Module : Management Information System Due Date : 31 March 2021

Level : Professional Diploma in Management

Answer all questions

Question 1
In the 21st century, information technology has emerged as the fundamental technology of
business. Explain how it has helped businesses and state examples of real time situation
which you have read about or experienced. (10 marks)

Information technology help business by improve the business processes (change the way
the organization work) , lowering costs, goods and services, increased customer loyalty, achieve
specific business results and so on. By my own family experience, there are many benefits of
information technology in business such as in communication, improved workplace efficiency, cost
reduction and also economic efficiencies.
Rapid communications can help increase productivity, allow for better decision-making and
ease a company’s expansion into new territories or countries. Email servers, routers, internal
company billboards and chat services can serve as the backbone of a company’s communications.
IT equipment can be used to send business status reports to executives, to update employees on
critical business projects and to connect with business partners and customers.
Information technology systems can be used to automate routine tasks, to make data analysis
easier and to store data in a manner that can easily be retrieved for future use. Technology can also
be used to answer customer questions through email, in a real-time chat session or through a
telephone routing system that connects a customer to an available customer service agent.
Companies can harness information technology resources to lower their costs. Using IT
infrastructure, redundant tasks can be centralized at one location. Economic efficiencies can also be
realized by migrating high-cost functions into an online environment. Companies can offer email
support for customers that may have a lower cost than a live customer support call. Cost savings
could also be found through outsourcing opportunities, remote work options and lower-cost
communication options.
 Question 2
Explain the fundamental functions of managers in an organization and briefly explain how
the managers in your organization carry out these functions effectively. (8 marks)

A manager is accountable for all the happenings in the firm and is answerable to the
management. The fundamental functions of managers is planning, organizing, staffing, directing /
leading, coordinating, reporting, budgeting and controlling. The manager needs to plan the schedule
and give the blueprint of how the task is to be done with all the necessary details, and also the
manager should have a backup plan that if this doesn’t work then what next. For example there is a
new project, how to start, human resource required, resources required and everything should be
planned. Another example is inventory management systems which is it comes to managing inventory,
organizations need to maintain enough stock to meet demand without investing in more than they require.
Inventory management systems track the quantity of each item a company maintains, triggering an order of
additional stock when the quantities fall below a pre-determined amount. These systems are best used when
the inventory management system is connected to the point-of-sale (POS) system. The POS system ensures
that each time an item is sold, one of that item is removed from the inventory count, creating a closed
information loop between all departments.

Question 3

What is the objective and function of Office Information System (OIS). Explain how the function of
OIS is handled in your organization. (7 marks)

Office Information System (OIS) support office tasks with information technology. The
primary goal of these systems is to increase the productivity of office work. The primary purpose
of OIS is to facilitate communication between members of an organization and between the
organization and its environment. The functions of OIS is document management, message
handling, teleconferencing, electronic meeting systems and support of group work and groupware.
An office information system or OIS is an information system that uses software, hardware, and
networks to improve work flow and help communications among employees. Today, it is widely
accepted that managing the information resource is very often equally important to the
organization or IT department. This result show how important this services to the organizational.
It has been stated that through this services with an office information system, also defined as
office automation, employees implement tasks electronically using computers and other electronic
devices, instead of manually. With an office information system, for example, a registration
department capacity to post the class schedule on the Internet and e-mail students when the
schedule is updated.
Question4
What are the components of Information Systems? What do you think the future trends (how
will the technology be in future) of this components? (10 marks)

The components of Information Systems is hardware ( multiple computer systems like

microcomputers, mainframes, together with their peripherals ), software ( computer software falls
into two classes like systems software and applications software ), databases (organized collections
of interrelated data used by applications software and manage by systems software ), human
resources (professional information systems personnel include development and maintenance
managers, systems analysts, programmers and operators, often with highly specialized skills ) and
procedures ( the policies and methods to be followed in using, operating, and maintaining an
information system ).
Today, devices that we can hold in one hand are more powerful than the computers used to
land a man on the moon. The Internet has made the entire world accessible to us, allowing us to
communicate and collaborate with each other like never before. As the world of information
technology moves forward, we will be constantly challenged by new capabilities and innovations
that will both amaze and disgust us. The new capabilities and powers that come with these new
technologies will test us and require a new way of thinking about the world. Businesses and
individuals alike need to be aware of these coming changes and prepare for them.

Question 5
What are the drawbacks of the traditional Organization Structures? Give examples of
situations which are related to the drawbacks. (5 Marks)

Traditional organizational structures, often associated with top-down, highly procedural

mechanistic organizations, drove much of the business landscape in the early and mid-20th
century. Although traditional structures excel in industries where procedural uniformity equates to
quality, they tend to have some drawbacks in meeting the varied demands of 21st-century
businesses. The example drawbacks of the traditional organization is low creativity,
communication problems, high cost, less happiness and so on.
There are more examples of situations which are related to the drawbacks. In a traditional
organizational structure, employees work under several layers of management. Communication in
these organizations originates at the top, typically with the organization's senior leaders, and flows
downward through the company's various layers. Employees at or near the bottom of one chain of
command typically experience difficulty communicating with peers in other work groups, as the
organizational structure nearly prohibits the horizontal flow of communication. Similarly,
employees in such organizations often lack the ability to communicate upward, and this restriction
inhibits the receipt of employee feedback. In more modern organizational structures, by contrast,
work groups commonly communicate with peers throughout the company, and many organizations
encourage employees to express ideas or concerns with senior management.