INF30018 | Management | IS Planning And Decision-making Strategies

recent times, I have seen that in the past few years there have been a number of chnges in the filed of the computer scince and technology. The information system managers in managing the information technology being used in an organization (Pearlson, Saunders and Galletta 2016) play a major role. They are associated with coordinating, planning and directing the researches related to the computer related activities in an organization. Besides this they are also associated with discussing or consulting with the other managers of the organization in order to determine the goals that an organization would be having. Followed by this they are associated with the implementation of this technologies so as to meet the goals. They are also associated with overseeing the various technical aspects that an organization is having.

Role played by IS Managers:

The major responsibility of the IS manager is to direct the works of the IT team. Beside this,  it have been observed that they are responsible for making plans related to the information technology along with making plans about how the professionals associated with information technology of an organization would work. Various IT related activities are also coordinated by the IS managers and this includes the activities like installation of the hardware and software along with upgrading those, designing and programing of the system, computer network implementation and many more (Stair and Reynolds 2017). The IS managers are increasingly making themselves involved in activities like up keeping, maintenance, and security of the networks. In addition to this the IS managers are also associated with analysis of the computer as well as the information needs of an organization from the operational perspective as well as from the strategic perspective. This is mainly done so as to determine the various immediate and the long-range personnel requirements along with the equipment requirements. the work done by various sub-ordinates are also reviewed along with assigning of the work so as to stay a step ahead with the usage of the latest technology and in order to make sure that the organization is remaining competitive.

Additional duties of IS manager:

The additional duties that the IS managers are having is generally dependent upon several factors like the roles that they are having inside a particular organization. One such example is the work done by the Chief Technology Officer or the CTO, which involves the evaluation of the latest as well as the innovative technologies so as to determine the ways by which these technologies can help the organization (Varadharajan et al. 2015). They are also responsible for the development of various technical standards along with the deployment of technologies and supervising the works of the individuals who are associated with dealing with the various issues related to the Information technology faced by the organization. After identification of a new tool which is very useful the CTO is associated with determining the one or more than one possible ways of implementing the strategies. This also includes the other factors like the cost-benefits return on investments analysis and many more. Followed by this is the presentation of all these strategies to the top management so as to get it approved and implemented.

Basically it is seen that the MIS or the Management Information System directors or the IT directors are associated with eth management of the computing resources that a particular organization is having. The IS managers are often working under the chief information officer so as to plan and direct the work of the other sub-ordinates present in the information technology department (Laudon and Laudon 2015). Besides this they are also responsible for making sure that there exists the availability, continuity, and security of the data as well as the various services related to information technology present in an organization. So it can be stated that the IS managers are responsible for looking into the various technical departments of an organization along with the development and monitoring of the various performance standards which would be followed by eth implementation of the new projects.

The output along with the project reports, system documentation, service requests and any other type of information are reviewed in order to evaluate the performance of the system, the operations of the system. This is also done so as to review the requirements of the new applications and the other requirements as well so as to work with the other staffs as well in order to design and develop the systems that are required (Isberg et al. 2015). Reviewing and evaluation of the technical literature is also done along with the other information which are concerned with the changes taking place in the technology is also done.

Working environment of the IS managers:

Generally, it is a clean and conformable office where the IS managers work. Besides this working for long hours is also common for the IS managers. It is even observed that they are working in the late evenings as well as in weekends so as to meet the deadlines or for the purpose of solving any kind of uncertain problems.  In addition to the various kind of the problems the IS managers also might face considerable amount of pressure in meeting the technical goals where the deadline assigned is short and this kind thing happens in case of tight budgets as well. With the continuation of network expansion, the work done remotely is also increasing along with the usage of the computer (Giuli et al. 2016). For this reason, the IS manager needs to communicate with one another as well as with other sub-ordinates situated at other geographical locations by making use of different technical equipment’s which includes the laptops, e-mails, and many more. In this type of occupation, the occurrences of injuries are very rare. However, the considerable amount of time spent in front of the computers makes the Information System Managers susceptible to eyestrain, back discomfort problems in hand or wrists and many more.

Education and training required for becoming an IS manager:

Becoming an IS manager needs a bachelor’s degree in the computer related fields. This is generally needed in order to manage the positions. However, the employers are associated with preferring a graduation degree specially a MBA degree which would be having the technology as the core component (Ko and Kirsch 2017). Some of the most common undergraduate degree that are needed for the purpose of becoming an IS manager includes computer science, information science or the management information system.

Usually it takes 4 years to complete a bachelor’s degree in a computer related filed and this mainly includes the courses in the computer science, computer engineering, computer programming along with mathematics and statistics as well (Gallagher and Sixsmith 2014). MIS or the Management Information System programs are a part of any kind of business school or college which consists of courses like the finance, marketing, management and accounting. Besides this there also exists system design which includes the networking, management of database and security of the system.

Possibilities of attaining a position of IS manager also exists however, this is possible only if they are having sufficient amount of experience. Besides this the individual must be acquiring some additional skills as well in this type of job.

