Key Features of Systems,

Organization & Management

Information Systems Theory and Practice

 Organization defined

What is an Organization?

A social entity that is:

• goal directed
• designed to achieve some outcome
• deliberately structured
• tasks are divided and responsibility for their performance is assigned

An alternative definition of organization:

Involves the interactions and efforts of People

in order to achieve Objectives
channelled and coordinated through Structure
directed and controlled via Management
 What is an organization?

• Technical definition
• A stable, formal, social structure
• Takes resources from environment, processes
them and produces outputs

Examples?
 Summary – Organizational
Features
• Unique Features
• Common Features
– Organizational Type
– Formal Structure
– Environment
– SOPs
– Goals
– Politics
– Power
– Culture
– Constituencies
– Functions/Processes
– Leadership
– Technology
 Organization as a System

Organization is:

A system consisting of people, technology and procedures that work together to achieve a
set of goals

Characteristics of Organization:

• consists of more than one person

• people have their own goals
• functional division of labor
• the people communicate
• there is a system control function
• the system has an implicit or explicit memory
• the system changes overtime by changing goals or means of achieving goals
• interacts with environment
 The Concepts of Management:
Revisited

1. What Is Management?

“The art of getting things done through people”

“The Manager’s job can be broadly defined as deciding what should

be done and getting other people
to do it.”

“Involves people looking beyond themselves and exercising formal authority

over the activities and performance of other people.”
 The Concepts of Management: Revisited

Is Management Art or Science?

Management as an Art

• Decisions are made and problems solved using a

blend of intuition, experience, instinct, and
personal insights

• Requires conceptual, communication, interpersonal,

and time-management skills to accomplish the tasks associated
with managerial activities
 The Concepts of Management: Revisited

Is Management Art or Science?

Management as a Science

• Assumes that problems can be approached using rational, logical, objective and
systematic ways

•Requires technical, diagnostic, and decision-making skills and techniques to solve

problems
 The Concepts of Management: Revisited

Key Management Concepts

A. The five functions of management

1. Planning

Setting an organization’s goals and selecting a course of action from a set of

alternatives to achieve them

Deciding in advance what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and who is to do it

2. Organizing

Determining how activities and resources are grouped

Determining the composition of work groups and the way in which work and
activities are to be coordinated
 The Concepts of Management: Revisited

…functions of mgt.

3. Leading
The set of processes used to get organizational members to work together to
advance the interests of the organization
Motivating and communicating with the organization’s human resources to
ensure goals are attained

4. Controlling
Monitoring organizational progress towards goals
The process of comparing results and expectations and making the appropriate
changes

5. Staffing
The recruitment, selection, assignment, training, development, evaluation and
compensation of staff
 The Concepts of Management: Revisited

2. Management is attainment of organizational goals in an effective

& efficient manner
Effectiveness?
•The degree to which goals are achieved
•Making the right decisions and successfully implementing them
•Doing the right things in the right way at the
right times

Efficiency?
•Using minimal resources to produce the desired volume of output
•Using resources wisely and in a cost-effective way
•Operating in such a way that resources are not wasted
 The Concepts of Management: Revisited

3. Management Framework
Planning
Select goals and
ways to attain
them
Resources Performance
•Human •Attain goals
Controlling Organizing
•Financial •Products
Monitor activities and Assign responsibility
•Raw Materials make corrections for task •Services
•Technological accomplishment •Efficiency
•Information •Effectiveness

Leading
Use influence to
motivate employees
 The Concepts of Management: Revisited

4. Systems Model of Management

environment environment

Inputs Outputs
Transformation
output from (process through output to
other systems management other systems
functions)
Inputs Outputs
aims &
organizational
organizational
goals & output
objectives

Feedback (Measure of Achievement)

 The Concepts of Management: Revisited

5. Integrated Management Perspectives

Systems Approach Contingency Perspective
• Recognition of internal • Recognition of the situational
interdependencies nature of management
• Recognition of • Response to particular
environmental influences characteristics of situation

Classical Behavioral Quantitative

Management Management Management
Perspectives Perspectives Perspectives
Methods for Insights for moti- Techniques for
enhancing vating performance improving decision
efficiency and and understanding making, resource
facilitating planning, individual behavior, allocation, and
organizing, and groups and teams, operations
controlling and leadership

Effective and efficient management

SOURCE: Adapted from Fundamentals of Management, Griffin, R. W. , Houghton Mifflin 2003

 The Concepts of Management: Revisited

6. Management Levels (typical)

/CIO

CTO

SOURCE: Adapted from Thomas V. Bonoma and Joseph C. Lawler, “Chutes and Ladders: Growing the General Manager,” Sloan Management Review (Spring 1989), 27-37.
 The Concepts of Management: Revisited

7. Key Managerial Roles

Informational Interpersonal Decisional

•Monitor •Figurehead
•Entrepreneur
•Disseminator •Leader
•Disturbance handler
•Spokesperson •Liaison
•Resource allocator
Positions the manager Involves the manager
•Negotiator
so as to facilitate the in relationships with
sending and receiving other individuals both The manager uses the
of information inside and outside the available information
firm to make important
decisions
[Munsterberg]
SOURCE: Adapted from Van Fleet, David D., Contemporary Management, Second Edition, Houghton Mifflin 1991
 The Concepts of Management: Revisited

8. Fundamental Management Skills

• Technical
– Skills necessary to accomplish or understand the specific kind of work
being done in an organization
• Interpersonal
– Ability to communicate with, understand, and motivate both individuals
and groups
• Conceptual
– Ability to think in the abstract and to see the organization as a complete
unit and to integrate and give direction to its diverse activities so that
objectives are achieved
[Griffin 2003]
 The Concepts of Management: Revisited

