A Strategic Information System (SIS) is a system to manage information and assist in strategic decision making. A strategic information system has been defined as, “The information system to support or change enterprise’s strategy.” Simply says, a Strategic Information System is a type of Information System that is aligned with business strategy and structure. The alignment increases the capability to respond faster to environmental changes and thus creates a competitive advantage. An early example was the favorable position afforded American and United Airlines by their reservation systems, Sabre and Apollo. (American Airlines worked with IBM to develop an improved booking/reservation system, and the Airline Reservation Systems (ARS) and the Semi-Automatic Business Research System (SABRE) launched thereafter in 1960. The network completed set-up in 1964, and it was recognized as the largest data processing system in existence. United Airlines developed the Apollo Reservation System, and shortly after allowed travel agents access. Continue reading
Strategic Management Tools
Survey Feedback as an Organizational Development Tool
The study of Survey Feedback played an important role in formation and history of Organizational Development (OD). Developed as an organization wide intervention by Mann and his associates (1957-1965), survey feedback is a process in which organizational members complete questionnaires on various organizational issues, receive feedback on the results, then take appropriate actions to address the critical needs and concerns. Though some type of survey method was prevalent in various organizations earlier, Institute for Social Research (ISR) of University of Michigan, USA developed a comprehensive questionnaire for conducting survey in different aspects of an organization. The basic objectives of survey feedback method are as follows: To assist the organization in diagnosing its problems and developing action plan for problem-solving. To assist the group members to improve the relationships through discussion of common problems. Process of Survey Feedback Survey feedback method usually proceeds with sequential activities involving data collection, feedback of Continue reading
Business Process Reengineering for Competitive Advantage
In business processes reengineering all the outdated processes of the business are redesigned along with the connected systems and entity’s structures with an aim to reach at a remarkable performance level along with business improvements. The corporate basis for creating these changes possibly will comprise deprived performance in terms of competition, financial aspects and reduction of market share of emerging market opportunities. Business process reengineering just not mean to introduction of new technology, automation, reorganization, and downsizing of business process etc but also involve change assessment various business components such as culture, entity, technology, processes and strategies. The relationship between a company and its customers is not limited to just the buying and selling of a product or service. It has gained new dimensions and expanded from the buying and selling of products and services to a whole range of business practices form customer service, consulting and pricing to production Continue reading
Fitzgerald and Moon’s Building Block Model
Fitzgerald and Moon’s Building Block Model suggests the solution of performance measurement problems in service industries. But it can be applied to other manufacturing and retail businesses to evaluate business performance. Fitzgerald and Moon has provided a framework for performance management in service organization using three criteria, called as building blocks, they include, standards of performance (against these dimensions are measured to review performance), rewards for performance (rewards are necessary for achieving standards of performance) and dimensions of performance (these are measures of performance). 1. Standards: You can think of standards as rules that employees of a company must follow in order to achieve the long term objective of the organization. For the standards to be motivating enough, it must have three important ingredients. These ingredients are; Equity: Performance measures should be equally challenging for all parts of business. Relaxation given to one part of the business leads to perception Continue reading
De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats: A Creative and Critical Thinking Model
Creative thinking has always been one of the main aspects in the successful implementation of any business strategy. In the prospect of business growth and development, it is necessary to establish an effective decision-making approach, which will help to outline the company’s strengths and decrease the negative impact of weaknesses. The Six Thinking Hats technique is a framework for thinking and decision making introduced by a famous expert in the sphere of creative thinking, invented in the early 1980s – Dr. Edward de Bono, and is licensed by Advanced Practical Thinking (APTT), of Des Moines, Iowa. Organizations such as Prudential Insurance, IBM, Federal Express, British Airways, Polaroid, Pepsico, DuPont, and Nippon Telephone and Telegraph use the Six Thinking Hats method. The six different hats represent six different modes of thinking. This technique was introduced in order to help in the process of solving problems. The method promotes fuller input from Continue reading
Johnson and Scholes Cultural Web Model of an Organization
The cultural web provides a way of auditing an organisation’s culture. It can also identify possible barriers within the existing culture to change. The web can also be used to describe the way an organisation should look after a transformation. This particular angle is of importance for this management project, because management felt that there was a clear difference between the current cultural web and the desired one within the organisation. Culture is defined in many different ways. However, in most definitions elements like “basic assumptions and beliefs of an organisation or “the accepted way of working and behaving in an organisation” are included. Johnson and Scholes describe organisational culture as: “the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organisation, that operate unconsciously and define, in a basic fashion, an organisation’s view of itself and its environment.” The assumptions and beliefs are in Continue reading