SUMMARY OF CHAPTER FOUR & SIX OF LAUDON AND LAUDON MIS

 

 

 

 

UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST

COLLEGE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

MBA2014/2015

 

 

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS- ASSIGNMENT 1

 

PARAPHASED SUMMARY OF CHAPTER SIX  OF LAUDON AND LAUDON MIS ON “FOUNDATION OF BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE: DATABASES AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT”

 

NAME: KAREN KRAAH BIO

INDEX NUMBER: SB/DHR/14/0056

EMAIL ADDRESS:biokaren2011@gmail.com

BLOG ADDRESS: Kraah1979.bogspot.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 6

THE ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH THE TRADITIONAL FILE ENIVIROMENT AND ITS IMPACT

For information to be useful, the users need the information to be accurate, current, and relevant to their needs.  Data management is important to insure that the information is relevant and accurate.  Most businesses have poorly organized information systems and the files are not arranged in any other that it is useful and timely. There are four file organization concepts.  File is a group of records of the same type.  Record is a group of related fields.  Fields is a group of characters into a word and it usually describes a person, place or thing.

A number of problems can arise with the traditional file environment if different departments maintain files separately.  First the data can be redundant which means that duplicated data is in multiple files.  Second the data can be inconsistent meaning that the same elements have various values and meaning.  Third the data can be program-data dependent, which means changes in the program requires a change in the data that accompanies such programs.  Lack of flexibility, lack of data sharing, and poor security are among other problems.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DATABASE SYSTEM IN THE ENVIRONMENT

The database help to put data in one place and eliminates most of the problems of the traditional file organization.  The database is a collection of data organized to serve many applications efficiently by centralizing the data and controlling redundant data.  The database management system helps applications and physical data files interface with each other.  The database management system helps to control redundancy, it eliminates inconsistency, it breaks up program and data, and it allows organization to manage data and keep data secure from a centralized area.

THE TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES THAT HAS CONTRIBUTED TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF DATABASE IN THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT

There are different types of database management systems such as relational database management system, object-oriented database system and finally databases in the cloud.  Relational database management system represents data as two-dimensional tables called relations.  The table is made up of rows and columns.  The three basic operations to develop useful sets of data to select, join and project. Object-oriented database management system stores data procedures that act on those data as objects that can be automatically retrieved and shared.  Database systems setup in the cloud does not give the function of the database systems that are located in the house.

There are many capabilities of database management systems such as data definition capabilities; data dictionary, data manipulation language and most database can generate reports for review.  Designing databases can be a challenge because they need to be able to understand the relationship with the data. Designing the database requires a conceptual design and a physical design.  By going through the designing process relationships among data are seen and it also allows time to group data in such a way as to benefit the business needs. Designing databases helps the organization to normalize the database so it is most efficient for the business needs.

If the database is really large special tools are needed to analyze the massive quantities of data.  Data ware housing, data marts and tools for accessing internal databases through the internet are some programs used to analyze large databases.  Data warehousing stores current and historical data can be of interest to decision makers in the company.  Data warehouse systems can provide analysis, query and reports.  Data marts are a subsets of data warehouse that summaries a part of the data for specific users.  Data marts mainly focus on a single are of the business.  There are a few tools that can be used to analyze large volumes of data such as online analytical processing, data mining, text mining, web mining just to mention a few.

HOW THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DATABASE HAS HELP SET THE RIGHT STANDAR OF DOING THINGS

Establishing an information policy allows a firm to set up rules, procedures and roles for sharing, managing and standardizing data.  Within the information policy we are introduced of data administration, data governance and data administration, data governance and database administration.  Also by setting up information policy with a food designed database will help ensure excellent data quality. To help ensure good quality data that is wrong needs to be corrected and steps should be taken to make sure all data put in is correct and accurate.  This is where data quality audit is most useful.  Data quality audit is a structured survey of the accuracy and level of completeness of the data in the information system. Data cleansing is software used to detect and correct incorrect, incomplete, inappropriately formatted or redundant data

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST

COLLEGE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

MBA2014/2015

 

 

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS- ASSIGNMENT 2

 

PARAPHASED SUMMARY OF CHAPTER FOUR OF LAUDON AND LAUDON MIS ON “ETHICAL AND SOCAIL ISSUES IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS”

 

NAME: KAREN KRAAH BIO

INDEX NUMBER: SB/DHR/14/0056

EMAIL ADDRESS:biokaren2011@gmail.com

BLOG ADDRESS: Kraah1979.bogspot.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 4:  ETHICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Information systems raise new and often-perplexing ethical problems.  This is more true today because of the challenges posed by the internet and electronic commerce to the protection of privacy and intellectual property. Other ethical issues raised by widespread use of information systems include establishing accountability for the consequences of information systems, setting standards to safeguard systems quality that protect the safety of individuals and society, and preserving values and instructions considered essential to quality of life in an information society.

