Tugas Sistem Informasi Manajemen (review individually)

Nama : Laila Chairunnisa
No reg: 8335088274
Prodi S1-akuntansi '08 (nonreg)




What are the principle types of information systems that support information activities in the organization?
Answer :
There are various types of management information systems. Mason and Swanson (1981) describe four categories of management information systems: 
1. Databank information system
2. Predictive information system
3. Decision-making information system
4. Decision-taking information system. 

The classification is based on the level of support that the information system provides in the process of decision making. Sachdeva (1990) comprehensively presents these four types of systems: 

1. Databank Information System
The responsibility of this information system is to observe, classify, and store any item of data which might be potentially useful to the decision maker. Examples of the kind of data that might be recorded in such a database for a given village, region, or area are as follows: 
• Number of farms
• Number of units of arable land (hectares, fedans, acres)
• Average farm size
• Amounts of selected farm inputs applied annually
• Production per year on a unit of land for selected crops
A second example of data that might be recorded in a database (this time involving data internal to the organization) is as follows: 
• Number of extension staff by category and assigned to a particular village, region, or area 
• Number of work hours devoted by staff to selected concerns for a particular village, region, or area 
• Total extension salary costs and other expenses by village, region, or area 
• Number of demonstrations conducted for selected farm technologies by village, region, or area 
• Number of on-farm trials conducted for selected farm technologies by region or area 
• Number of radio, TV, and print media releases regarding selected farm technologies by time period and region or area
Figure 1. Role of information in the decision process. 

Each of these databases can be summarized and converted to single tabular presentations of information of interest to management. When information from two or more time periods is compared, trends can be observed. 
2. Predictive Information System

This system moves beyond pure data collection and the determination of trends over time. Predictive information systems provide for the drawing of inferences and predictions that are relevant to decision making. If data from the above examples were to be used in this way, it is possible to obtain information useful for making predictions or for drawing inferences. For example, tables containing the following information for a given village, region, or area might be produced: 
 The ratio between the number of farms and the various categories of extension staff members 
 The ratio between the amount of farmland and the various categories of extension staff members 
 Amount of extension financial operating resources allocated per year to selected farmer problems or concerns 
 Amount of extension financial resources, both salary and operating expenses, allocated per year to selected extension approaches to solving different farmer problems or concerns
Information obtained from these kinds of analyses is normally summarized in a two-way tabular format. And likewise, the information often is compared over time. Managers can then use such information to make predictions, for example to forecast costs of particular undertakings for budgeting purposes or as a basis for predicting results if a given change is made, such as change in the number of demonstrations with a given change in staffing. 
3. Decision-Making Information System

This system goes one step further in the process of decision making and incorporates the value system of the organization or its criteria for choosing among alternatives. An extension organization's values are many and varied. They include concerns for resolving farmer problems, increasing and providing for stability of farmer incomes, and improving the quality of farm life. But they also including and providing for stability of farmer incomes, and improving the quality of farm life. But they also include an intent to provide well for staff members (training, adequate salaries, etc.) and to aid in the process of bringing about rural economic development. 
Table 1. Information Groups in India's Agricultural Extension System. 
Levels Groups Types of Information Needed
Central Extension commissioner, joint commissioners, directors, joint directors, etc. of the directorate of extension, ministry of agriculture (1) Information on human resources, plans, and budgets for various extension services
(2) Statewide monitoring and evaluation of activities completed
State Director of agriculture, additional director, joint directors, etc. of the state department of agriculture (1) Districtwide information on extension programmes, activities, expenditures, etc
(2) Research-extension linkages and coordination with other allied departments such as animal husbandry and horticulture
District District agricultural officers (DAOs) (1) Information on extension resources and constraints at subdivision and block levels
(2) Training requirements of staff at subdivision and block levels
Subdivision Subdivisional agricultural officers (1) Field demonstration programmes, activities planned and implemented by subject-matter specialists (SMSs) (zone) at the block level
(2) Technical programme and constraints identified at the block level
Block (county) Agricultural extension officers (1) Performance of VEWs in terms of achievements in extension activities 
(2) Field-level problem of assessment of beneficiaries' response to various extension programmes
Information regarding these various attributes helps managers to make more enlightened decisions. Examples of ways that an extension organization uses information from a decision-making information system are as follows: 
• Change in specific farm outputs (yields, practices) following selected extension activities 
• Change in staff productivity following selected interventions (in-service training, better transport, etc) 
• Comparison of relative costs and relative effectiveness of alternative extension delivery methods 
• Analysis of economic returns to farmers who adopt recommended practices as compared to those who do not
4. Decision-Taking Information System

