Dimensions of Information Systems

To fully understand information systems, you must understand the broader orga­nization, management, and information technology dimensions of systems (see Figure 1.5) and their power to provide solutions to challenges and problems in the business environment. We refer to this broader understanding of informa­tion systems, which encompasses an understanding of the management and organizational dimensions of systems as well as the technical dimensions of systems, as information systems literacy. Computer literacy, in contrast, focuses primarily on knowledge of information technology.

The field of management information systems (MIS) tries to achieve this broader information systems literacy. MIS deals with behavioral issues as well as technical issues surrounding the development, use, and impact of information systems used by managers and employees in the firm.

Let’s examine each of the dimensions of information systems—organizations, management, and information technology.

1. Organizations

Information systems are an integral part of organizations. Indeed, for some com­panies, such as credit reporting firms, there would be no business without an information system. The key elements of an organization are its people, structure, business processes, politics, and culture. We introduce these components of organizations here and describe them in greater detail in Chapters 2 and 3.

Organizations have a structure that is composed of different levels and spe­cialties. Their structures reveal a clear-cut division of labor. Authority and responsibility in a business firm are organized as a hierarchy, or a pyramid structure. The upper levels of the hierarchy consist of managerial, profes­sional, and technical employees, whereas the lower levels consist of opera­tional personnel.

Senior management makes long-range strategic decisions about products and services as well as ensures financial performance of the firm. Middle management carries out the programs and plans of senior management, and operational management is responsible for monitoring the daily activities of the business. Knowledge workers, such as engineers, scientists, or architects, design products or services and create new knowledge for the firm, whereas data workers, such as secretaries or clerks, assist with scheduling and com­munications at all levels of the firm. Production or service workers actually produce the product and deliver the service (see Figure 1.6).

Experts are employed and trained for different business functions. The major business functions, or specialized tasks performed by business organizations, consist of sales and marketing, manufacturing and production, finance and accounting, and human resources (see Table 1.1).

An organization coordinates work through its hierarchy and through its business processes. Most organizations’ business processes include formal rules that have been developed over a long time for accomplishing tasks. These rules guide employees in a variety of procedures, from writing an invoice to respond­ing to customer complaints. Some of these business processes have been written down, but others are informal work practices, such as a requirement to return telephone calls from coworkers or customers, that are not formally documented. Information systems automate many business processes. For instance, how a customer receives credit or how a customer is billed is often determined by an information system that incorporates a set of formal business processes.

Each organization has a unique culture, or fundamental set of assumptions, values, and ways of doing things, that has been accepted by most of its members. You can see organizational culture at work by looking around your university or college. Some bedrock assumptions of university life are that professors know more than students, that the reason students attend college is to learn, and that classes follow a regular schedule.

Parts of an organization’s culture can always be found embedded in its infor­mation systems. For instance, UPS’s first priority is customer service, which is an aspect of its organizational culture that can be found in the company’s package tracking systems, which we describe in this section.

Different levels and specialties in an organization create different interests and points of view. These views often conflict over how the company should be run and how resources and rewards should be distributed. Conflict is the basis for organizational politics. Information systems come out of this cauldron of differing perspectives, conflicts, compromises, and agreements that are a natural part of all organizations.

In Chapter 3, we examine these features of organizations and their role in the development of information systems in greater detail.

2. Management

Management’s job is to make sense out of the many situations faced by orga­nizations, make decisions, and formulate action plans to solve organizational problems. Managers perceive business challenges in the environment, they set the organizational strategy for responding to those challenges, and they allocate the human and financial resources to coordinate the work and achieve success. Throughout, they must exercise responsible leadership. The business informa­tion systems described in this book reflect the hopes, dreams, and realities of real-world managers.

But managers must do more than manage what already exists. They must also create new products and services and even re-create the organization from time to time. A substantial part of management responsibility is creative work driven by new knowledge and information. Information technology can play a power­ful role in helping managers design and deliver new products and services and redirecting and redesigning their organizations.

