College of Business Administration Department of Information Systems & Operations Management

Course Syllabus: MIS Executives Seminar (MIS 320) Spring 2012 (CRN 20170)
Meetings: Monday 5:00 8:50 PM (1/23/2012-3/16/2012) @ Mark 101 Instructors: Dr. Fang Fang Office: MARK 437 Phone: (760) 750-4293 Fax: (760) 750-3107 Email: fangfang@csusm.edu Office hours: Monday 4:00 5:00 PM or by appointment Dr. Jack Leu Office: MARK 456 Phone: (760) 750-4225 Fax: (760) 750-3107 Email: leu@csusm.edu Office hours: by appointment Course Website Course Syllabus, Policies, procedures, and reading materials can be found on Cougar Courses website (http://cc.csusm.edu/). Students are encouraged to check the site frequently. Purpose and Objectives The goal of this course is to provide MIS students with opportunities to learn from experienced technology managers and case studies. The invited technology leaders will talk about their careers, their companies, and the critical IS management issues and challenges with which they are commonly faced. Our primary purpose for exposing you to these successful MIS executives is to better prepare you for your own business careers. For each speaker, students are expected to understand the companys background, business processes, competitive issues, and technology solutions. Students are also expected to conduct external research related to what they learned from speakers to analyze the effectiveness of various technology solutions. The goal is for the class to identify the best practices and the enablers through discovery learning. To achieve this general purpose, specific objectives of this course include: 1. 2. Providing you with a set of successful MIS role models from which you may glean nuggets of wisdom to use in your future business decisions. Learning how the careers of effective MIS managers have evolved over time, and obtaining tips for enhancing your own career success. 1

College of Business Administration Department of Information Systems & Operations Management

3. 4. 5. 6.

Gaining a better understanding of the types of challenges faced by MIS professionals, of how those managers solve critical problems, and of how they manage change. Improving oral and written communication skills (particularly the ability to ask good questions), skills that are critical to just about any professional business endeavor. Discovering common attributes of successful MIS business executives (such as values, behaviors, and skills). Understanding the importance of developing a professional network, and acquiring specific suggestions on how executives have actually created and used such networks.

Required Materials The Adventures of an IT Leader (Chp 1-3), by Austin, et al, April 2009, Harvard Business Press, ISBN: 978-1422146606. Executive bios will be available via cougar course website one week prior to the speech.

Recommended Reading Materials There are many great books about modern IT management and leadership skills. Students are strongly recommended to read as many books as possible. One course assignment requires students to read an IT related books and to write a 10-page book reports. Below is a suggested list of those books. Students can choose other books beyond the list with the approval of the instructor.

Lessons in IT Transformation: Technology Expert to Business Leader, by Larry Bonfante, May 2011, ISBN: 978-1118004470. Real Business of IT: How CIOs Create and Communicate Value, by Hunter and Westerman, October 2009, ISBN: 978-1422147610. CIO Wisdom: Best Practices from Silicon Valleys Leading IT Experts, by Dean Lane, August 2003, ISBN: 978-0131411159. The Transformational CIO: Leadership and Innovation Strategies for IT Executives in a Rapidly Changing World, by Hunter Muller, March 2011, ISBN: 978-047064755-4. The CIO Edge: Seven Leadership Skills You Need to Drive Results, by Waller, Hallenbeck, and Rubenstrunk, November 2010, ISBN: 978-1-4221-663766376. The New CIO Leader Setting Agenda and Delivering Results, by Broadbent and Kitzis, December 2004, ISBN: 978-1591395775. IT Savvy: What Top Executives Must Know to Go from Pain to Gain, by Weill and Ross, July 2009, ISBN 978-1422181010. World Class IT: Why Business Succeed When IT Triumphs, by Peter A. High, December 2009, ISBN: 978-047045018-5. 2

College of Business Administration Department of Information Systems & Operations Management

Course Expectations: The learning environment is dependent upon three sets of stakeholders: future MIS managers in training (you and your classmates), the MIS faculty coordinator, and the invited IS Managers speakers. To hold up our end of this collaborative endeavor, the expectations that we, your MIS faculty, have of ourselves are: thorough preparation to facilitate the class sessions and to draw out valuable insights from our invited executives creativity, professionalism, and attention to detail (especially with feedback on your work) accessibility to you for personal feedback and coaching. Our expectations of you as active participants are: attendance at all class sessions (you never know what insights you might miss) punctuality, preparation, and professionalism (be ON TIME and read/research assigned materials) participation in blog discussions and audience Q & A portions of the Tales from IS Managers integrity and fairness with other participants and with your faculty coordinator Weekly Class Format: A typical weekly session is organized as follows: 5:00-5:30pm 5:30-6:30pm 6:30-6:50pm 6:50-7:00pm 7:00-7:30pm 7:30-8:40pm Assigned team interview with invited speaker of the week Presentation by the invited speaker Audience Q&A with the IS Manager Instructor summary of key points Students research and blogging Assigned team of previous week presents the topic of last week based on private interview, in-class presentation, and their own research 8:40-8:50pm Class discussion and summary

A detailed class schedule is listed in the end of the syllabus. Grading Components and Letter Grades Students final grades (100 base) is calculated as the sum of the following grades Class participation and discussion 10 points Team Host interview 10 points Team Host presentation 30 points Blogs and Reviews 30 points Individual Book Report 20 points 100 points Your final grades will be converted to your final letter grades according to the following table:
93-100 90 < 93 87 < 90 83 < 87 80 < 83 77 < 80 73 < 77 70 < 73 A AB+ B BC+ C C60<70 D <60 F