Other skills required to become IS manager:

Becoming an IS manager requires a lot of skills. Employers are generally associated with looking for the individuals who are having the capability of understanding the software or the technology that is needed in order to get their work done. Basically knowledge can be gained after years of experience while working with particular technology. there also exists another way by which this trait can be demonstrated and this is to be done by usage of professional certification (Kavanagh and Johnson 2017). However, this is generally not needed for all the IS manager positions, certification is just a way by which the area of expertise of a particular individual can be demonstrated and can help the individual in increasing the chances of employment of that particular individual. This type of certificates which are provided are generally product specific which are administered by the software or the hardware companies and not by the independent organizations.

A thorough understanding of the business processes is needed and because of the reason that the It acts as the central component of most of the organizations, the IS managers often need to take decisions which are very important. Besides this skill in business management, consulting and sales are also some of the other important skills that an IS manager should have. Good leadership and good communication skills is also another important characteristic that a IS manager should have (Wäller et al. 2015). The major reason lying behind this need is for the purpose of assigning the works or for monitoring the performance of the employees.

Different levels of IS manager:

This is the particular job family which consists of three levels and this levels are generally dependent upon different factors like the complexity, the assigned responsibility which also includes the supervising and providing directions to the other staffs and many more. In order to become a successful IS manager there is a need of understanding the knowledge, skills and abilities that different level IS managers should have. The levels basically include Level I managers, Level II managers and Level III managers (Ismail and King 2014). The Level I managers needs to have knowledge of the various computer operations along with knowledge about telecommunication network. Besides some other knowledge that the level I, II and III IS managers should have includes the knowledge about processing the data to the hardware and software, knowledge about the security and control methods, knowledge related to the supervisory principles and the practices. Additional ability of directing the work done by others is also needed so as to coordinate the various activities as well as the resources present within or between the units (Cassidy 2016). This is done so as to assess or to evaluate the operating system performance along with communicating effectively so as to establish or for the purpose of maintaining the professional working relationship with others.

Mind Map:

Fig 1: Mind Map

Source: Created by Author

Conclusion:

The report above is associated with depicting the various aspects that are required in order to become a successful IS manager. So for becoming a successful IS manager it is essential that the IS manager is associated with planning, directing and managing the various activities of the IT staffs. This staffs are generally responsible for the development, designing, maintenance and operating the various computer OS along with the data processing functions. Besides this the IS managers are also responsible for coordinating the processing’s of the data along with the various computer related services with the other sections or the divisions as required. Besides this they are also responsible for consulting with the others users as well for the purpose of identifying the requirements related to data processing besides providing directions to the staffs associated with the development new applicants, database or the operations of the system. Along with providing directions recommendations is also provided related to the purchasing of the new equipment’s or the software.

References:

Arvidsson, V., Holmström, J. and Lyytinen, K., 2014. Information systems use as strategy practice: A multi-dimensional view of strategic information system implementation and use. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 23(1), pp.45-61.

Cassidy, A., 2016. A practical guide to information systems strategic planning. Auerbach Publications.

Gallagher, S. and Sixsmith, A., 2014. Engaging IT undergraduates in non-IT content: Adopting an eLearning information system in the classroom. Interactive Technology and Smart Education, 11(2), pp.99-111.

Giuli, T.J., Tonshal, B., Gusikhin, O.Y., MacNeille, P.R., Chen, Y. and Filev, D.P., Ford Global Technologies LLC, 2016. Task manager and method for managing tasks of an information system. U.S. Patent 9,292,952.

Isberg, V., Mordalski, S., Munk, C., Rataj, K., Harpsøe, K., Hauser, A.S., Vroling, B., Bojarski, A.J., Vriend, G. and Gloriam, D.E., 2015. GPCRdb: an information system for G protein-coupled receptors. Nucleic acids research, 44(D1), pp.D356-D364.

Ismail, N.A. and King, M., 2014. Factors influencing the alignment of accounting information systems in small and medium sized Malaysian manufacturing firms. Journal of Information Systems and Small Business, 1(1-2), pp.1-20.

Kavanagh, M.J. and Johnson, R.D. eds., 2017. Human resource information systems: Basics, applications, and future directions. Sage Publications.

Ko, D.G. and Kirsch, L.J., 2017. The hybrid IT project manager: One foot each in the IT and business domains. International Journal of Project Management, 35(3), pp.307-319.

Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., 2015. Management information systems (Vol. 8). Prentice Hall.

Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., 2016. Management information system. Pearson Education India.

Pearlson, K.E., Saunders, C.S. and Galletta, D.F., 2016. Managing and Using Information Systems, Binder Ready Version: A Strategic Approach. John Wiley & Sons.

Stair, R. and Reynolds, G., 2017. Fundamentals of information systems. Cengage Learning.

Varadharajan, P., Dornemann, H.W., Polimera, R. and Kandasamy, A., CommVault Systems Inc, 2015. File manager integration with virtualization in an information management system, including user control and storage management of virtual machines. U.S. Patent Application 14/307,366.

Wäller, C., Neugebauer, M., Fabian, T., Wehling, U., Horna, G. and Missall, M., Volkswagen AG, 2015. Multimode user interface of a driver assistance system for inputting and presentation of information. U.S. Patent 9,103,691.