Leading With The Fundamentals

By Jeanne Spreier

When settlers moved to North Texas more than a century ago, they saw a 
land of opportunity, a place to experiment and shake up the status quo. 
Even so, these hardy souls knew they had to work to get the fundamentals 
right.

Things aren't too different today. North Texas' Telecom Corridor thrives 
because of innovation, creativity, and research. Yet, every corporate 
leader will tell you that without mastering the fundamentals of business 
and technology, their organization would be left in the dust.

The School of Management at The University of Texas at Dallas understands 
this double-edged demand - making sure its students learn the underlying 
principles that guide business development while learning to think outside 
the box. The School offers seven courses to business students 
concentrating in the Management Information Systems (MIS) area that 
particularly address this demand. After completing their core management 
courses, students concentrating in MIS typically take Systems Analysis and 
Design, Business Data Communications, Information Systems Management, 
Client Server Computing, Decision Support and Expert Systems, Electronic 
Commerce, and Programming in JAVA. These courses comprise "what we think 
are the basic courses that an MIS student should have," says Dr. Ram Rao, 
The School of Management's associate dean for academic programs. What 
these electives give business majors, he says, are the skills necessary 
for "jobs right at the interface of business and technology."

At one time, these classes typically would have been offered only through 
a university's computer science or engineering department, says Dr. Sury 
Ravindran, an assistant professor in the School's MIS area.

The class Dr. Ravindran teaches, Business Data Communications, takes a 
less-technical approach to what some universities might call 
telecommunications issues. Dr. Ravindran's course, instead, focuses on 
applications in the business setting. "Business majors must now know what 
this technology is and what it does," Dr. Ravindran says. "This class is 
more [about] what you can do with this technology. It exposes students to 
the fundamentals of data communication but from a business angle."

Business major Troy Allen, who plans to complete his bachelor's in 
business administration degree next year with an MIS concentration, says 
Dr. Ravindran takes students through not only the technology but also the 
costs of implementing such systems. "A lot of the things we're learning 
about have been around for over thirty years, but they really haven't been 
in use," he says. Now, as demand catches up with technology, companies are 
doing cost analyses on such technical issues as multiplexing transmissions 
and installing T1 lines. Mr. Allen says he's learning not only about the 
hardware but also how to decide when it's the right business decision to 
install such equipment.

"I like teaching this class," Dr. Ravindran says. "It gives a view of 
technologies that have been around for years and [points] students to the 
latest technologies."

The JAVA programming class, taught by Gene Bryant, a lecturer who spends 
his days at MCI WorldCom developing digital phones, drives at the heart of 
e-commerce.

"JAVA is huge; JAVA is really hot right now," says Mr. Bryant. "It's 
fundamentally a good, good language. What we try to do is focus on what 
JAVA is and what JAVA isn't." The computer language is at the heart of 
programming for Web-based systems.

"Programming can be really tedious, but [Mr. Bryant] makes it very 
interesting," says Debbie Hsu, one of his students. "These are the basics 
you would need to create what would run on a Web page. But you can use the 
experience to propel yourself forward in other areas." Ms. Hsu, who 
graduates this spring, says this, along with other MIS classes, will give 
her an edge when she's looking for a job after graduation.

Marty Balko, a mother, grandmother, and full-time employee at a Dallas law 
firm, says with a laugh she's trying to complete her degree "before my 
baby goes to college." She's one of Mr. Bryant's students and a huge fan. 
"He is absolutely wonderful. He goes into so much depth. He knows what 
he's doing. He's teaching from his own experience." She says that not only 
does Mr. Bryant help her with JAVA code, he explains the whys of codes, 
which she applies to other computer languages. "I learn the most when I do 
the programs, especially when it's a little harder than what we're really 
ready for, when we really have to dig a little," she says. "Mr. Bryant 
just explains every little detail."

Dr. Rao stresses that business administration curriculum is not static. He 
predicts continued changes in the MIS curriculum content, curriculum 
delivery, and even emphasis of the classes, as technology and thinking 
change. That said, right now the UTD School of Management provides 
students a grounding in MIS that meshes with their business degrees. 
"We're really in the forefront of preparing students for this interface of 
business and technology," Dr. Rao says.