Designing the IT Course Within an Executive MBA Program

By combining knowledge management concepts with standard MBA course elements (technology, applications, systems development, and IT management), explicit and tacit knowledge can be created and diffused within the Management of Information Technology course designed for executive MBA students. The article, based on lessons learned over a ten-year period, discusses the course and presents a set of pedagogical principles. The paper includes a discussion of the appropriate role of technology in executive MBA courses and a detailed generic course syllabus

IT Service Climate: The Validation of an Antecedent Construct for IT Service Quality

Building from organizational climate theory, recent conceptual work has extended the IT service quality research and proposed a new construct, IT Service Climate, as an antecedent of IT service quality (Jia and Reich 2008). This paper reports on an empirical study that validated a 14-item measurement instrument for the IT service climate construct. Consisting of three dimensions, including Service Leadership, Service Vision, and Service Evaluation, the instrument demonstrates satisfactory reliability, convergent validity/unidimensionality, and discriminant validity. Data from a sample of matched pairs of systems and client units also indicate that, service climate scores from systems units explained significant variance in IT service quality as rated by their respective client units, thus demonstrating criterion validity. Contributions to both IT research and practice are discussed

Using Mechanical Turk Data in IS Research: Risks, Rewards, and Recommendations

With the increasing use of crowdsourced data in behavioral research fields, it is important to examine their appropriateness and desirability for IS research. Extending recent work in the IS literature, this tutorial discusses the risks and rewards of using data gathered on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. We examine the characteristics of MTurk workers and the resulting method biases that may be exacerbated in MTurk data. Based on this analysis, we present a 2x2 matrix to illustrate the categories of IS research questions that are and are not amenable to MTurk data. We suggest that MTurk data is more appropriate for generalizing studies that examine diverse cognition than for contextualizing studies or those involving shared cognition. Finally, we offer a set of practical recommendations for researchers who wish to collect data on MTurk

Predicting Patterns of Information Systems Alignment in Entrepreneurial Organizations

Organizations expend a great deal of effort managing their information system resources as they try to achieve information systems alignment (ISA), but relatively little is known about the different ways in which alignment changes over time in different organizations or what factors predict which kinds of changes are likely to occur. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that predict the patterns of ISA change in entrepreneurial organizations. An in-depth examination of the alignment process was conducted using two retrospective case studies. Continuous Change Theory and Punctuated Equilibrium Theory were used to explore ISA patterns in the two organizations. Longitudinal qualitative and quantitative data from the two organizations were used to compare the predictive ability of the two theories regarding ISA changes over time. Results suggest that two factors, organizational inertia and institutionalism, predict the likelihood of an entrepreneurial organization following one ISA change pattern over another

The Influence of Knowledge Management on Business Value in IT Projects: A Theoretical Model

This paper develops a theoretical model to explain the relationships between knowledge management and business value in IT-enabled business projects. It draws upon a wide range of literatures including project management, management information systems, software engineering, organization and management theory, organizational behaviour and strategy. The overall model comprises two sub-models. The first shows how the alignment of three project-based knowledges directly influences business value. The second shows how four knowledge-based concepts, knowledge management, knowledge stock, enabling environment, and knowledge practices, combine to create the project-based knowledges. Together these two sub-models provide an overall model of the causal system through which knowledge management influences business value. This research makes contributions to the research into IT Projects by (1) integrating fragmented literatures which connect knowledge management and project success; and (2) proposing for discussion a predictive model in which knowledge management influences business value. It has the potential when further developed to clarify what project managers can do to manage knowledge in a systematic way

Growing the Business Technology Management (BTM) Program: Ensuring BTM Supply is Meeting Industry Demand

The panel will present research concerning demand for ICT related occupations/skills and discuss high school level ICT career awareness initiatives. Also present information on Business Technology Management (BTM) growth initiatives related to an Employment Skills Development Canada (ESDC) grant, and explore academic community engagement and existing BTM programs

The use of information technology for competitive advantage in Canada

This thesis reports the findings from an empirical study of eleven information systems built by Canadian companies and installed in their customers' premises. It examines the factors which enable or inhibit the success of these strategic information systems. Specifically, it investigated factors which enable a company to: 1. Create a customer-oriented strategic system (COSS) before its competitors. 2. Achieve a high level of adoption of the COSS by the customers. 3. Achieve competitive advantage from the COSS. Also examined were the effects that the COSS had on the company which originated it. The findings are as follows: 1. Factors which were associated with "first-movers" are: a. A corporate sense of urgency. b. Management support (the chief executive or a champion). c. A competent, proactive IS department. 2. Factors which are associated with high early adoption are: a. A well-identified need recognized by the customer. b. A low price charged for the use of the COSS by customers. c. A COSS that matches the desired company-customer relationship. 3. Factors that are associated with low early adoption are: a. Absence of a recognized need by the customer. b. A high price charged for the use of the COSS. c. A sales team with low competence at selling the COSS. 4. Factors associated with high late adoption and high competitive advantage: a. Many enhancements made to the COSS over the years. 5. Factors associated with low late adoption and low competitive advantage: a. A system that is perceived to be of poor quality. b. A lack of continuity of the champion. c. A system that has had few enhancements. 6. The main effects that a COSS had on the originating companies were: a. The IS operations staff needed to change their service levels, procedures and attitudes. b. The product sales people who had to sell the COSS needed to upgrade their skills to become comfortable selling an information technology system. In summary, the findings showed that the competitive advantage which accrues from an information system can take many years to become reality. It is imperative that companies wishing to create such systems take the time to develop a customer-oriented strategy, to develop a good quality system and to prepare for several years of enhancements.Business, Sauder School ofGraduat

How agile are you? (INF70005 Strategic Project Management)

In this video, Professor Blaize Horner Reich from Simon Fraser University, Vancouver discusses agile project management

Impact of Agile on Project Success (INF70005 Strategic Project Management)

In this video, Professor Blaize Horner Reich discusses the impact of agile project management on project success