UCD Graduate School of Business Masters of Business Studies Programme MIS40010: Research Dissertation MIS40 !

0: Research "ssa#
Semester $% 00&' 00( Proposed research topics
Guidelines:
The following is a list of faculty from the MIS subject area who would be available for supervising students on either the Research Dissertation or Research Essay option. Their general research interests and some specific topics projects that they are proposing for dissertations essays are listed.

Pamela Abbott: (http://mis.ucd.ie/staff/pabbott)

General areas of interest:
Information Systems ! "lobalisation

Specific research topics/projects:

Effects of globalisation on the IT industry o o o o o Ireland#s shifting position in relation to software e$ports from the %eltic Tiger to Europe#s Singapore The emerging Eastern European competitors in outsourcing offshoring& current position& strategies and statistics on e$ports of services and products Insights into %hina#s bid to compete with India in outsourcing and offshoring& critical success factors& major areas of competition& barriers Effects of global outsourcing on IT s'ills mar'et and university enrolments& e.g. in Ireland or Europe Effects of globalisation on (S hegemony in IT industry& offshoring of Research and Development wor'& Intellectual property issues& des'illing of technical IS professionals *istorical analyses of the growth of offshoring global sourcing& its geographic spread& its effects on developing economies& its political fallout in more developed countries Evaluation of E)government initiatives& critical success factors& emergence of citi+en) centred modes of electronic interaction Internet governance , social& political ! legal implications

The socio)political influences of the globalisation of the IT industry o

E)business topics o o

-ther areas covered in the .undamentals of E)business course

Cathal Brugha: (http://mis.ucd.ie/staff/cbrugha)

General areas of interest:
/omology& Multi)criteria decision)ma'ing

Specific research topics/projects:

Strategic Decision)Ma'ing0 In Information Systems and e%ommerce companies are commonly challenged at the strategic level to decide what direction their company should ta'e in some 'ey area. The empirical part of this dissertation would be to synthesise the views of the senior managers in the student#s company. The output would be an identification of the focus that the company should ta'e in terms of direction of effort and or dealing with barriers to progress. %ritical to this dissertation would be 1a2 access to the senior decision)ma'ers in the company& 1b2 that has major current uncertainties with regard to some IT)related strategic issue& 1c2 that is of current concern to the company. Tactical Managerial Decision)Ma'ing0 -ne of my research fields is Multiple %riteria Decision)Ma'ing 1see www.M%DM.com2. Most commonly& this is used where a company has a very important choice to ma'e between several alternatives& and that involves different criteria that cannot easily be reduced to one& such as money. The purpose of this dissertation would be to support senior managers in some company 1to be found by the student2 as they try to ma'e some choice decision involving some IT)related investment& etc. The output would be a suggested prioritising of the alternatives. %ritical to this dissertation would be 1a2 access to the senior decision)ma'ers in the company& 1b2 that has major current uncertainties with regard to some choice or decision that involves some IT)related aspects& 1c2 that is of current concern to the company.

Andrew Deegan: (http://mis.ucd.ie/staff/a deegan)

General areas of interest:
Design and development of systems for E3usiness Measurement4 Evaluation in E)3usiness Systems development methodologies

Specific research topics/projects:

3est practice models for ER5 implementations

%hange management in the conte$t of enterprise system implementation

!atthias Glowat": (http://mis.ucd.ie/staff/mattglowat")

General areas of interest:
E)business ! E)commerce

Specific research topics/projects:

6eb 7pplication Development Issues ! e)3usiness Software Development 8ife %ycle 5ortal Implementation Issues 6ireless %ommerce and analysis of emerging wireless technologies& such as R.ID 393 commerce and e5rocurement 6eb 9.: ) Technology& 3usiness Models& and impact on organisations ! individuals

Allen #iggins: (http://mis.ucd.ie/staff/ahiggins)

General areas of interest:
Social and organi+ational perspectives of information systems4 (se of content management systems in networ's4 -rganisational adaptation to the adoption of 'ey practices based on E$treme 5rogramming in technology companies.

