INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT BANGALORE Management [of] Information Systems & Technology (MIST)

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1 INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT BANGALORE Management [of] Information Systems & Technology (MIST) PGP / PGSEM Term IV / Quarter I / ( ) Credits: 3 This Course Syllabus Provides a General Plan for the Course; Deviations May be Necessary Instructor Rajendra K. Bandi Office: B-105 Phone: 3095 rbandi@iimb.ernet.in Office Hours: Prefer appointments (send or call); Walk-ins welcome Information Technology (IT) divides managers into three types. The first group consists of individuals who get it. They understand what technology can do, and they want to take maximum advantage of it. Managers like Michael Dell of Dell Computers and John Chambers of Cisco, all belong to this category. They believe in technology and they encourage the people working with them to exploit IT to change the way their companies do business. A second group of managers includes those who understand the technology, but are not quite as committed to it as the first category of managers. These individuals use IT to augment their existing ways of doing business, and in doing so make more local changes to their firms. The third group of managers consists of those who are highly skeptical of information technology. They provide little IT leadership and look at money spent on technology as an expense rather than an investment. Those who get technology are the managers who will build successful organizations in the twenty-first century. (Adapted from Information Technology: Strategic Decision Making for Managers, H. Lucas, 2005) 1. 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 of a programmer, systems analyst, IS manager, or a computer scientist. The emphasis will be on examining the strategic impact of IS on organizations, rather than on a bits and bytes view. This course discusses the issues from the perspective of an IT user organization, and NOT from the perspective of an IT provider organization. Much like the industrial revolution earlier in the last century, the information revolution is now rapidly transforming the fundamental assumptions we make about business and economics. The primary focus of IT initiatives has evolved from productivity/ process improvement to strategic / competitive uses that align with organizational goals. Successful IT efforts have supported the decisions for key mergers and acquisitions, and in creating / restructuring industries. Recognizing this, many firms have invested heavily in systems and technology. In recent years, between 35-50% of all US domestic capital spending has gone in to IT. However, by some estimates as much as 1/3 rd of IT spending has been wasted through poor strategic targeting, misuse or non-use. The omnipresence of IT in business is becoming evident at several levels: individual, group, organizational, industry, and even at the societal level, especially given the Page 1 of 5

2 prominence and the ubiquity of web-based technologies. It is becoming imperative that every manager recognizes the potential leverage that IT can provide in reshaping business. However, with the rapid adoption of IT, come a number of inherently complex problems. Organizations tend to be slow and in many cases actively resist the effective deployment of IT. While numerous frameworks, cases, and concepts have been devised to structure the chaos, much work needs to be done before any prescriptive panacea can emerge. 2. COURSE OBJECTIVES The focus of this course is on information and information technology issues facing today s managers. There are no simple answers to these issues, which are typically characterized by dynamism and complexity. The objectives of the course are: to gain a sophisticated awareness of the rich variety of managerial issues raised by information systems learn about the relationship between IT and business strategy and identify competitive issues related to IT apply problem solving skills and creativity to understand and analyze the business value of IT through the analysis of case studies and in-class debates Topics such as the use of strategic information systems for competition, electronic commerce, business-it alignment, global IT issues, knowledge management, strategic information systems investment, ERP implementation, outsourcing, and developing information systems in organisations will be discussed. By the end of this course you should be able to: Talk the talk understand & discuss strategic frameworks, systems and technologies as well as demonstrate an awareness of issues related to their effective use and implementation. Walk the walk assess the current role of IS in an organization, identify areas for the strategic use of IS, and Propose new IS to meet organizational objectives and / or foster competitive advantage. You will have a recall-level awareness of several successful and failed attempts to use IS for competitive advantage so that in meetings you will be able to back up any assertions with concrete examples. Upon completion of the course, you will have a good understanding of the issues, know the right questions to ask and will be equipped with the background to search for the answers. This background can be very important in your career as you experience the transformation into the information age. 3. COURSE MATERIAL: Text Book Corporate Information Strategy and Management: Text and Cases. L.M. Applegate, R.D. Austin, F.W. McFarlan. 7 th Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill Edition Reference Books Information Systems Management in Practice. B.C. McNurlin, R. Sprague, T. Bui. 8 th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2008 Information Technology: Strategic Decision Making for Managers. H.C. Lucas.New York: John Wiley & Sons 2005 Place to Space: Migrating to ebusiness Models. P Weill & M.R. Vitale. Harvard Business School Press, Boston MA Information Technology for Management: Transforming Organizations in the Digital Economy, E Turban, D Leidner, E McLean, J Wetherbe 6 th Ed., John Wiley & Sons Page 2 of 5

