Chapter 1
THE INFORMATION AGE IN WHICH YOU LIVE
Changing the Face of Business
Overview
Introduction
Today we live in an
Information age
Where knowledge is power.
Businesses are using information to gain and sustain a competitive
advantage.
Introduction Continued
n Once you finish you
program, you will enter the marketplace as a knowledge worker.
n
Knowledge worker works with
and produces information as a product.
n
A knowledge worker
outnumbers all other types of workers by a 4-to-1 margin.
Introduction Continued
n
Where does MIS fit in today's’ information age and why is it so
important?
n Because it deals with the
coordination and use of 3 important organizational resources:
t
Information
t
Information Technology and
t
People
Introduction Continued
Today’s Economic Environment
To be a successful business in today’s economic
environment, you must:
t
Know your competition à Competitive Intelligence.
t
Know your customers using
tools such as Customer Relationship Management, CRM.
t
Work closely with your business
partners through Supply Chain Management, SCM.
t
Know your organization
inside and out.
What does today’s economic environment entail?
t
The E.Conomy
t
The “Now” Economy
t
The Global Economy
t
The Arriving Digital
Economy
The E.conomy
The E.conomy
n
Electronic commerce – is
commerce, but it is commerce accelerated and enhanced by information
technology.
n
Telecommuting – the use
of communications technologies to work in a place other than a central
location.
n
Virtual Workplace – a
technology-enabled workplace. No
boundaries.
The E.conomy
Figure 1.1
Telecommuting –Canadian Statistics
page 6
The “Now”
Economy
n
Characterized by the immediate access
customers have to the ordering of products and services.
n
An ATM is an example of a product in the
“now” economy.
The “Now”
Economy
n
M-commerce – electronic commerce
conducted over a wireless device such as a cell phone or personal digital
assistant.
The “Now”
Economy
M-commerce
gives you the ability to:
t
Buy and sell stocks
t
Bid on auctions
t
Obtain up-to-the-minute
weather forecasts.
The Global
Economy
n
Global economy – one in
which customers, businesses, suppliers, distributors, and manufacturers all
operate without regard to physical and geographical boundaries.
n
Transnational firms – produce
and sell products and services in countries all over the world.
The Global
Economy
Figure 1.2 Total Import and Export Figures, 1998 to 2000
(millions
of Canadian dollars)
page 9
The Arriving
Digital Economy
n
Digital economy – marked by
the electronic movement of all types of information including physiological
information such as:
t
Voice recognition
t
Speech synthesization
t
Biometrics
t
Holograms
Information as a
Key Resource
There are three aspects to
information:
n
In order to work with information, you need to understand it, and to do
so you need to understand data. Data V.S. Information.
n
As a knowledge worker you work with and produce information hence you
should consider the personal dimensions of information.
n
As an organization (yours or someone else's’) you also need to consider
the organization’s dimensions of information.
Data Versus
Information
n
Data are raw facts that
describe a particular phenomenon.
n
Some data could be
temperature, name, age, or price of a movie rental.
n
If you are trying to
decide what to wear, the price of a movie rental would not help you in your
decision but the temperature will.
Data Versus
Information
n
Therefore Information are data that have a
particular meaning within a specific context.
n
Information could also be
a group of data that are related to each other such a name, age, gender and
address to give the student’s personal information during registration.
Personal
Dimensions of Information
n
The personal dimensions of
information are important since you are the knowledge worker who works with and
produces information. The three personal dimensions of information include:
t
Time
t
Location
t
Form
Personal
Dimensions of Information
Personal
Dimensions of Information
n
Time dimension
t Having
access to information when you need it.
t Having
the correct information that describes the specific time period of interest.
Personal
Dimensions of Information
n
Location dimension
t
Having access to
information no matter where you are including:
"
Airplane
"
Hotel room
"
Home
"
Student center at
university
"
At work
Personal
Dimensions of Information
n
Form dimension
t Having
information in a form most useable and understandable to you.
t It
is about accuracy. Having information that is free of errors.
Organizational
Dimensions of Information
For your own business or
while working in a company, you need to consider the various organizational
dimensions of information, including:
t Information
flows
t Information
granularity and
t What
information describes.
Organizational
Dimensions of Information
Information
Flows
Information in an organization flows in four basic directions:
t Up
t Down
t Horizontally
and
t Outward
(See figure 1.4)
Organizational
Dimensions of Information
Information
Flows
In
relation to the pyramid in figure 1.4
n TOP:
t Strategic management
t
provides overall direction
and guidance.
n THE SECOND LEVEL:
t Tactical management
t
develops the goals and
strategies.
Organizational
Dimensions of Information
Information
Flows
In
relation to the pyramid in figure 1.4
n THE THIRD LEVEL:
t
Operational management
t
manages and directs the
day-to-day operations.
n
FINAL LEVEL:
t
Non-management employees
t
perform daily activities.
