THE WALLACE E. CARROLL SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
MD240: Management Information Systems
Fall 2003
MD240 Home
Syllabus/Schedule
Guidelines/Grading
Case Study Questions
Team Project
Instructor: Greg Heim
Office: Fulton Hall 352A
BC Phone/Voicemail: 617-552-0462
Home Phone/Voicemail: 617-596-9028
BC E-Mail: heimgr@bc.edu
Class Schedule:
Section 01: Tuesday/Thursday: 1:30-2:45 p.m., Fulton Hall 245
Section 02: Tuesday/Thursday: 3:00-4:15 p.m., Fulton Hall 245
Office Hours:
Tuesday 12:00-1:00, 4:30-5:30
Thursday 12:00-1:00, 4:30-5:30
and by appointment.
Course Premise and Objectives:
As technical advances in Information Technology (IT) proceed at a staggering pace, business managers and professionals are continually challenged to plot the most appropriate course for personal and corporate IT usage. Few modern managers can expect to be effective in their administration of complex modern organizations if they do not possess a reasonable understanding of contemporary Information Systems (IS) and their impact on organizations. Your success as a business manager and professional will be strongly affected by your ability to make informed and intelligent decisions regarding your organization's IT direction and usage. You will undoubtedly be called upon to participate in systems design and acquisition decisions, monitoring and evaluation activities, and resource allocation for existing and proposed systems.
While past Information Technology was primarily used for automating mundane tasks of internal users within a single organization, current applications are expected to serve much broader business goals. Information Systems now connect internal users to other internal users, interconnect functional areas of the corporation, connect supply and distribution channels to the shop floor, and connect the customer to the corporation 24 hours a day.
This course will examine the fundamental concepts and components of Information Technology from a managerial and professional end user perspective. The course objective is to introduce you to the terminology and technologies of the IS function, and to create a dialogue through which we can examine the capabilities and visions of existing and proposed IT approaches. We will analyze case studies of actual IT successes and failures in the business world, and attempt to generalize from these cases to other organizations and circumstances.
Required Textbook:
Turban, McLean and Wetherbe, Information Technology for Management: Transforming Business in the Digital Economy, 3rd Edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2002. (ISBN 0-471-40075-0)
Lectures will be based on the assumption that the student has performed a preliminary reading of the day's chapter before class. After the class session, it will be necessary to reread portions of the chapters to sufficiently understand the material.
Additional Readings:
Eric Raymond, The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary (all of these readings also available online)
WWW-based articles and handouts.