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The concept of Strategy

Introduction
The top management of an organization is concerned with the selection of a course of action
from among different alternatives to meet the organizational objectives
...
Strategy is the grand design or an overall
‘plan’ which an organization chooses in order to move or react towards the set of objectives
by using its resources
...
An
organization is considered efficient and operationally effective if it is characterized by
coordination between objectives and strategies
...
Strategy helps the organization to meet its uncertain situations with due
diligence
...
It is like a
tramp, which has no particular destination to go to
...

Meaning of strategy
The word ‘strategy’ has entered in the field of management from the military services where it
refers to apply the forces against an enemy to win a war
...
The word was used for the first
time in around 400 BC
...

The dictionary meaning of strategy is “the art of so moving or disposing the instrument of
warfare as to impose upon enemy, the place time and conditions for fighting by one self”
In management, the concept of strategy is taken in broader terms
...

“Strategy is organization’s pattern of response to its environment over a period of time to
achieve its goals and mission”
This definition lays stress on the following:
a) It is organization’s pattern of response to its environment
b) The objective is to achieve its goals and missions
However, various experts do not agree about the precise scope of strategy
...

Strategy as action, inclusive of objective setting:
In 1960’s, Chandler made an attempt to define strategy as “the determination of basic long
term goals and objective of an enterprise and the adoption of the courses of action and the
allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals”
This definition provides for three types of actions involved in strategy:
a) Determination of long term goals and objectives
b) Adoption of courses of action
c) Allocation of resources

Strategy as action exclusive of objective setting:
This is another view in which strategy has been defined
...
Michael Porter has defined strategy as “Creation of a unique and valued
position involving a different set of activities
...
It basically includes determination and evaluation of alternative
paths to an already established mission or objective and eventually, choice of best
alternative to be adopted
...
A few aspects
regarding nature of strategy are as follows:


Strategy is a major course of actionthrough which an organization relates itself to its
environment particularly the external factors to facilitate all actions involved in meeting
the objectives of the organization



Strategy is the blend of internal and external factors
...
The actions are different for different
situations



Due to its dependence on environmental variables, strategy may involve a
contradictory action
...
For example, a firm is engaged in closing down of
some of its business and at the same time expanding some


Strategy is future oriented
...
Strategy is concerned with a unified direction and
efficient allocation of an organization’s resources
...
It provides an integrated approach for the organization and aids in meeting
the challenges posed by environment
Essence of Strategy:
Strategy, according to a survey conducted in 1974, includes the determination and evaluation of
alternative paths to an already established mission or objective and eventually, choice of the
alternative to be adopted
...
Strategic decisions are likely to affect the long-term direction of an organisation
...
Strategic decisions are normally about trying to achieve some advantage for the organisation
...
Strategic decisions are likely to be concerned with the scope of an organisation’s activities:
Does (and should) the organisation concentrate on one area of activity, or does it have many?
The issue of scope of activity is fundamental to strategic decisions because it concerns the way in

which those responsible for managing the organisation conceive its boundaries
...

4
...


5
...
It is not just about countering environmental threats
and taking advantage of environmental opportunities; it is also about matching organisational
resources to these threats and opportunities
...


6
...
In
the 1980s a number of UK retail firms had attempted to develop overseas with little success and
one of the major reasons was that they had underestimated the extent to which their resource
commitments would rise and how the need to control them would take on quite different
proportions
...

7
...


8
...
In some respects, strategy can be thought of as a reflection of the attitudes and
beliefs of those who have the most influence on the organisation
...
The beliefs and values of these stakeholders will

have a more or less direct influence on the organisation
...

Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long term, which achieves
advantage for the organisation through its configuration of resources within a changing
environment, to meet the needs of markets and fulfillstakeholder expectations
...
The complexity arises for at least three reasons
...
Second, strategic decisions
are likely to demand an integrated approach to managing the organisation
...
Managers, therefore, have to cross functional and operational boundaries to deal with
strategic problems and come to agreements with other managers who, inevitably, have different
interests and perhaps different priorities
...
Third, as has been noted above,
strategic decisions are likely to involve major change in organizations
...

Strategic management is therefore distinguished by a higher order of complexity than operational
tasks
...

Characteristics/Features of Strategic Decisions

a
...
These
decisions may be concerned with possessing new resources, organizing others or
reallocating others
...
Strategic decisions deal with harmonizing organizational resource capabilities with the
threats and opportunities
...
Strategic decisions deal with the range of organizational activities
...

d
...

e
...


f
...

g
...

Administrative decisions are routine decisions which help or rather facilitate strategic
decisions or operational decisions
...
To reduce cost is a strategic decision which is
achieved through operational decision of reducing the number of employees and how we
carry out these reductions will be administrative decision
...


taken daily
...


These are considered where the

These are short-term based

These are medium-period

future planning is concerned
...


based decisions
...


Decisions
...


These are related to overall

These are related to working

These

Counter

of

production
...


These are in welfare of

These

Growth
...


with

in

strategic

related

to

related

to

Organization
...


are

and

factory

LEVELS OF STRATEGIC DECISIONS
Managers at all levels must make decisions on behalf of a company
...
Long-term decisions affecting
the company as a whole belong to the highest management levels, while decisions affecting dayto-day operations fall to bottom management
...
Different
management levels spend more time on certain functions than on others
...
A company’s board or owners create the mission and write a mission statement for the
internal and external audiences
...


