Information system for managers- midterm question with solution
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McGill University *
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541
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Information Systems
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Feb 20, 2024
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1)Explain the role that the CIO plays in the business organization. Include a discussion about the
qualifications and abilities typically necessary for a CIO to be successful and how this has
changed in recent years.
Answer: In an organisation, Chief Information Officer is an individual person who oversees the design,
development, acquisition, implementation, and maintenance of firm’s information systems
resources and in charge of information system function as a whole.
The major roles played by an CIO include,
The CIO oversees the day-to-day operations whether they are running smoothly without
disruptions.
To reach the objective, he also manages the budget allocated for IT department.
Monitor the performance of application and system.
He is also responsible to be readily adaptable to the digital transformation according to
the trends.
To work with another department to know where IT can be implemented for improving
the business.
He also plays critical role so that business in using technology effectively to achieve
goals and stay ahead of competition.
Qualifications and abilities:
A CIO should have a deep understanding of technology including latest trends, tools and
platforms.
He should also be responsible for evaluating new technology solutions and determine hoe
they can be used to meet the goals.
A successful CIO should be effective leader who motivated and inspires the team.
He must have ability to identify new opportunities and develop long term plans.
In recent years CIO possess following skills to make the business successful
Currently the CIO have strong knowledge about cyber security which enables them to
implement policies and procedures to protect companies’ intellectual property.
The CIO now have strong data analytics skills which helps them to use data to identify new
business opportunities.
2)Describe the differences between information systems and information technology. Provide
an example of each. Describe first, second and third order organization change induced by the
adoption of new IT. Provide an example for each change.
Information technology refers to the hardware, software and telecommunication
technologies that are used to manage and process data. Whereas information system (IS)
refers to the set of procedures, processes, and software used to manage and process data
IT is concerned with the design, development and deployment of computer based system
networks, including computer hardware ,software, database and other related
technologies. IS is an organized collection of people, procedures, software, database and
devices used to support business and decision making .
IT is more technical aspect of computing, whereas IS is more focused on the strategic and
business related aspect of using technology.
Example; IT-Telephone and radio equipment and switches used for voice communications.
IS- Platforms for exploring data and building dashboards with an intuitive visual interface.
First-Order Change: Automate
First-order change onlaffects the Technical
System. It occurs when IT innovation is
introduced that modifies how an existing process is performed. Managing it is easy. It
requires executive sponsorship or involvement.
Example: When the team's productivity has decreased over the past few weeks, One
possible first-order change is to implement to address the issue will provide the team with
additional training or resources.
Second-Order Change: Informate
Second-order change affects the People component. The way individuals perform
processes and the way they interact with the technology change. It occurs when
information intensity of process being performed changes substantially due to introduction
of new IT.
Third order change: Transform
Third-order change is a concept from the field of systems theory, and it refers to a
fundamental transformation or restructuring of a system at a deep level. It involves
changing the underlying assumptions, values, and beliefs that drive the system, and it
often requires significant disruption and reorganization of the system. Example: When
there is an issue with certain things, decide to engage in a fundamental transformation
3)Define the following terms: Knowledge explicit
and tacit knowledge
and knowledge
management
. What are the principal phases of a knowledge management initiative? Describe
the essential benefits of knowledge management for modern organizations. Why are so many
organizations struggling with their knowledge management initiatives? Give an example. Knowledge explicit: Knowledge explicit is any information that you can document, store and share with others. Tacit Knowledge: Tacit Knowledge refers to knowledge that is difficult to codify.
Knowledge Management: Knowledge management is the process of creating sharing, using and
managing knowledge and information within an organization.
Principles of Knowledge management
The following are the principles of knowledge management,
Knowledge creation: Generation of new knowledge through activities such as experiment, brainstorming, research and innovation.
Knowledge capture: Capturing the knowledge within an organization by documentation and expert systems
Knowledge sharing: Sharing of knowledge to those who need within the organization. This can be done by training, mentoring and various other sharing platforms.
