To analyze and design appropriate information systems, systems analysts need to comprehend the organizations they work in as systems shaped through the interactions of three main forces: the levels of management, design of organizations, and organizational cultures. Organizations are large systems composed of interrelated subsystems. The subsystems are influenced by three broad levels of management… [Continue Reading]
Understanding and Modeling Organizational Systems
Organizations as Systems
Organizations and their members are usefully conceptualized as systems designed to accomplish predetermined goals and objectives through people and other resources that they employ. Organizations are composed of smaller, interrelated systems (departments, units, divisions, etc.) serving specialized functions. Typical functions include accounting, marketing, production, data processing, and management. Specialized functions (smaller systems) are eventually reintegrated… [Continue Reading]
Virtual Organizations and Virtual Teams
Not all organizations or parts of organizations are visible in a physical location. Entire organizations or units of organizations can now possess virtual components that permit them to change configurations to adapt to changing project or marketplace demands. Virtual enterprises use networks of computers and communications technology to bring people with specific skills together electronically… [Continue Reading]
Taking a Systems Perspective
Taking a systems perspective allows systems analysts to start broadly clarifying and understanding the various businesses with which they will come into contact. It is important that members of subsystems realize that their work is interrelated. Notice in the first figure illustrated below that the outputs from the production subsystems serve as inputs for marketing… [Continue Reading]
Enterprise Systems: Viewing the Organization as a System
Enterprise systems, often referred to as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, is a term used to describe an integrated organizational (enterprise) information system. Specifically, ERP is software that helps the flow of information between the functional areas in the organization. It is a customized system that, rather than being developed in-house, is usually purchased from… [Continue Reading]