3. Information Technology

Information technology is one of many tools managers use to cope with change. Computer hardware is the physical equipment used for input, processing, and output activities in an information system. It consists of the following: comput­ers of various sizes and shapes (including mobile handheld devices); various input, output, and storage devices; and telecommunications devices that link computers together.

Computer software consists of the detailed, preprogrammed instructions that control and coordinate the computer hardware components in an infor­mation system.

Data management technology consists of the software governing the orga­nization of data on physical storage media.

Networking and telecommunications technology, consisting of both phys­ical devices and software, links the various pieces of hardware and transfers data from one physical location to another. Computers and communications equip­ment can be connected in networks for sharing voice, data, images, sound, and video. A network links two or more computers to share data or resources, such as a printer.

The world’s largest and most widely used network is the Internet. The Inter­net is a global “network of networks” that uses universal standards to connect millions of networks in more than 230 countries around the world.

The Internet has created a new “universal” technology platform on which to build new products, services, strategies, and business models. This same tech­nology platform has internal uses, providing the connectivity to link different systems and networks within the firm. Internal corporate networks based on Internet technology are called intranets. Private intranets extended to autho­rized users outside the organization are called extranets, and firms use such networks to coordinate their activities with other firms for making purchases, collaborating on design, and other interorganizational work. For most business firms today, using Internet technology is both a business necessity and a com­petitive advantage.

The World Wide Web is a service provided by the Internet that uses uni­versally accepted standards for storing, retrieving, formatting, and display­ing information in a page format on the Internet. Web pages contain text, graphics, animations, sound, and video and are linked to other web pages. By clicking on highlighted words or buttons on a web page, you can link to related pages to find additional information and links to other locations on the web. The web can serve as the foundation for new kinds of information systems such as UPS’s web-based package tracking system described in the Interactive Session.

All of these technologies, along with the people required to run and man­age them, represent resources that can be shared throughout the organization and constitute the firm’s information technology (IT) infrastructure. The

IT infrastructure provides the foundation, or platform, on which the firm can build its specific information systems. Each organization must carefully design and manage its IT infrastructure so that it has the set of technology services it needs for the work it wants to accomplish with information systems.

The Interactive Session on Technology describes some of the typical tech­nologies used in computer-based information systems today. UPS invests heav­ily in information systems technology to make its business more efficient and customer oriented. It uses an array of information technologies, including bar code scanning systems, wireless networks, large mainframe computers, hand­held computers, the Internet, and many different pieces of software for track­ing packages, calculating fees, maintaining customer accounts, and managing logistics.

Let’s identify the organization, management, and technology elements in the UPS package tracking system we have just described. The organization element anchors the package tracking system in UPS’s sales and production functions (the main product of UPS is a service-package delivery). It speci­fies the required procedures for identifying packages with both sender and recipient information, taking inventory, tracking the packages en route, and providing package status reports for UPS customers and customer service representatives.

The system must also provide information to satisfy the needs of managers and workers. UPS drivers need to be trained in both package pickup and delivery procedures and in how to use the package tracking system so that they can work efficiently and effectively. UPS customers may need some training to use UPS in-house package tracking software or the UPS website.

UPS’s management is responsible for monitoring service levels and costs and for promoting the company’s strategy of combining low cost and superior ser­vice. Management decided to use computer systems to increase the ease of sending a package using UPS and of checking its delivery status, thereby reduc­ing delivery costs and increasing sales revenues.

The technology supporting this system consists of handheld computers, bar code scanners, desktop computers, wired and wireless communications networks, UPS’s data center, storage technology for the package delivery data, UPS in-house package tracking software, and software to access the World Wide Web. The result is an information system solution to the business challenge of providing a high level of service with low prices in the face of mounting competition.

Source: Laudon Kenneth C., Laudon Jane Price (2020), Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm, Pearson; 16th edition.

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