The Slippery Slope of MIS Academia: A Discussion of the Quest for Relevance in Our Discipline

Abstract

The {MIS} discipline faces the need to periodically re-establish its relevance to both academics and practitioners. Evolving technology forces our discipline to change at a rate far exceeding that of other business disciplines. In the workplace, rapidly evolving {IT} management issues and technologies have led corporations to manage technical employees differently than other employees. In academia, however, {MIS} faculty are faced with the same expectations as other business faculty. The current model of {MIS} as an academic discipline has many issues that make staying current and relevant very difficult. The result is that {MIS} research and teaching lag practice. One might argue that as the field matures, we are falling further behind. This paper is the outcome of a panel discussion held during the 2006 Americas Conference on Information Systems in Acapulco, Mexico. The panel discussed the assertions that {MIS} is on a {"Slippery} Slope" that threatens our existence as a business discipline and that our current model encourages irrelevance, both in research and in teaching. Panel members were asked to share their views on five questions relative to the Slippery Slope from their unique perspectives.