MBA 730 Information Technology Management
MW 5:30-6:45, CHE 101
Fall 2006 Syllabus
Revised Sunday, August 26, 2006
Ken Peffers
Associate Professor of MIS BEH 334
Tel. 702 895-3676 Email:
Mobile (preferred) 702 807 1181 Office hours: 4-5 pm MW or
Course website: http://mba730.peffers.com by appointment (preferred)
Accessibility
I know that all of you have very busy schedules, as do I. It is my intent to be as accessible as possible to help you with the learning process.
Please do:
· Feel free to contact me by email if you have a question about the course.
· Free to contact me by telephone if you have a question that will require some discussion.
· You may use my mobile number, however, please use email rather than voicemail for messages.
· There is no need to notify me if you’ll have to miss class.
Readings
A small packet of readings will be made available through the bookstore (Harvard case studies). The majority of our readings will be assigned and provided through electronic reserve at the library or on the course website. This allows you to print the readings yourself from any location and it saves you a bundle of money.
We have a limited amount of time together so we want to make the most of it.
Day Two Deliverables
In the second class, we’ll hold an ideation workshop in which we brainstorm for project ideas. In advance of the class, you’ll prepare 2 ideas for your project (see the project description below). The ideas may not be good or they may be only half formed, but don’t worry! Each member of the class will briefly present his or her ideas to the class. We’ll all try to make suggestions. This will help to give us a jump start on developing the project quickly. Hearing others’ ideas for their projects may inspire you with a new idea for your own. Your “second best” idea may inspire someone else. Please bring a spare copy of your idea document to turn in to me at the beginning of class.
Day Three Deliverables
In advance of this class, please:
· Read the first three readings.
- Nicholas G Carr. Harvard Business Review. Boston: May 2003. Vol. 81, Iss. 5; p. 41, available from Business Source Premier.
2. Does IT Matter? , By: Brown, John Seely, Hagel III, John, Harvard Business Review, 0017-8012, July 1, 2003, Vol. 81, Issue 7 and other letters. Available at http://www.johnseelybrown.com/Web_Letters.pdf#search=%22%22does%20IT%20matter%20an%20hbr%20debate%22 (google does it matter an hbr debate)
- Ross, Jeanne W.; Weill, Peter. Six IT Decisions Your IT People Shouldn't Make. Harvard Business Review, Nov2002, Vol. 80 Issue 11, p84, 8p; (AN 7720817). Available from Business Source Premier.
· Prepare a short written position statement, of up to a page or so, describing your view on the issues raised in the first three readings. What issues and problems surrounding IT are important to general managers? Think of real examples if possible to support your position. Bring this to class on paper, a copy for you to use in the discussion and a copy for me. You’ll defend this position in class.
Course Description
This course focuses on how to manage information technology in the contemporary organization. We will focus primarily on issues that would be of interest to senior general managers, but which should be of interest to career MIS managers and IS professionals as well. These issues include information systems planning, sourcing IS development and services, evaluating risks to the organization that result from IS development and operation, the successful development of new systems, IS security, the socially responsible use of IT, electronic commerce, and customer relationship management.
Course Objectives
· To understand the importance of IT to the success of the organization.
· To understand the major managerial issues involving IT and to develop conceptual tools and strategies for dealing with them.
· To make a unique contribution knowledge about IT management by exploring a problem or issue of special interest to you.
Conduct of the Course
The class is intendedly participatory. One of the primary things that makes an MBA valuable is the unique and interesting experiences of the participants. It is important that we use that experience as one of our primary resources from which to learn.
Classes
Class time will be used primarily to discuss readings and cases. Each of us should bring our own experiences to the class as the lens through which to interpret the readings and issues. Be prepared to participate in class discussion and volunteer to add your ideas.
Prepare for class sessions by reading the assigned material in advance. For each class session bring to class, in hard copy, a brief note or position statement commenting on your thoughts about the issues raised in the readings. This is not an assignment. These are “talking notes” that will help us to be ready to have productive discussions in class. There is no special format for these documents except that they should have your name and the class date on them. They can be hand written or word processed. They won’t be qualitatively evaluated. You won’t receive feedback on them. They are for your use to support your class discussion.
I will use the “talking notes to record your prepared attendance at class. Please bring a copy for you and one to give to me at the beginning of class for use in recording prepared attendance. If you have to miss class, there is no need to email a copy of the notes to me or to notify me of your reasons for missing class. I’ll automatically excuse up to three sessions.
Cases
For each case there will be a small group responsible for presenting the case and several class members responsible for leading off the class discussion. It is important that everyone is involved by preparing the material and participating in the discussion, if possible. A brief advance commentary on the case is expected. This commentary is not a summary of the case. It should describe your views, in brief, about the important issues of the case, your analysis of relevant facts, and your conclusions about the best course of action for managers.
