StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

What is Management Information - Term Paper Example

Cite this document
Summary
The term paper "What is Management Information" states that Today’s organizations are really complex organizations in terms of their information requirements. The overall nature of the competition in any industry requires that the organizations must have access to timely information. …
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER91.2% of users find it useful
What is Management Information
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "What is Management Information"

Introduction Today’s organizations are really complex organizations in terms of their information requirements. The overall nature of the competition in any industry requires that the organizations must have access to the timely information that can allow them to take timely and accurate decisions. Further, organizations are now becoming knowledge based organizations wherein the dimensions of doing business depends upon how much knowledge and information is possessed by the employees and management of the firm. The management information therefore not only requires the deployment of technology as well as improvements in business processes but also outline the need for radical change in the way business use to perform traditionally. This also requires that the firms must ensure that the flow of information is in correct direct with adequate and right access to information at right time. Thus improvement of the information management is considered as key for improving the overall performance and efficiency of the organization. Flow of information therefore provides the organizations necessary advantage in terms of exploring the market and make timely and correct decision. As such it is therefore necessary that the correct information must flow in for each level of management to make correct assessment of the situation to make right decisions. This paper will critical discuss the notion of what exactly is Management information by discussing some of the theoretical concepts, practical examples in order to provide a critical overview of what management information is and how management information can play critical role in the success of the organization. What is Information? As the modern world transformed into post industrial era, businesses no longer were relying on their muscle power but rather the competition was based on quickly and efficiently information was processed by the firms. It is also important to note that there are very subtle differences between the nature of data and information and as such what is most significant for the organization is information and not the data. In more traditional sense, information is defined as something which we can perceive and provide the stimuli. This therefore includes any type of information including the written, oral as well as any other conceivable forms of information. It is also important to note that there is a critical difference between data and information as data is anything but information whereas data is converted into information when it is used for some specific purposes. In a sense, information is processed data which is used for some purpose and mostly for the purpose of making decisions. Thus data is nothing more than facts and figures that have been recorded whereas information is data which has been processed for some specific purpose and have been communicated and interpreted in such as manner that it is of some use for the receivers of the information.(Davis, 2001). The significance of information became more critical with the changes in the basic characteristics of the Western societies as they entered into the post-industrial era. The possession and processing of information therefore became one of the essential characteristics of conducting business and possession and correct processing of information therefore created strong inclination for the management to properly institutionalize management information into their organizations. It is important to note that information can be characterized in many ways and its classification depends on depends upon various factors. Some of the factors which classify the information in various categories include external information, quantitative information, strategic information etc. Information and Organizations The above definition of information indicates that data is successfully converted into information when it is processed for some specific use. However, from the organizational point of view, the process of data and its conversion to information is relatively more complex and require broader understanding of the various inter-related concepts. From organizational perspective, it is the user who defines whether the information is useful or not and as such the whole process of managing the information is dependent wholly on the nature of the user. If processed data is not understood or is of no use for the user, the information may not be characterized as the useful information from the organizational perspective. It is because of this reason that the relevance of information plays key role in information management and businesses rely heavily on converting and processing correct, relevant and timely information.(Mcleod, 2008). From the organization perspective, information can only be useful and manageable if it is easily understandable and reduces the ambiguity as well as uncertainty. Further, information with the organization need to be classified and characterized with pre-defined usage and access to the information. This also means that the information within an organization needs to be managed also. Information and Modern Management It has been the hallmark of the modern management that it hardly takes any participation into the day to day operations of the firm. Rather they rely on the information to make decisions and implement them down the line for their implementation. However, to obtain the required information they rely on many critical sources which can provide them both structured as well as unstructured information to make correct decisions. Such sources therefore can either be internal or external depending upon the nature of information required. It is therefore argued that the managers must understand as to what type of information they require and from where to get. The relevancy of information therefore is of critical importance because only relevant and timely information can provide managers right information to make correct decisions. However, relevant information always has the certain characteristics that make it relevant for the managers. Relevant information therefore is one which increases the knowledge, reduces the overall riskiness or uncertainty and is useful for its intended purpose.