Importance Of Interpersonal Skills And Professional Conduct In The ICT Industry

The significance of interpersonal skills in the ICT industry

Write about the Reflective Essay for Journal of Curriculum and Teaching.

My goal in enrolling for the PIIT degree was to improve how I  relate with employees and clients.  Interpersonal skill are the first thing that a manager will notice about a person in the IT field.  This is both during the initial phone interview and also during the subsequent in person interviews (Dolezel and Morrison, 2017).  I have realized that the course enables an IT professional like me to know what is expected of you in the field of It. For example, the ability to make an appropriate eye contact, a smile and give a good handshake are some of the skills that have been impacted on those who have studied this course (Lang, et al, 2018).

Moreover, this course enables ICT professionals like me to teach the younger generation on the efficiency and productivity of the use of ICT resources and resources has far outstripped their teachers-mentors. Today it has become common that schoolchildren, and sometimes even advanced preschoolers themselves often teach their parents, grandparents, teachers "wisdom" in the development of ICT (Mishra, Boynton and Mishra, 2014). ICT became indispensable for interpersonal communication of the younger generation in social networks. It is impossible today to imagine a child, especially a teenager - a resident of an urban settlement, without a mobile phone or tablet, without contact with his remote (by access), but informal, social environment. Without  electricity and without a working receiving device (telephone), if it is impossible to access the Internet, the "civilizational life" of modern youth "ceases". This is what is also known as mentoring the young ones in the society.

I took up this course having in mind that my goals is to work for and improve the society by offering mentorship to those who want to be mentored and also provide me with skills on how to handle myself at the workplace.

There are required behaviors that an ICT professional is expected to adhere to while working with other people who have different backgrounds. Almost every professional has a code of ethics, this code gives guidelines to its members on the behaviors expected of them in their professions.  In the ICT industry, there are professional codes of conduct that guide the However, ICTs play an important role in ensuring the activities of public associations. First and foremost, this is an opportunity to promptly inform members of public associations about its activities, to solve the organization's statutory tasks and conduct various events by posting information on the website and in social networks; use of ICT in electronic document management (EDI System) with territorial authorities individual in their practice (Ocasio and Nigam, 2015).

Teaching the younger generation on the efficiency and productivity of the use of ICT resources

The following are the behaviors expected from a ICT professional; the professional must advance and uphold the honor, effectiveness and dignity of the professional of ICT and keep the highest expected standard of competence and ethical conduct. They are also expected to act with integrity and professional responsibility when dealing with their clients and workmates. An ICT professional is expected to place the interest of the community above his or those of sectional interests. He is also supposed to work diligently and competently for employer and clients. Another behavior expected is that an ICT professional is supposed to honestly represent his skills and knowledge.  He is also expected to strive to enhance the quality of life of those affected by his work.  Preserving confidentiality of clients or employers information is also another behavior expected from an ICT professional. In the company that I was working in , we were several members in the team that I was interacting with. The diverse team consisted of members who were older than me and some who were younger, some were of different religions and gender  hence this called for a sober way of dealing with them because people are different and have different temperaments (National Society of Genetic Counselors, 2018).  Besides the code of ethics that we as ICT professionals are supposed to adhere to, we must have other qualities that enable us to work well in teams. Some of the behaviors that pushed me to work well with my co workers is that I was a supportive person and always showed respect to my fellow worker. I always kept my team informed and I was responsible and ready to help my co workers.

A modern ICT professional is responsible for protecting systems , infrastructure and networks for an organization.  The professional protects computer systems by creating barriers that deter any access to them.  They also analyze and identify problems within systems by checking on any uncharacteristic activity.  They review current situations with the security of the network and carry out audits. The ICT professional is expected to implement  improvements where needed and keep the clients informed on a regular basis about the status of the system security.

In future this can affect me as a professional in the following way; the advancement of security breaches i.e how security of a system can be compromised calls for an ICT professional to be prepared and advance their skills at all times. They should also know the ways in which the hackers are evolving their skills to infiltrate a system.

