What Executives Perceive they Really Need to Know about Information Systems

Senior executives from 316 firms in Northern Illinois rated information systems topics in terms of their importance to junior executives. The firms were divided into two groups using Nolan's six stages of growth model. Respondents from firms with more mature MIS departments (Nolan's Stages 5 & 6) ranked “Concepts in management and control of MIS” first, while executives from growth oriented firms (Nolan's Stages 1–3) ranked “Creating and using a data base” first.Overall, however, the rankings between the two groups are highly correlated, and results suggest that educators and training directors do not need to provide separate course offerings for members coming from firms in different stages of MIS development. Thus, the information systems topics included in this paper, as ranked by all executives, can be used to develop appropriate programs.