Knowledge application: Knowledge is utilized to solve problems, make decisions and add value to the organization.
Knowledge Organization: After generation and capturing of knowledge, it should be stored in a way it is accessible to those who are in need. This can be done by categorization, indexing and knowledge mapping.
Knowledge preservation: The generated knowledge should be preserved for future use. This can be achieved through methods such as backup, archive and repositories.
Knowledge management can provide numerous benefits for modern organization.
1.
Improves decision making.
2.
Generates new innovative ideas.
3.
Increases efficiency.
4.
Helps to work collaboratively.
5.
Improves employee engagement.
6.
Helps to meet customer expectation.
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Following are the reasons why organizations are struggling with knowledge management initiatives.
1.
Lack of clear goals and objective: (For example) Even if the company launch a new management initiative without clear goals, it may be difficult to measure the impact of initiative.
2.
Resistance to change: (For example) If a company implement a new knowledge management initiative, if employees are resistant to use the system will make the new implementation ineffective.
3.
Lack of user adoption: (For example) If a new management system is difficult to use compared to the existing system, the employees may not see the value. 4.
Difficulty in capturing and sharing: (For example) If a system is largely tacit and difficult to articulate it will be difficult to capture and share
5.
Lack of support from Leadership: (For example) If a senior leader does not provide necessary support, the new initiative will not be successful 4)Define each of the following terms and provide examples: Business-to-Consumers (B2C),
Business-to-Business (B2B), Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C), Consumer-to-Business (C2B), and e-
Government. Define each of the following terms and provide examples: brick and mortar, brick
and click, and pure play. How can the website manager monitor the traffic of the website? Business to Consumer (B2C)
It is a type of commerce were business sell products or service directly to customer. For example: B2C companies include retailers, restaurants, service providers such as salon, gym etcetera.
Business to Business (B2B)
It refers to a type of commerce were business sell products or service to other business. For example: B2B companies include manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and service providers
such as advertising companies, accounting firms.
Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)
It refers to a type of consumer in which the consumer sell products or service directly to other consumers. For example: Used second-hand items sold in internet platforms Kijjiji, Craiglist, marketplace etcetera.
Consumer-to-Business (C2B)
It refers to a type of commerce, individual consumers sell their product or service to business organization. For example: Independent contractors providing specialized services such as web design or marketing, photographers selling their photos to business advertisement.
e-Government
It refers to the utilization of Information communication technologies (ICT) to improve the delivery of government services to citizens, business and other government activities. For example: Online tax filing system, electrical voting system and online portals which provides public records and government service.
Brick and Mortar
It refers to a retail store or business that has a physical location or use of e-commerce that operate over internet. For example: Departmental stores, grocery store, restaurant and banks.
Brick and Click
It refers to a business which has a combination of both physical and online retailing channels. For example: Large retailers such as Walmart, Pharmaprix, IGA, best buy etcetera. Pure Play
It refers to a business that operates exclusively is a single channel or platform, typically online or through e-commerce. For example: Retailers such as Amazon, ASOS etcetera. Digital service such as Spotify and dropbox.
There are several ways for web manager can monitor the traffic of a website.
1.
Web Analytic tools: For example, Google analytics provide detailed information about visitors such as location, behavior or source of traffic which enables the website manager to track website performance and create report.
2.
User feedback: For example, Feedback collected through surveys or social media monitoring helps the website manager to understand the user interaction with website
3.
Server Logs: For example, these provide detailed information about website traffic including IP address, time and date of visit and page visited.
4.
Heat maps: For example, They help the website managers to identify the areas that has most visitors as well as areas of improvement.
5) What is the Just-in-Time fabrication? Explain briefly using the example of BonLook.com. Just in time fabrication is a process in which products are created only when there is a demand for
them, allowing greater efficiency and reduced waste. This means the products are not created in
advance and stored in warehouse, but are produced only when customer places order.
