TREAT: Designing a Teaching Simulation ... - Semantic Scholar

Download PDF
12 downloads 218 Views 84KB Size Report
Comment
attained when their (smaller) trading partners also adopt (see Pfeiffer 1992). ... highlights the need for current and future business professionals and, .... demonstrations of EDI software solutions to managers of Slovene organisations to.
TREAT: Designing a Teaching Simulation Environment

Craig M. Parker and Paula M.C. Swatman Department of Information Systems Monash University PO Box 197, East Caulfield, 3145 Melbourne, Vic, Australia tel: +61 3 903 2208 fax: +61 3 903 2005 email addresses: [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract Telecommunications and its enabled technologies (EDI in particular) have the potential to provide companies with tangible benefits, such as improvements to overall efficiency and cost effectiveness, and strategic advantages, including the strengthening of trading partner relationships and the redesigning of internal procedures. Many organisations - more notably small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) - however, have been slow to adopt telecommunications-based applications due to factors including a lack of financial support and a general lack of understanding of the benefits available from the effective utilisation of EDI/ telecommunications. This paper briefly summarises the major factors contributing to the slow diffusion of this technology by SMEs to emphasise the potential of effective education in addressing this problem. The paper then describes a course called TREAT (Teaching Realistic EDI and Telecommunications) which requires participants to use real EDI software and telecommunications facilities to operate organisations within a laboratory-based international trade environment. The course was designed specifically to give owner/managers of SMEs the opportunity to experiment with and see the relevance of EDI/telecommunications to their own companies, thus promoting a more widespread adoption of this technology. The paper then discusses the future research potential of this project.

Introduction Despite wide acknowledgment of the need for EDI, it has been found that small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) in particular are not joining EDI schemes as rapidly as was anticipated (Allen 1990; Healy 1991; Pfeiffer 1992; see also Harris et al. 1994). Many of these organisations, indeed, appear to regard such technologies as providing only a faster mail service (Farhoomand and Boyer 1994; Swatman 1994; van Kirk 1993). SMEs which do adopt EDI, however, generally react to pressure from major customers rather than actively seeking the strategic benefits of EDI (Pfeiffer 1992; Harris et al. 1993). These companies therefore tend to implement EDI only to the extent required by the initiator (for example, receiving documents electronically and printing them out) (Parfett 1992; van Kirk 1993), increasing the likelihood that the EDI system will be inefficient and will not provide returns on investment (Harris et al. 1994). This slower than anticipated rate of acceptance is not, however, restricted to EDI, but appears to be a problem faced by telecommunications in general (see Keen 1986; Schnaidt 1992; Turnbull 1990; Valovic 1993). For example, ISDN (Integrated Digital Services Network) is another technology enabled by telecommunications experiencing similar acceptance problems to EDI (Budwey 1990; Kunnathur and Raghunathan 1993). A slow rate of adoption of telecommunications-based applications will ultimately have an effect on all organisations because the full benefits of adopting technologies such as EDI can only be attained when their (smaller) trading partners also adopt (see Pfeiffer 1992). A number of strategies seem appropriate for addressing this concern, including (but not limited to) increased financial support and the establishment of EDI-related services for SMEs from government, vendors and larger trading partners. In addition, this relatively slow rate of acceptance of EDI highlights the need for current and future business professionals and, in particular, for SME owner/managers to gain a wider education in this area. Parker and Swatman (1995a) have argued that practical-based educational approaches are an effective way in which to teach business professionals (owners/managers of SMEs in particular) how EDI and telecommunications can be applied effectively by their organisations. Hoberman and Mailick also emphasise the importance of business people obtaining practical experience with the concepts being taught: "Without both theory and experience in application in the work venue, there is far less chance that the theory will ever be applied in the work venue" (1992:59). The motivation for such courses, therefore, is to provide owner/managers with the opportunity to experiment with and see the relevance of this technology to their situation, thus promoting the adoption of and increasing the acceptance rate of telecommunications-based applications. TREAT (Teaching Realistic EDI and Telecommunications) was developed to meet the pedagogic needs of SME owner/managers and was designed using the participatory philosophy advocated in Parker and Swatman (1995a). There are a number of ways TREAT accomplishes this goal: C participants initially gain a background understanding and appreciation of both EDI and telecommunications related concepts while using real EDI translation and email software and the underlying networking facilities (including the Internet); and C both tangible (for example, cost savings, reduced lead times and inventory levels) and intangible (for example, greater customer satisfaction, business process redesign) benefits of telecommunications-based applications are addressed and explored while participants adopt the role of a simplified company and trade abstract/fictitious goods using EDI and, to a lesser extent, email. 1

