The Role of a Management Information System - Literature review Example

HOW MIS AFFECTS ORGANIZATIONAL FUNCTIONS How MIS Affects Organizational Functions affiliation People need information for various reasons and in different forms. For instance, they usually search for information for the entertainment and enlightenment and for this they watch movies or television, read magazines, listen to the radio, and browse the internet. In the same way, in organizations management and employees try to find and utilize information entirely to carry out business operations/activities efficiently. For instance, they use information to resolve business problems as well as for corporate decision making. Thus, information can be considered as a vital asset for an organization. And to make best use of this asset organizations implement management information systems. This paper presents a detailed analysis of management information system. The basic aim of this research is to discuss the role of a management information system in carrying out business activities/operations. At the present, information has become a most important asset for the organizations. “Information refers to data that have been changed into a form that is useful and understandable to human beings”. On the other hand, “data are collection of unprocessed facts showing events occurring in corporations or the physical environment prior to they have been changed and structured into a form that people can understand and use. Additionally, data can include text, numbers, images and videos. Management information systems have become vital part of every firm that deals with wide-ranging management of the organizational data and information processing, and storage. Additionally, it is very challenging task for a corporation to deal with business and management activities without implementing management information system (Shelly, Cashman, & Vermaat, 2005, p. 4; Norton, 2001, p. 7). According to (Turban, Leidner, McLean, & Wetherbe, 2005, p. 18), “an information system collects, processes, stores, assesses, and transfers information for a particular task”. Additionally, it is similar to any other system, since it incorporates inputs (for instance instructions and data) as well as outputs (for instance, reports, calculations). In addition, it performs specific functions on the inputs by using technology such as PCs and produces results that are distributed and offered to users (management, employees etc) or to other systems using electronic networks (Turban, Leidner, McLean, & Wetherbe, 2005, p. 18; Karimi, Bhattacherjee, Gupta, & Somers, 2000; Laudon & Laudon, 1999, p. 7; Shelly, Cashman, & Vermaat, 2005; Norton, 2001). Moreover, the use of information system as a management information system offers management oriented reporting. However, these reports are usually created and maintained on a planned timetable and appear in an arranged format (Whitten, Bentley, & Dittman, 2000, p. 47). In simple words, a management information system can be defined as a set or group of software applications that helps management collect, organize, and assess information with reference to a department, a workgroup, or an entire corporation. However, the purpose of these software applications is to meet the requirements of three different groups of managers (executives, middle managers, and front line managers) by producing a variety of standard reports obtained from the corporation’s database. Additionally, an efficient management information system converts massive amount of corporation’s data into information that can be useful to each group of managers (Norton, 2001, p. 460). In this scenario (Worthington, 2003, p. 22) considers management information system a prearranged collection of people (employees, management, users, clients and customers), business operations, databases, software (system and application), and devices employed to present traditional information to decision makers and managers. Thus, it can be said that the basic focus of a management information system is principally on organizational efficiency. Furthermore, human resources, sales, production, marketing, finance, and other functional departments of an organization are maintained by management information systems and linked through a central database (Stair & Reynolds, 2003, p. 23; Worthington, 2003, p. 22). According to Vasu, Stewart, & Garson (1998), a management information system is a significant element of the corporation’s risk management policy since MIS builds and maintains managements capability to carry out similar reviews. Additionally, the organizations should use management information systems to monitor, recognize, assess, limit, and handle business risks. Moreover, effective business risk management involves major elements such as corporation’s operations, policies or practices, feedback devices and staff and management (Vasu, Stewart, & Garson, 1998). According to Raymond (2008) a management information system supports business and management activities by transforming data into information and making available it as a single business integrated system. Additionally, the information offered by an MIS helps managers make plans and take effective decisions. In addition, the management information systems offer information on the past, present, and future business projects and processes as well as on related events