1st module it

8/12/2019 1st Module IT

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• In Mathematics rough set theory, an information system is an attribute-value

system.

• In sociology information systems are also social systems whose behaviour is

heavily influenced by the goals, values and beliefs of individuals and groups, as well as the

performance of the technology.

• In systems theory, an information system is a system, automated or manual, that comprises

people, machines, and/or methods organised to collect, process, transmit, and disseminate

data that represent user information.

• In telecommunications, an information system is any telecommunications and/or

computer related equipment or interconnected system or subsystems of equipment that is

used in the acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display,

switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of voice and/or data, and includes software,

firmware, and hardware.In organisational informatics, an information system is a system of

communication between people. Information systems are systems involved in the

gathering, processing, distribution and use of information and as such support human

activity systems. The most common view of an information system is one of Input-Process-

Output.



The Impact of Information Technologies on Organizations

The world is in the midst of the most radical and rapid transformation of commerce and

society since the invention of the automobile. During the next few years, electronic markets

will grow and begin operating over cheep, accessible public networks, the so-calledelectronic highway. Whole industries will be destroyed and new ones born. Productivity will

leap and competitive advantage shift in the direction of small business. Thousands of jobs

will become obsolete and disappear, and thousands of others will be created. The electronic

frontier, like the frontiers that preceded it, is at once a realm of boundless opportunity and a

harsh, brutal place. The technological basis of electronic commerce is simultaneously simple

and complex. The simple part is that all images and sounds - a voice, a movie, a document, a

tune, can be expressed in a digital code, streams of ones and zeros. Once digitized, they can be shipped electronically or stored in electronic memories and retrieved later.

The complex part lies in making the network easy to use, changing organizations to enable

them to incorporate the

network's benefits, developing the services it will make possible (examples - electronic

shopping malls, world-wide yellow pages), and training and developing the people necessary

to make the organizations function effectively within the electronic environment. The rise of

electronic networks is staggering. The market for networking between companies barely

existed few years ago; today it exceeds billions annually. Most stunning of all of this has

been the growth of the Internet, a loosely confederated network of networks, public and

private. According to Vinton Cerf, president of the Internet Society. "Internet is growing

faster than any other telecommunications system ever built, including the telephone

network." Internet reaches from Greenland to Antarctica, connecting more than 50 countries.

Internet's growth must invariably slow. At the current growth rate everyone on earth would

be connected by the year 2010. Even though a slowdown is inevitable, Cerf says a reasonable

estimate is that 100 million new users per year will be connected to the system in five years.

All that is needed is the construction of a high-capacity highway into the homes and

businesses of potential users. The enormous market for entertainment will pay for the

construction of this highway. Existing highways, Internet in particular, will connect with it,

widening its reach, driven by the burgeoning business-to-business markets. The so called

"information highway" is just one example of the many extraordinary advances in technology

which are affecting individuals and organizations throughout the world in a way never before

felt in the history of mankind. Information technology will reshape every organization that



survives through the 90s, every job within those organizations, and every individual that

holds those jobs. However, businesses will not be able to incorporate technology advances if

they do not find a way to make workers comfortable with computers. Additionally, workers

will not have the requisite skills and abilities to succeed and advance if they are not able to

work with computers.

With a good IS support, the management of marketing, finance, production and personnel

becomes more efficient, the tracking and monitoring the functional targets becomes easy. The

functional managers are informed about the progress, achievements and shortfalls in the

activity and the targets. The manager is kept alert by providing certain information indicating

the probable trends in the various aspects of business. This helps in forecasting and long-term

perspective planning. The manager'' attention is brought to a situation which is exceptional in

nature, inducing him to take an action or a decision in the matter. A disciplined information

reporting system creates a structured database and a knowledge base for all the people in the

organization. The information is available in such a form that it can be used straight away or

by blending and analysis, saving the manager's valuable time.

IT/IS creates another impact in the organization which relates to the understanding of the

business itself. The MIS begins with the definition of a data entity and its attributes. It uses a

dictionary of data, entity and attributes, respectively, designed for information generation in

the organization. Since all the information systems use the dictionary, there is common

understanding of terms and terminology in the organization bringing clarity in the

communication and a similar understanding of an event in the organization.

The MIS calls for a systemization of the business operations for an effective system design.

This leads to streamlining of the operations which complicate the system design. It improves

the administration of the business by bringing a discipline in its operations everybody is

required to follow and use systems and procedures. This process brings a high degree of

professionalism in the business operations.

Since the goals and objective of the MIS are the products of business goals and objectives, it

helps indirectly to pull the entire organization in one direction towards the corporate goals

and objectives by providing the relevant information to the people in the organization.

