OUR VIEW OF THE COURSE

1. To function in (or work with) organizations, you have to understand how they work. So we are concerned with general managerial and organizational concepts and practices.

• the practice of management
• management concepts and methods
• organizations
• work in organizations

2. Information plays a key role in organizations of all kinds; SIMS students, as information professionals, need a particular understanding of info in organizations.

• as a resource
• contained in records etc
• 'contained' in employees
• organizations as information processors
• the flow of information as organizing what the org does
• current concerns about "the knowledge organization"
• information as organizing how people see the world and their work

3. Information organizations, and information functions within all kinds of organizations, present particular management/organizational challenges. So we will consider these particular managerial/organizational challenges.

• public, private, and nonprofit
• But not a lot of emphasis on public and nonprofit
• particulars about how they function, managerial issues
• information as a product/service
• personnel
• info professionals
• exercising expertise
• how do you manage them
• direct and control their work
• motivation to use their expertise
• goal congruence with the organization

4. Information technology plays a key role in organizations. SIMS students are likely to be particularly involved in IT functions. So they need to understand how IT impacts the organization.

5. The uses of IT in organizations cannot be considered apart from the organizational (and social) processes in which they are embedded. So to work effectively with IT in organizations requires an understanding of the organizational and social context.

 Syllabus.