DIGITAL WORKPLACE AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMA

DIGITAL WRKPLC & DGTL TRA

How do organizational leaders invest in digital technologies and capabilities to catalyze digital transformation? Moreover, how do corporations and institutions create an effective portfolio of digital investments that are aligned — continuously over time — with the organization’s mission and strategy? This course provides an introduction to digital transformation, and the modern (digital) “place” of work, such as intranets, search appliances, analytic dashboards, enterprise social media, mixed reality, and content management. Feeding the digital workplace are “sources of record,” including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), HR systems, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), IoT sensors, and digital marketing. Finally, we look at likely future scenarios for work and how organizations can prepare for digital transformation and beyond.

• R 8:10 p.m.-10 p.m.
• Instructor: Benjamin P Royce
  Info
• 3 points

BUSINESS ANALYTICS

OVERVIEW: Business analytics (BA), in essence, is the discipline of using data analysis - ranging from simple descriptive statistics to advanced, AI-based predictions - to illuminate all quantitative aspects relevant to a specific organization, from its own performance, to the behavior of its customers, and challenges from competitors. This course covers the entire value chain of a BA process, including formulating the question, collecting and managing the relevant data, analyzing said data to answer the question, and finally effectively communicating the results (e.g., data visualization) to stakeholders. While the course teaches some hands-on data analysis/statistics (e.g., database structures, conditional averages, correlations, confidence intervals), the emphasis of the course is on educating users and managers of BA, and as such includes stakeholder engagement and implementation planning.

CONTENT: Following an introduction to the history of BA, weekly lectures and associated assignments (some spreadsheet-based, others in essay format) teach all above elements of the BA value chain one by one. Accompanying readings cover academic foundations and practitioner commentary, from Alan Turing's work (1912-1952) to latest advances in quantum computing. A short individual presentation and a group white paper allow students to combine and hone the various acquired skills in an end-end application. As an overarching objective, upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to devise and "pitch" an innovate BA process to an organization, including strategic recommendations on its business value and implementation.

LOGISTICS: Required course for IKNS students, open to all Columbia University graduate students; no prerequisites other than beginner's familiarity with spreadsheet software and simple statistics (e.g., average, error margin). Online course meets once a week (live via zoom) for the duration of the semester.

• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Christoph J Meinrenken
  h-index: 15 Info
• 3 points

DIGITAL PRODUCT INNOVATION & ENTREPRENEU

DGTL PROD INNOV & ENTRPRN

Digital Product Innovation and Entrepreneurship aims to provide students with the knowledge and expertise in innovation and new product development required to create, test, and launch a new digital product. In this course, students will undertake the following: perform a competitive analysis, investigate novel knowledge-based digital products, gather user requirements, validate the feasibility of proposed products, devise a go-to-market strategy, construct a financial plan, develop a high-fidelity digital product prototype, and pitch their business idea to a panel of venture capitalists. Students can expect to engage in a fast-paced, rigorously hands-on curriculum focused on developing a pre-revenue business.

The exponential increase in data and information, coupled with the combination of increasingly potent analytics and natural language processing platforms, AI, and LLMs, provides entrepreneurs with tremendous opportunities to bring innovative, customer-focused digital products to market. While there are no direct paths to bring a new product idea to market successfully, the application of the lean startup methodology provides a well-tested path from idea to profit.

• T 8:10 p.m.-10 p.m.
• Instructor: Ralph Poole
  h-index: 0 Info
• 3 points

NAVIGATING THE FUTURE OF WORK

This course is designed to provide an understanding of the critical capabilities necessary for individual, team, and organizational success in the new world of work. Based upon current economic models, students will recognize the intangible factors within teams and organizations that drive decision making, knowledge, and culture as value and valuation of the work of organizations.

Our core question is, how to start, build, and sustain leadership and organization capabilities for successfully navigating the future of work? The course will answer this question by looking at successful case examples who are demonstrably leading the way. We will bring actual leaders and entrepreneurs to the class for exchange with our class. The course will require students to work individually and in teams to build their own future of work models through unlearning and learning.

