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Question No. (1):-In the current e-world any organisations massive

operations are managed by various types of information systems that help
them to achieve their goals of servicing their clients. This can be done by the
growth of modern organization. Discuss some of the essential features of
modern organisation?

1.
2.
3.
4.

An organization, by its most basic definition, is an assembly of people working together to

achieve common objectives through a division of labor. An organization provides a means of
using individual strengths within a group to achieve more than can be accomplished by the
aggregate efforts of group members working individually. Business organizations are formed to
deliver goods or services to consumers in such a manner that they can realize a profit at the
conclusion of the transaction.
Essential features of modern organisationIT-Enabled organisation
Networked organisation
Dispersed organisation
Knowledge organisation

IT-Enabled organisation- The organisations discussed above are modern in the sense that
they have built into their structure the elements of information technology (IT) that enable them
to function in a manner appropriate to the demands of the environment. This is a fundamental
difference between a modern organisation and its older, premodern incarnation. Information
technology (IT) is dramatically changing the business landscape. Although organization cultures
and business strategies shape the use of IT in organizations, more often the influence is stronger
the other way round. IT significantly affects strategic options and creates opportunities and
issues that managers need to address in many aspects of their business.

Networked organisation- Modern organisations function in a world of digital networks in

addition to the physical world that was the same for the old organisations. The organisations are
linked as nodes on the network where they receive and transmit information. Remaining on the
network requires sensing and responding to this flow of information. The notion of a network
implies nodes and links. The nodes can be people, teams or even organizations - networks
operate at many levels. Common examples are distributed geographic teams in large
organizations, or small organizations operating as networks to compete against large
corporations. The links are the various coordination and "agreement" mechanisms. In a network,
high degrees of informal communications (both face-to-face and over electronic networks)
achieve success where formal authority and communications in hierarchical organizations often
fail. Two way links and reciprocity across the links are what makes networks work.

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Dispersed organisation- Another key aspect of many large modern organisations is that
they are highly dispersed. Tata Motors, for instance, has operations in many cities in India and in
other parts of the world. The companies disperse their operations to best meet customer needs or
to locate functions where the resources such as skilled labour or raw materials are available.
Geographically dispersed teams can offer huge benefits efficiency, cost savings, and the ability
to choose team members with the best skills, regardless of their location. To make the team work
well, choose the right team players, and ensure that you have strong communication
technologies. Unite your team around a team charter, and communicate objectives clearly and
frequently. Give frequent, fair, and appropriate feedback to everyone, and make sure you're
always available to your team members. Even if your team can't meet in person frequently, try to
occasionally visit all of your remote team members so they know that they're valued.

Knowledge organisation- Modern organisations rely on knowledge workers to a much

larger extent than older organisations. These workers differ from blue-collar workers as their
work responsibilities involve accessing and dealing with knowledge about the work and the
environment, as opposed to repetitive manual labour related to production. Knowledge workers
enjoy greater autonomy in their work and the variety of work they have to perform. Knowledge
organization systems are used to organize materials for the purpose of retrieval and to manage a
collection. A KOS serves as a bridge between the user's information need and the material in the
collection. With it, the user should be able to identify an object of interest without prior
knowledge of its existence. Whether through browsing or direct searching, whether through
themes on a Web page or a site search engine, the KOS guides the user through a discovery
process. In addition, KOSs allow the organizers to answer questions regarding the scope of a
collection and what is needed to round it out.

Question No. (2):-Marketing managers are keener to look for a least cost route
that also allows a sales person to meet all his customers. Identifying a least
cost route with this feature is slightly complicated. Therefore, managers
depend on decision support tools to find the most cost effective routes to cover
the market. The travelling salesman problem is one of such tool. Describe the
tool with a diagram?
Decision-making is a cognitive process that results in the selection of a course of action among
several alternative scenarios. Decision-making is a daily activity for any human being. There is
no exception about that. When it comes to business organizations, decision-making is a habit and
a process as well. Effective and successful decisions result in profits, while unsuccessful ones
cause losses. Therefore, corporate decision-making is the most critical process in any
organization. In a decision-making process, we choose one course of action from a few possible
alternatives. In the process of decision-making, we may use many tools, techniques, and