3 Additional Readings Six Decisions Your IT People Shouldn t Make, by Jeanne Ross and Peter Weill in Harvard Business Review, November, 2002 Don t Just Lead, Govern: How Top-Performing Firms Govern IT by P. Weill, MIS Quarterly Executive, March 2004 The IT Interaction Model: An Overview, an excerpt from The Information Technology Interaction Model: A Foundation for the MBA Core Course, by Mark S. Silver, Lynne Markus, and Cynthia Beath, Management Information Systems Quarterly, September 1995 Computers, Networks, and the Corporation by T W Malone and J F Rockart, Scientific American, August 1991 Chapter 1 of Information Rules: A strategic Guide to the Network Economy by Carl Shapiro & Hal R. Varian, Harvard Business School Press Power Over Users: Its Exercise by Systems Professionals, by Lynne Marcus and Niels Bjorn-Andersen in Communications of the ACM, June 1987 Power, Politics, and MIS implementation by Lynne Marcus in Communications of the ACM, June 1983 Software Runaways: Lessons Learned from Massive Software Project Failures by Robert L. Glass; Prentice Hall, 1998 A Managerial Overview of Open Source Software by S. Krishnamurthy, Business Horizons, Sept-Oct 2003 The Productivity Paradox of Information Technology, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 36(12), December 1993, pp Productivity, Business Profitability, and Consumer Surplus: Three Different Measures of Information Technology Value, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 20 (2), June, 1996, pp Beyond the Productivity Paradox, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 41(8), August 1998, pp Beyond Computation: Information Technology, Organizational Transformation and Business Performance, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 2000, Vol. 14(4), pp Assessing the Value of Investing in IT: The Productivity Paradox. Chapter 6, Henry Lucas book Information Technology Strategic Decision Making for Managers Four Paradigms of Information Systems Development by Rudy Hirschheim and Heinz Klein in Communications of the ACM, October 1989 Students may be required to read additional articles either to be provided by the instructor or available on the internet. 4. COURSE APPROACH & OUTLINE This class will be conducted in lecture and seminar format to encourage the exchange and synthesis of unstructured ideas. 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 and White Paper presentations will be used to apply the knowledge acquired in conjunction with a high degree of common sense. Page 3 of 5

4 Tentative Schedule Topic Session Sub-Topic Relevance and Importance of IS 1 Introduction to Course IT Interaction Framework 2 Does IT Matter? Technology 3 & 4 Business implications Trends IS and Strategic Relevance 5 IT and Strategy 6 IT & Organization 7 New Business Models 8 Value of IT & IT Productivity Paradox 9 Network effects, Standards & Competition Midterm Exam 10 Organizing & Leading the IT function 11 Portfolio Approach to IS IS Development / Implementation 12 Choosing Technology 13 Managing Diverse IT Infrastructure & Outsourcing 14 Four Paradigms of IS Development Power, Politics, and IS implementation 15 Software Runaways Knowledge 16 Benefitting from Core Competencies Management Global IT issues 17 IT in International Business Social Impacts of Computing 18 Ethical Issues Final Exam 5. TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 19 ICT for Development 20 Digital Divide Learning is an active and collaborative process. As your teacher my role is to select relevant resources and assignments, to clarify and summarize complex material, to motivate and help you become a reflective practitioner. The field of IS is changing so rapidly that every course is a learning experience for the students as well as for the instructor. I look forward to working with you and in making it a mutual learning experience. An ancient Chinese proverb says: A Teacher may open the door but you must enter by yourself. I hope you take the challenge and enjoy the experience! 6. 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: Module Points Quizzes 20 Midterm Exam 20 Final Exam 30 Case Analysis/ White Paper (Group) 20 Class Participation 10 TOTAL 100 Page 4 of 5

5 White Paper Presentations: Topics on current issues will be assigned for research and presentation in class. Groups, which will be identified one week in advance, will research a topic and make a presentation in class. The presentation will have to be comprehensive. Group presentations will be graded on the depth of research (40%), originality of arguments (40%), and clarity of presentation (20%). Cases: All groups will have to prepare for case discussion in the class. There will be no advance warnings for particular groups as in the presentations. I may select any two groups to present their analysis. The assessment will be based on identification of issues (40%), clarity of presentation (40%), and responses to questions (20%) 7. POLICIES 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. 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. 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. 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. Page 5 of 5