The form chosen gives a company its vision, an ideal the business seeks to actualize
...
Besides defining a lofty
ambition and the existential question of mission, a company’s board or owners also articulate a
company’s core values, those standards the business will never compromise
...
In other words, top management needs a strategic plan
...
Thegoals are what the company hopes
to accomplish at least a year - more often five years - into the future
...
Of all management
levels, top managers spend the most time making decisions involving plans
...

Middle Management
Once top management decides the overall direction of the company, it’s up to middle
management to choose smaller tactical objectives that, put together, accomplish strategic goals
...
The tactics
often are geared toward some function or department such as production, where a possible
objective could involve some measurable efficiency or quality improvement
...
Managers in this tier oversee other
middle managers or operational managers
...
By choosing their own goals on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, first-line
management accomplishes the objectives of middle management
...
Inventory, scheduling and budgeting are
examples of plans and decisions that operational managers adopt
...


Corporate Level Strategy
Corporate level strategy occupies the highest level of strategic decision-making and covers
actions dealing with the objective of the firm, acquisition and allocation of resources and
coordination of strategies of various strategic business units (SBUs) for optimal performance
...
The nature of strategic decisions
tends to be value-oriented, conceptual and less concrete than decisions at the business or
functional level
...

Business-level strategy is – applicable in those organizations, which have different businessesand each business is treated as strategic business unit (SBU)
...
Since
each product/market segment has a distinct environment, a SBU is created for each such
segment
...
For each product group, the nature of market in terms of
customers, competition, and marketing channel differs
...
Thus, where SBU
concept is applied, each SBU sets its own strategies to make the best use of its resources (its
strategic advantages) given the environment it faces
...
Such strategies operate within the overall strategies of the organization
...
The corporate level will help the SBU define its scope of
operations and also limit or enhance the SBUs operations by the resources the corporate level
assigns to it
...

For example, Andrews says that in an organization of any size or diversity, corporate strategy
usually applies to the whole enterprise, while business strategy, less comprehensive, defines the
choice of product or service and market of individual business within the firm
...
Corporate strategy
defines the business in which a company will compete preferably in a way that focuses resources
to convert distinctive competence into competitive advantage
...
While the corporation is concerned with and has impact on business
strategy, the former is concerned with the shape and balancing of growth and renewal rather than
in market execution
...
Decisions at this level within the organization are often described as
tactical
...

Functional strategy deals with relatively restricted plan providing objectives for specific
function, allocation of resources among different operations within that functional area and coordination between them for optimal contribution to the achievement of the SBU and corporatelevel objectives
...
For example, marketing strategy, a
functional strategy, can be subdivided into promotion, sales, distribution, pricing strategies with
each sub function strategy contributing to functional strategy
...
The question then is ‘how is a good decision
made?
One part of the answer is good information, and experience in interpreting information
...
e
...
There are also aids to decision-making, various

techniques which help to make information clearer and better analyzed, and to add numerical and
objective precision to decision-making (where appropriate) to reduce the amount of subjectivity
...
They also need a supportive environment
where they won’t be unfairly criticized for making wrong decisions (as we all do sometimes) and
will receive proper support from their colleagues and superiors
...
It
may also mean managers spend too much time trying to pass the blame around rather than
getting on with running the business
...
The Board of Directors may
make the grand strategic decisions about investment and direction of future growth, and
managers may make the more tactical decisions about how their own department may contribute
most effectively to the overall business objectives
...
This needs careful recruitment and selection, good training,
and enlightened management
...
Programmed Decisions These are standard decisions which always follow the same routine
...
They
could even be written as computer program
2
...
These are non-standard and non-routine
...

3
...
These affect the long-term direction of the business e
...
whether to take
over Company A or Company B
4
...
These are medium-term decisions about how to implement strategy e
...

what kind of marketing to have, or how many extra staff to recruit

5
...
These are short-term decisions (also called administrative decisions)
about how to implement the tactics e
...
which firm to use to make deliveries
...
Not
identifying the problem could lead to an erroneous decision
...

This form of decision-making can be made into a computer program with a set pattern of rules to
follow in amending a problem
...
Professor HosseinArsham, in an article
titled “Leadership Decision Making” at the University of Baltimore site, notes this method and
its steps
...
For instance, a red hat uses reaction and emotion, or being aware of how other
people will react when the decision is made
...
The article also notes that a decision can be made using differing points of
view from customers or those in different professions
...
These decisions
usually solve a problem in the immediate term through the action of employees
...
For example, it could be choosing a particular
delivery service to deliver products to the organization’s customers
...
Communication with every employee involved in
implementing the decision is important in this scenario
...
By doing so, the organization
can know whether the decision was the right one
...

Constraints on Decision-Making
Internal Constraints
These are constraints that come from within the business itself
...
Certain decisions will be rejected because they cost too much
- Existing Business Policy
...
A decision cannot be taken if it assumes higher skills
than employees actually have, or if the decision is so unpopular no-one will work
properly on it
...

