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Information Systems,
Tenth Edition
Chapter 2
Information Systems in Organizations
Information Systems, Tenth Edition

Principles and Learning Objectives
– Identify the value-added processes in the supply chain
and describe the role of information systems within them
– Provide a clear definition of the terms “organizational
structure,” “culture,” and “change” and discuss how they
affect the type of information systems that the
organization implements
– Define the term “competitive advantage” and identify the
factors that lead firms to seek competitive advantage
– Discuss strategic planning for competitive advantage
– Describe how the performance of an information system
can be measured
– Define the types of roles, functions, and careers available
in the field of information systems

Why Learn About Information Systems
in Organizations?
• Organizations of all types use information systems
to cut costs and increase profits
• Although your career might be different from your
classmates’:
– You will almost certainly work with computers and
information systems

Organizations and Information
Systems
• Organization:
– Formal collection of people and other resources
established to accomplish a set of goals
– A system
– Constantly uses money, people, materials, machines
and other equipment, data, information, and
decisions

Systems (continued)

Systems (continued)
• Value chain:
– Series (chain) of activities that includes inbound
logistics and warehouse and storage
• Supply chain management (SCM)
– Determines:
• What supplies are required for value chain
• What quantities are needed to meet customer demand
• How supplies should be processed into finished goods
and services
• How shipment of supplies and products to customers
should be scheduled, monitored, and controlled

Systems (continued)
• Customer relationship management (CRM)
programs:
– Help companies manage all aspects of customer
encounters (marketing, sales, ads, services and
programs of loyalty)
– Information sources come from (sales, surveys, e-
mails, browsing habits to build customer profiles)
– Can get customer feedback to help design new
products and services (change input materials, make
new design, develop new products)

Organizational Structures
• Organizational structure:
– Organizational subunits and the way they relate to
the overall organization
• Types of organizational structures:
– Traditional (Hierarchical)
– Project
– Team
– Virtual

Organizational Structures (continued)
• Traditional organizational structure:
– Hierarchy of decision making and authority flows:
• From the strategic management at the top down to
operational management and nonmanagement employees.
• Staff (legal council) or line (making, packing, shipping)
positions
– Flat organizational structure:
• Empowers employees at lower levels
– Empowerment:
• Gives employees and their managers more responsibility and
authority to make decisions

• Project and team organizational structures:
– Project organizational structure:
• Centered on major products or services
• Many project teams are temporary
• Example: Baby product company
– Team organizational structure:
• Centered on work teams or groups
• Team can be temporary or permanent, depending on
tasks
• Example: Healthcare company

• Virtual organizational structure and collaborative
work:
– Virtual organizational structure:
• Uses individuals, groups, or complete business units
in geographically dispersed areas
• Can reduce costs for an organization
– Allows collaborative work:
• Managers and employees can effectively work in
groups, even those composed of members from
around the world

Organizational Culture and Change
• Culture:
– Set of major understandings and assumptions shared by a
group
• Organizational culture:
– Major understandings and assumptions of a business
– Influences information systems
– Example: giving high value to understand customers
• Organizational change: (sustaining or disruptive change)
– How organizations plan for, implement, and handle change
(internal from employees, or external from competitors)
• Change model:
– Represents change theories by identifying phases of change
and the best way to implement them

(phases of change)
• Unfreezing:
– Ceasing old habits and creating a climate that is
receptive to change
• Moving:
– Learning new work methods, behaviors, and systems
• Refreezing:
– Involves reinforcing changes to make the new process
second nature, accepted, and part of the job
– With new systems few members become agents of
change to confront resistance to change.
• Organizational learning:
– The adaptations to new conditions or adjustments
based on experience and ideas over time

(continued)

Reengineering and Continuous
Improvement
• Reengineering:
– Process redesign
– Radical redesign of business processes,
organizational structures, information systems, and
values of the organization to achieve a breakthrough
in business results
• Continuous improvement:
– Constantly seeking ways to improve business
processes and add value to products and services

Improvement (continued)

User Satisfaction and Technology
Acceptance
• Technology acceptance model (TAM):
– Specifies the factors that can lead to better attitudes
about the information system
• Technology diffusion:
– Measure of how widely technology is spread
throughout an organization
• Technology infusion:
– Extent to which technology permeates a department

User Satisfaction and Technology
Acceptance (continued)

Quality
• Ability of a product or service to meet or exceed
customer expectations
• Techniques used to ensure quality:
– Total quality management
– Six Sigma

Quality (continued)

