This course deals with the central role of communicating and distributing information within the modern multicultural organization.
It covers the technical developments that are driving the growth of an “information and knowledge economy” with a focus on how the global manager can use technology to maximum advantage without losing the human characteristics that lie at the core of effective leadership.
Students relate their learning to the practical needs of their place of employment by researching and preparing management reports and executive presentations. As a by-product they also build skills in meeting management, conflict resolution, virtual teams, business etiquette, the art of networking, and effective interviewing as both a job seeker and a manager.
Objectives:
Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
- understand and evaluate the critical role of information management and digital information systems in a global economy;
- develop and improve management and business research skills as preparation for Part 2 of the MBA; and,
- develop and practice effective presentation skills.
In common with all other courses in the MBA, there are universal themes:
- the role of ethics, values and corporate responsibility in business;
- the importance of effective communications within and between organizations and individuals; and,
- internationalization and globalization as key strategic drivers for the 21st century.
Text:
The text is Management Information Systems, 9th Edition, (ISBN: 0-13-153841-1), by Laudon and Laudon.
Dates/Times:
This course is delivered in a blended learning format, combining some of the best elements of on-line and in-person instruction:
Session 1: Saturday, July 25, 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Session 2: Sunday, July 26, 1:00-5:00 p.m.
Session 3: Wednesday, July 29, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Session 4: Saturday, August 1, 9:00-4:00 p.m.
Session 5: Sunday, August 2, 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
Session 6: Wednesday, August 5, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Session 7: Saturday, August 15, 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Session 8: Sunday, August 16, 1:00-5:00 p.m.
Session 9: Wednesday, August 19, 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
Location:
In-class sessions are held in the Mountbatten classrooms, 50 East 42nd Street, 20th Floor, New York, New York.
Participation:
Less than half of the course content is presented by the book. Being an MBA is all about being responsible and self-motivated. So it is with this course. If you fall behind in your work, you will find it very difficult to catch up. Your active participation is a vital element of your education.
Grading:
Grades will be calculated using this weighting:
Class participation
25%
Individual projects
25%
Assignments
25%
Presentation
25%
Total
100%
.PDF Files
I provide material that expands on topics presented in the book. The .pdf format insures that heavily formatted documents appear the same, regardless of the recipient’s platform, printer, or operating system. Important: If you use Web-based e-mail, such as Hotmail, Netscape Mail, or Yahoo! Mail, you may be unable to send or receive certain e-mail attachments, and it is your responsibility to make other arrangements.
Installit:
Acrobat® Reader is required to display .pdf files. If you do not have it, or if you have trouble opening the documents, go to www.adobe.com and click the “Get Adobe Acrobat® Reader®” icon. Install it on your PC (it’s free).
Download:
Do not try to open .pdf files directly. Instead, right-click the link and select “Save Target As” from the pop-up menu. Save the document to your desktop and then open it from there. Please don’t tell me you are getting an error message. That would occur because you didn’t read these directions.
Session 1
Lessons:
Reviewing the syllabus
Introduction to the course
On the MBA
The Productivity Paradox
Reviewing the common user interface
Review Materials:
To review the concepts of the Productivity Parodox, download and examine the handout on the Productivity Paradox.
confirm that, in the words of E. Y. Harburg, you are “morally, ethically, spiritually, physically, positively, absolutely, undeniably, and reliably” dead certain you can access Microsoft® Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access)
confirm that you have read the syllabus, and examined the back-up site (you are looking at it now!)
tell me any questions, concerns, or reservations of any kind.you have about the course; and,
Polish your word processing skills. Let me know if you would like help in this area.
Deliverables:
Submit a résumé created manually in Microsoft® Word or Corel® WordPerfect format, following the guidelines set forth in the Résumé hand-out. Do not submit an old document or one that is created by Word’s Résumé Wizard.
You are to research and identify the hardware, software, and networking resources of your firm and then analyze their contribution to your firm’s goals.
Here are some examples of the types of questions that you should address:
What are the computer processing and storage capabilities of your firm?
What software do you use?
How are decisions on new hardware and software made, and what criteria are used in the decision?
How are computer resources managed?
What are your firm’s IT SOPs and AUPs?
How does your firm utilize databases to manage information?
Focus: The Internal Analysis examines your organization’s internal environment, in terms of the practical application of information technology, focusing on material presented in the first half of our text (Chapters 1-7).
Format: The paper must be well-formed. By “well-formed,” I mean you must include the normal structural elements of a professional paper: title, headings (using Word styles), automatic reference numbers for illustrations, headers and/or footers, appropriate citations, and a table of contents. If you don’t know how to use these features, I can provide you with the instructions.
Length: As in real life, the paper should be as long as necessary and as short as possible. I would expect that a reasonable analysis would require somewhere in the range of 2,500-4,000 words.
