I.0 Introduction
The Farm Bank, just like any other organization must enhance its capabilities to be able to cope with the growing demands of the banking institution. While the top management came up with the right decision in adopting a new Management Information System (MIS), our analysis revealed that the managers should have made the decision after taking every aspect related to the new MIS (Ahmed and Omotunde, 2012) This is especially so in the banking industry where there are complex processes involved in the collection, analysis, summarization and presentation of valuable information that are needed for decision making. Accordingly, an effective MIS must be able to evaluate collected data in a given system, and provides a relevant and accurate output that is readily available to management when requested (Al-Gharaibeh and Malkawi, 2013). The overall objective of MIS is to help management in improving operations in terms of more efficient operational processes and better profits with the use of effective and timely decisions. In the case of Farm Bank, a closer examination showed that the recently installed MIS has not been improving the company’s operation. The following report is proposed to provide the result of a closer examination of several parameters as to what are the needed improvement to achieve the desired results.
1.1 Purpose
For this study, it is our purpose to explore the areas where the newly implemented management information system needs improvement. It is the CEO’s concern that two years after the implementation of the new MIS, there was little improvement in management operation. This study aims to find the weakness of the new implemented MIS, and the needed needed steps to be taken in order to improve operation.
1.2 Scope
The scope of this study is confined to an examination of Farm Bank’s different MIS processes, and how effective they are in improving the entity’s overall banking operations. The study includes the examination of the generated information and how effective they are in influencing decisions, the quality and timeliness of generated information and the manner by which the new MIS was accepted in the different departments of Farm Bank.
1.3 Limitations
We found that some of the limitations of this study include the possible uncooperative stance of the employees. In some organizations, there are employees that do not readily accept change, and in the case of Farm Bank, it is noted that there are those who still favor the old system and they thought negatively on the use of MIS. The attitude of the employees can have an implication on the result of the study. Another limitation is the unavailability of a few managers during interviews; the managers play a vital role in the business operation, thus their opinions are highly important if one has to evaluate the current management information system. Nevertheless, there are possible manner of overcoming these limitations such as communicating with the employees and a scheduled meeting with some of the managers.
1.4 Need for change/improvement
The disposition of the Farm Bank in adapting and improving on its MIS is an important characteristic of a sound banking management. The realization that new technology can have a positive impact in improving business operation is the first major step towards achieving growth in the industry. The business decisions of Farm Bank’s top management are affected by the availability of useful, relevant and timely data in an easy to understand format. Consequently, the management information systems play a significant role to ensure that the best decision or solution is made while ensuring that the bank’s goals and objectives are not compromised in any way. There is therefore a need to improve on the quality, accuracy, usefulness and efficiency of the outputs generated by the use of MIS.
2.0 Main Body
2.1 Anticipating Need for Change
Farm Bank’s president, Mr. Swain made a prudent decision in examining the overall impact of the newly adapted MIS. Through his findings, he came up with the realization of the need for a closer analysis for improvement of the new system. The overall goal of Management Information Systems (MIS) is to help businesses accomplish their objectives. In order to achieve its objectives, it is imperative to have an information system properly in place to accomplish and implement all that (Al-Mamary, Shamsuddin, and Aziati, 2014). In the case of Farm Bank, while Mr. Swain was pleased with the system for its capability to provide volumes if printed information, he realized that after two years of operation, the MIS provided a little improvement on the overall bank operation. It is surmised that the occurrence of the error could have been prevented when a survey was done before the first installation of the MIS. As explained by Milkman, Cugh and Bzerman (2008), there is a need to first study decisions before they are formally used in the organization.
A properly operating management information system is supposed to provide its intended user of an accurate and relevant information to help management come up with a better and smarter decisions (Babaei and Beikzad, 2013). Some of the features of a useful information generated from MIS include, a) accuracy which means that the data must be complete and accurate; b) timeliness which posits that the output must be available when needed, c) relevance which refers to the ability of the information to have an impact on management decisions, d) sufficiency which is the adequacy or completeness of the required information, and e) worthiness which means that the benefits derived must exceed the cost of its operation (Asemi, Safari, and Zavareh, 2012).
2.2 Developing Practioner-Client Relationship
Upon analysis, there are many aspects that needed to be improved in the current MIS of Farm Bank. However, a reference to the limitation of the study indicated that it would be difficult to examine the current MIS without proper communication with the employees. There is therefore a need to initially establish an open communication to build trust, and to allow the employees to freely express their thoughts about the system. Further, developing a satisfactory practitioner-client relationship is vital to achieve a common understanding as to the scope of the engagement and the shared responsibilities of both parties.
2.3 The Dianostic Change
The MIS has a database where all the relevant data that is provided by the bank’s employees through the MIS is stored. This data is then analyzed and converted and presented in the form of reports that is issued to the department heads, managers, and the president of the bank. Therefore, the MIS will be constructed on the foundation of how decisions are made within the bank and assist in future decision-making processes (Singh and Kaur, 2012). In Farm Bank, there were several aspects that were not taken into consideration during the initial implementation of the system, which now requires a closer examination on the part of both the practitioner and the client. According to an internal analysis based on the MIS survey provided by Valerie Wyat, some of the factors that impacted the effectiveness of the MIS were:
Quality of the Output. According to the survey, it was found that about 93% of the interviewed employees did not use the data generated from the system because the data were not in a useful form. The failure to adequately design the system to meet the needs of the different departments resulted in some problems described as follows:
Understandability. One of the core features of information for it to be useful is its understandability (Ramaswamy, 2012). While the MIS was able to produce larger outputs, it was found that about 76% of the users have difficulty interpreting the data.
