PREPARING STUDENTS FOR THE IS PROFESSION: DESIGNING AND ASSESSING A PROFESSIONAL READINESS PROGRAM

Numerous studies have highlighted the importance of relational and professional competencies for the information systems (IS) profession. Preparing IS students to be ready for their profession requires the development of competencies that are not often part of the standard disciplinary curriculum. Yet dedicating an entire course to professionalism can be a challenge due to resource and curriculum requirement constraints. In this paper, we describe a pilot project for a “Professional Readiness” program that was designed and implemented to provide an extracurricular resource for undergraduate students. We provide evidence of the program’s effectiveness, as well as lessons learned for developing and refining Professional Readiness programs for IS students

Leadership in Virtual Teams: An Exploratory Study

This paper discusses a “research in progress” study. Exploratory research is presently being conducted to learn more about the role of leadership in distributed teams. Thirteen distributed teams are being studied over a period of fifteen weeks. Each team consists of four members. The participants in the study are distance learners in an executive MBA program. The study will combine qualitative and quantitative research methods to address the following questions: Are there common characteristics associated with leadership emergence in distributed teams (e.g., trust)?; What strategies (e.g., communication behaviors) do emerging leaders use to establish leadership and lead others in a distributed environment?; and Do leadership characteristics have an impact on distributed team performance