The Most Important Course in the
Business School!
David M. Kroenke
 MIS
is incredibly important to business &
commerce today
 Almost
no one (in academics) knows that!
• Non-IS colleagues
• Students
• Administrators
Introduction to MIS is the most important
class in the b-school
Argument rests on two pillars:
 Data
communications is essentially free
 Data
storage is essentially free
 Snooze, yawn
…
so what???







YouTube
iPhone
Facebook
Second Life
HuLu
Twitter
LinkedIn

Do businesses have legitimate uses of
social networking???

Of course…

But which???

And how???
B-school grads must be able to:
Assess
Evaluate
Apply
Emerging information technology
B-school grads must be able to:
Assess
Evaluate
Apply
Emerging information technology
Where will students learn to do that?
She was unable to perform non-routine cognitive skills
 Abstract
thinking
 Systems
thinking
 Experimentation
 Collaboration
 Abstract
thinking
 Systems
thinking
 Experimentation
 Collaboration
Where will students learn to do that?
Five Components of IS
ER-Models
Process Modeling (BPMN)
“If two employees have the exact same opinion, then we have no
need for one of them” (Darwin John, world’s first CIO)
 Iteration
& Feedback
 Conflict – facing
 Collaboration IS:
•
•
•
•
Google Docs & Spreadsheets
Microsoft SharePoint
Google Wave
Others…
 Dealing
with uncertainty & ambiguity
 Using realistic projects (Office, SP, other?)
 Dealing
with uncertainty & ambiguity
 Using realistic projects (Office, SP, other?)
You manage the choir. What to do?
So many ways to go
with a project like
this!
1. Teach students to
• Assess
• Evaluate
• Apply
IS to business
2. Best course to learn key skills:
•
•
•
•
Abstract thinking
Systems thinking
Experimentation
Collaboration
Abstract thinking
Systems thinking
Experimentation
Collaboration
Require that the course have content!
Not a dictionary
Not MIS story time
Rather:
Models
Systems
Processes
Meaningful Applications / Activities
 Technology exploding
 Innovative applications everywhere
 New technologies for delivering content
 The most important class in the business
school!
 Tell
 And
the world!
have fun!!!