Information Systems

The PhD programme in Information Systems (IS) focuses on the management and organisational issues of information technology. It aims to provide PhD candidates with world-class training for a career in IS research and education. Our Division is well-placed to do so as our faculty has a record of quality research publications, a strong network of relationships with international centres of excellence in IS research and education, and recurrent interactions with a group of major industry partners.

Several faculty members sit on the editorial boards of major IS journals such as Information Systems Research, and MIS Quarterly, as well as on the organising committees of major IS conferences such as the International Conference of Information Systems. The international academic and local industry relationships are facilitated by the Information Management Research Centre (IMARC), through its international advisory board and corporate sponsors. The international networks are strengthened by the steady stream of academic visitors from American, European, and Australian universities, who give seminars, work on joint projects, and interact with faculty and students.

Our faculty is committed to working closely with graduate students, and this is reflected in the publications by current graduate students in top conferences such as the International Conference of Information Systems (ICIS), Hawaii International Conference on Systems Science (HICSS), Academy of Management, and Workshop in Information Technology and Systems (WITS). A PhD thesis jointly supervised with a faculty member from the Indian Institute of Management won the 1998 Best Thesis award at ICIS.

PhD students will not only build their research skills through coursework but also through participation in fortnightly IMARC research workshops where faculty, visiting academics, and senior graduate students share their current work. Joint research with faculty members on research projects also develop the research skills of doctoral students.

Major research themes for the Division are strategic IT planning (including architecture planning), business process redesign, IT investment and business value, outsourcing, human resource management aspects of IT, including IT skills and compensation of IT personnel, and group support systems. Finally, emergent areas of research which have been given much attention of late include ECommerce and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. The Division is uniquely positioned to undertake comparative and cross-cultural research in these domain areas of IT management.

IS FACULTY & THEIR RESEARCH INTERESTS

ANG, Soon
PhD (University of Minnesota)
Strategic outsourcing, managing high technology professionals, and cross-cultural competencies and organisational behaviour.

DAS, Amit
PhD (University of Minnesota)
Cognitive Science, especially in technical work in organisations, which brings together the issues of technology, knowledge and culture.

GILBERT, A. Lee
PhD ( Northeastern University)
National informational infrastructure and strategic planning for ECommence policy, with a focus on ASEAN nations.

LEE, Patrick
PhD (University of Queensland)
Personnel management of IS professionals.

NEO, Boon Siong
PhD (University of Pittsburgh)
Business process reengineering, knowledge management and IT impacts.

PERIASAMY, Kanapaty Pelly
DPhil (University of Oxford)
IT planning, IT architecture, IT management, business process reengineering and systems thinking.

SETHI, Vijay
PhD (University of Pittsburgh)
Strategic information systems planning, strategic information systems, IT productivity, multinational IT strategies and ECommerce.

SIA, Siew Kien
PhD (Nanyang Technological University)
Information systems auditing, and business process reengineering.

SOH, Christina
PhD (University of California, Los Angeles)
IT investment and business value, national IT policy, enterprise systems implementation and ECommerce.

TUNG, Lai Lai
PhD (University of Indiana)
Groupware, group support systems, ECommerce, and the impact of IT on organisations.

FUNCTIONAL COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Students in the information systems specialisation must choose at least two of the following courses as part of their coursework component.

Seminar in Information Systems Research	This seminar reviews developments in the field of information systems research, identifying the major streams of research and underlying theories and methodological approaches. The interplay among technology innovation, organisational practice, and academic research will also be examined. The seminar culminates in an analysis of the current major areas of research as reflected in the leading journals and conferences. The objective of the seminar is to help students develop the ability to view current information systems phenomena in the context of prior work, and to appreciate the usefulness of drawing upon theories from other disciplines.
Seminar in Information Systems Development and Evolution	This seminar introduces the development and evolution of computer-based information systems and their organisational implications. Participants examine the key developments in the history of information systems (data processing, management information systems, decision support systems, and communication / coordination technologies) from the point of view of the enabling technologies as well as the increasing demands on the information processing capabilities of organisations. In addition to providing a refresher on the existing and emerging technologies underlying computer-based systems, the seminar also brings into focus the organisational and social context within which the evolution of information systems takes place.
Contemporary Issues in Information Systems	This seminar provides in-depth focus on two or three contemporary areas of Information Systems research, and represents a convergence of faculty and students’ interests. Students analyse key papers in the selected areas of research and will present for discussion the main research questions, theories, methodological approaches and findings. The seminar culminates in a written research proposal. Potential research topics include strategic IT planning, IT investment, human resource issues in information systems, enterprise resource planning systems, ECommerce, collaborative groupwork, and outsourcing.

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