To: ilead@MIT.EDU
Subject: FYI: Behavioral Skills
Date: Thu, 05 Mar 1998 08:00:32 EST
From: Mike Barker <mbarker@MIT.EDU>

Given a "menu" of 18 behavioral skills, how do you decide which ones
are the most important for you to work on acquiring or developing?
How should an organization decide which ones to work on improving?

If you had the time, you might ask experienced IS professionals which
ones they consider the most important, and then focus on those.

That's exactly what this report is about.  Jiang, Klein, and Margulis
have taken a list of 18 behavioral skills from earlier work by Green
and surveyed 118 IS professionals in 6 large organizations.

Before looking at the results, you might want to read through the list
and rank them yourself--which ones do you think are the most important
for you?

    1.  Diplomacy: Being able to say "no" without being too blunt;
    displaying tact in dealing with others 
    
    2.  Interviewing: Asking the right questions in order to obtain
    the information needed 
    
    3.  Directing: Giving instructions and communicating user
    requirements to programming and support staff 
    
    4.  Patience: Continually refining user requirements by requesting
    feedback; tolerating lack of computer literacy and specificity 
    
    5.  Assertiveness: Insisting on a course of action or what one
    believes in, even though it may be unpopular 
    
    6.  Leadership: Getting work done while keeping the team
    satisfied; effectively giving rewards and punishment 
    
    7.  Speaking: Presenting your ideas in a manner easily understood
    by your audience, both in group meetings and person to person 
    
    8.  Writing: Preparing written documents that accurately
    communicate ideas in a manner easily understood by intended
    readers 
    
    9.  Listening: Paying attention to and concentrating on what is
    being said, and asking questions that refine points about which
    one is uncertain 
    
    10.  Empathy: Being able to understand how others feel; accurately
    determining what someone else things about an issue 
    
    11.  Sales: Promoting the system you advocate; persuading others
    to accept your viewpoint 
    
    12.  Politics: Understanding what motivates individuals;
    determining sources of power and influence in an organization 
    
    13.  Managing: Planning, organizing and controlling projects so
    that they get done on schedule and within budget 
    
    14.  Training: Educating users and other nontechnical groups on
    the capabilities of computers and systems 
    
    15.  Cooperation: Working with others productively; resolving
    conflict in an effective manner 
    
    16.  Organizational Communications: Having a broad view of company
    goals and operations; knowing the orientation of senior management
    
    17.  Nonverbal Communications: Reinforcing the message to others
    through gestures and expressions 
    
    18.  Sensitivity: Being aware of the implications of design and
    change for the user community

Source: Green, G.I. (1989) Perceived importance of system analysts'
job skills, roles, and non-salary incentives. MIS Quarterly, 13(1),
115-133.

The results of the survey (from most important to least):

1.  Interviewing
2.  Directing
3.  Managing
4.  Speaking
5.  Listening
6.  Writing
7.  Cooperation
8.  Patience
9.  Leadership
10.  Sensitivity
11.  Diplomacy
12.  Training
13.  Empathy
14.  Organizational Communications
15.  Politics
16.  Sales
17.  Assertiveness
18.  Nonverbal Communications

"The highest-ranked Information System (IS) project success factor is
having a competent project manager.  Good IS project managers know
that if they are to get the job done, they must possess or develop
both technical and behavioral skills.  Although there are several
views on the critical skill needs of IS project managers, there is
little question about the importance of selecting a project manager
who is technically, interpersonally, and administratively skilled."

Important Behavioral Skills for IS Project Managers: The Judgments of
Experienced IS Professionals by Jiang, Klien, and Margulis

P. 39 of Project Management Journal, March 1998