This paper: C summarises the major barriers attributed to the slow rate of acceptance of EDI and telecommunications to emphasise the importance of effective education; C describes the structure, objectives and activities of TREAT to show how a practical-based approach can be used to address the adoption problem; and C discusses and summarises the major research issues and potential associated with TREAT, including how we plan to evaluate the effectiveness of this teaching approach for promoting EDI adoption by SMEs.

Barriers to EDI/Telecommunications Adoption by SMEs The barriers contributing to the slow rate of acceptance of telecommunications and, more specifically, EDI are wide-ranging. Some of the major reasons suggested for this problem are attributed to: C the variety of company-specific, industry or national standards which are possibly being used by a company's local and/or foreign trading partners, although continued worldwide adoption of EDIFACT will help alleviate this problem gradually; C concerns regarding the costs of setting up, for example, hardware, EDI software and network connections in the organisation, although this technology is becoming increasingly affordable even to SMEs; C the trading partners of organisations not being willing to adopt EDI so that the full benefits of its adoption can be realised by all parties involved; C the lack of an EDI champion, who should be responsible for gaining detailed knowledge of EDI and ensuring that its implications are communicated to all other members of the company, including senior management; C the lack of awareness and understanding of the full benefits of telecommunications-based applications such as EDI by senior management in particular, so that a lack of commitment is given to implementation projects in an organisation. This awareness needs to be raised through government and EDI user awareness centre/association oriented initiatives to convince SME owner/managers of the strategic benefits of trading electronically; and C "... a perception of EDI which does not necessarily conform with the reality. Implementors frequently appear to believe the problems and implications of EDI extend only to technological considerations. The technology itself, by no means leading-edge, is certainly well-understood, but the non-technical factors involved (including the contextual, the inter-organisational and the management considerations) are more likely to pose difficulties for implementors" (Fowler et al. 1995:2) (Amos and Cooper 1995; Clark 1990; Davis 1989; Emmelhainz 1990; Emmett 1991; Ferguson and Hill 1988; Harris et al. 1993; 1994; Keen 1986; Parfett 1992; Pfeiffer 1992; Saxena and Wagenaar 1995; Scala and McGrath 1993; Swatman and Swatman 1991; 1992; Valovic 1993). In addition, Iacovou et al. (1995) provide a useful framework incorporating the variables which, together, influence the adoption of EDI by small firms in particular: C the company's readiness for EDI (that is, the availability of financial resources and the level of sophistication of IT usage and management); C the external pressure to adopt EDI (from its competitive environment and from its trading partners); and C the perceived benefits which it can gain from EDI.

2

This lack of awareness and understanding of the strategic benefits of telecommunications-based applications (and the subsequent unfavourable perceptions of this technology) highlights the need for research projects which investigate effective education approaches targeted at SME owner/managers (see, for example, Parker and Swatman 1995a). Examples of different types of educational work being carried out to encourage EDI adoption by business of various sizes include: C Niedzwiedzinski's (1995) use of seminar programmes to teach Polish business managers about the characteristics of, relationships between and business potential of various types of information systems (for example, decision support systems and data processing systems), with an emphasis on EDI; C the School of Organisational Science's (the University of Maribor, Kranj, Slovenia) use of demonstrations of EDI software solutions to managers of Slovene organisations to demonstrate the business potential of this technology and to provide the impetus for discussions amongst these managers of the strategic benefits of this technology; and C Wagenaar's (1992) use of simulation gaming to "... create widespread awareness [by business people] of the catalyst role EDI may play in restructuring business operations" using the Port of Rotterdam as an exemplar industry to show how a paper-based system can be transformed into a fully integrated environment with EDI. Participatory approaches to EDI education have been used by a number of researchers working in similar fields. Wrigley (1993), for instance, describes a simulation which is intended to "... educate business students about information systems design and the dynamics associated with electronic linkages among organisations". Participants in this game are required to adopt the role of companies and build information systems to process EDI transactions exchanged with their 'trading partners'. The pioneering work of Wagenaar (1992) and Wrigley (1993) in particular gave us the impetus to develop a laboratory-based teaching environment called TREAT (Teaching Realistic EDI and Telecommunications) to teach university students about internationally-based EDI/ telecommunications and its application in the business community (see, for example, Parker et al. 1994; 1995; Parker and Swatman 1995b; 1995c). The Information Systems and Computer Science students participating in the university version of TREAT were given the opportunity to experience genuine international trade when exchanging messages with 'foreign suppliers' at the University of Maribor as part of the procurement process. The positive responses to TREAT from the business-oriented Information Systems students, when compared to the more technically biased Computer Science students (see Parker et al. 1995), and the overall success of the university-based trials suggested that a variation of this approach might also be suitable for teaching SME owner/managers about how telecommunications-based applications can be used in their organisations. It must be pointed out, however, that university students are not intended to be substitutes for business professionals because students are unlikely to provide insight into whether owner/managers of SMEs will adopt EDI/telecommunications or alter their attitudes to this technology as a result of participating in TREAT. Although there are similarities between the TREAT laboratory and the simulation work being conducted by Wagenaar (1992) and Wrigley (1993), the following distinctions are worth noting: C TREAT was designed to teach participants the principles and realities of using applied telecommunications in an international environment, while Wrigley's aim was to enhance the teaching of information systems design and Wagenaar's aim was to provide experience 3

