1. INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN ORGANIZATIONS
Information needs
What is IS?
Zatil Ridh'wah Hj Darot

2. Decision making
Within an organization planning, control and decision making is carried out at ________________within the structure of the organization.
Decision making is one of the most important task for managers.
Information needs are mainly determined by the decisions that must be made, which in turn are _______________
Manager’s work is complex hence, information is necessary to support them.

3. Two types of decisions Structured decisions Unstructured decisions
Repetitive, routine and have definite procedure for handling them.
Usually at operational low levels of the organization.
Unstructured decisions
Provide more judgments, evaluation and insight in to the problem
More important and non-routine
No __________________procedure in advance for decision making
Usually in middle to top level of the organization.

4. Requirement Analysis Managers need information to make decisions.
There are 3 levels of organization:
__________________________
3 levels of information requirements:
___________________________
There is a correlation between the levels of management and the the level of information that is being communicated.

5. Strategic Usually occurs at the top level management.
Can be chief executives or directors who makes long term decisions.
Is broad based and will use a mixture of information gathered from both internal and external sources.
Most activities are mainly to establish objectives for the whole organization and ___________________to attain those objectives.
General timescale may be from one to five years (may be even longer).
For example,
A firm planning to expand internationally.

6. Tactical Occurs at middle levels of the management.
Tactical planning and decision making takes place within the guidelines set by the strategic top level management.
Information used are mostly internal and few external sources used.
Plans have medium level of details and _______________
Generally have specific objectives and be geared towards implementation by operational level employees.
For example,
How much ‘down time’ a production line must allocate for planned maintenance.

7. Operational Occurs at low level management
Operational planning takes place based on tactical plans.
Relates to day to day operations of the organization and thus, useful in exercising control over operations that are repetitive in nature.
Low level management (workers) are the ones to implement operational plans.
Timescale is ____________________or at most a week or month.
Results of operational works will be passed to tactical planners for evaluations.

8. Processing activities
Data Requirements
Inputs
Outputs
Processing activities

9. The stages of Processing
Entering data (input)
Changing and manipulating the data (data processing)
Getting information (_____________)
Storing data and information (storage)

10. Inputs
The first step in producing information is gathering and capturing raw data.
Most data an organization uses as input are generated and collected within the organization.
These elements result from ______________in the course of doing business.
A sale, a purchase, a payment, the hiring of a new employee, etc. are recorded for later use.

11. Process Converting or transforming data into useful outputs.
Can involve making calculations, comparing data and taking alternative actions, and storing data for future use
Processing data into ______________is critical in a business setting.

12. Output
Involves producing useful information, usually in forms of documents and reports
Can include paychecks for employees, reports for managers and information supplied to __________________agencies and other groups.
In some cases, output from one system can become input for another.
For example,
Output from a system that processes sales orders can be used as input to a customer billing system.

13. Information sharing
It is important to have an easy, undisturbed information flow within the organization.
Poor communication can be very costly as it leads to decisions made basing on ______________ and unreliable information.

14. Why share? Enable better decisions Transparency promotes trust
_______________promotes synergy
Integrated workflows makes it easy to build value

15. Information Distribution Requirements
Ensuring the right information is available to the right people at the right time.
Effective information distribution relies on the selection of the right tools and methods
__________________________in the manner best suited for them to evaluate and/or make decisions.
Communication methods should be based on:
Type of information
Audience
Timeline required for response

16. Cont’d There are different methods to distribute information:
Face to face communications
Hard-copy communications
Electronic communications
Depends on:
Location
_____________
Individual

17. Face-to-face communications
Can be either formal or informal, one-on-one or in groups.
Easier to gauge reactions to what is being communicated. (Individual)
______________________
Recipient understands what is being said
For Global projects, this type of communication may be ideal. (Location)
Meetings between departments (departments)
Have facilitator to ensure agenda is followed

18. Hard-copy communications
May be electronic communications
Modern technology have enabled organizations with easy access to computers, ______________________be followed up with an electronic version.
Hard copy documents may be needed for executives (if needed)
Electronic version is a must for recordkeeping (Departments)

19. Electronic communications
Project team members spread out over the country or different countries may need electronic communication to report their progress (Location)
Such as s, video conferencing meeting, etc.
Intranet networks may also be used to share information. (Departments)
Forums or ______________for the organization may also be used to distribute information. (Individual)

20. Relationship between organization and information system
Have mutual influence on each other.
Information needs of an organization affect the design of information systems.
The ______________the influences of the information system to reap benefits from new technologies.

21. Factors to consider before implementing information system
Environment
Structure
Culture and politics
Type of organization and style of leadership
________________ by the system (attitudes of the users)
Tasks and business processes

22. Features of organization
Routine and business processes
Organizational politics
Organizational culture
__________________
Organizational structure

23. Routines and business processes
Organizations become efficient over time because individuals develop routines for producing goods and services.
Routine (also known as __________________): precise rules, procedures and practices that have been developed to cope with virtually all expected situations.
Routines = high productivity and efficiency = reduced costs
Business processes: collections of routines.

24. Analyze business processes and routines to have clear understanding of how the business works.
Also, it will be easier to understand ________________business when information system, for instance, is introduced.
Thus easier to achieve high levels of organizational performance.

25. Organizational politics
In organizations, there are different positions with different specialties, concerns and perspective.
Thus, have diverse viewpoints about resources, rewards and how punishments should be distributed.
Differences affect both ______________, consequently result in political struggle (for resources, competition, etc)
Presence of political resistance will bring great difficulties of bringing organizational change (esp. developing information system)

26. Organizational culture
Set of fundamental assumptions about what products the organization should produce, how it should be produced, where and for whom.
Business processes are usually anchored in the organization’s culture.
Organizational culture is ________________that restrains political conflict and promotes common understanding, agreement on procedures and common practices.
Also a powerful restraint on change, esp. technological change.

27. Organizational environments
Composed of forces or institutions surrounding an organization that affect performance, operations and resources.
Internal: Employee behavior, culture, mission statement and leadership styles
External: Customers, public opinion, economic conditions, government regulations and competition
Environments __________________, but organizations can also influence environments and change environments altogether.

28. Organizational environments (cont’d)
Information systems are key instrument for environmental scanning.
Help managers identify external changes that might require an organizational response.
New technologies, products, changing trends put strains on organization’ culture, politics and people.
Information technology can _____________________change early and help act and, adapt quickly to changes in environment.

29. Organizational structure
There are five basic kinds of structure:
Entrepreneurial: small start-up business
Machine bureaucracy: midsize manufacturing firm
__________________: fortune 500 firms
Professional bureaucracy: Law firms, school system, hospitals
Adhocracy: consulting firms
The kind of information systems and nature of problems associated with the systems are often reflected to the type of organization.

30. Tutorial questions
Discuss how different method of communication is best in different situations.
Research more on how attitudes of end users of information system is relevant to its success.
Why must the design of the information system depend on the features of the organization?
Give an example of each of the five basic types of organizational structure.