UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZATIONAL STYLE AND ITS IMPACT ON INFORMATION SYSTEMS

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CHAPTER 2 UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZATIONAL STYLE AND
ITS IMPACT ON INFORMATION SYSTEMS
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FOUR SETS OF ANALYTICAL SKILLS FOR SYSTEMS ANALYST

• SYSTEM THINKING
• ORGANIZATIONAL KNOWLEDGE
• PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
• ANALYZING AND SOLVING PROBLEMS

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SYSTEM CHARACTERISTICS

• SUBSYSTEMS OR COMPONENTS
• INTER-RELATED COMPONENTS
• BOUNDARY
• PURPOSE
• ENVIRONMENT
• INTERFACES
• INPUT
• OUTPUT
• CONSTRAINTS

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ORGANIZATIONAL FUNDAMENTALS THAT HAVE
IMPLICATIONS FOR INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT

• ORGANIZATIONS AS SYSTEMS
• DIFFERENT MANAGEMENT LEVELS
• ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

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ORGANIZATIONS AS SYSTEMS

• SET OF INTERLATED AND INTERDEPENDENT SUBSYSTEMS
• ARE SEPARATED FROM THEIR ENVIRONMENT BY
  BOUNDARIES
• USE OUTPUTS AS FEEDBACK FOR PLANNING AND CONTROL
• ARE AFFECTED BY THE CHANGES IN THEIR ENVIRONMENT
  I.E. COMMOUNITY, ECONOMY, AND POLITICS
• ARE CHARACTERIZED BY BEING OPEN OR CLOSED SYSTEMS

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LEVELS OF MANAGEMENT

• OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
• MIDDLE MANAGEMENT
• STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

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ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

• ORGANIZATIONS CONTAIN MANY COMPETING SUBCULTURES
• SUBCULTURES MAY HAVE CONFLICTING VIEWS
• MEMBERS IN AN ORGANIZATION MAY BELONG TO ONE OR
  MORE SUBCULTURES
• THE SUBCULTURES MAY HAVE A GREAT POWER ON MEMBERS
  AND MAY DETERMINE THE INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS,
  AVAILABILITY AND USE.
• SYSTEMS ANALYSTS KNOWLEDGE OF SUBCULTURES WILL
  ASSIST HIM/HER TO ELIMINATE THE RESISTANCE TO
  CHANGE WHEN THE NEW SYSTEM IS BEING INSTALLED