...Fundamental Management Skills

• Diagnostic
– Ability to visualize the most appropriate response to a situation
• Communication
– Abilities both to convey ideas and information effectively to others and to
receive ideas and information effectively from others
• Decision-Making
– Ability to recognize and define problems and opportunities correctly and
then to select an appropriate course of action to solve the problems and
capitalize on opportunities
[Griffin 2003]
 The Concepts of Management: Revisited

Management skills required

by management levels

Top Managers

Middle Managers

First-Line Managers Conceptual Skills “People” Skills Technical Skills

Non-managers (Personnel)
 The Concepts of Management: Revisited

Current Management Issues

• Acute labor shortages in high-technology job sectors and an oversupply of

less skilled labor
• Increasingly diverse and globalized workforce
• Need to create challenging, motivating, and flexible work environments
• Effects of information technology on how people work
• Complex array of new ways of structuring organizations
• Increasing globalization of product and service markets
• Renewed importance of ethics and social responsibility
• Use of quality as the basis for competition
• Shift to a predominately service-based economy

[Griffin 2003]
 The Levels of an
Organization
• Different types of
information
require different
Executive types of systems
Level

Managerial Level

Operational Level
 Who: Forepersons,
Supervisors
What: Automation of routine
Executive and repetitive activities
Level Why: Improve org. efficiency

Managerial Level

Operational Level
 Who: Middle & Functional
Managers
What: Automation of monitoring
and controlling of operational
activities
Why: Improve org. effectiveness
Executive
Level

Managerial Level

Operational Level
 Who: Executive level Managers
What: Aggregate past org. data and
future projections
Why: Improve org. strategy and
planning

Executive
Level

Managerial Level

Operational Level
Key Concepts and Principles of
Information Systems

Information Systems Theory and Practice

 Data and
Information
• What is data?
Data is unorganised facts, numbers, letters
and symbols represented in a formalised
manner suitable for communication,
interpretation and processing by humans or
computers.

• What is information?
Information is data which has been assigned
a commonly understood meaning.
 Keys to Success

People Technology

INFORMATION

Organization Strategy
 Characteristics of
Valuable Information
• Accurate • Simple
• Complete • Timely
• Economical • Verifiable
• Flexible • Accessible
• Reliable • Secure
• Relevant
 Information’s Role

“In pursuing the democratic/political

process, in managing resources,
executing functions, measuring
performance and in service delivery,
information is the basic ingredient”
“The basic economic resource – the means of production -
is no longer capital, nor natural resources, nor labor. It is
and will be knowledge”

“Whereas at one time the decisive factor of production was

the land, and later capital, today the decisive factor is
increasingly man himself, that is his knowledge.”
“We are at the dawn of an age of networked
intelligence - an age that is giving birth to a
new economy, a new politics, and a new
society. Businesses will be transformed,
governments will be renewed, and
individuals will be able to reinvent
themselves - all with the help of information
technology.”
 What is a
Computer?
• An electronic device that can perform the
following tasks:
– Respond predictably to input
– Store the set of instructions needed to
process the input
– Process the input according to these
instructions
– Store the results of processing
– Output information

?
Types of Computer
-1
• Supercomputers
Special high-capacity computers used by
very large organisations that need massive
computing power for “number-crunching”.
Users: NASA, Meteorological Office.
• Mainframe
Large-scale computers executing millions of
instructions per second. Used to process
very large volumes of data; multi-user;
require special accommodation and
facilities. Users: insurance companies,
banks, airlines.
 Types of Computer
-2
• Minicomputer
A desk-sized computer. Costs less than a
mainframe but is powerful enough to do many
jobs which only mainframes could do in the past.
Less demanding in accommodation than
mainframes.
Users: medium-sized organisations or
departments of large companies.
• Microcomputer (Personal Computer)
A small computer with a central processing unit
based on a microprocessor. The least powerful
but most widely used type of computer. It can be
designed to be used on a desk-top or carried.
Users: anyone requiring modest computing
facilities.
 Types of Computer - 3

• Network Computer
A small desktop computer with a processor but
minimal memory and no secondary storage.
Designed as a very cheap device to be linked to
the Internet or a company intranet with the
network server handling more of the work.
Users: failed in the market because of cheaper
PCs.
 Types of
Microcomputer - 1
• Desktop
A personal computer with a limited range
of facilities standing permanently on a
desk.Most have a cheap but heavy
television-style monitor. Used in offices,
universities, homes etc.
• Laptop (Notebook) Computer
A portable personal computer with the
facilities of a desktop personal computer
but generally with lower processor speeds.
They use expensive flat panel screens.
Types of Microcomputer
-2
• Personal Digital Assistant
A small hand-held computer used as an
electronic personal organiser. It can input
data using a pen, recognise hand-writing, run
personal organisational tools and has
communications capabilities.
Personal Computer

hard disk
secondary storage

monitor
output

system unit
process

printer
output disk drive mouse
secondary storage keyboard input
input
 What is a System?

• A system is an organised set of related

components established to perform a certain
task.
Components of a Computing
System

Input

Processing Storage

Output
 Information Systems

A computer is part of an information

system
– hardware
– software
– data
– people
– procedures
 Data

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 Information

Number of Products Sold in November in All Sales Areas

Product South North East West

AB34652 22025 46723 45890 98345
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Good Day!!!