Boot camp for IT managers: The MSIM Applied Project
Many business school-based IT programs are balanced heavily toward technology, but not the Master of Science in Information Management (MSIM) at the W. P. Carey School. Grounded first in business, the program prepares managers to analyze business issues, then leverage technology deftly to create value for their firms. It's not tech for tech's sake, but rather tech for the benefit of the company. For students, it all comes together in the applied project course, during which they practice what the program is teaching them to do in their careers: uncover the challenges, figure out a solution, then determine how technology can play a role in achieving long term, strategic competitive advantage.
Many business school-based IT programs are balanced heavily toward technology, but not the Master of Science in Information Management (MSIM) at the W. P. Carey School. Grounded first in business, the program prepares managers to analyze business issues, then leverage technology deftly to create value for their firms. It's not tech for tech's sake, but rather tech for the benefit of the company.
For students, it all comes together in the applied project course, during which they practice what the program is teaching them to do in their careers: uncover the challenges, figure out a solution, then determine how technology can play a role in achieving long term, strategic competitive advantage.
Companies are telling universities that they need this kind of technology manager — individuals who have one foot in business and the other in technology, who can bring the two together. The applied project is basic training in the development of those managers.
It's all about business
Early in the 12-month MSIM program, students are introduced to the applied project course whose theme is "Business Transformation through IT." The title says it all. Divided into teams, students work on a project of their own design throughout the year, applying what they are learning from their classes as they go along.
"The purpose of the integrated applied project experience is for them to learn to apply the knowledge and skills they acquire in the overall program, in each of the courses they take in the entire year, to a real life situation in a company of their choice," said information systems Professor Uday Kulkarni, who has headed up the applied projects course for the last three years.
The course teaches students to start by considering the business questions, Kulkarni explained. "In the first phase of the project, when they analyze the industry, it's all about business," he said. "Even when they look at the company and the competition, it's nothing to do specifically with IT — it's all about business."
"Then they look at what part of business can benefit from a transformation through IT," he added. "As leaders of the future they'll be looking for opportunities where the company can gain advantage through management of IT. It's not just about implementing a new ERP system, for example. That's not the focus. It's about how a process or function can be transformed through some comprehensive IT solution. They take the whole business into account."
Step by step
In the first step, MSIM students decide the composition of the team they will be working with throughout the year. The dynamics of that team — the skills, knowledge and working style of each individual — creates an opportunity for the students to polish their management skills. Students in the program average eight to 10 years professional experience; still, they comment that the applied project developed their teamwork skills to a new level.
Next, they begin the process of choosing a company. It starts with a lot of research about the industry. For example, one of last year's projects focused on Catholic Healthcare West (CHW). Students began by examining the healthcare industry, researching the entities in the field, such as hospitals, doctors groups, clinics, labs. They look at how that industry works at a high level: who supplies what, who has relative competitive advantage in the supply chain. Then they choose a specific company and see how it fits with respect to its competitors, its suppliers, its customers, new companies entering the arena, etc.
Focusing on one company, students narrow down to an aspect of the company that can, if improved through IT, give the firm a competitive advantage. This phase involves interviewing people within the company to identify a pain point — an end-to-end process, possibly, or a functional area — where a strategic initiative could produce transformative results.
In the fourth phase the students develop a plan for the technology transformation project, and in many cases they present it to the company itself.
Each team works with a faculty member who acts as a mentor. The professors meet with the teams regularly, guiding them through the creative thinking, making sure that the scope is not too wide or too narrow, and consulting with them on their chosen technology solution. In these meetings, faculty help the students develop critical thinking skills that will allow them to integrate IT and business.
Living the applied project course
Last year, 18 teams worked with an assortment of companies, making final presentations of their completed projects to the department faculty. "A few projects are nominated for the best project award, the most coveted honor in the MSIM program", Kulkarni said, "and an independent faculty team chooses the winner". Last year, the team that worked with PetSmart took home one of two "Best in Class" awards.
Team members said they chose PetSmart because they knew the company values IT, and would give them support and access to information. That's partly because one team member is a PetSmart employee. Professor Harvey Shrednick was the faculty mentor for the PetSmart group. Interestingly, he said that having a company employee on the team was a challenge to be managed as well as an advantage.
"The tendency to rely on this person for the bulk of the work could represent a definite imbalance to a true team effort. In mentoring sessions with the team, this potential issue was discussed at length and resolved to the satisfaction of all the students," Shrednick said. "A commitment was made to share the workload across all team members."
Glen Walker, a member of that PetSmart team, noted that the project was very helpful to him in polishing his team management skills. He added that the students knew what they wanted to explore in their project after hearing another company's story during a class — demonstration of how class content becomes the stuff of projects.
Talya Martinez, another member of that team, said she was able to apply what she was learning during the project to her present job — a new position in a different area at her company. She learned the benefits of researching an organization that's new to you, and what questions to consider: what they do and why; how the nature of the business determines the value placed on IT.
That new depth of business acumen was appreciated by team member Mandy Mueller as well. She took away new skills at measuring the improvements resulting from IT solutions.
Vinoo Patel was on the 2010 team that focused on the healthcare industry — Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) in particular. The project was a challenge, he said, because of the sheer size of the healthcare industry and the issues it faces.
"We had managed to successfully engage with CHW, but how could we best help to address their pain points?" Patel recalled. "We held initial meetings with CHW to understand their pain points, and we determined if those pain points were significant in nature to be considered of importance as a corporate strategy."
