"Information technology is a business force now. It amounts to one-half of U.S. firm’s annual capital expenditures and increasingly affects how firms organize, do business, and compete. Business managers who choose not to reckon with it do so at their and their firms’ peril."
Course web site: http://www.ou.edu/class/mis5003
Office hours: Mondays, 5-6:15 Norman campus; Wednesdays, 5 – 6:15 pm at Santa Fe Plaza or by appointment.
Required Texts:
Managing and Using Information by Keri Pearlson
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Available at Kinko’s, 101 N. Robinson, Oklahoma City, OK 73102
PLEASE CALL ahead of time to order a copy to be made: 232-8828.
There are also a number of other readings and cases available from the course web site and the library web site.
Course Description:
Concepts, theories and the strategic role of information systems as applied to business organizations will be covered. This course is to be highly integrative/cross-functional in nature.
Course Overview:
This introductory course on the management of information systems is designed to provide managers with the tools and background necessary to understand and interpret information management issues. In this course, you will learn to evaluate and use information systems and technology in organizations. This is not a technical class in that you will not learn to program or build computers; you will not develop applications nor will you learn spreadsheets or database software. Rather, this class is an overview of the organizational, strategic, and technical issues surrounding the management of information and information technology in business today.
The course begins to prepare future managers to manage information as a resource and to identify opportunities for using information for competitive advantage. Future managers must learn to live in an era of information revolution. The use of information systems is fundamentally changing how work is carried out. Organizations used to be defined by their buildings and their employees. Today, however, organizations are increasingly defined by their relationships and their networks. Information systems makes possible new organizational forms, new intra- and inter- industry relationships and new competitive strategies.
Objectives:
The course is designed to develop an understanding of how advances in information technology provide an opportunity for organizations to fundamentally rethink organization strategy, structure, and process. At the end of the course you should be able to:
1. Your grade will be based upon your performance on two exams, as well as on individual and group assignments. You will be evaluated using the following schedule of points:
Midterm Test 250 points2. Grades will be based on the following point distributions:
Final Exam 250 points
Cases 300 points
Emerging Technologies Project (group) 100 points
Focus Group Assignment 25 points
Participation 75 pointsA = 900 - 1000 points3. You are advised to carefully prepare for each class meeting by reading the text, thinking about the material, and completing recommended assignments. Often the readings will only be summarized during the lecture. If questions arise from your readings, it will be your responsibility to seek clarification for these questions. Please refer to the tentative schedule for readings and assignments.
B = 800 - 899 points
C = 700 - 799 points
D = 600 - 699 points
F = less than 600pointsAll written material is to be professionally prepared using a word processing software package. I am extremely interested in content. I am also interested in how well you present and "sell" your ideas. As in a business environment, you will be given great leeway in formatting and presenting your assignments. I will outline essential requirements and answer questions that you may have. Grades on assignments will be lowered in the event of spelling, grammatical or typographical errors.
4. The final exam will be given on the date assigned by the University (Dec 6, 2000) with no exceptions.
OBJECTIVE: To apply course concepts and theories in analyzing cases and developing recommendations to improve the situation described in the cases.
POINTS: 100 apiece (three case analyses)
SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS AND DUE DATES: Turn in a hardcopy analysis (maximum of 5 pages, double-spaced) for each of three cases. Don’t summarize the case or otherwise provide unneeded background information -- I have read the case! These case analyses are due at the start of the class session at which the case will be discussed. Due dates are tentatively provided in the attached schedule.
You must prepare a written analysis of at least three cases. However, you may prepare a maximum of four case analyses and I will use the three case analyses with the highest scores in computing your grade for the class.
Under no circumstances will I accept cases after we have discussed them in class. Except in very unusual circumstances, I will not accept a case for grading if you were not in class when the case was presented. I must be notified of the unusual circumstance and give my approval for accepting the case prior to the class in which the case is presented.
Cases will be evaluated for their insightfulness, quality of analysis, creativity and quality of solutions, and for presentation of ideas.
OBJECTIVE: To be able to explain an emerging technology and its impact on the management of information technology resources.
POINTS: 100 points.
REQUIREMENTS (Group Project): Each student group (maximum of four members) will be responsible for a short seminar on a technology topic. The purpose of this project is to introduce and familiarize students with examples of emerging information technologies and concepts, not to do a detailed technical study. This project should highlight today’s capabilities of a particular technology by discussing functionality, not technical components, how organizations are currently using it, what a general manager should know about it, and additional references or sources for information for anyone who wants to learn more. You might also suggest future developments that affect your technology of choice. More details are given in the attachment to this syllabus, titled "Choosing a Topic for the Technology Update Series". Your group will choose a single topic from this list. Email me your preferences for members in your group by September 1 (Friday) at NOON in order for the assignments to be posted before the next class period.
Each group should prepare a 1-2 page handout to go with their presentation. This handout can be an outline, diagrams, pictures, or text that summarize the important issues surrounding the technical topic. Groups should bring copies of their handout to class for their classmates and for the instructor.
Projects will be presented throughout the semester. If two cases are presented during a class session--one will be presented at the beginning and one will be presented at the end. Most of the technology seminars will be presented on November 29, 2000. The order of these presentations will be posted on the class website by the third class period, and the presentations will start during the fourth class period.