C

C

C

in the use of logistic chains within complex industries. It must be pointed out that, unlike the Wrigley and Wagenaar simulations, the procurement activities involved in TREAT will be simplified, yet realistic, and not modelled on complex industries. We believe that in this way the focus of the course will be on learning about the benefits and the use of EDI/telecommunications in participants' organisations rather than on learning wellunderstood business processes (the procurement activities are described in more detail under Fifth to the Eighth Sessions - Simulated International Trade using EDI below); we intend to investigate the feasibility of giving SME owner/managers the opportunity to learn about EDI and complete many of the course activities at their company premises rather than requiring attendance in a laboratory - we expect to run laboratories using both in-house and in-class attendance approaches; SME owner/managers from a wide range of industry sectors will be targeted as potential participants for TREAT, while Wrigley (1993) states that the simulation was targeted at MIS students (although Wrigley notes that the approach taken could be extended to demonstrate to businesses a simulation of potential electronic commerce systems) and the Port of Rotterdam Game was not designed specifically for the unique needs of SMEs; and the international focus of TREAT will be provided by allowing participants to trade with similar suppliers in other EDI laboratories worldwide - an approach which differs from those taken by both Wrigley, whose students engaged in only a single international exchange1, and Wagenaar, whose Port of Rotterdam Game does not involve real international participants but instead uses local entities to simulate the global perspective.

Our decision to investigate the effectiveness of a laboratory-based teaching environment designed specifically for SME owner/managers was supported by findings which suggest that simulation type education can be an effective way in which to change the behaviour/attitudes of business people (see, for example, Kaplan et al. 1985; Schumacher 1992). In the case of TREAT, we believe that a similar approach will encourage participants to adopt a strategic, proactive attitude toward EDI. In addition, the management education literature suggests that SME owner/managers prefer small group education and training which encourages learning 'by doing' and focuses on the participants' specific problems and needs (Bailey and Royston 1981; see also Gibb 1983; Hoberman and Mailick 1992; Holzer 1989).

The Design of TREAT TREAT will provide these opportunities and focus by giving participants the opportunity to experiment with EDI and telecommunications facilities without the risk of financial loss. The course is structured on a weekly basis with sessions offered in the evening rather than intensively, where participants would be required to devote full days to the educational programme. TREAT therefore has the advantage of requiring only short periods of concentration (Gibb 1983) and of resulting in less disruption to participants' normal work routines so that attending the course is easier (Bailey and Royston 1981; see also Holzer 1989). Giving participants the opportunity to complete the course activities at their company premises will also reduce this disruption. The disadvantages with this course structure are that participants' leisure time is reduced and that missing individual sessions might cause problems in terms of catching up, thus increasing the 1

At the 5th International Conference on EDI-IOS, Bled, Slovenia Wrigley demonstrated the way in which the simulation could support international exchanges of EDI messages, although this aspect of the game is not currently being pursued.