Outsourcing, On-Demand Computing,
and Downsizing
• Outsourcing:
– Contracting with outside professional services
• On-demand computing:
– Also called on-demand business or utility computing
– Rapidly responding to the organization’s flow of work
as the need for computer resources varies
• Downsizing:
– Reducing number of employees to cut costs

Competitive Advantage
• Significant and (ideally) long-term benefit to a
company over its competition
• Can result in higher-quality products, better
customer service, and lower costs

Factors That Lead Firms to Seek
Competitive Advantage
• The five forces model:
– Rivalry among existing competitors
– Threat of new entrants
– Threat of substitute products and services
– The bargaining power of buyers
– The bargaining power of suppliers

Competitive Advantage (continued)
• Rivalry among existing competitors:
– Industries with stronger rivalries tend to have more
firms seeking competitive advantage
• Threat of new entrants:
– Threat appears when:
• Entry and exit costs to an industry are low
• Technology needed to start and maintain a business
is commonly available

Competitive Advantage (continued)
• Threat of substitute products and services:
– The more consumers can obtain similar products
and services that satisfy their needs, the more likely
firms are to try to establish competitive advantage
• Bargaining power of customers and suppliers:
– When customers have a lot of bargaining power,
companies increase their competitive advantage to
retain their customers

Strategic Planning for Competitive
Advantage
• Strategies:
– Cost leadership
– Differentiation
– Niche strategy
– Altering the industry structure
– Creating new products and services
– Improving existing product lines and service

Strategic Planning for Competitive
Advantage (continued)
• Other strategies:
– Growth in sales
– First to market
– Customizing products and services
– Hiring the best people
– Innovation

Performance-Based Information
Systems
• Major stages in the use of information systems:
– Cost reduction and productivity
– Competitive advantage
– Performance-based management

Productivity
• A measure of output achieved divided by input
required
• Higher level of output for a given level of input
means greater productivity
• Lower level of output for a given level of input
means lower productivity
• Productivity = (Output / Input) × 100%

Return on Investment and the Value of
Information Systems
• Return on investment (ROI):
– One measure of IS value
– Investigates the additional profits or benefits that are
generated as a percentage of the investment in IS
technology
• Earnings growth
– The increase in profit that the system brings

Return on Investment and the Value of
Information Systems (continued)
• Market share and speed to market:
– The percentage of sales that a product or service
has in relation to the total market
• Customer awareness and satisfaction:
– Performance measurement is based on feedback
from internal and external users
• Total cost of ownership:
– The sum of all costs over the life of the information
system

Risk
• Managers must consider the risks of designing,
developing, and implementing systems
• Information systems can sometimes be costly
failures

Careers in Information Systems
• Degree programs:
– Information systems
– Computer information systems
– Management information systems
• U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor
Statistics (www.bls.gov):
– Predicts that many technology jobs will increase
through 2012 or beyond

Roles, Functions, and Careers in IS
• Primary responsibilities in information systems:
– Operations:
• System operators primarily run and maintain IS
equipment
– Systems development:
• Focuses on specific development projects and
ongoing maintenance and review

Roles, Functions, and Careers in IS
• Primary responsibilities in information systems
(continued):
– Support:
• Provides user assistance in hardware and software
acquisition and use, data administration, user training
and assistance, and Web administration
– Information service units:
• A miniature IS department attached and directly
reporting to a functional area in a large organization

Typical IS Titles and Functions
• Chief information officer (CIO)
– Employs the IS department’s equipment and
personnel to help the organization attain its goals
• LAN administrators
– Set up and manage the network hardware, software,
and security processes

Typical IS Titles and Functions
(continued)
• Internet careers:
– Internet strategists and administrators
– Internet systems developers
– Internet programmers
– Internet or Web site operators
• Certification:
– Process for testing skills and knowledge resulting in
an endorsement by the certifying authority

Other IS Careers
• New and exciting careers have developed in
security and fraud detection and prevention
• Other IS career opportunities include being
employed by technology companies, such as:
– Microsoft (www.microsoft.com), Google
(www.google.com), Dell (www.dell.com), and many
others

Working in Teams
• It is always good for IS professionals to:
– Have good communications skills and the ability to
work with other people
• Getting the best team of IS personnel to work on
important projects is:
– Critical in successfully developing new information
systems or modifying existing ones

Finding a Job in IS
• Developing an online résumé can be critical to
finding a good job
• Job search approaches:
– On campus visits
– Referrals from professors, friends, and family
members
– The Internet:
• Online job sites
• Company Web sites
• Social networking sites
• Blogs

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