Viewing Businesses as Systems

SystemA set of interacting components that operate together to accomplish a purpose

EngineeringOrg. as a systemSupplierCustomerProductionSalesDeliveryServiceFinished goodsPreferencesEquipmentInformationOrdersFinishedGoodsServiceRequestsProduct designTHE FIRMOrders To suppliersPurchaseditems

Organizations and Information systems1) From technical viewpoint an organization is a formal structure that takes i/p from its surrounding environment and transforms these i/ps to o/ps through production process.Here i/p consist of labour and capital provided by the environment.o/ps are products and services.

organizationi/Ps from the environmento/ps to the environmentTechnical view of organizationProduction process

2) From the behavioral point of view an organization is a collection of rights , privileges and responsibilities that are balanced over a period of time.

StructureHierarchyDivision of labourBusiness processesRules, proceduresCulture

ProcessRights/obligationsPrivileges/responsibilitiesValuesNormspeopleResources from environmentOutputs to the environmentBehavioral view of organization

Organizational and behavioral impact.

Information system flattens organizations.According to traditional organizational hierarchy of management, various levels of management managed the lower level staff.The use of IS has increased the efficiency by flattening the hierarchies.IT applications provide the lower level employees with the information they require and they are empowered to make decisions without supervision

A traditional organizational hierarchy of management

A flattened organizational hierarchy

Work SystemA system in which humans perform a business process using information, technology, and other resources to produce products for internal or external customers.

Work SystemBusiness ProcessPeopleInformationOther resourcesProducts

Information Technology, Information Systems, and work systemsInformationTechnologyInformationSystemWorkSystemFirm