Profile of Professor Lorne Olfman

Lorne Olfman is Dean and Professor in the School of Information Systems and Technology (SISAT) at Claremont Graduate University (CGU).

Born in Alberta, Canada, Olfman achieved his Bachelors in Computer Science and Masters in Economics from the University of Calgary. Lorne’s professional career spans fourteen years where he has taken positions as  a planning analyst (British Columbia Telephone Company 1981 – 1983), economist (Transport Canada Air Administration 1974 – 80) and computer programmer (Bercov Computer Consultants Limited 1969, 1970-1971).

After spending his entire life under the Maple Leaf, Lorne waived goodbye to hockey skates for Chuck Taylor All Stars attending the basketball friendly Indiana University (IU). Lorne’s move to the Hoosier State began his career into the upper echelons of education, although he did have teaching experience while working on his Masters. Lorne graduated Indiana University with a PhD in Business (Management of Information Systems) in 1987 and was welcomed to the CGU family that same year. He received his MBA the year before. Lorne’s professional website can be found at http://wfs.cgu.edu/olfmanl/.

Arriving in 1987 and fresh off his doctoral dissertation, “The Influence of Training on Use of End-User Software,” Lorne entered into the role of full-time researcher and professor in a the recently established Information Science (IS) Department, instituted only four years prior. Although new to the academic front, Lorne accelerated the operation of the project tremendously while working under SISAT founding chair Dr. Paul Gray. Over the courses of years, Lorne’s work has expanded as the field of information systems and technology has evolved. While his extensive work experience includes computer programming, economic analysis, and computer model development, his research interests focus in three main areas:
1. How software can be learned and used in organizations
2. The impact of computer-based systems on knowledge management
3. And the design and adoption of systems used for group work.

During this period, Lorne has had extensive publications in the area of information systems and technology (for a full list visit: http://wfs.cgu.edu/olfmanl/MyPublications.htm). Academic publications and conferences are the primary way researchers in information science (IS) interact within the IS community. Numerous prominent professional-academic periodicals publishd Lorne's significant articles: MIS Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, and Information Systems Journal to name a few. Lorne considers his two MIS Quarterly journal articles as representations of his greater works and why not, MISQ is the most widely sought journal for IS.

Lorne’s first MISQ publication titled, “The Importance of Learning Style in End-User Training”, in collaboration with colleagues Robert Bostrom and Maung Sein.  This article reports the findings of a series of studies that examine the influence of a beginner’s learning style in learning tools such as spreadsheets and electronic mail.

In Lorne's second influential MISQ publication, “Conceptual Versus Procedural Software Training for Graphical User Interfaces: A longitudinal field experiment,” he collaborated with Munir Mandviwalla.  The article observed the importance of graphical user interfaces in organizational settings. The study explored concept-based training versus procedural-based training, addressing the importance of both models for instruction in the utilzation of graphical user interfaces such as Microsoft Windows.

Lorne’s extensive publications come at the forefront of the World Wide Web, traversing the lifespan of the boom and bust of the late 1990’s Internet craze. His publications have centered on learning, knowledge management and collaborative technologies looking at how individuals and organizations adopt and utilize them.

Being part of the academic existence does not simply involve researching and teaching. It also entails keeping privy and in contact with the existing community of scholars (conferences and journals). Lorne is currently an editor for Transactions in International Information Systems, e-Service Journal and the Computer Personnel Research and has served as editor for others in the past. Lorne also referees papers for over 20 different publications. A full list of his professional activities can be found at http://wfs.cgu.edu/olfmanl/MyActivities.htm. 

Lorne is an advisor and mentor for many students at CGU. A key component of his teaching is his involvement with CGU doctoral students. Lorne has supervised 42 students to their completion. For others he is a staunch advocate for harvesting knowledge. Lorne encourages all his students to pursue work created in the classroom to the larger academic community. Lorne is able to draw on his own personal experience of publishing the contents of his own dissertation in yet another IS flagship journal (An experimental analysis of end-user software training manuals). 

Lorne has always taken an interest in using technology to support teaching and has been using the Internet to facilitate classes for more than a decade. While being a regular reviewer of papers for journals and conferences, he managed to serve as the program and general chairs of the Association for Computing Machinery's Conference on Computer Personnel Research, sponsored by ACM-SIGMIS in consecutive years.   He also coordinated mini-tracks of the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences for 10 years.

Lorne currently resides in Claremont with his wife and has two “grown” children, which affords him the ability to ride his scooter to classes. Friday mornings at the crack of dawn, he can be found shooting hoops with fellow colleagues and students (I guess an ice rink in the Mediterranean climate of Claremont would be a bit ridiculous). Or Lorne’s personal web space: http://wfs.cgu.edu/olfmanl/. Lorne is one of the more active bloggers on http://www.sisatspace.com and is also a member of the ClaremontConversation.org. 

  Bostrom, Robert P., Olfman, Lorne, & Sein, Maung K. (1993). Learning styles and end-user training: A first step. MIS Quarterly, 17, 1, 118-120.
  Olfman, Lorne, & Mandviwalla, Munir (1994). Conceptual versus procedural software training for graphical user interfaces: A longitudinal field experiment. MIS Quarterly, 18, 4, 405-426.
  Olfman, Lorne, & Mandviwalla, Munir.  (1994). An experimental analysis of end-user software training manuals. Information Systems Journal, 5, 1, 19-36.