Download Information Systems in Organizations

Chapter 2
Information
Systems in
Organizations
Information Systems in
Organizations
 Organization
– Collection of people and resources established to
accomplish a set of goals (profit & non-profit)
– System of inputs, transformation, and outputs
 Value Chain (Porter)
– Series of activities that add value to a product/service
(e.g., warehousing, production, distribution, marketing, etc.)
– IS monitors performance of these processes
– IS has become part of the value-added processes
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Organizational Structures
 Traditional, Project, Team, Multidimensional
– Lean organizations use IS to empower employees
• Information can be provided to front line employees
• Faster resolution of customer issues
– IS assists in sharing information throughout the org.
• Reduce costs and increase product quality
• Improves productivity
– IS helps increase employee satisfaction
• Self-service applications
• Faster feedback & recognition
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Organizational Culture & Change
 Organizational Culture
– Common beliefs, values, & understandings
 Organizational Change
– Internal & external causes
– Overcoming resistance is key to successful change
• Employee involvement is necessary
– Change model (Lewin & Schein)
• Unfreeze, Move, Refreeze
• Change agents are required for successful adoption of new
information systems
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Lewin/Schein Model
Unfreeze
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Move
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Refreeze
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Reengineering
Reengineering
Business Processes
Changes to
Organizational
Structure
Changes to
Organizational
Values
Changes to
Information
Systems
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Continuous Improvement & TQM
 Constantly seek ways to add value
(e.g., reduce number of defects, improve time to market)
 Quality
Product must meet or exceed customer expectations
 TQM (Demming)
– Collection of tools & techniques to achieve continuous
improvement
– IS is a key element of TQM
Collecting & analyzing data, designing & manufacturing new
products, improving customer service
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Outsourcing & Downsizing
 Outsourcing
– Contracting external professional services to perform
activities/processes, e.g., human resources, advertising,
information systems
– Enables an organisation to focus on its core strengths
 Downsizing
– Reducing the number of employees to cut costs
• Effects on morale, communication, & productivity
• Early retirement “buyout packages” help to lessen the effects
on remaining employees
– NOT rightsizing
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Competitive Advantage (1)
 Seeking & Maintaining a Competitive
Advantage
– Five-Force Model (Porter)
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Rivalry among existing competitors
Threat of new entrants
Threat of substitute products
Bargaining power of buyers
Bargaining power of suppliers
– IS can help to gain competitive advantage
• Altering industry structure (alliances & partnerships)
• Creating new goods & services and enhancing existing ones
• Using IS as a strategic weapon (e.g., Sabre, Wal-Mart)
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Competitive Advantage (2)
 Strategies for gaining a competitive advantage
– Low cost producer (IS can help to reduce a variety of
costs)
– Product Differentiation
IS can help to differentiate, e.g., quality, features, delivery
– Market Differentiation
• IS can help to identify target markets
• Use of Data Mining
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Performance Based Systems
 IS is now a key factor in improving productivity
Redefining how organizations achieve their goals
 Measuring the Value of IS
ROI, earnings,market share, customer satisfaction
 Most IS projects are driven by at least one of the
following factors:
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Tangible or intangible savings
Legal requirements
Modernisation
Pilot project
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Careers in IS
 IS employees are relatively high in demand
– Above average starting salaries
– Job market for IS professionals continues to grow
 Primary areas
– CIO
– Operations
– Systems Development
– Systems Support
– Consulting
– Sales
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Case
 Textron - outsourcing, pages 77-78
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Next Class:
 Chapter Three: Hardware: Input, Processing, and
Output Devices
 Case: Unisys - customer service, pages 132-133
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