1) Which of the following is not one of six strategic business objectives of information systems?
1.A) New products and services
2.B) Improved decision making
3.C) Competitive advantage
4.D) Improved employee morale
5.E) Survival
2) Verizon’s use of a web-based digital dashboard to provide managers with precise real-time
information enabled it to improve which of the following?
1.A) Compliance with regulations
2.B) Managerial decision making
3.C) Efficiency in creation of new products
4.D) Employee morale
5.E) Intimacy with its suppliers
3) Which of the following may lead to competitive advantage?
1.Delivering better performance
2.Charging less for superior products
3.Responding to customers in real time
4.A) 1 only
5.B) 1 and 2
6.C) 2 and 3
7. D) 1 and 3
8.E) 1, 2, and 3
4) A firm that invests in an information system because it is a necessity of doing business does
so because it is seeking to achieve which of the following business objectives?
1.A) Operational excellence
2.B) Improved decision making
3.C) Competitive advantage
4.D) Customer intimacy
5.E) Survival
6) Competitors were seeking which of the following business objectives when they rushed to
provide ATMs after Citibank introduced the first ATMs in New York?
1.A) Improved efficiency
2.B) Customer and supplier intimacy
3.C) Survival
4.D) Competitive advantage
5.E) Improved decision making
8) Which of the following is an example of a business using information systems to create a new
product?
1.A) Walmart's RetailLink system
2.B) The Mandarin Oriental’s use of computers to keep track of guest preferences
3.C) Verizon's use of a web-based digital dashboard to provide real-time company
information for managers
4.D) Apple’s creation of the iPod
5.E) Kroger’s use of sensors to monitor cold food storage temperatures
Perspectives on Information Systems
An information system is a set of interrelated components that collect or retrieve, process, store, and distribute information to support decision making and control in an organization. Information systems can also be used to analyze problems, visualize complex subjects, and create new products.
Nội dung chính Show
- What is a set of interrelated parts that operate together to achieve a common purpose?
- Is a set of interrelated parts that work together?
- What do you called a collection of people working together to achieve a common purpose or goal?
- What are two branches of the classical viewpoint of management?
Information is data, or raw facts, shaped into useful form for humans.
Figure 1-3
|
Figure 1-4
|
Computer literacy focuses primarily on knowledge of information technology. Information systems literacy, the understanding of information systems, includes a behavioral and technical approach to understanding the broader organization, management, and information technology dimension of systems and their power to provide solutions. The field of management information systems (MIS) tries to achieve this broader information systems literacy.
Figure 1-5
|
The key elements of an organization are its people, structure, business processes, politics, and culture. An organization coordinates work through a structured hierarchy and formal standard operating procedures. Managerial, professional, and technical employees form the upper levels of the organization's hierarchy while lower levels consist of operational personnel.
Figure 1-6
|
Experts are employed for the major business functions: the specialized tasks performed by organizations, which consist of sales and marketing, manufacturing and production, finance and accounting, and human resources.
An organization coordinates work through its hierarchy and business processes. These processes may be documented and formal, or informal, unwritten work processes, such as how to handle a telephone call.
Each organization has a unique culture, or fundamental set of assumptions, values, and ways of doing things, that are accepted by most of its members. Parts of an organization's culture can be found in its information systems. For example, UPS's organizational focus on customer service can be found in the package tracking system available to customers. Information systems may also reflect the organizational politics or conflicts that result from differing views and opinions in an organization.
Information systems are also a key component in the ability of management to make sense of the challenges facing a company and in management's ability to create new products and services, manage the company, and even re-create the organization from time to time.
Information technology is one of the many tools used by management to cope with change. A firm's information technology (IT) infrastructure is a technology platform or foundation on which a firm can build its information systems. IT infrastructure consists of:
- Computer hardware: The physical equipment and computing devices used for input, storage, processing, output, and telecommunications
- Computer software: The detailed, preprogrammed instructions that control and coordinate the computer hardware components
- Data management software: The software governing the organization of data on physical storage media
- Networking and telecommunications technology: Hardware and software used to link the various pieces of hardware and transfer data from one physical location to another; a computer network links two or more computers together to share data, such as files, images, sounds, video, or share resources, such as a printer.
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. The Web can serve as the foundation for new kinds of information systems such as UPS's Web-based package tracking system
From a business perspective, an information system is an important instrument for creating value for the firm. Information systems enable the firm to increase its revenue or decrease its costs by providing information that helps managers make better decisions or that improves the execution of business processes.
Every business has an information value chain in which raw data is systematically acquired and then transformed through various stages that add value to that information. The value of an information system to a business, as well as the decision to invest in any new information system, is, in large part, determined by the extent to which the system will lead to better management decisions, more efficient business processes, and higher firm profitability.
Figure 1-7
|
Some firms achieve better results from their information systems than others. Studies of returns from information technology investments show that there is considerable variation in the returns firms receive. Reasons for lower return on investment include failure to adopt the right business model that suits the new technology or seeking to preserve an old business model that is doomed by new technology.
Figure 1-8
|
Complementary investments include:
- Organizational assets: These include a supportive business culture that values efficiency and effectiveness, an appropriate business model, efficient business processes, decentralization of authority, highly distributed decision rights, and a strong information system (IS) development team.
- Managerial assets: These include strong senior management support for change, incentive systems that monitor and reward individual innovation, an emphasis on teamwork and collaboration, training programs, and a management culture that values flexibility and knowledge.
- Social assets: These are not made by the firm but by the society at large, other firms, governments, and other key market actors, such as the Internet, educational systems, network and computing standards, regulations and laws, and the presence of technology and service firms.
What is a set of interrelated parts that operate together to achieve a common purpose?
Is a set of interrelated parts that function as a whole to achieve a common purpose. An organization is a system.
Is a set of interrelated parts that work together?
A group of interrelated activities that are to be operated as a whole is known as a system.
What do you called a collection of people working together to achieve a common purpose or goal?
A team (or a work team) is a group of people with complementary skills who work together to achieve a specific goal.
What are two branches of the classical viewpoint of management?
Consisting of two branches: Scientific and administrative. These views assume people are rational. Scientific branch consists of factual evidence based upon science to conduct this form of management. Administrative branch is geared toward the concern of management within the whole organization.