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perceptions. In addition, we may make our own private decisions or may prefer a collective
decision. For instance, suppose youre visiting these four cities:
1
DELHI (0)
MUMBAI (1)

1
1

KOLKATA (3)

CHENNAI (2)

The traveling salesman problem, referred to as the TSP, is one of the most famous problems in
all of computer science. Its a problem thats easy to describe, yet fiendishly difficult to solve. In
fact, it remains an open question as to whether or not it is possible to efficiently solve all TSP
instances.
Here is the problem. Suppose you are a salesman travelling that has a list of cities that you want
to visit. You want to go to each city exactly once. Naturally, you want to tour all the cities in the
order that requires traveling the shortest distance. You always start, and end, at 0, your home city.
We assume the following distances between cities:
dist(0, 1) = 10
dist(0, 2) = 10
dist(0, 3) = 14
dist(1, 2) = 14
dist(1, 3) = 10
dist(2, 3) = 10
In this case the distances are symmetric, i.e. dist(a, b) is always the same as dist(b, a). So for
example we know dist(3, 2) = 10 because we are told dist(2, 3) = 10.

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Here are some different tours of the cities:

0 to 1 to 3 to 2 (and back to 0); total distance = 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 40
Or:
0 to 2 to 3 to 1 (and back to 0); total distance = 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 40
Or:
0 to 3 to 1 to 2 (and back to 0); total distance = 14 + 10 + 14 10 = 48
Or:
0 to 2 to 1 to 3 (and back to 0); total distance = 10 + 14 + 10 + 14 = 48
Clearly, some tours are shorter than others. For this small 4-city example it is easy to see that the
shortest way to visit all the cities is to go around the edges and avoid the long diagonals. But not
all instances of the TSP are so simple or so small. For instance, suppose you want to visit all
1000-plus cities. It is not at all obvious how you should go about finding the shortest possible
tour of so many cities.

Question No. (3):- There are many examples of digital goods. Companies such
as Amazon.com are selling digital versions of books over their site. These
digital books can be read on special readers that display the pages on a screen.
a. List the important properties of information goods
An information good is something that is valued for the information it contains rather than the
material of which it is made. A common example of information good is a book. The paper and
glue that makes up the material part of the book is not what generates the price of the good. The
price is derived from the material written and drawn on the pages. These goods are in contrast to
a material good, whose value comes from the material of which it is made and the final shape it
takes.
What actually makes up information good is often not as direct as material goods. In most cases,
books, magazines, music, and movies are information-based and the physical method of delivery
is unimportant. These terms were extended to software, documents and other computer-based
materials as those items became more common. One form of information goods is digital
products that can be distributed over digital networks and consumed over digital devices. For
example, online books and MP3 music files are information goods that are sold and distributed
over the Internet. Information goods have certain properties that make them distinct from
physical goods. Information goods are typically expensive to produce but very cheap to
reproduce. For example, the original cost of producing a music track by a professional band may

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run into millions of rupees. However, once the digital version of the track is available, it can be
reproduced or copied for almost no cost or at a very low cost.
1. Low Cost: It is widely believed that owing to the spread of MP3 music fi les across the
Internet, the music industry as a whole has been deeply affected. Many new businesses
have evolved that directly sell music fi les off the Internet; the most famous example of
this is the iTunes store that sells music fi les for the Apple music players. Many bands
and music groups have also started selling and distributing their songs directly over the
Internet. The digital readers have massive capacities; one such device can store thousands
of books. Besides, some of them provide access through wireless networks to a huge
library of free and paid books that the readers can access instantly.
2. Can be Converted into Versions Easily: Another property of digital goods is that they
can be converted into versions quite easily. A version of a good is a form that is different
from the original, yet of the same nature. For example, physical books are typically
released in the market as cloth-bound books that are more expensive; and a few months
later the same book is released in a paper-bound version. The content of both the books is
exactly the same except that the expensive version has a better quality of binding and
better printing; and the cheaper version usually has smaller print and the paper is of lower
quality.
3. Time Value: Information goods that have a time value can be versioned quite easily
using information technology. For example, cricket scores that are sent out on SMS have
a small price. However, the same scores can be obtained a few minutes later in an online
form for free. Many software makers give away a free version of their software for users
to sample, and keep a priced version for sale.
4. Experienced Goods Many information goods are experience goods. This implies that
the true value of the goods is evident only after they have been experienced. For example,
the value of a magazine article or a book can only be realized after it has been read. This
is true for all magazine articles and all books. Even the value of weekly magazines,
which arrive every week, can only be gauged when they have been read.

b. Explain positive feedback with diagrams

Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of causeand-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to feed back into itself. The
notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled carefully when applied to feedback systems.