- National legislation
- Competitors’ behaviour, and their likely response to decisions your business makes
- Lack of technology
- Economic climate

Quality of Decision-Making
Some managers and businesses make better decisions than others
...
Training of managers in decision-making skills
...
Good information in the first place
...
Management skills in analyzing information and handling its shortcomings
...
Experience and natural ability in decision-making
...
Risk and attitudes to risk
...
Human factors
...
Emotional responses come before rational responses, and it
is very difficult to get people to make rational decisions about things they feel very strongly
about
...
People simply take different views on the
same facts, and people also simply make mistakes
...
Interdependence
Businesses are highly interdependent on each other, their suppliers and their customers
...
The effects of any decision will depend critically on the
reactions of other groups in the market
...

Systems approach to problem solving
The systems approach to problem solving used a systems orientation to define problems and
opportunities and develop solutions
...
Recognize and define a problem or opportunity using systems thinking
...
Develop and evaluate alternative system solutions
...
Select the system solution that best meets your requirements
...
Design the selected system solution
...
Implement and evaluate the success of the designed system
...
A problem
can be defined as a basic condition that is causing undesirable results
...
Symptoms must be separated
from problems
...

Example;
Symptom: Sales of a company’s products are declining
...
Opportunity: We
could increase sales significantly if sales persons could receive instant responses to requests for
price quotations and product availability
...
This viewpoint ensures that important factors and their
interrelationships are considered
...
For example, the business organization or business process in which
a problem or opportunity arises could be viewed as a system of input, processing, output,
feedback, and control components
...

Example;
The sales function of a business can be viewed as a system
...

Jumping immediately from problem definition to a single solution is not a good idea
...
You also lose the chance to combine the best points of several alternative solutions
...
The solutions that have
worked, or at least been considered in the past, should be considered again
...
You should also use your intuition and ingenuity to come up with
a number of creative solutions
...
The,
more realistic alternatives that recognize the limited financial, personnel, and other resources of
most organizations could be developed
...
This simulation
process can help you generate a variety of alternative solutions
...

4) Evaluating alternate solutions
Once alternative solutions have been developed, they must be evaluated so that the best solution
can be identified
...
These requirements are key characteristics and
capabilities that you feel are necessary for your personal or business success
...
You would probably insist
that any computer-based solution for your sales force be very reliable and easy to use
...


Then you would develop evaluation criteria and determine how well each alternative solution
meets these criteria
...
For example, you will probably develop criteria for such factors as
start-up costs, operating costs, ease of use, and reliability
...

5) Selecting the best solution
Once all alternative solutions have been evaluated, you can bring the process of selecting the best
solution
...

Example;
Alternatives with a low accuracy evaluation (an accuracy score less than 10), or a low overall
evaluation (an overall score less than 70) should be rejected
...

6) Designing and implementing solution
Once a solution has been selected, it must be designed and implemented
...
Typically, design specifications might describe the detailed
characteristics and capabilities of the people, hardware, software, and data resources and
information system activities needed by a new system
...
For example, the following
items might be included in the design specifications and implementation plan for a computerbased sales support system:


Types and sources of computer hardware, and software to be acquired for the sales reps
...




Training of sales reps and other personnel
...


7) Post implementation review
The final step of the systems approach recognizes that an implemented solution can fail to solve
the problem for which it was developedfor
...
Therefore, the results of implementing a solution should be monitored
and evaluated
...
The focus of this step is to determine if
the implemented solution has indeed helped the firm and selected subsystems meet their system
objectives
...

THE SYSTEMS CONCEPT
A systemis a set of interacting or interdependent components forming an integrated whole or a
set of elements (often called ‘components’) and relationships which are different from
relationships of the set or its elements to other elements or sets
...

They investigate the abstract properties of systems' matter and organization, looking for concepts
and principles that are independent of domain, substance, type, or temporal scale
...




A system's structure and behavior may be decomposed via subsystems and sub-processes
to elementary parts and process steps
...

Alternatively, and usually in the context of complex social systems, the term institution is used to
describe the set of rules that govern structure and/or behavior
...
We scope a
system by defining its boundary; this means choosing which entities are inside the system
and which are outside – part of the environment
...
These models may define the structure and/or the behavior of the
system
...
Natural systems may not have an
apparent objective but their outputs can be interpreted as purposes
...
Their parts must be
related; they must be “designed to work as a coherent entity” – else they would be two or
more distinct systems
...
Most systems are
open systems; like a car, coffeemaker, or computer
...
An isolated system
exchanges neither matter nor energy with its environment
...

Process and transformation process
A system can also be viewed as a bounded transformation process, that is, a process or
collection of processes that transforms inputs into outputs
...
The concept of input and output here is very broad
...
g
...

Subsystem

A subsystem is a set of elements, which is a system itself, and a component of a larger
system
...
For the man-made systems it may be such views as
planning, requirement (analysis), design, implementation, deployment, structure,
behavior, input data, and output data views
...

System architecture
System architecture: using one single integrated model for the description of multiple
views such as planning, requirement (analysis), design, implementation, deployment,
structure, behavior, input data, and output data views, is a kind of system model
...
Inputs and outputs
2
...
Control
4
...
Feedback
6
...
Physical or abstract systems
...
Open or closed systems
...
'Man-made' information systems
...
Formal information systems
...
Informal information systems
...
Computer-based information systems
...
Real-time system
...

An open systemhas many interfaces with its environment i
...
system that interacts freely with its
environment, taking input and returning output
...
A closed system does not interact with
the environment; changes in the environment and adaptability are not issues for closed system
...
The open
systems are systems that allow interactions between its internal elements and the environment
...
” Closed systems,
on the other hand, are held to be isolated from their environment
...
The idea of open systems was
further developed in systems theory
...