(Lucey, 2004). It is believed that the overall success of a company in managing its information depends largely upon the information infrastructure, processes, people as well as the overall culture of the organization. As such organization therefore transcend through different levels of information evolution which finally culminate into the successful use of information for achieving the strategic objectives of the firm. Management of information is also critical for the modern managers because of the fact that different levels of managers require different type of information to process in order to take decisions. As the management hierarchy within the organization becomes higher, the need for unstructured and fuzzy information increases as top management of the firm often takes decisions which are based on mostly unstructured information. As such it becomes the responsibility of the MIS department of the organization to process data into information in such a manner that it serves the purpose of each layer of the management. What is also significant to understand that management information needs to be tailored according to the specific requirements of the different layers of the management within the organization? (Laudon, 2006). The classification of the data into different types of information therefore ensures that the every layer of the management within the organization has access to right type of information. The information requirements at the lowest level of the organization is mostly transactional in nature therefore organization must ensure that the transaction processing capability of the firm is up to date. However, as the information moves up to the higher level management, it is really critical that the information must be to the specific needs of the higher level management. It is also because of this reason that the organizations often have two different information management systems in place- one that serves the information requirements of the line and middle managers and is often called transaction process system whereas the strategic information systems are put in place in order to serve the information requirements of the higher management of the organization. As such the overall information requirements with an organization shall be tailored according to following organizational hierarchies: Operational Information The lowest level of the management within an organization requires operational information to conduct the day to day business. The line managers who are often involved in operational activities therefore require structured information to perform their tasks. It is therefore important for the organization to manage the information at operational level in such a manner that it only provides access to the operational level information to the line managers to process. Operational level information is also considered as necessary because it allows the line managers to ensure the compliance with the rules and procedures of the organization and work in accordance with the overall strategic objectives of the firm. Tactical Information Mid tier management often requires tactical information which is semi-structured in nature and fulfills both the requirements of operational information as well as tactical information. This type of information is required in order to bridge the link between the line managers and higher management of the firm. This is because of the fact that higher level management often requires information which can indicate as to how the operational performance of the firm is going. As such tactical information management provides the necessary link between the higher management as well as the lower level management of the firm. Strategic Level Information Management As discussed above that the strategic level information management is often unstructured and fuzzy in nature and required by the top management of the organization. This is critical due to the fact that the higher management of the firm often need to look at the future and must conceive of the changes that can take place in future. This therefore requires that the leadership of the organization must have access to diverse and unstructured information in order to make decisions. Since the job of the top management of the firm requires providing vision to the organization and set its future orientation and direction therefore strategic level information needs to be unstructured in nature. Unstructured information therefore does not need to be in any particular format and it’s the top management of the firm which decides as to how to utilize this unstructured information to understand the trends and future changes that can affect the organization. Based on this assessment, future strategies are made in order to equip the organization to meet the challenges of the future.( Gallier & Leidner, 2003). Above discussion indicates that the management information means different things at different organizational levels. Each organizational layer perceives and processes information in different manner in order to customize it according to the particular needs. What is also however, important to note that it becomes the responsibility of the organization as a whole and top management of the firm to design the overall infrastructure in such a manner that it provides access to timely and correct information to all concerned? Conclusion There are very subtle differences between information and data and both are often used interchangeably. However, information is that form of data which is specifically processed for a particular use therefore the usefulness of the information is often perceived from the point of view of user rather than its sender. The changes in the basic economic structure of the developed societies required a transition towards post-industrial economy which depended more on the possession of information. As such those organizations became more successful which were effective in obtaining the right information at right time and utilize it for their specific purposes. The management of information therefore became one of the critical aspects for achieving success in modern world those organizations became successful which developed the capability of information management in better manner. The management information requirements within the organization often vary according to the level of management. Lower level of management i.e. line managers require more structured information because of the nature of their job whereas higher management require more unstructured information. The difference in information requirements of various levels of management is basically due to the implicit roles of each layer of management i.e. line managers are required to perform operational work whereas higher management of the firm is required to take strategic decisions and involve themselves into strategy formulations. Thus their information requirements are mostly unstructured in nature with more focus on understanding the future trends. References 1. Davis (2001). Management Information Systems. Illustrated. ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2. Galliers,R,& Leidner, D (2003). Strategic information management: challenges and strategies in managing information systems. 3. ed. London: Butterworth-Heinemann. 3. Laudon, K (2006). Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm. 10. ed. New York: Pearson Education. 4. Lucey, T (2004). Management information systems. 9. ed. New York: Cengage Learning EMEA,. 5. Mcleod, R (2008). Management Information Systems. 10. ed. London: Pearson Education. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(What is Management Information Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words, n.d.)
What is Management Information Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/management/1736745-what-is-management-information
(What Is Management Information Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 Words)
What Is Management Information Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 Words. https://studentshare.org/management/1736745-what-is-management-information.
“What Is Management Information Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 Words”. https://studentshare.org/management/1736745-what-is-management-information.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF What is Management Information

