Critical Issues in Information Systems

Clarke, R. J (2001) L951-02: 1

Critical Issues in Information Systems

BUSS 951

Lecture 2Information Systems as a Discipline;

History and State of the Art

Clarke, R. J (2001) L951-02: 2

Notices (1)General

Make sure you have a copy of the BUSS951 Subject Outline

Please check the class role being circulated for errors and correct them- if this is your first lecture then add your details to the bottom of the sheet

BUSS951 is supported by a website (available from Tomorrow), where you can find out the latest Notices and get Lecture Notes, Tutorial Sheets, Assignments etc

www.uow.edu.au\~rclarke\buss951\buss951.htm

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Your first assignment which must be written up in the form of a case study report will be posted to the BUSS951 website (tomorrow pm) Identify and Analyse the Theoretical, Methodological and

Substantive Levels in a Selected Research Area. The selected research area is based on one of the Dept. Information Systems research areas. You will need to find relevant papers in the Reader and/or from the published research literature.

These research papers (published journal articles and conference papers) need to be attached to your assignment- no web resources are to be used

It comprises 15% of the final mark and due Week 5 Thursday 24/8 at 17:30

Notices (2)Assignment 1

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Notices (3)Role of the Reader

there is a reader called:Clarke, R. J. (2001) Reader for BUSS951: Critical Issues in Information Systems 2nd Edition

it is a prime source of materials- some of the materials in it you cannot get anywhere else

you will be given readings each week to be done prior to seminars the following week

these will be of help in your assignments and will also be part of the examination

you are required to be able to discuss them in class- read and summarise them- then think about what they are are saying

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Notices (4)Readings for Week 3

1. Burton Swanson, E. (1987) Information Systems in Organization Theory: A Review

2. Kling, R. (1991) “Excerpts From ‘Social Analysis of Computing: Theoretical Perspectives in Recent Empirical Research’”

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Agenda (1)

Brief History of IS- discuss two basic ideas in IS Theory: General Systems Model Data and Information

At the end of the lecture you should understand that the basic IS theory is flawed

Provide a State-of-the-Art description of what is happening in IS

Describe the types of IS Research currently going on in the Department (relevant to Assignment 1)

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Brief History of IS

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Information Systems Theory

Information Systems Discipline = Concepts of ‘Systems’ + ‘Information’

both ‘systems’ and ‘information’ have considerable theoretical, methodological and substantive problems, ie/ are problematic

we will first examine the General Systems Model of Organisations

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General Systems ModelDevelopment

Contrary to what you may believe (or may have been taught) the IS Discipline did not develop the concept of the system

in fact the ‘General Systems Model’ was in wide circulation well before computers were invented

understanding how we got and how we use ‘general systems’ tells us a great deal about disciplines in general (and IS in particular)

the General Systems Model dates from the late 1920s-1930s

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General Systems ModelDevelopment

the work originates in Biologyuseful concepts emerge in population

dynamics (Lotka c.1907 and later)developed as a general model for biology

(von Bertalanffy c.1930s; 1968)entered sociology/political science in 1950s

and 1960sthe view of systems theorists is that the

general concept of a system can be applied to social systems ie. organisations

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Closed Systems

some systems are closed they are not influenced by their

environment, eg. solar systemhave entropy which describes how

these systems use up energy and run down

not useful to IS

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Open Systems

social systems are open systemscan import energy from the environmentcan sustain themselves in response to

changes in their environmentpossess negentropy, and can achieve

new states

they adapt

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Organisations as Systems (1)

Organisations are open system (contrast with closed systems)

a physical system of the firm transforms input resources into output resources

input resources come from environment, output resources go to environment

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Organisations as Systems (2)

physical resources:material flow (from suppliers to customers)personnel flow (from the labour market and

back)machine flow (from supplier to scrap yard)money flow (from owners who provide

investment capital and customers who buy goods)

TransformationProcess

OutputResources

InputResources

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Closed Loop Systems (1)

some open system can control operations, some cannot

when no feedback loop is provided for an open system then it is called an open-loop system

when feedback loop and control mechanism exists- closed loop system

control is provided by a loop- called a feedback loop

feedback consists of signals are sent to provide a corrective action

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Closed Loop System (2)

Control Mechanism


OutputResources

InputResources

Signal Feedback

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Physical System of an Organisation as a controlled system

Management


OutputResources

InputResources

Signal

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Information is Gathered from all Physical System Elements

Management


OutputResources

InputResources

Information Data

additional data-gathering activties at input and processing parts of the physical system

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Information Processor transforms data into information

for Management purposes

Management


OutputResources

InputResources

InformationProcessor

Information Data

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Performance Standards added to Mgnt and Information Processor

Management


OutputResources

InputResources


Standards

Information Data

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Changes to Physical SystemDecisions are added