Specific research topics/projects:

5racticing Standard ;nowledge0 Software standards and implications for managing programming as 'nowledge wor'. 5articipant observation wor'place study focused on practices of programmers and others developing software according to open standards definitions and related institutional processes surrounding such initiatives. Software Standards Discourse0 Review of literature on standards in software and I%T infrastructure development. 6hat prior assumptions are implicit and built into standards discourse4 in particular notions of 'nowledge& wor' organisation and production. 8ocus of Service Innovation0 Development of case studies of selected innovation e$periences in I%T and financial services industry.

e)"overnment Industry Interaction0 Site surveys to be conducted to describe typical Irish traders< contact with public administration 1mainly Revenue but also other agencies2 when handling freight movements across national borders. Initial on)line =uestionnaire driven survey specified by the Irish E$porters 7ssociation complemented by a number of short duration e$ploratory field studies 1interpretive method0 participant observer2 of the trader<s wor' environment for handling goods movements.

Peter $eenan: (http://mis.ucd.ie/staff/p%eenan)

General areas of interest:
Decision support for routing problems& integration of geographic information systems 1"IS2 and decision support systems 1DSS2& use of "IS in business

Specific research topics/projects:

The Effects of Electronic .iling on the Irish Ta$ Industry , e$amination of the impact of the Revenue online service as a follow on from a 9::> M3S dissertation which e$amined the e$pected impact of R-S. "IS use in Irish business 0 degree of use and obstacles to development Digital rights management for downloadable data

&'amas $ell(: (http://mis.ucd.ie/staff/sb%ell()

General areas of interest:
Information Systems ! -rganisation

Specific research topics/projects:

IS Innovation in *ealthcare0 o Evaluation of ongoing initiatives0 %ollaborative models of care. (se of I%T to facilitate new modes of ?shared care# or clinical team wor'ing 1e.g. multi)disciplinary teams& integration of primary and secondary care teams2. Electronic 5atient Records 1E5Rs2. 5roblems with implementation and use. 8earning 'nowledge management in clinical settings 1e.g. Evidence 3ased Medicine2. 6hat constitutes ?valid# medical 'nowledge& how is it incorporated into clinical practice& and what role does I%T play in this@

Telemedicine. Evaluation of pilot initiatives. Major I%T implementation projects 1e.g. 557RS& 8oren+o& .IS52. 8essons that might be learned from these.

Innovation 5ractice in Software Development0 o Emergent modes of organising global distributed development wor'. *ow do new modes of organising software development wor' in practice@ 1e.g. global distributed teams& -pen Source development& -ffshoring outsourcing2 (nder what circumstances do they wor' well@ Studies of A5)in)use. Still few good empirical studies of use of agile development methods. *ow are they used in practice@ Is there much variation in use@ 6hen where do they wor' well@

-rganisation of ;nowledge 5roducing 5ractices0 o The organisation of 'nowledge production in a university conte$t. (niversity as archetypal 'nowledge intensive enterprise4 how have 'nowledge creation processes been traditionally organised in academic institutions and what are the possible implications of recent changes in the management of such institutions@ The production and consumption of management 'nowledge. 6hat 'ind of 'nowledge is created in business management schools and how& or to what e$tent& is it consumed in the broader world@ 1see recent criticisms of business research and education by people li'e Mint+berg and 3ennis2 Theoretical accounts of the role of I%T in changes in contemporary organisations and society. Review of multifarious literatures on role of I%T in shaping 'ey aspects of contemporary social and economic life 1e.g. information 'nowledge economies societies& globalisation etc.2

*istorical 5erspectives on Relationship between Information& I%T& and -rganisation0 o Review of significant historical developments in I%T 1broadly defined2 and their implications for contemporary ways of thin'ing and organising.

!ichael !acDonnell: (http://mis.ucd.ie/staff/mmacdonn)

General areas of interest: Specific research topics/projects:

&ean !cGarragh(: (http://mis.ucd.ie/staff/seanpl)

General areas of interest: Specific research topics/projects: