Information Systems and Organisations

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Information Systems and Organisations

• Outline
• Understanding the inter-relationships between IT
  and organisations,
• Formal models and theories of organisations,
• Understanding and mapping business processes
• How does the Information Systems function fit
  into organisation.

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ORGANIZATIONS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MEDIATING FACTORS Environment
Culture Structure
Standard Procedures Politics
Management Decisions
Chance
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ORGANIZATION

• FORMAL DEFINITION
• - stable, formal structure
• takes resources/inputs from environment
  capital, labour, materials, knowledge(?) etc
• processes them
• to produce outputs

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STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ALL ORGANIZATIONS

• Clear division of labor
• Hierarchy
• Explicit rules procedures standard operating
  procedures (sop)
• Objective/impartial judgments
• Technical qualifications
• Strive for maximum organizational efficiency

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BEHAVIORAL VIEW OF ORGANIZATIONS

• STRUCTURE Hierarchy Division of
  labor Rules, Procedures
• PROCESS Rights/Obligations
  Privileges/Responsibilities Values Norms
  People

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TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONS

• ENTREPRENEURIAL Startup business
• MACHINE BUREAUCRACY Mid-sized manufacturing firm
• DIVISIONALIZED BUREAUCRACY Very Large,
  multi-business/multi-divisional corporations
• PROFESSIONAL BUREAUCRACY Law firms, hospitals
• ADHOCRACY Consulting firm

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ORGANIZATION ITS ENVIRONMENT
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BROADER VIEW OF ORGANIZATIONS

• COMMON FEATURES
• FORMAL STRUCTURE
• STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES
• POLITICS
• CULTURE

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SALIENT FEATURES OF ORGANIZATIONS

• UNIQUE FEATURES
• ORGANIZATIONAL TYPE
• ENVIRONMENTS, GOALS, POWER
• CONSTITUENCIES, FUNCTION
• LEADERSHIP, TASKS
• TECHNOLOGY
• LEVELS

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Business Process The unique breakdown and
sequence of activities that an organisation
specifies for the completion of a task.
Typically we refer to tasks that cut across
multiple functions or departments. Eg. Order
fulfillment, new product introduction
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WORK GROUPS, PROBLEMS, SYSTEM SUPPORT

• HIERARCHICAL Frequent meetings, workers
  dispersed
• VIDEO CONFERENCING, E-MAIL
• INTERDEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEES Need occasional
  direct communication
• ELECTRONIC MESSAGING

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WORK GROUPS, PROBLEMS, SYSTEM SUPPORT

• PROJECT TEAMS Day-to-day interactions, meeting
  schedules
• SCHEDULING/COMMUNICATION/ SUPPORT SOFTWARE,
  INTRANET
• COMMITTEES High peak load, intermittent
  communication
• ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARDS, VIDEO/COMPUTER
  CONFERENCING, E-MAIL

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WORK GROUPS, PROBLEMS, SYSTEM SUPPORT

• TASK FORCES Rapid communication,
  internal/external data
• GRAPHICS DISPLAY, INFORMATION/ DOCUMENTATION
  INTERCHANGE
• PEER GROUPS Intense personal communication
• TELEPHONE, E-MAIL

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PROBLEMS OF ALL WORK GROUPS

• Making arrangements
• Attending meetings
• Long agenda
• Cost of meetings
• Between-meeting activities

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DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

• 1950s ELECTRONIC ACCOUNTING MACHINES
• 1960s DATA PROCESSING DEPARTMENTS
• 1970s INFORMATION SYSTEMS
• 1980s INFORMATION SYSTEMS SERVICES
• 1990s ENTERPRISE-WIDE INFORMATION UTILITY

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INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEPARTMENT

• PROGRAMMERS Write software
• SYSTEMS ANALYSTS Translate business problems
  into solutions
• Data Administrators in charge of managing the
  information resources of the org.
• IS MANAGERS Department leaders
• Chief Information Officer (CIO)
• END USERS Department reps for whom applications
  are developed

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PERSPECTIVES ON ORGANIZATIONS AND THE ROLE OF IT

• MICROECONOMIC MODEL/THEORY OF THE FIRM The
  outputs of the firm as a function of key factors
  of production such as capital C, labor L, and
  knowledge K. Investments in IT can lead to
  increase in K and reduction overall L.

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PERSPECTIVES ON ORGANIZATIONS AND THE ROLE OF IT

• AGENCY/TRANSACTION COST THEORY Firm is nexus of
  contracts among agents who make decisions. The
  firms attempts to minimise transaction costs in
  contracting. IS/IT shrink number of agents
  reduce transaction costs.
• BEHAVIORAL THEORIES Concepts from Psychology,
  Political Science Organizations Information
  Technology mutually influence each other.
  Implementation strategies, resistance..

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PERSPECTIVES ON ORGANIZATIONS AND THE ROLE OF IT

• DECISION CONTROL THEORY Decisions are made
  under conditions of risk uncertainty
  centralization hierarchy can reduce uncertainty
  in certain circumstances.
• SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY Bureaucracy, SOPs help
  stabilize organizations, but slow ability to
  change

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PERSPECTIVES ON ORGANIZATIONS AND THE ROLE OF IT

• POSTINDUSTRIAL THEORY Flatter organizations
  dominated by knowledge workers decentralized
  decision making
• CULTURAL THEORY Information technology must fit
  organizations culture to be accepted

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PERSPECTIVES ON ORGANIZATIONS AND THE ROLE OF IT

• POLITICAL THEORY Info systems are outcome of
  political competition among coalitions and groups
  for power and resources.

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IMPLEMENTING CHANGE
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HOW INTERNET AND THE WORLD WIDE WEB AFFECT
ORGANIZATIONS

• More info, anywhere, anytime/potential
  information overload
• More scope, depth, range of knowledge
• Lowers cost, potential to raise quality of info
  distribution

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Types of Decisions

• Well-Structured decisions
• Semi-structured decisions
• Unstructured or ill-structured decisions
• They lie along a continuum.

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INFO SYSTEMS, LEVELS, DECISIONS
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STAGES OF DECISION MAKING

• INTELLIGENCE Collect information identify
  problem
• DESIGN Conceive alternatives select criteria
• CHOICE Use criteria to evaluate alternatives
  select
• IMPLEMENTATION Put decision into effect
  allocate resources control

SOURCE Simon, The New Science of Management
Decision (1960)
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MODELS OF DECISION MAKING

• RATIONAL MODEL Assumes comprehensive rationality
  - comprehensive search for alternatives, their
  systematic evaluation against objectives,
  choosing the alternative that maximises value.
• Satisficing Models Based on the concept of
  bounded rationality - people do not have the
  cognitive capacity to be comprehensively
  rational hence they satisfice.
• Political Model