Information Technology 1-4D - Essay Example

? Information Systems D1-4 (School) 3 March This paper will serve to address four separate questions in regards to technology and modern society, with a careful look into how the use of technology is reflected in our day to day lives. Keywords: technology, day to day lives, Web 2.0, Mark Kennedy, data mining, data collection, decision making process, change, change management, organizational skills, management Information Systems D1-4 1. Mark Kennedy said, “All of the biggest technological inventions created by man – the airplane, the automobile, the computer – say a little about his intelligence, but speak volumes about his laziness.” What do you think of this quote? Do you agree? Why? Mark Kennedy stated that “all of the biggest technological inventions created by man – the airplane, the automobile, the computer – say a little about his intelligence, but speak volumes about his laziness” and I could not agree more. While the technologies themselves have been innovative and work to show the different ways that humans are able to take a look at what is available and adapt it to a different use, it is only the generations who are already aware of the original way of doing things that are benefiting from the technology itself. The generations that grow up with the technology already set firmly in place are made lazy and, to a degree, stupid by that same technology (Shaw, 2010). Society has become more and more dependent on technology, to a degree that many members often lack the willingness to think before acting, and as a result of current technologies have become impatient in regards to how quickly information is available (Patil, 2013). While technologies offer many different benefits, and technology is the mother of invention, the current technologies have far more drawbacks than they do rewards. Patil, P. (2013). Technological advancements and its impact on humanity. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/346486/Technological_Advancements_and_Its_Impact_on_Humanity Shaw, S. (2010, September 16). dependence comes with technology. Retrieved from http://www.unlvrebelyell.com/2010/09/16/dependence-comes-with-technology/ 2. Textbooks define Web 2.0 as “the 2nd generation of the Web, which focuses on online collaboration, users as both creators and modifiers of content, dynamic and customized information feeds, and many other engaging web-based services.” How can these Web 2.0 tools help businesses to gain a competitive advantage? There are a large variety of different products and services associated with Web 2.0 that assist businesses in gaining a competitive advantage. If these technologies, including but not limited to, blogs, wikis, podcasts, mashups, social networks, and RSS filters, are properly deployed, they may allow companies to increase their productivity and competitive advantage in a cost effective manner (Andriole, 2010). IBM performed a study in 2005 which looked into how much Web 2.0 could truly affect competitive advantage, and it showed that a sustainable competitive advantage resulted from continual innovation, increased productivity and transformation and employee learning as a result of the positive application of Web 2.0 tools (Graham & Jones, 2011). Andriole, S. J. (2010). Business Impact of Web 2.0 Technologies. Communications Of The ACM, 53(12), 67-79. doi:10.1145/1859204.1859225 Graham, M. & Jones, N. (2011). IMPROVING BUSINESS PERFORMANCE WITH WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES. Journal Of Business Excellence, 2(1), 12-17. 3. As we live our everyday lives, data is collected from us, sometimes without our consent and often without our knowledge. A personal profile could be compiled from disparate sources. What’s your opinion about the secondary use of personal data for data profiling? It is my opinion that while there are other, secondary uses of personal data for data profiling that may be beneficial, such as the use of data by local and national governments to increase transparency in the governmental process and democratize the exchange of information (Data Mining Meets City Hall, 2012), that many organizations today have more than very large databases that grow without limit at a rate of several million records per day (Mala & Dhanaseelan, 2011), and that kind of information on consumers can be potentially dangerous in the wrong hands, causing numerous potential violations of privacy, if those databases are fully opened for the creation of personal profiles on specific consumers. Data Mining Meets City Hall. (2012). Communications of the ACM, 55(6), 19-21. doi:10.1145/2184319.2184326 Mala, A. A., & Dhanaseelan, F. (2011). DATA STREAM MINING ALGORITHMS - A REVIEW OF ISSUES AND EXISTING APPROACHES. International Journal On Computer Science & Engineering, 3(7), 2726-2732. 4. Focus on the impact of decision support systems and personal characteristics on the decision making process. In your opinion, which part, the good design of a decision support system or the person’s individual characteristics, is more important to the decision making process? In my opinion it is not the individual characteristics of the person that is more important in the decision making process but the good design of a decision support system that is more important. The person themselves will have a better chance of making a good decision if the proper decision making system is put in place which specifies the input task, context parameters and mechanisms that define the input output relationships (Shulte-Mecklenbeck, Kuhberger & Raynard, 2011), as opposed to simply looking at the person’s individual characteristics that may affect the reasons behind their particular decisions, an example of which may be seen in the experiment done by Shahidul in 2013. Schulte-Mecklenbeck, M., Kuhberger, A., & Ranyard, R. (2011). The role of process data in the development and testing of process models of judgment and decision making. Judgment & Decision Making, 6(8), 733-739. Shahidul, S. M. (2013). Household Decision-Making Process: It's Effect on School Dropout Behavior for Girls in the Secondary School Level in Bangladesh. International Education Studies, 6(1), 132-141. doi:10.5539/ies.v6n1p132 10IC. There are two parts to this question: 1) Change is all around us. There are even associations devoted specifically to change! http://www.acmp.info/ For this question, please identify at least two professional associations whose mission includes change, change management, and/or organizational development. Post their Internet URLs. Discuss the following: mission of the association role in the field of change or organizational development member profile if you were or were not aware of this association. 2) Tell us of a change situation that either you a) had the opportunity to lead, or b) were involved in as a recipient. Describe the organizational setting including size, location, numbers of people or sites involved, etc. What were your strategies for leading or what was your personal response to adapting or resisting? Rate yourself on your ability to lead in either situation. Tell us why. Two professional associations that are devoted specifically to change are Emerald, the publishers of the Journal of Organizational Change Management, and the Association of Change Management Professionals; their URLs may be found below. The mission of Emerald is to explore philosophies associated with change management including critical theory, postmodernism and post structuralism as they apply to change and development, provide a qualitative analysis of change and discourse on change practices, show interdisciplinary approaches to organization and ecology, consumption and production, and rhetorics and theatrics of change and development and offer articles which tie into, or disagree with, themes from prior issues. The Association of Change Management Professionals serves to provide a community location for professionals to gather and discuss ideas, serving to keep the premiere and most respected members of the global community advancing the discipline of change management connected together. I was fortunate enough to participate in a student council organization that worked to promote various changes in processes, practices, and implemented methods in the school itself, through the combined effort of the nine members with each member taking turns leading, and the others adapting to the different leadership styles to determine the main issues being faced and work to address those issues in the most effective and efficient way possible. While I was not the best at leading the group, I was one of the most efficient in looking at the identified problem and providing unique solutions for the group to implement as a whole, offering innovative ways to be able to address issues, such as funding for certain groups, that were present in the school itself. Association of Change Management Professionals. (2012). Acmp - advancing the discipline of change management. Retrieved from http://www.acmpglobal.org/ Emerald. (2012). Journal of organizational change management. Retrieved from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/journals.htm?id=jocm Read More