Information Systemsand

Strategic Planning

Learning Objectives

To understand what a Management Information System

is what role a Management Information

System plays within an organisation

strategy and strategic planning

what Strategic Management is

The MIS Question ?

Question: What is a Management Information System ?

Answer: The basic concept of a management information system is that of a system that provides, to all levels of management, information that is accurate, relevant and timely for the support of the process of management.

The MIS Triangle

BOARD

USER IS

Policy on priorities,objective setting &monitoring.

New service needs& nomination of project benefits.

Needs, system problems,choice of design & project control.

Options of project design, costs& benefits of proposals.

Budget policies,MIS needs and master plans.

Budget advice &equipment options for MIS needs.

Information Management

Information management depends on the following: Governance: Governance or information

politics, is used not only to exercise authority but is an art for achieving corporate consensus. It guides how individuals and groups cooperate to achieve business objectives.

Business Plan Alignment: IT business plans must be congruent with the organization’s business plan or the worth of the IT plan will always be suspect.

Management Information Systems

Within organizations today the most valuable commodity they possess is information.

A management information system is a valuable resource to the entire organisation.

A management information system should be used by everyone within the organisation if they have the need.

What is a Strategy ? Question: What is a Strategy?

“Strategy is a broad based formula for how business is going to compete, what its goals should be, and what policies will be needed to carry out those goals. The essence of formulating competitive strategy is relating a company to its environment”, M. E. Porter, (1980 )

“ Strategic decisions are concerned with:

• The scope of an organization’s activities

• The matching of an organization’s activities to its environment

• The matching of an organization’s activities to its resource capability

• The allocation and reallocation of major resources in an organisation

• The values, expectations and goals of those influencing strategy

• The direction in which the organisation will move in the long term.

G. Johnson & K Scholes, (1989)

Strategy

“Strategy is the pattern of resource allocation decisions made throughout an organisation. These encapsulate both desired goals and beliefs about what are acceptable and, most critically, unacceptable means for achieving them.”(Robson,97)

Therefore, it is always possible to see what an organisation’s strategy is by inspection of the whole of what is does.

Types of Strategy

Corporate Strategy

• What businesses are we in ?• What objectives and performance are we pursuing?

Business Strategy

• What product-market position are we pursuing ?• What goals must we meet ?

Information Systems Strategy

Information Technology Strategy

• What technology policies do we need ?• How should we manage the technology ?

• What systems does the business need ?• What systems can provide competitive advantages ?

Corporate Strategy

Provides the framework for the business style that reflects the business strategy and influences the business strategy in terms of:

Outsourcing Diversification Scale Scope Deals with the entire organisation. (Robson,97)

Business Strategy

Business strategy is the intent of the business, that is, the way the business wishes to go.

It deals with a single business unit, i.e. a unit within the organisation

Porter (1985) classified business strategies as either cost leadership or differentiation of products and may encompass an entire market or be focused on a particular part of it.

Strategic ManagementQuestion: What is Strategic Management ?

“Strategic management is a systematic approach to a major and increasingly important responsibility for general management to position and relate the firm to its environment in a way which will assure its continued success and make it secure from surprises.” H. I. Ansoff, (1984), Implanting Strategic Management, Prentice-Hall.

“Strategic management is a stream of decisions and actions which leads to the development of an effective strategy or strategies to help achieve corporate objectives.” W F Gleck & L R Jaunch, (1984), Business Policy and Strategic Management, Prentice-Hall.

“Strategic management is the decision process that aligns the organization’s internal capability with the opportunities and threats it faces in its environment.” A J Rowe et al, (1989), Strategic Management, Addison-Wesley.

Strategic Management

Deriving and describing the strategy Applicable to all organisations –

large or small Includes the entire organisation Looks past the day-to-day running

of the company Focuses on the long-term prospects

and development.

Elements of Strategic Management(Robson,97)

TheEnvironment

Expectationsobjectivesand power

Resources

Strategicanalysis

Strategicchoice

Strategyimplementation

Generationof options

Evaluationof options

Selectionof strategy

People andsystems

Organisation

structure

Resourceplanning

Formulation of strategy itself

Often referred to as tactics

ANALYSIS

What is occurring or will occur in the business environment and what will be its effect on the organisation. Changes will be economic, social, technological and competitive.

Resources - physical, financial skills available in order to determine strengths and weaknesses of organisation.

Culture or organisation, management style, power of individuals and groups.

STRATEGIC CHOICE

Generates number of possible strategies, evaluate and select.

STRATEGIC IMPLEMENTATION deployment of resources, analysis and

implementation of changes needed in organisational structure.

The strategy must be a product of what the people involved want the organisation to be, to do and to achieve.

What Is the Difference Between Strategic Planning and Strategic Management?

1. Strategic planning is focused on making optimal strategy decisions, while strategic management is focused on producing strategic results: new markets, new products and/or new technologies. To paraphrase Peter Drucker, strategic planning is management by plans, while strategic management is management by results.2. Strategic planning is an analytical process, while strategic management is an organizational action process.3. Strategic planning is focused on business, economic and technological variables. Strategic management broadens the focus to include psychological, sociological and political variables. Thus, strategic planning is about choosing things to do, while strategic management is about choosing things to do and also about the people who will do them.4. Strategic management consists of: formulating strategies, designing the firm's capability, managing implementation of strategies and capabilities.

Strategic Planning Process

This is not a linear activity Definition “The process of developing and maintaining

consistency between the organisation’s objectives and resources and its changing opportunities”.

Aims to define and document an approach to doing business that leads to satisfactory profits and growth. (Robson,97)

Model of Strategic Planning Process

Planning element Plan component Key questionWhat should we be doing?

Strategic analysisWhere are we going?

Strategic choice What routes have we selected?

How do we shape our decisionsto get there?

Strategic

implementation What choices do we have?

Shall we do it?

Mission

Goals

Strategies

Policies

Decisions

Actions

Summary

This lecture has given descriptions of Management Information System and the role a Management Information System plays within an organisation.Also strategy, strategic management and strategic planning have been covered.