Pros and Cons of Info Systems and Managers Essay Example

First of all, how should we define “Information Systems”. Stair and Reynold in “ Fundamentals of Information Systems” define this subject as “ a set of interrelated elements or components that collect (input), manipulates (processes), and disseminates (output) data and information and provide a feedback mechanism to meet objective. However, before the development of information system, managers had to meet the challenge of their daily workloads; and for hundreds of years they have carried out these processes successfully. We are well aware that managers are involved in planning, organizing, and controlling an organization’s resources so that it may achieve its mission and objective. By the same trend of taught, let us look at the pros and cons of the use of Information Systems by managers.

It is a true statement to affirm that history enables us to resurrect the past. Therefore, we can go back up to 1958 to find out that people were debating how the application of Information Technology will affect the work of managers. Historically, the study of management has been focused on three main approaches. Management was perceived “as a set of functions, as a series of roles, and as the application of certain specific skills (Higgins, Page 6). However, by 1980s, rapid technological advances in the IT industry have resulted in information system that were less expensive, more powerful and cheaper than the earlier system. Consequently, we have witnessed a boom in the computer industry. People at all levels of organization were using computers to achieve several tasks. This technology has opened the flood gates to many horizons. The true fact of the matter is there were no longer dependent on the information systems department for all their information needs. During this time, others in the workplace tried to figure out how to integrate this technology in additional decision-making activities (Stair, Page 13).

Once again in this technology driven society, the