Department
of Informatics
INF5250
Information Systems Development in Organizations
Fall semester2005
Exam form: individual essay
Essay content:
Write
an essay on change in the organization studied. Two aspects should be covered:
1. Micro level changes, concerning individual
or small group. Relate this aspect to the topics covered in the literature and
lectures like learning, participation and work
2. Macro level changes, having impact on the
organizational structure. Relate to relevant literature.
Writing
about changes also includes an analysis and description of the obstacles to
changes and forces that trigger change. If the organization that you study
undergoes little change at the moment, your essay should rather focus on the obstacles
and concern how changes could take place under the circumstances that you
describe.
This
is an individual assignment, but you can and should discuss your drafts
with the other students.
The
essay will be assessed based on your ability to relate the empirical study to
the literature.
To
guide your writing, the process is organized as follows:
- Write a 3-5 pages draft
on the micro level theme. The draft has to be submitted on the 1st
of November, and feedbacks will be given on the 7th of
November.
- Write a 3-5 pages draft
on the macro level theme. The draft has to be submitted on the 29th
of November. Feedbacks will be given on the 29-30th of
November.
- The final essay is
composed by the micro and the macro parts, plus a reflection on the
micro-macro relation. The micro and macro parts should be finalized
according to the feedbacks received. The final essay should be limited to 5000 words (references excluded). The
length limit should make you focus on the relevant content. Submission
deadline is 16th of December.
Practicalities:
- Send drafts and final essay to miriag (at) ifi.uio.no
- Attach the file in .pdf
- Name the file: yourname.pdf
- The final exam essay
should be limited to 5000 words: state the word length on the first page
of your essay.
Important
Deadlines:
1st
November. Draft of first aspect, 3-5 pages. Feedback on the 7thNovember.
29
November. Draft of second aspect, 3-5 pages. Feedback 29-30.
16
December. Final delivery 5-10 pages
The
grading of INF 5250 is Pass/Fail. You need to get a pass both in the first
assignment (Structures in Five) and this second deliverable in order to obtain
a Pass mark in the course.
General guidelines on how to
structure your essay:
?
Introduction
?
Literature
review
?
Present
the concepts you have selected from the course literature. Discursive way ?
full sentences and no bullets.
?
Method:
briefly describe how you collected your data.
?
Case
description:
?
Some
background information + focus on aspects which are relevant for the analysis.
?
Analysis
and discussion: interpret your case with theoretical concepts. NOT
re-presenting case and theory!
?
Conclusions
General: At the
beginning of each paragraph: tell the reader what you?re going to do in that
paragraph