Behaviors expected from an ICT professional

Didactic possibilities of ICT are studied and described in detail. It should be noted that the general-democratic teaching methods organically include the use of information and communication technologies. The following methods are suitable for interaction between the teacher and students: a method of transferring new knowledge (Meiring, et al, 2016). This model is based on digital educational resources on the Internet that facilitate mass access to educational materials, regardless of temporal and spatial limitations.

The disadvantage of this method is that the student is a passive recipient of information; method of working out and fixing skills and abilities. The use of information and communication technologies in this method of education allows the formation of a reusable fund of educational resources, regularly use feedback, which increases the degree of mastering the necessary material. With the systematic application of the method of testing and consolidating skills and abilities, the potential of ICT is fully revealed, the role of the teacher changes. The limited nature of this method can consist in insufficient information competence of the teacher;

The method of developing new knowledge is based on the experience of using information and communication technologies of the above models. With this method, students must independently build a strategy for solving learning problems, critically assess information, analyze

Communication Skills are vital to any professional,  in this course, one of the topics that we have learnt is communication skills to an ICT professional. On my part , I can say that this course has has provided me with skills that increase my employability quotient. The role of communication is so influential in the ICT sector  because it has give me the ability to listen , analyse and put across the right message that is suitable for those that I am addressing.  As a consultant, the way you address your clients is sure to give one an edge over other professionals in the industry.  I can now be able to take up leadership roles and steer a team to greater heights because of my communication abilities.

Considering all the communications that I have had before with clients prior to learning this course , I can confidently say that the good communication skills that I have learnt to communicate effectively in my day to day work.  I have gained the ability to understand the requirements of the client ( which is mostly communicated through layman language ) and know their thinking. I have also gained the ability to be patient and diplomatic with clients especially when I am trying to explain myself in technical terms. This goes a long way to ensure that the client or my audience is satisfied with my explanation. Communications skills learnt in this course have enabled me to have a long lasting business association with the clients.

Qualities that enable ICT professionals to work well in teams

In Australia, the ACS classifies its membership in terms of capability, skills and knowledge.  Considering this, it seems that an ICT professional must continually possess and use facts , skills and information to perform a task (Umashankar and Charitra, 2016).And therefore, professionals must first acquire information, facts and skills and continually possess the facts in what is known as initial professional development and continuing professional development in ICT.  However, in the UK, when a professional acquires a level of capability that can enable them to operate autonomously, the professional body in the country recognizes the professional based on the fact that they have completed the Initial Professional Development Forum (Schmitt, N., 2014).

However, the ACS requires a professional to first have completed a course in the ICT sector that encompasses the bodies core knowledge plus four years of experience. This allows an applicant to use the postnominal MACS ( member of the ACS). This indicates that the individual is recognized as a certified professional by the body.  To maintain the certification a member must complete over 30 hours of professional development annually.  This development enables the ICT practitioner to horn their skills and improve their skills on any advancement of technology in the sector (Thomas, Burmeister and Low, 2017). 

In recent times people working in the ICT sector have been found guilty of theft, corruption, hacking and other forms of professional misconduct. As the ICT sector continues to play important roles in our lives, people have started worrying about their data and other concerns.  Code of ethics offers a benchmark for the ICT practitioner and its members on how they should act. There are six principles that must be adhered to in this sector; these are, professional development , competence, honesty , professionalism and enhancement of quality of life (DuBrin, 2014).

The principles require practitioners to uphold standards of competence, honesty and practice and also challenge inappropriate use of technology.  This code of ethics requires ICT practitioners to consider the implications and consequences of their actions and the consequences on customers, staff and others.  Ethics in ICT should fill the void where there is a lacuna in legislation and protect all stakeholders in the sector (Modaff, Butler and DeWine, 2016).

The development of the ICT sector has facilitated the mass emergence of information products and services, which, in turn, led to the formation of an information market. The following sectors are part of the  Australian information market: the market for information and communication technologies (ICT); market of information products and services; market of software products; market of telecommunications and communication facilities; market of information technology (Leicester, 2016) . This structure of the information market fully corresponds to the types of activities included in the ICT sector in accordance with the laws. In the process of regulating public reproduction, the domestic market of the ICT sector performs several functions: informational - dissemination of information about market participants, demand, supply, etc .; intermediary - providing an opportunity for interaction between market participants; stimulation of effective management and rational use of resources; establishing the correspondence between production and consumption of the relevant types of goods and services; sanitation - ensuring the purification of the market from uncompetitive competitors through competition.

