Information systems Essay Example for Free

Information systems Essay None -Course objectives Information is perhaps the most important of all business resources, and the ability to manage it effectively on a global level is a essential organizational capability. Information systems are the tools that firms use to manage information, and it is critical for managers to understand how to use them. This course introduces you to key information systems concepts, issues and questions that will help you to accomplish this. The focus of the course is managerial little prior knowledge of  information systems is required, and you certainly won’t be doing any programming! It is assumed that you already possess the basic computer skills needed to use various office suite products (word processing, spreadsheet, e-mail, etc. ), or will acquire these skills independently of this course. The objective of the course is to provide a basic knowledge set that will allow you to understand the most common information systems issues that exist in today’s organizations, to ask critical questions, and participate in IT decision making. P a g e | 2 Organization of the Course Pedagogy  This course relies on a diversity of teaching media, including lectures, readings, and case discussions. Inclass discussions are important and quality class participation is expected from each student. It is your responsibility to read the appropriate material before class. Unless prior arrangements have been made with the instructor, no late assignments will be accepted. Assigned Reading There is a readings package for this course that contains required articles and cases. As well we have an open source text: John Gallaugher, â€Å"Information Systems: A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology†, Flat World,Version1. 1, 2011. Go to this website to access the text: http://www. flatworldstudents. com/course? cid=453963bid=38086. You can read it online for free. If you pay $29 or thereabouts you can download an e-reader version or a pdf. A printed text is $40 and a color text is $60. We cover a large volume of material in this course. When preparing for class, you should review the overheads, carefully read the assigned articles and cases and try to identify what you believe are key points or issues. Always ask yourself the following question â€Å"As a manager, what issues does this raise for me? † Evaluation of Student Performance. The course grading scheme for Master’s level courses at Schulich uses a 9-value grade-point system. The possible course letter grades for a course (and the corresponding grade points awarded for each grade are: A+ 9 grade points A 8 A7 B+ 6 B 5 B4 C+ 3 C 2 C1 F 0 (Students are reminded that they must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 4. 2 to remain in good standing and continue in the program, and a minimum of 4. 4 to qualify for their degree. Schulich grading guidelines mandate a section grade point average [‘GPA’] of between 4. 7 and 6. 1 for core courses and a section GPA of between 5. 2 and 6. 2 for electives. ) Where instructors use numerical or percentage grades, Schulich grading policy does not require a preset translation of percentages into specific letter grades P a g e | 3 Participation 20 % Individual Assignment 30 % Group Assignment 50% In class Five pages maximum, handed in at the beginning of session 4 Presentation 20%, session 6 Peer evaluation 5%, session 6 Final report 25%, No later than 1 day after final session Participation (20%) Good class participation by all class members is necessary in order to get the most out of the cases and readings. You are encouraged to take advantage of this gathering of your peers to improve your communication skills and obtain feedback on your views in a relatively low-risk environment. Attendance is not participation. Your attendance is expected for the full duration of the class. If you miss more than two classes, you have failed the course. If you feel that you have to miss a class or any part of a class please inform the instructor before the class so that you will not be called upon in class and so that the instructor can advise you on how to keep up with the rest of the class. I expect that you will: a) Be prepared for class. b) Be on time for class. c) Keep me informed. Do not suffer in silence. Let the instructor know if you are having problems. Let it be known if you cannot attend class. With only six sessions, you do not want to miss anything. d) Come to class with a readable name card. This is important for monitoring your participation. Identify all your work completely with student number and name. Both of these actions will help the instructor to get to know you as an individual. In-class participation will be graded on quality not quantity. Timely and regular attendance, comments and questions that demonstrate knowledge of the topic and intellectual acuity can enhance your participation grade. Be respectful of other’s desire to participate, so be brief and relevant. Individual assignment (30%) The course includes an individual assignment, worth 30%. The total length of the individual