4

chances that participants might stop attending the course (Gibb 1983). An additional problem is that participants must relearn material forgotten from previous sessions so that concepts and ideas can be extended and integrated. These disadvantages, however, can be addressed by: C running 2 hourly sessions to minimise the impact on participants' leisure time; C giving participants who have missed a session the opportunity to revise the material taught and to be informed of the issues raised by the group at another time; and C spending the first 10 minutes of a session revisiting concepts and issues addressed and/or discussed in the previous session(s) (a technique advocated by Niedzwiedzinski 1995), explaining how this material will be extended in the current session. These solutions enabled us to decide on a course structure based upon a 2-hour session, held weekly over a 10-week period, for the commercial version of TREAT. Such a structure provided us with the following additional benefits: C a programme of study based around weekly meetings will allow the EDI/telecommunications concepts and issues to be introduced more gradually than would be possible in an intensive course, resulting in less material to absorb in a short period of time. James (1992) argues that seminars, which are also intensive by their very nature, have a similar disadvantage; and C a gap of one week between sessions will give participants the opportunity to return to their companies with additional ideas gained from TREAT, which will encourage them to consider the way in which EDI and telecommunications might be applicable to their own environment - and to think of questions and discussion topics to raise in subsequent sessions. Holzer suggests courses should be "... oriented to encourage participants to take back and implement in their firms useful parts of a programme..." (1989:57). The following sections describe the activities/objectives of the TREAT sessions in more detail. It is anticipated that each session will provide the SME owner/managers with adequate opportunities to discuss issues which are relevant to their situation with others who are experiencing similar pressures. More importantly, perhaps, participants will be able to share business experiences and ideas concerning telecommunications-based applications. It must also be pointed out that the division of the laboratory activities into different sessions is not intended to be rigid because the time allocated to the tasks will vary depending on the amount of discussion generated and the time taken to complete the exercises. First and Second Sessions - Introductions and Establishing Business Problems Gibb suggests that courses for SME owner/managers could commence "... by using empathy in considering what is currently perceived as the nature of the problem or opportunity to the owner/manager: this then becomes the focus of the course" (1983:15). We believe that approaching the first two sessions of TREAT from this perspective will increase the likelihood that the course will focus on the specific needs and business problems of the participants' organisations. These sessions will therefore be devoted to: C explaining to participants the content and objectives of the course, describing the nature of the practical activities planned for the 10 week programme and answering questions about the course; C introducing participants to the rest of the group to establish, for example, the types of industries represented, whether organisations are trading internationally and the plethora of experiences which can be shared and benefited from amongst the group; and

5

C

encouraging the owner/managers to articulate their motivation for attending the course, the benefits they hope to gain from being involved and the problems their organisations are currently experiencing with respect to EDI/telecommunications (for example, pressure from large trading partners to adopt EDI).

The SME owner/managers will then be asked to send an email message to all participants in the laboratory stating what types of business information is exchanged internally and with trading partners and the methods which are used to send/receive it (for example, paper shuffling, postage, facsimile, telephone, electronic mail and even EDI). It should be noted, however, that the participants may not all have equal levels of experience in using electronic mail (or, indeed, even in using computers at all). Detailed, step-by-step user documentation will therefore be provided to guide them through this task and sufficient time will be given to ensure participants can complete the activity. We expect that this exercise will lead to considerable discussion within the group concerning the problems which arise in using each of the interchange techniques, as it did with our student laboratory experiments. Particular attention can be focused on the exchange of structured information (such as that contained in purchase orders, etc) and the way in which the difficulties of exchanging such information is affecting participants' organisations in terms of cost effectiveness, responsiveness to customers, lead times and other important competitive factors. In addition to the discussions of structured information exchange, the use of email will introduce participants to a technology enabled by telecommunications and will provide the opportunity for us to emphasise the business problems which may be experienced. We expect the chance to experience alternative methods of exchanging business information to be particularly valuable for SME owner/managers who, even where they are already using both email and EDI, are frequently not convinced that their own firm has any communication problems. Many of these people use EDI as a response to pressure from a major customer and have never considered the strategic opportunities which it provides. The results of these sessions will therefore provide a basis on which to explore the business opportunities and potential of telecommunications-based technologies in subsequent sessions of TREAT. More specifically, examples of the types of business problems to examine and raise include: C the costs of paper-based document creation, storage, retrieval and postage, in addition to the associated problems of, for example, document matching, illegibility (if the print quality is poor) and searching (if documents go missing), as well as turning such documents into another type of document (for example, a purchase order into an invoice); C lengthy lead times and the impact on customer responsiveness and inventory levels (that is, the costs of keeping buffer stocks); and C the rekeying of data into internal application systems (if the company uses a computer at all) upon receipt of paper-based documents from within the company or from trading partners, as well as the associated costs and problems resulting from reentry errors. It is anticipated that discussing these problems will instigate the generation of ideas and solutions to address the identified obstacles. More importantly, perhaps, it is intended that: C participants whose companies do not use computers, but rely instead on paper-based procedures (including facsimile), will be encouraged to consider the benefits of computerised document processing;