Many company uses Just in Time fabrication, But one among them is BonLook.com. It is an online
eyewear retailer. When customer needs to buy the glasses, the order is placed and it is directly
sent to the BonLook’s factory where the glasses are made in demand. This allows the BonLook
company to reduce the amount of stock it need to store elsewhere and also to quickly respond to
the changing demand for their products.
By following JIT the BonLook company saves a lot of money by not producing them in lots of
quantity and worry about storing the inventory. This is a cost benefit situation for any company
that follows JIT. Another benefit by doing this is the company can adapt to the new trends and
technology, adapt to market conditions and also the demand created for the glasses during that
particular time according to customer preferences. 6)What are the characteristics of support, factory, strategic and turnaround quadrants? Explain
in detail. Support Quadrant:
IS are not mission critical for current operations, and this state of affairs is
not likely to change in the foreseeable future.
The key characteristics of this quadrant are:
Strong emphasis on creativity and innovation
Informal communication channels
Decentralized decision-making
Highly personalized and customized products/services
Flexible organizational structure
Limited formal procedures or policies
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Factory Quadrant:
the company currently has a technology infrastructure that enables the
business to operate with the needed degree of efficiency and effectiveness. The key
characteristics of this quadrant are:
Highly structured and standardized processes
Hierarchical decision-making
Centralized control and direction
Emphasis on process efficiency and productivity
Consistent and predictable quality
Limited flexibility or customization
Turnaround Quadrant:
IS are not considered mission critical for current operations. But the
planning team believes that in the near future a new information systems or new functionalities
of existing systems will be critical for the business’s future viability and continued (or expected)
success. . The key characteristics of this quadrant are:
Crisis or urgent need for change
High levels of dysfunction and low levels of performance
Centralized decision-making and control
Rapid and significant restructuring required
Focus on short-term survival rather than long-term strategy
Potential for major cultural change
Strategic Quadrant:
outstanding IS operations and a relentless attention to information
systems innovation are a must for companies in this quadrant.
Emphasis on strategic planning and implementation
Adaptable and flexible organizational structure
Collaborative and team-based decision-making
Highly skilled and specialized workforce
Agile and responsive to changing market conditions
Innovative and forward-thinking
In summary, the Support, Factory, Strategic, and Turnaround quadrants represent different
types of organizations based on their internal characteristics and alignment with their strategy.
Understanding these quadrants can help leaders assess their organization's strengths and
weaknesses and identify opportunities for improvement.
7)What are the main five steps of Strategic Information Systems Planning Process? Explain each
of them in details. Provide examples. Strategic planning is a process that involves defining an organization's direction and making
decisions about allocating its resources to pursue its objectives. The purpose of strategic planning
process is to understand its purpose and type of decisions to be made as it unfolds. The planning
process must occur as a partnership among those with technical skills, the information systems
group,
and
general
and
functional
managers.
1.
Strategic business planning consists of an organization’s mission and future direction,
performance targets, and strategy. 2.
Information systems assessment: consists of taking stock of the firm’s current IS
resources and evaluating how well they are fulfilling the needs of the organization. 3.
Information systems vision: consists of a concise statement that captures what the
planning team believes should be the role of IS resources in the firm. 4.
Information systems guidelines: represent a set of statements, or maxims, specifying
how the firm should use its technical and organizational IS resources. 5.
Strategic initiatives: are long- term (three- to five- year) proposals that identify new
systems and new projects or new directions for the IS organization.
Startegic Business planning
Information system Assessment
Information system vision
Information system guidelines
Startegic initiatives
8)What is Data? What is information? What are their differences? What are the implications of
information Goods? What is social media hearing and how it is conducted? Give example. Data refers to raw facts or figures, whereas information is the processed, organized, and
meaningful interpretation of that data. Data is essentially a collection of individual pieces of
information that may not have any context or significance on their own. For example, a list of
temperatures recorded over a period of time is data.