assignment is 5 pages maximum, including all materials, except an optional cover page, and a reference list (if required). I will provide details on this assignment in the first class. Group Assignment (50%) You will be placed into groups. Each group will be required to perform an analysis of a business problem that deals with IT issues. Details of the group assignment will be provided in session 1. The group assignment includes three deliverables: 1. Final Report Final report (25%) – each group will submit a final report due no later than 1 day following the final class session. The report will be no longer than 20 pages, including all components, except for a title page and references. The following sections are required: Executive Summary (1page only), Introduction, Summary, and Conclusions. Other sections are up to you P a g e | 4 2. Management presentation Management presentation (20%) – each group will deliver a 10 minute presentation during the final class session. No extra time will be allowed. Maximum 10 slides. Please provide me with a copy of the presentation slides the evening before the final class session by 6 p. m. at the latest. 3. Peer evaluation Peer evaluation (5%) – you will be asked to evaluate the performance of your fellow group members. I will hand out a form for this in week 6. Academic Honesty Academic honesty is fundamental to the integrity of university education and degree programs. The Schulich School will investigate and will act to enforce academic honesty policies where apparent violations occur. Students should familiarize themselves with York University’s policy on academic honesty. It is printed in full in your student handbook and can also viewed on-line on the Schulich website, clicking through as indicated: MBA/IMBA. Schulich website ‘Programs’ ‘Master’s Degree’ ‘Learn More’ ‘Academic Policy’ While academic dishonesty can take many forms, there are several forms of which students should be highly aware because they are the ones that are most likely to occur in the context of a specific course. [1] Plagiarism. Plagiarism is the presentation of information, ideas, or analysis generated by other people as being your own. It includes direct quotations as well a substantive paraphrases where the course of that information or idea is not clearly identified to the reader. Students should be careful to present their written work in a way that makes it completely clear in each and every cases where a quotation, a paraphrase, or an analysis is based on the work of other people. (This includes information from all sources, including websites. ) [2] Cheating. Cheating is an attempt to gain an unfair advantage in an evaluation. Examples of such violations include (but are not limited to) consulting prohibited materials during an examination or copying from another student. [3] Failure to follow limitations on collaborative work with other students in preparing academic assignments. Each class differs in the mix of assignments and group-versus-individual preparation that is allowed. The instructor will make clear the extent of collaboration among students that is acceptable among students on various pieces of assigned work. Students should abide by those limitations and, if they are unsure about whether a certain level or form of collaboration would be acceptable, to clarify that question with the instructor in advance. [4] Aiding and abetting. A student is guilty of violating academic honesty expectations if he/she acts in a way that enables another student to engage in academic dishonesty. If a student knows (or should reasonably expect) that an action would enable another student to cheat or plagiarize, that student’s action constitutes an academic honesty violation. Illustrative examples include making your exam paper easily visible to others in the same exam or providing your own working or finished documents for an ‘individual assignment’ to another student (even if that other student said that he/she just wanted to ‘get an idea of how to approach the assignment’ or ‘to check whether they had done theirs correctly’). [5] Use of academic work in more than one course. Generally, academic work done for every course is ‘new’ work, done for that course only. If a student wishes to use some or all of the academic work done for an assigned task in one course in another course, the student must get explicit, prior permission from both instructors so that they agree that the scope and nature of the overlapping use of that work is such that it can fairly be counted toward both courses. P a g e | 5 Schedule of Topics and Readings The following list of lecture topics and readings indicate the material to be read, reviewed and/or prepared for the various class sessions. If any changes in this schedule become necessary, notifications will be posted in the course CMD, and where such changes need to be announced between class sessions, an email will be sent to students’ Lotus Notes email accounts, notifying them of the change. Date Topic(s) Session 1 Key question: What is an information system and why is it Feb 27 important? IS Ch 1, Lecture: Introduction to management information systems and enterprise Ch 5 Ch technology management 10 Lecture: Technology fundamentals Reading: A conversation about information technology 1. In your experience, does this conversation ring true? 2. Why are many business managers frustrated with organizational IT? 3. Why are many IT managers frustrated with ‘the business side’? 