6

C

C

all SME owner/managers will be able to analyse how application-to-application exchanges via electronic networks can resolve the problems of data reentry errors and costs, in addition to reducing a company's lead time; and the principles and benefits of Just-in-Time and Quick Response inventory management philosophies will be examined.

The participants will be encouraged to consider further these issues and solutions to the business problems they are experiencing while using an EDI translation package to exchange some business documents. For instance, the group will generate a quotation message, send/receive the quotes to/from other participants and use the document turnaround features of the EDI software to create a purchase order. The participants will not be expected to understand fully the technologies they are using at this stage because the following sessions will introduce the telecommunications and EDI. Third Session - An Introduction to Telecommunications The preliminary use of email and EDI systems in the first two sessions is intended to provide a basis for introducing the concept of business-oriented telecommunications in the third session of TREAT. It is assumed that many owner/managers might be unfamiliar with the principles of telecommunications networks, so that the basic principles of the technology will need to be discussed and explained before the participants will be able to appreciate how telecommunications and EDI in particular can benefit their organisation. The concepts will be introduced initially by looking at telecommunications networks currently being used by many companies (including the telephone network for verbal and facsimile exchanges) before progressing to the more unfamiliar uses of this technology (for example, computer-to-computer exchanges and the use of Internet facilities including ftp and telnet). The objective of the third session is therefore to ensure that participants have an adequate level of understanding of telecommunications in general so that they will be able to appreciate how business information of various types can be exchanged both locally and internationally. Participants will be encouraged to discuss whether and how this technology can support their information interchange requirements and resolve the business problems identified in the previous sessions. Fourth Session - An Introduction to Electronic Data Interchange The underlying concept of telecommunications described in the previous section will form the basis of participants' understanding of the principles and benefits of EDI. This session, therefore, will focus on explaining how an EDI system allows structured documents such as purchase orders to be exchanged directly, rapidly and unambiguously between computer applications. Participants will look at sample EDI messages to gain an understanding of the structure and components of an EDI message and compare flat files and EDI messages to appreciate the document mapping facilities of EDI software and, therefore, the concept underlying systems integration. Participants will be exposed to these concepts through practical activities as opposed to a purely lecture-based approach to increase the likelihood they will understand the procedures taking place. For example, the data entry facilities of an EDI translation package will be used to generate an EDI message based on the UN/EDIFACT standards which will subsequently be analysed, so that participants can identify in which data elements their entered data was placed. In addition, the 7

