Eventually,
it will happen. There
are indications it has already begun.
The
long-awaited economic boom in the
U.S.
appears
to be on the horizon.
A recent cover story in Time
magazine (November 24, 2003) on the “jobless
recovery” pointed to key indicators of increased
hiring, and in March of 2004 the U.S. economy added
308,000 jobs – the highest monthly increase in four
years! Dr.
Sung Won Sohn, Executive VP and Chief Economic Officer
of Wells Fargo Banks and cited by Bloomberg
magazine as one of the nation’s most accurate
economic growth forecasters, says companies that began
to see recovery in 2003 have finally started to spend
money on computers and updating other technology and
will soon start hiring again.
Already
we see evidence of this.
In the six months between April and September,
2003, jobs relating to computer software at career
website Monster.com rose 39%.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics (March, 2004), employers reported 4,900 new
computer-systems design and related service jobs. Greg
Jacobson, branch manager for Robert Half Technology,
says companies are now considering hiring additional
software developers to begin projects that have been
on hold for years.
“There’s going to be a release of pent-up
demand,” Jacobson predicts.
What
effects will the economic boom have on IT
professionals and their employers?
As researchers, how can we anticipate and pave
the way for this transition and the uncharted
landscape ahead? How
can prior theory and research help to predict symptoms
and reactions related to the boom?
How might the ramifications of this boom extend
or refine existing theory regarding IT professionals
and their management?
For
example, during the tough times from which we
hopefully are emerging, many employers eliminated
bonus programs and other employee perks that had
popped up during the 1990s and enacted pay cuts, wage
freezes, and layoffs.
The emphasis on cost-cutting over employee
morale and work environment may have made many workers
less loyal to their employers.
Indeed, a 2004 survey of 1,200 workers by
Watson Wyatt & Co. found that overall employee
commitment levels have dropped since 2002.
So when the economic boom hits and jobs are
plentiful, employees may bolt for the door.
Roger Herman, author of the book Impending
Crisis: Too Many Jobs, Too Few People, predicts
that “employers who have been treating their
employees shabbily are going to find their best
workers leaving” (quoted in the St.
Louis Post-Dispatch,
April 5, 2004
).
On
the other hand, offshore outsourcing adds complexity
to the picture of IT employment.
Technology industry analyst Forrester Research
predicts that 3.3 million
U.S.
service
industry jobs – many in IT – will move offshore in
the next 15 years and suggests this will take $136
billion in wages and will slow wage growth (Time cover story,
November
24, 2003
).
At Computer Associates International’s annual
partner conference in July of 2003, Dr. Henry
Kissinger suggested the need for a national policy in
the
U.S.
to
deal with the disturbing development of accelerated
offshore migration of programming jobs and other IT
services-related positions.
In
view of all this, the SIGMIS CPR 2005 conference will
consider how prior – and new – theory and research
can help to predict events and elucidate factors that
can inhibit or encourage certain behaviors and
reactions in relation to IT and the impending economic
boom.
You
are invited to submit theoretical or empirical papers,
tutorials, and panel proposals related to this theme
of the SIGMIS CPR 2005 conference, or to the general
research themes of SIGMIS and CPR. Suggested topics
include but are not limited to:
 | Effects
of the impending economic boom on IT in non-U.S.
countries
|
| How
the impending economic boom might affect the trend
toward IT outsourcing by
U.S.
and
European firms
|
| How
outsourcing may alter the effect of the economic
boom on IT hiring compared to hiring in other
fields
|
| Effects
of the impending economic boom on IT recruitment
and selection
|
| Ways
the impending economic boom may affect decisions
regarding internal vs. external and permanent vs.
temporary hiring in IT and the assignment of these
different types of personnel to particular jobs
and duties
|
| Effects
of the impending economic boom on IT compensation,
benefits, and perks
|
| Effects
of the impending economic boom on turnover and
retention of IT personnel
|
| Effects
of the impending economic boom on productivity and
performance of IT workers
|
| Leveraging
compensation and other HR mechanisms (e.g.,
training and development) to head off some of the
potential effects of the impending economic boom
deemed undesirable (such as potential increases in
IT turnover, decreases in productivity or
performance, and difficulties in recruitment)
|
Submissions may be in the form of one or more of the
following: completed research paper, description of
research in progress, industry case study, or proposal
for panel discussion or tutorial. Research
papers must be original, unpublished elsewhere, in the
style of MIS Quarterly, and no longer than 5000
words. Include an abstract with the body of the
full paper. Research in progress submissions
must be no longer than 2000 words in length and
include a one-page abstract. Panel and tutorial
proposals must include the names and affiliations of
panelists who have agreed to participate and a 1-2
page summary of the topic, including a description of
how the session will be structured. Industry
case studies may report specific strategies being
employed or under development to address the theme of
the conference and should be no longer than 3500
words. All submissions will be blind reviewed.
Submissions must be received by
November 8, 2004
.
Please e-mail your submission as an attachment in Word 97/200x or
RTF format to Program Co-Chair Susan Yager at syager@siue.edu.
Accepted papers will be published in the
refereed conference proceedings to be distributed at
the conference. Full papers will be published in
their entirety. Extended abstracts will be
published for panel discussions, tutorials, and
research-in-progress papers. Authors of accepted
papers will have the opportunity to make revisions
prior to submitting a final version.
At least one author of each paper is required
to attend the conference personally to present their
paper.
Proceedings of the SIGMIS CPR conference are
included in the ACM Digital Library!
http://portal.acm.org/dl.cfm
Also please consider volunteering
to serve on the Program
Committee for the 2005 conference. Members of the
Program Committee serve as reviewers and assist in
identifying session chairs and discussants. If you
would like to serve on the Program Committee, please
contact Program Co-Chair Jo Ellen Moore at joemoor@siue.edu.
SIGMIS
CPR 2005 Conference Committee
Conference Chair:
Mike Gallivan,
Georgia
State
University
Program Co-Chairs:
Jo Ellen Moore and Susan E. Yager, Southern Illinois
University,
Edwardsville
Local Arrangements:
Ephraim
McLean
,
Georgia
State
University
Treasurer:
Laurie
Schatzberg
,
University
of
New
Mexico
Publicity:
Manju
Ahuja
,
Indiana
University
Bloomington
Submission
Deadline:
October 15, 2004
November 8, 2004
Decision to Authors:
December
17, 2004
Camera
Ready Copy Due:
January 21, 2005
