Deck 2: Information Systems in Organizations

Question 1

Over time, disruptive innovation tends to become less attractive to users in a new market.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

When the threat of new market entrants is high, the desire to seek and maintain competitive advantage to dissuade new entrants is also usually high.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Reengineering and continuous improvement mean the same thing.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

An organization can spend less than another on information systems but still get better value.

Question 5

A traditional view of information systems holds that organizations use them to control and monitor processes and ensure effectiveness and efficiency.

Question 6

Organizational culture consists of the major understandings and assumptions for an organization.

Question 7

An organization is a system, which means that it has inputs, processing, outputs, and feedback.

Question 8

The diffusion of innovation theory can be useful in planning the rollout of a new information system. ​

Question 9

Perceived usefulness and ease of use of a system influence an individual's attitude toward the system.

Question 10

An organization's structure is independent of its goals and approach to management.

Question 11

According to Porter's five-forces model, the more the forces combine in any instance, the less likely firms will seek competitive advantage and the less dramatic the results of such an advantage will be.

Question 12

The concept of a value chain is not significant to organizations that do not manufacture products.

Question 13

Studies have shown that user satisfaction and technology acceptance are not particularly significant in healthcare as professionals in this industry are quick to learn and accept new technology.

Question 14

The shorter the payback period, the more attractive is the project.

Question 15

The diffusion of innovation theory states that adoption of any innovation happens all at once for all members of the targeted population.​​

Question 16

An advantage of the payback method is that it does not take into account the time value of money.

Question 17

Organizations cannot have many value chains.

Question 18

While information systems were once used primarily to automate manual processes, they have transformed the nature of work and the shape of organizations themselves.

Question 19

A sustaining innovation is one that initially provides a lower level of performance than the marketplace has grown to accept.

Question 20

Few organizations believe it necessary to align IS goals and organizational goals to achieve a competitive advantage.

Question 21

Providing value to a _____ is the primary goal of any organization.

A) stakeholder
B) product
C) competitor
D) service

Question 22

The IS support organization is a multi-faceted group providing user assistance in hardware and software acquisition and use, data administration, user training and assistance, and software development.

Question 23

The role of a systems analyst is narrowly defined and seldom involves communications with others.

Question 24

The lower the net present value, the more financially attractive the project is.

Question 25

The idea of _____ is a form of innovation that constantly seeks ways to improve business processes and add value to products and services.

A) reengineering
B) process redesign
C) disruptive change
D) continuous improvement

Question 26

Non-technical skills such as communications skills and knowledge of the organization are not important to IS personnel.

Question 27

_____ encompasses all the activities required to get the right product into the right consumer's hands in the right quantity at the right time and at the right cost, from acquisition of raw materials through customer delivery. ​

A) Supply chain management
B) Value chain management
C) Inventory management
D) Customer management

Question 28

Opportunities in information systems are available to people from foreign countries, including Russia and India.

Question 29

The higher the internal rate of return, the more attractive the project is from a financial standpoint.

Question 30

A _____ organizational structure is like a managerial pyramid where the power structure of decision making and authority flows from the strategic management at the top down to operational management and nonmanagement employees. ​

A) traditional hierarchical
B) virtual
C) flat horizontal
D) matrix

Question 31

A serious problem with both the internal rate of return and net present value methods is that it is difficult to forecast cash flow accurately over a number of years.

Question 32

In a _____, an individual has two reporting superiors (managers)-one functional and one operational.

A) program organizational structure
B) traditional organizational structure
C) product organizational structure
D) matrix organizational structure​

Question 33

Which of the following is one of the main areas of support activities in the supply chain of a manufacturing organization?

A) Service
B) Procurement
C) Marketing and sales
D) Operations

Question 34

The operations group is responsible for the day-to-day running of IS hardware to process the organization's information systems workload.

Question 35

A disadvantage of the payback method is that it fails to include cash flows beyond the payback period.

Question 36

A _____ organizational structure empowers employees at lower levels to make decisions and solve problems without needing permission from midlevel managers.

A) virtual
B) traditional
C) flat
D) matrix

Question 37

The systems development organization focuses solely on the development of new information systems and seldom becomes involved in maintenance and review of information systems.

Question 38

A(n) _____ innovation initially provides a lower level of performance than the marketplace has grown to accept but is improved to provide some new performance characteristics and becomes more attractive to users in a new market, eventually displacing the former product or way of doing things.

A) culture
B) organizational
C) disruptive
D) sustaining

Question 39

In a manufacturing organization, the supply chain is a key value chain whose primary activities include all of the following EXCEPT _____.

A) inbound logistics
B) finance and accounting
C) marketing and sales
D) customer service

Question 40

Which of the following theories explains how a new idea or product gains acceptance and spreads through a specific population or subset of an organization?

A) The diffusion of innovation theory
B) The contingency theory
C) The public choice theory
D) The two-factor theory

Question 41

The _____ is a series of activities that an organization performs to transform inputs into outputs in such a way that the value of the input is increased.

Question 42

The military is the classic example of a:

A) matrix organization structure.
B) traditional hierarchical organizational structure.
C) project organizational structure.
D) flat horizontal organizational structure.

Question 43

In a supply chain, _____ involve the transformation, movement, and storage of supplies and raw materials.

