IS6643 Information Technology Based Organization Transformation

Part I

Course Duration:
One Semester (13 Weeks)
Credit Units:
Three
Level: P6

Medium of Instruction
:
English
Prerequisites:
EC5001 Introduction to eCommerce
Precursors:
Nil
Equivalent Courses:

IS5743 Information Technology Based Organization Transformation

Exclusive Courses:

IS5743 Information Technology Based Organization Transformation



Part II  


Course Aims:

  • provide students with knowledge and experience relevant to organization transformation and business process management, and
  • enable students to apply information technology (IT) to enable and facilitate organizational transformation.

Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs)
Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

No.

CILOs

Weighting
(if applicable)

1.

Describe the key essence of process-oriented organizations and the evolution of management philosophy related to organization transformation.

1

2.

Apply a disciplined business process redesign methodology and propose IT-based redesign solutions.

3

3.

Apply a business process redesign software tool to facilitate business process management.

1

4.

Manage changes due to IT-based organization transformation and identify the key success factors of organization transformation.

2

(3: Relatively most focused CILOs; 2: moderately focused CILOs; 1: less focused CILOs)

Teaching and learning Activities (TLAs)
(Indicative of likely activities and tasks designed to facilitate students’ achievement of the CILOs. Final details will be provided to students in their first week of attendance in this course)


Seminar/Workshop:       39 hours

TLA1: Lecture
The lectures will cover such topics as environmental analyses for organization transformation, process-oriented organizations, business process reengineering (BPR), the role of IT in organization transformation, evolution of management philosophy in organization transformation, the Leavitt Diamond model of organization adaptation, BPR methodology, identification of business processes to be redesigned, scoping of a business process, business process modelling, analysis, and redesign, generic strategies for business process redesign, principles and tactics for business process redesign, IT integration in the context of redesigned business processes, redesign of supply chain processes, organization change management, and critical success factors for organization transformation.


TLA2: Case Studies and Role-Play

Throughout the semester, students will apply and integrate what they learn through classroom discussions and textbook reading into real-world mini-cases.  On top of the mini-cases, students will be asked to submit a written report of a case study.

To get in-depth understanding of the cases, role-playing exercises will be conducted in the class to simulate a scenario described in a real-world case.  Students will take different roles in the exercises and key issues related to the successful implementation of organization transformation will be addressed in the exercises.

TLA3: Project
Business Process Reengineering is best learned by doing it.  Therefore, the term project will be an exercise in reengineering.
Students will work in a team of 5 members (4 members will be allowed in exceptional cases).  You will choose your own partners.  Each team should submit the group formation form by the end of week 2Students are encouraged to form your group ASAP.
Project teams can choose one of the two approaches:

Approach 1 – Redesign approach
: 1) analyze a currently existing organization process, and 2) seek to reengineer it (i.e., suggest a reengineered solution).

Approach 2 – Criticizing approach
: 1) identify a local (HK or Mainland) organization with a business process reengineering project that uses information technology to bring advantages to the organization, and 2) describe and critique the reengineering project, and provide an alternative solution to the project.

Each team will write a report summarizing the findings and present their project in week 12.  The due times of the three phase of the project are as follows:

  • Project Proposal: by Week 6, each team should hand in a 1~2 page description of the company they intend to study and the study plan. 
  • Progress Report: by Week 8, each team should hand in a 1~2 page report summarizing the activities that have been conducted and the remaining activities and the problems faced in the BPR project.  This report should be written in bullet form and it is different from the partial project report (i.e., you shall not include the contents of the sections of the final report that you’ve done).
  • Final Report and PPT Slides: by Week 12 prior to the project presentations.  The final report and PPT slides are to be submitted in hard copy in class.  In addition, the electronic version of the final report (i.e., MS Word) and PPT slides should also be submitted via the Blackboard before Week 12’s class. There is a word limit of 3,200 words for the report.

CILO No

TLA1: Lectures

TLA2: Case Studies & Role-playing

TLA3: Project

Hours/week
(if applicable)

CILO 1

2

 

 

---

CILO 2

2

2

2

---

CILO 3

1

 

1

---

CILO 4

2

2

1

---

(1: Minor focus on the CILO; 2: Main focus on the CILO)

Assessment Tasks/Activities

(Indicative of likely activities and tasks designed to assess how well the students achieve the CILOs. Final details will be provided to students in their first week of attendance in this course)


AT1: Continuous Assessment and Self-Reflection (25%)

The instructor encourages a two-way, interactive learning environment, thus students are expected to participate actively in class.  The participation grade will be based on both in-class and online (Blackboard) participation.  The 25% of the grade allocated is not a gift, and will only be given to students who prepare for discussion and participate actively in the class.  In particular, three components will be evaluated: 

