Understanding the Technologist Culture to Manage eCommerce

Jason Caudill, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Abstract

Much attention has been given, for many years, to the changes that technology is bringing to business. eCommerce, social network marketing, and information security are all common topics in the business literature. What has been largely lacking in the literature, however, is a discussion of how the specialists in these new technology disciplines are different from the more traditional business disciplines.

While there are many different terms that may be applied to individuals working with technology in a business, the title of technologist spans all of their activities. Technologists, in many environments, have their own, unique corporate subculture. The very nature of their work, and the personalities attracted to such work, make them different from their business peers.

Given the importance of technology to today's business it is easy to conclude that the employees responsible for maintaining and improving a firm's technology are important to the firm's success. In order to foster such success managers must understand how these new specialists work and how their culture functions. The purpose of this session is to introduce attendees to the unique aspects of technologist culture and present concepts about how management of such specialists is unique.