mis lecture 04 notes

8/2/2019 MIS Lecture 04 Notes

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2012, PM Diffenderfer Seite 1

Rheinische Fachhochschule KlnUniversitiy of Applied Sciences

Administrative notes:

Each class will divided into

3 periods of 45 minutes work followed by a15 minute break.

During the breaks I will be available forquestions or review of your progress on class

papers.

LECTURE 01:


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Class paperscan be on any topic

so long as they are clearly built on and persuade thereader of your personal definition of the following

terms:

1. Management

2. Information

3. Systems (IT)

4. MIS (the intersection of these terms)

LECTURE 01:


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Our class should together develop our own definitions of theseterms.

The development of style is necessary to succeed, and styleis only developed by mastering the basic ambiguities of your

craft.

(By ambiguities I mean those things about which peopledisagreefor example: Should a manager know how to do thework of her inferior or not? Some say yes and some say no.)

These ambiguities lie within the concepts themselves. Trying todefine the concepts yourself will help you to develop your own

style.

LECTURE 01:


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Papers which quote

ideas, arguments and examples

from other class members will be preferredover those which only use quotes of sources

outside the class.

(This is to motivate us to really come up with some of our ownthoughts on these matters within class time.)

So, make sure you listen to your classmates. Work on gettinggood ideas from each other and make sure you take good notes

of class discussions.

LECTURE 01:


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I want to encourage students to be passionate about theiropinions and open to debate in class.

The classroom should be a place where we can aggressivelyexperiment with points-of-view. Be rude if you have to. Our

duty is first to help each other find the truth, second to makethings comfortable.

We will not become leaders without developing our style ofpersuasion.

The classroom is an ideal place for difficult discussions whichchallenge our ability to communicate clearly and persuasively.

LECTURE 01:


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LECTURE 01: Defining MIS

Information

Management

MIS

Systems (IT)

Spe

e

d

of

inov

a

tion

Human nature

Technology

LECTURE 01:


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LECTURE 01: Defining Management

Most Business Information Systems failbecause the management philosophy and

methods used in its implementation are

flawed.

LECTURE 01:





Human nature is permanent. Technology is changing tooquickly.

Build your style on a rich idea of human nature. The limits ofyour expectations of other people will limit your experience

of them.

People rise to our expectations of them.

Believe in others and they can begin to believe in you.

Mistrusting your workers will teach them not to trust you.

LECTURE 01:





Greatest problem faced by Management??

Corruption and ineffectiveness of workers

Workers have greater importance in organizations today for severalreasons:

Complexity is so high that managers can not comprehend the details ofworkers jobs

Speed of transactions is so fast that mistakes immediately effectcustomers, suppliers, banks etc

Information is networked between departments and to externalorganizations so that a mistake in one department will effect everyoneimmediately

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This all results in a change in the way we must see organizationalstructure.

Organizations today are built like buildings rather than purehierarchies or pyramids.

Those at the top are dependent on those below more than ever.MIS makes organizational structure more efficient but this meansthat lower levels of the organization, your workers, have muchgreater importance and influence on the fate of the wholeenterprise.

LECTURE 01:





Technology is changing so quickly that it is

possible that by the time a firm gets their ITsystems working they are no longer compatible

with new technology.

This is a major challenge for MIS.

LECTURE 01:





Is there a relevant difference between a leader, a boss, and a manager?

Does the existence of Management in an organization imply hierarchy?

Whom does a manager serve? boss, customer, worker, herself???

If you were forced to choose between having formal power (possessingan official title, position etc...) and informal power (influence,

reputation) which would you choose?

Should a manager know how to do the job of her immediate inferiors??

Human resources? Is not this a wrong-headed term?

LECTURE 01:




Defining Management

Definition offered by me:

The role of management is to contribute

indirectly to economic well-being - by theimprovement of the means and methods ofvalue-added creation,

and especially with respect to human agentsin this creation.

Make your workers successful and you willsucceed as a manager!

LECTURE 01:





Lecture 2 will finish at 20:30 so people havetime to get to Social Event

LECTURE 02:





Possible Paper ideas:

How has MIS changed the nature of management

Case studies of MIS implementations

Papers on individual ERP solutions

Papers comparing ERP solutions

LECTURE 02:




Lecture 2: Recap

Quotes from Lecture 1:

Thomas: We are all managers, we all manage our work.

Inci: It is not possible for the modern manager to know howto do the job of her inferiors

Jalal: A leader should know the process and operations of thework she is overseeing.

Murat & Jalal: A manager is responcible to solve or be solvingperformance problems of their workers.

LECTURE 02:




Defining Management

Positive Definition of a Manager/Management:

A worker who is responsible for the performance of otherpeople.

Main problem of Management is then how the insure the performanceof other people when:

It is not possible to know completely their jobs (due to excessivecomplexity)

It is difficult to monitor performance

It is extremely to cultivate human character and human know-how

LECTURE 02:




Lecture 2:

I know that you can make them do it, but canyou make them do it correctly?

