1.) What are the four levels of activity in the pyramid representing the business organization?

Also,
distinguish between horizontal and vertical flows of information.

The four levels of activity in the pyramid representing the business organization:

a. Top Management – responsible for long-term planning and establishing organizational goals

b. Middle Management – responsible for short-term planning and facilitation of acts to achieve
the goals

c. Operations Management – responsible for day-to-day operations

d. Operations Personnel – responsible for the organization’s product-oriented activities

Horizontal and Vertical Flows of Information

a. Horizontal – support operation-level tasks with highly detailed information about day-to-day
operations

b. Vertical - distribute summarized information to managers at all levels and this information
flows upward

2.) Distinguish between natural and artificial systems.

Natural systems consist of objects already existing in nature ranging from an atom to the universe.
These include all lifeforms such as plants and animals. On the other hand, artificial systems are
manmade such as the cellphones that we use daily.

3.) What are the elements of a system?

The elements of a system are: Multiple Components, Relatedness, System vs Subsystem, Purpose,
System Decomposition, and Subsystem Interdependency.

4.) What is system decomposition and subsystem interdependency? How are they related?

System decomposition is when we divide the system into smaller subsystem parts, while subsystem
interdependency is the interactions between these subsystems. They are related due to the subsystem’s
interactions with one another. The systems divided in system decomposition become smaller
subsystems and interact through subsystem interdependency.

5.) What is the relationship among data, information, and an information system?

Data is the raw form and information can be termed as the finished product. The raw data is collected,
stored, and processed through an information system to turn it into relevant information to be utilized
by the users.