Inputs and Outputs
Input is something put into a system or expended in its operation to achieve output or a result
...
Within the
context of systems theory, the inputs are what are put into a system and the outputs are the
results obtained after running an entire process or just a small part of a process
...

What is Systems Approach?
The systems approach to management is a concept which views a company as an
interconnected purposive system that consists of several business sections
...
Input involves the raw materials,
funds, technology, etc
...
Outputs are the products, results, etc
...
These
inputs aid in correcting the errors found in the processes
...
Even a
small activity in a section of a company has a substantial effect on other sections of the company
...
The systems approach states that, for
realizing the operations of an entity, it is essential to see the entity as a whole system
...
These subsystems are
interconnected and influence each other and the system as a whole
...
The limits, within which the internal subsystems function, are determined by the
system boundary
...
For example: In a supermarket, the various
subsystems are the marketing and advertising, sales, administrative and finance department
...
The external subsystems here are
the buyers or the customers who visit the store
...

The organization can act as an open or a closed system
...
This interaction can involve the
transfer of material, information or manpower
...
The buyers have to interact with suppliers (environment) and
other internal departments to carry out the purchasing activity
...
There is no exchange of
information, material or manpower between the system and environment
...
An assembly line can be treated as a closed system if it does not

interact for supply of raw materials
...

Information systems
Information system (IS) is the study of complementary networks of hardware and software that
people and organizations use to collect, filter, process, create, and distribute data
...
Computer Information System(s) (CIS) is a field studying
computers and algorithmic processes, including their principles, their software and hardware
designs, their applications, and their impact on society while IS emphasizes functionality over
design
...

In a broad sense, the term is used to refer not only to the information and communication
technology (ICT) that an organization uses, but also to the way in which people interact with this
technology in support of business processes
...
Information systems typically include an ICT component but are not purely
concerned with ICT, focusing instead on the end use of information technology
...
Information systems help to control the
performance of business processes
...
A work system is a
system in which humans and/or machines perform work using resources to produce specific
products and/or services for customers
...

As such, information systems inter-relate with data systems on the one hand and activity systems
on the other
...
An information system can also be considered a
semi-formal language which supports human decision making and action
...

In a broad scope, the term Information Systemsis a scientific field of study that addresses the
range of strategic, managerial, and operational activities involved in the gathering, processing,
storing, distributing, and use of information and its associated technologies in society and
organizations
...

Information Systems often refers to the interaction between algorithmic processes and
technology
...
An
information system is the technology an organization uses and also the way in which the
organizations interact with the technology and the way in which the technology works with the
organization’s business processes
...

Characteristics of Information


Good information is that which is used and which creates value
...




Good information is relevant for its purpose, sufficiently accurate for its purpose,
complete enough for the problem, reliable and targeted to the right person
...
e
...




Further details of these characteristics related to organizational information for decisionmaking follows
...
Information kept in a book of some kind
is only available and easy to access if you have the book to hand
...
It is
probably the first place you look for a local number
...
For business premises, say for a hotel in London, you would probably
use the Internet
...
If the customer visited a different branch a telephone call would be needed to
check details
...


Accuracy


Information needs to be accurate enough for the use to which it is going to be put
...
The degree of accuracy depends upon the circumstances
...
At tactical level department heads may see weekly
summaries correct to the nearest £100, whereas at strategic level directors may look at
comparing stores’ performances over several months to the nearest £100,000 per month
...
As an example, if government statistics based on the last census
wrongly show an increase in births within an area, plans may be made to build schools
and construction companies may invest in new housing developments
...


Reliability or objectivity


Reliability deals with the truth of information or the objectivity with which it is
presented
...
When researching for an essay in any subject, we might make
straight for the library to find a suitable book
...
The book has been written and the author’s

name is usually printed for all to see
...
In
short, much time and energy goes into publishing a book and for that reason we can be
reasonably confident that the information is reliable and objective
...
Unless you know who the author is,
or a reputable university or government agency backs up the research, then you cannot be
sure that the information is reliable
...


Relevance/appropriateness


Information should be relevant to the purpose for which it is required
...
What is relevant for one manager may not be relevant for another
...




For example, a market research company may give information on users’ perceptions of
the quality of a product
...
The information gained would
not be relevant to the purpose
...
Otherwise, it may not be
useful as the basis for making a decision
...




Ideally all the information needed for a particular decision should be available
...
To meet all the needs of the
situation, you often have to collect it from a variety of sources
...

There should be no extraneous information
...
We would say that the graph is more concise than the tables of
figures as there is little or no extraneous information in the graph or chart
...


Presentation


The presentation of information is important to the user
...
For example, a marketing report that includes
graphs of statistics will be more concise as well as more aesthetically pleasing to the
users within the organisation
...
These presentations have usually been well
thought out to be visually attractive and to convey the correct amount of detail
...
Information
received too late will be irrelevant
...


Value of information


The relative importance of information for decision-making can increase or decrease its
value to an organisation
...
The value of this information would be high
...


Cost of information



Information should be available within set cost levels that may vary dependent on
situation
...
For example, an organisation wants
to commission a market survey on a new product
...
In that situation, the organisation would probably
decide that a less costly source of information should be used, even if it may give inferior
information
...

