Deck 8: Information Technology and Control

Question 1

What types of systems are used to automate an organization's routine, day-to-day business activities such as data from sales or purchases from suppliers?

A) transaction processing systems
B) automated analysis systems
C) inventory control systems
D) decision support systems

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following specify standards for employee participation, teamwork, and problem solving?

A) employee reward programs
B) quality control systems
C) reward systems
D) statistical reports

Answer 2

B

Question 3

What is the highest level of application of information technology?

A) for internal control for profitability
B) external application for new business forms
C) adding strategic value
D) for networking

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following is a key performance indicator of a balanced scorecard?

A) benchmarking
B) business process indicators
C) corporate social responsibility measures
D) the organization's capacity for learning and growth

Question 5

Which of the following helps managers focus on the key strategic measures that define the success of a particular organization over time and communicate them clearly through the organization?

A) networking
B) data warehousing
C) enterprise resource planning
D) the balanced scorecard

Question 6

Which of the following is a highly ambitious quality standard that specifies a goal of no more than 3.4 defects per million parts?

A) benchmarking
B) the balanced scorecard
C) knowledge management
D) Six Sigma

Question 7

Which of the following is (are) a comprehensive management control system that balances traditional financial measures with operational measures relating to a company's critical success factors?

A) benchmarking
B) balanced scorecards
C) management control systems
D) Six Sigma

Question 8

Six Sigma is based on a methodology that provides a structured way for organizations to approach and solve problems. What is the methodology?

A) define, measure, analyze, improve, control
B) data warehousing
C) executive information systems
D) benchmarking

Question 9

Which of the following terms refers to the use of huge databases that combine all of a company's data and allow users to access the data directly, create reports, and obtain responses to what-if questions?

A) data analytics
B) data processing
C) data storing
D) data warehousing

Question 10

Which of the following steps in a simplified feedback control model refers to setting targets?

A) take corrective action as needed
B) establish standards of performance
C) measure actual performance and compare to standards
D) set organizational mission and vision

Question 11

Which of the following are typically based on software that can convert large amounts of complex data into pertinent information and provide that information to top managers in a timely fashion?

A) decision support systems
B) executive information systems
C) information reporting systems
D) TPS

Question 12

How is access to management information systems and executive information systems typically controlled?

A) by placing them on the Internet
B) by placing them on individual PCs of authorized managers
C) by placing them on an intranet
D) by placing them on an extranet

Question 13

Which of the following is an interactive information system designed to help managers at all levels make decisions through integrated databases in which a series of what-if questions can be posed?

A) decision support systems
B) transaction processing systems
C) management information systems
D) information linkages

Question 14

Which of the following is (are) defined as the formal routines, reports, and procedures that use information to maintain or alter patterns in organizational activities?

A) management control systems
B) management information systems
C) decision support systems
D) feedback control systems

Question 15

What term is used for the process of continually measuring products, services, and practices against those of tough competitors or other organizations recognized as industry leaders?

A) the balanced scorecard
B) benchmarking
C) Six Sigma
D) enterprise resource planning

Question 16

Who is typically concerned with well-defined problems about operational issues and past events?

A) top management
B) first-line management
C) employees
D) middle management

Question 17

Which of the following provides mid-level managers with reports that summarize data and support day-to-day decision making?

A) executive information systems
B) decision support systems
C) information reporting systems
D) feedback control systems

Question 18

What software uses sophisticated decision-making processes to search raw data for patterns and relationships that may be significant?

A) search algorithms
B) data mining
C) analytical
D) decision support systems

Question 19

Which of the following best describes the formal routines, reports, and procedures that use information to maintain or alter patterns in organization activities?

A) feedback control model
B) management control system
C) discipline policies
D) executive information system

Question 20

In what area did organizations initially apply information technology?

A) decision support systems
B) transaction processing systems
C) management information systems
D) enterprise resource planning systems

Question 21

The purpose of data warehousing is to combine all of an organization's data and allows users to access the data directly, create reports, and obtain responses to what-if questions.

Question 22

Which of the following basic strategies for setting up an Internet operation represents the middle road of the organizational design spectrum?

A) in-house divisions
B) strategic partnerships
C) spinoff companies
D) franchising

Question 23

Effective control systems involve the use of feedback to determine whether organizational performance meets established standards to help the organization attain its goals.

Question 24

Six Sigma is a comprehensive management control system that balances traditional financial measures with operations measures relating to a company's critical success factors.

Question 25

Which of the following is an important aspect of an integrated enterprise?

A) Six Sigma
B) networking
C) supply-chain management
D) the intranet

Question 26

As the complexity of computer-based information technology systems has increased, applications have grown to support effective top management control and decision making about complex and uncertain problems.

Question 27

EIS collects data from transactions such as sales, purchases, and inventory changes, and stores them in a database.

Question 28

Which of the following is an example of explicit knowledge?

A) investing time at meetings in the sharing of stories and learning of histories
B) a strong "feel" for the corporate culture
C) an electronic document system that codifies, stores, disseminates, and allows reuse of knowledge
D) channelling individual expertise to provide creative advice on problem solving

Question 29

Transaction processing systems facilitate decision making at the highest levels of management.

Question 30

Which of the following is one impact information technology has had on organizational design?