Management Information Systems

Wal-Mart currently has a management information system that helps storing and sharing information from and for its world wide operations.... It uses point-of-sale system to record all the sales information and telecommunication to connect with its stores worldwide to maintain stocks.... Starbucks has an advanced information system in place to collaborate worldwide operations, especially focusing on direct coordination among finance, purchase, sales and marketing, and human resource department....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Information mangment

It is evident that organizations are moving towards a knowledge economy or what can be referred to as the information society (Little, 2002).... Nonaka and Konno (1998) and Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) discuss a model of knowledge creation and diffusion illustrated below.... As such, the paper starts by discussing the importance of knowledge in an organization in order to fully explain the model represented below....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Information Systems Management

Wal-Mart is the largest supply chain management store in the world because of its broad and highly sophisticated system which depends on information technology systems.... hellip; Thus, with the integration of information technology, Wal-Mart seeks to develop an efficient system whereby the customer gets goods at the shortest time possible.... These bar code readers make tracking of goods in stores and also stock management efficient, as different products and shelves have different bar codes which provide real time information on the products....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Information technology for Management

The Hiring gateway allows human resource managers in companies to perform various job related activities ranging from information technology for management Yahoo!... n the case of job seekers, the candidate solutions allow candidates to construct an online profile that captures all basic information of a candidate and stores them in its database.... The web portal derives additional revenue from the provision of analytics that allows customers to generate reports using quantitative information within their profiles....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

INSPIRE Methodology

INSPIRE (Innovation System for Performance Improvement and Reorganization) is a modern and latest technology or methodology to improve and modernize the working system's performance and development.... In addition, INSPIRE is turning out to be a well-known methodology and has the… Additionally, INSPIRE holds a secret method that controls the implied knowledge of internal managers, who eventually turning out to be the ‘champion' of system transformation in a given circumstances....
10 Pages (2500 words) Essay

Management Information Systems

management information system: managing the digital firm - 12th Ed.... In order to solve the problem, the data-driven information system was developed and deployed in the schools.... he Success of the Solution According to me, every successful implementation of the information system has the ability to change the fate of the organization fruitfully.... Keeping in view the case study, the data-driven information system was extremely successful, however, the information Technology systems take a number of years to get mature and productive....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Management Information Technology

information extraction is differentiated from information retrieval that uses search engines such as Google to recover documents.... information extraction involves searching… So as to enhance the retrieval of information, various methods have been developed which include contextual feature detection analysis, use of codes for decision making and enhancing electronic storage of medical data, data mining, Management of information Technology The article talks about the developments that have been made information extraction of clinicalrecords....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Information Management

This paper "information Management" discusses information as a basis of success every business's success and each and it is something that every business of any scale must take account of.... The meaning of information is any kind of data that is related to the business.... hellip; One can call data as the raw form of information.... Whereas, information is defined as the functional explanation of the data.... This information needs to be managed, and proper management of information is so effective that it can transform a business' operation, and improve outcomes and earnings to a great extent....
9 Pages (2250 words) Assignment
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us