"The process of managing technology in organizations is getting more complex as it becomes more important… In the early years, the big job was to manage the technology – get it to work, keep it running, and thus reduce the cost of doing business.  Later the main thrust was to manage the information resource of the organization, particularly to support management decision making by delivering information when and where it was needed.  Today…the changes required to support the new technologies and organizational structures that are now emerging require a significant amount of well-coordinated business and IT executive leadership."

McNurlin and Sprague, 1998

General Perspective

This course provides an introduction to the managerial issues that information systems (IS) raise.  The course takes the perspective of a general manager, not a computer programmer, systems analyst, IS manager, or computer scientist.

Today it is apparent that information and information technologies (ITs) are going to continue to be integrated into our daily lives.  Much like the industrial revolution earlier in this century, the information revolution is upon us. This revolution is rapidly transforming the fundamental assumptions we have about business and economics.  Increasingly, computing and communication technologies are converging at lower costs and transforming business strategy and business processes.  Correspondingly, the primary focus of information technology application in business has evolved from efficiency/process improvement to strategic/competitive uses that focus directly on organizational goals.  Most organizations are beginning to realize the tremendous implication of today’s ITs through the restructuring and reengineering of their business.  The omnipresence of ITs in business is becoming evident at the individual level, the group level, organizational level, industry level and even the societal level, especially given the prominence of web based technologies.  As industries are propelled by this technological catalyst into the “information age”, it is becoming imperative that every manager in an organization recognize the potential leverage that ITs can provide in reshaping business.  However, with the rapid infusion and diffusion of ITs in organizations come a number of inherently difficult problems.  Organizations tend to be slow and in many cases resist effective deployment of IT.  While numerous frameworks, cases and concepts have been prescribed to structure the chaos, much work needs to be done before any prescriptive panacea can emerge.

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Course Objectives

The focus of this course is on information and information technology issues facing today’s managers.  With the increasing pervasiveness of ITs, these issues are becoming relevant to almost any organizational stakeholder.  You will leave this course with an understanding of the opportunities and threats posed by IT in contemporary competitive environments. There are no simple answers to these issues.  IT is characterized by dynamism and complexity, which gives rise to uncertainty in our ability to cope with it.  Hopefully, on completion of the course, you will have a good understanding of the issues, know the right questions to ask and have the background to search for the answers.  This background can be very important in your career as we experience the transformation into the information age.

            The objectives of the course are:

·        For you to become familiar with the different kinds of computer-based IS commonly used in business, and.

·        For you to gain a sophisticated awareness of the rich variety of managerial issues raised by information systems and understand the paradigm shift as we move rapidly into the information age.  This will include an understanding of the strategic impacts of IT, inter-organizational systems, electronic commerce and markets, business and process transformation, IS outsourcin

As discussed above, we will not be concerned with information technology alone.  We will not even be concerned with information technology primarily.  We will usually regard the technology as “given” and then proceed to examine the more difficult matter of how a business organization can use the technology in efficient and effective ways (for instance, “to make money” and “to gain a competitive edge”).  An information system consists of not only information technology, i.e., hardware and software, but also people who use, develop, maintain, and manage the hardware and software; the procedures or processes by which both the people and the technology carry out work (which include, but are not restricted to, procedures, and processes pertaining to hardware and software); and the data or information which the overall system stores, processes, and retrieves.  An information system is more than just “the computer.”  In fact, in some information-technology applications such as e-mail and e-commerce, no “computing” or “computation” takes place at all.

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Course Material

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Course Outline

This class will be conducted in lecture, and seminar format to encourage the exchange and synthesis of unstructured ideas.  I will structure and present the material in a manner conducive to understanding.  It is your responsibility to read the assigned materials.  Without reading you will gain little from attending class.  I do not regurgitate material from the book, but present it with additional material from diverse perspectives.  Listen carefully, and think of issues and their resolution.  As a major component of this course, Business Cases will be used to apply the knowledge acquired in conjunction with a high degree of common sense.  

Tentative Schedule

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Teaching Philosophy

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Evaluation

The course will carry 100 points.  Final letter grades will be based on the performance of the student in the following modules.  Final CGPA is derived from the weighted average of the scores in all the modules.  The tentative point distribution is as follows:

All assignments are due at the beginning of the class on the due date.  All late work will be penalized.  If you intend to submit any assignments in the electronic form, check with the instructor for the expected norms.  Keep a backup of all your assignments.  Corruption of electronic files etc., are not acceptable reasons for submission delays.

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Policies

ü      Students are responsible for the honest completion and representation of their work, for the appropriate citation of sources, and for respecting others’ academic endeavors. By placing their name on academic work, students certify the originality of all work not otherwise identified by appropriate acknowledgments. Working in teams on individual assignments, turning in “modified” assignments from previous class projects, turning in other students work as your own work, permitting other students to copy your work, viewing another student’s exams during testing all constitute academic dishonesty. In this class, any one found to be cheating will at a minimum fail the course. Other more severe academic sanctions may also be pursued.

ü      If you are unable to take the exams, a quiz or you fail to do an assignment, a zero will be assigned to your grade.  Needless to say, this will have a dramatic and adverse effect on your course grade.  Only under exceptional circumstances will consideration be given, if you see the instructor ASAP.

ü      The class is a forum for learning.  It is to your benefit to attend regularly and try to assimilate the material. Missing class or failing to pay attention or maintain professional behavior (e.g., walking in late to class) could severely impact your performance.

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