1. What is the difference between Data and Information? What attributes of information make it particularly useful for managers. What are three reasons that managers need access to information?
Both Data and Information are the main sources of facts that can be used to make certain decisions. However, there is a significant difference between data and information. Data is a set of raw facts that are not analyzed and not summarized. At the same time, information is a summarized and analyzed data presented in a form easy to use when making managerial decisions. Thus, the main difference between data and information is that information is an effective source of knowledge and data still has to be transformed into information by using various tools and technologies for analysis.
Information is valuable for managers because it has such attributes as relevance, completeness, timeliness, and quality. Quality of information is based on its accuracy and reliability. Timeliness of the information means that it can be accessed when needed, and completeness of the information means that the entire set of fact has been analyzed and all details have been taken into account. Finally, relevance of the information equals to its usability as information has to suit the manager’s needs for particular knowledge at given point of time.
Managers need to be able to access information because of three reasons: 1) they need to coordinate work activities; 2) managers have to control activities to achieve goals; 3) access to information is needed to make optimal decisions.
2. Describe the 10-step communication process. What are the dangers of ineffective communication?
The communication process starts with sending a certain message that is encoded by the sender into words or symbols. Then, this message is forwarded with help of a medium that can be an email or a phone call. After this message is received, it is decoded by the receiver by interpreting this message. Then, a receiver becomes a new sender as he sends a reply to the initial sender. Again, a new message is encoded by the new sender and forwarded to the new receiver by the means of a medium. A new receiver receives this message and decodes it. Then, the whole process repeats again.
Ineffective communication can be rather dangerous as it leads to the wrong messages received by the final receivers who make managerial decision. If information forwarded to the top manager is inadequate, a decision will be wrong and will lead to financial losses of the company. Ineffective communication may lead to various negative consequences depending on the specialization of the company the manager works at.
3. Define Information richness. How do the communication media described in the chapter differ on information richness, and where applicable, timeliness and the availability of an electronic or paper trail?
Information richness is a level quality of information that is forwarded to the final recipient. Information richness depends on the amount of information that can be forwarded with the help of a certain medium, and it also depends on the level of understanding between a sender and a recipient that can be reached when this particular medium is used in the communication process.
There are four different types of communication media that can be used by managers when communicating (Jones & George, 2013). The first type is face-to-face communication that is a rather rich source of information. However, this type of communication takes a lot of time and it lacks paper or electronic trails. Second type of communication media is phones, which also allows a high level of information richness. It takes less time as managers do not have to walk or drive anywhere to have a personal meeting. More than that, voice messages can be a great source of electronic trail.
Another type of communication media is personally addressed writing. Information richness is lower, but managers will spend less time and there will also be an electronic or a paper trail. The fourth medium is impersonal written communication. This type of communication does not allow a high level of information richness, but it takes minimum time and there is a paper or an electronic trail.
4. Describe the impact of information technology on the Product Life Cycle.
Information technology has changed a way how many companies operate today, and it has also influenced the life cycles of many products. Today, with intensive development of IT technologies, the lifecycle of many products became much shorter. More new products are developed on a regular basis, and decline stage of the products begins in a short time after the product is introduced to the marker as many competitors start working on similar products. Thus, advancement of information technologies have a significant impact on the Product Life Cycle as it is much shorter than it used to some time ago.
5. Describe the four computer-based types of management information systems. How are they related to programmed and nonprogrammed decision-making described in chapter 5?
There are four computer-based types of management information systems. The first one is the transaction-processing system that was created to process great volumes of recurring and routine transactions. The second type of computer-based system is the operations information system and it is based on gathering data and transforming it into organized information. Decision support system is another type of a computer-based system that help in making optimal managerial decisions by analyzing input information. Another type is expert systems that are the most advanced among other systems. These systems solve complicated problems by employing artificial intelligence.
Three first types of systems can be used to analyze data and make better managerial decisions, and these systems are related to programmed decision-making described in chapter Five. At the same time, artificial intelligence systems are nonprogrammed decision-making systems that are the most advanced management information computer-based systems.
References
Jones, G., & George, J. (2013). Essentials of contemporary management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
