Management Information Systems Research and Its Impact on Sustainable Small and Medium Enterprises - Essay Example

Management Information Systems Research and its impact on Sustainable Small and Medium Enterprises (SSMEs) Introduction Over the years, the business environment has become extremely complex and highly integrated thereby giving rise to the numerous business functions and operations at the workplace, and huge volumes of data that is generated every day; managers are experiencing difficulties making effective decisions due to these complexities (Goodman 12). In that case, the management function is increasingly experiencing the challenge of keeping track of all the diverse organizational resources, numerous business activities, as well as in monitoring the entire business process and the huge order-turnover processes. In response, businesses have established information systems, which help keeping track of all their activities right from the planning stage to the delivery of value to the final consumer in the product market (Allingham & Oconnor 160). The highly competitive entrepreneurial atmosphere demands that managers should be clear concerning aspects of the business, should plan effectively, and should be in position to make fast smart business decisions at each stage of the operation chain in order to succeed (Leidner & Elam 139). This has gradually led to the evolution of the Management Information System (MIS), as a tool for supporting the decision making function of the organization; many studies have highlighted the multiple benefits of the MIS as a decision making tool of the organization. However, it is an undeniable fact that the continued deterioration of natural environments in the modern global business era poses greater risks as well as opportunities for the present businesses, which further underpins the need to fine tune the organizational thought processes towards sustainability (Thongpoon, Ahmad, & Yahya 5). In that respect, modern organizations are facing yet another crucial challenge of generating decisions that focus on sustainability and innovative environmental strategies, thereby leading to the evolution of the modern Sustainable SMEs that are fine-tuned towards social responsibility as well as sustainable development. The SSMEs research is still growing, thereby increasingly highlighting the modern SSMEs focus on environmental responsibility as well as technology up-gradation for strategic business advantages. Generally, environmental responsibility encompasses the measures to reduce, recycle material, while technology up-gradation entails the use of computer based systems such as the MISs among other innovative tools. A vast proportion of literature covers the contributions of the MIS to the establishment of SSMEs; for that reason, this present study will explore the Management Information Systems research and its impact on Sustainable Small and Medium Enterprises (SSMEs). The Management Information System concept There are numerous definitions of the MIS concept but all of them reach consensus that the system provides information, which supports the decision making function of the organization (Asemi, Safari & Zavareh 164). The MIS has been around for nearly two decades, but it has evolved to encompass the growing information technologies, thus, in todays’ business context, MIS is a computerized business processing system that generates information that is vital for the organizations’ decision making processes, for the aim of achieving business goals (Nazari & Nazari 3). The MIS is central to the functioning of the organization because it collects raw data from various ends, converts it into useful information, and sends it to the parts of the organization that need to benefit from the said information, thereby fulfilling the information needs of individuals, teams, and management respectively. The MIS generates different types of information such as descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, as well as prescriptive information; descriptive information identifies the present conditions thereby partly helping in identifying the problems. Diagnostic information measures the disparity between “what is” and “what ought to be” while predictive information is concerned with the possible future trajectories or outcomes; the prescriptive type of information provides answers to what should be done to address the problems the organization is facing. In that respect, the MIS provides the organization with effective past, present, prediction information that is vital for the efficient running of the organization; a typical MIS system in the organization today is a computerized database of financial information organized and programmed to produce regular reports on operations for every level of management in the organization (Portougal & Janczewski 356). The MIS plays a crucial role in the organization because it becomes increasingly challenging for individuals to decipher crucial information from the vast data collected by the organization with clarity and conciseness without the help of computerized systems. The MIS eliminates the possibility of human error in terms of completeness, accuracy, validity, timeliness, as well as value of information in the analysis and evaluation of data that is significant for key decision making in the organization. In that respect, an effective management information system makes it easy to handle large volumes of data, to confirm the validity of information, process and analyse complex data giving multi-dimensional views; furthermore, this system enables the quick search and retrieval of data, mass storage of data, fast communication of information as well as quick responses to the constantly shifting needs of information. Sustainable SMEs Given the increasing global attention on complex business challenges such as climate