Role of Information Systems in Organisations

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1. Influence of Management Level on Information Needs

The three levels are the strategic planning level, management control or tactical level and operational control level respectively. Table 10 distinguishes the kinds of decisions that may be made at each level:

As suggested by McLeod (2001) it is important for those designing, or assessing the suitability of IS to take into account the management level at which it will be deployed. Figure 16 shows the impact of management level on information source, format and intensity:

2. The Need for Quality Information

Managers need to gather information about their organisation and outside information relevant to the organisation in order to take short term and long term decisions. As discussed in Boddy (2001) information needs to be of good quality if the decision-making is to be effective. The quality of information depends on four main criteria:

• Reliability - This means the accuracy of information.
  • Even minor errors and inconsistencies in data can lead to a complete loss of confidence in the information provided
• Timeliness - This means the suitability and immediacy of information
  • If managers need to respond to emerging trends on time then these need to be reported without significant delay
• Right Quantity - This means enough information to allow for decision making, while not too much information that can cause information overload.
  • When managers suffer information overload; this suggests that the information is not processed to an adequate level of detail suitable for managerial actions
• Relevance - This means the significance and weight of this information for a particular decision that it is ought to be used for
  • This is dependent on the functional specialisation of a manager, the level of responsibility and the current priorities of the organisation

3. Reach of Information Systems

One way of categorising IS is according to its distribution within the organisation:

• How widespread is the usage?
• How many individuals or groups within the organisation are intended to have access and shared interaction?

When distinguished along these lines, IS can be grouped into the following categories:

• Individual
• Local or departmental
• Company-wide
• Inter-organisational systems

What is the role IS can play in management processes?

• Creating Information: enabling the collection and processing of data and information necessary for different levels of management, from internal as well as external sources
  • For example: collecting information about customers for marketing purposes, or collecting information about suppliers and keeping it in a database
• Communicating Information: enabling the communication of information from where it is created to where it is needed
  • For example: making information about customers and/or suppliers available on the corporate intranet
• Capitalising Information: enabling the evaluation of information
  • For example: patents and copyrights

Managers at all levels (strategic, tactical and operational) are involved in a mix of managerial functions (planning, organising, staffing, directing, controlling).

How might the level of a manager influence the relative balance between the functions that the manager performs?

The answer to this question would depend on the specific organisation. However, in general, strategic level managers' duties will emphasise planning; tactical managers will be have an emphasis on organising and operational level managers will have an emphasis on directing on a daily basis. Accordingly, strategic level managers require information in summary format (with the ability to drill down to details where there are exceptions and anomalies) whereas operational level managers need to have the details up-to-date and in full.

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Reference(s)
	Book		Boddy, D. (2004) Managing Projects: Building and Leading the Team. 2nd Edition. Pearson Education: United Kingdom (UK), England, Essex, Harlow. [ISBN: 9780273651284]. [Available on: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3W7jRyp].
	Book		Chaffey, D. & Wood, S. (2004) Business Information Management: Improving Performance Using Information Systems. Financial Times Prentice Hall: United Kingdom (UK), England, Essex, Harlow. [ISBN: 9780273686552]. [Available on: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3yZ6vdF].
	Book		Johnson, G., Scholes, K. & Whittington, R. (2007) Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text & Cases with Companion Website Student Access Card: Text and Cases. 8th Edition. Financial Times Prentice Hall: United Kingdom (UK), England, Essex, Harlow. [ISBN: 9780273711926]. [Available on: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3f7sg4u].
	Book		Laudon, K. C. & Laudon, J. P. (2007) Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm. 10th Edition. Pearson Prentice Hall: United States of America (USA), New Jersey (NJ), Bergen, Upper Saddle River. [ISBN: 9780132415798]. [Available on: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3UhgqDH].
	Book		Mcleod, R. & Schell, G. P. (2008) Management Information Systems: A Study of Computer-Based Information Systems. 10th Edition. Pearson Education: United States of America (USA), Pennsylvania (PA), Philadelphia. [ISBN: 9788131719497]. [Available on: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3FpmhCE].
	Book		Robson, W. (1997) Strategic Management and Information Systems: An Integrated Approach. 2nd Edition. Pitman: United Kingdom (UK), England, London. [ISBN: 9780273615910]. [Available on: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3EZNmvZ].

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Reference (or cite) Article
	Kahlon, R. S. (2013) Role of Information Systems in Organisations [Online]. dkode: United Kingdom, England, London. [Published on: 2013-01-22]. [Article ID: RSK666-0000070]. [Available on: dkode | Ravi - https://ravi.dkode.co/2013/01/role-of-information-systems-in.html].

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