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a practical understanding of the concepts presented in the first half of the text book as they apply in a real-world setting, and to demonstrate your ability to write a well-formed, graduate-level research paper.
Grading: This paper is to be written in English at the graduate level in terms of content, style, and documentation and submitted in Microsoft® Word or Corel® WordPerfect format. Use this link to download the grading rubric for papers (a read-only Microsoft® Word document). This may clarify my expectations.
Submit this paper as an attachment to e-mail by 11:59 P.M. Saturday of the week in which Session 5 is scheduled.
Competitive Analysis Paper (Optional)
With my approval, you may write a Competitive Analysis paper in lieu of the Internal Analysis, the Team Project, or the Quizzes. There are two differences between the Competitive Analysis and the Internal Analysis:
Due date: Submit your paper as an attachment to e-mail by 11:59 P.M. Saturday of the week in which Session 10 is scheduled.
Content: The Internal Analysis is an examination of your organization’s internal environment, focusing on material presented in the first half of our text (Chapters 1-7). The Competitive Analysis is an analysis of the external, competitive environment, focusing on material presented in the second half of our text (Chapters 8-15).
The format, length, and grading criteria of both papers are identical.
For the Competitive Analysis paper, you are to analyze how your firm uses IT to compete in and to manage its external environment. How does your firm use its IT capabilities to gain strategic advantage? What opportunities and threats does IT present? You might consider its role in delivering value to stakeholders and winning in the marketplace. Topics might include:
compliance with regulators;
value chain management;
customer management;
public relations;
service to the community;
managing the distribution chain;
competitive intelligence;
advertising and marketing;
e-commerce; and/or,
the consumer-life-cycle.
You might interview IT professionals or managers, or research published documents or the Web for relevant information.
Session 4
Lessons:
Databases
Enterprise systems
Homework: before our next class:
Read Chapter 6 in Management Information Systems.
Systems, especially enterprise systems based on databases, dominate large firms and have become increasingly important in smaller firms—even very small companies. You probably fall into one of two categories:
you are new to databases; or,
you are familiar, but you’d like to know a lot more.
Review the Microsoft® Access materials listed above.
If you are new to databases: construct a database of your own. For example, you might create a table of clients or friends. After building that table, create two queries based on that table, and, finally, create a form based on the table and each query (for a total of three forms).
If you are familiar with databases, but want to know more about Access: E-mail me for more hand-outs on Access, and use those skills to create a database project of your own design.
Your grade will be based on the project’s adequacy, regardless of your category. The purpose is to put the text into perspective by seeing the a database in action and demonstrate their power. If you start a project and run into a dead end, contact me.
If you are unfamiliar with sending Access files as e-mail attachments, be sure to download these important instructions.
Session 5
Lessons:
A Critical View of Systems
Networks and Communications
Homework: before our next class:
Read Chapter 8 in Management Information Systems.
Deliverables:
Submit your Internal Analysis paper, assigned in Session 3, as an attachment to e-mail.
Because you are working hard on your Internal Analysis paper, this Session has a fun and easy written assignment:
Pick one category that interests you from the blue table. After examining the links (usually six to ten links) therein (if the category is large, you may use a sub-category), in the body of an e-mail message, list:
the one site that you like best;
the one site that you liked least; and,
a URL that you would suggest for that category, based on your own research or experience
write a brief criticism—a list is fine—of what is wrong with the site you like best and what you would suggest to improve it. It’s likely that you can easily identify seven or eight problems.
Session 6
Lessons:
The Internet
The Digital Firm
HTML and XML
Homework: before our next class:
Read Chapter 9 in Management Information Systems.
Start your Team Project. During our last regularly scheduled meeting, each team will have fifteen mintues to present its IT project to the class.
Possible Projects. With your instructor’s approval, select one of these topics or create one similar in scope:
“Road Warriors: Managing the Mobile Workforce”;
designing an IT strategy for a not-for-profit agency;
“Wi-Fi in a Corporate Environment”;
developing an IT strategy for a small firm;
“Help Desk Management”;
“Social Computing: My Space and Facebook meet the Enterprise”;
writing an AUP;
“Designing a Corporate Information Portal”;
a proposal for an IT system supporting an entrepreneurial venture; and,
“E-Commerce: A Start-Up Perspective.”
On the weekend before the last class, a representative of your team will submit:
a one-page Executive Summary of your Team Project; and,
your Team’s Presentation Document; e.g., a Microsoft® PowerPoint presentation, a Web site of your own design, a formal paper, or a Microsoft® Publisher document.
During our last regularly scheduled meeting time, your team will present its findings to the class, at a time to be announced.
Your project will be graded on:
the thoroughness of your analysis; and,
the quality of the presentation and Presentation Document.
Each student will be evaluated by his or her weighted contribution to the team’s success.