  • Attend class and participate in discussions to which you have something substantive to add, and make several significant contributions, i.e., insightful questions or comments.  It is also desirable to draw from your experience that is relevant to a discussion.  To ensure that the instructor knows who you are, you are recommended to bring a nameplate to every class. (about 12%)
  • Weekly journals: you will briefly summarize what you’ve learned from each class (except weeks 12 & 13) and report your self-reflection in the discussion forum in the Blackboard.  Normally you will focus on (1) the key messages you’ve learned and (2) some critical thinking about the topic of the class. (about 6%)
  • Follow the Blackboard discussion forum, answer other students’ questions, and make several significant contributions (i.e., insightful questions or comments), and post local BPR cases (i.e., Hong Kong or Mainland China Cases). (about 2%)

Occasionally, you will submit a case report so that you will be ready to actively participate in the case discussion. (about 5%)

AT2: Project (35%)
The project will be marked using the following scheme:

-          Progress Report (2% of course grade)
-         
Final Report (25% of course grade)
-         
Presentation (8% of course grade).

AT3: Final Examination (40%)
The final exam will be an open book exam.  It will cover all readings assigned in the class, the lectures and the tutorials including the cases and examples mentioned in the class.


** Students must pass BOTH coursework and examination in order to get an overall pass in this course.**

CILO No

AT1: Continuous Assessment (15%)

AT2:  Project (30%)

AT4: Final Examination (50%)

Remarks

CILO 1

2

1

2

1: Minor focus on the CILO;

2: Main focus on the CILO)

CILO 2

2

2

2

CILO 3

1

2

 

CILO 4

2

2

1

Grading of Student Achievement:

(H: High weighting; M: Medium weighting; L: Low weighting)

Continuous Assessment:

Criteria

Weight

A

B

C

D

[CILOs 1, 2, 4] Participation in Lectures/Case Discussions

H

-    Be enthusiastic; contribute to class discussion actively by asking excellent questions and responding others’ questions  frequently and proactively

-    Demonstrate the ability to solve many real problems by applying knowledge learned in the class

-    Contribute to case discussions proactively and demonstrate deep understanding of the key issues involved in the cases

-    Be active; contribute to class discussion by asking good and relevant questions and answering other’s questions occasionally

-    Demonstrate the ability to solve some real problems by applying knowledge learned in the class

-    Contribute to case discussions and demonstrate fair understanding of the key issues involved in the cases

-    Be active when prompted; contribute to discussion by responding to questions when asked

-    Occasionally demonstrate the ability to solve some real problems by applying knowledge learned in the class

-    Contribute to case discussions and demonstrate fair understanding of relevant issues involved in the cases

-    Be occasionally active when urged; respond to questions when repeatedly asked

-    Contribute to case discussions when urged and demonstrate limited understanding of relevant issues involved in the cases

[CILOs 1, 2, 3, 4] Self-Reflection through Weekly Journals in the Blackboard

M

-    Demonstrate critical reflections in most of the weekly journals

-    Demonstrate the ability to solve many real problems by applying knowledge learned in the class

-    Address concerns and issues raised in others’ weekly journals proactively

-    Demonstrate critical reflections in many of the weekly journals

-    Demonstrate the ability to solve some real problems by applying knowledge learned in the class

-    Address concerns and issues raised in others’ weekly journals occasionally

-    Demonstrate critical reflections in some of the weekly journals

-    Seldom demonstrate the ability to solve real problems by applying knowledge learned in the class

-    Address concerns and issues raised in others’ weekly journals occasionally

-    Seldom demonstrate critical reflections in the weekly journals

-    Seldom demonstrate the ability to solve real problems by applying knowledge learned in the class

-    Seldom address concerns and issues raised in others’ weekly journals

Project:

Project section

Weight

A

B

C

D

[CILO 1] Introduction and Background (business environment, and justification of the choice of the process to be redesigned)

M

-    Strong justification of the need for organization transformation based on environmental analyses

-    Rich, relevant material based on information from multiple sources

-    Well-structured and grammatically correct description

-    Good justification of the need for organization transformation based on environmental analyses

-    Material is based on information from multiple sources

-    Well-structured and grammatically correct description

-    Acceptable justification of the need for transformation of the organization based on environmental analyses

-    Material is based on information from 2~3 sources

-    Reasonably structured with some grammatical mistakes

 

-    Poor justification of the need for organization transformation based on environmental analyses

-    Material is primarily based on information from a single source

-    poorly structured description with many grammatical mistakes

[CILO 2,3] Redesign of a Business Process

H

-    Appropriately apply the 5-phases model to redesign the process

-    Clearly describe the scope of the business process to be redesigned

-    Adequately and appropriately apply the redesign principles and tactics

-    Propose a well-justified, innovative redesign solution

-    Alternative redesigns are considered and ruled out convincingly

-    Apply the 5-phases model to redesign the process in a good manner

-    Describe the scope of the business process to be redesigned

-    Apply the redesign principles and tactics in a good manner

-    Propose a well-justified or innovative redesign solution

-    Mechanically apply the 5-phases model to redesign the process

-    Describe the scope of the business process to be redesigned

-    Apply some of the redesign principles and tactics in an acceptable manner

-    Propose an acceptable redesign solution, but the solution is not innovative or lacks strong justification

