MIS - Organization

 

Management Information Systems (MIS) should be designed, viewing the organization as discussed earlier. MIS design should give due weight age to the human side of the organization and its culture.  The task and technology are the physical aspects of the organization which can be ascertained very easily.  But culture and people are very difficult to assess from the design point of view.  The structure of the five sub-systems should be considered while designing the MIS.  MIS design should give reports in line with the organization structure. This means that the main decision makers and the power centers must be recognized in the MIS.

 

If the organization works on a standardized system where rules, policies, systems and procedures have been laid down, then these become part of the MIS.  The processing routines in the MIS incorporate these features as an integral part. This is safe as it has already been approved by the management of the organization. Along with the information, if the decision making responsibilities are also clearly defined and allocated, then the MIS can produce information reports by processing the data and summarizing the results in line with the decision maker's position in the structure.

 

If the basic model of the organization is modified as a product or a project organization system, then the MIS should focus on the management of product or project where the concerned manager has a composite responsibility of planning and control of the multiple functions. Besides these functions, he has to know the status of the other support functions.

 

The information should be such that it highlights the trouble spots and shows the interconnection with the other functions. It must summarize all information relating to the span of control of product or project manager. The MIS should be able to cater to the view of the product or the project manager and also of the top management.

 

If the organization culture provides sufficient incentive for efficiency and results, the MIS should support this culture by providing such information which will aid the promotion of efficiency. If the culture encourages delegation of power and authority, then the MIS should incorporate the decision making rules in the system.

 

The organization system is an open system and MIS should be so designed that it highlights the critical business, operational, technological and environmental changes to the concerned level in the organization, so that the action can be taken to correct the situation.  The principle of the feed forward control should be extensively used as a design feature to provide a prior warning to the decision maker.

 

The design of the MIS, in isolation from organizational factors, is destined to fail as it just does not fit into the structure. Since organization systems in the business differ for various reasons such as the leadership style, the management style, culture and group of people as a body and so on, it is difficult to evolve a standard model of the MIS for a business and / or an industry.

 

MIS plays a very important role in creating organization behavior which in turn sets the goals for achievement. Technology and people decide the organization structure and style of the management.