Students will study modern exemplar organizations and leaders to harness their lessons for staying competitive and successful. We will explore the changing nature of work, provide the means for better understanding what is occurring, and develop strategies for successfully navigating this new world. This course will start by analyzing how platforms, robotics, AI, automation, data, digitization, and the speed of technology has changed work. The capabilities necessary for success require both technological expertise, as well as, human skill centered around leadership, knowledge, and cultures of trust, respect and intentional inclusion. Students will participate in an “intangibles” assessment survey that will measure behaviors associated with leadership, culture, and knowledge for driving performance. This approach allows for exploring how the intangible factors behind each of these change factors impact the world of work, workforces, and workplaces.

Assignments will include determining individual work interests, skills and connecting them to organizational objectives and key results (OKR). Students will work in teams to design a future of work map and negotiate practices for their current organizations and clients.

• MTWRF 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
• 3 points

A Systems Approach to Knowledge Manageme

A Systems Approach to KM

This course will equip students with skills and strategies on how to plan, design, develop and deploy knowledge management programs for different types of organizations as well as for different sectors of the global economy. A hallmark of the course’s approach is that students will learn the steps from planning to deployment from a systems standpoint, i.e., students will learn how to use systems engineering principles as an analytic and structured framework for designing and implementing knowledge management programs that are responsive to organizational needs. 

The course first provides an overview of the strategic value of institutional and project knowledge when properly managed, shared and applied, or leveraged to support decision making.  Next, a system’s view and analysis of knowledge management (KM) is introduced as critical to business success because of the strategic value of knowledge assets. The knowledge management “system” as used in this course comprises of all the organizational elements that go into formulating a knowledge management strategy and its related implementation programs. Such system is made up of a defined KM strategy, appropriate information technology (IT) tools, processes, teams and leadership engagements, implementation programs delivery, institutional learning, lessons learned, knowledge sharing and transfer methodologies. Further, students will learn how to conduct organizational KM needs assessment, define institutional KM drivers, strategy formulation and knowledge sharing protocols. Students will also acquire skills for developing robust knowledge management practices and programs that support business objectives, enable project success, and sustain improved organizational performance. Additionally, students will apply the structured KM design principles they learned to real-world organizational challenges and opportunities. Assignments comprise a combination of individual exercises, a group project, and a final exam.

Pre-requisites/open to:
There is no pre-requisite knowledge or specific competency required for taking this course, because the instruction will include knowledge management fundamentals as well as systems engineering basics. Open to SPS and SEAS; other students with instructor permission.

• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Moses Adoko
  Info
• 3 points

IKNS INDEPENDENT STUDY

Overview
: This 1 semester course (elective, IKNS students only, hybrid) provides an opportunity for a student to extend or supplement their educational experience via a deep-dive into an established or novel area of research of their choice (the topic), under the guidance & supervision of a faculty member (the supervisor). An independent study course allows a student to work one-on-one with a faculty member to gain & contribute new insight into the discipline of Knowledge Management.

Topic/objective
: The topic is chosen by the student as long as it falls within the general realm of Knowledge Management or its specific content areas in the IKNS curriculum, such as IT systems, knowledge organizing systems, data repositories, business data analytics including machine learning & AI, learning processes, collaboration, dialogue, team & project management, transformational leadership, change management, digital transformation, or digital product innovation. The course will therefore serve the dual purpose of allowing a student to pursue their own intellectual curiosity & to make a contribution to the wider discipline of Knowledge Management. In addition, students will deepen their understanding of the content they acquired in other courses, by applying this content to the specific topic chosen for the Independent Study.

Logistics
: Ahead of registration, the student meets with the supervisor to discuss & agree on (i) the topic & the relevant IKNS curriculum area(s); (ii) the timeline of deliverables, milestones, & contact hours for the semester; & (iii) the number of credits. The student summarizes these points in a ~1 pg
Independent Study Proposal
. The student can register for the course only once the supervisor & the Academic Director agree to & sign the
Independent Study Proposal
(which includes the topic, the IKNS curriculum area, the number of credits, & the assigned supervisor). The number of credits (1-3) will be commensurate with the scope of the Independent Study. The scope can range from a summary of existing sources (typically 1 credit. 5-10 pg report), to a synthesis or meta-analysis of existing & new sources, e.g., interviews withSMEs (typically 2 credits, 10-15 pg report), to a comprehensive study which adds the student’s own critical discussion & suggestions to the topic (typically 3 credits; 15-20 pg report).

• Instructor: Christoph J Meinrenken
  h-index: 15 Info
• Instructor: Katrina Pugh
  h-index: 4 Info
• 1-3 points