“Excellent” systems analysts: key audience perceptions

ABSTRACT

Within the context of the desire to address the concerns of the software crisis, a research project was initiated to identify the skills and personal characteristics of "excellent" systems analysts. The project included 53 participants from 2 companies representing 5 groups or Audiences of individuals who interact with systems analysts. The data, gathered using Kelly's RepGrid technique, represent Audience perceptions of what constitutes an "excellent" systems analyst. Overall, the more important aspects, or Themes, which emerged from the data include communicate, attitude, knowledge, investigate, and experience. These common themes are referred to as "universals". The detailed interpretations of these aspects, as determined from the research data, varied amongst the Audiences and seem to reflect Audience objectives. For instance, User Audiences emphasized content related aspects, such as knowledge. Systems analyst and their supervisors, however, tended to differentiate on process related aspects, such as investigate. Each Audience and each corporation involved in this project had its own interpretation of the relative importance of what constitutes an "excellent" systems analyst. Thus, the importance of each "universal" has a "local" relative value.

REFERENCES

• 1: Arvey, Richard D. and Joseph C. Hoyle, "Evaluating Computing Personnel". Datamation, July, 1973, pp. 147- 150.
• 2: Arvey, Richard D. and Joseph C. Hoyle, "A Guttman Approach to the Development of Behaviorally Based Rating Scales for Systems Analysts and Programmer/Analysts." Journal of Applied Psychology. Vol. 59, No. 1, 1974, pp. 61-68.
• 3: Elias M. Awad, Systems Analysis and Design, McGraw-Hill Professional, 1985
• 4: Bannister, D. and J.M.M. Mair. The Evaluation of Personal Constructs. New York, Academic Press, Inc. 1968.
• 5: Barrett, Robert A. and Bruce C. Davis. "Successful Systems Analysts Hone Their Communication Skills". Data Management, April, 1986, pp. 18.
• 6: Benbasat, Izak, Albert S. Dexter and Robert W. Mantha. "Impact of Organizational Maturity on Information System Skill Needs". MIS Quarterly, March, 1980, pp. 21-34.
• 7: Barry W. Boehm, Software Engineering Economics, Prentice Hall PTR, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1981
• 8: Botten, Nancy, Andrew Kusiak and Tzvi Raz. "Knowledge Bases: Integration, Verification, and Partitioning". European Journal of Operations Research, Vol. 42, No. 2, September 25, 1989, pp. 111-128.
• 9: Buie, Elizabeth A. "Personality and System Development What's the Connection". System Development, Vol. 8, No. 1, January, 1988, p. 1.
• 10: O. H. Cheney, Information systems skills requirements: 1980 & 1988, Proceedings of the ACM SIGCPR conference on Management of information systems personnel, p.1-7, April 07-08, 1988, College park, Maryland, United States [doi>10.1145/57216.57217]
• 11: Cheney, Paul H., David P. Hale and George M. Kasper. "Information Systems Professionals: Skills for the 1990s" in Sprague, Ralph H. Jr. (Ed.). Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences. Washington, D.C., IEEE Computer Society Press, 1989, pp. 331-336.
• 12: Cheney, Paul H. and Norman R. Lyons. "Information Systems Skill Requirements: A Survey". MIS Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 1, March, 1980, pp. 35-43.
• 13: Corsini, Raymond and Anthony J. Marsella. Personality Theories, Research and Assessment. Itasca, Illinois, Peacock Publishers, Inc., 1983.
• 14: J. Daniel Couger, Motivators vs. demotivators in the IS environment, Journal of Systems Management, v.39 n.6, p.36-41, June 1988
• 15: J. D. Couger , H. Adelsberger, Environments: Austria compared to the United States, ACM SIGCPR Computer Personnel, v.11 n.4, p.13-17, Sept. 1988 [doi>10.1145/54127.54131]
• 16: Couger, J. Daniel, Israel Borovitz and Moshe Zviran. "Comparison of Motivating Environments for Programmer/Analysts and Programmers in the U.S., Israel and Singapore", in Sprague, Ralph H. Jr. (Ed.). Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences. Washington, D.C., IEEE Computer Society Press, 1989, pp. 316-323.
• 17: Couger, J. Daniel, Robert A. Zawacki and Edward B. Oppermann. "Motivation Levels of MIS Managers Versus Those of Their Employees". MIS Quarterly, Vol. 3, 1979.
• 18: Crocker, Patricia Susan. Systems Analysts - Training and Experience. Manchester, England, NCC Publications, 1984.
• 19: Cropper, Steve, Colin Eden, and Fran Ackermann. "Keeping Sense of Accounts Using Computer-Based Cognitive Maps". Social Science Computer Review, Duke University Press, Fall, 1990, pp. 345-366.
• 20: Gordon B. Davis , Margrethe H. Olson, Management information systems: conceptual foundations, structure, and development (2nd ed.), McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York, NY, 1984
• 21: Eden, Colin and Sue Jones. "Using Repertory Grids for Problem Construction". Journal of Operations Research, Vol. 35, No. 9, 1984, pp. 799-798.
• 22: Eden, Colin and Gordon Wheaten. In Favour of Structure. Centre for the Study of Organization Change and Development, University of Bath. Working Paper 80/06. 1980.
