Donald J. McCubbrey

Inside an integrated MBA: an information systems view

This paper chronicles the evolution and content of an integrated MBA (IMBA) at the University of Denver and relates an IS-oriented view of the curriculum integration and teaching experience. The study emphasizes IS faculty efforts to integrate curricula from the traditional MIS course into three of the seven team-taught, interdisciplinary IMBA courses. Their teaching experiences illustrate pedagogy, and ensuing sections summarize student feedback and provide insights on what appears to work and what does not, as well as what remains to be done.A process is recommended to MIS faculty for infusing IS topics into an integrated curriculum. Gaining respect from other faculty for teaching the use and management of IT beyond its use for personal productivity, and incorporating IS into multiple class sections with scarce IS faculty resources are major problems. What appears to work best for MIS faculty is to attend curriculum discussions with (1) an appreciation of what IS/IT knowledge is essential for an MBA to (a) understand IS contributions to the solution of business problems and (b) participate in systems development activities to obtain (and later manage) IT applications; and (2) a willingness to look for opportunities to position IS/IT topics to complement other curricula.

A conceptual framework of generative customization as an approach to product innovation and fulfillment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the problem in research of a lack of a holistic conceptual framework related to incremental and discontinuous innovation. Too often, the term “innovation” is used without an understanding of how it can be applied in a product design and supply chain fulfillment system. In this study, the goal is to develop a holistic “innovation continuum” to treat innovation as a complex adaptive system (CAS).Design/methodology/approach – A comprehensive literature review was conducted, and from it, four propositions and a conceptual framework were developed.Findings – The authors determined that an “innovation continuum” can be established through the use of a complex adaptive system. Two, incremental innovation is determined to possess adaptive qualities, and can be enhanced through the use of collaboration and evolutionary algorithms. Three, discontinuous innovation is established as a creative process enabled through expert designers, and improved through the use of g...

COLORADO BENEFITS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: DECISION TIME

The project to develop the Colorado Benefits Management System (CBMS) was begun with high hopes and the best of intentions. Its vision was to replace six aging legacy systems supporting various State administered welfare programs with a single system using current technologies. The expected benefits from CBMS were better service to clients and assurance that the State’s welfare programs were being administered properly. The bulk of the development effort was outsourced to a large systems integration firm, and a comprehensive project oversight structure was put in place. Despite these actions, the project was troubled from the start. Nearing one more projected conversion date, the two executive sponsors of the project were faced with a decision of whether or not to implement the system despite protests from the user community that CBMS was not ready to be put into operation.

The Adoption of Generative Customization as an Innovation Strategy in the U.S. Smartphone Market: A Case Study

With the pace of change and adoption of new products continuing to escalate, even leading edge companies are facing challenges in retaining market leadership. In this case study, the frustration of a talented product designer for a U.S. leader in Smartphone technology leads to bigger questions about his firm’s willingness and ability to adopt a new IT-enabled innovation in product design and generative customization. He enlists the aid of an IT support analyst to help convince his organization to consider this new approach to extend and expand the company’s existing significant sales growth and market dominance in an increasingly competitive environment. The company must also understand the impact on product design of human cognitive creativity leveraged by an emerging technology, the viability of its closed system model of innovation, and the organizational challenges associated with market volatility and innovation.

The Global Text Project: Spanish Translation Phase

The Global Text Project (GTP) was initiated in 2006 to provide free, high-quality, open-content textbooks to university students in developing economies. In 2011, the GTP refocused on marketing and distribution of its own and other open content textbooks, and in 2013 involved students and other volunteers in translating textbooks into Spanish. Translation and content localization is an ongoing issue in the Global delivery of information. The case follows a graduate student project leader managing a complex Spanish translation effort. The case encourages readers to reflect upon how the process of translation could be improved. Finally, it poses questions about how the translated textbooks could be promoted for use by professors in Spanish-speaking countries, particularly those in Latin America. The issues in this case relate to volunteerism, information systems and technologies, project management, translation methodologies, and textbook adoption. Readers are encouraged to consider if machine translation, computer-aided translation, or the application of computer game elements in distributed translation might increase productivity and provide high quality translated content.

The care-monitoring, cost-forecasting, and cost-monitoring system

In 1973 Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan and a small group of hospitals engaged in a pilot prospective reimbursement program. Results disclosed the lack of information necessary to measure and explain the reasons for changes in hospital costs from one year to the next. For example, hospitals were put at risk for the cost consequences of factors that they could neither accurately predict nor control, such as changing medical technology and practice, aging patient population, and inflation. Furthermore, reducing length of stay and shifting less seriously ill patients to outpatient treatment may raise cost per inpatient day, which the current gross measures of hospital efficiency are likely to interpret as a decrease in productivity. It was also apparent that the physician who admits the patient, and whose written orders drive the system, did not participate in any examination of hospital costs. With these problems in mind, a system was developed using the medical diagnosis as the product line. The development of the system was divided into two phases, (1) Care Monitoring and (2) Cost Forecasting and Cost Monitoring. Care Monitoring identifies the price effects of changes in patient condition, disease mix, and volume of patients treated. It enables the medical staff to evaluate practices for economy as well as propriety. Cost Forecasting and Cost Monitoring measures the cost consequences of inflation, change in hospital policy, and efficiency with which hospital services are delivered. It automatically prepares budgets using labor and material standards, based on trends in physician practices and patient characteristics detected by Care Monitoring. Cost Forecasting and Monitoring is used primarily by management to view departmental budgets exclusive of patient and physician demand variables in order to concentrate on costs within its control. This report concerns the progress of the Care Monitoring phase of the system.