The need for training in telecommunications: a comparison of the marketing managers' and information systems managers' viewpoints

Reports the results of a recent study of marketing and information systems (IS) managers about the importance of telecommunications in their positions and the quality of their training in telecommunications. Surprisingly, the marketing managers rated the importance of the 30 telecommunications issues in their positions higher than the IS managers. Yet, the marketing managers expressed more dissatisfaction with their telecommunications training in these issues than the IS manager. The researchers computed training need as the difference between the importance of the issue and the quality of training on that issue. Although the marketing manager had a substantially higher training need than the IS manager, there was remarkable agreement on the issues on which both groups of managers want additional training. They seek training on the managerial issues, such as data integrity, the use of telecommunications for a competitive advantage, strategic planning of telecommunications and data security.