EXECUTIVES' ROLES AND INFORMATION NEEDS

8.4 EXECUTIVES' ROLES AND INFORMATION NEEDS

In Chapter2 we discussed the roles of managers, including decision-making. Even though providing executive information is no longer the focus of EIS, the process for

i d e n t i f y i n g i n f o r m a t i o n n e e d s i s e x a c t l y t h e s a m e a s f o r e n t e r p r i s e i n f o r m a t i o n sys- tems. The executive decisional role isa major one, and so we divide it into two phases. PhaseI involves the identification of problems and opportunities. Phase II involves

d e c i s i o n s o n w h a t t o d o a b o u t t h e m . F i g u r e 8.1 p r o v i d e s a f l o w c h a r t o f this p r o c e s s . This division can be used to understand executives' information needs and conse-

4 1 6 P A R T 111 ' COLLABORATION, COMMUNICATION, ENTERPRISE DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS, A N D KNOWLEDGE M A N A G E M E N T

F I G U R E 8 . 1 T H E DECISION-MAKING PROCESS OF EXECUTIVES (DECISIONAL ROLE)

A s s h o w n i n Figure 8.1, i n f o r m a t i o n f l o w s t o t h e s y s t e m f r o m t h e e x t e r n a l a n d internal e n v i r o n m e n t s . I n t e r n a l i n f o r m a t i o n i s g e n e r a t e d f r o m t h e f u n c t i o n a l u n i t s ( f i n a n c e , m a r k e t i n g , p r o d u c t i o n , a c c o u n t i n g , p e r s o n n e l , etc.). E x t e r n a l i n f o r m a t i o n

c o m e s f r o m t h e Internet and o t h e r o n l i n e databases, n e w s p a p e r s , Internet n e w s ser- vices, industry publications, g o v e r n m e n t reports, and p e r s o n a l contacts. W e b - e n a b l e d data w a r e h o u s e s h a v e p r o v i d e d a repository of external i n f o r m a t i o n that w a s n o t read- ily a v a i l a b l e a s r e c e n t l y a s 1 0 y e a r s ago. C l e a r l y t h e c o m b i n e d i n f o r m a t i o n i s a n

e x t r e m e l y valuable organizational resource n e e d e d for successful c o m p e t i t i o n and sur- vival. H o w e v e r , b e c a u s e of t h e large a m o u n t of i n f o r m a t i o n available, e n v i r o n m e n t a l scanning i s n e e d e d t o identify and d e t e r m i n e w h a t i s relevant. S o m e scanning o f n e w s stories, internal reports, and W e b i n f o r m a t i o n c a n b e p e r f o r m e d b y intelligent s o f t w a r e

agents ( s e e Liu et al., 2000). T h e c o l l e c t e d i n f o r m a t i o n is e v a l u a t e d and c h a n n e l e d to q u a n t i t a t i v e and qualitative a n a l y s e s (carried o u t b y e x p e r t s a n d / o r e x p e r t s y s t e m s w h e n n e e d e d ) . T h e n an e x e c u t i v e or a t e a m d e c i d e s w h e t h e r a p r o b l e m or opportunity

C H A P T E R 8 ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEMS

exists. If it is decided that there is a problem, this interpretation b e c o m e s an input to the next phase: making a decision on what to do about the problem. N o t s h o w n in the figure is the e x t e n s i v e c o m m u n i c a t i o n that m a y t a k e place a m o n g executives, m a n -

agers, and staff. The basic purpose of E I S is to support P h a s e I of the process as s h o w n in Figure 8.1. P h a s e II can be s u p p o r t e d by s p e c i f i c D S S / b u s i n e s s i n t e l l i g e n c e

(BI)/business analytics ( B A ) applications.

METHODS FOR FINDING INFORMATION NEEDS T h e r e are several m e t h o d s for d e t e r m i n i n g e x e c u t i v e s ' i n f o r m a t i o n n e e d s ( W a t s o n

et al., 1997) (also s e e the W e b Chapter on this book's W e b site, prenhall.com/turban/). O n e major complication in ascertaining the information n e e d s of executives is that needs change as tasks and responsibilities change. To respond to this challenge, organi- zations have emphasized flexibility in m e e t i n g their E I S n e e d s through the use of busi- ness intelligence tools (Chapter 5). B e c a u s e of this, many organizations see E I S as con- stantly e v o l v i n g and thus n e v e r c o m p l e t e l y f i n i s h e d ( u n l i k e m o s t D S S / B I / B A applications; s e e Chapter 6).