EDI software will also be used to translate an arbitrary inhouse flat file into an EDI message before the two documents are compared. Discussions amongst the participants will then be encouraged to share ideas and experiences about the potential of EDI and its likely impact on their organisations, as well as providing the SME owner/managers with the opportunity to express their concerns about EDI. A particularly important topic which will be raised is the necessity of implementation guidelines, which help simplify the design of EDI message subsets to meet the specific needs of an industry and subsequently reduce the time and costs associated with this process of implementation. Fifth to the Eighth Sessions - Simulated International Trade using EDI The next four TREAT sessions will provide participants with the opportunity to undertake simplified, yet realistic, laboratory-based international trade. The SME owner/managers will take on the role of organisations within this simulated trade environment and trade abstract/fictitious input materials and end-products with their respective local and/or international trading partners. The foreign companies taking part in TREAT will be operated by participants in other countries, thus ensuring that the international perspective of the course is as genuine as possible. Participants will also be responsible for ordering appropriate quantities of input materials and manufacturing enough end-products to meet customer demand. The procurement of goods will be carried out using a variety EDIFACT messages types, exchanged via the Internet, including: C quotation messages; C purchase orders; C purchase order responses and invoices; C payment orders (credit and debit advices will be received from a bank); and C instruction messages for freight forwarding (arrival notices will be received from a warehouse). It is anticipated that these laboratory activities will improve participants' understanding of the concepts learned in previous sessions and demonstrate further how the business problems identified in the initial TREAT sessions can be addressed using EDI/telecommunications, thus generating more discussion of these issues. In addition, the SME owner/managers will be encouraged to analyse how the business processes in their real organisations can be modified to make effective use of this technology. TREAT will also give participants the opportunity to gain realistic global trade experiences to demonstrate the relative ease by which both domestic and international procurement processes can be facilitated by this technology. We believe that this gaming approach to teaching EDI and telecommunications in general will promote a more strategic perspective and proactive attitude by owner/managers when considering the potential of this technology in their organisation. Ninth Session - Implementation Issues (Costs, Strategies, Project Plans) Small-to-medium organisations, in particular, find the cost and possible complications of buying and using computer-based solutions to procurement somewhat daunting. This session will therefore be devoted to discussing and exploring the various implementation issues associated with EDI and telecommunications, which might include: C how to implement EDI in participants' companies and the costs and tasks associated with a typical EDI project;

8

C

C C

comparing the costs of EDI with the equivalent paper-based processes being used by the organisations, where the SME owner/managers' attention will be drawn to the more intangible benefits and the perceived importance of these advantages; the criteria for selecting appropriate EDI translation software and hardware to meet the specific needs of the participants' organisations; and a discussion of the services offered by third party network providers and the associated costs, as well as the criteria for selecting a suitable provider.

It is anticipated that this session will provide SME owner/managers with a more accurate estimate of the costs of implementing telecommunications-based applications (EDI in particular) in their organisation. More importantly, perhaps, the participants will be able to consider a range of possible EDI solutions, assess the advantages and disadvantages of each and determine which solution will best suit their specific needs. Tenth Session - Concluding Discussions and Final Questionnaire The final session of TREAT will be used to conclude discussions initiated in previous TREAT sessions, complete any administrative tasks associated with the programme (including course evaluations/surveys) and, if requested, to show some of the possible future directions enabled by telecommunications, such as customer prospecting and advertising, involvement in specialised groups for knowledge and intelligence exchange, research and development ideas and opportunities, on-demand linkage with customers and suppliers and, above all, new kinds of small business networks in the form of virtual alliances (Poon and Swatman, 1995).

Research Issues and Potential TREAT has been designed so that the participating SME owner/managers will be able to: C articulate the business problems and concerns of their organisations associated with the exchange of business information both internally and with their trading partners; C raise an accurate awareness of the tangible and intangible benefits of telecommunicationsbased applications and the costs and issues associated with implementing these solutions; C experiment with real EDI and telecommunications facilities to explore for themselves how this technology might be used in their company to resolve or alleviate the identified obstacles, thus improving their company's cost effectiveness and operating efficiency; and C share ideas and experiences with other SME owner/managers who are experiencing similar problems or who have implemented some of solutions discussed in TREAT. It is anticipated that the practical-based laboratory environment will allow participants to see the relevance of EDI/telecommunications to their company, thus encouraging the adoption of EDI and promoting a strategic, proactive attitude toward this technology. We will use three main approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of TREAT and subsequently determine whether this educational environment has achieved the envisaged goal: C requiring participants to complete a 20 minute questionnaire in the first session so that we can gain insight into the current knowledge of and attitudes toward EDI and telecommunications, the perceived relevance of this technology to their organisations and the barriers to be overcome before adoption is considered/will occur. Participants will be asked to complete a similar questionnaire in the concluding session of TREAT so that a comparison can be made between the responses in both questionnaires, thus allowing us

9

C

C

to analyse the changes to the SME owner/managers' attitudes toward this technology and their planned adoption decision; asking participants to answer questions (in the final questionnaire) which evaluate TREAT on the basis of: C the elements of the course which were appropriate and those which might require revision in future iterations of TREAT; C their perception of the usefulness of the course and whether they would recommend it to other SME owner/managers; and C the quality of the practical knowledge, skills and advice obtained; and conducting follow-up interviews of participants to provide us with the opportunity to analyse the impact of the course on the SME owner/managers' decision to adopt EDI and the level of implementation attained or planned in the future.