and activities outside and inside the corporation. Furthermore, the major role of MIS is to offer the exact information to the right people at the exact time (Raymond, 2008; Turban, Leidner, McLean, & Wetherbe, 2005; Whitten, Bentley, & Dittman, 2000). The implementation of the MIS technology offers the corporations an opportunity to enhance the quality of business information by standardizing business and management operations with evidenced-based or other established practices. Additionally, the MIS affects the processes of business data gathering and reporting/performance monitoring. In addition, MIS carries coordination among business processes by integrating specialized activities (Raymond, 2008; Turban, Leidner, McLean, & Wetherbe, 2005; Whitten, Bentley, & Dittman, 2000; Comptroller’s, 1995; Vasu, Stewart, & Garson, 1998). Management information systems offer better reporting of business processes that leads certainly to a more smooth production growth. Additionally, the availability of useful information regarding the production process offers the capability to improve and uphold the management of the supply chain, as well as all the processes from the supply of materials to the manufacturing and delivery of the finished products (BestPriceComputers). The functions and roles of management information systems vary from job to job. However, the basic function of management information systems (MIS) is to offer standard information to managers to help them make decisions based on exact information instead of rough estimates. Thus, this exact information and analysis can help make effective decisions regarding where and when to hire/assign human and other resources to accomplish the goal of a corporation or project. Additionally, management information systems allow managers to make decisions from a knowledgeable position instead of a disorganized one. In addition, management information systems are capable to provide answers to questions for instance: How do we select the most proficient way to use our budget? Would it be suitable to increase workers at the beginning or end of a manufacturing process? How much inventory should our organization should store and when do we order more stock? What hours have the most customers, so we will have a sufficient staff to deal with them? (Landis-Steward, 2010) Conclusion This paper has presented a detailed analysis of the management information systems. At the present, data and information have become most important assets for every organization since they are used in the process of decision making. A management information system is a collection of software applications that helps management collect, organize, and assess information with reference to a department, a workgroup, or an entire corporation. The implementations of management information systems have become essential for the organizations to survive in this ever-increasing competitive world. Management information systems offer timely and exact information to the managers, which help them take effective decisions. In addition, this information also helps improve other operations of an organization for instance productions, sales, marketing and human resources. Bibliography BestPriceComputers. (n.d.). What are Management Information Systems? Retrieved May 27, 2010, from BestPriceComputers.co.uk: http://www.bestpricecomputers.co.uk/glossary/management-information-system.htm Comptroller’s. (1995). Management Information Systems. Comptroller’s Handbook Comptroller of the Currency Administrator of National Banks. Karimi, J., Bhattacherjee, A., Gupta, Y. P., & Somers, T. M. (2000). The Effects of MIS Steering Committees on Information Technology Management Sophistication. Journal of Management Information Systems Volume 15, Issue 2 , 207-230. Landis-Steward, J. (2010). Role of Management Information Systems. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from eHow, Inc. : http://www.ehow.com/about_5067685_role-management-information-systems.html Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. (1999). Management Information Systems, Sixth Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall . Lucey, T. (2005). Management information systems . Cengage Learning EMEA. Copyright. . Norton, P. (2001). Introduction to Computers, Fourth Edition. Singapore: McGraw-Hill. Raymond, M. (2008). Management Information Systems, 10th edition. Pearson Education India. referenceforbusiness. (2009). MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS (MIS). Retrieved 05 25, 2010, from http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/small/Mail-Op/Management-Information-Systems-MIS.html Shelly, Cashman, & Vermaat. (2005). Discovering Computers 2005. Boston: Thomson Course Technology. Stair, R. M., & Reynolds, G. W. (2003). Principles of Information Systems, Sixth Edition. Toronto : Thomson Learning, Inc. Turban, E., Leidner, D., McLean, E., & Wetherbe, J. (2005). Information Technology for Management: Transforming Organizations in the Digital Economy, 4th edition . New York: Wiley. Vasu, M. L., Stewart, D. W., & Garson, G. D. (1998). Organizational behavior and public management 3rd Edition. CRC Press. Whitten, J. L., Bentley, L. D., & Dittman, K. C. (2000). Systems Analysis and Design Methods 5th Edition. New York: Irwin/McGraw-Hill. Worthington, P. (2003). Introduction to Information Systems. Singapore: Thomson. Read More