Project
As important as it is to survey the whole range of concepts in brief, it is also very important to focus on one specific issue in depth, to understand it well and to make a unique contribution to knowledge. Each participant in the class should develop an individual project in which he or she studies a particular problem and makes a contribution to its solution. Suggested types of projects include:
1. A case study or story about how managers in a firm (probably your firm) dealt (are dealing) with a problem in managing IT. I suggest that this be in the format of an article for an executive journal, such as the California Management Review or the Communications of the ACM.
2. A policy memorandum in which you analyze a specific IT problem, e.g., allocating a budget for IT capital expenses, sourcing for systems to support specific services in the organization, etc., related to your organization and propose a solution. A policy memorandum is addressed to managers. It would usually contain an executive summary, on the order of around one page in length, a body, where the issues are analyzed in depth, and an appendix for lists, calculations, spreadsheets, financial proformas, etc.
3. A focused survey of the project management literature in a narrow area of research. The specific topics covered in the text can serve as the source for ideas on a topic. The readings mentioned in the reference lists at the end of each chapter can serve as the starting point for a literature search.
4. A pilot implementation of a new method for managing IT, such as a method for IS planning, requirements determination, evaluation, risk assessment, sourcing, etc.
The above list isn’t exhaustive. I would encourage you to consider alternative types of projects. It is important to me and to you that your project for this class be something that will contribute to your value as a manager or executive and that it interests you. It is also important that this project be your own contribution and one that you make especially for this class, i.e., not something that you’ve already done for the firm. It is essential that we discuss any such idea in the first week or so of the class.
Project Deliverables
(See the planning schedule for due dates)
Project ideas
Early in the semester we’ll have a project ideation workshop. Your responsibility is to bring to class a short written description of each idea—a paragraph or two each is enough.
Project proposal (by hard copy in class)
Your proposal should include these parts: title, description of the issue or problem that you’re addressing, the setting in which you’ll work, how you will address the problem, and the nature of the outcomes you expect. Usually about 1 page + in a Word document.
Suggestion: prepare this document as an outline of your eventual paper, so that you can build on it over the semester to produce your final report.
Feedback to you normally by email or personal meeting if needed.
Project feasibility document (hard copy in class, please)
It is important to determine early in the semester that your chosen project is feasible. Your project could be infeasible if you’re unable to obtain the necessary data, e.g., interviews, articles, etc. or whatever kind of data is relevant for your project. This is a short document in which you show that you have demonstrated the feasibility of your course project, i.e., that the project can, in fact, be done.
The format of this paper is an extended outline of your eventual paper, where your proposal, or a revision of it becomes the introduction. Relevant literature that you’ve found would go in a “reference list,” it would include information on other data that you’ve obtained or have verified that you can obtain, such as lists of interviewees, if appropriate, and notes from readings and/or interviews, etc. It is expected that you will have collected most or all of the data that you need for your paper by this date.
After this date, topic changes would normally not be expected and would usually result in a reduced grade for the course.
Presentations
Each class member will give one formal presentation of about 10 minutes in length, your choice of a project proposal, a project progress report, or a final report. You’ll sign up for your choice in class (see the planning schedule).
Report
The article, policy memorandum or other written outcome for your project.
Course Evaluation
Marking participation, presentations, exams, and projects. I mark each contribution to the course on a scale of 0 to 5 as follows:
0. Missing
1. Clearly unsatisfactory
2. Less than I would expect from a graduate student.
3. Clearly satisfactory, but perhaps with some elements missing or not as deep as possible.
4. Fine work, 100% correct or nearly so.
5. Outstanding, going well beyond what is expected (rare).
Your grade for the course will depend on your overall score for the course compared to other students. The marks above don’t directly correspond to particular grades.
Preparation and participation 20%
This will consist of two parts:
1. A simple count of your prepared attendance in class. The data for this are the hard copies of your talking notes. Note that there is no need to turn in talking notes if you cannot make it to class. I automatically assume that you will have a good reason to miss class and will forgive up to three. A fourth may be excused with written documentation that you are on active military duty, a hospital inpatient, or in prison.
2. My observation of the most insightful comments in class.
On a marking scale of 5, you can earn 4 points with perfect prepared attendance. Students who make regular, insightful contributions to class discussion may earn a mark of up to 5 on this item.
Case presentation 10%
Project evaluation 30%
(a holistic evaluation of all four deliverables, in terms of timeliness, form and content)
Examination (exam 1, 20%; exam 2, 20%) 40%
1