外文文献—管理信息系统

附录Ⅰ外文资料：Management Information SystemsWriter: Raymond McLeod, Jr·George Schell ，2007Information is one of the main resources available to the manager. Information can be managed just as any other resource, and interest in this topic stem from two influences. First, business has become more complex, and second, the computer has achieved improved capabilities.Computer information is used by managers, non-managers, and persons and organizations within the firm’s environment. Managers are found on all orga nizational levels of the firm and in all business areas. Managers perform functions and play roles; to be successful and they need skill in communication and problem solving. Managers should be computer literate, but, more important, they should be information literate.It is helpful if the manager has an ability to see his or her unit as a system composed of subsystems and existing within a larger super system. The firm is a physical system, but it is managed through a conceptual system. The conceptual system consists of an information processor that transforms data into information and represents the physical resources.The first major computer application was used to process accounting data. That application was followed by four others: management information systems, decision support system, the virtual office, and knowledge-based system. All five of these applications compose the computer-based information system.What are the information resources?The first efforts to engage in information management focused on data. These efforts occurred in conjunction with widespread adoption database management systems during the 1970s and 1980s. Firms reasoned that if they managed their data by implementing computer-based DBMSs, they would, in effect, manage their information.A broader view, however, is that you can manage information by managing the resources that produce the information. In other words, rather than concentrate on the input (the data)and the output (the information), attention should also be given to the information processor that transforms the input into the output. This processor includes the hardware and software, as well an the persons who develop, operate, and use the systems. Also included are the facilities that house the resources.Main Type of Resource sThe manager managers five main type of resources:●Personnel●Material●Machines(including facilities and energy)●Money●Information(including data)The task of the manager is to manage these resources in order to use them in themost effective way. The first four resource types are tangible; they exist physically and can be touched. We use the term physical resource to describe them. The fifth resource type, information, is not valuable form what it represents. That is we use the term conceptual resource to describe information and data. Managers use conceptual resources to manage physical resources.How Information is managedIt is easy to see how a manager managers physical resources, but management applies equally well to conceptual resources. The manager ensures that the necessary raw data is gathered and then processed into usable information. He or she then ensures that appropriate individuals receive the information in the proper form at the proper time so that it can be used. Finally, the manager discard information that has outlived its usefulness and replaces it with information that is current and accurate. All of this activity-acquiring information, using it in the most effective way, and discarding it at the proper time-is called information management.Increasing Complexity of Business ActivityBusiness has always been complex, but it is more so today than ever before. All firms are subject to international economic influences and compete in a worldwide marketplace, the technology of business is becoming more complex, the time frame for taking action is shrinking, and there are social constrains.International economic influences Firms of all size are subject to economic influences that can originate anywhere in the world. Such influence can be seen in the relative values of the currencies of each nation. Buyers make purchases in those countries where their currencies have the greatest value. For example, when Mexico devalued its peso during the late 1980s, tourists decided to take their vacations there, rather than in place like Hawaii.Worldwide competition Firms no longer compete in only their own geographic area. Rather, competition exists on a worldwide scale. The effects of this competition can be seen in the imports from foreign countries. The decision by General Motors in the early 1990s to close many of its plans indicates that even industry giants are not insulated from the effects of competition which can originate anywhere in the world.Increasing complexity technology We see example of technology in business every day-barcode scanners in supermarkets, computer-based airline reservation systems, automated teller technology that we do not see-factory robots and automated merchandise storage-and-handling equipment, for example. Firms invest in this technology to perform necessary operation. Just think what would happen if the L.L.Bean mail-order operation in Maine or Harrods’s department store in London could no longer use their computer!Shrinking time frames All phases of business operations are performed more rapidly than ever before. Sales representatives engage in telemarketing to contact their customers within seconds by telephone, sale orders are transmitted electronically from one computer to another, and manufacturers schedule raw material deliveries to arrive “just in time.”Social constraints Oddly enough, not all pressures favor production; some favor nonproduction. This is true in the case of products and services that society findsundesirable. Business decisions must be based on economic factors, but social costs and payoffs must be considered as well. Plant expansion, new products, new products, new sales outlets, and similar actions must all be weighed in term of their environmental impact.Each of these influences contributes to the complexity of business.Physical systems and conceptual systemsThe business firm is a physical system, composed of physical resources. A conceptual system, on the other hand, is a system that uses conceptual resources-information and data-to represent a physical system. A conceptual system exists, for example, as mental images in the manager’s mind, as figures or lines on a sheet of paper, or in the electronic form of the computer’s storage.The computer is a physical system, but the data and information stored in it can be viewed as a conceptual system. The date and information represent one or more physical system. How the date and information are stored is unimportant. What is important is what the data and information represent. The physical system is important for what it is; the conceptual system is important for its representation of the physical system.What stimulated end-user computing?End-user computing evolved because of four main influences.●An increase in computer literacy During the early 1980s, good computereducation programs at both the college and precollege level began to have an impact. Management ranks, especially on the lower levels, began to fill with computer-literate people.●The information services backing Information specialists have always had morework than they can handle. This situation became critical during the early 1980s, when users began making demands on information services for additional systems support. Information services could not respond quickly enough, and backlogs built up. Some users had to wait two or three year for their jobs to work their way through the backlog.●Low-cost hardware During this period, the market becomes flooded withlow-cost microcomputers. Users could obtain their own hardware by placing an order at the local computer store by telephone and making payment for the petty cash fund.●Prewritten software Both hardware and software firms produced software thatwould perform basic accounting tasks as well as provide information for decision making. This prewritten software offered enhanced support and ease of use, and it enabled firms and individual users with little or no computer expertise to implement computer-based system.The combination of these four influences accounted for the explosion of end-user computing.System ElementsNot all systems have the same combination of elements, but a basic configuration is illustrated in figure 1.5. Input resources are transformed into output resources. The resources flow from the input element, through the transformation element, and to theoutput element. A control mechanism monitors the transformation process to ensure that the system meets its objectives. The control mechanism is connected to the resource flow by means of a feedback loop, which obtains information from the system output and makes it available to the control mechanism. The control mechanism compares the feedback signals to the objectives and directs signals to the input element when it is necessary to change the system operation.When this arrangement of elements is used to explain a heating system, for example, the input represents the fuel, such as natural gas or coal. Combustion is the heating process that transforms the fuel into heat-the output. The control mechanism is the thermostat, the feedback loop is the wiring that connects the thermostat to the heater, and the objective is the temperature that is dialed into the thermostat.When the system elements represent a manufacturing firm, the input resources are the raw materials, which are transformed into finished products or services by the manufacturing process. The control mechanism is the firm’s management, the objectives are the goals that the firm seeks to achieve, and the feedback loop is the flow of information both to and from management.中文译文：管理信息系统作者：Raymond McLeod, Jr·George Schell 信息是管理者可以使用的主要资源之一。