Information systems in organizations. Information systems have matured into a field of higher study within the administration. It is increasingly emphasized as an important area of research in management studies, and is taught at the world’s largest universities and business schools .
Summary
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- 1 Information as a resource in organizations
- 2 Information systems
- 3 Components
- 4 Typology in the organizational sector
- 5 Importance for organizations
- 6 Source
Information as a resource in organizations
In today’s society, called the “Information Society ”, the use and access to information constitutes a momentous change, from the economic and intellectual point of view, for the development of man in all spheres of life. It facilitates the decision-making process, represents a guide to problem solving, and lays the foundation for human progress. This condition has been addressed by authors who expose the characteristics that define the information resource and place it in a top position compared to traditional resources. These reflections are stated below:
According to Gil, the information
“It is a good that differs from an economic good by not ending or depreciating when consumed. Information is not extinguished by being shared, on the contrary, it makes it grow. Information is a piece of data or a set of data that, in a certain context, has a meaning for someone, and transmits a useful message in a certain place. Information is a primary resource that can even determine the success or failure of an institution. ”
Gil
Horton proposes two definitions of information resources that define it as follows:
- Information resource (singular): refers to the information itself, that is, the content.
- Information resources (plural): refers to the tools, equipment, supplies, people and resources used by an entity. Also the capital, investment and expenses involved in providing all these support resources.
Information systems
Information systems (SI) are recognized as a basic tool for using and accessing information in addition to facilitating the decision-making process in organizations.
Some definitions:
According to Muñoz Cruz, an information system
“Is a set of elements or components related to information that interact with each other to achieve an objective: provide and / or retrieve information”
Muñoz Cruz
According to Arjonilla Domínguez,
“An information system is made up of a set of integrated and interrelated elements that pursue the objective of capturing, debugging, storing, retrieving, updating and processing data to provide, distribute and transmit information at the place and time when it is required in the organization”
Arjonilla Domínguez
For Laudon, K and Laudon J, the information systems
“They are a set of interrelated components that collect (or retrieve), process, store and distribute information to support decision-making and control of an organization”
Laudon, K and Laudon J
In addition to fulfilling these functions, information systems can help managers and workers analyze problems, visualize complex issues and create new products.
According to Whitten, Bentley and Dittman an information system
“It is a group of people, data, processes and information technologies that interact to collect, process, store and provide the information necessary for the proper functioning of the organization”
Whitten, Bentley and Dittman
Andreu, Ricart and Valor define information systems
“As the formal set of processes that operate with a structured set of data according to the needs of an organization, collects, prepares and distributes the information necessary for the operation of said organization and for the corresponding control management activities, supporting the less in part, the decision-making necessary to carry out the functions and business processes in accordance with its strategy ”
Andreu, Ricart and Valor
Ponjuán states that for these systems
“Your goal should be to make sense of your collections, facilitate learning, stimulate curiosity, help eliminate memorization and increasingly fill the gap between formal concepts and intuition, theory and practice”
Ponjuán
In addition to fulfilling these functions, information systems can help managers and workers analyze problems, visualize complex issues and create new products.
Components
According to Ponjuán, the basic components of an Information System are:
- Documents: Any source of information, in material form, capable of being used for reference or study as an authority.
- Registries: it is a set of elements that collectively provide information about the matter they register.
- Record files or files: it is a set of records, almost always with similar characteristics.
- Equipment: the equipment is very varied and depends on the technological line used by the system.
- Elements to support the systems can be mentioned: procedure manuals, specific software.
- Processes: Set of tasks that are logically related, to obtain a specific result. Within the IS multiple processes are developed, with their procedures, activities and tasks
- People: They are the ones who design the systems, operate the equipment, carry out the processes, and make a large part of the technical and professional decisions that allow the systems to operate effectively.
According to Whitten, Bentley and Dittman the components of an information system are:
- Participating individuals: all individuals who can and should participate in the development of an information system can classify based on their vision of an information system.
- Owners: they sponsor and promote the system.