Organizational
Dimensions of Information
Figure 1.4
An Organization, Its Information Flows, and
Information Granularity
page
12
Organizational
Dimensions of Information
n
The four flows of information include:
t Upward
– describes the current state of the organization based on its daily
transactions.
t Downward
– consists of the strategies, goals, and directives that originate at one level
and are passed to lower levels.
Organizational
Dimensions of Information
n
Information flows continued
t Horizontal
– between functional business units and work teams.
t Outward
– information that is communicated to customers, suppliers, distributors, and
other partners for the purpose of doing business.
Organizational
Dimensions of Information
Granularity
n
Information
granularity – refers to the extent of detail within the
information.
Organizational
Dimensions of Information
Granularity
n
At the top of the pyramid information is highly aggregated and
summarized. The information is coarse and granular.
n
At the bottom of the pyramid, the information is ‘raw’ and highly detailed.
The information is of fine granularity.
Organizational
Dimensions of Information
What
information describes
n
What the information describes can include:
t
Internal information – specific
operational aspects of the organization.
t
External information – the
environment surrounding the organization.
t
Objective information – something
that is known.
t
Subjective information – something
that is unknown.
People as a Key
Resource
Information
and Technology Literacy
n
The single most important resource in any
organization is its people.
n
To be
more precise, the most valuable asset to the organization is your mind.
Information
and Technology Literacy
A Technology-literate
knowledge worker is a person who knows how and when to
apply technology.
t HOW
is knowing what technology to buy and how to exploit it benefits.
t When
is knowing the right time to apply technology.
Information
and Technology Literacy
n
Information-literate
knowledge workers:
t Define
what information they need.
t Know
how and where to obtain information.
t Understand
the information.
t Act
appropriately based on the information to help the organization achieve the
greatest advantage.
Your Ethical
Responsibilities
n
Ethics – the principals and
standards that guide our behavior toward other people.
n
Ethics are different from
laws as they are a matter of personal interpretation.
n
Ethics have a right and
wrong outcome according to different people.
Your Ethical
Responsibilities
n Consider:
t
Copying software you
purchased, making copies for your friends and charging them for the copies.
t
Making extra backup
copies.
t
Giving out the phone
numbers of your friends and relatives without their permission to a provider of
some sort.
Your Ethical
Responsibilities
Which ones are ethical / legal or not?
Your Ethical
Responsibilities
n Consider:
t
Copying software you
purchased, making copies for your friends and charging them for the copies.
This is not ethical nor legal.
t
Making extra backup
copies. It is ethical but only legal to make one backup copy.
t
Giving out the phone
numbers of your friends and relatives without their permission to a provider of
some sort. Not ethical.
Your Ethical
Responsibilities
n
What about Hackers – very
knowledgeable computer user who uses his or her knowledge to invade other
people’s computers.
Your Ethical
Responsibilities
IT as a Key
Resource
Information technology
any computer-based tool that people use to
work with information and support the information and information-processing
needs of an organization
n
There are two basic categories of
technology:
t Hardware –
physical devices that make up a computer.
t Software – set of instructions that
the hardware executes to carry out a specific task.
Key
Technology Categories
n
Hardware categories
t Input
devices
t Output
devices
t Storage
devices
t Central
processing unit
t Random
access memory
t Telecommunications
devices
t Connecting
devices
Key
Technology Categories
t Input
devices
"
Keyboard
"
Mouse
"
Touch screen
"
Game controller
"
Barcode reader
"
Scanner
Key
Technology Categories
t Output
devices
"
Printer
n Dot
matrix
n Inkjet
/ Bubble jet
n Laser
jet
"
Monitor
"
Speakers
"
Video
Key
Technology Categories
t Storage
devices
"
Primary storage
n Random
Access Memory
n Read
Only Memory
"
Secondary Storage
n Hard
Drive
n DVD
n Floppy
Disk
n Tape
backup
n Zip
drive
Key
Technology Categories
t Central
processing unit
"
Pentium 4
"
AMD Athlon XP Thunderbird
Key
Technology Categories
t Random
access memory
"
SD RAM
"
DD RAM
Key
Technology Categories
t Telecommunications
devices
"
Telephone modem
"
DSL modem
"
Cable modem
"
Microwave
"
Satellite
Key
Technology Categories
t Connecting
devices
"
Printer cable
"
Parallel port
"
Serial port
"
USB port
"
Infrared
Key
Technology Categories
n
Software categories
t Application
software
t Operating
system software
t Utility
software
(See Figure 1.6 on page 19 for a complete overview of software
categories.)
