Organizations and IS Flashcards
What is office politics?
the strategies people use to gain advantage in the workplace
Name the 7 office politics skills
• Give and receive feedback in an effective manner. • Be unconditionally cooperative. • Develop good communications skills. • Develop good interpersonal skills. • Don’t pass on gossip. • Seek advice from knowledgeable people. • Consult with the people who will be affected by a decision you are making.
What is the technical view of an organization?
An organization is stable, formal social
structure that uses capital and labour from the environment as input and processes them to produce products and services
What is the behavioural view of an organization?
looks at the structures and processes within the organization
What are the features of the behavioural view - process?
Rights and Obligations: apply to everyone
Priveledges and Responsibilities: depend on role
Norms: how you’re expected to behave
Values: more general
What 6 features must be considered when introducing an IS into an organization?
- Routines and business processes
- organizational politics
- organizational culture
- organizational environment
- organizational structure
- other organizational features
Define routine and business processes
organizations become very efficient over time because they develop routines (or standard operating procedures) to deal with (almost all) situations
Define organizational politics
people with different positions and backgrounds will have different points of view and will struggle for limited company resources
Define organizational culture
the unquestioned assumptions that organizations make about their goals and products
Anything that challenges these assumptions will be met with
resistance
Define organizational environment
government (i.e. regulations), competitors, customers, financial institutions, culture, technology, knowledge
Define organizational structure
different organizational structures would have different IS’s
Define other organizational features
- democratic vs. authoritarian leadership
- benefit stock holders (for profit) vs. benefit society (non-profit)
What are the 4 impacts of IS on organizations
Reduces transactional costs
Reduces agency costs
Flattens organization
Cause resistance
Name the 5 aspects of Porter’s Competitive Forces
- Competitors
- Substitute products
- New market entrants
- Customers
- Suppliers
Explain traditional competitors
Traditional competitors try to attract your customers which can lead to increasing your advertising, increasing innovation, or decreasing your price
Explain new market entrants
New market entrants are more likely when:
- the cost of entry is low
- not protected by patents
- capital costs are low
- low economies of scale
- profitability is high
- there is easy access to suppliers
- brand identity is weak
Explain substitute products
Customers will seek substitute products if your prices get too
high, switching costs are low, or little product differentiation
Explain customer power
The power of customers increases if they can easily switch to a competitors products, if prices are transparent, products are undifferentiated, or there are a lot of competitors
Explain supplier power
The power of the company’s suppliers increase if there are less
of them, switching costs are high or products are differentiate
What are 2 additional factors considered today regarding competitive forces?
governments and regulations
Information systems can be competitively/strategically used to…(4)
- decrease costs or increase the quality
- differentiate products and enable new products/services
- focus on a market niche
- develop strong ties with suppliers or customers
Explain the business value chain model
Identifies where information systems are particularly helpful in
creating a competitive advantage
What are the 2 broad areas to consider in the business value chain model?
primary activities: directly related to creating the product or service
support activities: make the primary activities possible
What do primary activities include?
- automated warehouse systems
- computer controlled manufacturing
- computerized ordering systems (for your customers)
- equipment maintenance systems
- automated shipping
What do secondary activities include?
- electronic scheduling and messaging systems
- workforce planning systems
- computerize-aided design (CAD) systems
- computerized ordering systems (from your suppliers)
