Strategic, Organizational and Information System Audits

Duration

18h Th, 200h AUTR

Number of credits

Lecturer

Olivier Lisein

Language(s) of instruction

English language

Organisation and examination

All year long

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

This course aims to provide students with the methodological tools they need to analyze the business context in which fits their innovation project. It also intends to give students the critical distance necessary to understand and analyze the interrelationships between the project they manage and the specific context of their host company. The course is specifically focused on three key contextual dimensions of any innovation projects: the business strategy, the internal organization, and the information system. Strategically, it will include to re-familiarize oneself with conventional diagnostic tools (SWOT, strategic positioning, value chain, balanced score card, etc.) and to see how the innovation project is consistent with the business strategy and generates a positive leverage effect (expected impact, strategic alignment, etc.). Organizationally, the course insists on structural aspects (division and coordination of work, departmentalization and inter-unit liaison, processes, workflows, etc.) and relational aspects (identifying stakeholders, their interests, their resources, and their potential means of action, etc.); we will also seek to identify organizational issues of innovation projects (processes reengineering, changes in the organization of work, challenges for the actors, etc.). Regarding the information system, we seek to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the company's IS through various methodological tools (analysis of IT processes, compatibility of current applications, etc.) and to understand the challenges of the project at this level (consistency of applications, redesign of the IS, interoperability, etc.).

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

In line with the general objectives of the Masters in Business Engineering and in Management Sciences, the course objectives are the following ones:
- (Re)familiarize students with the core concepts and key tools necessary to conduct contextual analyses (strategy, work organization, information system);
- Give students the reflexive perspective necessary to understand and analyze the interactions between the context (external and internal) of a company and the innovation projects that are implemented;
- Deepen the contextual and transversal dimensions of any innovation projects;
- Transpose the theoretical knowledge to the specific case of a company, with the realization of an audit of the strategy, the internal organization, and the information system (in order to prepare the implementation of an innovation project);
- Develop the students' ability to search, collect and analyze the required information necessary to audit a company through a rigurous methodology;
- Develop the students' professional communication skills (written and oral).

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

General knowledge master students should have in Business Strategy, Management of Organizations, and Management of Information Systems

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

In addition to the preparatory readings to some course sessions, the work required is twofold:
- Assignments during the course itself: case studies, application of concepts to real or fictitious cases, etc.
- Transposition of the acquis of the course to the innovation project concretely managed by the students during their presence in the host enterprise

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

The course is based on a participatory methodology giving students an active role in the development and direction of the course. It combines different approaches that will enable students to appropriate contextual analysis tools and to understand the importance of the interrelationships between contextual factors (internal and external) of the company and the innovation project they manage: commented readings sessions, development of methodological tools, written and video case studies, returns of experiences, plenary discussion on various student projects, etc. Part of the course is devoted to monitoring and coaching students in achieving the realization of the strategic, organizational and information system audit of the enterprise in which they handle a concrete innovation project.

Recommended or required readings

Diverse documents available on the Lol@ platform: http://lola.hec.ulg.ac.be

Assessment methods and criteria

- Continuous assessment of intermediate assignments required during the different thematic sessions: 10% of the final grade
- Evaluation of the transposition of the concepts of the course to the effective management of the innovation project (realization of a strategic, organizational, and information system audit), based on the reports requested in this context: 90% of the final grade
- Relative weight of the individual assessment: 90%

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Contacts

Olivier LISEIN
HEC Management School, University of Liege
Building B.51 (Sart Tilman) / LENTIC
Tél.: +32 4 366 30 70
E-Mail: O.Lisein@ulg.ac.be