How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making?
Compare the descriptions of managerial behavior in the classical and behavioral models
Identify the specific managerial roles that can be supported by the information systems
Classical model of management describes what managers do. The five classical functions of managers are planning, organizing, coordinating, deciding, and controlling. This description of management activities dominated management thought for a long time, and it is still popular today.
Behavioral model of management argue that actual behavior of managers appears to be less systematic. more informal, less reflective, more reactive, and less well organized than the classical model. Observers find that managerial behavior actually has five attributes that differ greatly from the classical description. First, managers perform a great deal of work at an unrelenting pace—studies have found that managers engage in more than 600 different activities each day, with no break in their pace. Second, managerial activities are fragmented; most activities last for less than nine minutes, and only 10 percent of the activities exceed one hour in duration. Third, managers prefer current, specific, and ad hoc information (printed information often will be too old). Fourth, they prefer oral forms of communication to written forms because oral media provide greater flexibility, require less effort, and bring a faster response. Fifth, managers give high priority to maintaining a diverse and complex web of contacts that acts as an informal information system and helps them execute their personal agendas and short- and long-term goals
Information technology provides new tools for managers to carry out both their traditional and newer roles, enabling them to monitor, plan, and forecast with more precision and speed than ever before and to respond more rapidly to the changing business environment. Information systems have been the most helpful to managers by providing support for their roles in disseminating information, providing liaisons between organizational level, and allocating resources.