Opening Scenario: Fired? Why?

• Jennifer gets fired from FlexTime after four months

on job.
• Her job was to find ways to increase revenues.
• She only followed orders, did not show self
initiative.
• Did not become a team member.
• Did not collaborate with others.
• Did not understand business process concepts.
• Being reliable, hard working, honest, and having
integrity is important, but today they’re not enough.
1
 Study Questions

Q1: Why is Introduction to MIS the

most important class in the business
school?
Q2: What is MIS?
Q3: How can you use the five-component model?
Q4: Why is the difference between information
technology and information systems important?
Q5: What is information?
Q6: What are necessary data characteristics?
Q7: 2022?

2
 Why Information Systems?
“Chaotics”
technology are the two main forces
Globalization and __________
that helped to create a new level of interlocking
fragility in the world economy. While global
interdependence works in everyone’s favor in good
times, it rapidly spreads much pain and damage in
bad times.

by Philip Kolter and John Caslione (AMACOM 2009)

N
3
 Top-Ten Innovation Mistakes a Company
Can Make During a Turbulent Economy

• Fire talent.
• Cut back on technology.
__________________
• Reduce risk.
• Stop product development.
• Allow boards to replace growth-oriented CEOs with cost-
cutting CEOs.
• Retreat from globalization.
• Allow CEOs to replace innovation as key strategy.
• Change performance metrics.
• Reinforce hierarchy over collaboration.
• Retreat into walled castle.
4
Q1: Why Is Introduction to MIS the Most
Important Class in the Business
School?

• 1. Learn to assess, evaluate, and apply

emerging information technology to
business
• 2. Gain marketable skills and perspectives
• 3. Moore’s Law creates infinite
opportunities for innovation

5
 First Reason Introduction MIS Most
Important
1. Future business professionals need to be
able to assess, evaluate, and apply
emerging information technology to
business.

6
 Second Reason Introduction MIS Most
Important
2. The only job security that exists is “a
marketable skill and the courage to use it.”
- Learning
What is the only entity that remained
unchanged in the “Business”?
- Learning to Learn and
- Learning to Change
• Because cost of data storage and data
communications is essentially zero, any
routine skill can and will be outsourced to the
lowest bidder.
7
 How Can I Attain Job Security?

• Develop non-routine “Rapid technological change and

cognitive skills and increased international competition
place the spotlight on the skills and
ability
preparation of the workforce,
• Knowledge and skills particularly the ability to adapt to
are your job security changing technology and shifting
• Ability to cope with demand. Shifts in the nature of
organizations…favor strong
rapid technological
nonroutine cognitive skills.”(Lynn A
change Kaoly and Constantijn W.A. Panis, The 21st Century at Work.

RAND Corporation, 2004, p. xiv )

•What are your marketable
“Capacity to Learn” skills?
8
How Can Intro to MIS Help You Learn Nonroutine Skills?

Abstraction: Concealing irrelevant details from the user.

Abstraction is the process of temporarily ignoring underlying details so we
can focus on the big picture of the large problem at hand

9
 Routine Skills and Moore’s Law

• Because cost of data storage and data

communications is essentially zero, any routine
skill can and will be outsourced to the lowest
bidder.

• We will study Moore’s Law with its relation to

ZERO advantage in the next slides.

10
Third Reason Introduction to MIS the Most
Important Class in the Business School?

• Ultimate reason: Moore’s Law

• Moore’s Law (1965)
 “The number of transistors per square inch on
an integrated chip doubles every 18 months.”
 Statement commonly misunderstood to be:
“The speed of a computer doubles every
18 months,” which is incorrect, but
captures the sense of principle.

11
 Ratio of Price to
Performance of Computers

12
 Consequences Moore’s Law

• YouTube What happens when data

• iPad storage and communications
• Facebook costs are essentially zero?
• Woot.com
• Pandora
Are There Cost-Effective Business
• Twitter Applications of Facebook and
• LinkedIn Twitter? (see next slide)
• Foursquare

13
 Are There Cost Effective Business
Applications of Facebook and Twitter?
• Fitness instructors post announcements via Twitter
that participants follow.
• FlexTime studio collects those tweets and posts
them on its Facebook page.
• Total cost to FlexTime studio? Zero.
• How do you compute the benefit-cost ratio when
the cost is zero?