IMPACT OF IT ON MANAGERS

A well designed system with a focus on the manager makes an impact on the managerial

efficiency. The fund of information motivates an enlightened manager to use a variety oftools of the management. It helps him to resort to such exercises as experimentation and



key management activities. For instance, e-mail has accelerated communication while the

Internet allows instant access to branch offices, bank accounts and information. While

beneficial, IT has also created a host of new challenges, such as data security and compliance.

Because of the explosion of electronic data, many executives are feeling the pressure to better

manage critical information.

IT mainly serves to cut down the amount of resources spent on repetitive and time consuming

tasks. IT increases worked productivity and frees up employees time to spend on value added

services

We live in a digital era where the global community relies on Information Systems to

conduct all kinds of operations, including averting or responding to unanticipated risks and

disasters. This can only happen when there is a robust information exchange facilitation

mechanism in place, which can help in taking quick and legitimate steps in dealing with any

kind of emergent situation. Prior literature in the field of information assurance has focused

on building defense mechanisms to protect assets and reduce vulnerability to foreign attacks.

Nevertheless, information assurance does not simply mean building an impermeable

membrane and safeguarding information, but also implies letting information be securely

shared, if required, among a set of related groups or organizations that serve a common

purpose.

It is, of course, not information itself which is useful, but the ability of people to

exploit it for business advantage. However, unless information is collected, organized and

made available, then opportunities for exploitation are limited. One approach to enabling

better recognition and identification of information value is to define information as an

“asset”.

Attributes of information as an asset

Many of the attribute are summarized by Repo (1986):

- Information is human. It exists only through human perception;

- Information is expandable. The free flow of information maximizes its use;

- Information is compressible;

- Information is substitutable. It may save money by substituting the use of other resources;

- Information is easily transportable by using applications of new information technology;

- Information is diffusible. It tends to “leak” though we try to contain it;

- Information is shareable; giving it away does not mean losing it (Repo, 1986:374).



While all of these attributes are significant, two of them have long histories in the

information and economics literature making them particularly interesting for thinking about

the value of information. These are the attributes “shareable” and “expandable”. Arrow

(1984) explains that information cannot enter into traditional economic exchange because it

becomes the possession of both buyer and seller. Information is not lost when given to others.

It is Shareable. As such it is unlike any other resource. The second economic attribute

identified by Repo is Expandable. Information expands as more uses are found for it. This

does not mean that Information cannot be out of date or defunct, but even out of date

information can be reused and it is this reusability of information which again makes it

unique as an asset.

Attributes of information assets relating to utility are also well documented.

According to Boisot (1998:83) the “…value of an information asset is derived partly from the

utility of the service and partly from its positional status”. Currency and Accuracy are

necessary attributes for information assets (Burk and Horton, 1988:91-99).Another attribute

related to quantity of information proposed by Burk and Horton (1988:91-99) is

comprehensiveness. This was redefined as sufficiency for purpose on the recommendation of

the information managers’ discussion group. Even a comprehensive information collection is

not useful if it does not fulfill its purpose. These attributes form the rows of the matrix of

information assets. These various attributes crosscut the different information assets.

Approaches to information need and uncertainty

Information need

Traditionally, information scientists have preferred the term need, not motive or

motivation while approaching the triggers and drivers of information seeking. More

specifically, the term information need has been employed to label the factors giving rise to

information seeking.

Since the mid 1980s, a growing criticism was directed to the assumption that

information needs would be described as relatively stable and entity-like factors that explain

why people engage in information seeking (Dervin and Nilan 1986). Harter (1992) argued

that to talk about an individual's information need is virtually the same as describing his or

her current psychological state, because needs shift stochastically as each relevant piece of

information is encountered. This suggests that information needs are not something fixed and

long-lasting.

The interest in the conceptual issues of information need decreased in the 2000s. This

may be due to the fact that the research focus shifted from the motivators of information

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seeking to the processes and strategies of information seeking. Most recently, based on the

careful analysis of Taylor's (1968) classic model, Cole (2011) has proposed a theory of

information need for information retrieval. The theory proposes, for example, that

information need is made up of levels, not phases and that the user's information need

manifests itself to the user differently over the course of performing a task.

Uncertainty

Since the 1940s, information and communication scientists have also acknowledged

uncertainty as a persistent characteristic and motivator of information seeking (Anderson

2010). In the context of information seeking, uncertainty may manifest itself as cognitive or

affective uncertainty. The former can appear as unclear thoughts or gaps in meaning

(Kuhlthau 1993). The affective uncertainty is a feeling of unease due to the presence of

cognitive uncertainty and it can be experienced as irritation, frustration, and anxiety.