• 23: Ein-Dor, P. and E. Segev. "Attitudes, Association and Success of MIS: Some Empirical Results from Research in the Context of a Business Game". The Computer Journal. Vol. 29, No. 3, 1986, pp. 212-221.
• 24: Fransella, Fay (Ed.) Personality-Theory, Measurement and Research. New York, Methuen and Co., 1981.
• 25: A.-M. Garden, Behavioural and organisational factors involved in the turnover of high tech professionals, ACM SIGCPR Computer Personnel, v.11 n.4, p.6-9, Sept. 1988 [doi>10.1145/54127.54129]
• 26: A.-M. Garden, Maintaining the spirit of excitement in growing companies, ACM SIGCPR Computer Personnel, v.11 n.4, p.10-12, Sept. 1988 [doi>10.1145/54127.54130]
• 27: Glaser, Barney G. and Anselm L. Strauss. The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. New York, Aldine De Gruyter, 1967.
• 28: Goldstein, David K. and John F. Rockart. "An Examination of Work-Related Correlates of Job Satisfaction in Programmer Analysts". MIS Quarterly, June, 1984.
• 29: Patricia J. Guinan, Patterns of Excellence for Is Professionals: An Analysis of Communication Behavior, International Ctr. For Information Technologies, 1988
• 30: Hunter, M. Gordon. The Essence of "Excellent" Systems Analysts: Perceptions of Five Key Audiences, Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Management Sciences, Strathclyde Business School, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, 1992.
• 31: Hunter, M. Gordon. "A Strategy for Identifying "Excellent" Systems Analysts". The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Vol. 2, No. 1, March 1993, pp. 15- 26.
• 32: Donna Hussain , Khateeb M. Hussain, Managing Computer Resources, McGraw-Hill Professional, 1988
• 33: Jenkins, A. Milton. "Research Methodologies and MIS Research', Chapter 6, in Mumford, Enid, et.al (Eds.) Research Methods in Information Systems. Amsterdam, North-Holland, 1985, pp. 103-117.
• 34: Kelly, G.A. The Psychology of Personal Constructs. Norton, New York, 1955.
• 35: Kelly, G.A. A Theory of Personality. Norton, New York, 1963.
• 36: Penny A. Kendall, Introduction to Systems Analysis and Design: A Structured Approach, Business & Educational Technologies, 1992
• 37: Latta, Gail F. and Keith Swigger. "Validation of the Repertory Grid for Use in Modelling Knowledge". Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Vol. 42, No. 2, March 1992, pp. 115-129.
• 38: Kenneth C. Laudon , Jane P. Laudon, Management Information Systems: A Contemporary Perspective, Prentice Hall PTR, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1993
• 39: Litecky, Charles R. "Better Interviewing Skills". Journal of Systems Management, June, 1985, pp: 36-39.
• 40: Michael L Lyons, The DP psyche, Datamation, v.31 n.16, p.103-110, Aug. 15, 1985
• 41: Maxwell, Paul David. A Critical Analysis of the Personal Characteristics of Successful Information Systems Analysts. Ph.D. Dissertation, Boston University, 1986.
• 42: D. J. McCubbray, The systems analyst of the 1990's, Proceedings of the ACM SIGCPR conference on Management of information systems personnel, p.8-16, April 07-08, 1988, College park, Maryland, United States [doi>10.1145/57216.57218]
• 43: Pervin, Lawrence A. Personality - Theory and Research. 5th Ed. New York, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1989.
• 44: Phythian, Gary John and Malcolm King. "Developing and Expert System for Tender Enquiry Evaluation: A Case Study". European Journal of Operations Research, Vol. 56, No. 1, January 10, 1992, pp. 15-29.
• 45: Reason, Peter and John Rowan, (Ed.). Human Inquiry - A Sourcebook of New Paradigm Research. Chichester, England, John Wiley and Sons. 1981.
• 46: Rush, Gary. "A Fast Way to Define System Requirements". Computerworld, Vol. XIX, 40, October 7, 1985.
• 47: James A. Senn, Analysis and Design of Information Systems, McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York, NY, 1990
• 48: Mildred L. G. Shaw, On Becoming a Personal Scientist: Interactive Computer Elicitation of Personal Models of the World, Academic Press, Inc., Orlando, FL, 1980
• 49: D. C. Smith, The personality of the systems analyst: an investigation, ACM SIGCPR Computer Personnel, v.12 n.2, p.12-14, December 1989 [doi>10.1145/1036387.1036389]
• 50: Steward, Valerie and Andrew Stewart. Business Applications of Repertory Grid, London, McGraw-Hill Ltd., 1981.
• 51: Nicholas P. Vitalari , Gary W. Dickson, Problem solving for effective systems analysis: an experimental exploration, Communications of the ACM, v.26 n.11, p.948-956, Nov. 1983 [doi>10.1145/182.358458]
• 52: Vitalari, Nicholas P. "Knowledge as a Basis for Expertise in Systems Analysis: An Empirical Study". MIS Quarterly, September, 1985, pp. 221-241.
• 53: West, Brian G. Business Systems Overview. Manchester, The National Computing Centre Limited, 1984.
• 54: Edward Yourdon, Modern structured analysis, Yourdon Press, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1989

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.1 MODELS AND PRINCIPLES

Additional Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.6 MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
      K.6.1 Project and People Management
          Subjects: Systems analysis and design
  K.7 THE COMPUTING PROFESSION

General Terms:
Human Factors, Management, Measurement, Performance