Quantity and Relevance. Further, in the survey, it was found that about 72% of the users received more data than what they really needed. This means that there is a need to modify the system, so that only timely and relevant information are available at the request of a particular user or department.
Accuracy. The problem of accuracy should be resolved, because an inaccurate information can have a detrimental impact on management’s decisions.
Adaptability. There are some people who resent change, especially on the things that they are used to doing, fortunately, this can be resolved by an open communication.
2.4 Action Plans, Strategies and Techniques
The action plans to be taken are designed to address the weakness of the current MIS based on the analysis in 2.3. First is the need to communicate with the employees who will be using the system because some of the difficulty in the implementation of MIS is the fact that it is common in organizations for people to resist change (Boohehe and Williams, 2012) Moreover, one of the reasons why employees resist change is because of their unfamiliarity with the new technology (Hornstein, 2015). Therefore, MIS users must also be properly trained, not only for them to become efficient in the use of the new technology, but in order for them to appreciate the value of having a new MIS that can greatly help them in the performance of their job. There is also a need to encourage the involvement of employees in the decision making process in order to motivate and enhance better performance at work (Markos and Sridevi, 2010).
What follows is the re-designing of the system to cater to the needs of every department. This is a critical step because, as indicated in the survey, the dissatisfaction of the employees on the use of the MIS was in its inability to produce data in its useful form. A modification of the system to satisfy the decision making needs of every department is crucial. The role of the practitioner is to guide the organization during the implementation process to ensure the attainment of the system’s objectives.
2.5 Self-renewal, Monitor, and Stabilize
After the implementation, the practitioner must evaluate the effectiveness of the system. For Farm Bank, the problems found in the initial survey must be satisfied, and any possible difficulties in the use of the system should be addressed. There is also a need to ensure that the top management fully supports the new MIS because they are in the position to address possible problems that may occur. In this instance, when the new MIS has been already operational, and there is a sufficient indication of stability, then the practitioner may gradually disengage.
3.0 Conclusion
The CEO of Farm Bank made an excellent decision in seeking to find about why the recently implemented MIS had a minimal impact on the bank’s operation. It was found that several aspects of the MIS required redesigning, to cater to the needs of every department. There is also a need for communication with the employees about the importance of adapting of a new information system. Further, the employees must also be trained adequately on the use of the MIS in order for them to appreciate how it the new system can improve the quality of their work. The top management is required to be highly involved during the implementation because their support is needed for the success of the MIS. The practitioner is expected to gradually disengage after ensuring that the system is adequately functioning and the employees have fully adapted to the use of the new technology.
4.0 Recommendation
Based on the analysis of the company and the different factors that impacted the effectiveness of its management information system, I recommend that steps should be taken to re-design the existing MIS. It should be designed and tailored according to the specific needs of users in each department. Further, an analysis of the MIS should not end with the successful attainment of MIS objectives, rather, the top management should consider conducting a series of survey even after the success of the system. Technology and the needs of customers are always changing, and Farm Bank is operating under a fast-paced and technologically complex environment, thus there is a need to continuously get used to to meet the demands of the times. As an OD practitioner who is entrusted with issuing recommendations for this company, I further recommend going to the extent of allowing the employees to share their thoughts and ideas. Being the people who have a direct contact with the day-to-day operations of the bank, the employees are a valuable source of information for operational improvement. This is to ensure that the company is generating more benefits than the costs required to maintain the MIS. Continuous monitoring is advised to find possible ways of improvement in the system.
5.0 Reference
Ahmed, M. and Omotunde, H. Theories and Strategies of Good Decision Making. International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research 1.10 (2012): 51-54
AL-Gharaibeh, S. M., and N. M. Malkawi. "The Impact of Management Information Systems on the Performance of Governmental Organizations- Study at Jordanian Ministry of Planning." International Journal of Business and Social Science 4.17 (2013): [Online] Available from: http://ijbssnet.com/journals/Vol_4_No_17_Special_Issue_December_2013/13.pdf. [Accessed April 27, 2016].
Al-Mamary, Y. H., A. Shamsuddin, and N. Aziati. "The Meaning of Management Information Systems and its Role in Telecommunication Companies in Yemen." American Journal of Software Engineering 2.2 (2014): 22-25. [Online] Available from: http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajse/2/2/2/. [Accessed April 27, 2016].
Asemi, A., A. Safari, and A. A. Zavareh. "The Role of Management Information System (MIS) and Decision Support System (DSS) for Manager’s Decision Making Process."International Journal of Business and Management 6.7 (2011): n. pag. [Online] Available from: doi:10.5539/ijbm.v6n7p164. [Accessed April 27, 2016].
Babaei, M., and J. Beikzad. "Management information system, challenges and solutions."European Online Journal of Natural and Social Sciences 2013 2.3 (2013): 374-381. Print. [Accessed April 27, 2016].
References
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