The seminar should be no longer than 15 minutes (the grade will be penalized if you go over the allotted time). We will then have time for a few questions. Interactive activities are encouraged. Grades will be based on content as well as quality. Content is as described above. Quality includes creativity, completeness, accuracy, clarity and professionalism. I want you to have fun creating and participating in these seminars, but I do take them seriously.
NOTE: If you directly quote from materials such as articles, books, and web pages in your handout, please make sure to clearly reference the source. Do not just copy work someone else has done and turn it in as your own.
DUE DATE: After the fourth week through November 29, 2000.
Focus Group Assignment
OBJECTIVE: To gain a fuller appreciation of web-page design.
POINTS: 25 points.
REQUIREMENTS: To participate in a short focus group on a web-related topic.
DUE DATE: To be announced.
Class Participation
OBJECTIVE: To promote analysis of and reflection upon the topics covered
in class.
POINTS: 75 points.
REQUIREMENTS: Many topics covered in class will appear deceptively simple until you explore them. The class discussion is designed to help you understand the intricacies of seemingly straightforward information systems issues from a managerial perspective. You can gain from the insights and experiences of your classmates, and they can gain from your insights and experiences. As much learning takes place from comments from students with little background as from comments from "experts", since the reasoning behind the comments speaks volumes about the handling of the management situation at hand.The richer and broader-based the class participation, the more likely you are to fully understand the topics covered in class.
As this is a case-based class, your attendance at class sessions is critical to learning the material and to enhancing the discussions.If you are not in class, you obviously are not able to contribute to the discussion. Therefore, excessive absences (especially unexcused absences) will reflect negatively on your grade. But class attendance is the minimum requirement for participation. You are expected to be prepared for each class by reading the assignments and cases. Even if you do not prepare a written analysis of a case, you will be expected to read the case and contribute to the discussion of issues
The best type of participation is quality contributions to the discussions. These involve things like applying conceptual material from the readings or lectures, doing some outside readings and applying them to the discussion, integrating comments from previous classes into the current discussion, taking issue with a classmate's analysis, pulling together material from several places in the case, drawing parallels from previous cases, or by consistently demonstrating that you have carefully read the case and given it careful thought. Some students mistakenly believe that reading directly from the case constitutes a quality contribution. Although this may help clarify some issue, "chip shots" do not usually add significant analysis to a discussion. In addition, comments that are major digressions from the current flow of the conversation will not help the discussions.
On the other hand, if you lose your train of thought, or make "wrong" or "dumb" comments, do not worry. You can only learn to make quality comments by jumping in and trying. Your classmates are encouraged to take issue with your comments (and you with theirs) by disagreeing with the comment, but not through personal attacks.
The instructor reserves the right to cold-call on students, particularly on students who have not participated in a while. Students who are shy or uncomfortable with participation are encouraged to make an appointment with the instructor during the first week of class.
DUE DATE: Each class period.
| WEEK | DATE | TOPIC | READING/ASSIGNMENT |
| 1 | Aug 23 | Introduction:
Information and Information Systems |
Pearlson -Ch. 1 |
| 2 | Aug 30 | IT Strategy | Pearlson - Ch. 2 (including Cisco), 5 |
| 3 | Sep 6 | E-commerce | Pearlson - Ch. 6
Manheim Auction Case Due http://www.terry.uga.edu/~rwatson/estrategy/mol/mol.html |
| 4 | Sep 13 | E-commerce:
Consumer and Business Markets Handling Money |
Levinson, Meredith, "Destructive Behavior,"CIO
Magazine, July 15, 2000
http://www2.cio.com/archive/071500_destructive_content.html |
| 5 | Sep 20 | Organizational Impacts of IS Use
Virtual Organizations |
Pearlson - Ch. 3 |
| 6 | Sep 27 | Organizational Impacts of IS Use | DxR Case Due
http://misweb.ou.edu/csaunder/dxrcase/html/index.html Word version |
| 7 | Oct 4 | IT and the Design of Work | Pearlson -Ch. 4
Focus group Office Tech Case Due |
| 8 | Oct 11 | Test 1 | Ch. 1-6 |
| 9 | Oct 18 | Architecture and Infrastructure
Enterprise Systems |
Pearlson - Ch. 8
Davenport: "Putting the Enterprise into the Enterprise Systems, Harvard Business Review, July-August 1998 Pender, Lee, "The Misssing Link,: CIO Magazine, 6/15/2000
|
| 10 | Oct 25 | MIS Organization | Pearlson -Ch. 9 |
| 11 | Nov 1 | Outsourcing | General Motors Case Due |
| 12 | Nov 8 | Project Management | Pearlson – Ch. 11
Young, Debby, "An Audit Trail," and Douglas Hubbard’s Expert Analysis, CIO Magazine, May 1, 2000 http://www.cio.com/archive/050100_mitre.html Continental Airlines Case Due |
| 13 | Nov 15 | Knowledge Management
Privacy and Ethics |
Pearlson – Ch. 10, Ch. 12 (including ethical
decision making exercises)
Hildebrand, Carol, "Knowledge Fusion", and Thomas Davenport’s Expert
Analysis, CIO Magazine, June 1, 2000
Green Valley Hospital Case Due |
| 14 | Nov 22 | Thanksgiving
Vacation |
|
| 15 | Nov 29 | Emerging Technologies | Emerging Technologies Seminar Due |
| 16 | Dec 6 | Final | Comprehensive |