Information gained or used by an organisation may have a great deal of value even if it
may not have cost a lot
...

Microfiche was quite expensive and what the bookshops received was essentially a list of
books in print
...
Eventually this information became available on CD-ROM
...
The cost of subscribing to microfiche was fairly high;
subscribing to the CD-ROM version only slightly less so
...
This information has far more value than
the other two systems, but probably actually costs quite a bit less
...




We are so used to this system that we cannot envisage what frustrations and
inconvenience the older systems gave
...


TYPES OF INFORMATION SYTEMS
An information system is a collection of hardware, software, data, people and procedures
that are designed to generate information that supports the day-to-day, short-range, and long-

range activities of users in an organization
...
The following sections
present each of these information systems
...
Office Information Systems

An office information system, or OIS (pronounced oh-eye-ess), is an information
system that uses hardware, software and networks to enhance work flow and facilitate
communications among employees
...
With an office information system, for example,
a registration department might post the class schedule on the Internet and e-mail
students when the schedule is updated
...


An office information system supports a range of business office activities such as
creating and distributing graphics and/or documents, sending messages, scheduling, and
accounting
...


The software an office information system uses to support these activities include word
processing, spreadsheets, databases, presentation graphics, e-mail, Web browsers, Web
page authoring, personal information management, and groupware
...
An office information system also uses a variety of
hardware, including computers equipped with modems, video cameras, speakers, and
microphones; scanners; and fax machines
...
Transaction Processing Systems

A transaction processing system (TPS) is an information system that captures and
processes data generated during an organization’s day-to-day transactions
...


Clerical staff typically performs the activities associated with transaction processing,
which include the following:
1
...

2
...


3
...


Transaction processing systems were among the first computerized systems developed to
process business data – a function originally called data processing
...


The first transaction processing systems usually used batch processing
...
As computers became more powerful, system developers
built online transaction processing systems
...
When you register for
classes, your school probably uses OLTP
...


The invoices, however, often are printed using batch processing, meaning all student
invoices are printed and mailed at a later date
...
Some
routine processing tasks such as calculating paychecks or printing invoices, however, are
performed more effectively on a batch basis
...


3
...


Management information

systems thus evolved out of transaction processing systems
...
Because it
generates reports on a regular basis, a management information system sometimes is
called a management reporting system (MRS)
...
To process a sales order, for example, the transaction processing system records
the sale, updates the customer’s account balance, and makes a deduction from inventory
...


A

management information system focuses on generating information that management and
other users need to perform their jobs
...

Detailed information typically confirms transaction processing activities
...
Summary information consolidates data
into a format that an individual can review quickly and easily
...
An Inventory
Summary Report is an example of a summary report
...
These conditions, called the exception criteria, define the range of what is
considered normal activity or status
...
Exception reports help managers save time
because they do not have to search through a detailed report for exceptions
...


Exception reports thus help them focus on situations that require immediate

decisions or actions
...
Decision Support Systems

Transaction processing and management information systems provide information on a
regular basis
...
A sales manager, for example, might need to determine
how high to set yearly sales quotas based on increased sales and lowered product costs
...


A decision support system (DSS)is an information system designed to help users reach a
decision when a decision-making situation arises
...


A decision support system uses data from internal and/or external sources
...
Data from external sourcescould include interest rates,

population trends, and costs of new housing construction or raw material pricing
...


Some decision support systems include query language, statistical analysis capabilities,
spreadsheets and graphics that help you extract data and evaluate the results
...
A simple model for determining the best product price, for
example, would include factors for the expected sales volume at each price level
...
Many people use application software packages to perform
DSS functions
...


A special type of DSS, called an executive information system (EIS), is designed to
support the information needs of executive management
...

Because executives usually focus on strategic issues, EISs rely on external data sources
such as the Dow Jones News/Retrieval service or the Internet
...


To store all the necessary decision-making data, DSSs or EISs often use extremely large
databases, called data warehouses
...


5
...
Expert systems are composed of two main components: a

knowledge base and inference rules
...
The inference rules are a set of
logical judgments applied to the knowledge base each time a user describes a situation to
the expert system
...
Expert systems also successfully have resolved such diverse problems as
diagnosing illnesses, searching for oil and making soup
...


Artificial intelligence (AI) is the application of human intelligence to

computers
...
AI has a variety of
capabilities, including speech recognition, logical reasoning, and creative responses
...
Many word processing programs already include
speech recognition
...
Integrated Information Systems

With today’s sophisticated hardware, software and communications technologies, it often
is difficult to classify a system as belonging uniquely to one of the five information
system types discussed
...


Other applications provide

transaction processing, management information, and decision support
...

7
...
TPS information systems collect data from
user inputs and then generate outputs based on the data collected
...
In such a system, travelers select their flight
schedule and favorite seats (the input), and the system updates the seats available list, removing
those selected by the traveler (the processing)
...
TPS information systems can be based on real-time or batch processing, and
can help business owners meet demand without acquiring additional personnel
...
Customer Relationship Management Systems

Business owners use customer relationship systems to synchronize sales and marketing efforts
...
The capabilities of typically CRM information systems allow
customers to interact with companies for service or product feedback and problem resolutions
...
As such, CRM information systems allow business partners to interact with each other
as they develop ideas and products
...