change, and the contribution of business operations on the gradual deterioration of the natural environment, the concept of sustainable development has taken a central position in organizational strategies (Nee & Wahid 215). The concept of sustainability has been taunted as the effective management tool for addressing the combined challenges of climate change and sustainable business development all over the world. Businesses have to consider sustainability factors in their plans and incorporate them in their operations by adopting the management techniques that help in the planning, organization, and overall control of operations to promote both the business, environmental, as well as societal needs. The MIS is very significant in the establishment of innovative environmental strategies that enables the organizations to tackle the complex challenges besetting their effective operation in the face of the complex market dynamics. Today, even the small businesses engage in the conventional business functions of consulting, marketing, sales, research, and communications, among others, thus, MIS has become an integral part of the small business operations (Nowduri & Al-Dosary 125). The prevailing MIS research highlights that a vast majority of SMEs have established large computer networks on which they display substantial databases that support their decision making functions to promote sustainable development. Precisely, the MIS research has increasingly become a critical tool for the sustainability of SMEs since it has been established beyond any reasonable doubt that every business needs to have an effective information system in place, to help keep track of all the business functions and operations. Sustainability is a crucial aspect of the SMEs movement, especially given the heightened awareness of the potentially detrimental effect of human actions on the natural environment. For instance, destructive weather events such as earth quakes, tsunamis, and floods, among others have all been attributed to the damaging impact of human actions in the drive for entrepreneurship, and this has led to the growing emphasis on the concept of SSME in the corporate world. In the context of sustainability, SMEs take a non-economic stance by focusing on better living and environmental improvements, that is, they focus on searching new opportunities to create new products and services using new technologies or production methods that lead to the enhancement of social as well as environmental conditions. Moreover, SMEs focus on the efficient utilization of energy and natural resources while harnessing the development potential of the new resources whose exploitation has been found to be cheaper, and resulting to less harmful impacts on society in general. The SMEs have been very successful at implementing sustainability measures due to their effectiveness in manipulating technologies, particularly where they can enhance outcomes, in decreasing the potential negative impact of entrepreneurial activities on the natural environment and the human condition in general. For instance, the SMEs have been successful at implementing various sustainability measures that have enabled them to absorb wastes and pollution cost-effectively, without causing permanent or irreversible harm to the natural environment. Impact of MIS on SSMEs As a computer based information system, the MIS is a key ingredient in the organizational transaction processing, as well as business operations since it provides vital reports to the various levels in the organizational hierarchy; thus, the MIS system is specifically designed to give the right information when needed thereby enabling managers to exercise effective control of organizational resources and operations respectively. For instance, the MIS provides the mid-level managers with organizational performance reports, which they use to predict future growth direction while the top management utilize the MIS for strategic decisions. In the highly competitive global business environment, an effective MIS enables SMEs to win competition since it provides the tools that can be used to evaluate and understand business dynamics both within and outside the enterprise, thereby yielding competitive advantage (Ong & Hishamuddin 64). The myriad challenges presented by the complex and fast-changing global business environment exert pressure on SMEs to respond effectively for sustainability in the face of the resulting socio and environmental circumstances. Accurate, complete, and timely information is a key resource in the present highly complex and competitive global business environment because it is the basis of management decisions in the pursuit of organizational development goals (O’Shea 26). Enterprises need to have the appropriate information at the right time in order to respond effectively to the numerous market dynamics, in order to make profits and to survive the competition in the long term. The MIS research has been very significant to the growth and development of the SSMEs since it has enabled these enterprises to incorporate numerous sustainability factors in their organizational plans thereby making them more resilient and capable of survival in the face of the turbulent changes in the global business environment. Similarly, the incorporation of sustainability factors has enabled the enterprises to adapt to the myriad socio and environmental changes thereby prompting their growth and development effectively; besides that, the SMEs have emerged to be more innovative and productive through the effective utilization of raw materials and energy sources. MIS research highlights three crucial factors of the SMEs namely management, information, as well as systems, which contribute significantly to the sustainability of SMEs; each of these factors have a significant impact on SSMEs in varying