The Key Resources In Management Information System Information Technology Essay

Information is defined as a fact that has been processed and organized in to a meaningful knowledge. It is a message that were received and understood and a knowledge that acquired through study, experience and instruction. Information also can be identify as concept that has many meanings, from everyday usage to the technical settings. The concept of information is closely related to notions of constraint, control, data instruction, and knowledge.

Information has its own value and it can be very valuable when it is delivered at the right time, the right place and to the right person that need it. For an example, an investor can use the information about current economy to invest in a profitable business. If they got the wrong information about the business as they invest in a company that is almost bankrupt and they didn’t know about it, they might loss and lose their money. Next information also is a very valuable asset in business field because it can determined whether an organization will make profit or loss. This is because any confidential information related to a company can be used against if the information fall into the wrong hand such as their competitor. So, information can be so powerful.

A valuable information have several characteristic. This characteristic can show how much value the information is. There is the example of a valuable information’s characteristic:

Accessible

A valuable information can be easily access by the authorized users so that it can be obtained when it is needed.

Accurate

The information must be accurate because it it will be used to support decision maker. If the information is inaccurate, its also will cause a wrong decision making.

Complete

It is contained with all the important fact. This can support in decision making too.

Flexible

The information can be used for a variety purpose so it can be a multipurpose information

Reliable

The information come from a reliable rsource and can be trusted by user.

Secure

It is only can be accessed by an authorized user.

Timely

The information can be obtained when it is needed.

Verifiable

The information is confirmed by many sources.

Information give a lot of advantages to the users. It can be used in a meaningful way needed by the users. The advantages of information include:

Support decision making

A useful information will support in the decision making made by the user. It will help with the accuracy of the information that can be used by the user to make a decision. For an example, a person can make a wise choice in buying a peanut butter from two different brand by knowing both of the products price..

A Guide for a better planning and control

It can be a good guildliness for making activities or control a performance of a work. For an example, a certain rules and policy is made to be followed by a company’s staff to maintain or increase their production.

Enhance knowledge and skills

The advantages of an information is it can enhance users skill and knowledge by provide an information such as tutorial, instruction and guidelines. For an example, a musician can enhance their skills by learn from a tutorial video from Youtube.com.

Besides advantages, an information also have their disadvantages. It is:

Information overload

Too much information can be a problem for user because there are too many information that cannot be handled and the reliability and the accuracy is unknown.

Overemphasize decision making

Information can overemphasize user’s judgement in making their decision if it is too much of information. It also can disturb users rational in making their decision especially in a critical and pressure circumstances.

Unanticipated effects

The decision made by the user that based on an information may have an unpredictable result. For an example, a fisherman decide to go to the sea because the weather forecast said the day will be fine. But, on the day he go to the sea, it was unpredicted rain happen.

Information technology

Information technology can be defined as a study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information system, particularly software applications and computer hardware. Information technology also deals with the use of computer and computer software to securely convert, store, protect, process, transmit, input, output and retrieve information. In other words, Information Technology is a work that involve with electronic devices such as computer, hardware and software.

Advantages of Information Technology:

Globalization

IT has brought the world closer together and allowed the world’s economy to become a single interdependent system. That’s mean, we can share any information quickly and efficiently and we also can reduce the barriers of linguistic and geographic boundaries among countries.

Communication

With information technology, communication has become cheaper, quickerade more efficient. Nowadays, we can communicate with anyone, anywhere in the world just by text message, e-mail, web chatting and video conferencing.

Cost effectiveness

IT has helped to computerize the business process thus streaming business and make them extremely cost effectivemoney making machine. This can increase the productivity and make profits.

Bridging the cultural gap

Information technology has helped to bridge the cultural gap by helping people from different cultures to communicate with one another, and allow for the exchange of views and ideas.

More time

IT has made it possible for businesses to be open 24 hours a week, all over the world and also allowed us to make purchases from different countries easier and it is convenient. Moreover, you can have your goods delivered right to your doorstep with having to move a single muscle by using IT such as E-commerce.

