Business Manager as Responsible end user of information systems

By TEchi

Information systems play a vital role in the e-business and e-commerce operations, enterprise collaboration and management, and strategic success of businesses that must operate in an internetworked global environment.  The field of information systems has become a major functional area of business administration.  Business manager must realize that information is a powerful resource that cannot be used in an inappropriate matter.  As a manager or other end user of information, we must insure that we always consider the ethical responsibilities of the use of information.  For example, information technology might be used in an improper, irresponsible, or harmful way, which can hurt other individuals or society as a whole.  Information systems must be managed to benefit society while meeting the goals of the organization.  Irresponsible use would include taking advantage of access to confidential data for personal gain or interest.  O’Brien and Marakas (2010) published IS framework for managers the knowledge that a business professional needs to know to include: - 

However managers or business professionals are not required to know the complex technologies, abstract behavioral concepts, or the specialized applications involved in the field of information systems.  To illustrates a useful conceptual framework that outlines what a manager or business professional needs to know about information systems; five areas of knowledge are emphasized as follows:

·          Foundation Concepts

·         Information Technologies

·         Business Applications

·         Development Processes

·         Management Challenges

In order to enable the manager to responsibly function the above knowledge base can be described as

·          Foundation concepts: fundamental behavior, technical, business, and managerial concepts like system components and functions, or competitive strategies;

·         Information technologies: concepts, developments, or management issues regarding hardware, software, data management, networks, and other technologies;

·         Business applications: major uses of IT for business processes, operations, decision making, and strategic/competitive advantage;

·         Development processes: how end users and IS specialists develop and implement business/IT solutions to problems and opportunities arising in business; and

·         Management challenges: how to effectively and ethically manage the IS function and IT resources to achieve top performance and business value in support of the business strategies of the enterprise.
 

An understanding of the effective and responsible use and management of information systems is important for managers and other business knowledge workers in today’s global information society.  Information systems and technologies have become a vital component of successful businesses and organizations.  An information system model expresses a fundamental conceptual framework for the major components and activities of information systems.  Information system depends on the resources of people, hardware, software, data, and networks to perform input, processing, output, storage, and control activities that convert data resources into information products.  The information systems model outlined by O’Brien and Marakas (2010) emphasizes some major concepts that can be applied to all types of information systems:

Looking at it from that vantage one can say that a system is a group of interrelated components working together toward a common goal by accepting inputs and producing outputs in an organized transformation process.  A system (sometimes called a dynamic system) has three basic interacting components or functions.  These include: Input involves capturing and assembling elements that enter the system to be processed.  Processing involves transformation processes that convert input into output.  Output involves transferring elements that have been produced by a transformation process to their ultimate destination.  Managerial end users need to know how information systems can be employed successfully in a business environment. The important question for any business end user or manager is: - What do I need to know in order to help manage the hardware, software, data, and network resources of the business, so they are used for the strategic success of the company?  Having a clear answer and knowledge to the question can help enormously.

Thus an information system (IS) can be any organized combination of people, hardware, software, communications networks, and data resources that collect, transforms, and disseminate information in an organization.  In Information Technologies - business professionals rely on many types of information systems that use a variety of information technologies.  Managers need to demonstrate how to responsibly and effectively utilize these types of IS which can be -

 

·         Manual (paper-and-pencil) information systems

·         Informal (word-of-mouth) information systems

·         Formal (written procedures) information systems

·         Computer-based information systems

Computer-based information systems (IS) use hardware, software, the Internet, other telecommunications

networks, computer-based data resource management techniques, and other forms of information technologies to transform data resources into a variety of information products for consumers and business professionals.  Managers must insure that they always consider the ethical responsibilities of the use of information that is at their disposal.

References
 

Taylor, M. J., Moynihan, E. P., & Wood-Harper, A. T. (2002). End-user computing and information systems methodologies. 8(1). doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2575.1998.00005

HOW TO DEVELOP A MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM, CERIS – PAC Research Training Project

O’Brien, J. A., & Marakas, G. M. (2010), Introduction to Information Systems 15^th ed. ISBN-10: 9780073376813