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http://informationr.net/ir/17-2/paper516.html#cole2011



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The affective attribute

The definition of affective attribute of motivation is rendered difficult in that there is

no consensus among researchers about the ultimate nature of emotions and affects. Appraisal

theories exemplify perhaps the most influential psychological perspective on emotions

(Ellsworth and Scherer 2003). These theories suggest that actors constantly evaluate the

relevance of environmental changes for their own well-being, checking whether significant

stimuli are present or absent, beneficial or harmful and easy or difficult to approach or avoid.

These appraisals result in action tendencies, which are experienced as emotions. However,

thinking and feeling are inextricably interrelated most of the time: most ways of interpreting

one's environment are inherently emotional and emotions influence thinking. Thus, reason

(cognition) and passion (emotion) are not independent domains.

In the context of the present study, the affective motivational attribute may be

conceived as an emotional reaction to the information-seeking task.

Table 1: Comparison of the cognitive and affective attributes of information need and

uncertainty

Information need Uncertainty

Cognitive component

1:ability to perform the

information-seeking task

The ability to seek for

information is dependent on the

degree to which the actor's

knowledge structure is

appropriate (Allen 1997)

The ability to seek for information is

dependent on the extent to which the

actor's construct of the topic is limited

(Kuhlthau 1993)

Cognitive component2:Beliefs about the

importance of the

information-seeking task

Seeking information is

important because it makes it

possible to solve the problem at

hand (Allen 1997)

Seeking information is important because it

can reduce uncertainty by clarifying one's

thoughts (Kuhlthau 1993)

Affective

component:actor's

emotions about the

Actor's emotions render it

meaningful why certain

information sources are seen

Both positively and negatively coloured

emotions may influence the decision to

start or continue information seeking

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information-seeking task more attractive than others

(Wilson 1981)

(Kuhlthau 1993)

The relationships

between the cognitive

and affective

components

The nature of interaction

between cognitive and affective

needs depends on contextual

factors such as performance o

particular tasks and the

individual's personality

structure (Wilson 1981)

The interaction between cognitive and

affective components depends on

contextual factors such as the stage of the

information search process. For example,

at the early stages of the process, negative

affective symptoms of uncertainty such as

anxiety are associated with vague thoughts

(Kuhlthau 1993)

Decision Making

There are some of the critical decisions that top managers face every day. How to decide

whether to sell or spin off a business? Should the supplier relationships be renegotiated?

What can be done to improve decision-making competency throughout your organization?

To capture maximum value, executives not only must make the right decisions, but also must

negotiate skillfully. Since most business decisions involve other parties, it is essential for

managers to understand their individual role as it relates to other decision makers, as well as

how to use this knowledge to create the strongest possible negotiating position. Hence,

keeping in mind the importance of decision making for managers, information systems are

also designed in a way to help them out to control operations and perform their managerial

responsibilities more effectively.

Decision making is the cognitive process of selecting a course of action from among multiple

alternatives. Cognitive process is the mental process of knowing, including aspects such as

awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgment.

·Every decision-making process produces a final choice. It can be an action or an opinion. It

begins when we need to do something but we do not know what.

A decision-making is a reasoning process which can be rational or irrational, and can be

based on explicit assumptions or tacit assumptions.

Types of Problems

Nature of problem determines the approach to decision making to be followed to solve it.

There are three broad categories.



Structured: Well-structured problems are constrained problems with convergent solutions

that engage the application of a limited number of rules and principles within well-defined

parameters.

Unstructured: Problems possess multiple solutions, solution paths, fewer parameters which

are less manipulateable, and contain uncertainty about which concepts, rules, and principles

are necessary for the solution or how they are organized and which solution is best.

Semi-structured – a gray area lies between the structured and unstructured range. Here part

of the decision can be specified allowing for certain factors out of control.

Types of problems

A newly formed organization may be taken as an unstructured organization due to lack of

defined organizational structure, operating procedures. The question that a problem is

structured or unstructured is not dependant on the organization being structured or

unstructured. Even a highly structured organization can face novel and unprecedented

problems.

Types of Organizational Decisions

One of the key ways to improve the management function in an organization is to improve

the decision-making process. IT is commonly used to support and streamline decision making

in an organization. IT can be used to address decisions about how to structure job tasks,

organize production operations, manage inventory flow, and so on.

After reading this lesson, you should be able to:

Compare and contrast structured and unstructured decisions and their relationship to

information technology systems.

Describe operational, tactical, and strategic decision making.

Automating Structured Decisions

Decisions that are simple and/or highly structured are good candidates for automation. A

structured decision is one in which the inputs, decision criteria, method to process those

inputs, and specific outputs are well-defined. For example, it is a relatively straightforward

task to develop a computer program that will generate late payment notices for those

customers who have not paid their monthly telephone bill on time. The program requires

certain input data about billing information, decision rules about what constitutes a missed

payment, and output instructions to generate a form letter and/or billing notice to be sent to

the customer.

