Case StudyThis unit addresses the role of the technology professional in an organization and how information technology (IT) systems influence organizational strategies. This case study analyzes two

MBA 5401, Management Information Systems 1 Cou rse Learning Outcomes for Unit II Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to: 2. Describe the role of the information technology professional within an organization. 4. Explain how information technology systems influence organizational strategies. Reading Assignment Chapter 2: Global E -Business and Collaboration Chapter 3: Information Systems, Organizations, and Strategy Unit Lesson Information Systems and Organizations Information systems: What does this mean to your organization? For most of us, it is not that difficult to understand certain information technology (IT) concepts. Most of us use our hardware and equipment fairly well. We know how to download apps on our smartphones. We know about the systems and applications that we use at work. We may not know all of the details or inner workings of what information flows where, but we have a good idea of how things work. If we were clueless, we would not be of much value to our organizations, would we? Let’s take this to a more ab stract level. How would you answer this question: How is IT used towards the success of your organization? You might rattle off some reasons like the high availability of the Internet allowing emails to flow so that there is connectivity between customers and service reps. You might say that your organization has several servers and databases that house data and a security team with security tools that ensure the safety of that data. You might mention all the applications that allow you to service your cust omers in faster, more efficient ways. If you are a little more tech savvy or “in the know” at your organization, you might even bring up more advanced topics or newer innovations such as:  e-commerce,  supply chain management systems (SCM),  customer relatio n management systems (CRM),  SharePoint,  cloud collaboration,  ERP,  SAP,  big data,  data mining,  expert systems, and so on. Are the items described here IT tools? Yes, they are used to help make everyone lives and jobs easier, faster, more efficient, and more effective, but let us ask the question again. UNIT II STUDY GUIDE Information Systems and the Strategic Organization MBA 5401, Management Information Systems 2 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title How is IT used towards the success of your organization? Croson and Drnevich (2013) stipulate that “information technology matters to business success because it directly affects the mechanisms through wh ich they create and capture value to earn a profit: IT is thus integral to a firm’s business -level strategy” (p. 483). Organizations must deal with a lot of information about every aspect of the business —from customers to vendors, employees, invoices, paym ents, inventory, and services. Our information systems make it possible to organize this information and keep up with it all. Business processes deal with the work that is performed in our organizations so that we can produce something of value. The perfor mance of our business depends on how well our business processes work. Our business processes can add extreme value to our organization because they can be a competitive strength. They can also drag our value down if they are not working well for the organ ization. Thus, information technology can work in many ways to improve our business processes by introducing better, faster, more efficient methods of performing tasks in our business processes. Imagine how much time and money is saved if 1,000 invoices a re emailed to customers rather than being mailed via the postal mail. How much time does it take a person to stuff and stamp 1,000 envelop es? Now, if you look at how technology supports not only business processes but also management groups and functional groups, you can start to see that they link together in a way that serves to improve organizational performance. Is there value in improved performance? You probably read that question and thought, “Of course there is!” Organizations search every day for ways to improve their performance, production output and transaction processing are just a couple of examples. In recent years, technology has advanced to the point that it supports enterprise -level systems, applications, networks, collaboration, and so o n. There are even enterprise social -networking tools now. What about business -level strategy? How does IT influence organizational strategy? It is important to note that to answer this question you need to have a good understanding of what a strategy is. Basically, a strategy answers the question : What are we trying to accomplish here? With any organization, the strategic objectives will be similar. The organizational leaders will want to be number one in their market, increase sales revenue, decrease costs, or strengthen their customer base. It is certainly not a stretch to understand that a business wants to be the best, the fastest, the most profitable, the most efficient, the most customer - friendly, and so on. You must also have a good understanding of what influences organizations. Organizations have a culture.

They have politics, social structure, rules, values, norms, and people. The reality is that technology affects all aspects of organizations. For example, information systems can have a huge economic impact on an organization. IT is very costly, but the benefits can influence big increases in revenue or substantial decreases in costs. IT can have cultural and social impacts on organizations, as well. A large technology implementation can mean a change in the mindset for many employees who are resistant to change. Imagine that you know a technology implementation will increase the efficiency of operations by 50%, but this may also mean that fewer employees will be needed. Imagine that you are one of the employees whose job is at risk due to a new automation. This realization may cause a lot of doubt, uncertainty, and anxiety for employees. All of these factors play an important part in understanding the role IT plays in organizations. For IT to be beneficial and organizations to be successful, organizations have to have clear st rategies. Organizations have to take full advantage of any competitive advantages and understand models such as Porter’s competitive forces model. Once organizational leaders understand where the business needs to be, they can set clear, actionable steps t o get there. Those steps will involve technology because organizations need to have IT resources and IT capabilities. It will also involve an organization’s ability to utilize its IT resources and create value in conjunction with its other assets and resou rces. Finally, it is important to note that organizations have to be able to align their technologies with their business strategies and goals. It does the organization no good to have a well -defined strategy if it does not have the IT resources and capab ilities to meet its goals. On the other hand, if the organization does not have a well - defined strategy that is appropriate for the business, IT tools will be of little help to reach meaningless goals. MBA 5401, Management Information Systems 3 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title Reference Croson, D. C., & Drnevich, P. L. (2013). Information technology and business -level strategy: Toward an integrated theoretical perspective . MIS Quarterly , 37 (2), 483 -509. Suggested Reading How can businesses evaluate their integration with information technology? The following articles bring so me interesting reading about information systems role in an organization, which was discussed in the textbook reading and the lesson lecture. You are highly encouraged to view this information. In order to access the resource below, you must first log int o the myCSU Student Portal and access the Business Source Ultimate database within the CSU Online Library. Croson, D. C., & Drnevich, P. L. (2013). Information technology and business -level strategy: Toward an integrated theoretical perspective . MIS Quart erly 37 (2), 483 -509. Bharadwaj, A., El Sawy, O. A., Pavlou, P. A., & Venkatraman, N. (2013). Digital business strategy: Towards a next generation of insights. MIS Quarterly , 37 (2), 471 -482. Learning Activities (Nong raded) Complete the Management Decision Problem 2 -9 on p. 72 in your textbook. Create a one page summary document addressing the questions at the end of the problem. In addition to the textbook, you may use external sources or select sources from the CSU Online l ibrary. Be sure to reference and cite all sources used with proper APA formatting. As this is a non graded activity, this work cannot be uploaded to Blackboard. If you would like your professor’s feedback on your work, send this document to them in an emai l with a note that you would like to receive feedback on your non -graded activity.