Iinformation, on the other hand, is created by processing and analysing data to produce insights
that can be used to make decisions or take action. For example, by analyzing the list of
temperatures, one could determine the average temperature, identify trends or patterns, and
draw conclusions about the climate or weather conditions during the period covered by the
data.
Overall, the difference between data and information lies in their level of abstraction and the
amount of meaning they convey. While data is a collection of raw facts and figures, information is
the processed and meaningful interpretation of that data that is relevant and useful for decision-
making and action.
Products that a customer purchases for the only purpose of gaining access to the information
they contain. A simple test for recognizing information goods is to verify whether the product
can be digitized (i.e., can be encoded into bits and stored in digital format). If so, the product is
an information good. The implications of information goods are significant, and they affect many
different aspects of our economy and society. Here are some of the key implications of
information goods:
Information is customizable: Information goods can often be modified with relative ease
Information is reusable: Because information is not consumed by use, it is reusable
multiple times and, because it is customizable, in multiple forms
Information is often time valued: The value of information is tied to the user’s ability to
employ it
Information goods can achieve significant gross profit margins: Because of their
economic characteristics—high production costs and low replication and distribution—
firms that produce successful information goods can enjoy vast profit margins
Social media Hearing:
Social media hearing, also known as social listening, is the process of monitoring and analyzing
social media platforms to gather insights and feedback about a brand, product, service, or
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industry. It involves analyzing the conversations, mentions, and interactions that are happening on
social media platforms in real-time, and using the data gathered to inform business decisions and
strategy.
For example
,
an existing customer might tweet about how much they love your product.
9)Do you believe that the ‘Internet changes everything’ or is it ‘just another type of technology’?
Be sure to defend and justify your position?
I do not have beliefs or opinions in Internet changes everything. However, I can provide an
objective analysis of the topic.
The internet is undoubtedly a transformative technology that has had a profound impact on
society and the way we live our lives. It has revolutionized communication, commerce, education,
entertainment, and many other aspects of modern life. The internet has enabled people to
connect with others all over the world, share information and ideas, and access a wealth of
knowledge and resources. It has also given rise to new forms of social and economic interaction
and facilitated the development of new industries and business models.
At the same time, it is important to recognize that the internet is not the only technology that has
changed the world. Many other technologies, from the printing press to the telephone to the
automobile, have had significant impacts on society and transformed the way we live and work.
Therefore, while the internet is certainly a transformative technology, it is not the only one, nor is
it a completely novel form of technology. However, its unique characteristics, such as its global
reach, speed, and interactivity, have given rise to a range of new applications and use cases that
were not possible with previous technologies.
In conclusion, the internet is a significant technology that has had a profound impact on society,
but it is not the only transformative technology in human history. Its impact will continue to be felt
as it evolves and becomes even more integrated into our daily lives, but it is important to
recognize that other technologies have also played a critical role in shaping our world.
11)What is supply Chain? Why is it important to actively manage the supply change? What
would be the role of IT in supply chain, discuss it with an example. Supply chain
Supply chain is a series of entities, activities and resources in production and distribution of goods and services from raw material to end user which is customer.
Supply chain involves several stages
1.
Planning
2.
Sourcing
3.
Manufacturing
4.
Delivery
5.
Returns
It is important to actively manage supply chain due to the following reasons
1.
Effective cost reduction by reducing inventory levels, improving production efficiency and optimizing transportation and logistics.
2.
Improve product quality by ensuring the supplier meets quality standards and delivered on time
3.
Increase flexibility to change in market conditions
4.
Build strong relationships and sharing information. 5.
Improved communication which reduces risk of supply chain disruptions
6.
Mitigating and assessing the various risk factors like natural calamity, supplier bankruptcy.
Role of IT in supply chain
Information Technology (IT) plays an important role in supply chain, as it enables businesses to manage information, coordinate activities, and improve communication and collaboration throughout the supply chain.
For example: Use of RFID technology uses radio waves to identity and track objects with RFID tags.
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