4. What can be done to improve relations between the two sides? Activity: A group discussion of Open versus Closed systems models. Session 2 Key question: How can you use information systems to get the Mar 5 most out of organizations? IS Ch 11 Lecture: Organizational information systems Enterprise systems Case: Business Intelligence Software at SYSCO Activity: Information structures organizational effectiveness Session 3 How can you manage the balance between security and privacy, Mar 12 openness and access? IS Ch 6, Ch 12, Ch 13 Lecture: IS ethics, privacy, computer crime, and security Case: ChoicePoint (A) 1. What is your appraisal of ChoicePoint’s business model? 2. How legitimate are the concerns voiced by the industry critics? 3. In Derek Smith’s position, what internal changes, if any, would you make to address the issues discussed in the case? 4. In Derek Smith’s position, what would you recommend to the U. S. Congress regarding regulation of the personal data industry? Discussion: Information security vs privacy P a g e | 6 Session 4 Key question: How can you use information systems for a Mar 19 sustainable competitive advantage? IS Ch 2, Lecture: IS for competitive advantage IS Planning and project Ch 7 Ch management 8 Reading: Investing in the IT That Makes a Competitive Difference Case: MDCM Inc. 1. Could MDCM fulfill Horizon 2000 without a strong focus on transforming IT? Why or why not? 2. Define MDCM’s overall corporate strategy and business goals, and match these with the company’s high-level IT objectives. Present your findings in a report to the senior management team. *Individual assignment due Session 5 Mar 26 IS Ch 9 Ch 14 Key question: How to effectively manage information systems in a changing global environment? Lecture: IS development and Global IT outsourcing Reading: Outsourcing: From Cost Management to Innovation and Business Value Case: Future Vision Digital Services 1. As Blake Randolph, what would you do to deal with the immediate problem? 2. Does the blame reside with Gregoire for being difficult to manage, or with Randolph, for not being able to manage Gregoire? 3. Would you use Gregoire on another project? Why or why not? 4. If you answered yes to Q3, would you change the way you manage Gregoire? How? Session 6 Apr 2 Apr 3 Group presentations Final reports due.

Inhalants :: essays research papers

SLANG TERMS Laughing gas rush whippets poppers snappers Inhalants are breathable chemicals that produce mind-altering vapors. People do not think of inhalants as drugs because most of the products were never meant to be used that way. Inhalants are ingested by "sniffing" or snorting (through the nose), "bagging" (inhaling fumes from a plastic bag), or huffing (stuffing an inhalant soaked rag into the mouth). IMMEDIATE EFFECTS Nearly all inhalants produce effects similar to anesthetics, which act to slow down body functions, yet the user feels stimulated. Other effects may include: Nausea loss of appetite bad breath double vision runny or bloody nose lack of coordination feeling and looking tired eye irritation sneezing, coughing vomiting, diarrhea headache chest pain ringing in ears erratic heart beat LONG-TERM EFFECTS Hand tremors less concern about appearance sores/rash around mouth and nose fatigue, muscle fatigue weight loss electrolyte (salt) imbalance cardiac arrest permanent damage to nervous system brain, liver, kidney, blood, and bone marrow damage impaired respiratory system impaired coordination and intelligence death by asphyxiation/suffocation EFFECTS ON PERSONALITY Psychological effects occur rapidly because the substance travels directly to the brain after passing through the lungs and the left side of the heart. Other effects are: Anxiety, irritability or excitability poor memory, confusion moody, restless activity lack of concentration aggressive behavior FOUR CLASSES OF INHALANTS There are about 1400 products potentially usable as inhalants. Volatile solvents: gasoline, paint thinners, glue, cleaning solutions, etc. Aerosols: spray paints, etc. Anesthetic agents: chloroform, ether, oils and greases dissolves. Amyl, butyl, and isobutyl nitrites: such as room fresheners. INHALANTS AND PREGNANCY The substances in solvents can pass through the placental barrier and enter the fetal bloodstream. However, except for evidence of birth defects among petrol inhalers, the evidence that use of other inhalants or solvents can damage the fetus is inconclusive. All drugs have some effects on the unborn child including chromosomal and fetal damage EXTENT OF USE Young people (ages 7-17) are more likely to use inhalants because they are available and inexpensive. Inhalants rank fourth in popularity behind alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana among young people.

