Student guide Faculty of Engineering A.Y. 2011/12

While executives continue to set exacting demands for IT support of business processes, and they see an even larger role for IT in a competitive environment increasingly shaken up by technology disruptions. Social technologies, large-scale data gathering and analytics, the "networked enterprise" are quickly becoming a new frontier of competitive differentiation.
As a future manager in any organizational unit, you will be asked to understand this complexity, identify and take advantage of the related opportunities.
The course aims at developing the knowledge of the managerial methods necessary to understand the business applications of IT and to improve the business efficiency and effectiveness through the use of IT resources. In detail, the main objectives of the course are:
- to identify organizational and information technology trends that have led to the current popularity of IT-based information systems;
- to develop a deep understanding of the issues of information management within an organization;
- to develop the ability to analyze and manage business evolution in relationship to the adoption of IT (and specifically to Internet related) technology.

The study of the technological components of an information system (IS) is essential to provide the student with a solid knowledge base about how information systems work. By understanding opportunities and limits of the ICT the student will be able to assess the influence of ICT on business strategies and organization and to compare the adequacy of different technical solutions to the business needs.
In synthesis, the lectures will cover the following main topics:
1. the role of information and IS within organizations;
2. the features of innovative IT-based information systems (e.g. social networks, business intelligence systems);
3. the role of IT within the structure and the processes of the organization;
4. the alignment of IT with the business strategy.

The final evaluation will be based mainly on assignments given during the course and in class participation. A possible final written exam will be worth no more than 30% of the final grade. The different parts will weight as follows:
- in-class participation (at least 25% of the final grade);
- assignments (at least 45% of the final grade): discussions and/or short project works about mini-cases and/or short articles; one final larger assignment to groups of 2-3 students;
- final written exam (no more than 30% of the final grade – optional).

Readings and material will be distributed by the lecturer.
Further recommended readings: G. Piccoli, Information Systems for Managers: Texts & Cases, John Wiley & Sons, 2007; Turban, Volonino, McLean, Wetherbe, Information Technology for Management (7th ed.), John Wiley & Sons, 2010.