But because the lack of IT staff can delay or result in the cancellation of critical campus projects, the problem today is viewed as a systemic one. There may have been a time when the skills of IT personnel in the academic arena were so specialized and unique that they were not particularly saleable in the broader marketplace, but that is no longer the case. Finding and keeping qualified IT professionals is increasingly a challenge for our colleges and universities. When campuses do attract people to IT positions, they often are required to pay these individuals salaries that are substantially higher than those paid to current staff. As a result, salary compression and, ultimately, equity issues arise, and IT staff with marketable skills leave for greener pastures, creating a vicious circle.
Collaboration is one avenue for effectively confronting the IT staffing challenge.
A focus group of IT and HR professionals began their discussions by agreeing that there was, indeed, a problem. The group shared ideas for possible strategies to meet these challenges . Collaboration is at the heart of leadership practice in the 21st century. Leading in an Interdependent World . We need to articulate our joint concerns, identify our common goals, and build mechanisms to address the issues, which are best advanced by dialogue between our two constituencies.