The automation of structured decisions is also used to improve communication and decision

making between organizations. Not long ago, it was necessary for retailers to call credit card



companies every time a customer wished to charge a purchase using a credit card. A

representative working for the credit card company would examine the customer's record to

determine whether or not to approve each purchase. Today, this process has been automated

so that information and decisions related to purchases using a credit card are transmitted

electronically.

Now consider the many benefits of automating this simple process. First, automating this

process has reduced the cost of operations for credit card companies. Card issuers have

streamlined and downsized their staff since fewer customer representatives are needed to

handle purchase approvals/disapprovals. Second, the automated process has sped up the

approval process so that retailers can deliver prompt and reliable service to their customers

(improving customer satisfaction) and process more financial transactions within a given time

period. Thirdly, the communication between retailers and card issuers has been improved.

More purchases can be approved with greater accuracy using the IT-enabled system.

Automating Unstructured Decisions

Many situations involve more complex decisions called unstructured decisions. As you would

expect, these decisions are much more difficult to automate. Management science is a field of

research that seeks to impose structure on unstructured decision-making situations. The intent

is to apply IT, mathematical models and high-power statistical analysis to support - though

not replace - the decision-making process. For example, simulation spreadsheets are used to

identify potential solutions by testing a variety of decision-making assumptions (e.g.,

deciding whether interest rates will go up vs. interest rates will go down based on stock

prices, the value of the dollar, and inflation rates), and optimization models which are used to

determine a "best" solution given a predefined set of resource constraints.

Information Systems and Management Support

Management decisions are made at many levels of the organization. However, for the

purposes of this section, we will highlight the three main types of decisions that managers

make: operational decisions, tactical decisions, and strategic decisions.

Operational decisions are the day-to-day decisions needed to operate the organization.

These decisions affect the organization for short periods of time - perhaps for a few days or

weeks. In a clothing store, an operational decision is whether or not to order more white

shirts. This type of decision is typically made by a lower-level manager. Operational

decisions are distinct from tactical and strategic decisions in that they are made frequently.

The decisions to order white shirts may be repeated on a weekly basis. In addition,



Compare and contrast structured and unstructured decisions and their relationship to

information technology systems.

Describe operational, tactical, and strategic decision making.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR COMPETETIVE ADVANTAGE AND

BUSINESS PROCESS

Organizations of all sizes are using various information technology tools

and applications in order to become more competitive. In many organizations, a percentage

of total sales is usually devoted to the information technologies budget. Experts believe, if

information technologies are employed properly, they should make organizations more

efficient and effective.Information systems can help organizations reduce the cost of products

and services and, if designed correctly, assist with differentiation and focus strategies, too.

For example, Wal-Mart has been using overall cost leadership strategies successfully.

Information technologies can help bottom-line and top-line strategies.

The focus of a bottomline strategy is to improve efficiency by reducing overall costs. A top-

line strategy focuses on generating new revenues by offering new products and services to

customers or increasing revenues by selling existing products and services to new customers.

For example, e-commerce businesses are adapting business models to reduce distribution

costs dramatically. A good example is antivirus vendors using the Internet to distribute

software. For a subscription fee of around $30, you can download the software and get

updates for a year. Without the Internet for easy, inexpensive distribution, vendors couldn’t

afford to offer software at such a low price.

Many organizations use enterprise systems, such as supply chain

management, customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, and

collaboration software, to reduce costs and improve customer service. The goal of these

systems is to use information technologies to create the most efficient, effective link between

suppliers and consumers. A successful CRM program, for example, helps improve customer

service and create a long-term relationship between an organization and its customers.

For differentiation strategies, organizations try to make their products

and services different from their competitors. Apple has been successful with this strategy by

designing its computers to look much different from PCs and focusing on its computers’ ease

of use. As another example, Amazon.com has differentiated its website by using certain

information technologies, such as personalization technologies to recommend products to

customers based on their previous purchases. Amazon.com also uses the one-click system for



fast checkout. With this system, customers can enter credit card numbers and addresses once,

and in subsequent visits simply click once to make a purchase, without having to enter

information again.

With focus strategies, organizations concentrate on a specific market

segment to achieve a cost or differentiation advantage. Apple has also used this strategy to

target iPhones to consumer users rather than business users. Similarly, Macintosh computers

are heavily marketed to creative professionals such as designers, photographers, and writers.

Remember that focus and differentiation strategies work only up to a

certain point. Customers are often willing to pay more for a unique product or service or one

with a specific focus. However, cost still plays a major role. If a product or service becomes

too expensive, customers might not be willing to purchase it.

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