Organizations and Information Systems

Organizations and Information Systems

Information systems and organizations influence one another. Information systems are built by managers to serve the interests of the business firm. At the same time, the organization must be aware of and open to the influences of information systems to benefit from new technologies.

          The interaction between information technology and organizations is complex and is influenced by many mediating factors, including the organization’s structure, standard operating procedures, politics, culture, surrounding environment, and management decisions (see Figure 3-1). As a manager, you will need to understand how information systems can change social and work life in your firm. You will not be able to design new systems successfully or understand existing systems without understanding your own business organization.

FIGURE 3-1 The two-way relationship between organizations and information technology This complex two-way relationship is mediated by many factors, not the least of which are the decisions made—or not made—by managers. Other factors mediating the relationship include the organizational culture, structure, politics, business processes, and environment.

          As a manager, you will be the one to decide which systems will be built, what they will do, and how they will be implemented. You may not be able to anticipate all of the consequences of these decisions. Some of the changes that occur in business firms because of new information technology (IT) investments cannot be foreseen and have results that may or may not meet your expectations. Who would have imagined five years ago, for instance, that e-mail and instant messaging would become a dominant form of business communication and that many managers would be inundated with more than 200 e-mail messages each day (Walker, 2004)? A technology introduced to boost productivity may actually wind up lowering it