-    Mechanically apply the 5-phases model to redesign the process

-    Poorly describe the scope of the business process to be redesigned

-    Inappropriately apply any of the redesign principles and tactics

-    Propose a poor redesign solution

[CILO  4] Implementation

M

-    Propose actionable, most suitable suggestions to facilitate the implementation of the project

-    Identify the most relevant, key success factors of the project

-    Propose many relevant suggestions to facilitate the implementation of the project

-    Identify most of the relevant, key success factors of the project

-    Propose some relevant suggestions to facilitate the implementation of the project

-    Identify some relevant, key success factors of the project

-    Propose irrelevant suggestions to facilitate the implementation of the project

-    Fail to identify any relevant, key success factors of the project

Final Examination:

The list below is an indication of the importance of different CILOs to be assessed during the final examination.
(H: High weighting; M: Medium weighting; L: Low weighting)

Criteria

Weight

A

B

C

D

[CILO 1]

Key concepts and management approaches to organization transformation

L

-    Effectively distinguish between radical redesign and incremental improvement of business processes

-    Effectively identify needs for organization transformation based on an environmental analysis

-    Evidence of deep understanding of the essence of business processes

-    Distinguish between radical redesign and incremental improvement of business processes

-    Identify many salient needs for organization transformation based on an environmental analysis

-    Evidence of good understanding of the essence of business processes

-    Distinguish between radical redesign and incremental improvement of business processes

-    Identify some salient needs for organization transformation based on an environmental analysis

-    Evidence of fair understanding of the essence of business processes

-    Fail to distinguish between radical redesign and incremental improvement of business processes

-    Identify some needs for organization transformation based on an environmental analysis

-    Poor understanding of the essence of business processes

[CILO 2]

Redesign a business process

H

-    Effectively identify organizational needs for organizational transformation based on an internal analysis

-    Identify the most suitable team members for the redesign project

-    Set up the most appropriate goals and objectives for the redesign project

-    Appropriately model a business process

-    Effectively identify the key weaknesses of an existing business process

-    Effectively identify the redesign principles and tactics that are most suitable to a redesign project and appropriately apply them

-    Proposal a very suitable IT-based solution to achieve the redesign objectives

-    Identify organizational needs for organizational transformation based on an internal analysis

-    Identify the majority of the most suitable team members for the redesign project

-    Set up some suitable goals and objectives for the redesign project

-    Appropriately model a business process

-    Identify the main weaknesses of an existing business process

-    Identify many relevant redesign principles and tactics that are suitable to a redesign project and apply them in a good manner

-    Proposal a reasonable IT-based solution to achieve the redesign objectives

-    Identify organizational needs for organizational transformation based on an internal analysis

-    Identify some of the most suitable team members for the redesign project

-    Set up some suitable goals and objectives for the redesign project

-    Model a business process with minor errors

-    Identify the main weaknesses of an existing business process

-    Identify some relevant redesign principles and tactics that are suitable to a redesign project and apply them in an acceptable manner

-    Proposal an acceptable IT-based solution to achieve the redesign objectives

-    Fail to identify organizational needs for organizational transformation based on an internal analysis

-    Fail to identify most of the suitable team members for the redesign project

-    Fail to set up suitable goals and objectives for the redesign project

-    Model a business process with major errors

-    Identify some weaknesses of an existing business process

-    Fail to identify most of the relevant redesign principles and tactics that are suitable to a redesign project and fail to apply them appropriately

-    Proposal a poor IT-based solution that is difficult to achieve the redesign objectives

[CILO 4]

Implementation of organization transformation

M

-    Propose actionable, most suitable advice to facilitate the organization transformation by applying the Leavitt-diamond model

-    Effectively identify the key success factors of a process redesign project

-    Propose actionable, reasonable advice to facilitate the organization transformation by applying the Leavitt-diamond model

-    Identify most of the key success factors of a process redesign project

-    Propose some acceptable advice to facilitate the organization transformation by applying the Leavitt-diamond model

-    Identify several key success factors of a process redesign project

-    Fail to propose actionable advice to facilitate the organization transformation by applying the Leavitt-diamond model

-    Fail to identify any key success factors of a process redesign project


Part III

Keyword Syllabus:

Business Process; Business Process Reengineering (BPR); the Leavitt Diamond Model; BPR Methodology; BPR Tool; Principles and Tactics for BPR; IT Integration; Change Management; and Critical Success Factors.

 

Related Links
Department of Information Systems