Managerial Academia: Towards the Harmonization of the Profession
Kevin Grant, Ray Hackney, David Edgar
This paper seeks to identify the contemporary workofacademics in a rapidlychangingdynamic university environment. In particular, observations are made on the nature ofscholarship and its relevancefor the harmonisation ofteaching, research, and consultancy relative to the profession. Academics currently face a number ofsignificant challenges in their professionalactivities requiring multiple roles, which needto be balancedagainstdiverse andcompetingdemands. The argument within the paper is to propose the salient adoption and recognition ofthe true nature ofscholarship as a vehicle to combine these multiple roles. An exemplar ofthe work ofinformation management academics is provided as a basis for further characterisation andfuture trends.
John H. Bradley is an associate professor of management information systems in the Department of Decision Sciences at East Carolina University. His research interests as knowledge-based systems, case-based reasoning, te performance, and IS implementation, and organizational impact. Dr. Bradley has published injournals such as Expert Systems with Applications, Heuristics, Small Group Research, and others. He may be reached by email a bradleyj@rnail.ecu.edu.
Kevin Grant is a senior lecturer within the Division of Business Information Management, Caledonian Business School, Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland. He is an active researcher and publishes nationally and internationally in the areas of information systems, electronic business, learning and teaching and his current research is exploring the nexus between teaching and research in information systems. Dr. Grant has taught on a range ofpost graduate, professional, and undergraduate courses in business and information systems. He is a member of the Institute of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, the AssociationofInformation Systems, and the United Kingdom Academy of Information Systems. Dr. Grant has undertaken a number of large-scale consultancy projects mainly in the Scottish financial sector andhas severalyears' management experience.
Ray Hackney is director of Business Information Technology Research within the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He has contributed extensively to research in the field of information systems with publications in numerous national and international conferences and journals. Dr. Hackney has taught on a number ofMBA progrannnes including MMU, Manchester Business School and the Open University. He leads the organising committee for the annual BIT and BITWorId Conference series and is a member ofthe Strategic ManagementSociety and Association ofInformation Systems. Dr. Hackney has served on the board ofthe UK Academy for Information Systems since 1997 and was also the vice president research for IRMA (USA) and currently Associate Editor of the JGIM, JEUC, JLIM, and ACITM. His research interests are the strategic management of eBusiness within a variety of organisational context. Dr. Hackney was president of the Information Resource Management Association (IRMA) during 2001/2002 and is now an executive member of the Information Institute www.information-illstitute.org.
David Edgar is the head ofDivision ofBusiness Information Management at Caledonian Business School, Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland. He is an active researcher in strategic management and knowledge management, with particular interests in the nature of value creation in organizations, talent management, and the role ofknowledge and knowledge management. Dr. Edgar's most current research has revolved around the strategic use of knowledge and talent management to gain and sustain competitive advantage and the revision of business approaches in a knowledge driven economy. He has been involved in a range of consultancy projects focusing on value creation in hotel companies and is a founder member ofthe Knowledge Cluster Scotland. A recent triumph has been the development of a Knowledge Management Research Studio in the Division which supports further research into the application of Knowledge Management, innovation and Learning in various Business and organizational contexts.
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