degrees (Nowduri & Al-Dosary 127). The MIS research contributes to the sustainability of SMEs by providing management with the basic framework for addressing the sustainability factors; management addresses sustainability factors from the environmental perspective, which takes into account the conservation of crucial environmental factors including air, water, climate as well as ecosystems. MIT research has also helped to fine tune management techniques in enhancing the needs of the SMEs in the present and in the future, thereby aligning the enterprises towards long-term economic performance. In other words, the MIT research highlights the intricate interconnectedness of economic and commercial imperatives with the environmental, as well as societal factors, which only emerges as the SMEs progress. The MIS function enables the SSMEs to track and monitor their functional targets, thereby providing the functional managers with real time information concerning the progress, achievements, and shortfalls in the various aspects of the business. This information is very significant in forecasting and long-term planning of the organization in response to the emerging situations; the value of this information is utilized in remedial actions to rectify the situation in case of shortfalls. The MIS research has led to the systematization of business operations for the effectiveness of enterprise system designs; effective system designs are the basis for management and operational efficiency since it provides the manager with a variety of management tools that can be used to process data into useful information (Engdahl 47). Systematization of management provides the SME manager with models and tools that enable him or her to manipulate data in ways that are not manually possible thereby making certain management tasks simpler while considerably enhancing the decision making function. The MIT research highlights the link between information and sustainability, that is, it recommends the establishment of an information technology infrastructure that is efficient in terms of diminished impacts on the environment such as greenhouse gas emissions from the computing and IT related activities. For example, IT infrastructures that have central desktop power management software in addition to sleep mode functionality when not in use are more efficient in terms of energy utilization. In that respect, the MIS research is impacting SMEs by compelling them to respond to the current environmental as well as societal concerns by enforcing sustainability measures in their IT infrastructures, to promote protection and conservation of the environment while promoting societal needs respectively. The systems of the organization are crucial for sustainability since they provide vital information that provides vision for the efficient future utilization of renewable energy sources yielding reduced energy costs. For instance, the environmental management systems require information in the monitoring, evaluation, enhancement, as well as communication of enterprise environmental performance, thereby promoting sustainability of the enterprises respectively. The MIS research has contributed significantly to the organizational knowledge concerning the natural environment thereby promoting the establishment of environmental strategies that take into account the protection of the environment and contributing to the enhancement of the natural environment. The MIS research has prompted SMEs to consider the environmental and social impact of business, to apply the business impacting sustainability factors to enhance their competitiveness, and to connect the sustainability strategy with their prevailing corporate business strategies. Overall, implementation of the MIS has greatly transformed the SMEs by helping them to save money since it promotes the efficient utilization of resources while considerable reducing waste, apart from enabling SMEs to respond effectively to business risks in their environments. Moreover, SMEs maintain a positive social image and enjoy a wide social acceptance due to their sustainability approaches, which have only resulted due to the implementation of MIS as the decision making tool. Conclusion Ultimately, the literature on the business management approaches reveals a considerable body of research on the concept of Management Information System, and its significance in the present global business environment in view of the broadened information and technology platform, environmental, as well as societal changes. The MIS research has been very significant to the growth and development of the SSMEs in the highly complex and fast-changing global business environment by enhancing their capacity to respond and contain the myriad environmental and societal changes. Sustainability is a primary concern for many organizations in the present conditions, which further necessitates the dire need for strategic decision-making processes that yield competitive advantage for enterprises. By enabling quick and accurate data processing, the MIS has enabled enterprises to incorporate numerous sustainability factors in their organizational plans thereby making them more resilient and capable of survival in the face of the turbulent changes in the global business environment. Similarly, the incorporation of sustainability factors has enabled the enterprises to adapt to the myriad societal and environmental changes thereby prompting their growth and development effectively; besides that, the SMEs have emerged to be more innovative and productive through the effective utilization of raw materials and energy sources. 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Nazari, Marzieh Zare & Nazari, Hamid Reza. “Management Information Systems and Business.” International Journal of Information Science and System, 2.1(2013): 1-8. Read More