James Drogan

I've taken the summer off from teaching, but that doesn't mean that my students are not on my mind.  I'm preparing for three fall courses and writing a number of short papers.

These short papers are intended to provide additional detail on subjects I consider important to the students.  The papers and  brief abstracts are:

Some Comments on Teams in Graduate Courses

I have always used teams for projects in my graduate courses whether the mode of delivery is in the classroom or online.

Of late, my satisfaction with how the teams work (i.e., the process) to produce the project report (i.e., the product) has declined. It’s time for some introspection to find the root causes and identify actions to raise the performance of the teams.

This paper draws upon Hackman, J. Richard. Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press, 2002.

The Value of Introspection

One definition of introspection is that it is “contemplation of one's own thoughts, feelings, and sensations; self-examination.”

Introspection comes into play in “Know what you know, know what you don't know, and know who knows what you don't know” and “When things are going really well you've probably missed something.”

Introspection is valuable, important, and perhaps even critical to successful business operations. A prominent case dealing with this that my students and discuss is “What went wrong at Cisco Systems?” More recently, we have difficulties in the global financial industry and the American automobile industry that also suggest the lack of introspection.

This note takes up this characteristic – introspection – in more detail with some comments on its value, how it can be developed and applied.

The Need to Know About Technology

The breadth and depth of data and information regarding technology is, for all practical purposes, fathomless. It is probably impossible, and at least impractical, to know all there is to know.

There is, however, a set of data and information about technology that is highly relevant to one’s role and responsibilities in an organization in an industry.

This note suggests ways to discover that set.

Data Management

“It ain't what we don't know that hurts us, it's what we know that ain't so."

“We also study Cisco. What comes through from our class discussion is that Cisco thought they knew it all and had no need for corroboration. The conflicting data was available; they chose not to look at it.”

”I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”

Here we have three of several issues associated with data management.

1. Data that does not represent truth.
2. Hubris of thinking we know all we need to know.
3. Succumbing to the temptation to make a decision before the relevant data is in.

This note takes up a general set of considerations regarding data management.

The Context of Interest

Virtually all my classes use the Context of Interest as a unifying theme.

This note describes the origins and meaning of the context and how it can be used as a basis for thinking about business.

Learning Diagnosis and Design

Business people are confronted with issues requiring resolution. This requires diagnosis of the issue and design of a solution.

The knowledge and skills of diagnosis and design are particular to the issue, the structure of the organization, and the nature of the industry.

This note takes these matters up.

Business Dynamics, SCOR and UML

TMGT 8510 System Design and Control is an elective in the Masters of Science in International Transportation program, and a “required” elective is one is taking the Supply Chain Management Certificate.

The catalog description for this course is:

“This course examines the consequences of global markets, meaning that successful competition in an uneven cultural, economic, political, and social playing field requires deriving cost efficiencies from constantly re-engineered, extended supply chains. The best of the re-engineering takes a total cost analysis approach, viewing all parts of the supply chain as an integrated whole and leaving nothing in isolation. Students are introduced to the design and control techniques that derive from a systems approach.”

This course exposes the students to business dynamics and the SCOR (Supply Chain Operations Reference) model with the intention of linking the two concepts in a useful and usable manner. Inasmuch as one would then like to translate the result into a technical specification, the notion of describing the results in UML (Unified Modeling Language) seems natural.

This note sketches a broad approach for doing this.

An Introduction to Logistics and the Supply Chain

Oft times I have found that students come into a course that assumes they have knowledge of logistics and the supply chain, but, in fact, lack that knowledge.

This note helps to provide a bridge to those students and improve their chances of successfully completing the course.

Risk Management

The general approach to risk management as related to me by my students is that one simply needs to buy insurance. This seems to me to be a narrow interpretation of risk management that focuses on recovery of loss.

We should, I think, focus on prevention of loss. This requires the identification of events that could cause loss, some estimate of the probability and impact of the event, some estimate the costs associated with prevention, and subsequent decisions as to whether and how one should fund recovery of loss.

My thoughts on this are developed further in this note.

The Gap Between Now and The Future Grows Smaller 

‘Our mission is to use our knowledge of supply chain management and information technology to help companies achieve their business goals. In these past few months, we find that the definitions of short, medium and long term now mean something completely different:

Short term used to mean within the next six months. It now means "next Monday."

Medium term used to mean six months to a year. It now means "after next Monday."

Long term used to mean two to five years out. It now means "over the next six months."’

This quote would seem to support the assertion of the title of this note. Time does not seem to be what it once was. Smaller decision windows. More data and information arriving more frequently. The appearance of “black swans.”

How should we think about this phenomenon? How should this thinking inform the design, implementation, and operation of business systems? Are new sets of knowledge, skills, and experiences required? How are these developed and maintained?

This note takes into consideration these and other questions, draws conclusions regarding the impact of the shrinking gap, and offers suggestion for actions to deal with his trend.

The Intersection of Global Awareness and Technology Literacy

I have from time to time become involved in the assessment of undergraduate and graduate courses of instruction. Recently I was asked to assess two graduate courses for the students’ grasp of issues related to global awareness and technology literacy. While these were at the same institution and at the graduate level, they were two independent efforts.

However, I am left wondering about the relationship between these two issues.

Audience

“Most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of witnesses.”

Audience was the theme for 2009 annual symposium of the Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute.  It seems to me that the conference called for assuming a point of view that is often ignored, even when one may be the audience.

The conference prompted this preparatory note which, I regret to saqy, has not yet been finished.

I have at various times noted the following Principles of Communications.

1. The grammar and syntax of the messages being exchanged are understood.

2. The information communicated in the messages is relevant.

3. The medium of communication is acceptable.

4. There is a desire to communicate.

5. There is confirmation of understanding.

These principles are part of the lens through which the communicator and the audience set expectations and filter information.

This note examines the relationship between the communicator and audience.