“ Fundamentals of Information Systems” define this subject as “ a set of interrelated elements or components that collect (input), manipulates (processes), and disseminates (output) data and information and provide a feedback mechanism to meet objective. However, before the development of information system, managers had to meet the challenge of their daily workloads; and for hundreds of years they have carried out these processes successfully.
We are well aware that managers are involved in planning, organizing, and controlling an organization’s resources so that it may achieve its mission and objective. By the same trend of taught, let us look at the pros and cons of the use of Information Systems by managers. It is a true statement to affirm that history enables us to resurrect the past. Therefore, we can go back up to 1958 to find out that people were debating how the application of Information Technology will affect the work of managers. Historically, the study of management has been focused on three main approaches.
Management was perceived “as a set of functions, as a series of roles, and as the application of certain specific skills (Higgins, Page 6).
However, by 1980s, rapid technological advances in the IT industry have resulted in information system that were less expensive, more powerful and cheaper than the earlier system. Consequently, we have witnessed a boom in the computer industry. People at all levels of organization were using computers to achieve several tasks. This technology has opened the flood gates to many horizons.
The Term Paper on Project Management For Information Systems
... identified four steps to systems planning. Project managers should follow these or similar steps. Firstly, planning the information systems which can be seen as ... information systems around those key needs. Williams, (1997) identified four steps to system planning. Earl (1989) proposed five alternate strategy frameworks which project managers ...
The true fact of the matter is there were no longer dependent on the information systems department for all their information needs. During this time, others in the workplace tried to figure out how to integrate this technology in additional decision-making activities (Stair, Page 13).
Once again in this technology driven society, the challenge of management has never been more complex and esoteric. Modern day technologies require managers to be able to make decision in a very short period of time. Therefore, they must rely on valuable information.
China and Europe are no longer many miles away. They are next door. Any pertinent information can be beamed back via satellite very shortly. As a result valuable information should meet certain criteria; it has to be accurate, complete, economical, flexible, reliable, relevant, simple, timely, verifiable, accessible, and secure. When this has satisfied, any manager would be able to perform beyond the advancement of the firm or the corporation. The widespread access to information has revolutionized beyond measure the business world.
The true fact of the matter is: managers, workers at all levels and in every field are using information systems to increase their effectiveness in the workplace. In the Information Age, it has become the quintessential element in transforming the 21st century economy. Therefore, the burden of proof is on us to figure out whether or not the use of Info Systems by Managers is a mean to an end, or an end to a mean? Our analysis of this matter is partly based on an article reprinted from: New Technology, Work and Employment, March 1995. C. Kimble and K. Mcloughlin analyze at a deeper level the impact of Information Technology on Managers.
The early integration of Info Sys has triggered many concerns. Two schools of taught were very prominent at the beginning. According to Kimble, the first is based on the idea of technological determinism. “Technology itself plays a key role, either leading directly to social change or acting indirectly to facilitate organizational change (Kimble, Page 2).
Kimble relates later the second wave of the school of taught. However, the second stipulates a different point of view arguing that “people will determine the effect of technology not the other way around.
The Research paper on Overview Of Information Technology Tools For Supply Chain Management
Information Technology (IT) and its use in organizations and across the supply chain has become a determinant of competitive advantage for many corporations. This paper focuses the usage of IT tools for Supply Chain Management (SCM). It also highlights the contribution of IT in helping to restructure the entire distribution set up to achieve higher service levels and lower inventory and lower ...
