1. McGraw-Hill/IrwinCopyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter Eighteen Using Advanced Information Technology to Increase Performance

2. 18-2 Information and the Manager’s Job  Data ≈ Raw, unsummarized, and unanalyzed facts.  Information ≈ Data that are organized in a meaningful fashion

3. 18-3 Attributes of Useful Information

4. 18-4 What is Information Technology?  Information Technology – set of methods or techniques for acquiring, organizing, storing, manipulating, and transmitting information

5. 18-5 What is Information Technology?  Management Information System ≈ specific form of IT that managers utilize to generate the specific, detailed information they need to perform their roles effectively  CIS 305

6. 18-6 Information and Control Managers achieve control by: 1.Establishing measurable goals 2.Measuring actual performance 3.Comparing actual performance with goals 4.Taking any corrective action

7. 18-7 The Effects of Advancing IT  IT helps create new product opportunities that managers and their organizations can take advantage of  IT creates new and improved products that reduce or destroy demand for older, established products

8. 18-8 IT and the Product Life Cycle  Product Life Cycle ≈ Refers to the way in which the demand for a product changes in a predictable way over time

9. 18-9 A Product Life Cycle Figure 18.2

10. 18-10 Computer Networks  Networking ≈ The exchange of information through a group or network of interlinked computers ≈ Servers are powerful computers that relay information to client computers connected on a Local Area Network (LAN).

11. 18-11 A Typical Four-Tier Information System Figure 18.3

12. 18-12 The Organizational Hierarchy Traditionally, managers have used the organizational hierarchy as the main system for gathering information necessary to make decisions and coordinate and control activities

13. 18-13 The Organizational Hierarchy Drawbacks  Can reduce timeliness of information  Reduces quality of information  Tall structure can make for an expensive information system

14. 18-14 Six Computer-Based Management Information Systems Figure 18.4

15. 18-15 Expert Systems and Artificial Intelligence  Expert Systems ≈ System that employs human knowledge, embedded in computer software, to solve problems that ordinarily require human expertise

16. 18-16 Enterprise Resource Planning Systems  Enterprise Resource Planning Systems ≈ multi-module application software packages that allow a company to link and coordinate the entire set of functional activities and operations necessary to move products from the initial product design stage to the final customer stage

17. 18-17 Types of Information Systems  E-Commerce Systems ≈ Trade that takes place between companies, and between companies and individual customers, using IT and the Internet

18. 18-18 E-Commerce Systems  Business-to-business (B2B) ≈ trade that takes place between companies using IT and the Internet to link and coordinate the value chains of different companies

19. 18-19 Types of E-Commerce  Business-to-customer (B2C) ≈ trade that takes place between a company and individual customers using IT and the Internet

20. 18-20 Strategic Alliances, B2B Network Structures, and IT  Strategic Alliances ≈ formal agreement that commits two or more companies to exchange or share their resources in order to produce and market a product

21. 18-21 Strategic Alliances, B2B Network Structures, and IT  B2B network structure ≈ formal series of global strategic alliances that one or several organizations create with suppliers, manufacturers, and/or distributors to produce and market a product

22. 18-22 How Computer-Based Information Systems Affect the Organizational Hierarchy Figure 18.6

23. 18-23 The Impact and Limitations of Information Systems  Horizontal Information Flows ≈ Information networks can bridge functional departments which allows information to flow horizontally between departments, leading to much higher productivity, quality, and innovation.

24. 18-24 Boundaryless Organization  Boundaryless Organization ≈ composed of people linked by IT who rarely see one another face-to-face ≈ functional experts who form an alliance with an organization

25. 18-25 Boundaryless Organization  Knowledge management system ≈ company-specific virtual information system that systematizes the knowledge of its employees and facilitates the sharing and integrating of expertise within and between functions and divisions through real-time, interconnected IT

26. 18-26 Limitations of Information Systems  Loss of the Human Element ≈ Information systems cannot present all kinds of information accurately.  ‘Thick information,’ which is rich in meaning and not quantifiable, is best suited to human analysis.

27. 18-27 Limitations of Information Systems  Causes of Difficult Implementations ≈ Information systems can be hard to develop and put into service. ≈ Consistent standards for systems do not exist.