Taking a cue from the Purdue Polytechnic’s academic transformation, Louis Hickman, a PhD student in organizational leadership, has been researching ways to help information technology workers improve their communication, teamwork and leadership skills, among others.
Hickman has collaborated with Doug Foster, associate vice president of application services and deputy CIO with Information Technology at Purdue (ITaP) on his research. Their paper, titled “Business Relationship Managers and IT Strategy,” has been published in the EDUCAUSE Review. Their paper explains how business relationship managers have the potential to improve IT's relationship with organizational users, thereby increasing satisfaction, outcomes and innovation.
Hickman, in his third year of graduate school, is working under the supervision of Mesut Akdere, director of the Purdue Polytechnic Leadership Academy and associate program head for Purdue’s organizational leadership program. Hickman’s research interests include methods for improving the skills identified by Purdue Polytechnic as necessary within its curriculum as well as the intersection between technology and our lives. Hickman and Akdere are currently studying the stakeholder theory and its implications for technology adoption.