Canadian Politics Essay

Some historical theorists say that the dissimilarities between America and Canada are established in the Revolution of America, a subject that dominated most studies in the history of Canadian. With the creation of the US, the core founders of the US supported republicanism, refusing the Westminster structure of parliamentary democracy. Republicanism that inspired Americans pressured independence, an aversion to corruption, and innovation, counterbalanced by an apparent need for loyalty to public duty. Many Americans in planning a unique American path, freighted, and therefore refusing, a sturdy nation, which is central government. This paper looks into the different ways to which the Canadian political structures differs with those of the US. America and Canada are both governed under constitutions; Canada’s constitution is partly conventional and partly written, and that of the US fully codified. The ultimate interpreter of the constitutions of both countries is their own supreme courts. Nevertheless, the High Court of the US has a more stretched history of constitutional implementation than the High Court of Canada. Canada’s Constitution contains of Acts of both the legislature of the UK and the National Assembly of Canada, but because of the Canada’s federalism, several Acts of regional parliaments like the lawmaking Assembly of Ontario. The Constitution was altered in 1982, at which the Canadian Charter of Rights, Freedoms and amending formulas were included. The other one basic concept on these differences is the dissimilarity between the US congressional system and the Canadian parliamentary system. More differences occur from the legal/political perception of division of powers and the authority of the head of state. The President of the US is the head of government and head of state, while Canada’s Prime Minister is not head state but only head of government (Charlton, 1998). Another distinction is the Governor General and his or her cabinet ministers- also playing roles as legislators, represent the combination of power in Canada’s system, with the part of the monarch. Ministers of the crown are normally directly elected by their respective electorates known as ridings who advise the monarch or the Vice Governor General on how to practice his Crown authority and as Members of the legislature in the Canadian House of Commons. Even though neither the Governor general nor monarchs are lawfully required to select his or her cabinet Members from the House. This indicates those in charge of executive duties also contribute as legislators in the policy discussions and lawmaking process features of their duties as Members of National Assembly. By contrast, the US president has no official duty as a legislator, but only implementing and enforcing laws passed by Congress. The President of the US contributes in only informal, occasional, gatherings with Senators and Representatives. Only formally, addresses once in a year in the two term of his Presidency the gathered houses of the Congress, the Cabinet, and the Justices of the High Court of the US (James, 2004). The checks and balances in Canada are very opposite from those in the US, it can be debated that within Canada that the Prime Minister has additional authority than the US President. Canada’s executive and legislative branch draw from each other, the viceroy hardly uses their powers without the consent of the Prime Minister. This only occurs from situations brought on by constitutional crisis. To ensure the firmness of government, the Governor must always select for his Prime Minister a member who has the biggest group of followers in the Canadian Common House. The Prime Minister must resign or order the General to call for an emergency election or be forced out by the governor general if a big number of the house vote against the government on serious matters of the country. The Prime Minister of a marginalized government is in a much dangerous situation than any United States president, which his presidency term is secured by the law. Often times of cohabitation are also there in the US known as divided government. Happens when different group than the White house directs congress. The President has incomplete control over the members of the House and must regularly make deals for there support. This leads to a stalemate that greatly slows down the law-making process (Charlton, 1998). It is known that the lack of individual identity which characterizes the resulting efficacy of the combined policy activity of the individuals participating in, and influencing the progression of, the US separation-of-powers system in contrast to the personal identity that characterizes the resulting efficacy of the aggregate policy activity of individuals participating in, and influencing the progression of, the Canadian fusion-of-powers system that truly makes this distinction meaningful. An example (putting federalism aside, arguendo) would be the one political actor in Canada responsible for motivating national defense policy decisions for Canada, the Minister of National Defense, contrasted with three(the Secretary of Defense, and the two chairs of the Senate Committee on Armed Services and House Committee on Armed Services) sometimes adverse political actors responsible for the