ITM 533 - Human Organization & Technology Management

Instructor: Deniz Tunçalp

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES

This course is focused on key concepts, models, and methods that enable managers to understand development, implementation and use of technologies by individuals embedded in social settings. In terms of intellectual focus, the course will be devoted to a critical exploration of technology in contemporary society and organizatons, discussing key ethical, social, cultural, and policy issues for those who like to become the “masters” of the field.

The objective of the course is :

• to enhance the student’s understanding of the natures, relations, and significance of technology,
• develop an awareness of the range, scope, and complexity of the issues, and problems related to technology,
• to help students to develop their understanding of technology in organizations and society.

Main topics of the course include:

• Industrial and institutional structure and policy, product and technology development, technology strategy alternatives, formulation, evaluation and implementation.
• Aspects related to stability and change in technology design, implementation and use for humans embedded in social and organizational structure.

The course is structured around reviewing major schools of thought in social sciences and describing their approaches to technology issues to illustrate different aspects of technology phenomena. After this review, we shall explore case studies from various countries and industries to develop an understanding of technology in organizations in terms of its context, political dynamics, substance and local experiences. We will also cover some special topics that would further provoke our thinking about technology in relation to human organization and society.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION

Final Exam: 30%

Course Module Reflection Papers (4 @ 5%): 20%

• Students will be required to write brief course module reflection papers at the end of PART I, II, III and IV of the course and discuss their understanding of the course module. A description of these submissions can be found their respective weeks in the course outline below with the heading “Due:”.
• Please note: These reports will NOT be evaluated on the basis of their volumes, hence brief reports are most welcome as long as they cover a satisfying argument. Course module reflection papers are NOT for summarizing the module content. These reports will be evaluated in terms of how you describe, agree, disagree, and therefore, discuss your understanding of technology according the content described in the course module. There will be no right answers but rather the quality of your argument will be evaluated.

Case Study Reports (4 @ 10%): 40%

• Students will be required to prepare brief case reports (4-5 pages max.)in every week of PART III and describe how they would expect the case to unfold in the (undistributed) second half. A description of these submissions can be found their respective weeks in the course outline below with the heading “Due:”
• Please Note: These reports will NOT be evaluated on the basis of their volumes, hence brief reports are most welcome as long as they cover a satisfying argument.. The main point of this assignment is NOT estimating correctly (fortunetelling) what has actually happened in the case or NOT the particulars of a specific theoretical position you wind up while describing the case and its future, but rather the quality of the analysis you make how fruitfully you utilize course materials to shed valuable “light” on the case will be evaluated.

Class Preparation & Participation: 10% + 10% (bonus)

• In most of the weeks, students are assigned to read a few entries in “Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia” on the Internet. This is to make readings most easily accessable and convenient for the students. Course outline will also be available on the Internet, so you can click Wikipedia links at any time of your choice. Additional readings can be assigned for some weeks and topics. Read them before coming to the class.
• The given entries are compulsory readings to be made before class and aims to give students the basic concepts of the week and enable a quicker grasp of the content. . Each class will start with a set of questions and a brief discussion from that week’s readings.

Student Research: 10% (bonus)

• Students will conduct a brief research as bonus. A description of the research can be found at the end of this document.
• Students are highly encouraged to use the information center’s facilities to enhance their learning not only for this research but also for the course and the program at large.

COURSE STRUCTURE & SCHEDULE (14 Weeks)

Module I - Introduction to Technology and Organizations (3 Weeks)
Week1: Introduction to Technology & Organizational Phenomena
Week2: Technology Strategy & Governance
Week3: Technology Policy, Innovation and Industrial Structure

Module II - Understanding Major Theoretical Perspectives on Technology and Organizations (5 Weeks)
Week4: Structural Contingency & Socio-Technical Systems - Due: Reflection paper for Part I
Week5: Instıtutıonal Theory and Technology
Week6: Marxıst Accounts & Crıtıcal Theory of Technology - Due: Student Research – Progress Report
Week7: Structuration of Technology & Social Construction of Technology
Week8: Organizational Learning & Actor-Network Theory - Due: Reflection paper for Part II

Module III - Understanding Technology Practice in Organizations (4 Weeks - Keynote speakers from industry each week)
Week9: Context of Technology in Organizations - Due: Case Study Report
Week10: Politics of Technology in Organizations - Due: Case Study Report
Week11: Substance of Technology in Organizations - Due: Case Study Report
Week12: Experiences of Technology and Organizations in Turkey - Due: Case Study Report

Module IV - Special Topics in Research and Practice of Technology and Organizations (2 Week)
Week13: Management and Technology Consulting & Innovation and Knowledge Management
Due: Reflection paper for Part III
Student Research Presentations
Week14: Virtual Teams & Virtual Organizing & Technology, Ethics And Society
Student Research Presentations
Due: Reflection paper for Part IV

STUDENT RESEARCH INSTRUCTIONS

Working preferably in pairs, each duo is to select a specific rich subject from a recent issue of an academical or a practical journal that is published in 2005. To locate the research subject, students are also advised to use information center facilities.

The article must involve some noteworthy phenomenon of technology in contemporary organizations or society (e.g., an innovation, experiment, project, invention, system, accident, trend, plan, etc.) that the student believes raises a noteworthy, intriguing and non-obvious social issue. To maximize the intellectual benefit for the presenter, the student would be well advised to focus on an issue about which he or she has not made up her or his mind, previously.

Each duo is to make a well-organized, 15-minute, in-class presentation on the issue it has chosen to explore. During the presentation the student should:

• identify the issue being contested in the situation described in the article and show how the issue is represented in the article, including the key arguments utilized by both sides to justify their positions on the issue;
• briefly describe the essential background factual aspects of the situation covered in the chosen article;
• shed some light on the identified issue by subjecting it to conceptual analysis that utilizes at least some course materials (e.g., concepts, frameworks, theories, perspectives, etc.);
• indicate what the student thinks on the issue in question and why.

Presentations will be scheduled for last two weeks of the course. Each duo should make photocopies of its article for everybody in class. Distribute the articles in class on one week before the presentation. Assume that everyone has read the articles beforehand.

What is desired in this assignment is that the student “unpack” the chosen issue and in doing so convince the others that the analysis carried out has enabled reaching a more compelling position about the issue in question.