We anticipate that the findings resulting from this research will provide insight into the variables which influence the effectiveness of a laboratory-based approach with regards to increasing the awareness of EDI/telecommunications and to promoting adoption of this technology by SME owner/managers. Examples of the types of variables which will be analysed include the: C impact caused by pressure from trading partners to adopt; C influence of prior experience with computers on participants' attitude to TREAT; C importance of an international focus during the simulation game - that is, we will run experiments which either include or exclude the real international trading partners to determine whether this factor is necessary to alter SME owner/managers' attitude toward and adoption decision concerning EDI/telecommunications; and C significance of the structure of TREAT by running experiments where participants are required to attend either a 3 day intensive course or a 10 week course (with the option of completing some laboratory activities at their company premises) and analysing which structure is more successful from the point of view of the participants.

10

References Allen, R. (1990) Bar Codes and Beyond. Business Review Weekly, 9 February, Cover Story. Amos, J. and J. Cooper (1995) Case Studies of the N.S.W. Government's Supplyline in Action, Electronic Commerce for Trade Efficiency - Proc Conf 8th International EDI-IOS Conference, Bled, Slovenia, June 5-8, Moderna Organizacija, 172-186. Bailey, J.E. and S.M. Royston (1981) Small Business Education and Training: Report on a National Survey Prepared for The National Training Council. Australian Government Publishing Service: Canberra. Budwey, J.N. (1990) ISDN Progress in the USA. Telecommunications, March: 43-44. Clark, S. (1990) Data Interchange: How to Recruit Trading Partners. Datamation 36(21): 75-76. Davis, L. (1989) Retailers go Shopping for EDI. Datamation 35(5): 53-56. Emmelhainz, M.A. (1990) Electronic Data Interchange: A Total Management Guide. Van Nostrand Reinhold: New York. Emmett, A. (1991) Breaking Barriers to EDI. Datamation 37(7): 64(1)-64(4). Farhoomand, A.F and P. Boyer (1994) Barriers to Electronic Trading in Asia Pacific. EDI Forum: The Journal of Electronic Commerce 7(1): 68-73. Ferguson, D.M. and N.C. Hill (1988) Missing the Boat. Business Credit 90(11): 21-24. Fowler D.C., Swatman P.M.C. and Swatman P.A. (1995) A Formal Approach to EDI Specification: Overcoming the Comprehension Problem, Proc of the EDI-Electronic Commerce Workshop - 3rd European Conference on Information Systems, Athens, Greece, June 1-3, 28-40. Gibb, A.A. (1983) The Small Business Challenge to Management Education. Journal of European Industrial Training 7(5), MCB University Press: Bradford (West Yorkshire). Harris, B., M. Parfett and R. Sarson (eds.) (1994) The EDI Yearbook 1994. Electronic Trader: The European EDI Magazine. NCC Blackwell: Oxford. Harris, B., M. Parfett and R. Sarson (eds.) (1993) The EDI Yearbook 1993. Electronic Trader: The European EDI Magazine. NCC Blackwell: Oxford. Healy, T. (1991) EDI in Australia: Still Making Haste Slowly. Australian Communications, June: 63-70. Hoberman, S. and S. Mailick (1992) Experiential Management Development: From Learning to Practice. Quorum Books: New York. Holzer, R. (1989) Management Education for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the European Communities. European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training: Berlin. 11