The team maintained a close working relationship with CHW as it fine-tuned its project scope to make it feasible in the amount of time available. Pulling on course content, the team delivered a cost-effective solution that utilizes new technology to address the challenge.
Patel said that the experience helped the team learn how to take advantage of the new knowledge they were acquiring in class to find solutions and the vocabulary and skills to communicate their ideas to managers.
Another plus? New stress-management skills.
"This project has helped a great deal in dealing with stress in terms of meeting multiple deadlines, communicating and collaborating with other team members, and delivering projects with ample research based findings and solid solutions to a business problem," he said.
Professor Kulkarni said that finding a company willing to work with the team is key to the project experience, but students can also choose to work independently from an outsider's perspective. Students are required to choose a real company and research the company's background, history and outlook through a number of research databases available through the ASU libraries.
Last year the team that bagged the other "Best in Class" award completed its project in the solar energy field successfully even though the company they adopted for their project was less than forthcoming in responding to questions. The team, consisting of Eric Walker, Matt Raica, Kyle Stebbins and Joel Urbanowicz, worked their way through major suppliers and other stakeholders of the company. Kulkarni, who was the team's mentor, said that these students designed a novel channel to reach a new market.
Andrea Julius, a 2009 MSIM graduate, said that her project, focused on her employer, gave her a deep and broad look at technology development that is affecting the entire electric utility industry — an invaluable perspective on the job.
"It was a team exercise that synthesized everything that we had learned in a case study way," she said. For her project, the case study focused on her employer — SRP. "It was a team exercise that synthesized everything that we had learned employing the case study method," she said. "The applied project pulls it all together."
This year, Professor Raghu Santanam is overseeing the applied project course, with 18 teams in the beginning stages. More information
Last year, 18 teams worked with an assortment of companies, making final presentations of their completed projects to the department faculty. "A few projects are nominated for the best project award, the most coveted honor in the MSIM program", Kulkarni said, "and an independent faculty team chooses the winner". Last year, the team that worked with PetSmart took home one of two "Best in Class" awards.
Team members said they chose PetSmart because they knew the company values IT, and would give them support and access to information. That's partly because one team member is a PetSmart employee. Professor Harvey Shrednick was the faculty mentor for the PetSmart group. Interestingly, he said that having a company employee on the team was a challenge to be managed as well as an advantage.
"The tendency to rely on this person for the bulk of the work could represent a definite imbalance to a true team effort. In mentoring sessions with the team, this potential issue was discussed at length and resolved to the satisfaction of all the students," Shrednick said. "A commitment was made to share the workload across all team members."
Glen Walker, a member of that PetSmart team, noted that the project was very helpful to him in polishing his team management skills. He added that the students knew what they wanted to explore in their project after hearing another company's story during a class — demonstration of how class content becomes the stuff of projects.
Talya Martinez, another member of that team, said she was able to apply what she was learning during the project to her present job — a new position in a different area at her company. She learned the benefits of researching an organization that's new to you, and what questions to consider: what they do and why; how the nature of the business determines the value placed on IT.
That new depth of business acumen was appreciated by team member Mandy Mueller as well. She took away new skills at measuring the improvements resulting from IT solutions.
Vinoo Patel was on the 2010 team that focused on the healthcare industry — Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) in particular. The project was a challenge, he said, because of the sheer size of the healthcare industry and the issues it faces.
"We had managed to successfully engage with CHW, but how could we best help to address their pain points?" Patel recalled. "We held initial meetings with CHW to understand their pain points, and we determined if those pain points were significant in nature to be considered of importance as a corporate strategy."
The team maintained a close working relationship with CHW as it fine-tuned its project scope to make it feasible in the amount of time available. Pulling on course content, the team delivered a cost-effective solution that utilizes new technology to address the challenge.
Patel said that the experience helped the team learn how to take advantage of the new knowledge they were acquiring in class to find solutions and the vocabulary and skills to communicate their ideas to managers.
Another plus? New stress-management skills.
"This project has helped a great deal in dealing with stress in terms of meeting multiple deadlines, communicating and collaborating with other team members, and delivering projects with ample research based findings and solid solutions to a business problem," he said.
Professor Kulkarni said that finding a company willing to work with the team is key to the project experience, but students can also choose to work independently from an outsider's perspective. Students are required to choose a real company and research the company's background, history and outlook through a number of research databases available through the ASU libraries.
Last year the team that bagged the other "Best in Class" award completed its project in the solar energy field successfully even though the company they adopted for their project was less than forthcoming in responding to questions. The team, consisting of Eric Walker, Matt Raica, Kyle Stebbins and Joel Urbanowicz, worked their way through major suppliers and other stakeholders of the company. Kulkarni, who was the team's mentor, said that these students designed a novel channel to reach a new market.
Andrea Julius, a 2009 MSIM graduate, said that her project, focused on her employer, gave her a deep and broad look at technology development that is affecting the entire electric utility industry — an invaluable perspective on the job.
"It was a team exercise that synthesized everything that we had learned in a case study way," she said. For her project, the case study focused on her employer — SRP. "It was a team exercise that synthesized everything that we had learned employing the case study method," she said. "The applied project pulls it all together."
This year, Professor Raghu Santanam is overseeing the applied project course, with 18 teams in the beginning stages. More information
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