A) larger size
B) more decentralized organizational structures
C) technology as a substitute for professional staff, thereby decreasing the need for them
D) decreased levels of employee participation

Question 31

What happens to most activities in a modular structure?

A) They are outsourced.
B) They are eliminated.
C) They are performed by in-house professionals.
D) They are simplified.

Question 32

What is intellectual capital?

A) intellectual property
B) the sum of an organization's knowledge, experience, etc.
C) innovations made by in-house professionals
D) intangible assets

Question 33

Which of the following is the term for the efforts to systematically find, organize, and make available a company's intellectual capital and to foster a culture of continuous learning and knowledge sharing so that organizational activities build on what is already known?

A) enterprise resource planning
B) Six Sigma
C) knowledge management
D) benchmarking

Question 34

The MIS is supported by the organization's transaction processing systems and by organizational databases.

Question 35

Management information systems facilitate rapid and effective decision making.

Question 36

Data mining software is designed to print out data from the government sector, particularly from census reports.

Question 37

Which of the following can create a level of cooperation if managers approach it with an attitude of trust and partnership?

A) enterprise integration
B) networking
C) knowledge management
D) enterprise resource planning

Question 38

Information reporting systems are designed for non-managerial and nonsupervisory personnel to have access to basic information on the status of product orders.

Question 39

The four systems of a management control system form an overall management control system that provides top management with control information about resource inputs, process efficiency, and output. This information allows managers to create new strategies.

Question 40

What term is used for the form of corporate networking that is a private internal network using the infrastructure of the World Wide Web but cordoned off from the public?

A) webnet
B) intranet
C) interweb
D) CorpNet

Question 41

Managers use periodic statistical reports to evaluate and monitor nonfinancial performance, such as customer satisfaction, employee performance, or rate of staff turnover.

Question 42

The components of the scorecard are designed in an integrative manner so that they reinforce one another and link short-term actions with long-term strategic goals.

Question 43

Data and information are NOT synonymous terms.

Question 44

The statistical report is typically used to set targets for the organization's expenditures for the year and then report actual costs on a monthly or quarterly basis.

Question 45

How can information technology be used as a strategic weapon in business today?

Question 46

Describe the feedback control model.

Question 47

Describe each subsystem of management control systems.

Question 48

A wiki is an increasingly popular online technology for online collaboration.

Question 49

Compare executive information systems and decision support systems.

Question 50

Enterprise resource planning can integrate key management processes by integrating order processing, product design, purchasing, inventory, distribution, and other areas of organizational activity.

Question 51

Approaches for explicit knowledge management include the use of dialogue and communities of practice.

Question 52

An important aspect of the EIS is the supply chain, which means managing the sequence of suppliers and purchasers covering all stages of processing from obtaining raw materials to distributing finished goods to consumers.

Question 53

One effect of IT on organizational design is overall growth in size from the hiring of technical personnel.

Question 54

The formal routines, reports, and procedures that use information to maintain or alter patterns in organizational activities are referred to as the balanced scorecard.

Question 55

Knowledge management can serve as the backbone for an entire organization by integrating and optimizing all the various business processes across the entire firm.

Question 56

Tacit knowledge is formal, systematic knowledge that can be written down and passed on to others.

Question 57

What is the information reporting system? Give an example.

Question 58

Today, most companies with intranets have moved their management information systems, executive information systems, and so forth over to the intranet so they can easily be accessed by anyone who needs them.

Question 59

If an organization is structured as a network organization, it will forgo many of the usual departments because of subcontracting.

Question 60

Managers use quality control systems to train employees in quality control methods, set targets for employee participation, establish benchmarking guidelines, and assign and measure Six Sigma goals.

Question 61

Describe how interorganizational relationships can be affected by technology in business today.

Question 62

Discuss the balanced scorecard.

Question 63

What are "knowledge" and "knowledge management?"

Question 64

What is a network structure? What are its characteristics?

Question 65

Describe your use of explicit knowledge when you prepare for an examination. Do you also use tacit knowledge as you prepare? Explain.

Question 66

What methods of information management did you study in Chapter 8 that might be helpful in improving strategic management in a not-for-profit organization? Describe.

Question 67

Realizing that managers spend about 80% of their time exchanging information, develop and defend your own theory or strategy for managing knowledge.

Question 68

Describe ERP systems.

Question 69

Contrast two approaches for explicit knowledge management against two approaches for tacit knowledge management.

Question 70

The treasurer of a neighbourhood social service agency was selected because of his expertise in bookkeeping. Starting in his first month of service, he provided computer printouts for the board showing every transaction during the month. He felt quite good about his system for ensuring integrity in the process. However, after a few months, when the board was considering a land purchase, they began complaining to the treasurer that they didn't really know the financial standing of the organization. The treasurer said, "Of course you know exactly where we stand. You have been given listings of every deposit and every cheque written. Aren't you reading them?" Write out your response to the treasurer, explaining the problem from the perspective offered in the textbook on information requirements.

Question 71

Take a position relative to this statement: "The more data a manager has, the better his or her decision making will be. The more, the better!" Defend your position.

Question 72

Contrast key characteristics of traditional interorganizational relationships versus emerging interorganizational relationships relative to both suppliers and customers.