Never give an order that can not be followed.

Command-control style management tends to fail

in an MIS environment.

LECTURE 02:




Lecture 2:

Concerns about the terminology

One major concern about considering people asassets or resources is that they will be

commoditized and abused. Modern analysisemphasizes that human beings are not

"commodities" or "resources", but are creative

and social beings in a productive enterprise.

LECTURE 02:


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Admin:

How many of you have Laptops which you bringto class??

LECTURE 03:

If you wish to borrow either the MIS Textbook ora copy of my ERP text tell me.

I have the MIS textbook as a Kindle E-Book file ifyou want a copy let me know.


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Closing remarks about Management:

LECTURE 03:

What would be a realistic picture of the worstmanager possible?


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LECTURE 03:

Example:

A manager who survives by creatingorganizational chaos below him one who makes

sure there are sufficient problems in theinformation systems that only with human

intervention can the organization perform. The

strategy of such a manager is usually divide-and-conquer.

Rh i i h F hh h h l Kl


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What would be a realistic picture of an idealmanager?

LECTURE 03:



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Example:

The best of all managers is one who makes himor herself unnecessary. Their strategy to

accomplish this is usually to create organizationalsystems which automatically harmonize the

competing interests of their share-holders and

workers. Making inventory impossible to findwithout posting a transaction in a system could

be an example.

LECTURE 03:



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Transition to discussion about Information:

Problems of definition.

Identity how do we define something so that itis unique and distinguishable from other things?

[Eindeutigkeit]

Paradox of the heap.

Paradox of similarity.

Paradox of developement.

LECTURE 03:



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Problems of definition.

Identity how do we define something so that it

is unique and distinguishable from other things?[Eindeutigkeit]

Paradox of the heap.

Paradox of similarity.

Paradox of developement.

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Problems of definitionParadox of the heap:

Imagine a heap of sand. It contains some number ofpieces of sand. If we remove one piece of sand at atime which piece, when removed, will make it no

longer a heap?

Answer: no piece

Question: yet is not any heap simply some number ofsand pieces?

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Problems of definitionParadox of similarity:

How can we know what a cloud is when there havenever been two clouds which are the same?

Answer: We must stipulate [Festlegen] what propertiesonly clouds posses.

Problem: We never know individual things, rather we

know ideas (a definition) and merely apply them toindividual things.

LECTURE 04:

Rheinische Fachhochschule Kln


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Problems of definition: Paradox of development

What do we mean when we say that something is, forexample, a rose? Do we do describe it is something

with petals and thorns? Then is the seed whichbecomes a rose not a rose?

Problems:

If we say it is not then where do roses come from?

If we say that it is a part of a rose, then is not the

grown rose also only a part of everything that is arose?

Etc..

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Apply these problems to ourselvesam I now atthis moment merely a part of what I am? Etc..

What is identity? How should we define things?

As managers how can we establish clearcommication?

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Problems of definition examples of theseParadoxesapplied to management:

At what point do we fire a worker? Does one, two,three mistakes make them a bad worker?

At what point do we declare insolvency?

Answer: We may know when things have gone toofar, but we dont seem to know the point at which

things change from good to bad or vise-versa.

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One useful method defines something by using a theory ofcausation. This method was pioneered by Aristotle.

It looks a four causes relating to the existence of something.

1. Material cause what is the stuff that makes up something

2. Formal cause what shape must the stuff take

3. Efficient cause by what process do we bring the stuff intothe shape

4. End cause what purpose or goal does the thing come intobeing for?

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Example:

If we try to define management

1. Material a manager must work with her active [people]and passive [systems, raw materials, information]

resources within the organization

2. Formal a controlled and harmonized organization

3. Efficient she accomplishes this by her use of authority

4. End to optimize (maximize efficiency) the performance ofher workers

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Now putting this into a single sentence:

A manager is a person responcible for the use of authority tocontrol and harmonize active [people] and passive

[systems, raw materials, information] resources within theirorganization for the purpose of achieving optimum

organizational performance.

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Example:

If we try to define Information

1. Material Data, Theory

2. Formal Intuitive representation, a model

3. Efficient Abstraction, interpretation : calculation,estimation, categorization

4. End to test/simulate reality (truth)

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Information in a single sentence:

Information is the result of data and theory which have beentransformed by abstraction (calculation, estimation,

categorization, interpretation) into a testable model ofreality.

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Example:

If we try to define Data

1. Material Sings symbols

2. Formal Measurements, Indentifiers, Descriptions

3. Efficient Observation

4. End to model events or stuff

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Types of Data:

Cardinality (measuring)

Nominal: Categorical

Ordinal: Priority

Interval: Measurements

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Types of Data:

Processing

Stock Data Materials, Categories

Flow Data Events, transactions

LECTURE 04:



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Concrete examples of information problems within a

Management Information System or ERP (EnterpriseResource Planning) System

Problem: Production of Base boards (Fuleisten)

LECTURE 04:

mis lecture 04 notes

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