Oakland University

Note: This syllabus provides a summary of the course and its methods and procedures. This document constitutes a high-level description of the components of the course and does not describe all the details. Details of all course activities are found on the course Moodle website. The course follows a "blended" model; course "meetings" take place either on-site at Oakland University or in "cyberspace". A schedule of activities detailing how these meetings take place forms the basis for the course structure and is available on Moodle.

When:	Tuesdays 6:30-9:20
Where:	Elliott Hall, Room 235
Professor:	Dr. Paul Licker
Office:	EH 238
Office Phone:	248-370-2432
E-mail:	licker@oakland.edu
Office Hours:	Before and after class or by appointment. Email interaction is preferred, however.

This course is about IT and “the enterprise”. Few would doubt that the computer has caused a “revolution” in business, but most would be hard-pressed to describe that revolution closely or tell why it came about. Does this revolution differ in any important way from any other “revolution” in business? Are the role-players similar or different? Are the effects as pervasive and if so, in what real way? Some would say that the real revolution is yet to come, that we are only on the brink of the real changes. These critics and pundits would characterize the revolution as that of the networked economy. What does this term mean and what are its implications? What are the stakes? Who are the winners and losers? How do we distinguish winners from losers? What skills or resources will the winners have that the losers lack? This course focuses on the intersection of information systems/technology and enterprise function and strategy. It attempts to answer these general questions:

1. In what fundamental way is a networked economy different from the hierarchical economy we now experience?

2. What fundamental role does information technology play in distinguishing the networked economy?

3. What skills, resource, and attitudes must a manager, an entrepreneur, and an administrator have in order to survive and prosper in the networked economy? How are these skills transferred, resources applied, and attitudes exercised in that pursuit?

4. In what fundamental ways are traditional business concepts such as competition, leadership, supervision, investment, strategy, and profit affected by the move to a networked economy?

5. How are the effects of the transition felt at various levels: individual, firm, industry, nation, world?

1. The phenomenon of global information systems and attendant globalization of business

2. The emergence and maturation of electronic commerce in its various forms

3. The continual growth of information technology in all aspects of the life of modern business

4. Increasing dependence of business processes on information and the technology that provides a platform for the business.

A powerpoint presentation is available through the Moodle website.

Prescribed Text:

Piccoli, Gabriele. Information Systems for Managers: Text & Cases. New York, Wiley, 2008. Available at OU Bookstore.

Grading Weights Assignment of GradesCla10%

This is a blended class. We will meet face-to-face eight times and use the Internet to "meet" six times. Attendance will be taken at each face-to-face class and counts as a component of the final course mark (as part of participation). In the event that you are unable to attend a class, please inform the instructor prior to the class via e-mail or telephone. Participation in this class is very important. We will be discussing issues that are pertinent to your life and your employment; your expert opinion is valued! Strong participation will be rewarded by up to 5% extra credit. Weak participation may result in a penalty of up to 5%. Details of course policies are found on the course Moodle website. ALL FORUM PARTICIPATION is graded and counted except where explicitly noted. Forum participation is graded on a four-point scale (4=outstanding, insightful; 3=good, useful; 2=some problems with logic, presentation or value; 1=useless, poorly presented; 0=harmful, nasty, ignorant; most submissions will be 3s, I hope; 0s and 1s are signs to me that I need to speak with you about your participation and hopefully will be very rare; 4s are a joy to everyone). You can use forums to “meet” concerning your case presentations and we will be using forums to discuss guest speakers and important IS issues.

The course meets eight times face-to-face and six times on the Internet. Face-to-face meetings occur roughly every other week for the purpose of guest lectures, case presentations, and course mechanics as well as occasional lectures. "Internet" weeks consist of structured discussions through Moodle's forum facility.

The course uses Moodle as a platform. Moodle work consists of reading, reporting, and discussion. There are a number of assignments (ten, in fact) that form part of the IT project (see below) and there will be case assignments (see below) that all students will take various roles in. There are also seven discussion forums that students will participate in, in lieu of classroom discussion. All assignments are graded and execution of the assignments is paced by Moodle.

