Animating the Concept of Business Process in the Core Course in Information Systems
Neil C. Ramiller
A persistent challenge in teaching the introductory undergraduate course iu information systems is to integrate the diverse set oftopics which that course entails. One strategy for achieving better integration is to focus the course around tbe role played by information technologies and systems in the business processes of the firm, However, this raises a subsidiary challenge: how to give students a firm understanding of what a business process is. This paper reports on an approach to animating the concept for undergraduate business majors. The approach, using an adapted version of Alter's Work-Centered Analysis framework, combines in-class exercises with a team-based field project. An implementation of the approach is described and evaluated. Sufficient detail is provided to perntit other faculty to reproduce, adapt, and extend the approach.
Neil C. Ramiller is an assistant professor of information systems in the School of Business Administration at Portland State University. Dr. Ramiller holds a PhD form the Anderson School at UCLA and an MBA from UC-Berkeley. His research activities, which address the management of information technology, focus on the part that language plays in exposing promoting, clarifying, and complicating the role of information technology innovations in organizations. Dr. Rarniller's work has appeared in journals such as Information & Organization, Information Technology & People, Organization Science, andInformation Systems Research.
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