Description

Discussion: Information Systems as Organizational Resources

Through this week’s Learning Resources, you have been introduced to information systems and have examined how information is changing the way businesses operate and interact. You have also read that there are three key organizational resources that are relevant and important from the perspective of MIS and that help to create competitive advantages for businesses: information, people, and information technology.

In this Discussion, you will identify an organization and explain how it incorporates management information systems and hardware and software tools into its operations.

To prepare for this Discussion:

• Review this week’s Learning Resources.
• Select an organization with which you are familiar (perhaps your own workplace) and consider the types of management information systems and key hardware and software tools that allow the organization to perform its basic operational functions.
• Review the Academic Writing Expectations for 2000/3000-Level Courses, provided in this week’s Learning Resources.

By Day 3

Post a 150- to 225-word (2- to 3-paragraph) explanation of how a selected organization incorporates management information systems and key hardware and software tools. In your explanation, include the following:

• Briefly describe the organization you selected, including a set of baseline functions that the organization requires (e.g., human resources personnel, cost/accounting, customer management, inventory, etc.).
• Explain the types of management information systems required to provide the baseline functions you identified.
• Identify key hardware and software tools that would be part of the organization’s technology toolkit and explain why they are necessary.
• To support your response, be sure to reference at least one properly cited scholarly source.

Refer to the Week 1 Discussion Rubric for specific grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this grading rubric to assess your work.

Read some of your colleagues’ postings.

By Day 5

Respond with at least 75 words (1 paragraph) each to two or more of your colleagues’ postings by doing one of the following:

• Make a suggestion for an additional type of management information system that might be required for your colleague’s selected organization, including a rationale for why you suggested it.
• Identify one or more additional key hardware and/or software tools that could be added to the technology toolkit for your colleague’s selected organization, including a rationale for why you recommend including them.