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Information treatment

Information systems

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Information systems are just BIG databases

• They are very useful in running a firm

• because we need to treat/process information to run a firm

• There are many levels of activities in a firm

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What is a firm ?

• It is a BIG body to create products and services from inputs

• The inputs : work, raw materials, anything supplied by suppliers

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What is needed to run a firm ?

• All the inputs described on the previous slide

• and organisation tools

• INFORMATION SYSTEMS are big organisation tools (just like our « organiser »)

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reference

http://lapasserelle.com/escem/

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All the important functions of a firm produce and use plenty of repetitive information

• Therefore databases (large databases, i.e. information systems) pervade the firm

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The small view of the business computing course :

• It would be to limit it to basic office work helping tools :– word processors

– spreadsheets

– image treatment softwares (PSP, photshop, paint…)

– databases (for addresses)

– and browsers (just to access the Net)

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Middle mgt = « les cadres »

• In the early fifties in France 40% of the working population was employed in farms

• But industry was developping : plants rose, they needed people to manage them, these were called « les cadres »

• China also was, according to C.P. Snow, « a large peasant country »

– more than 20% of the population ?

• It also underwent industrial development

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FNAC

• Fnac means « fédération nationale des associations de cadres »

• Founded by Max THERET in the early 50 ’s• The cadres had their own consumption habits (like

any other social category) and M. Théret, a visionary, sensed that they would like to have their own shops

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Blue collars

• Appeared in the wake of the Industrial Revolution

• Tremendous consequences…

• Social thinkers developped new social theories

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Blue collars (2)

• World War I saw the end of the power of aristocrats or pensioned people

• The pension people were ruined after WWI• Between WWI & WWII, in France, the political

system catered to the Blue collars (le Front Populaire, les conge ’ paye)

• The middle-mgrs were not socially powerful enough to exist as a class

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White collars in the US

• They appeared in the inter war period

• They were hit by the great depression

• It was inthinkable for an american that a white collar could be out of work

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Chinese middle managers

• They here too represent a new social class– with its consumption patterns

– way of thinking

– radio stations

– magazines

– vacation habits

– dress codes

– etc.

• A bit of sociology will tell us what they will want, and then we can supply it...

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Future efficient managers (i.e. Escem students)

• We need to understand – not only how to use Word– or what an information system is for– but history– sociology– politics

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The origin of middle mgt

• There has been plants in France since the Industrial Revolution (that happened 10 000 years after the agricultural revolution, now we are in ….. Revolution)

• They had middle mgt : usually called « regisseur », « intendant », etc

• But they did not form a social class– why ?

– Because they were not numerous enough

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Which first new social class was created by the Industrial Revolution ?

• Workers (also called Blue collars, as opposed to White collars)

• « proletarian » class

• Big social changes– when ?– In the 19th century new thinkers thought

about this class

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Pattern recognition

• Learning what happened in the past gives us plenty of patterns

• Sometimes in the present we may recognize a known pattern

• Then if we know what was the consequence of the past pattern, we have a hint at what may happen

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Pattern recognition (2)

• Pattern recognition softwares will help the top executives

• Their role requires to « understand » evolving situations, anticipate, and take appropriate action

• (Much different from the Operations level tasks)

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The second social class created by the industrialization

• « Les cadres » that is Middle mgt people• Why ?• Simply enough because there became

numerous• When a social category (same pattern, same

living habits, same magazines, etc.) it becomes a social force

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Information systems penetrated the firms from bottom up

• First : – accounting (in the 60 ’s), because accounting produces strongly

patterned information (transactions, recordings, accounts…)

– and production (in the 70 ’s) : J.I.T. systems, that give rise to S.C.M.

• Second : the office work (word processors… in the early 80 ’s)– before that secretaries had typewriters (-> PC ’s)

– and engineers had drawing boards (-> work stations)

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Information systems penetrated the firms from bottom up• Thirdly :

– middle management in the 80 ’s and 90 ’s : databases, spreadsheets, elaborate softwares

– in 1990 the financial officer at Chaumet had a computer in his office (it was turned off because he didn ’t know how to use it, I asked why do you have it then, he said : it ’s a must now…)

• Fourthly : the top-executive (in the 90 ’s and NOW)– their job is harder « to put into cards »  : like cookbook recipes

compared to football players

– computer aided decision softwares

– in the future (pattern) they will have « profiling » softwares

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The automation of the top executive functions :

• Well, it’s not as simple as automating the accounting functions

• It’ll be related to some sort of automated sifting through large loads of information

• It’ll be related to signals recognition

• It’ll be related to pattern recognition

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It’ll be related to pattern recognition

• The top executives have the responsability to take decisions

• This requires thinking (high level information processing)

• I call it : pattern recognition

• TIAS program will have as offshoots just that.

