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Managing IT professionals in a global environment

Organizations are facing a world which is becoming increasingly more global and where many are now forced to operate in a cross-cultural environment. For the Multinational company (MNC) this implies the development of corporate personnel policies which can be effected and effective in a multi-cultural environment. This is particularly relevant to Information Technology (IT) personnel who, by the very nature of their job, have to participate in the development of Information Systems (IS) that transcend cultural barriers.The effective deployment of IT staff has long been an issue of concern coupled with the scarcity of IT professionals in many countries. The global nature of IS, however, also implies the formation of multi-cultural project teams where management must take into account the different expectations and motivational patterns of IT staff worldwide. The problem has intensified with the growing utilization of outsourcing as a means of supplying cheaper trained IT staff.This article reports on a cross-cultural study which addresses some of these issues. The study examines the career expectations of IT undergraduates with the perceived reality of the IT profession through the eyes of graduates. Hong Kong based IT professionals are compared at both stages of the study against their United States counterparts. Not only is there a severe mismatch between the expectations and their realization but significant differences exist between the two cultures. These differences relate both to staff development needs and management approaches. This has a number of implications for IT personnel policies and for IT management worldwide.