Chapter 1 : Business Driven Technology

Information Technology

 

Learning Outcome

 

♦ Compare management information system (MIS) and information technology (IT)

♦ Describe the relationships among people

♦ Identify four different department in a typical business and explain how technology helps them

♦ Compare the four different type of organizational information cultures

IT is everywhere in business. Understanding IT provides great insight to anyone learning about business.

Information Technology’s Impact on Business Operations 

 

                                                        

• -          Organization typically operate by functional areas or functional silos
• -          Functional areas are interdepends

Information Technology Basics

• -          Information technology (IT) – A field concerned with the use of technology in managing and processing information. IT is an important enabler of business success and innovation
• -          Management information system (MIS) – A general name for the business function and academic discipline covering the application of people, technologies and procedures to solve business problems. MIS is a business function, similar to Accounting, Finance, Operations and Human Resources.

-          When beginning to learn about information technology it is important to understand

·         Data, information and business intelligence

·         IT resources

·         IT cultures

-          Data, information and business intelligence

·         Data is a raw facts that describe the characteristics of an event

·         Information is a data converted into a meaningful and useful context.

·         Business intelligence is an applications and technologies that are used to support decision making efforts.

-          IT Resources

 

                                                                     

 

·         People use

·         Information technology to work with

·         Information

-          IT Cultures

·         Organizational information cultures include;

•     Information-Functional Culture – Employees use information as a means of exercising influence or power over others. For example, a manager in sales refuses to share information with marketing. This causes marketing to need the sales manager’s input each time a new sales manager’s input each time a new sales strategy is developed.
•     Information-Inquiring Culture – Employees across departments search for information to better understand the future and align themselves with current trends and new directions.
•     Information-Discovery Culture – Employees across departments are open to new insight about crisis and radical changes and seek ways to create competitive advantages.
•     Information-Sharing Culture – Employees across departments trust each other to use information (especially about problems and failures) to improve performance.