Management, 6e
Schermerhorn
Prepared by
Cheryl Wyrick
California State Polytechnic University Pomona
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
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Chapter 3
Information and Decision Making
 Planning Ahead
– How is information technology changing the
workplace?
– What are the current directions in information systems?
– How is information used for problem solving?
– How do managers make decisions?
– How do learning and knowledge management create
value?
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Information Technology and the
New Workplace
 Work and the
Electronic Office
– Electronic Office
• use of computers and
related technologies to
electronically facilitate
operations in an office
environment
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Information Technology and the
New Workplace
 Electronic Commerce (e-commerce)
– commercial transactions take place online
• Steps
– establish a web site
– advance the web site to self-service status
– advance the web site to allow transactions
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Information Technology and the
New Workplace
 Information Needs of Organizations
– Information
• data made useful for decision making
– intelligence
– public
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Developments in Information
Systems
 Information Systems
– technology to collect, organize, and distribute
data in such a way that they become meaningful
as information
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Developments in Information
Systems
Success factors for information
systems
– technical quality of the system
– participation and involvement of users in the
system design
– management support
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Developments in Information
Systems
 Chief Information Officer (CIO)
– oversees all aspects of computer, information
and telecommunications systems
– central role in strategic decision-making
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Developments in Information
Systems
Management Information Systems
(MIS)
– specifically designed to use IT to meet
the information needs of managers in
daily decision-making
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Developments in Information
Systems
Decision Support Systems (DSS)
– special software to allow users to interact
directly with a computer to help make
decisions for solving complex,
unstructured problems
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Developments in Information
Systems
 Decision Support Systems
– group decision-support systems (GDSS)
• interactive computer-based information systems that
facilitate group efforts to solve complex problems
• groupware
– allows several people to simultaneously work together on
computer networks
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Developments in Information
Systems
 Decision Support
Systems
– virtual teams
• team members who
work different shifts or
are separated
geographically
• use groupware to
facilitate information
exchange and decisionmaking
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Developments in Information
Systems
 Artificial Intelligence (AI)
– computer systems with capacity to reason the
way people do
 Expert Systems
– systems that mimic the way experts think
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Developments in Information
Systems
 Intraorganizational Systems and Intranets
– Intranets
• networks of computers that use special software to
allow persons working in various locations of the
same organization to share databases and
communicate electronically
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Developments in Information
Systems
 Intraorganizational Systems and Intranets
– Enterprisewide networks
• move information quickly and accurately from one
point to another within an organization
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Developments in Information
Systems
 Intraorganizational Systems and Extranets
– networks that use the public Internet to allow
communication between the organization and
elements in its external environment
– electronic data interchange (EDI) allows
companies to communicate electronically with
one another
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Information and Problem Solving
 Problem
– difference between actual and desired situation
• performance deficiency
• performance opportunity
 Problem solving
– process of identifying a discrepancy and taking
action
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Information and Problem Solving
 Types of Managerial Problems
– structured
• familiar, straightforward
– programmed decisions
• solutions readily available
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Information and Problem Solving
 Types of Managerial Problems
– unstructured
• involve ambiguity and information deficiencies
• unanticipated
– nonprogrammed decisions
• specially tailored to a particular situation
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Information and Problem Solving
 Types of Managerial
Problems
– crisis
• unexpected problem
that can lead to disaster
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Information and Problem Solving
 Problem Environments
– certainty
– risk
– uncertainty
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Information and Problem Solving
 How Managers Deal with Problems
– problem avoiders
– problem solvers
– problem seekers
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Information and Problem Solving
 How Managers Deal with Problems
– systematic thinking
– intuitive thinking
– multidimensional thinking
• applying intuitive and systematic thinking
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Information and Problem Solving
 How Managers Deal with Problems
– strategic opportunism
• ability to remain focused on long-term objectives
and be flexible enough to resolve short-term
challenges in a timely manner
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The Decision-Making Process
 Typical Approach
– identify and define problem
– generate and evaluate possible solutions
– choose a solution and conduct an ethics double
check
– implement solution
– evaluate results
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The Decision-Making Process
 Step 1: Identify and Define Problem
– avoid the following
• defining problem too broadly or narrowly
• focus on symptoms
• choose wrong problem
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The Decision-Making Process
 Step 2: Generate and Evaluate Possible
Solutions
– Criteria
•
•
•
•
•
benefits
costs
timeliness
acceptability
ethical soundness
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The Decision-Making Process
 Step 3: Choose Solution and Conduct Ethics
Double Check
– Decision-making models
• classical decision model
– results in optimizing decision
• administrative decision model
– results in satisficing
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The Decision-Making Process
 Step 3: Choose Solution and Conduct Ethics
Double Check
– Judgmental heuristics
• simplifying strategies for decision making
– availability
– representativeness
– anchoring and adjustment
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The Decision-Making Process
 Step 3: Choose Solution and Conduct Ethics
Double Check
– Escalating commitment
• increase effort and resources to enhance a course of
action that is not working
– Conduct ethics double check
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The Decision-Making Process
 Step 4: Implement the Solution
– Establish appropriate action plans
– Avoid lack-of-participation error
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The Decision-Making Process
 Step 5: Evaluate Results
– Form of managerial control
– Easier if solution has measurable targets and
timetables
– Examine positive and negative consequences
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Learning and Knowledge
Management
 Organizational Learning
– mental models
– personal mastery
– systems thinking
– shared vision
– team learning
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Learning and Knowledge
Management
 Lifelong Learning
– continuously learning
from daily life and
opportunities
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Learning and Knowledge
Management
 Knowledge Management
– processes through which organizations develop,
organize and share knowledge to achieve
competitive advantage
• Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO)
– energizes learning processes
– manages organization’s intellectual assets
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