FREE
________ADVANTAGE – related to Moore’s Law?
14
 Achieving Business Goals and Objectives
• Q/A: “Everyone has a Facebook presence, therefore, I
should also develop my own one” .
• YES/NO
• What questions should be asked (clarified) before
making the decision?
– “What is the purpose of our Facebook page?”
– “What is it going to do for us?”
– “Is Facebook the best choice?”
– “Should we be using Microsoft Vine, instead?”
– “Are the costs of maintaining the page sufficiently offset by
the benefits?”
Information systems exist to help people in business
achieve the goals and objectives of that business 15
 Study Questions
Q1: Why is Introduction to MIS the most important class
in the business school?
Q2: What is MIS?
Q3: How can you use the five-component model?
Q4: Why is the difference between information
technology and information systems important?
Q5: What is information?
Q6: What are necessary data characteristics?
Q7: 2022?

16
 What is MIS?

• Management, Use and Aligning Information

Systems to Achieve Business Strategies (and
consequently their goals and objectives).

• Computer-based information system

• (video)

• More to be explained in Part II.

17
 Management and Use
of Information Systems
Management
• Information systems are built for business professionals (you)
to use.
• You need to take an active role in specifying system
requirements and in managing development projects to ensure
that the system meets your needs and the organization’s needs
(user involvement).
Use
• You need to learn how to use the system to achieve business
goals.
• You are responsible for the system and data security.
• You must ask the right questions

18
 What is MIS?

• Information systems components (video link)

Figure 1-3 Five Components of an Information System

what is the direction of degree of difficulty?

 Hardware—desktops, laptops, PDAs
 Software—operating systems, application programs
 Data—facts and figures entered into computers
 Procedures—how the other four components are used
 People—users, technologists, IS support
19
 Q2: What Is MIS? (Summary)

Business professionals need to:

Take an active role in IS to ensure that
systems meet their needs
Understand how IT systems are
constructed
Consider users’ needs during
development

Learn how to use information systems

Take into account ancillary IT functions

(Security, Backups, etc.)

20
 Study Questions
Q1: Why is Introduction to MIS the most important class
in the business school?
Q2: What is MIS?
Q3: How can you use the five-
component model?
Q4: Why is the difference between information
technology and information systems important?
Q5: What is information?
Q6: What are necessary data characteristics?
Q7: 2022?

21
 How Can You Use the Five-Component Framework?

The Most Important Component – YOU [Video]

• Quality of your thinking
• Change the way your brain works
• Know how to use information systems

Figure 1-4 Characteristics of the Five Components

22
 Components Ordered by Difficulty and Disruption
Five IS components evaluated based on order of ease of
change and amount of organizational disruption.
1. Hardware is simple to order and install.
2. Obtaining or developing new programs is more difficult.
3. Creating new databases or changing structure of existing
databases is more difficult.
4. Changing procedures, requiring people to work in new ways, is
even more difficult.
5. Changing personnel responsibilities and reporting relationships
and hiring and terminating employees are both very difficult and
very disruptive.
- create competitive advantage as they are
more difficult to be replicated/replaced.

23
 Q3: How Can You Use the Five-
Component Model? (Summary)

• Consider high-tech vs. low-tech alternatives

• Understand scope of new systems
• Remember components ordered by difficulty and
disruption

24
 Study Questions
Q1: Why is Introduction to MIS the most important class
in the business school?
Q2: What is MIS?
Q3: How can you use the five-component model?
Q4: Why is the difference between
information technology and
information systems important?
Q5: What is information?
Q6: What are necessary data characteristics?
Q7: 2022?

25
 IS vs. IT

?
IS = IT

Why?

26
Components of Information Systems
(MIS/IS) – Managerial Perspective

N S
T IO
ZA

TE
N I

CH
G A

NO
OR

LO
INFORMATION

Y G
SYSTEMS

MANAGEMENT

27
 What is Information Systems?
• Information Systems (IS) are more than just
computer hardware and software.
• It is not just developing business applications
programs
• Information Systems include:
– Information Technology
– Management
– Organization
• Ultimately, IS are used as strategic tool to
improve/create an organization’s competitive 28
 Difference Between Information Technology
and Information Systems?
• Information technology (IT) pertains to things you buy:
 Hardware; Software; Data components
• Things you can buy or lease:
 Products; Methods; Inventions
 Standards (obtain predesigned procedures)
• Information technology drives the development of
new information systems.
• You can buy IT, but you cannot buy IS.
- competitive advantage since they are difficult
to be replaced/replicated.
29
 How can you enjoy/apply MIS ...

improve
• To _________the information content of the
data,present
• to _________the valuable information in a
user-friendly, intuitive, and easy to
understand
empower way, and
• to ________ knowledge workers of today
and tomorrow.

30
Roles of Information Systems

Automates

Innovates/
Informs
Transforms

31
 Q4: Why Is Difference Between IT and IS
Important? (Summary)

IS = IT + Management + Organization

IS = IT + Procedures + People
Avoid common mistake: You cannot buy an IS
• Can buy or lease hardware, software licenses,
databases and predesigned procedures
• People require training, overcoming employees’
resistance to change, managing employees using
new system
32
 SUMMARY
Information System (IS) should be an
organizational and management
solution, based on information
technology (IT), to a challenge posed
by the environment.