direction of national defense policy Centralization of power in Canada has some benefits and legal responsibility when matched with the United State system. A good line of authority/power showing to whom the government is accountable for any particular duty Unlike the U. S. (James, 2004). There is also the issue of political parties whereby the Canadian House of Commons has seats for four political parties while US has only two political parties in Congress. Both Canada and the US use first post system to elect their representatives. This type of a system can sometimes exaggerate regional interests and disparities, e. g. Dixiecrats and Quebec of the southern. The meltdown of progressive Conservation party and the rise Quebecois party changed the political field in Canada. At the past only two parties dominated federal politics like the US, these parties were the Progressive Conservatives and the liberals, the Liberal held power for most of the 20th century until they were known as Canada’s natural governing party. Different from the US, Canadian third parties have always been able to get Members of parliament elected into the National Assembly since 1921, at times succeeding one of the two main parties as Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition or forming casual coalition governments (Paul, 1992), In my opinion there are great differences regarding the way political cultures in Canada and the US. This is clearly shown on how the different political institutions in both countries are being managed and the structure through which these institutions are developed. Therefore, it would be appropriate for one to say that the Canadian political culture is not and has never been Americanized even though there are some aspects of similarity in other government structures References Charlton, Barker (1998). Crosscurrents: Contemporary Political Issues Edition 5. ITP Nelson, Michigan Collins, Richard. (1991). Culture, communication and national identity: The case of Canadian television. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. James Bickerton, Alain Gagnon (2004). Canadian politics. Broadview Press, New York John C. Pierce, Nicholas P,(2000). Political culture and public policy in Canada and the United States: only a border apart? Edwin Mellen Press, Michigan Paul Attallah (1992), Richard Collins and the Debate on Culture and Polity, Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol 17, No 2 Nelson Wiseman (2001) Pathways to Canadian Political Culture consensus, Retrieved on 14th March 2009 from www. ubcpress. ca/books/pdf/chapters/2007/insearchofcanadianpoliticalculture. pdf

Essay on Aristotle - 1136 Words

y does Plato believe that only Philosophers are fit to rule? Rather than the practical pursuit we are accustomed to, for Plato, Politics is an intellectual faculty. Governance by non-philosophers is to be governed by opinions, beliefs and self-interest; in contrast the philosopher ruler will govern with virtue and justice with no hidden agenda. The philosopher is in love, in love with learning, knowledge and truth. It is important to make a distinction here between the acquisition of knowledge and the acquisition of truth, because knowledge is not necessarily the truth. With the help of an allegory, Plato explains the sensible world of illusion and belief, the place where most people reside. The philosopher has stepped outside this†¦show more content†¦The rulers will not own property, nor have money, they will be free of vices, excesses and desires. They will have a Spartan existence (Plato was an admirer of Spartan culture). A ruler in Platos society as described in his dialogue The Republic would be incorruptible, an absolute model of sensible world perfection and justice. If one was to look no further into Platos‘ utopian society you could be forgiven for thinking that the philosopher rulers would be the ultimate answer for political duties and government administration. A more detailed examination of policy and structure is necessary, prior to arriving at a conclusion. The structure in Platos‘ society is tripartite and hierarchical, made up of the philosopher kings as rulers. The auxiliaries who will be in a sort of military role (prospective rulers) and the artisans (workers) who will produce all the consumable and non consumable goods deemed necessary for consumption and the continued economic viability of the society. The philosopher rulers duties as administrators in platos‘ society or commonwealth are to legislate, educate and to keep an ever watchful eye on the auxillaries and artisans, paying special attention to the auxillaries, especially those that are considered fit to be future philosopher rulers. All auxiliaries will be subjected to a series of tests, which will check their powers of resistance to self-interest, pleasure and otherShow MoreRelatedAristotle And Aristotle On Education1262 Words   |  6 Pages2.2.2 Aristotle (384 – 322 BC) Another great influence on Education was the Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle who came later after Confucius, who was born in Stagira, Chalcidice. Aristotle was first a student in Plato’s philosophy school for around twenty years. Later on he was a philosophy teacher in Atarneus which is located in Asia Minor. 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