FREE online courses on Information Technology - Chapter 1 INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY - FIVE MAJOR TRENDS
In the past few years, five major trends have drastically
altered the way organizations use technology. These trends make it imperative
that a manager becomes familiar with both the use of technology and how to
control it in the organization. These trends are as follows:
1.
The use of technology to transform the
organization. The cumulative effect of what all the technology firms are
installing is to transform the organization and allow new types or
organizational structures. Some times the transformation occurs slowly as one
unit in an organization begins to use electronic mail.
2.
The use of information processing technology as a
part of corporate strategy.
3.
Technology as a pervasive part of the work
environment. From the largest corporations to the smallest business, we find
technology is used to reduce labor, improve quality, provide better customer
service, or change the way the firm operates. Factories use technology to design
parts and control production. The small auto-repair shop uses a packaged
personal computer system to prepare work orders and bills for its customer.
4.
The use of personal computers as managerial
workstations. The personal computers has tremendous appeal. It is easy to use
and has a variety of powerful software programs available that can dramatically
increase the user's productivity. When connected to a network within the
organization and to external networks like the Internet, it provides a
tremendous tool for knowledge workers.
5.
The evolution of the computer from a
computational device to a medium for communications. Computers first replaced
punched card equipment and were used for purely computational tasks. From the
large, centralized computers, the technology evolved into desktop, personal
computers. When users wanted to access to information stored in different
locations, companies developed networks to link terminals and computers to other
computers. These networks have grown and become a medium for internal
communications and external with other organizations. For many workers today,
the communications aspects of computers are more important than their
computational capabilities.
What does all this mean for the management student?
Unfortunately, it means that you must become more than just “computer literate”.
Reading about technology will not be enough for a manager
to compete effectively in the future. It is important to have two kinds of
knowledge about information technology. The manager must be a competent user of
computers and learn to manage information technology. The personal computer
connected to a network is as commonplace in the office as the telephone has been
for the past seventy-five years. Managers today are expected to make the
computer an integral part of their jobs. It is the manager, not the technical
staff member, who must come up with the idea for a system, allocate resources,
and see the systems are designed well to provide the firm with a competitive
edge. You will have to recognize opportunities to apply technology and then
manage the implementation
of the new technology. The success of information processing in the firm
lies more with top and middle management that with the information services
department.
