace or a workplace that you have recently been part of but no longer are. (By workplace, I mean the place where you do most of your work on a daily basis. I do not mean the larger organization in which your workplace is located. Most large organizations - like each of the military services - have thousands and perhaps tens of thousands of "workplaces" around the world.)

My current workplace is comprised of a cubicle with a networked 3-year-old Dell systems desktop computer with word processing suite, PowerPoint, SPSS, a printer/scanner/fax machine and other peripheral devices; comparable systems are used by almost all other employees as well. In addition, a portable Internet-enabled notebook computer is also used to keep in touch with the office while I am away.

What elements of information technology (i.e. particular hardware, software, and telecommunications equipment) are essential to the daily functioning of your workplace. (If your workplace would cease to function or would function much less effectively if the information system disappeared, it qualifies as "essential." ) What does it take to keep this system up and running?

The IT system that is currently is analogous to a well-running automobile. It is possible to keep the car running if a tire or brake is removed, but it will not get far. Virtually all of the current elements of information technologies in use at this company are absolutely essential to the conduct of the company's business operations. We could, perhaps, do away with the less essential elements of the system, such as printers, but ultimately hard copies of the digital versions that are shared would be required for some application.

If you could choose a single element of an information system (i.e. hardware, software, telecommunications equipment) in your workplace to replace or upgrade, what would it be and why would you choose it? How likely do you think it is that this element of an information system will be replaced or upgraded? Why?

This may be the "Digital Age," but the Internet still moves at the speed of molasses sometimes and the single element that needs to be replaced in the current information system is the Dell desktop computer. Not only does the Internet interface operate slowly most of the time, it has insufficient random access memory to use the copy of Dragon speech-recognition software purchased by the company for all its employees, making this particular investment worthless for all workers with similar computers. This latest fiasco may be the catalyst that is required to persuade the company's IT department that new desktop computers are needed.

Part 2-Page 2:

Problem Solving and Report Writing

Some people would argue that the most important task for IT managers is to be able to solve IT problems and that the most important skills for IT managers to possess are strong technical skills. These same people often downplay the importance of critical analytical or writing skills for IT managers. Where do you stand on this issue? How important are critical analytical and writing skills to IT problem solving?

One of the biggest constraints to effective IT management is effective written communications. The world of IT management is replete with technical terms and jargon that are well-known to practitioners but may appear as so much arcane nonsense to others unless careful steps are taken to use appropriate easy-to-understand technical terminology and crystal-clear messages that overcome these constraints (Yalvac, Smith, Troy & Hirsch, 2007). Indeed, the most innovative ideas in the world will not get off the drawing board unless the decisions-makers who are involved in the approval process can be convinced of their viability so they can be translated into reality (Garrison, Harvey & Napier, 2008). For instance, according to Yalvac and his associates, IT professionals must "develop the ability to synthesize research findings in a meaningful way, represent data effectively in graphs and tables, and craft a coherent, persuasive argument" because "these skills are precisely what professionals need in order to write effectively" (2008, p. 118). Writing effectively is also therefore the key to problem solving in the IT industry. It is certainly one thing to pinpoint a problem but it is an entirely different matter to harness the organizational resources that are needed to remedy the problem if a compelling case is not made for it.