George M. Wyner, Assistant Professor, Information Systems
 |
George M. Wyner, Assistant Professor, Information Systems |
BA, Mathematics, Harvard College
PhD, Sloan School of Management, MIT
What are your primary research interests?
Primary interest: the representation, classification, analysis, and design of organizational processes.
Related interests: systems analysis; new organizational forms; coordination theory; computer supported cooperative work; information technology-enabled distributed design.
Why is the School of Management a good fit for you?
As someone who studies information technology, I appreciate the unique approach that SMG takes to IT in business. The school’s MS-MBA program offers MBA students the opportunity to get a master’s degree in Information Systems in tandem with the MBA. What is unique is that the program is targeted at general managers as well as those who plan to work in IT. The premise is that an understanding of technology and information is a vital part of a 21st century manager’s toolkit. I appreciate the opportunity to teach the nitty-gritty details of technology to students who expect this material to be managerially relevant. It gives me a different perspective on the concepts and challenges me to connect technology to business in unexpected ways. I find in turn that this stimulates my research.
What’s been your biggest gain since coming to the School?
I have had an opportunity to develop as a teacher; to find my own approach to bringing my enthusiasm and energy into the classroom. I have been pleasantly surprised by how my teaching experience has given me new insights into my research.
Is there any BU or Boston resource you would highlight as having enhanced your experience here?
As a native of Brookline, I was already a big fan of Boston, but working right in Kenmore Square has been a wonderful experience. Whether it’s watching the Marathon go by right outside my window, hearing the roar of the crowd at Fenway, or walking down to the Charles River, I feel like SMG is in the center of things. Commonwealth Avenue is a stimulating place to go when I need to ponder some particularly challenging problem.
What business problem do you most want your work to help solve?
Innovation in information technology, especially on the web, has given us an amazingly powerful set of tools, with new possibilities emerging every day. The limiting factor seems to be our ability to figure out what to do with these capabilities. My goal is to provide managers with techniques for systematically exploring these new possibilities. My hope is that such techniques will contribute to taking fuller advantage of the capability of information technology to support collaboration and problem solving, two capabilities that are of vital importance to businesses.
