correct answers 100%
1. Which features of organizations do managers need to know about to build and use
information
systems successfully? What is the impact of information systems on organizations? - Correct
AnswerAll modern organizations are hierarchical, specialized, and impartial, using explicit
routines to
maximize efficiency. All organizations have their own cultures and politics arising from
differences in
interest groups, and they are affected by their surrounding environment. Organizations differ in
goals,
groups served, social roles, leadership styles, incentives, types of tasks performed, and type of
structure. These features help explain differences in organizations' use of information systems.
Information systems and the organizations in which they are used interact with and influence
each
other. The introduction of a new information system will affect organizational structure, goals,
work
design, values, competition between interest groups, decision making, and day-to-day behavior.
At the
same time, information systems must be designed to serve the needs of important
organizational groups
and will be shaped by the organization's structure, business processes, goals, culture, politics,
and
management. Information technology can reduce transaction and agency costs, and such
changes have
been accentuated in organizations using the Internet. New systems disrupt established patterns
of work
and power relationships, so there is often considerable resistance to them when they are
introduced.
,*) Define an organization and compare the
technical definition of organizations with the
behavioral definition. - Correct AnswerStudents can make use of Figures 3-2 and Figure 3-3 in
answering this question.
The technical definition defines an organization as a stable, formal social structure that takes
resources from the environment and processes t
hem to produce outputs. This definition of an
organization focuses on three elements: Capital, labor, and production and products for
consumption. The technical definition also implies that organizations are more stable than an
informal group, are formal legal entities, and are social structures.
The behavioral definition states that an organization is a collection of rights, privileges,
obligations,
and responsibilities that are delicately balanced over a period of time through conflict and
conflict
resolution. This definition highlights the people within the organization, their ways of working,
and
their relationships.
The technical definition shows us how a firm combines capital, labor, and information
technology.
The behavioral definition examines how information
technology impacts the inner workings of the
organization.
*) Identify and describe the features of organizations that help explain differences in
organizations' use of information systems. - Correct AnswerCommon features for organizations
include:
- Routines and business processes:
Standard operating procedures have been developed
, that allow the organization to become productive and efficient thereby reducing costs over
time.
- Organizational politics: Divergent viewpoints about how resources, rewards, and
punishments should be distributed bring about political resistance to organization change.
- Organizational culture: Assumptions that define the organizational goals and products
create a powerful restraint on change, especially technological change.
- Organizational environments: Reciprocal
relationships exist between an organization and
environments; information systems provide organizations a way to identify external
changes that might require an organizational response.
- Organizational structure: Information systems reflect the type of organizational structure -
entrepreneurial, machine bureaucracy, divisionalized bureaucracy, professional
bureaucracy, or adhocracy.
*) Describe the major economic theories that help explain how information systems affect
organizations. - Correct AnswerThe two economic theories discussed in the book are
transaction cost theory and agency theory.
The transaction cost theory is based on the notion t
hat a firm incurs transaction costs when it buys goods in the marketplace rather than making
products for itself. Traditionally, firms sought to
reduce transaction costs by getting bigger, hiring more employees, vertical and horizontal
integration, and small-company takeovers. Information technology helps firms lower the cost of