Information Systems: Ethics, Privacy and Information Security

Ethical Issues(ethics-code of ethics):

Ethics. A branch of philosophy that deals with what is considered to be right  and wrong.

A Code of Ethics is a collection of principles that are intended to guide decision making by members of an organization.

Fundamental Tenets of Ethics :

Responsibility means that you accept the consequences of your decisions and actions.

Accountability means a determination of who is responsible for actions that were taken.

Liability is a legal concept meaning that individuals have the right to recover the damages done to them by other individuals, organizations, or systems.

The Four Categories of Ethical Issues :

Privacy Issues involve collecting, storing and disseminating information about individuals.

Accuracy Issues involve the authenticity, fidelity and accuracy of information that is collected and processed.

Property Issues involve the ownership and value of information.

Accessibility Issues revolve around who should have access to information and whether they should have to pay for this access.

Factors Increasing the Threats to Information Security :

nToday’s interconnected, interdependent, wirelessly-networked business environment

n Government legislation

n Smaller, faster, cheaper computers and storage devices

n Decreasing skills necessary to be a computer hacker

Security Threats

 

Information Systems and the Modern Organization

Types of Information Systems:

Computer-based information systems (CBIS) use computer technology to perform some or all of their tasks and are composed of:

Hardware is a device such as a processor, monitor, keyboard or printer.

Software is a program or collection of programs that enable hardware to process data.

Database is a collection of related files or tables containing data.

Network is a connecting system (wireline or wireless) that permits different computers to share resources.

Procedures are the set of instructions about how to combine the above components in order to process information and generate the desired output.

People are those individuals who use the hardware and software, interface with it, or uses its output.

Information Systems Inside the Organization

Breadth of Support of Information Systems:

nFunctional area information systems

nEnterprise resource planning systems

nTransaction processing systems

nInterorganizational information systems

 

Information Systems Support for Organization Employees :

nOffice automation systems

nFunctional area information systems

nBusiness intelligence systems

nExpert Systems

nDashboards

 

Why are Information Systems Important to Organizations &

 Society?

nIT will reduce the number of middle managers.

nIT will change the manager’s job.

nIT impacts employees at work.

nIT provides quality-of-life improvements.

 

 

 

The Modern Organization Functioning in a Global Environment

     A business process is a collection of related activities that produce a product

or a service of value to the organization, its business partners, and/or its customers.

     Business process management is a management technique that includes methods and

tools to support the design, analysis, implementation, management, and optimization

of business processes. 

 Information system:

Data Item. Elementary description of things, events, activities and transactions that are recorded, classified and stored but are not organized to convey any specific meaning.

Information. Data organized so that they have meaning and value to the recipient.

Knowledge. Data and/or information organized and processed to convey understanding, experience, accumulated learning and expertise as they apply to a current problem or activity. 

Tow types of information technology:

Information Technology Architecture. A high-level map or plan of the information assets in an organization, which guides current operations and is a blueprint for future directions.

Information Technology Infrastructure. The physical facilities, IT components, IT services and IT management that support an entire organization.

 

Organizational Responses:

Strategic Systems provide advantages that enable organizations to increase market share and/or profits, to better negotiate with suppliers, or prevent competitors from entering their markets.

Customer Focus is the difference between attracting and keeping customers by providing superb customer service to losing them to competitors.

Make-to-Order is a strategy of producing customized products and services.

Mass Customization is producing a large quantity of items, but customizing them to fit the desire of each customer. 

     Reebok and Bodymetrics provide excellent examples of mass customization.

E-business and E-commerce: Buying and selling products and services electronically.

     E-business is a broader concept than e-commerce.