Combining Operations Management and Information Systems Curricula: Assessing Alumni Preparations for the Workforce

The purpose of this study is to explore how well a curriculum that combines operations management and information systems uniquely prepares students for the workforce. To address our research questions, a Web-based survey was developed. We sent our survey to 203 alumni that graduated from the Department of Operations Management and Information Systems at Northern Illinois University. We assess alumni perceptions of how well our department prepared them in general and technical skills as well as how important these skills were in their current position. We investigate factors useful in predicting preparedness for both general business and technical skills. Overall, students felt prepared in most of the important skills we studied. We also found a significant positive relationship between alumni-perceived importance of general and technical skills and perceived preparedness for those skills. More recent graduates felt the most prepared for both general business and technical skills. Our findings highlight the importance of general skills for future advancement and caution educators against overemphasizing currently popular technical tools at the expense of teaching the more general business skills. Results presented here provide new knowledge for curriculum designers at the intended institution and lessons for other schools. This research also provides a methodology or process that can be repeated at other institutions that combine information systems with operations management, or with other functions such as decision sciences or accounting. An implication of the results is that schools redesigning their programs may want to consider a curriculum that combines operations management and information systems.