Creation of new jobs

the best advantage of information technology is it create a lot of new and interesting jobs. The example of the new job creation is like computer programmers, systems analyzers, hardware and software developers and also web designers.

Disadvantages of Information Technology:

Unemployment

While information technology have streamlined the business process, it also has crated job redundancies, downsizing and outsourcing. Its means that a lot of lower and middle level jobs have been done by using technology such as computer and machine and its causing more people to become unemployed.

Privacy

Information technology may have made communication quicker, easier and more convenient. But it has also bought along privacy issues. From cell phone signal interceptions to email hacking, people are now worried about their private information becoming public knowledge.

Lack of job security

Industry experts believe that the internet has made job security as a big issue since technology keeps on changing with every day. It means that a person has to be in a constant learning mode to make sure their job is secure.

Dominant culture

Information technology may have made the world a global village, but it has also contributed to a culture dominating another week culture. For an example, we can see now that young teenagers all over the world has been influences by the west cultural such as their acting, dress up and behaviour. Their languages also have become overshadowed, when English becoming the primary mode of communication for business and everything else.

People

People also have their role in the management information system. People are needed to manage the information and the information technology. They can process the information in a way that the computers cannot do. This is because they have a different way of thinking by considering many element before making a decision.

The role of people:

Resercher

People become a researcher when they read any information, process, and use it to find a solution for a problem. For an example, a scientist make a research to find a cure for H1N1 virus.

Contributor

People can contribute and share the information that they have for goods. They contribute may have been the most important thing to something that they are contributing to. For an example, a motivator share his knowledge about “stress management” to a company’s staff. It is important for the staff because they can do their work without stress and this can increase their productivities.

Founder

People can be a founder by manipulating information and turn it into a new foundation. They process old information and come out with a new information. This is important because we need to update and advancing our knowledge and information.

People also have their advantage and disadvantages. It is:

Advantage

Sharing information

People can share and exchange their information with each other to enhance their knowledge. By knowledge sharing, one can improve they thinking way and lead to a positive decision making and also lead to a positive result.

Manage information

People can manage their information to a meaningful and creative way different from computers. People also know when and how to use the information according to the circumstances.

Create information

People can create new information by doing a research. They can come out with more useful information

Analysis information

People can analysis any infotmation instantly and wisely. This can help them to make a quick decision making.

Disadvantages

Misuse of information

Misuse of information can happen when the information is used by people in a wrong way. For a example, people use the information in hand to cause problem such as a computer-intelligence use their expertise to scam people using online business.

Leak of information

Leak of information can happen when the people incharged is not doing their job or leak the information themselves. This happen a lot in business field when the business information of a company was leaked to their competitor. This cause the company loss their profits.

So, from all of the 3 key resources above, it is decided that information is the most important key because it is the base for Information technology and people. Without information, IT will have no use and people cannot make a wise decision in their life. This is because without information, technology cannot develop by itself. They need to use information to create and develop any new technology. Information nowadays have its own price. For examples, a company is buying information from an outsourcing company to increase their productivity and also their profits. People also is buying information such as newspaper, magazine and educational books. Information also is very valuable when it comes to the right time, right place and to the right person. It can be use to assist in support decision making especially in an emergency situation .

And for the least important between the 3 key resources is people. This is because people can make mistakes in using the information and that can cause a very big problem. Next, people is easy to influenced by other element such as emotion in making a decision. This can make them choose a wrong or inaccurate decision. Then, all the skill, experience, expertise, and knowledge that a person have, cannot be backup. If something happen such a death, the informations will lose. Problem that we have nowadays is not many people have a skills required by a company to hire them such as skills in computer-based and others. This will make the employer hard to hire them and it will cost them a lot more money to send the staff for training or take a course. So here, people are the least important element in managemt information system challenge.