Communication skills of technical professionals

Abstract

The business community has frequently complained about the poor quality of college graduates' communication skills, with information systems and computer science graduates often criticized most severely. The purpose of this research was to investigate and analyze the communication skills of information systems (IS) personnel in terms of current and desired skill levels as perceived by their managers. This paper presents a survey of IS managers which revealed findings concerning: (1) the perceived importance of communication skills to technical professionals, (2) the perceived communication skills levels of these employees as compared to those of employees in nontechnical fields, and (3) the expected levels of communication skills of college graduates in technical fields. For example, the findings reconfirm the need for more communication skills education and training for IS students. The findings and their implications for graduates and professionals in technical fields are discussed.