Examples of decision-taking information systems are not usually found in an extension organization. This is a decision 
system in which the information system and the decision maker are one and the same. Management is so confident in the assumptions incorporated in the system that it basically relegates its power to initiate action to the system itself. Airplanes carry automatic pilot systems, which are an example of a decision-taking system. Once activated, the system itself keeps the plane on course and at the proper speed and altitude (according to parameters determined by the pilot). Another example of decision-taking information systems is found in modem factory production. In automobile production, continuous inventories of parts are maintained by computer as cars move down an assembly line. Orders are placed automatically by the computer when additional parts are needed. This is done without the intervention of a manager. 
The choice of an appropriate management information system (MIS) category primarily depends on the nature of the decisions it supports. While unstructured decisions may use MIS-category (I), the highly structured ones, such as production schedules in an industry, may use MIS-category (iv). Further, Banerjee and Sachdeva (1995) observe that "as the deep structure of the decision problem becomes more and more understood, we may move to higher level of MIS i.e., from MIS-category (I) to MIS-category (ii); and MIS-category (ii) to MIS-category (iii); and so on."

Tugas Sistem Informasi Manajemen

Nama : Laila Chairunnisa

No reg : 8335088274

Prodi : S1-akuntansi '08 (non reg)

1. What are the five major factors to consider when building an international information systems infrastructure ?

2. Describe the five general cultural factors leading toward growth in the global business and the four specific business factors. Describe the interconnection among these factors.

3. What is meant by a global culture ?

4. What are the major challenges to the development of global systems ?

5. Why have firms not planned for the development of international systems ?

6. Describe the four main strategies for global business and organizational structure

7. Describe the four different systems configurations that can be used to support different global strategies?

ANSWERS

1. The five major factors to consider when building an international information systems infrastructure are :

a) The global environment.

b) The corporate global strategies.

c) The structure of the organization.

d) The management and business processes.

e) The technology platform.

2. The five general cultural factors leading toward growth in the global business :

a) Global communication and transportation technologies.

b) Development of global culture.

c) Emergence of global social norms.

d) Political stability.

e) Global knowledge base.

Information, communication, and transportation technologies have created a global village in which communication (by telephone, television, radio, or computer network) around the globe is no more difficult and not much more expensive than communication down the block. The cost of moving goods and services to and from geographically dispersed locations has fallen dramatically. The development of global communications has created a global village in a second sense: A global culture created by television and other globally shared media such as movies now permits different cultures and peoples to develop common expectations about right and wrong, desirable and undesirable, heroic and cowardly. The collapse of the Eastern bloc has speeded the growth of a world culture enormously, increased support for capitalism and business, and reduced the level of cultural conflict considerably. A last factor to consider is the growth of a global knowledge base. At the end of World War II, knowledge, education, science, and industrial skills were highly concentrated in North America, western Europe, and Japan, with the rest of the world euphemistically called the Third World. This is no longer true. Latin America, China, southern Asia, and eastern Europe have developed powerful educational, industrial, and scientific centers, resulting in a much more democratically and widely dispersed knowledge base.

The four specific business factors :

a) Global markets.

b) Global production and operations.

c) Global coordination.

d) Global workforce.

e) Global economies of scale.

Global production and operations have emerged with precise online coordination between far-flung production facilities and central headquarters thousands of miles away. At Sealand Transportation, a major global shipping company based in Newark, New Jersey, shipping managers in Newark can watch the loading of ships in Rotterdam online, check trim and ballast, and trace packages to specific ship locations as the activity proceeds. This is all possible through an international satellite link.

