Information Management System (IMS 552 )

The 3 key resources in management information system challenge are information, information
technology, and people. Which of this 3 resources is the most important? Why? The least important?

Information
Information is defined as a fact that has been processed and organized in to a meaningful
knowledge. It is a message that were received and understood and a knowledge that acquired through
study, experience and instruction. Information also can be identify as concept that has many meanings,
from everyday usage to the technical settings. The concept of information is closely related to notions of
constraint, control, data instruction, and knowledge.

Information has its own value and it can be very valuable when it is delivered at the right time,
the right place and to the right person that need it. For an example, an investor can use the information
about current economy to invest in a profitable business. If they got the wrong information about the
business as they invest in a company that is almost bankrupt and they didn’t know about it, they might
loss and lose their money. Next information also is a very valuable asset in business field because it can
determined whether an organization will make profit or loss. This is because any confidential
information related to a company can be used against if the information fall into the wrong hand such as
their competitor. So, information can be so powerful.

A valuable information have several characteristic. This characteristic can show how much value
the information is. There is the example of a valuable information’s characteristic:

Accessible

 A valuable information can be easily access by the authorized users so that it can be obtained
when it is needed.

Accurate

 The information must be accurate because it it will be used to support decision maker. If the
information is inaccurate, its also will cause a wrong decision making.

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Complete

 It is contained with all the important fact. This can support in decision making too.

Flexible

 The information can be used for a variety purpose so it can be a multipurpose information

Reliable

 The information come from a reliable rsource and can be trusted by user.

Secure

 It is only can be accessed by an authorized user.

Timely

 The information can be obtained when it is needed.

Verifiable

 The information is confirmed by many sources.

Information give a lot of advantages to the users. It can be used in a meaningful way needed by the
users. The advantages of information include:

Support decision making

 A useful information will support in the decision making made by the user. It will help with the
accuracy of the information that can be used by the user to make a decision. For an example, a
person can make a wise choice in buying a peanut butter from two different brand by knowing
both of the products price..

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A Guide for a better planning and control

 It can be a good guildliness for making activities or control a performance of a work. For an
example, a certain rules and policy is made to be followed by a company’s staff to maintain or
increase their production.

Enhance knowledge and skills

 The advantages of an information is it can enhance users skill and knowledge by provide an
information such as tutorial, instruction and guidelines. For an example, a musician can enhance
their skills by learn from a tutorial video from Youtube.com.

Besides advantages, an information also have their disadvantages. It is:

Information overload

 Too much information can be a problem for user because there are too many information that
cannot be handled and the reliability and the accuracy is unknown.

Overemphasize decision making

 Information can overemphasize user’s judgement in making their decision if it is too much of
information. It also can disturb users rational in making their decision especially in a critical and
pressure circumstances.

Unanticipated effects

 The decision made by the user that based on an information may have an unpredictable result.
For an example, a fisherman decide to go to the sea because the weather forecast said the day
will be fine. But, on the day he go to the sea, it was unpredicted rain happen.

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Information technology

Information technology can be defined as a study, design, development, implementation,

support or management of computer-based information system, particularly software applications and
computer hardware. Information technology also deals with the use of computer and computer
software to securely convert, store, protect, process, transmit, input, output and retrieve information. In
other words, Information Technology is a work that involve with electronic devices such as computer,
hardware and software.

Advantages of Information Technology:

Globalization

 IT has brought the world closer together and allowed the world’s economy to become a single
interdependent system. That’s mean, we can share any information quickly and efficiently and
we also can reduce the barriers of linguistic and geographic boundaries among countries.

Communication

 With information technology, communication has become cheaper, quickerade more efficient.
Nowadays, we can communicate with anyone, anywhere in the world just by text message, e-
mail, web chatting and video conferencing.

Cost effectiveness

 IT has helped to computerize the business process thus streaming business and make them
extremely cost effectivemoney making machine. This can increase the productivity and make
profits.

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Bridging the cultural gap

 Information technology has helped to bridge the cultural gap by helping people from different
cultures to communicate with one another, and allow for the exchange of views and ideas.

More time

 IT has made it possible for businesses to be open 24 hours a week, all over the world and also
allowed us to make purchases from different countries easier and it is convenient. Moreover,
you can have your goods delivered right to your doorstep with having to move a single muscle
by using IT such as E-commerce.

Creation of new jobs

 the best advantage of information technology is it create a lot of new and interesting jobs. The
example of the new job creation is like computer programmers, systems analyzers, hardware
and software developers and also web designers.

