Consider the Gorry and Morton reading (u12s2) in this unit. Try to keep two perspectives in mind while considering their framework: a) the perspective
1 – Applying Framework Thinking
Consider the Gorry and Morton reading (u12s2) in this unit. Try to keep two perspectives in mind while considering their framework: a) the perspective that might have been the state of practice in 1971 when the article was written, and b) your perspective as you try to apply what you are reading to your professional work today. Both perspectives are important, but they are different.
Discuss what their Framework means for the design or use of management information systems today and into the future. Keep in mind that they stated that their framework “is one for managerial activities, not information systems.” (p.50) How well does their writing predict some of the problems we see in organizational MIS usage today? Discuss a specific aspect of their framework that could be helpful today in fixing some of the problems being seen in MIS options being exercised or planned today across organizations.
Response Guideline
Post your response of 2-3 paragraphs (about 300-400 words) early in the week, and then reply to at least two initial responses of your peers, particularly focusing on responses that might differ from your own. Also respond appropriately to anyone who posts questions against your own postings. Try to include some aspect from the Laudons’ discussion in the text for support or clarification of each of your responses.
2 – Exception-Oriented Support Systems
If we look across the array of strategic MIS application systems in an organization’s portfolio, we tend to see tactical or operatioonal systems that provide information or data that is then used for strategic purposes. One problem with this approach is that he data in an operational system can overwhelm management who are looking for opportunities, or exceptions within the cacophony. Many organization try to solve this problem by implementing several models for decision and executive support systems that can aggregate information for decision-making at management positions throughout an organization hierarchy. Many of these systems allow for the viewing of aggregate total information across the enterprise in ways that then allow managers to drill-down or slice-and-dice the data to see the details that they might be interested in. Many such systems require a brute force mentality among managers who need to know what they are looking for, or suspect where the problems are, in order to make effective use of such systems. Increasingly, there is interest in having the systems themselves monitor and manage the data in such a way that managers can be easily presented with the exceptions they are looking for by the user interface for the system, and not have to sift through a lot of extraneous and unimportant data to find it. Such systems might be referred to as exception-oriented support systems.
Describe some examples where systems that you have heard about or been exposed to have demonstrated some of this exception-orientation; or, identify some systems that you can think of that would benefit from being more exception-oriented. What differences would the typical user notice in such systems, and what impact do you think such capability would have on decision-making and the possible outcomes of those decisions?
Response Guideline
Post your response of 1-3 paragraphs (about 200-300 words) early in the week, and then reply to at least two initial responses of your peers, particularly focusing on responses that might differ from your own. Also respond appropriately to anyone who posts questions against your own postings. Try to include some aspect from the Laudons’ discussion in the text for support or clarification of each of your responses.
3 – Effective Enough Maturity
Consider the maturity of an institution for making decisions related to justifying and prioritizing MIS investments discussed by Peppard and Ward (at the end of Chapter 9). It is unlikely that a single institution would operate at just one of these maturity levels. Rather, we would expect to see very different management behaviors around different projects that are seen as having different sources and implications. Analysis of implementing a system that everyone seems to be implementing, or that seems required to meet come regulatory or compliance issues, might exhibit a very different level of maturity compared to a more controversial or less universally desired system. Politics and culture matter as much as economics at times.
Discuss the choice you would expect an organization to make based on this maturity model and the range of possible projects you might expect to see presented in a healthcare organization today. Presuming that a project opportunity will likely rise to the maturity level required for success (a BIG assumption, but let’s allow it here), discuss the types of projects or system choices that might be effective enough at each maturity level described by Peppard and Ward.
Response Guideline
Post your response of 2-3 paragraphs (about 300-400 words) early in the week, and then reply to at least two initial responses of your peers, particularly focusing on responses that might differ from your own. Also respond appropriately to anyone who posts questions against your own postings. Try to include some aspect from the Laudons’ discussion in the text for support or clarification of each of your responses.
Answer preview for Consider the Gorry and Morton reading (u12s2) in this unit. Try to keep two perspectives in mind while considering their framework: a) the perspective
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