CHAPTER 1 : Business Driven Technology

Learning Outcomes

• Compare management information systems (MIS) and information technology (IT)
• Describe the relationships among people, information technology and information
• Identify four different types of organizational information cultures and decide which culture applies to your school

Information Technology's Role In Business

Why do we need to study information technology?

• Information technology is everywhere in business.
• Students who understand technology have an advantage in business.
• Gaining a detailed understanding of information technology is important to all students regardless of their area of expertise.

Information Technology's Impact On Business Operations

1. Business Functions Receiving the Greatest Benefits from

   Information Technology

                                 

 2. Information Technology Project Goals

3. Common Departments In An Organizations

4. Functional Organization

• Organizations typically operate by functional areas or functional silos.
• Functional areas are interdependent

Information Technology Basics

What is information technology?

A field concerned with the use of technology in managing and processing information.

What is management information systems (MIS)?

• A general name for the business function and academic discipline covering the application of people, technologies and procedures to solve business problems.
• MIS is a business function, similar to Accounting, Finance, Operations and Human Resources.

When beginning to learn about information technology it is important to understand the following :

• Data, information and business intelligence
• IT resources
• The challenge : departmental companies
• The solution : management information systems

DATA

Raw facts that describe the characteristic of an event.

INFORMATION

Data converted into a meaningful and useful context.

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

Applications and technologies that are used to support decision -making efforts.

IT RESOURCES

People use information technology to work with information.

THE CHALLENGE : DEPARTMENTAL COMPANIES 

• Each department perform its own activities.
• All departments need to understand the accounting and finance departments information for budgeting.
• For the firm to be successful, all departments must work together as a single unit sharing common information and not operate independently or in silo.

IT CULTURES

1) Information-Functional Culture

• Employees use information as a means of exercising influence or power over others.
• For example, a manager in sales refuses to share information with marketing. This causes marketing to need the sales manager's input each time  new sales strategy is developed.

2) Information-Sharing Culture

• Employees across departments trust each other to use information (especially about problems and failures) to improve performance.

3) Information-Inquiring Culture

• Employees across departments search for information to better understand the future and align themselves with current trends and new directions.

4) Information-Discovery Culture

• Employees across departments are open to new sights about crisis and radical changes and seek ways to create competitive advantages.

THE SOLUTION : MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

SYSTEMS

• Is a collection of parts that link to achieve a common purpose.
• For example, a car. Since removing a part, such as the steering wheel or accelerator, causes the entire system to stop working.

SYSTEMS THINKING

• Is a way of monitoring the entire system by viewing multiple inputs being processed or transformed to produce outputs while continuously gathering feedback on each part.

FEEDBACK

• Is information that returns to its original transmitter (input, transform or output) and modifies the transmitter's actions.
• Helps the system maintain stability.
• For example, a car's system continuously thinking provides an end-to-end view of how operations work together to create a product service. Business students who understand systems thinking are valuable resources because they can implement solutions that consider the entire process, not just a single component.