Chapter 1, Managing in the Digital World
Knowledge workers are typically professionals who are relatively well educated and who
create, modify, and/or synthesize knowledge as a fundamental part of their jobs.
The term “knowledge society” or “digital world” states that information and related
technologies and systems have become indispensable and that knowledge workers are vital.
An e-business is an organization that uses information technologies or systems to support
nearly every part of its business.
Globalization is the integration of economies throughout the world, enabled by innovation
and technological progress. The tremendous decrease in communication costs by
globalization has increased the use of outsourcing. Outsourcing is the moving of business
processes or tasks to another company or another country.
The rapid development of transportation and telecommunication technologies, national and
global infrastructures, and information systems has created some worldwide issues:
demographic changes, urbanization, shifts in economic power, resource scarcity and climate
change. Therefore, sustainable development “development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”
has become increasingly important.
5 IT megatrends that influence individuals, organizations, and society:
- Mobile.
- Social media.
- The internet of things, a network of a broad range of physical objects that can
automatically share data over the internet. In other words, anything that can
generate data or uses data can be connected, accessed, or controlled via the
internet.
- Cloud computing. Web technologies enable using the internet as the platform for
applications and data.
- Big data. Big data are described as extremely large and complex datasets, which are
characterized as being of high volume, variety, and velocity.
An information system (IS) is the combination of people and information technology that
create, collect, process, store, and distribute useful data. Information technology (IT)
includes hardware, software, and telecommunications networks.
Data are raw symbols, such as characters and numbers. Data have no meaning in and of
themselves and are of little value until processed. Whether data are reliable for making
decisions is determined by the data quality, consisting of completeness, accuracy, timeliness,
validity, and consistency.
Data can be formatted, organized, or processed to be useful; they are transformed into
information, which can be defined as a representation of reality.
, Knowledge is the ability to understand information, form opinions and make decisions or
predictions based on information.
Good IS personnel possesses valuable, integrated knowledge and skills in 3 areas – technical,
business and systems.
While use of technology can enable efficiency and while information systems must provide a
return on investment, technology use can also be strategic and a powerful enabler of
competitive advantage.
Computer ethics is used to describe moral issues and standards of conduct as they pertain
to the use of information systems.
Information privacy is concerned with what information an individual should have to reveal
to others in the workplace or through other transactions, such as online shopping.
Chapter 2, Gaining competitive advantage through
information systems
Business processes are the activities organizations perform in order to reach their business
goals, including core activities that transform inputs and product outputs, and supporting
activities that enable the core activities to take place.
Every organization is composed of different decision-making levels: executive level,
managerial level, and operational level. Each type of decision-making level is supported by
different information systems.
At the operational level of a firm, the routine, day-to-day business processes and
interactions with customers occur. Information systems at this level are designed to
automate repetitive activities and tom improve the efficiency of business processes at the
customer interface.
At the managerial level, functional managers focus on monitoring and controlling
operational-level activities and providing information to higher levels of the organization.
Managers focus on effectively utilizing and deploying organizational resources to increase
effectiveness to achieve the strategic objectives in the organization. Managerial-level
decision making is not nearly as structured as operational-level decision making because
solutions and problems are not clear-cut and often require judgement and experience.
At the executive level of the organization, managers focus on long-term strategic questions
facing the organization. Executive-level decisions are referred to as unstructured decisions
because the problems are relatively complex and non-routine. At the executive level,
information systems provide key performance indicators (KPI’s) that are focused on
balancing performance across the organization.
Knowledge workers are typically professionals who are relatively well educated and who
create, modify, and/or synthesize knowledge as a fundamental part of their jobs.
The term “knowledge society” or “digital world” states that information and related
technologies and systems have become indispensable and that knowledge workers are vital.
An e-business is an organization that uses information technologies or systems to support
nearly every part of its business.
Globalization is the integration of economies throughout the world, enabled by innovation
and technological progress. The tremendous decrease in communication costs by
globalization has increased the use of outsourcing. Outsourcing is the moving of business
processes or tasks to another company or another country.
The rapid development of transportation and telecommunication technologies, national and
global infrastructures, and information systems has created some worldwide issues:
demographic changes, urbanization, shifts in economic power, resource scarcity and climate
change. Therefore, sustainable development “development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”
has become increasingly important.
5 IT megatrends that influence individuals, organizations, and society:
- Mobile.
- Social media.
- The internet of things, a network of a broad range of physical objects that can
automatically share data over the internet. In other words, anything that can
generate data or uses data can be connected, accessed, or controlled via the
internet.
- Cloud computing. Web technologies enable using the internet as the platform for
applications and data.
- Big data. Big data are described as extremely large and complex datasets, which are
characterized as being of high volume, variety, and velocity.
An information system (IS) is the combination of people and information technology that
create, collect, process, store, and distribute useful data. Information technology (IT)
includes hardware, software, and telecommunications networks.
Data are raw symbols, such as characters and numbers. Data have no meaning in and of
themselves and are of little value until processed. Whether data are reliable for making
decisions is determined by the data quality, consisting of completeness, accuracy, timeliness,
validity, and consistency.
Data can be formatted, organized, or processed to be useful; they are transformed into
information, which can be defined as a representation of reality.
, Knowledge is the ability to understand information, form opinions and make decisions or
predictions based on information.
Good IS personnel possesses valuable, integrated knowledge and skills in 3 areas – technical,
business and systems.
While use of technology can enable efficiency and while information systems must provide a
return on investment, technology use can also be strategic and a powerful enabler of
competitive advantage.
Computer ethics is used to describe moral issues and standards of conduct as they pertain
to the use of information systems.
Information privacy is concerned with what information an individual should have to reveal
to others in the workplace or through other transactions, such as online shopping.
Chapter 2, Gaining competitive advantage through
information systems
Business processes are the activities organizations perform in order to reach their business
goals, including core activities that transform inputs and product outputs, and supporting
activities that enable the core activities to take place.
Every organization is composed of different decision-making levels: executive level,
managerial level, and operational level. Each type of decision-making level is supported by
different information systems.
At the operational level of a firm, the routine, day-to-day business processes and
interactions with customers occur. Information systems at this level are designed to
automate repetitive activities and tom improve the efficiency of business processes at the
customer interface.
At the managerial level, functional managers focus on monitoring and controlling
operational-level activities and providing information to higher levels of the organization.
Managers focus on effectively utilizing and deploying organizational resources to increase
effectiveness to achieve the strategic objectives in the organization. Managerial-level
decision making is not nearly as structured as operational-level decision making because
solutions and problems are not clear-cut and often require judgement and experience.
At the executive level of the organization, managers focus on long-term strategic questions
facing the organization. Executive-level decisions are referred to as unstructured decisions
because the problems are relatively complex and non-routine. At the executive level,
information systems provide key performance indicators (KPI’s) that are focused on
balancing performance across the organization.