MEANING OF ETHICS

Ethics refers to the principles of right and wrong of individuals acting as free moral agents; use to make choices to guide their behaviours.  Information systems raised new ethical question for both individuals and societies because they create opportunities for intense social change, and thus threaten existing distribution of power, money, rights and obligation. Like other technologies such as team engines, electricity, the telephone, and the radio, information technology can be used to achieve social progress, but it can also be used to commit crimes and threatens cherished social values. The development of information technology will produce benefits for many and costs for others.


Other pressing ethical issues raised by information systems include establishing accountability for the consequences of information systems, setting standards to safeguard system quality that protect the safety of the individual and society, and preserving values and institutions considered essential to the quality of life in an information society.

HOW ETHIC, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ISSUES ARE LIKED IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Ethical, social and political issues are closely linked. The five moral dimensions of the information age is as follows; information rights and obligation, property rights and obligation, accountability and control, system quality and quality of life.

A new data analysis technology called nonobvious relationship awareness (NORA) has given both the government and the private sector even more powerful profiling capabilities. NORA can take information about people from many disparate sources, such as employment applications, telephone records, customer listings, and “wanted” lists, and correlate relationships to find obscure hidden connections that might help identify criminals or terrorists.

 NORA TECHNOLOGY

NORA technology scans data and extracts information as the data are being generated so that it could, for example, instantly discover a man at an airline ticket counter who shares a phone number with a known terrorist before that person boards an airplane. The technology is considered a valuable tool for homeland security but does have privacy implications because it can provide such a detailed picture of the activities and associations of a single individual.

The development of global digital communication networks widely available to individuals and businesses poses many ethical and social concerns. Who will account for the flow of information over these networks?

Ethics in information Technology is a concern of humans who have freedom of choice. Ethics is about individual choice: When faced with alternative courses of action, what is the correct moral choice? What are the main features of ethical choice? Ethical choices are decisions made by individuals who are responsible for the consequences of their actions. Responsibility is a key element of ethical action. Responsibility means that you accept the potential costs, duties, and
obligations for the decisions you make. Accountability is a feature of systems and social institutions: It means that mechanisms are in place to determine who took responsible action, who is responsible. Systems and institutions in which it is impossible to find out who took what action are inherently incapable of ethical analysis or ethical action. Liability extends the concept of responsibility further to the area of laws.


ETHICAL ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS
These basic concepts form the underpinning of an ethical analysis of information systems and those who manage them. First, information technologies are filtered through social institutions, organizations, and individuals. Systems do not have impacts by themselves. Whatever information system impacts exist are products of institutional, organizational, and individual actions and behaviors. Second, responsibility for the consequences of technology falls clearly on the institutions, organizations, and individual managers who choose to use the technology. Using information technology in a socially responsible manner means that you can and will be held accountable for the consequences of your actions. Third, in an ethical, political society, individuals and others can recover damages done to them through a set of laws characterized by due process.

PRINCIPLES OF ETHICAL RULES

There are ethical principles or rules which helps us to take decision and it include

• Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
• Putting yourself into the place of others, and thinking of yourself as the object
  of the decision, can help you think about fairness in decision making.
• Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative :If an action is not right for everyone to take, it is not right for anyone
• Descartes’ rule of change: If an action cannot be taken repeatedly, it is not right to take at all
• Utilitarian Principle: Take the action that achieves the higher or greater value. This rule assumes you can prioritize values in a rank order and understand the consequences of various courses of action.
• Risk Aversion Principle : Take the action that produces the least harm or the least potential cost
• Ethical “no free lunch” rule:  Assume that virtually all tangible and intangible objects are owned by someone else unless there is a specific declaration otherwise If something someone else has created is useful to you, it has value, and you should assume the creator wants compensation for this work.

Although these ethical rules cannot be guides to action, actions that do not easily pass these rules deserve some very close attention and a great deal of caution. The appearance of unethical behavior may do as much harm to you and your company as actual unethical behavior.

 CHALLENGES TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Contemporary information systems have severely challenged existing law and social practices that protect private intellectual property. Intellectual property is considered to be intangible property created by individuals or corporations. Information technology has made it difficult to protect intellectual property because computerized information can be so easily copied or distributed on networks. Intellectual property is subject to a variety of protections under three different legal traditions: trade secrets, copyright, and patent law.

 There are challenges that Contemporary information technologies, especially software, pose severe challenges to existing intellectual property regimes and, therefore, create significant ethical, social, and political issues. Digital media differ from physical media like books, periodicals, CDs, and newspapers in terms of ease of replication; ease of transmission; ease of alteration; difficulty in classifying a software work as a program, book, or even music; compactness—making theft easy; and difficulties in establishing uniqueness.

HANDS ON MIS

The projects in this section give you hands-on experience in developing aprivacy policy for a real-world company, using Web page development tools to design and create a simple Web site, and using Internet newsgroups for market research.