9
...
BIS information systems
may provide analyses that predict future sales patterns, summarize current costs and forecast
sales revenues
...
For example, financial institutions use BIS systems
to develop credit risk models that analyze the number and extent of lending or credit given to
various sectors
...

10
...
The purpose of these information systems is to bring
innovation, improve performance, bring integration and retain knowledge within the
organization
...
KMS information systems serve as
a central repository and retain information in a standard format
...

11
...
The basic components of
computer based information system are:


Hardware- these are the devices like the monitor, processor, printer and keyboard, all of
which work together to accept, process, show data and information
...




Databases- are the gathering of associated files or tables containing related data
...




Procedures- are the commands for combining the components above to process
information and produce the preferred output
...
However, these managers do not work at the same
level
...
Hierarchy of these managerial positions is
called Levels of Management
...
,

1
...

2
...

3
...

At each level, individual manager has to carry out different roles and functions
...
The Chief Executive Officer is also called General Manager (GM) or Managing
Director (MD) or President
...
e
...
Similarly, the Chief Executive Officer
is selected by the Board of Directors of an organisation
...
The top level management determines the objectives, policies and plans of the
organisation
...
They mobilizes (assemble and bring together) available resources
...
The top level management does mostly the work of thinking, planning and deciding
...

4
...

5
...

6
...
They are the top or
final authority in the organisation
...
The success or failure of the organisation largely
depends on their efficiency and decision making
...
They require more conceptual skills and less technical Skills
...
The Departmental heads are Finance Managers, Purchase Managers,
etc
...
The Junior Executives are
Assistant Finance Managers, Assistant Purchase Managers, etc
...

The middle level management emphasizes more on following tasks:1
...

2
...

3
...

4
...

5
...

6
...

7
...
They are
intermediary between top and lower management
...

8
...

Lower Level of Management
The lower level management consists of the Foremen and the Supervisors
...
It is also called Operative / Supervisory level or First Line of
Management
...
Lower level management directs the workers / employees
...
They develop morale in the workers
...
It maintains a link between workers and the middle level management
...
The lower level management informs the workers about the decisions which are taken by
the management
...
, of the workers
...
They spend more time in directing and controlling
...
The lower level managers make daily, weekly and monthly plans
...
They have limited authority but important responsibility of getting the work done from
the workers
...

8
...


Benefits for the Organization
What benefits can you expect from information technology? IT can affect the structure of the
organization, its strategy, its revenues and expenses, and the individuals working within it
...
Gaining a Competitive Edge
A number of organizations use technology to gain a competitive advantage and design
creative applications that allow them to compete more effectively
...
McKesson Corporation developed a
system called Economist that increased and protected its share of the market
...
When a product was out of stock or the stock was low, an employee
checking store shelves read a product code from the shelf label and keyed it into the
terminal
...

Over the next eight years, McKesson enhanced the system and included various terminal
types of different needs
...
Since the
system “knows” what products are stored in which aisles, it creates packing lists ordered
by shelf location so that items for the same section of the store can be packed in the same
container
...
Individuals apply
for and receive plastic identification cards similar to a credit card
...

A McKesson subsidiary processes the claims and the entire application tends to keep
customers coming back to the same drugstore
...
Increasing Revenues
Some firms use technology to generate revenue, for example, by making information
products available through computer systems
...
It is possible to obtain hundreds of
types of data about companies and their financial conditions
...
The
system is used extensively in law offices where attorneys and their assistants search for
past decisions that may be relevant to the legal problems at hand
...
The Internet also provides
a vast amount of information, though it is hard to find and can seem much disorganized at
time
...
Reducing Cost
One traditional use of computers in organizations is for costs saving companies automate
clerical tasks to reduce costs
...
Some of these systems eliminated existing
positions, whereas other reduced the number of additional employees needed in the
future
...

4
...
In many applications it is very hard
to show that IT has an impact on the “bottom line” because so many other factors
influence profits
...

5
...
An engineer or draft person uses a workstation to create engineering
drawings
...
A system like this will also plot a drawing copy; changes are redrawn in
minutes
...

SYSTEMS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT

A General Model of how Environment Prompts Strategic Decisions
The significance of competitive advantage stems from the competitive nature of open systems
...
When resources are in short supply, organizations-and nationsmust compete for them
...

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
An attribute of an organization or institution- or nation- that enables it to compete more
effectively for resources, and thus to survive
...
This purpose is expressed in a
process that scans the strategic environment, forms an assessment, conceives long-range
objectives, and formulates long-range plans to achieve them
...

George (1980) describes many of the barriers internal to the decision maker
...
They include his/her personal view or stake in the outcome, which may make objective
considerations difficult
...
Other barriers are the personal values of the decision maker that might lead to evaluations
not shared by other players; the risk that a course of action might fail and threaten selfesteem; the risk that a course of action might hurt career prospects; and the risk that
advancing a course of action might lose the support of key constituencies
...

3
...
Futurist John Peterson estimates that the total amount of
information in the world is doubling every 18 months or less
...

A ROBUST SYSTEM
CAPACITY FOR TIMELY SYSTEM CHANGE
...



