Management: Questions and Answers for Midterm Examination

Identify and describe the three levels of the organizational hierarchy. Which types of Information systems serve each level? Answer: The three levels of the organizational hierarchy: Senior Managers Middle Managers Operational Managers Types of Information systems serve each level: Operational-level systems: support operational mangers, keeping track of the elementary activities and transactions.Management-level systems: serve the monitoring, controlling, decision-making, and administrative activities of middle managers. Strategic-level systems: help senior management tackle and address strategic issues. 2- List and briefly describe the major types of system in organization? Answer: Transaction Processing Systems (TIPS): are the basic business systems that serve the operational level of the organization. And it is also a computerized system that performs and records the daily routine transactions necessary to conduct business.Management Information Systems (MIS): serve the management level of the organization, providing managers with reports and often-online access to the organization's current performance and historical records and primarily serve the functions of planning, controlling, and decision-making. Decision-support System (ADS): also serve the management level or the organization. ADS help mangers make decisions that are unique, rapidly changing, and not easily specified in advance.MIS differ from SEES: MIS serve at management level and SEES serve at strategic level. 5- What are the characteristics for ADS? How do they differ from those of SEES? Answer: Characteristics for ADS: (Inputs: transaction level data; Processing: Interactive; Outputs: Decision analysis; Users: Professional and staff ADS differ from SEES: ADS revere at management level and SEES serve at strategic level and its characteristics are: Inputs: Aggregate data; Outputs: projections; Users: senior managers. – Describe the relationship between TIPS, MIS, and SEES. The relationsh ip between TIPS, MIS, and SEES: TIPS are typically a major source of data for other systems, data also be exchanged to MIS to produce reports, whereas SEES are primarily a recipient of date from lower-level systems. 7- List and describe the information systems serving each of the major functional areas of a business. Answer: Sale and Marketing Systems: SystemDescription Organizational Level Order processing Enter, process, and track orders Operational Pricing analysis Determine prices for products and services Management Sale and forecasting Prepare 5 years sales forecasts Strategic Manufacturing and Production Systems Machine control Control the actions of machines and equipment Production planning Facilities location Decide where to locate new production facilities. Finance & Accounting Systems Account Receivable Tracks money owed the firm Budgeting Prepares short-term budgets Profit planning Plans long-term profits Human Resource SystemsTraining and Development Tracks employee tr aining, skills, and performance appraisals Operational Compensation analysis Monitors the rang and distribution of employee wages, salaries, and benefits Human Resource planning Plans the long-term labor force needs of the organization 8- What is a business process? Give two examples of processes for functional areas of the business and one example of a cross functional process. Answer: Business process refer to sets of logically related activities for accomplishing a specific business result, and also refer to the unique ways in which organization and management coordinate these activities.Example for functional area of business process: (Finance and Accounting: paying creditors, creating financial statements and managing cash accounts); (Human Resources: hiring employees, evaluating employees' Job performance and enrolling employees in benefits plans) Example of a cross functional process: Order fulfillment process (Sales Department: Generate order and submit order; Accounting Dep artment: Check credit and approve credit and then Manufacturing & Production department: Assemble product and ship product, and finally Accounting Department: Generate invoice). Why are enterprise applications for organization-wide process integration? Answer: Organizations are trying to integrate their business processes because they want to enhance the performance of the organizations as a whole. The system takes advantage of corporate intranets and web technologies that enable the efficient transfer of information within the firm and to partner firms. And these systems are inherently cross-level, cross-functional, and business process oriented. The four key enterprise applications: Enterprise Systems, Supply Chain Management Systems,Customer Relationship Management Systems, and Knowledge Management Systems. 10- What are enterprise systems? How do they change the way an organization work? Enterprise Systems, also known as enterprise resource planning systems, provide a single info rmation system for organization-wide coordination and integration of key business processes. Information that was previously fragmented in different systems can seamlessly flow throughout the firm so that it can be shared by business processes in manufacturing, accounting, human resources, and other areas.