IT under fire for 'amateur' management

A top management consultant has condemned the IT industry for its obsession with youth.

A top management consultant has condemned the IT industry for its obsession with youth.

"Any vitality the IT industry enjoys has been neutralised by the immaturity of management styles," said Jeff Klum, a change management specialist.

Klum was appointed to help stem the migration of staff from Logical, an integrator that has grown by acquisition and comprises 30 companies.

The problems it faces - differing cultures, staff uncertainty, power struggles and a brain drain - are not untypical of all IT firms, he claimed.

Amateurish change management has, he said, been the undoing of many vendors that have boomed and busted. "When you buy a company, you buy the staff's skill set. But management lack people skills, so they invariably lose the expertise they paid so much to acquire," said Klum.

Often chief executives think they can buy loyalty with inflated salaries and stock options, but this is a short-term fix. "There's always someone who will pay more, so buying intellectual capital is a zero-sum game," said Klum.