Information System on an Organization

Information systems design's traditional concentration on short-term, readily quantifiable functional factors has resulted in the development of systems that are usually quite capable of manipulating data in the desired manner to produce the required output, but often fail to promote the general behavioral climate objectives of the organization. Failure to consider such behavioral objectives in the design process can result in information systems that have an impact that is intrusive in nature on the organization. To design information systems that not only meet functional objectives, but also promote objectives related to the organization's behavior, their impact on organizational behavior must be understood and quantified. Toward that end, a methodology that can measure the impact of an information system has on the behavioral climate of the organization has been developed and tested. Utilizing pre- and post-implementation assessments of an organization's behavioral climate, this methodology enables information systems developers to identify specific potential design criteria which, when implemented, will increase the degree to which the organization's behavioral goals and objectives are met. Consideration of such organizational behavior goals and objectives when designing information systems can result in significant progress toward ensuring the acceptance and long-term survival of those information systems.

Information systems, like any other production-oriented system, have as their goal the transformation of raw materials (data) into finished goods (information) in an effective, efficient manner. In the context of information systems, this means meeting informational requirements with a minimum expenditure of available resources. To develop such information systems, design and development strategies ranging from the traditional top-down or bottom-up techniques to Joint Application Design (JAD) to object-oriented have been advanced.