Disadvantages of Information Technology:

Unemployment

 While information technology have streamlined the business process, it also has crated job
redundancies, downsizing and outsourcing. Its means that a lot of lower and middle level jobs
have been done by using technology such as computer and machine and its causing more
people to become unemployed.

Privacy

 Information technology may have made communication quicker, easier and more convenient.
But it has also bought along privacy issues. From cell phone signal interceptions to email
hacking, people are now worried about their private information becoming public knowledge.

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Lack of job security

 Industry experts believe that the internet has made job security as a big issue since technology
keeps on changing with every day. It means that a person has to be in a constant learning mode
to make sure their job is secure.

Dominant culture

 Information technology may have made the world a global village, but it has also contributed to
a culture dominating another week culture. For an example, we can see now that young
teenagers all over the world has been influences by the west cultural such as their acting, dress
up and behaviour. Their languages also have become overshadowed, when English becoming
the primary mode of communication for business and everything else.

People

People also have their role in the management information system. People are needed to
manage the information and the information technology. They can process the information in a way that
the computers cannot do. This is because they have a different way of thinking by considering many
element before making a decision.

The role of people:

Resercher

 People become a researcher when they read any information, process, and use it to find a
solution for a problem. For an example, a scientist make a research to find a cure for H1N1 virus.

Contributor

 People can contribute and share the information that they have for goods. They contribute may
have been the most important thing to something that they are contributing to. For an example,

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a motivator share his knowledge about “stress management” to a company’s staff. It is

important for the staff because they can do their work without stress and this can increase their
productivities.

Founder

 People can be a founder by manipulating information and turn it into a new foundation. They
process old information and come out with a new information. This is important because we
need to update and advancing our knowledge and information.

People also have their advantage and disadvantages. It is:

Advantage

Sharing information

 People can share and exchange their information with each other to enhance their knowledge.
By knowledge sharing, one can improve they thinking way and lead to a positive decision making
and also lead to a positive result.

Manage information

 People can manage their information to a meaningful and creative way different from
computers. People also know when and how to use the information according to the
circumstances.

Create information

 People can create new information by doing a research. They can come out with more useful
information

Analysis information

 People can analysis any infotmation instantly and wisely. This can help them to make a quick
decision making.

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Disadvantages

Misuse of information

 Misuse of information can happen when the information is used by people in a wrong way. For a
example, people use the information in hand to cause problem such as a computer-intelligence
use their expertise to scam people using online business.

Leak of information

 Leak of information can happen when the people incharged is not doing their job or leak the
information themselves. This happen a lot in business field when the business information of a
company was leaked to their competitor. This cause the company loss their profits.

So, from all of the 3 key resources above, it is decided that information is the most important key
because it is the base for Information technology and people. Without information, IT will have no use
and people cannot make a wise decision in their life. This is because without information, technology
cannot develop by itself. They need to use information to create and develop any new technology.
Information nowadays have its own price. For examples, a company is buying information from an
outsourcing company to increase their productivity and also their profits. People also is buying
information such as newspaper, magazine and educational books. Information also is very valuable
when it comes to the right time, right place and to the right person. It can be use to assist in support
decision making especially in an emergency situation .

And for the least important between the 3 key resources is people. This is because people can make
mistakes in using the information and that can cause a very big problem. Next, people is easy to
influenced by other element such as emotion in making a decision. This can make them choose a wrong
or inaccurate decision. Then, all the skill, experience, expertise, and knowledge that a person have,
cannot be backup. If something happen such a death, the informations will lose. Problem that we have
nowadays is not many people have a skills required by a company to hire them such as skills in
computer-based and others. This will make the employer hard to hire them and it will cost them a lot
more money to send the staff for training or take a course. So here, people are the least important
element in managemt information system challenge.

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Reference
1. “Information Definition” retrieved at 12 October 2010 from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology

2. “Information Definition” retrieved at 12 October 2010 from:

http://www.google.com.my/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=267&rls=org.mozilla:en-
US:official&channel=s&defl=en&q=define:information&sa=X&ei=W0S3TPzoLcaeceGwpaIJ&ved=
0CBcQkAE

3. “The advantage and disadvantage of Information technology” retrieved at 12 October 2010

from:
http://www.smallbusinessbible.org/advan_disadvan_informationtechnology.html

4. “Information Technology Definition” retrieved at 12 October 2010 from:

http://www.google.com.my/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=9Rn&rls=org.mozilla:en-
US:official&channel=s&defl=en&q=define:information+technology&sa=X&ei=dUS3TP_fBoGycbT
X5L8J&ved=0CBoQkAE