Read Chapters 14 and 15 in Management Information Systems.
On Grades & Criticism
Part of my job is to evaluate your performance. Francis O’Walsh once said that some people find fault as if it were a buried treasure. I take no pleasure in finding fault in your work. Indeed, I would be a lot happier and a lot more popular if I simply lied to you, and gave you an “A” for inferior work.
It’s hard to take criticism, and it’s especially hard to take—or give—criticism on-line. The nature of the medium makes it sound very cold, very fast. Don’t take it personally! However it sounds, I am criticizing your work, not you. I’m trying to equip you for the world you will face after graduation.
If you’re unhappy with a grade, please e-mail me, and I will arrange a time when we can discuss the matter. At your request, I will be happy to re-evaluate your work, but be aware that this may result in your grade going up or down.
Sometimes students spend a lot of time and effort trying to figure out what teachers want. I assure you that I hate tricks and pretentious nonsense as much or more than you do! I feel that if, after reading the assignment carefully, a student truly doesn’t know what the instructor wants, it’s the instructor’s fault, not the student’s. In brief, you will lose points because:
you didn’t do what was asked;
you turned the work in late;
your research was shallow;
you failed to document your sources;
you violated our standards of academic honesty;
your analysis was weak; and/or,
you had significant writing problems
Let’s examine each of these areas below.
1. Do What’s Asked
The assignments are WYSIWYG: what you see is what you get. Sometimes they are intentionally unspecific to give you the freedom to explore—but there are no tricks, no pedagogical gimmickry. OK, there is one little, tiny trick:
RIF.
Yes, RIF—reading is fundamental! According to researchers, reading comprehension and speed plummet when you read from a screen. You can test it easily. Find a news story from www.nytimes.com and see how long it takes to read it. Then read the same story from the paper, and you will be amazed by the results. This has important implications to working in the digital firm as well as taking this class. Read the assignments carefully.
2. Observe the Late Policy
I appreciate the fact that you have a life outside my classroom. I know how difficult it can be to juggle the demands of jobs, family, illness, cats, vacations, job interviews, games on the west coast, academics, and everything else that makes life hectic. I’ve always believed that a slavish devotion to assignment deadlines interferes with our mission. After all, you are here to learn, not merely to jump through a bunch of arbitrary hoops. I greatly prefer that you turn in a good paper late than a trashy paper on time. This policy has served me well in both traditional and distance learning courses for many years:
Regarding individual papers: I accept late papers until the end of the term, without penalty. There is one catch: if you submit a late paper, I will grade it when I have time—and that may not be soon. Also, I am unable to give late papers much—if any—feedback. That’s the deal. If you don’t like it, submit the paper on time.
Regarding Discussion Boards: Late contributions to a Discussion Board will receive a deduction of one full letter grade for the assignment. Such contributions are analogous to walking into an empty room after you missed a meeting, saying something, and then expecting to be rewarded because you went through the motions.
Regarding Team Projects: By missing your team’s deadlines, you let down yourself, but you also let down the people who counted on you. Late contributions may result in a deduction of two full letter grades for the assignment.
College requires a high degree of self-discipline and self-motivation. Work regularly on this course and meet the deadlines to the best of your ability.
3. Conduct Meaningful Research
You will be expected to use both traditional and electronic media to locate information and to evaluate that information in terms of its sufficiency, currency, validity, accuracy, and authenticity.
Limiting your research to just a few sources is shallow and lazy. Locate and compare many sources. When an assignment suggests Web sites, consider that the beginning—not the end—of your research. One more thing: It’s not necessarily true just because you saw it on the Internet.
4. Document Your Sources
Failing to attribute the intellectual contribution of others is sloppy at best, and plagiarism at worst. It is never appropriate—never—to pass off the work of others as your own.
Citations are not limited to direct quotations or copyrighted material. Document each intellectual contribution others make to your paper. Simply listing “Works cited” is not sufficient. Paraphrasing a paragraph, a sentence, or even an important phrase from someone else does not relieve you of this duty. Citations clarify authorship, and they allow the reader to assess the currency and authenticity of information.
There are many ways to cite sources, but there is only one wrong way, and that wrong way is to leave ambiguity in the reader’s mind about authorship. Cite your sources in accordance with an established authority, such as:
I expect students to conform to the highest standards of academic honesty and ethical behavior in accordance with the mission of this school. Cheating —attempting to deceive me on matters of academic performance—includes:
intentionally aiding another student during an examination;
departing from any stated examination condition;
possessing or accessing unauthorized copies of an examination; or,
submitting an assignment that was done, in whole or in part, by someone else.
Cheating is a grave issue. If I find that you have cheated, I will immediately notify my Department Chair or Dean, and vigorously seek the maximum penalty available to me.