The new global markets and pressure toward global production and operation have

called forth whole new capabilities for global coordination of all factors of production. Not only production but also accounting, marketing and sales, human resources, and systems development (all the major business functions) can be coordinated on a global scale. Frito Lay, for instance, can develop a marketing sales force automation system in the United States and, once provided, may try the same techniques and technologies in Spain. Micromarketing—marketing to very small geographic and social units—no longer means marketing to neighborhoods in the United States, but to neighborhoods throughout the world! These new levels of global coordination permit for the first time in history the location of business activity according to comparative advantage. Design should be located where it is best accomplished, as should marketing, production, and finance. Finally, global markets, production, and administration create the conditions for powerful, sustained global economies of scale. Production driven by worldwide global demand can be concentrated where it can best be accomplished, fixed resources can be allocated over larger production runs, and production runs in larger plants can be scheduled more efficiently and precisely estimated. Lower cost factors of production can be exploited wherever they emerge. The result is a powerful strategic advantage to firms that can organize globally. These general and specific business drivers have greatly enlarged world trade and commerce.

The interconnection among these factors :

These general cultural factors leading toward internationalization result in specific business globalization factors that affect most industries. The growth of powerful communications technologies and the emergence of world cultures create the condition for global markets—global consumers interested in consuming similar products that are culturally approved. Coca-Cola, American sneakers (made in Korea but designed in Los Angeles), and Cable News Network (CNN) programming can now be sold in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

3. Global culture created by television and other globally shared media such as movies now permits different cultures and peoples to develop common expectations about right and wrong, desirable and undesirable, heroic and cowardly.

4. The major challenges to the development of global systems :

a) Agreeing on common user requirements.

b) Introducing changes in business processes.

c) Coordinating applications development.

d) Coordinating software releases.

e) Encouraging local users to support global systems.

5. The firms not planned for the development of international systems, because many different kinds of challenges in developing an international system. The challenge are :

GENERAL

a) Cultural particularism: Regionalism, nationalism, language differences.

b) Social expectations: Brand-name expectations, work hours.

c) Political laws: Transborder data and privacy laws, commercial regulations.

SPECIFIC

a) Standards: Different Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), e-mail, telecommunications standards.

b) Reliability: Phone networks not uniformly reliable.

c) Speed: Different data transfer speeds, many slower than United States.

d) Personnel: Shortages of skilled consultants.

6. The four main strategies for global business and organizational structure :

a) The domestic exporter strategy is characterized by heavy centralization of corporate activities in the home country of origin. Nearly all international companies begin this way, and some move on to other forms. Production, finance/accounting, sales/marketing, human resources, and strategic management are set up to optimize resources in the home country. International sales are sometimes dispersed using agency agreements or subsidiaries, but even here foreign marketing is totally reliant on the domestic home base for marketing themes and strategies. Caterpillar Corporation and other heavy capital-equipment manufacturers fall into this category of firm.

b) The multinational strategy concentrates financial management and control out of a central home base while decentralizing production, sales, and marketing operations to units in other countries. The products and services on sale in different countries are adapted to suit local market conditions. The organization becomes a far-flung confederation of production and marketing facilities in different countries. Many financial service firms, along with a host of manufacturers, such as General Motors, Chrysler, and Intel, fit this pattern.

c) Franchisers are an interesting mix of old and new. On the one hand, the product is created, designed, financed, and initially produced in the home country, but for product-specific reasons must rely heavily on foreign personnel for further production, marketing, and human resources. Food franchisers such as McDonald’s, Mrs. Fields Cookies, and KFC fit this pattern. McDonald’s created a new form of fast-food chain in the United States and continues to rely largely on the United States for inspiration of new products, strategic management, and financing. Nevertheless, because the product must be produced locally—it is perishable—extensive coordination and dispersal of production, local marketing, and local recruitment of personnel are required.

d) Transnational firms are the stateless, truly globally managed firms that may represent a larger part of international business in the future. Transnational firms have no single national headquarters but instead have many regional headquarters and perhaps a world headquarters. In a transnational strategy, nearly all the value-adding activities are managed from a global perspective without reference to national borders, optimizing sources of supply and demand wherever they appear, and taking advantage of any local competitive advantages. Transnational firms take the globe, not the home country, as their management frame of reference. The governance of these firms has been likened to a federal structure in which there is a strong central management core of decision making, but considerable dispersal of power and financial muscle throughout the global divisions.

7. The four different systems configurations that can be used to support different global strategies :

a) Transnational firms must develop networked system configurations and permit considerable decentralization of development and operations.

b) Franchisers almost always duplicate systems across many countries and use centralized financial controls.

c) Multinationals typically rely on decentralized independence among foreign units with some movement toward development of networks.

d) Domestic exporters typically are centralized in domestic headquarters with some decentralized operations permitted