A) virtual flows
B) matrix flows
C) information flows
D) physical flows

Question 44

In the context of strategic planning for competitive advantage, becoming more efficient with production and manufacturing processes is characteristic of _____.

A) differentiation
B) niche strategy
C) mass supply
D) cost leadership

Question 45

A(n) _____ is a group of individuals whose members are distributed geographically, but who collaborate and complete work through the use of information systems technology.

Question 46

A(n) _____ is a group of people that is structured and managed to meet its mission or set of group goals.

Question 47

_____ involves reducing the number of employees to cut costs.

A) Outsourcing
B) Offshoring
C) Utility computing
D) Downsizing

Question 48

The _____ takes into account the fact that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar paid in the future.

A) time value of money
B) cash flow
C) payback period
D) financial flow

Question 49

A ____ is an agreement between two or more companies that involves the joint production and distribution of goods and services. ​

A) strategic alliance
B) differentiation partnership
C) niche alliance
D) cost leadership

Question 50

The role of the _____ is to employ an information system (IS) department's equipment and personnel to help an organization attain its goals.

A) information systems security analyst
B) chief information officer
C) data administrator
D) system operator

Question 51

_____ refers to organizational subunits and the way they relate to the overall organization.

Question 52

The payback period is:

A) the net present value of all cash flows (benefits and costs) generated by a project.
B) any cost savings associated with a project, such as savings from reduction in staff, equipment rental fees, and outsourcing fees.
C) any capital investment required to buy equipment, software, or office space.
D) the number of years required to recover the initial cost of an investment.

Question 53

The _____ of an investment makes the net present value of all cash flows (benefits and costs) generated by a project equal to zero.

A) net present value
B) internal rate of return
C) earnings growth
D) market share

Question 54

If an industry has low entry and exit costs and the technology needed to start and maintain a business is commonly available, this creates:

A) a threat of new entrants.
B) a threat of substitute products and services.
C) an increased bargaining power of customers and suppliers.
D) a rivalry among existing competitors.

Question 55

_____ are responsible for running and maintaining information system equipment and also for scheduling, hardware maintenance, and preparing input and output.

A) Data-entry operators
B) System operators
C) Web operators
D) Local area network operators

Question 56

A company with a(n) _____ strategy for gaining competitive advantage makes only high-performance sports cars and sport utility vehicles (SUVs).

A) differentiation
B) niche
C) cost leadership
D) industry alteration

Question 57

Giving employees and their managers more responsibility and authority to make decisions, take action, and have more control over their jobs is known as _____.

Question 58

_____ is a visa program that allows skilled employees from foreign lands into the United States.

A) L-1B
B) H-1B
C) 4F
D) G-5

Question 59

The _____ method of evaluating a project is the sum of the present value of the net cash flow for each time period.

A) net present value
B) internal rate of return
C) earnings growth
D) gross cash flow

Question 60

Which of the following is NOT one of five forces identified in Michael Porter's five-forces model?

A) The rivalry among existing competitors
B) The threat of new entrants
C) The threat of substitute products and services
D) The threat of new information systems

Question 61

_____ is a set of major understandings and assumptions shared by a group, such as within an ethic group or country.

Question 62

The _____ strategy for competitive advantage involves producing a variety of products, giving customers more choices, or delivering higher quality products and services.

Question 63

In the technology acceptance model (TAM), _____ is defined as the degree to which individuals believe that use of the system will improve their performance.

Question 64

A process cannot produce more than _____ defects per million opportunities to achieve Six Sigma.

Question 65

_____ is a process for testing skills and knowledge, which results in a statement by the certifying authority that confirms an individual is capable of performing particular tasks.
​

Question 66

​_____ design and set up databases to meet an organization's needs.

Question 67

The radical redesign of business processes, organizational structures, information systems, and values of an organization to achieve a breakthrough in business results is known as _____.

Question 68

_____ is a long-term business arrangement in which a company contracts for services with an outside organization that has expertise in providing a specific function.

Question 69

A(n) _____ is a professional in a developmental group of an information systems department who assists in choosing and configuring hardware and software, matching technology to users' needs, monitoring and testing the system in operation, and troubleshooting problems after implementation.

Question 70

The _____ group of a typical information systems organization is responsible for the day-to-day running of IS hardware to process the organization's information systems workload.

Question 71

_____ is a philosophy that considers using resources for any purpose other than to create value for the customer to be wasteful and therefore a target for elimination.

Question 72

The _____ specifies the factors that can lead to better attitudes about use of a new information system, along with its higher acceptance and usage.

Question 73

_____ convert a program design developed by a systems analyst or software developer into one of many computer languages.

Question 74

Porter's _____ model is a widely accepted model that identifies the key factors that can lead to attainment of competitive advantage.

Question 75

_____ is a theory that proposes that every organizational system is made up of four main components-people, tasks, structure, and technology-with an interaction among the four components so that any change in one of these elements will necessitate a change in the other three elements.

Question 76

A(n) _____ is a significant and ideally long-term benefit to a company over its competition and can result in higher-quality products, better?customer service, and lower costs.

Question 77

The _____ group of a typical information systems organization provides customer service for the employees, customers, and business partners who rely on the firm's information systems and service to accomplish their work.

Question 78

_____ means the ability of a product or a service to meet or exceed customer expectations.

Question 79

_____ are responsible for maintaining the security and integrity of their organizations' systems and data.

Question 80

A(n) _____is also known as a strategic partnership.