Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Information Systems and the Role of
General and Functional Managers
Why every modern manager must be proficient with Information
Systems
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Course Roadmap
• Part I: Foundations
– Chapter 1: Introduction
– Chapter 2: Information Systems Defined
– Chapter 3: Organizational Information Systems and Their
Impact
• Part II: Competing in the Internet Age
• Part III: The Strategic use of Information Systems
• Part IV: Getting IT Done
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Learning Objectives
1. To define the terms general manager, functional manager and end user.
You will also learn to articulate the difference between these concepts.
2. To define the role of the modern chief information officer (CIO).
3. To identify organizational and information technology trends that have led
to the current popularity of IT-based information systems.
4. To identify why it is important for general and functional managers to be
involved in information systems decisions.
5. To identify, and avoid, the risks that arise when general and functional
managers decide to abdicate their right (and duty) to make important
information systems decisions.
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Introduction
• It is very hard to escape the hype and publicity
surrounding information technology (IT) and
its business applications
• A key driving force has been the affordability
and accessibility of I/T and business
applications
• This has resulted in I/T and business
applications becoming criticial investment for
business operation
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Basic Manager Definitions
• Manager: A trained knowledge worker who is
in charge of a team often hold a master’s
degree in management or business
administration
• General Manager: Knowledge worker in
charge of an entire organization or business
unit
• Functional Manager: Knowledge worker in
charge of a functional area or team
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The Importance of IS
“All the value of this company is in its people.
If you burned down all our plants, and we just
kept our people and our information files, we
should soon be as strong as ever.” ~Thomas
Watson Jr.
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What This Means For You
• Selecting, designing, and managing IT and IS:
Not a job of the “IT guy”
• Modern general and functional managers are
responsible for working in partnership with IT
professionals.
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Critical Lessons
• Managers have to make educated decisions
about the use of IT
• Organizations use new IT to serve
growing/changing business needs
• Savvy managers partner with IT pros to ensure
information systems success
• Managers may or may not be end-users of the
new systems they help intorduce
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What is an End User?
• End User: Individuals who have direct contact with
software applications as they use them to carry out specific
tasks.
• Anyone who uses a software program is an end-user
– Students who use office productivity tools in write papers for
their classes
– Customers who use online systems to order goods & services
– Supplies who use business systems to deliver goods & services
– Managers & employees who use simple office productivity
programs (MS Office) or advanced programs (organizational
business systems) for their day-to-day activities
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The End User
• Come into direct contact with the technology: Software and
hardware
• Use the technology to complete their day-to-day work and
improve their own productivity
• General and Functional Managers often are also end-users.
But the critical skills are different
• General and Functional Managers must
– Understand the role IT plays in an information system
– Be able to identify opportunities to use IT to their organization’s
advantage
– Plan for the effective use of IS resources
– Manage the design, development, selection, and implementation of
organizational information systems
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Organizational Priorities
Top 10 Business Priorities
Business process improvement
Reducing enterprise costs
Increasing the use of information/analytics
Improving enterprise workforce effectiveness
Attracting and retaining new customers
Managing change initiatives
Creating new products or services (innovation)
Targeting customers and markets more effectively
Consolidating business operations
Expanding current customer relationships
Top 10 Technology Priorities
Virtualization
Cloud computing
Web 2.0
Networking, voice and data communications
Business Intelligence
Mobile technologies
Data/document management and storage
Service-oriented applications and architecture
Security technologies
IT management
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Next Wave of CIOs
• Increasing prevalence of IT → necessary
understanding of how to use resource
• Broad view of operations, business processes,
inter-organizational coordination challenges, and
opportunities
• Broad understanding of how the firm is
positioned to execute strategy
• No longer seen not as the endpoint of a career
but as a stepping stone to other executive
positions (CEO, president, etc.)
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Key CIO Skills
• Perpetually develop the IT Team/Organization
• Effectively manage change while in pursuit of:
–
–
–
–
Marketplace Innovation
Process Improvement
Maximum Agility
Leverage of Legacy Systems
• Achieve 100% Customer Satisfaction
• Consistently improve business performance
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What’s an Information System?
An organizational system that enables the
processing and management of an
organization’s information
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Key I/T Trends
• IT is the enabler of new strategy, initiatives,
and effective management
• Processing power, storage capacity, and
battery life continue to increase rapidly
• IT costs continue to decline rapidly
• IT continues to improve in user friendliness,
thus becoming accessible to more and more
people
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More IT Trends of Managerial Significance
• Data storage cost continues to decline
• More and more devices are networked
• Intelligent devices are now mainstream
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Implications of IT Trends
Computing power
(computation and
storage) increases.
Cost of computing
power declines
Cost of data
transmission
declines
Network
bandwidth
increases
Computers
become
interconnected
Computers
become
easier to use
Digitization and
miniaturization increase
Interconnected computing devices
become more pervasive and embedded
in more aspect of our lives
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Effects of Managerial Significance
• Huge increases in capital expenditures related
to I/T has resulted in
– Advances in communication systems
• Affordable high-speed Internet access
• Reliance on instant messenging tools
– Access to entertainment options
• Access to games & movies online
– Increased productivity
– Management relying on newer intelligence tools
to improve decision making capability
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Hiring the “Right” IT Person
• Skills of managers are complementary to
those of IT professionals
• Communication and a good relationship are
critical to capitalize on such
complementarities
• No longer important to just good enough to
hire “good” IT professionals and let them
worry about all the IT stuff
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The Recap
• Chief information officers (CIOs) are increasingly being selected from the
functional and managerial ranks rather than from the technology ranks.
This job is no longer looked at as a career ender
• The enduring effects of Moore’s law have led to increasingly powerful yet
cheaper computing strength, declining costs of computer memory, and a
dramatic improvement in the ease and breadth of use of digital devices
• Moreover, increasingly available network connectivity and storage
capacity, improved battery life for portable devices, and the proliferation
of intelligent devices have contributed to dramatically change the business
and social landscape
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The Recap
• Managers can no longer abdicate their right, and duty,
to be involved in information systems and IT decisions
• Managers must act in partnership with the firm’s
information systems and technology professionals
• The skilled manager is one who can use information
technologies to the firm’s advantage; can properly plan
& manager the firm’s information systems resources;
and who can manage, design, develop, select, and
implement information systems
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What We Learned
1. To define the terms general manager, functional manager and end user.
You will also learn to articulate the difference between these concepts.
2. To define the role of the modern chief information officer (CIO).
3. To identify organizational and information technology trends that have led
to the current popularity of IT-based information systems.
4. To identify why it is important for general and functional managers to be
involved in information systems decisions.
5. To identify, and avoid, the risks that arise when general and functional
managers decide to abdicate their right (and duty) to make important
information systems decisions.
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