Iacovou, C., Benbasat, I. and A.S. Dexter (1995) Electronic Data Interchange and Small Organisations: Adoption and Impact of the Technology. MIS Quarterly, September (in press). James, P.N. (1992) Education and Training: Key to Competitive IS Strategy. Information Systems Management 9(2): 15-21. Kaplan, R.E., M.M. Lombardo and M.S. Mazique (1985) A Mirror for Managers: Using Simulation to Develop Management Teams. The Journal of Applied Behaviour Science 21(3): 241-253. Keen, P.G.W. (1986) Competing in Time: Using Telecommunications for Competitive Advantage. Ballinger: Cambridge (Mass). Leigh, W.E. and C. Burgess (1987) Distributed Intelligence: Trade-offs and Decisions for Computer Information Systems. South-Western Publishing Company: Cincinnati (Ohio). Kunnathur, A.S. and T.S. Raghunathan (1993) ISDN Awareness: Implications for the Management of Telecommunication Technology. European Journal of Information Systems 2(1): 15-22. Niedzwiedzinski, M. (1995) "Why EDI in Your Company?", Electronic Commerce for Trade Efficiency - Proc Conf 8th International EDI-IOS Conference, Bled, Slovenia, June 5-8, Moderna Organizacija, 217-219. Parfett, M. (1992) What is EDI? A Guide to Electronic Data Interchange (2nd Ed.). NCC Blackwell: Oxford. Parker C.M., Swatman P.M.C., Petri… D. and Gri…ar J. (1994) The Curtin/Maribor EDI Simulation: an Innovative Approach to Teaching International Telecommunications, In: J. Gri…ar and J. Novak (Eds.) Electronic Commerce, Electronic Partnerships - Proc Conf 7th International EDI-IOS Conference, Bled, Slovenia, June 6-8, Moderna Organizacija, 291-315. Parker C.M., Swatman P.M.C. and Swatman P.A. (1995) Laboratory-Based Electronic Commerce: A Comparison of Technical and Business-Oriented Student Experiences, Proc Conf "ECIS'95" - 3rd European Conference on Information Systems, Athens, Greece, June 1-3. Parker C.M. and Swatman P.M.C. (1995a) Encouraging SME Acceptance of EDI: An Educational Approach, Electronic Commerce for Trade Efficiency - Proc Conf 8th International EDI-IOS Conference, Bled, Slovenia, June 5-8, Moderna Organizacija, 27-46. Parker C.M. and Swatman P.M.C. (1995b) Educating Tomorrow's Managers for Telecommunications and EDI: A Cross-Cultural Experience. Journal of Information Technology and People 8(2): 58-79. Parker C.M. and Swatman P.M.C. (1995c) The TREAT Laboratory: Comparing an Electronic Commerce Experiment at Curtin and Monash Universities, Computer Communcations 18(6): 447457.

12

Poon S. and Swatman P.M.C. (1995) The Internet for Small Businesses: an Enabling Infrastructure for Competitiveness, Proc Conf "INET'95" - 5th Internet Conference of the Internet Society, Honolulu, Hawaii, June 27-30. Pfeiffer, H.K.C. (1992) The Diffusion of Electronic Data Interchange. Springer-Verlag: New York. Saxena, K.B.C. and R.W. Wagenaar (1995) Global Transfer of EDI Technology, Electronic Commerce for Trade Efficiency - Proc Conf 8th International EDI-IOS Conference, Bled, Slovenia, June 5-8, Moderna Organizacija, 136-156. Scala, S. and R. McGrath, Jr. (1993) Advantages and Disadvantages of Electronic Data Interchange. Information & Management 25(2): 85-91. Schnaidt, P. (1992) Enterprise-Wide Networking. Sams Publishing: Carmel (Indiana). Schumacher, T.R. (1992) Changing Organisational Culture with Simulation Experience. Presented at the 1992 Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Organisational Development & Change Division. Swatman, P.M.C. and P.A. Swatman (1991) Electronic Data Interchange: Organisational Opportunity, Not Technical Problem. Proc. Conf. DBIS'91 - 2nd Australian Conference on Information Systems Database, University of New South Wales, Sydney, February, 290-307. Swatman, P.M.C. and P.A. Swatman (1992) EDI System Integration: A Definition and Literature Survey. The Information Society, Volume 8: 169-205. Swatman, P.M.C. (1994) Business Process Redesign Using EDI: The BHP Steel Experience. Australian Journal of Information Systems, Volume 1(2), May, 55-73. Turnbull, P. (1990) EDI, Innovation and Organisation. In: M. Gifkins (Ed.) EDI Technology. Blenheim Online Publications: Pinner (Middlesex). pp. 231-246. Valovic, T. (1993) Corporate Networks: The Strategic Use of Telecommunications. Artech House: Boston. van Kirk, D. (1993) EDI Could be Coming Soon to a PC Near You. Network World, November: 30-34. Wagenaar, R.W. (1992) Research on EDI at the Faculty of Business Administration, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Proc. Conf. Researching and Teaching EDI - 2nd Symposium, Bled, Slovenia, September 5: 5-9. Wrigley, C.D. (1993) The IOSGame: Inter-Organizational Business Simulation,Working Paper, Faculty of Management, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

13