The nature of information technology managerial work: the work life of five chief information officers
MIS Quarterly - Special issue on IS curricula and pedagogy
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This paper describes a more engaging style for future graduate education in IS. An opportunity to adapt the systems development project course, currently run for Honours students by the Department of Information Systems, at the University of Witwatersrand, emerged as a result of a growing recognition to emphasise the soft practice of the IS Practitioner. These changes were partly inspired by recent work conducted by leading management academic, Henry Mintzberg. Minztberg criticised management development approaches for overdeveloping a student's analytical ability while failing to address softer aspects. Although the blending of pedagogical approaches to address this critical gap is in its embryonic phase, including more authentic pedagogies is expected to increase the effectiveness of the students' preparedness for real-world challenges. In contrast to technological pedagogical advances which emphasises space rather than place, this paper promotes deeper social and experiential approaches. Increasing the student's understanding that the IS Practice is largely a social and facilitating activity is expected to significantly increase the future educative value of IS.