Abstract
This panel will discuss and debate whether the core Information Systems course in a business school should be structured around one central, fundamental question, and if so, what are the competing alternatives for this question. A recent Assocation to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) report strongly recommends including IT as part of the MBA core education. But there is little consensus at the current time on whether this core education should address a fundamental question, and if so, what the question should be. Moreover, a substantial fraction of leading MBA programs do not have an IS core course. The current situation is especially striking for the following reasons: • Information technology continues to be both a major factor in productivity as well as the major driver of changes in industry structure and business models • There is evidence of significant variance in the performance of companies based on how they use information technology • Knowledge about how systems work and how they enable commerce is becoming increasingly important for people in their careers • Using and managing systems as an executive requires a clear understanding of the possibilities that are enabled by information technologies in markets and organizations, as well as an appreciation of the risks and time scales associated with management of technology projects and personnel
Recommended Citation
Dhar, Vasant; Sundararajan, Arun; Brynjolfsson, Erik; Johnson, Kim; Gurbaxani, Vijay; Mendelson, Haim; and Severance, Dennis, "Should the Core Information Systems Curriculum be Structured Around a Fundamental Question?" (2004). ICIS 2004 Proceedings. 88.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2004/88