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An avalanche is
a good example.
Once it has started it augments and/or hastens its own state in a 'runaway' fashion. Similarly, in
the example (diagram above), once panic causes some cattle to start running, others will find this
frightening and start to run, until the general level of panic, and the number of cattle running
reach whatever limits pertain at the time.
Mathematically, positive feedback is defined as a positive loop gain around a closed loop of
cause and effect. That is, positive feedback is in phase with the input, in the sense that it adds to
make the input larger. Positive feedback tends to cause system instability. When the loop gain is
positive and above 1, there will typically be exponential growth, increasing oscillations, chaotic
behavior or other divergences from equilibrium. System parameters will typically accelerate
towards extreme values, which may damage or destroy the system, or may end with the system
latched into a new stable state. Positive feedback may be controlled by signals in the system
being filtered, damped, or limited, or it can be cancelled or reduced by adding negative feedback.

Positive feedback is used in digital electronics to force voltages away from intermediate voltages
into '0' and '1' states. On the other hand, thermal runaway is a positive feedback that can destroy
semiconductor junctions. Positive feedback in chemical reactions can increase the rate of
reactions, and in some cases can lead to explosions. Positive feedback in mechanical design
causes tipping-point, or 'over-center', mechanisms to snap into position, for example in switches
and locking pliers. Out of control, it can cause bridges to collapse. Positive feedback in economic
systems can cause boom-then-bust cycles. A familiar example of positive feedback is the loud
squealing or howling sound produced by audio feedback in public address systems: the

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microphone picks up sound from its own loudspeakers, amplifies it, and sends it through the
speakers again.

Question No. (4):-Decision support systems (DSS) are used extensively across
organisations to assist managers with making decisions. Decision making by managers
involves the phases of intelligence, design, and choice, and DSS help mainly with the
choice part as they support structured and unstructured types of decisions.

a. What is it that managers do when they make decisions?

Introduction
Decision making is a daily activity for any human being. There is no exception about that.
When it comes to business organizations, decision making is a habit and a process as well.
Effective and successful decisions make profit to the company and unsuccessful ones make
losses. Therefore, corporate decision making process is the most critical process in any
organization.
In the decision making process, we choose one course of action from a few possible
alternatives. In the process of decision making, we may use many tools, techniques and
perceptions. In addition, we may make our own private decisions or may prefer a collective
decision. Usually, decision making is hard. Majority of corporate decisions involve some level
of dissatisfaction or conflict with another party. Let's have a look at the decision making process
in detail.
Step 1: Identify the decision to be made. You realize that a decision must be made. You
then go through an internal process of trying to define clearly the nature of the decision you
must make. This first step is a very important one.
Step 2: Gather relevant information. Most decisions require collecting pertinent
information. The real trick in this step is to know what information is needed the best sources
of this information, and how to go about getting it. Some information must be sought from
within you through a process of self-assessment; other information must be sought from
outside yourself-from books, people, and a variety of other sources. This step, therefore,
involves both internal and external work.
Step 3: Identify alternatives. Through the process of collecting information you will
probably identify several possible paths of action, or alternatives. You may also use your
imagination and information to construct new alternatives. In this step of the decisionmaking process, you will list all possible and desirable alternatives.

