Abstract
Many companies report a knowledge gap between users of information systems and their developers. In the 1980s, this led to the popularity of the concept of hybrid managers with a working knowledge of business and computing. A number of degree courses were established to provide graduates educated for this role.
Initial response from UK industry and Government were enthusiastic. In 1985, The IT Institute (ITI) was established at the University of Salford with £1.5 million in sponsorship from the Government and Industry. In practice, many of the principles had been established in the earlier BIT degree programme at Lancashire Business School. A Government report in 1987 recommended the establishment of 20 other similar establishments. In 1988, the Institute won an award for the quality of training provided for ICL managers based upon its expertise in hybrid management education.
Since then, a number of factors have led to a decline in hybrid management undergraduate education. Indeed, the term `hybrid manager’ has fallen into disrepute.
This paper argues that the need for this type of education is greater than ever. It presents a SWOT-style analysis of hybrid management education programmes, based upon the authors’ collective experience of fifteen years teaching at the ITI and the Department of Business Information Management at the Lancashire Business School.
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Keywords
- Chief Information Officer
- Postgraduate Medical Education
- Business Knowledge
- Hybrid Manager
- Software Quality Management
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Gillies, A., Greenwood, T. (1997). Educating to bridge the knowledge gap: hybrid management undergraduate education 1985–1995. In: Barta, BZ., Tatnall, A., Juliff, P. (eds) The Place of Information Technology in Management and Business Education. IFIP — The International Federation for Information Processing. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35089-9_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35089-9_9
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