The course will be conducted using lectures, guest lectures, on-line case discussions and face-to-face case presentations, article discussions, video films, software demonstrations (where feasible), website exploration (where appropriate) and student presentations. You must have read all assigned readings and materials including cases before each lecture to have stimulating and enjoyable class discussions. Remember that success in a seminar course such as this depends critically on everyone’s participation (just as user participation is critical to the successful implementation of any information system!)

Moodle

This course is available on Moodle. How to access and use Moodle will be covered during the first meeting of the class. All quizzes and assignments are to be submitted through Moodle, with the exception of the case presentations, which are to be emailed to the instructor.

Each student will, individually (on rare occasions where a case can be made for it, in groups), define and describe an information challenge on the job. Over a ten-week period, the student will be guided to submit a series of progress reports as the student comes to understand the impact of that challenge and potential information-based solutions. The progress reports are graded as pass or fail and are worth 1% of the overall course mark each. The result of this ten weeks' effort will be synthesized (not just compiled) into a maximum ten-page report on the information challenge and a proposed logical or functional solution worth 10% of the overall course mark. No software will actually be constructed, however. Where groups are involved (and this is not encouraged), midterm and final peer evaluations will be handed in and each will count 1% of the final course mark (assumed 100% for individuals, of course).

Details on the case method and its use in this course are available on the Moodle website. Each student in this course will participate in a variety of case activities as presenter, critic or executive. Each of the cases will require a presentation, executed by a group. The presentation will have the following required deliverables.

2. A one-page printed executive summary of the presentation (copies to each member of the class at time of presentation)

Items marked with an asterisk (*) are to be emailed as attachments (.ppt and .doc preferered) to Dr. Licker prior to the evening in which the presentation is to be made. The case questions and the case worksheet have been created to structure and guide the activities of the presenting group and should be seen as assistance rather than assignment.

Each student will be assigned to a case group. There will be one practice case (Royal Hotel) and four regular cases (Outrigger, Canyon Ranch, Dartcor and Carnival) and the number of students in each group depends on the size of the class. For the practice case, the class as a whole will derive "advice", which the instructor will critique and the class as a whole will revise the recommendations acting as a board of directors. For each regular case, one case group will present the case and complete a set of documentation and make recommendations – this group will act as consultants or advisors to a Board of Directors. A second case group will critique the consultants’ recommendations – this group is called the “Critic Committee” and acts as a subcommittee of the Board of Directors. The third and fourth case groups will act as the Board of Directors and recommend action based on the report of the Critic Committee (the BoD can reject either or both of the other groups’ recommendations). The critic committee and the Board will each submit a maximum 1000-word report, which, like the consultant presentation, will be graded. Hence each case group will act as Advising Consultant (once), Critic Committee (once) and Board of Directors (twice). Assignments will be made during the first week of classes and finalized on the second class meeting.

There will be two multiple choice quizzes during this course; details about the quizzes will be provided in class and on the course website. All quizzes are submitted through the course Moodle website. Because these are unstandardized quizzes, the raw score as posted by Moodle is relatively meaningless; the instructor will inform you of the final adjusted scores. There will be no final examination.

Late assignments, where permitted, will be penalized 10% for each calendar day late. If you turn in an assignment the day after it was due, for example, your mark will be reduced by 10%. For two days late, you will lose 20%, and so on, up to six days. After seven days the assignment will be worth nothing. If there are extenuating circumstances that you know in advance will affect your ability to hand the paper in on time, please contact Dr. Licker in advance to arrange alternative scheduling.

Component	Weight	Score Range	Grade
Participation (Class/Forum)	+/- 5%	90-100%	3.6-4.0
Quiz 1	20%	80-89.99%	3.0-3.5
Quiz 2	20%	70-79.99%	2.5-2.9
Case Activities 4@10%	40%	60-69.99%	2.0-2.4
IT Project Paper = 10% Progress rpts = 10@1% (pass/fail)	20%	50-59.99%	1.0-1.9
Total	95-105%	<50	0