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Step 4: Weigh evidence. In this step, you draw on your information and emotions to imagine
what it would be like if you carried out each of the alternatives to the end. You must evaluate
whether the need identified in Step 1 would be helped or solved through the use of each
alternative. In going through this difficult internal process, you begin to favor certain
alternatives which appear to have higher potential for reaching your goal. Eventually you are
able to place the alternatives in priority order, based upon your own value system.
Step 5: Choose among alternatives. Once you have weighed all the evidence, you are ready
to select the alternative which seems to be best suited to you. You may even choose a
combination of alternatives. Your choice in Step 5 may very likely be the same or similar to
the alternative you placed at the top of your list at the end of Step 4.
Step 6: Take action. You now take some positive action which begins to implement the
alternative you chose in Step 5.
Step 7: Review decision and consequences. In the last step you experience the results of
your decision and evaluate whether or not it has solved the need you identified in Step 1. If
it has, you may stay with this decision for some period of time. If the decision has not
resolved the identified need, you may repeat certain steps of the process in order to make a
new decision. You may, for example, gather more detailed or somewhat different information
or discover additional alternatives on which to base your decision

b. Explain the different types of decisions?

Decision Support Systems (DSS) are a class of computerized information system that support
decision-making activities. DSS are interactive computer-based systems and subsystems
intended to help decision makers use communications technologies, data, documents, knowledge
and/or models to complete decision process tasks.
A decision support system may present information graphically and may include an expert
system or artificial intelligence (AI). It may be aimed at business executives or some other group
of knowledge workers.
According to M.T. Copeland, administration essentially is a decision making process. Whatever,
an administrator does he does through decision making. An administrators life is filled with a
constant series of decisions. Everyday hundreds of decisions are made by the administrator
consciously or unconsciously. Decisions which are relatively minor are taken almost
subconsciously following rules and patterns of behavior established over many previous
encounters with the problem. All major decisions however are taken very carefully and
consciously. Such decisions usually involve the application of considerable human judgment and
experience before a solution is obtained.
There are a number of Decision Support Systems. These can be categorized into five types:

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1. Communication-driven DSS
Most communications-driven DSSs are targeted at internal teams, including partners. Its purpose
are to help conduct a meeting, or for users to collaborate. The most common technology used to
deploy the DSS is a web or client server. Examples: chats and instant messaging software, online
collaboration and net-meeting systems.
2. Data-driven DSS
Most data-driven DSSs are targeted at managers, staff and also product/service suppliers. It is
used to query a database or data warehouse to seek specific answers for specific purposes. It is
deployed via a main frame system, client/server link, or via the web. Examples: computer-based
databases that have a query system to check (including the incorporation of data to add value to
existing databases.
3. Document-driven DSS
Document-driven DSSs are more common, targeted at a broad base of user groups. The purpose
of such a DSS is to search web pages and find documents on a specific set of keywords or search
terms. The usual technology used to set up such DSSs is via the web or a client/server system.
4. Knowledge-driven DSS:
Knowledge-driven DSSs or 'knowledgebase' are they are known, are a catch-all category
covering a broad range of systems covering users within the organization setting it up, but may
also include others interacting with the organization - for example, consumers of a business. It is
essentially used to provide management advice or to choose products/services. The typical
deployment technology used to set up such systems could be client/server systems, the web, or
software running on stand-alone PCs.
5. Model-driven DSS
Model-driven DSSs are a complex system that helps to analyze decisions or choose between
different options. These are used by managers and staff members of a business, or people who
interact with the organization, for a number of purposes depending on how the model is set up scheduling, decision analyses etc. These DSSs can be deployed via software/hardware in standalone PCs, client/server systems, or the web.

Question No. (5):- What is crowdsourcing? How does the site Galaxy Zoo
manage crowdsourcing?
Crowdsourcing: Crowdsourcing is the practice of engaging a crowd or group for a common
goal often innovation, problem solving, or efficiency. Crowdsourcing can take place on many
different levels and across various industries. Thanks to our growing connectivity, it is now

