Technology-Driven Organizational Change

The main aim of this research seminar is to gain a broad understanding of how Information Technology is transforming contemporary organizations. We will utilize readings from a variety of sources – recent research articles, selections from relevant books and cases – to explore both the strategic and business value implications of IT. Specifically, on the strategic side of the ledger, we will investigate how firms are leveraging business and IT strategies to enhance value for customers as well as the evolution of business and technical platforms that enable these transformations. The business implications theme will focus on IT investment value pathways, IT Governance, IT Risk Management among other areas.A secondary but a critical objective of the course will be to introduce students to additional research methods that will complement the concepts they have learned in the first year of the program. The course will provide a brief overview of Social Network Analysis, Machine Learning, and Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) among others. Please note that these methods are introduced as a way of studying the primary topics in the course. For example, fsQCA will be introduced when studying how “IT can help organizations build a strategic advantage in turbulent environments” (El Sawy et al., 2010). Machine Learning concepts will be introduced when studying the impact of Big Data.