Plagiarism—failure to attribute the intellectual contribution of others—is not acceptable. If I detect a technical, small, or accidental violation, I will try to make sure that you understand the error and how to prevent it in the future. Consider it an opportunity to learn, part of the educational experience. Severe cases, including a pattern of abuse that, in my opinion, constitutes a con- scious attempt to deceive—even a first-time violation—is a form of cheating, and I reserve the right to fail you for an individual assignment or even for the entire course.
6. Analyze Facts, Don’t Merely Report Them
In your professional life, you will be expected to apply your analytical skills and experience to analyze facts, not merely report them. No one cares about your unsubstantiated opinions! Support your statements with facts, figures, quotations from authoritative sources, business theories and other evidence as you build a cohesive, logical case for your point-of-view.
7. Work on Your Writing
Clear, concise, flawless writing is important for every student. The quality of your ideas is no better than your ability to express them. Writing is the essential skill of a college-educated professional! The most common writing issues include:
Grammar: Imagine receiving a formal letter from your boss full of misspellings and grammatical errors. What would you think? The medium, as McLuhan said, is the message—or, at least part of it. What message are you sending?
Structural errors: Serious errors, such as sentence fragments, run-together sentences, and convoluted phrasing, confound understanding and seriously undermine your work.
Proofreading: If you proofread from a screen, you are likely to miss a lot of errors.
Paper length: in real life, no one will ever tell you to write a “seven-page paper.” How long is a paper in real life? As long as necessary and as short as possible. So it is in this class: your paper should be as long as necessary and as short as possible. How short is too short? Use the guidelines for each assignment, remembering the rule of thumb that one page of business writing is approximately 600 to 650 words. If you turn in a paper of less than 1,200 words when the assignment asked for a “two-page paper,” it had better be an exceptional paper!
How to Contact Me
Mail:
Wayne Thomas Spies
127 Santa Fe Avenue
Hamden, CT 06517
U.S.A.
Phone:
Students should not call me without a prior appointment. E-mail is the answer.
My job is to help you thrive in this course, in this program, and in your career.
2.
I am available for on-line and personal consultations. To set up an appointment, e-mail me.
3.
Do you have special needs? A disability or medical condition? Language or cultural issues? Child care or other family responsibilities? The extent to which these factors require special accommodation may not be obvious! If you have special needs, discuss the matter with me at your earliest convenience, and I will be happy to work with you to avoid and/or address any problems.
4.
I provide helpful information and documents at this Web site, which I maintain for your convenience.
Bad Weather & Emergencies
1.
See the official Iona College Web site: www.iona.edu.
2.
Check this Web site.
3.
For classes held at Blue Hill or at other locations in Rockland County, call (845) 620-1350 for guidance.
Submit Homework via e-Mail
If you do not prepare and submit your work properly, you might not receive proper credit.
Prepare:
When you save your document, give it this name:
580 [Name] [Project Name]
For example, if your name is Smith, save your Internal Analysis paper, as:
580 Smith Internal Analysis
Submit:
Unless instructed otherwise, submit homework via an attachment to e-mail sent to:
Discussion Boards are a great opportunity to explore ideas in an informal exchange with your peers. As its name indicates, the purpose of the Discussion Board is to discuss—not to get your ticket punched. The Discussion Board should be a vibrant and stimulating conversation. Too often they fail miserably! A Discussion Board is not a place to write “mini-papers”—even when the assignment seems to steer you in that direction. If we wanted a paper, we would have assigned a paper! Having said that, remember that it is essential to cite your sources for direct quotations. It is never—never—appropriate to pass off the work of others as your own—even in an informal medium, like a Discussion Board. The rules for a Discussion Board are almost the same as the rules for a good discussion face-to-face. Here are some important do’s and don’ts:
DO participate: check back regularly and contribute frequently. What kind of discussion is it, if you show up, say something, and then leave—never to return?
DO question statements that are unsupported, simple-minded, contradictory, or incorrect.
DO be tolerant of spelling and grammatical mistakes, which are inherent in this informal electronic medium. It is not appropriate to hold postings to the same grammatical standard as formal papers. Still, recognize that your ideas are no better than your ability to express them.
DO NOT post vacuous comments—especially of the “good job!” variety. If you want to pat someone on the back, do it via private e-mail, not a Discussion Board.
DO NOT make personal attacks.
DO NOT wait until the last minute to post. It adds nothing to the discussion. Also, if there is a technical problem, you are out of luck.
DO NOT repeat previous posts. It simply indicates that you didn't read comments of your peers.
If you waited until the last minute before the deadline to post, you missed the point of a discussion. If you posted and replied at the same time, and then didn’t check back in, again, you missed the point. If you posted vacuous, personally offensive, or redundant comments, again, you missed the point. Bring something to the table! You will not receive points without bona fide contributions.
Business Communication & Information Management