ACCURATE, COMPREHENSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN



ACCURATE ARTICULATION OF KEY VALUES, BELIEFS, AND ASSUMPTIONS



FREEDOM TO QUESTION VALUES, BELIEFS, AND ASSUMPTIONS



CREATIVITY TO FORMULATE NEW OPTIONS



TOLERANCE OF RISK INVOLVED IN NEW COURSE

This relevance of volatility to strategic leadership and decision making stems from the
competitive nature of the world
...
But power and wealth are finite
commodities, so the stage is set for competition
...

4
...
For example, a competitor can be
hurt by rapid obsolescence of its capital-intensive weapon system, so it might make sense
to pursue new development with just that aim in mind-not the destruction of that system
on the battlefield, but rather by superiority on the balance sheet
...
That world-changing collapse came
when the Soviets could no longer compete economically
...
S
...

5
...
S
...

It would be simplistic to leave this example just at the level of decisions about research and
development
...
One set of assumptions was
accurate; one was not
...
There may be only a thin line between success through
persistent advocacy for change, and failure because of inability to change
...

The advent of air power is an example
...
Yet, World War II saw the first decisive naval
engagement where no surface ship fired at an enemy surface ship- the Battle of the Coral Sea
...
And just a few years later, only the influence of the Congress kept a nuclear
submarine advocate on active duty
...
Without visionary leaders who can guide reformulation of strategic policies
and objectives, the nations, organizations and societies they lead are placed at competitive
disadvantage
...
The challenge to strategic leaders, to their
leadership and decision making processes is increasing at a critical pace
...
Uncertainty about the Present Situation and Future Outcomes
Strategic leadership is complicated not only by the rate of change in the global environment, but
by uncertainty about what the effects of even known changes are likely to be
...
Uncertainty also arises from the competitive
nature of leaders on the world stage who understands that significant competitive advantage
often is gained through surprise
...

The deception planning integral to achieve surprise for Operation Overlord-the Allied invasion
of northern France in 1944-is an excellent example
...
These channels included the "turning" of the entire Axis
spy network in Britain, the fortunate presence of dedicated double agents, and a huge electronic
shell designed to show the presence of a powerful Allied force in England opposite the port of
Calais
...

7
...
S
...
R
...
In fact, this outcome was the objective of U
...

resources allocation strategy during the Reagan era
...
S
...
In consequence, much debate continues
about future strategic courses of action
...
Faced with continuing depletion
of global petroleum reserves-and with accumulating environmental damage as a result of burning
fossil fuels-a long-range energy program would seem essential
...

Distress in one means the others cannot function effectively
...
Yet all these
systems depend on fossil fuels, and the nation has not moved significantly toward decreased
dependence on these fuels, particularly imported petroleum, in the face of known increased
competition for petroleum as developing nations industrialize
...
The near-cataclysmic
response of the national leadership to the blip in gasoline prices in the late spring and summer of
1996 suggests how delicate the balance is
...
Such a blip is certain to re-appear in much magnified form in the future if a
valid, long-term strategic policy is not developed and implemented
...
The data seem to show that a high
capital gains tax suppresses federal tax income from capital gains
...
So, a lower tax is better for deficit
reduction, an apparent contradiction
...
It seems likely that a decrease in capital gains taxes would also tend to depress the
stock market, as investors sell stock to realize gains
...
Cause and effect relationships are difficult to see, much
less assess, when there are many causes, and when many divergent effects exist
...
In addition, there may be many-linked cause and effect chains
...

The challenge to strategic leadership is twofold: a frame of reference, or perspective, that is
dynamic enough for the decision maker to recognize, understand, and explain to others;
and a leader's mastery of decision tools and processes that enable him or her to bring a
broader set of perspectives than just his/her own into the decision making process
...
Lack of Clarity about the Meaning of an Event: Ambiguity
Ambiguity exists when a given event or situation can be interpreted in more than one way
...
Ambiguity may also exist because the intentions of significant
actors in the strategic situation may either not be known or may be miss-inferred
...

The operations plan that was executed during the Gulf War seemingly was invisible to the Iraqis
for at least two reasons
...
In the Persian Gulf, the Marine forces may well have been
frustrated by their limited participation, but in all likelihood they saved many lives on both sides
by tying down Iraqi forces on the coast
...
They misinterpreted what they could see, and were vulnerable to the end sweep by highly
mobile coalition forces
...
Strategic leaders also must do a great deal of consensus building, as a normal
part of their leadership roles
...

The challenge to strategic leadership is recognizing that the decision maker cannot have a
"stand-alone" perspective, and that effective strategic decisions must flow from a managed
process that produces a perspective through consensus that is broader than any single
person probably possesses
...
Now we have a third revolution-a third wave, a third age- the Information Age
...
The "third wave" is thought by many to be a dominant
force transforming nations and societies, leading to a qualitatively different paradigm by
which to interpret world events
...
But the vast societal and cultural changes that are likely to occur later
are unclear
...

The challenge for strategic leadership is to understand the dynamics of change that
are now occurring, and develop the clearest possible visualization of the end results
of change, with enough lead time to ensure a competitively advantageous position
can be achieved
...
Learning organizations develop as a result of the
pressures facing modern organizations and enables them to remain competitive in the business
environment
...
The Learning organization concept was
coined through the work and research of Peter Senge and his colleagues (Senge, 1994)
...
Organizations should
become more like communities that employees can feel a commitment to
...