& some signals re/classified

Management


OutputResources

InputResources


Standards

DecisionsInformation Data

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General Systems Model

Management


OutputResources

InputResources


Standards

Decisions

En

viro

nm

ent

Physical Information Data

Boundary

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Systems Approach to Decision Making

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Problem-solving Elements

manager

standards

info

solution

problem

alternatesolutions

constraints

desired

current

Elements of the conceptual system

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Structured, Unstructured, Semistructured Problems (1)

Management problems are often considered to be either structured or unstructured in nature

Important criteria as these are used to identify different types of system: Operational Systems, MIS, and DSS

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Structured Problemsconsist of elements and

relationships between elements which are understood by the problem solver

problem expressed in mathematical form and therefore probably implementable


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Unstructured Problemcontains no elements or

relationships between elements which are understood by the problem solver

quantification of unstructured problems is difficult if not impossible

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Semistructured Problemcontains some elements or

relationships between elements that are understood by the problem solver

other elements or relationships between elements may not be understood at all


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Is there such a thing as a structured problem? This already presupposes a particular type of solution!

computers can solve structured problems

most managers deal with semistructured problems

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Introduction to MIS (1)

computers first applied to business tasksaccounting functionsspecific functional areas eg./ order entry

today computers used also to provide management information

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as we will see the information needs of Management are different from the information needs of other system users

also, management has special responsibilities and obligations in organisations- require managed information

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General Definition of MIS: A systems that provides the manager with information for decision making.

Either, the general information needs of managers or, all managers in a specific functional area

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Oth

ersMembers of Organisations

Distinct TypesM

anag

emen

t

Strategic Planning Level top level managers, long term view, organisational

wide scope Management Control Level

middle level managers, regional managers, product directors and division heads

Operational Control Levelwhere operations occur in the organisation, example

foreman in factories Operations

workers, clerks etc...

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Members of OrganisationsAssociated with ‘Hierarchy’

Strategic Planning

Management Control

Operational

Operational Control

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Categories of ISAssociated with ‘Hierarchy’

Increasing Uncertainty

Strategic PlanningEIS, DSS, GDSS, ES

Management ControlMIS, MkIS

OperationalTPS (EDP)

Operational ControlAIS, MIS

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Major Categories of MIS

Major types of information systems for managementManagement Information Systems (MIS)Decision Support Systems (DSS)Expert Systems (ES)Office Automation Systems (OA)

Linked to Operational Systems

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Problems that Result

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Social Systems are harmful

in sociology...“Although hugely influential at the time... [attempts] to found a new general theory of... social systems [are] now adjudged a relative failure” (Jary & Jary 1991, 649)

there are therefore some obvious questions...

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Isn’t ‘system’ OK for IS?

couldn’t it be suitable for IS but not suitable for sociology?well this is possiblenot likelywe find some theoretical problems with

‘systems’ as a way of modelling workplaces

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Some technologies don’t fit

MIS do fit (EIS, DSS, GDSS, MIS, MkIS, AIS etc) and therefore by definition Operational Systems that feed them data

but others do not because they span all levels of the hierarchy, Office AutomationEDI (Electronic Data Interchange)e-mail and most intranet technologies

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Why use ‘system’

why does the information systems discipline still use it?to answer this question we look at why

sociology thinks ‘social systems’ are a failure

‘conservative’ assumptions about the integration of social systems

levels of abstraction that are removed from the workplace

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Why use ‘system’

relative neglect of the independent influence of individual members- this involves what are referred to as issues of agency

systems concepts cannot be used to address the effects of culture on development and use of IS

there are alternatives to ‘social system’ explanations of organisations

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Information SystemsTypical Definition

“[An information system]...is a grouping of people, objects and procedures... [providing] information about the organization and its environment... which is useful to members and clients of that organization”

Paraphrase Avison and Fitzgerald (1988, 1)

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Data & Information

data is easy to identify and is created with purposes in mind

but information depends on who, what, where, how and when

for closed, biological systems the idea of information is great!

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Data & Information

organisations are not axiomatic (rule determined)

the members can change the internal and external processes of the organisation

information becomes difficult to define/changes- just ask any systems developer

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Data & Informationconcept of information relies on

Shannon & Weaver (c. 1940s)defines information in terms which

exclude meaningin other words the second basis of our

discipline (the concept of information) is theoretically inappropriate for use when developing systems

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Information SystemsDefinitional Problems

analysis, design and implementation practices focus on the people, objects and procedures

rarely focus on the use of systems- the purposes of systems in given organisational contexts

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Summary

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Summary

Critical IssuesAre organisations really systems?What is information?What does the IS Discipline do?

Further IssuesHow might organisations be theorised? How can we improve IS Development

Practices?

Documents

Critical Issues in Information Systems