The responsibilities of an ICT professional

Features of the national information market are: lack of stability; heterogeneity of development in the context of the regions of the country; weak development of the private consumption of ICT goods and services; the refusal of the state to operate in the information market as a producer; low information and legal culture of society as a whole, etc.

At present, the analysis of the development of the ICT sector is made on the following indicators: the number of organizations in the sector; gross added value created in the ICT sector; turnover of organizations; production of goods related to ICT; the volume of investments in fixed assets and intangible assets; volume of foreign investments; specific weight of profitable / unprofitable organizations; number and qualification structure of employees; cost and structures of fixed assets and current assets; number of organizations engaged in research and development; research and development costs; the volume of export / import of goods and services related to ICT (Koprowska, 2014) .

The role of communication is so critical in the ICT sector  for a practitioner  because it gives them the ability to listen , analyse and put across the right message that can be easily understood by the clients.  As a consultant, the way you address your clients is sure to give one an edge over other professionals in the industry (Friedrich, Griffith and Mumford,  2016).  I can now be able to take up leadership roles and steer a team to greater heights because of my communication abilities.

References

Dolezel, D.M. and Morrison, E.E., 2017. Improving the Curriculum with Ethics: Gaps between Perceived Ethical Challenges of Practitioners and Educators. Journal of Curriculum and Teaching, 6(1), p.45.

DuBrin, A.J., 2014. Human relations: Interpersonal job-oriented skills. Pearson Higher Ed.

Friedrich, T.L., Griffith, J.A. and Mumford, M.D., 2016. Collective leadership behaviors: Evaluating the leader, team network, and problem situation characteristics that influence their use. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(2), pp.312-333.

Koprowska, J., 2014. Communication and interpersonal skills in social work. Learning Matters.

Lang, C., Macfadyen, L.P., Slade, S., Prinsloo, P. and Sclater, N., 2018, March. The complexities of developing a personal code of ethics for learning analytics practitioners: implications for institutions and the field. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge (pp. 436-440). ACM.

Leicester, N., 2016. Ethics in the IT Profession: Does a Code of Ethics have an Effect on Professional Behaviour?.

Mishra, K., Boynton, L. and Mishra, A., 2014. Driving employee engagement: The expanded role of internal communications. International Journal of Business Communication, 51(2), pp.183-202.

Meiring, D., Schlebusch, S. and Lowman, R.L., 2016. A code of Ethics for Assessment Centre Pracfice. In 36th Annual Assessment Centre Study Group of South Africa Conference, Somerset West, South Africa., March. ICT-Enabled Social Innovation in Support of Public Sector Reform: the Potential of Integrated Approaches to Social Services Delivery to Promote Social Investment Policies in Europe. In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (pp. 163-172). ACM.

Modaff, D.P., Butler, J.A. and DeWine, S.A., 2016. Organizational communication: Foundations, challenges, and misunderstandings. Pearson.

National Society of Genetic Counselors, 2018. National Society of Genetic Counselors code of ethics. Journal of genetic counseling, 27(1), pp.6-8.

Ocasio, W., Loewenstein, J. and Nigam, A., 2015. How streams of communication reproduce and change institutional logics: The role of categories. Academy of Management Review, 40(1), pp.28-48.

Schmitt, N., 2014, July. HOW STAFFING FUNCTIONS COMMUNICATE TO ORGANIZATION MEMBERS AND THE PUBLIC. In Meeting the Challenge of Human Resource Management: A Communication Perspective (p. 88).

Thomas, G., Burmeister, O.K. and Low, G., 2017. Issues of Implied Trust in Ethical Hacking. In Proceedings of The 28th Australasian Conference on Information Systems, December(pp. 4-6).

Umashankar, K. and Charitra, H.G., 2016. Enhancing Interpersonal Competency through Soft-Skills Training with Reference to FIRO-B. Adarsh Journal of Management Research, 9(1), pp.21-28.