Key
Technology Categories
n
Software categories
t Application
software
"
Word processing
"
Payroll software
"
Spreadsheet software
"
Inventory management
software
"
Graphics
"
Database management
systems
Key
Technology Categories
n
Software categories
t Operating
system software
"
Windows XP
"
Windows 2000
"
Windows Me
"
Mac OS
"
Linux
"
Unix
Key
Technology Categories
n
Software categories
t Utility
software
"
Antivirus
"
Screen saver
"
Disk optimization
"
Uninstaller
Decentralized
Computing and Shared Information
Figure 1.7
Decentralized Computing and Shared
Information
page 21
Decentralized
Computing and Shared Information
n
Decentralized computing –
environment in which an organization splits computing power and locates it in
functional business areas and on knowledge workers’ desktops.
n
Shared information –
environment in which an organization’s information is organized in one central
location.
Roles and Goals of Information
Technology
n
Increase employee productivity
n
Enhance decision making
n
Improve team collaboration
n
Create business partnerships and alliances
n
Enable global reach
n
Facilitate organizational transformation
1 - Increase
Employee Productivity
n
Online
transaction processing (OLTP) – the gathering of input
information, processing that information, and updating existing information to
reflect the gathered and processed information.
1 - Increase
Employee Productivity
n
Transaction processing system (TPS) – processes transactions that occur within an organization.
n
Customer-integrated system (CIS) – An extension of a TPS that places technology in the hands
of an organization’s customers and allows them to process their own
transactions.
1 - Increase
Employee Productivity
Figure 1.9
Transaction Processing and
Customer-Integrated Systems
page 24
2 - Enhance
Decision Making
n
Online analytical processing (OLAP) – the manipulation of information to support decision
making.
n
Artificial intelligence – the
science of making machines imitate human thinking and behavior.
n
Neural network – an
artificial intelligence that is capable of finding and differentiating
patterns.
2 - Enhance
Decision Making
n
Executive
information system (EIS) – a highly interactive IT system that
allows you to first view highly summarized information and then choose how you
would like to see greater detail, which may alert you to potential problems or
opportunities.
2 - Enhance
Decision Making
Figure 1.10
Drilling Down with an
Executive Information System
page 25
3 - Improve
Team Collaboration
n
Collaboration system – designed specifically
to improve the performance of teams by supporting the sharing and flow of
information.
n
Groupware – software components
that supports the collaborative efforts of a team.
3 - Improve
Team Collaboration
n
Groupware contains support for:
t Team
dynamics
t Document
management
"
Group
document database – acts as a powerful storage facility for
organizing and managing all documents related to specific teams.
t Applications
development
4 - Create
Business Partnerships and Alliances
n
Interorganizational system (IOS) – automates the flow of information between organizations to
support the planning, design, development, production, and delivery of products
and services.
4 - Create
Business Partnerships and Alliances
n
Electronic
data interchange (EDI) – the direct computer-to-computer transfer
of transaction information contained in standard business documents, such as
invoices and purchase orders, in a standard format.
5 - Enable
Global Reach
n
Business today is global business.
n
Culture
– the collective personality of a nation or society, encompassing language,
traditions, currency, religion, history, music, and acceptable behavior, among
other things.
6 -
Facilitate Organizational Transformation
n
Organizational transformation is necessary to
respond to the ever-changing needs (and wants) of today’s marketplace.
n
Blockbuster now provides movies on a
pay-per-view rental basis through cable.
Closing Case Study One
You and Your Information
n
Information travels with
you and is captured and stored by a number of organizations.
n
Trust and accuracy of
information is important.
n
Do you trust organizations
to maintain accurate information about you?
Closing Case Study Two
How Much
of Your Personal Information Do You Want Businesses to Know?
n
Businesses need information about you to
provide the best possible products and services.
n
How much of your information do you want
others to be able to access?
Summary
Student
Learning Outcomes
n
Describe the information
age and the role of knowledge workers within it.
n
Define management
information systems (MIS).
n
Describe key factors
shaping today’s economic environment.
n
Validate information as a
key resource and describe both personal and organizational dimensions of
information.
Summary
Student
Learning Outcomes
n
Define how people are the
most important organizational resource, their information and technology
literacy challenges, and their ethical responsibilities.
n
Describe the important
characteristics of information technology (IT) as a key organizational
resource.
n
List and describe the six
roles and goals of information technology in any organization.
Summary
Assignments
& Exercises
n
Surveying the global
economy
n
Finding trust in truste
n
Reporting on internet
statistics by business sector
n
Learning about an MIS
major
n
Reviewing the 100 best
companies to work for
n
Redefining business
operations through it innovation
Visit the Web to Learn More
www.mcgrawhill.ca/college/haag
n
Job databases
n
Electronic resumes
n
Searching newspapers for
job ads
n
Locating internships
n
Interviewing and
negotiating tips
n
Organization sites and job
postings
n
Employment opportunities
with the government