Information Systems: Concepts, Trends, and Issues

Chapter 1 provides an overview of business pressures resulting from environmental, organizational, and technological issues. Information systems are viewed as systems that support the critical response activities of organizations, such as increasing productivity, and reducing the business pressures by providing solutions to business problems.

[ Update | Exercises | IT@Work ]

Update

Infoliteracy

Often referred to as the "father of management," Peter Drucker believes that "computer literacy" will soon be an outdated concept, just as ridiculous as the idea of "telephone literacy." Computers are commonplace in business settings, and the ability to use them is taken for granted at all levels of modern organizations. According to Drucker, the real shortcoming in organizational skills comes from the fact that managers, particularly at the senior executive level are not information literate. Infoliteracy requires that managers understand the information requirements of the various tasks they undertake. It means that they must no longer rely on technologists to tell them what they want. Instead, they learn to assume "information responsibility."

To read more about Drucker's prescription for increasing managerial information literacy, follow the links below:

Infoliteracy: Drucker Magazine, Spring 1995
The Relentless Contrarian: Wired Magazine Interview, August 1996

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Exercises

Enter the Web site of UPS.
a) Find out what information is available to customers before they send a package.

b) Find information about the "package tracking" system.
Surf the Internet and find information about international virtual corporations (at least 2 examples).

Find information about virtual corporations in general.

IT@Work

Many of the organizations described in this chapter's section on "Information Systems at Work Worldwide" continue to benefit from the advanced use of information technologies. Some have expanded the scope of their information systems onto the internet and it's world-wide web.

For example, customers no longer have to call UPS to track missing packages. They simply log on to UPS On Line, download free tracking software, and use it to access the UPS database to determine the status of their packages.

Continuing to lead the its industry in information systems, Florida Power & Light Company has developed an interactive web site to promote customer and investor relations.

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