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easier than ever for individuals to collectively contribute whether with ideas, time, expertise,
or funds to a project or cause. This collective mobilization is crowdsourcing.
This phenomenon can provide organizations with access to new ideas and solutions, deeper
consumer engagement, opportunities for co-creation, optimization of tasks, and reduced costs.
The Internet and social media have brought organizations closer to their stakeholders, laying the
groundwork for new ways of collaborating and creating value together like never before. The
approach is being embraced: Crowds are a hit. Millions of people, connected by the Internet, are
contributing ideas and information to projects big and small. Crowdsourcing, as it is called, is
helping to solve tricky problems and providing localized information. And with the right
knowledge, contributing to the crowd and using its wisdom is easier than ever. -The New
York Times
Galaxy Zoo is now arguably the worlds best-known online citizen science project, and is
certainly the one with the largest number of publications based on citizen scientists input. Our
success inspired the creation of The Zooniverse, hosting project using the same technique across
many research areas.
It all started back in July 2007, with a data set made up of a million galaxies imaged by the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey, who still provide some of the images in the site today. With so many
galaxies, we assumed it would take years for visitors to the site to work through them all, but
within 24 hours of launch we were stunned to be receiving almost 70,000 classifications an hour.
In the end, more than 50 million classifications were received by the project during its first year,
contributed by more than 150,000 people.
That meant that many different participants saw each galaxy. This is deliberate; having multiple
independent classifications of the same object is important, as it allows us to assess how reliable
our results are. For example, for projects where we may only need a few thousand galaxies but
want to be sure they're all spirals before using up valuable telescope time on them, there's no
problem we can just use those that 100% of classifiers agree are spiral. For other projects, we
may need to look at the properties of hundreds of thousands of galaxies, and can use those that a
majority say are spiral.
One of the original aims for GZ was to explore which way galaxies rotated. Cosmologist Kate
Land stated:" Some people have argued that galaxies are rotating all in agreement with each
other, not randomly as we'd expect. We want people to classify the galaxies according to which
way they're rotating and I'll be able to go and see if there's anything bizarre going on. If there are
any patterns that we're not expecting, it could really turn up some surprises.

Question No. (6):- Data and information relating to individuals could be of

sensitive nature. Give some examples of such kind of data?

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The appropriate handling of sensitive information is crucial to the success of the Organization
and its operations throughout the world. Information security relates to the protection of the
information, including access controls. Information security also ensures that the information is
available when needed and that its integrity is maintained, i.e., that it is not altered or
inappropriately disclosed.
When the data pertains to individuals (relating to their work, personal habits, or personal life),
and it resides on organisational information systems, the question of privacy that arises here is:
Whose data is this of the individual or of the organisation? Owing to the complex nature of
information systems and the manner in which data is created, stored, and manipulated, the
answer to this question is usually difficult. To answer the question of privacy one has to consider
why it is important in the first place. Data and information relating to individuals could be of
sensitive nature. Some examples of such kind of data are as follows:
1. Employees, who work extensively with computers, log in every morning when they come to
work and log out in the evening when they leave. During the working day, every time they leave
their desk or are not working on the computer, the system logs their inactivity at work. For
example, a United Airlines worker, in the USA, was threatened with job loss on the grounds that
she had spent more than the allotted time in the bathroom, making her co-workers take up her
work.
2. Medical records detailing illnesses and treatments, hospital visits, and medication routines are
all stored on organisational databases that contain personnel data. The data is specific c to
individuals and, for some organisations, also contains details about the individuals family
members. In the USA, for example, the medical records of the famous singer Britney Spears
were read by employees of a hospital in which she was treated. The employees later leaked the
information to the press. Spears took legal action against the hospital, which had to fi re several
employees.
3. Web surfing activities of individuals are also logged by corporate web servers. Which sites
individuals have visited, how long they have been on the site, and what kind of material they
have downloaded are also logged. A multinational media firm, for example, threatened to fi re an
employee based on his visits to Yahoo.com from an office computer. The firm had obtained
details about the employees surfing behavior from server logs.
4. Security systems in some organisations, which are based on swipe cards or security cards that
enable doors and office buildings to be opened or accessed, retain records of all individual
movements across buildings and workplaces. Data pertaining to individual movements is
available in security logs. In the Vatican, for example, swipes were re-introduced in 2008 to
monitor the movement of employees. This was in response to criticism that employees were
slacking off. Even though the Pope was not entirely in favor of such monitoring, it was
introduced to improve efficiency of staff.

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5. Many organisations also check all incoming and outgoing e-mails of their personnel. The emails are checked for content and attachments. Some organisations either remove e-mails
containing certain keywords, such as expletives, or flag them to warn employees.
With the above information residing in organisational databases, it is possible for organisations
or individuals within organisations to access and use or misuse the information. For example, if
the medical history of an employee is known to others, it may be used to deny promotions or job
opportunities. This is an issue of ethics as many countries discourage discrimination against
people who have disabilities or health issues

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