Overview:
You will form groups consisting of 4 or 5 people each and learn - first hand - how organizations use information system to support some specific business process that they need to perform in order to produce a product or serve a customer. You will physically travel to the organization and interview various people involved with the business process and its associated information system and see for yourself how the concepts we discuss in class play out in an actual living, breathing organization. At the end of the semester, your group will turn in a 25 page paper and make a presentation before the class about what you have learned.
Project Objectives:
There are several desired job skills that companies seek in new hires regardless of your specific major or degree. The objectives of the group project in this course will give you experience building each of these skills
1. To gain deeper, hands-on understanding of how organizations use information systems.
2. To practice working as a group toward a shared goal.
3. To practice communicating well.
4. To get a chance to present your work in a creative way.
5. To create a product that you can use to impress recruiters and get a great job.
What Your Project Is:
For this project, you will first need to form a group of 4 or 5 people and locate and contact an actual business organization. You may choose any organization to which you have access. This may be an organization local to the Lewisburg area, an organization that a parent or boyfriend/girlfriend works for, or somewhere you have interned during the summer. Various University Departments are NOT acceptable organizations. Next, you will need to learn how that organization uses information systems to support some specific business process that the organization needs to perform in order to operate. Examples of business processes supported by information systems include the following:
There are many, many processes from which you may choose, many organizations will use information systems in order to perform a variety of business processes. Your goal is to learn how your organization uses some particular information system to support a specific business process.
In addition to your organizational study, your group will be expected to demonstrate that you are able to find appropriate articles that deal with the impacts of information systems upon organizations and integrate these into your final paper. You may use resources such as those introduced in class (InformationWeek, InternetWeek, Business Week, Fortune, etc.) to locate 5 to 7 short articles that deal with some topic or theme on how organizations use information systems. Each of your 5 to 7 articles should be relevant to either your specific organization (in the event that you happen to choose a large or publically traded company) or to your specific business process (for example, how another organization uses information systems in a similar fashion to the company that your group has chosen). In either case, you will need to compare and contrast the articles with the organization that your group has chosen to study. This can be in the form of comparing your organization to another in the same industry, or comparing your organizations' information system with that of another organzation, etc. The idea to is to somehow "benchmark" the use of information systems in your chosen organzation to that of others that exist by drawing from lessons learned, benefits, pitfalls, etc that your articles and your organzation may have in common.
At the end of the semester, your group will make a presentation to the rest of the class. Your goal is to share what you learned about the use of information systems at your chosen organization that is particularly interesting or important for their survival. You may choose from any topic contained in the course textbook. For topics not covered in the text, please see me to make sure your topic is appropriate. Each group will write a paper and make a presentation to the class about what you have learned.
This project has several milestones that are due at various points during the semester. The milestones are designed to help insure each group is on track and not falling behind in their work. These milestones are also an important source of feedback to help you improve your work. Your group is welcome to turn in milestones at any time before its respective due date. Your group is also welcome to turn in your project paper anytime before the end of the semester. The specific milestones are indicated below, due dates are indicated on the main course web page.
To help you determine what is appropraite to include in your project, I have carefully constructed and refined a project score sheet that I will use to evaluate your project at the end of the semester. The score sheet contains a very detailed list of topics that I expect your group to address within the context of your chosen organization and business process along with specific guidelines for how points will be awarded. Please use the project scoresheet as the outline for your project and give careful treatment to each topic contained in the scoresheet. If you cannot see how the items from the score sheet apply to your business process, you need to either 1) come and see me to discuss your project in greater detail, or 2) find another business process/organization to study. I'd recommend exploring Option #1 first...
What Your Project Is Not:
By counter example, there are a few things that I am NOT looking for in your project. Your project report should NOT be a mere description of the software that your organization uses - this is far too simplistic. Your project report should NOT be a simple list of features or functionality that are supported by the software that your organization uses - this also is too simplistic. Your project report should NOT be an inventory of the various hardware and software that your organization has purchased.
While it is certainly acceptable (in some cases) to include the above items in your project report (as VERY short sections), your report should focus on the use of the IS to support the business process you have selected.
Working as a Group:
You will find working as a group both exhilarating and aggravating. Whether you like it or not, most organizational work today focuses on team work. If you want to get paid well for your work -- then you will work in groups. You will rarely have the chance to choose the people you work with, so we strongly suggest you learn how to establish a good working group atmosphere with whoever you find on your team. Here are some ideas on making your team work better.
1. Even before you agree to work with others, have an open and candid discussion about how important doing well is to each of you. The reality is that some people place more importance on getting an "A" than others, who really don't mind getting a "B" -- or even a "C" or "D". If you strongly believe you must get an "A" (or strongly believe that a "B" or "C" works for you), try your best to ensure that your teammates feel the same way. Be honest about this up front; your values will come out anyway during the semester so you won’t fool anyone, in the end; but you may have more conflict than you want.
2. Similarly, try to find out what kind of work styles potential teammates have, and what you can work with. Some people like to get right on the project, and finish a week or two early. Alternatively, some people thrive working under a deadline, and either consciously or subconsciously plan to really begin working about Halloween and spend all-nighters the week leading up to the deadline. So figure out which kind of person you are, and try to match up with those who share your approach. Caution: regardless of your style, if you wait too long, you won't have enough time to do a good job.
3. Once you get your team together, organize yourselves. Have an open discussion about roles. For example, roles include task manager, work organizer, interviewer, note taker, diagram builder, network person, new technology researcher, "subprocess A" leader, "subprocess B" leader, etc. It's probably not important that any one person fill a certain role for the whole project, but it is probably important that some of these roles get filled by someone when they need to be filled. So talk about roles periodically -- who likes what, who will do what when -- keeping in mind that roles can and do change as the project progresses. If you can organize according to skills (e.g., some people are really good writers, others are really good modelers), you’re welcome to do so. Just remember that everyone must be able to do everything for the exams.
Additional hint: make sure that all team members have access to organizational contacts. Past project teams have had big problems when only one person served as the liaison. Plus, you need to gain interviewing and contact management experience, so you personally gain by "face time."
4. Each of these roles (and perhaps others that you will identify) has certain performance expectations. Discuss your performance measures and expectations for yourself, and for others, early. Revisit them occasionally. Obvious measures include: attendance at meetings, preparation for meetings, successful completion of tasks. You should suggest and agree to certain performance measures for yourself, and stick to them, no matter what. You should also expect and accept teammate disgruntlement if you don't stick to them without good reason -- especially if you set them for yourself! It's a good idea to write these down, and modify them as you go on. (The Mid Term and Final Peer Evaluations are good places to practice this.) We realize that all students have an insanely busy schedule (other classes, work, athletics, extracurricular activities). However, if you’ve chosen management as a major, we know from years of personal experience and interaction with recruiters that the experiences you get in this course are absolutely critical to a management career. We will have little sympathy, therefore, for group members who shirk their responsibilities. You’re a grown-up. Be responsible for making your commitments and don’t make commitments you can’t keep.
5. If you have trouble with your team, please feel free to stop by and talk with me -- in confidence, of course. You should know beforehand, however, that I have never allowed individuals to switch teams in mid-stream. It is important for you to learn how to resolve conflicts, and I can help you do that throughout the term.
6. Above all, have fun. Working with a good group can not only enable you to create a massively complex and effective project, and learn how other people think, but you can also make some very good friends and future contacts. If you do not like working in groups, then you seriously need to consider another career. If you like working in groups, then you'll have a wonderful career -- and project!
Please be sure to carefully read the project score sheet. This is how I will assign a grade to your completed project.