- Users: they use the system to capture, enter, validate, transform and store data and information. Most important group of individuals in the development of an information system.
- Designers: experts in technologies that solve the needs and restrictions expressed by users.
- Builders: Technology Specialists.
- Analysts: Study the problems and needs of the organization, to obtain improvements.
- Data and information: The processing of data allows it to be transformed into information.
- Business processes: Set of tasks that respond to business events.
- Information technologies: Physical support on which the SI is developed.
In essence, it can be argued that an information system routinely includes the following components: people from different roles, information, processes and technologies as key elements. These are interrelated as a whole, with a systemic approach to fulfill its fundamental purpose. When one of them is affected, the others are affected by the principle of synergy (The whole is more than the sum of the parts). Each component plays an important role that contributes to the general objective for which it was created.
Typology in the organizational sector
Various types of information systems have been developed in the organizational sector. These arise basically from the sector’s own needs and from the adaptation to the fundamental processes developed in accordance with the specific characteristics of each organization. Among them are the following
- Marketinginformation system (SIM): they are oriented to obtain and process marketing information, an organization needs three types of marketing information: marketing intelligence (information about the environment), internal marketing information (that which is collected within the organization) and communication of marketing information flowing from the organization to the environment). This information basically responds to the strategic area of the organization.
- Production Information Systems (SIP): aims to support the physical production system and provide information about production operations. This information responds specifically to the productive area of the organization.
- Financial information system (SIF): they provide individuals and groups, both inside and outside the organization, information related to the financial affairs of the organization.
- Human Resources Information System (SIRH): it allows to collect and store information related to human resources to transform it and then distribute it to the users of the organization.
- Management systems for managers (SDD): provide managers with information on the overall performance of the company. They use internal information sources (the outputs of functional information systems) and environmental sources (since information from outside the company is especially important at the highest hierarchical levels).
According to Monforte, the Information Systems in the organization are developed for different purposes, which can be:
- Data Processing (TPS – Transactional Processing Systems): they are developed to process large volumes of information. They carry out the routine activities of the organizations; however, the human element continues to participate in capturing the required information.
- Management or management information systems (MIS – Management Information Systems): provide periodic reports for planning, control and decision-making. They are systems that are based on the relationship that arises between people and computers. They support a broad spectrum of organizational tasks – beyond the capacity of data processing systems – including analysis and decision making.
- Decision Support Systems (DSS – Decision Support Systems): it also depends on a database as a source of information, but it differs from the information system for administration, because it emphasizes support in each of the stages of decision making. However, the decision depends on the person responsible. These systems should be designed with the guidance of the people who are going to use it, and not as a traditional system for administration.
- Expert systems or knowledge-based systems (WKS – Knowledge Working Systems): Capture and use the knowledge of an expert to solve a particular problem. Although the decision in SSDs depends on the person responsible, the expert system selects the best solution to the problem or to the specific type of problems. The basic elements of an expert system are: the knowledge base and an inference machine that links the user with the system, processing their requests through languages such as PROLOG or LISP and the user interface.
As evidenced above, the typology of information systems can be as varied and diverse as the information needs and respond to the objectives of each organization. When the criteria addressed by each of the authors are analyzed, it is observed how they include in one way or another the use of new information and communication technologies and their adaptation to the different areas and types of users present in the organizations.
Importance to organizations
An information system for the organization is of utmost importance since it facilitates the organization and standardization of the information, which allows knowing the state of the data, information on markets and competitors, project statistics, suppliers and other information relevant to the organizational management and decision making.
It must respond to the fulfillment of its mission and vision, as its supreme objectives, since the information systems interact directly with the environment of the organization, since the elements of the environment that affect the system constitute an input and every result of the system. towards its environment is an exit. Similarly, feedback is a key element for the development and strengthening of the organization. The feedback allows knowing the impact of the services and products, which will serve as exits in the environment and encourages the redesign of the system based on the satisfaction of the needs of the users / clients that will form inputs.
It represents an extremely important process, since the information obtained through it influences quantitatively and qualitatively in improving the quality of services and products.
