![](\"http:\/\/s2.buzzfeed.com\/static\/imagebuzz\/terminal01\/2009\/9\/6\/7\/nerd-venn-diagram-9420-1252236207-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIn many ways an employee in a business
\nwith any significant headcount has to deal with the same social
\nconstructs as any student in high school. Social groups, pressures
\nand mores impact decisions and actions just as much as the
\norganizational chart. Alas this also means that stereotypes and group
\nlabels can quickly impact how various teams and business
\norganizations perceive themselves and others.<\/p>\n
\n
For IT Professionals this of course
\nmeans retaining the label of “geek, nerd, dork and dweeb” along with an
\nequivalent high school social hierarchy, low man on the totem-pole.
\nWhich means IT Professionals can end up in a lose-lose situation
\nwhere an executive or manager might perceive an IT geek as
\nantisocial, bullheaded and business-challenged.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But in an opinion piece<\/a> last week for \n That is, IT Professionals are \n His opinion puts one in mind of Mike \n Yes, of course Executives should look \n In noting that within the analytical \n However, for whatever reason Jeff Ello \n In any case, it works both ways. If IT
\nComputerworld<\/a> Jeff Ello, an IT manager for the Krannert School of
\nManagement at Purdue University, feels that at the heart of the
\nmatter, IT Professionals are simply just misunderstood.<\/p>\n
\nanalytical individuals that can empower those around them and that
\ntheir behaviors and intentions are simply misread. What might look to
\none manager as an individual that can’t accept the manager’s decision
\non how something is to be done is really an individual who is
\nfighting for something to be done in a logical and effective manner.
\n“It’s not about being right for the sake of being right but being
\nright for the sake of saving a lot of time, effort, money and
\ncredibility.”<\/p>\n
\nJudge’s movie Office Space<\/a> in which programmers Peter, Michael and
\nSamir1<\/sup><\/a>
\nare terrorized by Initech’s demanding and perplexing management team,
\npersonified by the company’s Vice President, Bill Lumbergh. But the
\nappeal of a movie such as Office Space is that one doesn’t have to be
\na programmer to have ever felt terrorized by an impersonal business
\nexecutive. A customer service representative can feel equally
\nmarginalized.<\/p>\n
\nat IT department as they would any revenue generating organization in
\ngeneral and not as some group of misbehaving malcontents. Each
\norganization and individual, taken at face value, is an important
\nasset to the business, with specific skills that can benefit a
\ncompany. For IT this means bringing strong creative and analytical
\nabilities to the table, skills that can be brought to bear on just
\nabout any business problem.<\/p>\n
\nskill set, “at the most fundamental level” of IT’s job is “to
\nbuild, maintain and improve frameworks” Jeff Ello reminds us of
\nwhat IT can do best, bring about significant strategic advantage<\/a> for
\nthe business.<\/p>\n
\nseems interested more in trying to justify the specific social group
\nand mores of IT Professionals than he seems in communicating how
\nthose misunderstood stereotypes can be overcome. For whatever
\ngrievance or special treatment he might wish to argue to the
\nworld’s collection of Executives on behalf of IT Professionals, it
\nshould be noted that in the end, we all want the same thing, for
\nwhatever enterprise we find ourselves engaged in to succeed. For that
\nis what differentiates business from high school.<\/p>\n
\nProfessionals are going to gain the respect of those Executives and
\nManagers in endeavors great and small, technical and non-technical
\nalike, it also means that IT Professionals need to understand the
\nrules of the game governing Executives and business. It is time for
\nboth groups to shed past stereotypes and move on to bigger and better
\nthings.<\/p>\n
\n