INLS 285 -- Information Use for Organizational Effectiveness
Fall 2007
Course Outline
PART I. INTRODUCTION, OVERVIEW, and DEFINITION OF TERMS
1. Introduction to the course, requirements and expectations, Tuesday, August 21
Definition of organizations / people/ information/ technology
Reading:
Buckland, Michael (1991). Information as thing. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Vol. 42 (No. 5): 351-360. (This paper is available through UNC electronic journals.)
2. In-class discussion of Buckland reading and discussion of information in organizational contexts, Thursday, August 23
3. Defining organizations and organizational effectiveness, Tuesday, August 28
How organizations set the tone; how people affect organizations.
How could organizations and/or individuals benefit from the information shared here?
Reading:
Buckland, Michael (1989). Information handling, organizational structure, and power. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Vol. 40 (No. 5): 329-333. (Available through UNC electronic journals)
4. In-class discussion of the 1989 Buckland paper, Thursday, August 30
5. Ethical behavior, trust, and lying, Tuesday, Tuesday, September 4
Reading:
Grover, Steven L. (1993). "Lying, deceit, and subterfuge: A model of dishonesty in the workplace." Organization Science, Vol. 4 (No. 3): 478-495. (Available through UNC electronic journals)
Software Engineering Code of Ethics: http://www.acm.org/serving/se/code.htm#full
6. In-class discussion of organizational and personal ethics, scenarios, Thursday, September 6
7. Organizational theories of learning, processes and models, Tuesday, September 11
Reading:
Choo, Chapter 1, pages 1-25, “The Knowing Organization: A Holistic View of How Organizations Use Information”. (PAM box; see Blackboard for other options)
8. In-class discussion of organizational theories, processes, and models, Thursday, September 13
9. A general model of information use, Tuesday, September 18
Reading:
Choo, C.W. (1991). Towards an information model of organizations. Canadian Journal of Information Science, Vol. 16 (no. 3): 32-62.
http://choo.fis.utoronto.ca/FIS/ResPub/CJIS.html
Assignment, Information Case 1: Ethics, is due
10. Discussion of the information use model, Thursday, September 20
PART II. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND ORGANIZATIONAL MEMORY
11. What is organizational culture? Tuesday, September 25
Examines the elements that contribute to the internal and external culture of an organization to look at how organizations define themselves. Includes processes and techniques by which an organization promotes and sustains a culture, and the role that information, technology, and communication play.
Reading:
Park, Heejun, Ribiere, Vincent, and Schulte, Jr., William D. (2004). Critical attributes of organizational culture that promote knowledge management technology implementation success. Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 8, no. 3: 106-117. (Available through UNC electronic journals).
12. In-class discussion of organizational culture, Thursday, September 27
13. Organizational identity, diversity, organizational boundaries and communities of practice, Tuesday, October 2
Reading: Communities of Practice
http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/cop/
Milliken, Frances J. and Martins, Luis L. Martins (1996). Searching for common threads: Understanding the multiple effects of diversity in organizational groups. Academy of Management Review, 21 (2): 402-433. (Available in UNC electronic journals)
14. Discussion of organizational identity and diversity, Thursday, October 4
15. Organizational memory, Tuesday, October 9
Reading:
Swap, Walter, Leonard, Dorothy, Shields, Mimi, and Abrams, Lisa (2001). Using mentoring and storytelling to transfer knowledge in the workplace. Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 18, no. 1: 95-114. (Available from UNC electronic journals)
16. In-class discussion of organizational memory and organizational information retrieval and mid-term review, Thursday, October 11
17. Midterm Examination, Tuesday, October 16
FALL BREAK - NO CLASS on Thursday, October 18
ASIST ANNUAL CONFERENCE - NO CLASS on Tuesday, October 23 or Thursday, October 25: Use this opportunity to work on your portfolio or other assignments
PART III. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND LEADERSHIP
18. The role of organizational structure and leadership in organizational behavior and mid-term review, Tuesday, October 30
Reading:
No reading – go to the class site on Blackboard and post your comments concerning what makes a good leader. Do this BEFORE class starts.
Assignment, Information Case 2: Organizational Culture, is due
19. In-class group assignment, Thursday, November 1
Students will prepare for class by getting an interaction type profile by taking the test at http://www.psychtests.com/tests/career/team_roles_access.html. Email your type to the instructor before class on November 1.
Read the CNN article on personality tests, http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/Careers/02/25/personality.tests/index.html
PART IV. TECHNOLOGY, PROBLEM-SOLVING AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE.
20. Technology, knowledge creation, and decision-making in organizations and the implicit knowledge in tools, Tuesday, November 6
Reading:
Bhatt, G.D. (2001). “Knowledge management in organizations: examining the interaction between technologies, techniques, and people.” Journal of Knowledge Management, 5 (1): 68-75. [available online from UNC e-journals; photocopy in PAM box]
21. Discussion of reading related to problem-solving and decision-making, Thursday, November 8
22. Organizational innovation and change, Tuesday, November 13
Reading:
Sheehan, Jerry (2006). Understanding service sector innovation. Communications of the ACM, 49 (7): 43-47. (Available through UNC electronic journals)
23. Discussion of innovation and organizational roles, Thursday, November 15
Assignment, Information Case 3: Information Quality, is due
PART V. DEVELOPING A KNOWLEDGE STRATEGY IN LARGE ORGANIZATIONS.
25. Organizational success and failure and the role of information and information use: the public view, Tuesday, November 20
Information as a commodity.
Reading:
Brown, Mary Maureen and Brudney, Jeffrey L. (2003). Learning organizations in the public sector? A study of police agencies employing information and technology to advance knowledge. Public Administration Review, vol 63, no. 1 (Jan/Feb): 30-43. (Available through UNC electronic journals)
THANKSGIVING BREAK - NO CLASS on Thursday, November 22
26. Factors related to remaining "competitively" effective, Tuesday, November 27
Reading:
Chen, Hsinchun, Chau, Michael, and Zeng, Daniel (2002). CI Spider: a tool for competitive intelligence on the Web. Decision Support Systems, vol. 34, no.1 (December): 1-17. (Available online through Science Direct )
27. Discussion of competitive intelligence issues and readings, Thursday, November 29
28. The individual in the organization: personal management issues and consequences, and social networking, Tuesday, December 4
Assignment, Information Case 4: Knowledge Strategy is due.
Reading:
Awad, Naveen Farag and Krishnan, M.S. (2006). The personalization privacy paradox: An empirical evaluation of information transparency and the willingness to be profiled online for personalization. MIS Quarterly, 30 (1): 13-28 [March]. (Available online through UNC electronic journals).
Lampe, Cliff, Ellison, Nicole, and Steinfield, Charles (2007). A familiar face(book): Profile elements as signals in an online social network. ACM CHI 2007 Proceedings, April 28-May 3, San Jose, CA, pages 435-444. (available online through the ACM Portal, UNC article databases)
29. Final examination, Thursday, December 13, 4:00 pm
Personal Portfolio is Due
last updated: August 14,
2007