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The Toshiba graphic pad/portable

• It started from a concern of the strategic staff (upper middle mgt level ; they directly advise the top executives)

• Next : a meeting between the strategic staff and the marketing people

• (They also talked to the Finance chaps)• The ouput was a set a notes for the engineers• And then the engineers started to engineer

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More on the manufacturing :

• In 1970 walking through a car assembly plant, we would see only the same cars

• And behing every worker there was a sizeable stock of parts

• Now in 2002 walking through a car assembly plant we see very different cars following each other, each corresponding to a client order

• And no sizeable stocks behind workers (J.I.T.)

• This is a revolution

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This is a revolution...

• It could not have been possible without very powerful Information systems.

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The information chain• It starts at the car dealership :

– a client orders a customized car

• The information is stored into a CRM (customer relationship mgt) information system

• It is, via the back office functions of the CRM, transmitted to the HQ and to the manufacturing plant– there it triggers a whole second chain of actions

– to suppliers (Supply Chain Mgt)

– and to the plant piloting systems

• assignement of workers jobs

• putting in front of each worker the information concerning each model

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By the way...

• In a plant producing many items we have a choice – either the workers move from one piece to the next

– or the in-process pieces move along the still workers

– since Taylor the second possibility is preferred

– (there has been experiments with the 1st at Volvo in the 70 ’s, they did not last)

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Balancing a chain :

• Each worker has a given amount of time to work (each worker the same)

• Balancing a chain is to split the total work in such a way as to fill in as much as possible each worker’s minute of work time

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Balancing a chain :

• (Volvo experiment was not pursued)

• And now in front of each worker pass DIFFERENT cars

• Usually the plant produces one car per minute

• Therefore each worker has got one minute of work

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Balancing a chain (2) :

• Filling in this one minute efficiently is called balancing the chain

• If the chain is not balanced, workers are idle (waste of time, time is money)

• Balancing a modern chain is much more complex than balancing a 1970 ’s chain

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Balancing a chain (3) :

• Yet there are small tricks : workers on a moving platform…

• This belongs to the subject of modern manufacturing engineering

• (Of course it requires fairly complex information systems)

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Balancing a chain (4) :

• Modern manufacturing plants are fairly complex systems

• No longer the workshop with three blokes smoking cigarettes– « Hé Popol passe-moi la clé de huit »

• Even car repairs shops in cities have changed – now clean

– computer driven to some extent

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Is it Taylorism ?

• Well, Taylorism purported to use automation to gain efficiency (money efficiency)

• In the sense that we are still concerned with money efficiency we can call it the offspring of Taylorism

• But it ’s a long way from 1910 plants.

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Firms functions

• We visited the shopfloor, we’ve taken a look at what happens in the offices, in the engineering dept, we popped into the executive suites…

• You will work in firms– either inside (communication with your office

neighbours)

– or outside (sales jobs, communication with other cultures)

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Communication

• Particularly in sales jobs you will need to communicate with people of all cultures

• Efficient communication (like efficient stories) addresses the three parts of the brain – cortex (ideas, explanations, plots)– limbic (sympathy, respect…)– reptilian (keep down agressivity, but use desire…)

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The big consistency

• There is a big consistency in these stories :– people at work

• producing

• exchanging

• consuming

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Excessive automation

• It is possible to further improve the efficiency of a modern assembly plant – moving carpets bringins parts

– automated assistants of all sorts

– moving platforms, etc

• The problem is : at some point it negates the human being– it is a productivity problem

– as well as a phisophical problem

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Productivity trade off• In modern car assembly plant the productivity

is 4 cars per worker per day• (A beautiful productivity ratio !, remember the

bakery example in the accounting course : how many loaves of bread per day per person)

• There is a trade off between productivity and cost per person per day– The more skilled the more expensive

– It can be tempting to prefer cheaper less skilled workers

• But we are not cheap, are we ?

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I.S. impact

• They tremendously increase productivity• They also help increase quality• cf. Quality circles in Japan in the 70 ’s• cf. Edward Demming work on statistical

quality control• But they may put people out of work• At any rate they raise the work added-value