33
 Study Questions
Q1: Why is Introduction to MIS the most important class
in the business school?
Q2: What is MIS?
Q3: How can you use the five-component model?
Q4: Why is the difference between information
technology and information systems important?
Q5: What is information?
Q6: What are necessary data characteristics?
Q7: 2022?

34
 Q5: What Is Information?

• Information is knowledge derived from data

• Data in a meaningful context
 Data processed by summing, ordering,
averaging, grouping, comparing, etc.
• “A difference that makes a difference”
• Where is information?
 It’s in Your Head

35
 What Is Information?
Does this graph contain information?

36
Which is data? Information? Context
Change Process

Figure (Extra)
37
 Which is data? Information?

• A student’s name
• A student’s transcript record
• Unit price of iPod touch
• Monthly sales amount of MP3 players
• Fall enrollment of students
• Fall enrollment of students from 2001 –
2009
• Enrollment comparisons of students at GU
• Users really want is
vs. other peer universities
– Information
38
 What is Information ?

DATA INFORMATION

What is 80/20 rule?

How to apply it to this scenario?

Information is refined data.

39
 What is Information ?

DATA INFORMATION
Trivial many (80%)? 80% of
or information/
Vital few (20%)? valuable output

Other business
example?

40
DATA, INFORMATION ,
AND KNOWLEDGE

41
 The relationships between data, information, and knowledge.

Data
Data Information Knowledge
Data Information Knowledge

Simple observation of Data endowed with Valuable information from

states of the world relevance and purpose the human mind; includes
reflection, synthesis,
Easily captured Requires unit of analysis
context
Easily structured Needs consensus on meaning Hard to capture electronically

Easily transferred Human mediation necessary Hard to structure

Often tacit
Compact, quantifiable Often garbled in transmission Hard to transfer
Highly personal to the source

More human contribution

Greater value

42
 Value Chain Data of the
Enterprise
Data Information Knowledge Intelligence Wisdom

“Knowledge is information that changes something or somebody – either by

becoming grounds for actions, or by making an individual (or an institution)
capable of different or more effective action” - Pete Drucker.

Wisdom refers to our effective use of intelligence (or knowledge),

intelligence refers to our effective use of knowledge.
An organization learns what it knows by cultivating its knowledge ecosystem
in which information, insights, and inspirations cross-fertilize and feed one
another, free from the constraints of geography and schedule.
43
 100 Years ago...

 Industrial Revolution
changed the World

Today...
• Information
Revolution!

44
 100 Years ago...

 Industrial Revolution
changed the World

Today...
• Information
Revolution!

45
 Steam Engine
Industry Rail Road
Evolution (1829,
(mid 1770s) change concept
of distance)

Impact on:
Economy, Politics,
Social change

Information Computer Internet

Evolution (1990,
(late 1990s) ??? Distance)
N

46
More Information ?
• More information is
not profitable unless
it is relevant
information.
• Executives will need
better
information in
the future if their
companies are to be
competitive. 47
 Information …

BAD information is WORSE than ...

NO information.

48
 Study Questions
Q1: Why is Introduction to MIS the most important class
in the business school?
Q2: What is MIS?
Q3: How can you use the five-component model?
Q4: Why is the difference between information
technology and information systems important?
Q5: What is information?
Q6: What are necessary data
characteristics?
Q7: 2022?

49
 What Makes Some Information Better than
Other Information?
• Accurate—correct and complete
data, and processed correctly.
Accuracy is crucial; managers must
be able to rely on results of their
information systems.
• Timely—produced in time for its
intended use.
• Relevant—both to the context and to
the subject.
• Just sufficient—for purpose for
which it is generated. Avoid
information overload.
• Worth its cost—appropriate
relationship between cost of
information and its value.
50
Attributes of Information
Quality
We realize that a firm needs better
information to survive and prosper.
Therefore, high quality information
products have to be provided to
management.

51
 Attributes of Information
Quality
Timeliness
Currency
Frequency
Time Period

m e on
i
T nsi
ime
D
Accuracy Co Clarity
Relevance Dim nt o rm ion
en ent
Detail
Completeness F ns
Conciseness sio im e Order
Scope n D Presentation
performance Media

52
 Q7: 2022?
• Most computers won’t look like a computer
• Kindle (now)
• The Future of Computers
• Everyday items will have computers in them
 What will that mean to industry in general? Who
will be the winners and losers?
• Why go to class if you have a classroom in a
“box”?
 College textbooks?
 College classrooms and campuses?

53
Any Questions

54