UNIT 7004

Management Information System

Management Information System



Introduction

We live in an era of rapid change. The product life cycle shortens, the markets become more global and companies, whether public or private, are facing an ever increasing competitive pressure. The ability of a firm to move quickly and flexibly respond to these challenges requires, among other things, knowledge of current principles of management information systems and communications (Best, 1988, 13-24).

Be able to understand the impact of management information on decision-making

Primary Features of Data and Information

Accuracy: The term accuracy means that the information should always be relevant and accurate to the issue and small percentage of variability should be allowed.

The information should be according to the criteria of the issue so that standard interpretation could be allowed in various different cercumstances, place and time by different people.

Valid: By validity we mean the information should be accurate and measurable to the issue under study with accurate and valid criteria.

Continuity: Continuation in a process is very important, if information is complete we are able to understand the issue accurately so it is saidf that the imformation should be on an ongoing basis so that the monitioring process could be done effectivelty.

Comparable: Allows be confronted with corresponding data. Intellectual its essence, ie information: creates and recreates the world of ideas through time and space, to convey these ideas to our minds and constructs, thus, little by little, the "content" of our intellect: knowledge.

Novel: it should convey something new, something not known before, not information if the idea is already known by the investigator. Facilitates human activity reduces uncertainty by providing new knowledge, facilitates, therefore, decision-making. It is information in the strict sense only when one receives from others, not obtained by ourselves.

Plural, as: it encompasses different views, ideas or data on the topic under investigation and is not limited to a single track. It is a system, because it implies a set of elements that interact with each other, looking for a common goal.

Features of data and information have interrelation ship with knowledge used by managers in decision making because Knowledge is the collection of data and information whereas data is a small part of the information. Knowledge of how information is organized will allow a programmer to make more informed decisions on how to retrieve information. Knowledge is mostly related to facts (Argyris, 1991, 187-190). Experience is also count as knowledge. In an informal conversation, the three terms are often used interchangeably and this lead to a free interpretation of the concept of knowledge. Perhaps the easiest way to differentiate between the terms is to think that the data are located in the world and knowledge is located in any type agents (individuals, businesses, machines), while the information takes a mediating role between the two.

Data Selection Criteria

In order, to help managers in making effective decisions the selection criteria should be well defined and detailed so that all decisions regarding the inclusion or exclusion of evidence are transparent and can reproduce ...