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Story URL: http://management.silicon.com/careers/0,39024671,39166508,00.htm

Office PCs 'strip workers of people skills'
Computer says so...

By Gemma Simpson

Published: Monday 26 March 2007

The computer-centric office has left everyone – and not just the IT crowd – lacking important interpersonal and soft skills, according to one psychologist.

Bill Moir, soft-skills coach for IT training and recruitment body FDM, told silicon.com: "I think there's a need for soft skills and interpersonal development across all sorts of industries and all sort of levels, not just IT."

Most people have a relationship with a PC when they're at work - instead of focusing on their colleagues, Moir said. And as we see an increase of technology within organisations we will see a reduction in interpersonal skills, he warned.

He added: "People who are within the IT industry have a greater need to be concentrating on their PC and therefore maybe a greater need to develop their interpersonal skill set."

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Life skills are important too, as nearly nine out of ten organisations said an IT manager's experience was more important to them than their IT qualifications, according to a survey from the British Computer Society (BCS).

Steve Smithson of the BCS' management forum said IT managers have a much broader, more influential role nowadays and have to exercise more leadership skills.

Smithson added IT managers need to be able to make a persuasive business case and work closely with people from different disciplines and departments.

Previous research from e-skills UK predicts two-thirds of IT staff will require high-level management skills in the next three years, while only 45 per cent demonstrate these skills now.