IS theories, are they emerged in IS disciplines or adopted from other disciplines - Article Example

Information System Theories By Impact of Information Systems Being a discipline concerned with the interaction of people, organizations and information systems, information systems strives to enhance organizational goals. Information systems literature has always advocated for alignment of organizational goals and objectives with information systems. Therefore, literature in the information systems discipline has had a significant impact on operations within organizations. Such impact has been through the development of efficient and effective application systems.

Such systems are tasked with various roles within the organization (Gurbaxani & Seungjin, 1991, p. 66). These roles include:Increasing the efficiency of the operations of the organization Process essential business transactionsCollecting information and providing managers with relevant informationMaintaining vital organization records Information systems have also had a significant impact on productivity of service and manufacturing operations. Recent studies have led to factory automation, Computer Integrated Manufacturing, etc.

Such advances have improved the productivity and quality of organizations (Gurbaxani & Seungjin, 1991, p. 66). Various theories within the information systems discipline have contributed to the development of application systems. For example, knowledge sharing between different organizations and groups has been enabled by conducting both psychological and social studies. By applying borrowed theories from these disciplines it has been possible to identify what factors affect knowledge sharing behavior in humans (Hall, 2003, p.11). Literature from such studies sheds light into the factors motivating knowledge and information sharing within organizations.

Ultimately, this will enable the development of systems and policies that are of great benefit to an organization. Theories within the discipline of information systems have enabled system developers to justify the costs associated with development of application systems for organization. It is now possible to justify the strategic advantage of information systems to the managers of an organization. The theory of competitive strategy has enabled firms to change the way they serve their customers all in an effort to earn profits.

Research into human behavior has enabled the development of customer centered application systems. Contribution of IS Theories to IS the DisciplineInformation system as a discipline is concerned with the development of information systems that model real world artifacts. It is vital that these real world artifacts be modeled in a proper manner. For this to be possible, fine theories are required. These theories enable developers and researchers to describe the facts and events that are being modeled.

Theories are used in design projects to trigger the specifics of design methods and artifacts. Using such theories, researchers can propose various designs that can be realized into working artifacts (Haynes & Carroll, 2010). Therefore, these theories act as a foundation of the information systems discipline; providing ways and means through which researchers can communicate and exchange information.Information system theories have also been helpful to IT and business professionals in analyzing and understanding information systems.

Academic scholars can also make use of information system theories to understand and gain deep appreciation for research conducted in the past. In the same way, such theories will be instrumental in the development of future projects. For example, a look into a theory such as the organizational information processing theory depicts how knowledge from such a theory can be used to achieve optimal organization performance. With such knowledge researchers can identify both the processing capability and needs of an organization.

From this point, development of policies, mechanisms and information systems that provide an optimal balance between the two is possible (Premkumar, Ramamurthy & Saunders, 2005).Reference ListHall, H 2003, ‘Borrowed Theory Applying Exchange Theories in Information Science Research,’ Library & Information Science Research, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 287-306.Haynes, S R & Carroll, J M 2010, ‘The Range and Role of Theory in Information Systems Design Research: From Concepts to Construction," ICIS 2010 Proceedings.

Gurbaxani, V & Seungjin W 1991, ‘The Impact of Information Systems on Organizations and Markets,’ Communications of the ACM, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 60-72.Premkumar, G, Ramamurthy, K & Saunders, CS 2005, ‘Information processing view of organizations: An exploratory examination of fit in the context of interorganizational relationships,’ Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 257-294.