College of Business Administration Department of Information Systems & Operations Management

Class participation and discussion (10 points). Your attendance and active participation are necessary to derive the maximum benefit and learning from the Tales from IS Managers course. More than one absence will negatively impact your performance for this component. The diversity of class activities requires that you arrive on time and you must attend class in order to participate. The most discourteous service we can show our guest executives is to walk in the classroom when they are speaking. This means mandatory attendance and being on time. Attendance is recorded every week. The added value that you bring to class through active participation will greatly affect your grade. Participation can take the form of discussions relating to the case study presentations and Q & A with the speakers. Team host interview (10 points) and presentation (20 points). Teams will be formed, and each team will be assigned to a specific guest speaker. The team will prepare a private interview with the guest speaker prior to the guest presentation. The faculty instructor will evaluate the quality of the preparation and the interview. The team is also required to do research on the specific topics of the guest speaker after the guest presentation, and deliver a team presentation (in?) the following week. The type of research may include interview with people on a similar position (if you know any) as well as Internet and book research. The presentation shall be based on, but not limited to, the guest speakers presentation. The team is also encouraged to raise interesting questions that invite class discussion during the presentation. Blogs and Reviews (30 points in total). Students will be using class blog to interact with each other and amplify their learning. The class blog will be set up on the Cougar Course site. Students are required to post at least 10 blog entries/replies. However, the scores are highly depending on the QUALITY of the posts. In the end of the semester, students are required to review each blogger and nominate 6 bloggers who you think added the most value to your learning. The votes will be aggregated and the top 6 bloggers will receive 30 points in total. The instructor will individually evaluate the rest of the bloggers scores. Individual book report (20 points). The individual book reports not only are valuable part of the class but also fulfill the university writing requirement. Each student should read at least one book from the list in the recommended reading materials (or any other IT Management books, with the approval of your instructor) and write a 10-page report detailing what you have learned from the book. You are strongly encouraged to incorporate the knowledge you learnt from guest speakers, the team presentations and discussions, and the blog site. You are not supposed to simply summarize the book content. The instructor is looking for your reflective thinking after the whole 8-weeks of learning. Course Policies: Academic Integrity: Student will be expected to adhere to standards of academic honesty and integrity, as outlined in the Student Academic Honesty Policy. All written work and oral presentation assignments must be the original work. All ideas/materials that are borrowed from other sources must have appropriate references to the sources. Any quoted material should give credit to the source and be punctuated with quotation marks. Students are responsible for honest completion of their work including examinations. There will be no tolerance for infractions. If you believe there has been an infraction by someone in the class, please bring it to 4

College of Business Administration Department of Information Systems & Operations Management

the instructors attention. The instructor reserves the right to discipline any student for academic dishonesty, in accordance with the general rules and regulations of the university. Disciplinary action may include the lowering of grades and/or the assignment or assigning a failing grade to an exam, assignment, or the class as a whole. University Writing Requirement: CSUSM has established a 2500-word writing requirement (10 pages) for each course. To meet this requirement, each student will complete the individual homework assignments and term project paper. Students with Disabilities. Students with disabilities who require academic accommodations must be approved for services by providing appropriate and recent documentation to the Office of Disabled Student Services (DSS). This office is located in Craven Hall 4300, and can be contacted by phone at (760) 750-4905, or TDD (760) 750-4909. Students authorized by DSS to receive accommodations should meet with me during my office hours or in a more private setting in order to ensure your confidentiality. Confidentiality: In order for us to have a free and open learning environment, each student is expected to respect the confidentiality of any information or material shared in class discussion.

Detailed Schedule
Course content may be temporary and subject to change according to the availability of the guest speakers.
Wk 1 Date Jan 23 What we are going to do: Course Introduction (class requirements, book reading assignments, team assigned for guest speaker hosts and presentation, blog setup, etc.) Guest Speaker 1: Steve Romeo, VP of IT, Breg Inc. Topic: Managing IT in Manufacturing Ind. Reading Assignment Discussion: The Adventures of an IT Leader Guest Speaker 2: Dan Nadir, Product Manager, Symantec. Topic: Managing Security. Team presentation and class discussion on speaker 1 Guest Speaker 3: Norm Fjeldheim, CIO, QComm. Topic: Managing large scale corporate IT. Team presentation and class discussion on speaker 2 Guest Speaker 4: Debra Jensen, CIO, Charlotte Russ. Topic: Managing IT in Retail Industry. Team presentation and class discussion on speaker 3 Guest Speaker 5: Wayne Veres, CIO and Dean of IITS, CSUSM. Topic: Managing IT in Education Orgs. Team presentation and class discussion on speaker 4 Guest Speaker 6: George Beha, former CIO, San Ysidro Hospital. Topic: Managing Healthcare IT. Team presentation and class discussion on speaker 5 Team presentation and class discussion on speaker 6 Blog summary and discussion. Assignments Reading assignment: The adventures of an IT Leader, Chapter 1-3 Blog entry and reply post.

Jan 30

Feb 6

Blog entry and reply post.

Feb 13

Blog entry and reply post.

5 6

Feb 20 Feb 27

Blog entry and reply post. Blog entry and reply post.

Mar 5

Blog entry and reply post. Book Report Due Final Blog post by midnight. Best blogger vote starts and the votes are due on Mar 18

Mar 12