Development
Organizations do not organically develop into learning organizations; there are factors prompting
their change
...
When problems arise, the proposed solutions often turn out to
be only short term (single loop learning) and re-emerge in the future
...
This means those who
remain need to work more effectively
...
Argyris identified that organizations need to maintain knowledge about new products
and processes, understand what is happening in the outside environment and produce creative
solutions using the knowledge and skills of all within the organization
...

Characteristics
There is a multitude of definitions of a learning organization as well as their typologies
...

Systems thinking
...
This is a conceptual framework that allows people to study businesses
as bounded objects
...
Systems thinking state that all the characteristics must be
apparent at once in an organization for it to be a learning organization
...
However
O’Keeffe believes that the characteristics of a learning organization are factors that are gradually
acquired, rather than developed simultaneously
...
The commitment by an individual to the process of learning is known as
personal mastery
...
Individual learning is acquired
through staff training and development; however learning cannot be forced upon an individual
who is not receptive to learning
...
A learning organization has been
described as the sum of individual learning, but there must be mechanisms for individual
learning to be transferred into organizational learning
...
The assumptions held by individuals and organizations are called mental
models
...
Individuals tend to
espouse theories, which are what they intend to follow, and theories-in-use, which are what they
actually do
...
In creating a learning environment it is important to replace confrontational
attitudes with an open culture that promotes inquiry and trust
...
Unwanted values need to be discarded in a process called ‘unlearning’
...
’
Shared vision
...
The most successful
visions build on the individual visions of the employees at all levels of the organization, thus the
creation of a shared vision can be hindered by traditional structures where the company vision is
imposed from above
...
The shared vision is often to succeed against a
competitor, however Senge states that these are transitory goals and suggests that there should
also be long term goals that are intrinsic within the company
...
The accumulation of individual learning constitutes Team learning
...
Learning
organizations have structures that facilitate team learning with features such as boundary,
crossing and openness
...
Learning organizations typically have excellent knowledge management

structures, allowing creation, acquisition, dissemination, and implementation of this knowledge
in the organization
...
However, in contrast to MIS (that
processes data), it processes information to support the decision making process of managers
...

A DSS in bank, for example, can enable a manger to analyze the changing trends in deposits and
loans in order to ascertain the yearly targets
...

Generally, they help managers to make semi-structured decisions, the solution to which can be
arrived at logically
...

A decision support system is an interactive computer based system that serves decision making
needs of managers
...
A DSS employs various analytical models to
perform low-level analysis of data and produce information
...
The use of decision support systems usually increases the manager’s ability
to make correct and balanced decisions
...
The use of various DSS tools helps in each stage of
the decision making process that includes viewing a complex problem, designing the model to
analyze the problem, developing alternatives to get a solution, and choosing a solution from the

available alternatives
...


Components of Decision Support Systems (DSS)
Decision support systems consist of three main components, namely database, software system
and user interface
...
DSS Database: It contains data from various sources, including internal data from the
organization, the data generated by different applications, and the external data mined form the
Internet, etc
...
To avoid
the interference of decision support system with the working of operational systems, the DSS
database usually contains a copy of the production database
...
DSS Software System: It consists of various mathematical and analytical models that are
used to analyze the complex data, thereby producing the required information
...

A decision support system may compromise different models where each model performs a
specific function
...
Note that the DSS software
contains the predefined models (or routines) using which new models can be built to support
specific type of decisions
...
These models are used to establish, relationships between
the occurrences of an event and various factors related to that event
...
In addition
to statistical functions, they contain software that can analyze series of data to project
future outcomes
...
During the analysis, the value of one variable is
changed repeatedly and resulting changes on other variables are observed
...
Using a sensitivity model, price of

the product can be changed (increased or decreased) repeatedly to ascertain the sensitivity
of different factors and their effect on sales volume
...



Optimization Analysis Models: They are used to find optimum value for a target
variable under given circumstances
...
During optimization analysis, the
values for one or more variables are changed repeatedly keeping in mind the specific
constraints, until the best values for target variable are found
...
Linear programming techniques and Solver tool in
Microsoft excel are mostly used for making such analysis
...
, to make
statements about the future or to predict something in advance
...
These systems
are widely used for forecasting sales
...
In place of changing the value of variable repeatedly to see how it
affects other variables, goal seeking analysis sets a target value for a variable and then
repeatedly changes other variables until the target value is achieved
...
, to achieve the target production level
...
DSS User Interface: It is an interactive graphical interface which makes the interaction easier
between the DSS and its users
...
The user can select the appropriate option to view the
output according to his requirement
...
The present-day decision support system built using the Web-based interface
provides its users some special capabilities like better interactivity, facility for customization and
personalization, and more ease of use
...

1
...
The capability of analysis of these systems is
supported by some strong theory (or model) along with a good user interface that makes them
easy to use
...
They are used for creating simulation models, performing production planning and
scheduling, and creating statistical and financial reports
...
Data based DSS: These systems can analyze huge amount of data from different sources,
such as organizational data, data from enterprise systems, and data from web
...
A data warehouse is a database that can store
present and past data extracted from various operational systems, and provide certain reporting
and query tools
...
The extracted information helps managers in
making better decisions
...
The main techniques that are mostly used in data
based DSS for analyzing the data are online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining
...
It enables managers and analysts to interactively
examine and manipulate the data available in the data warehouse from different
viewpoints
...
This information is then used to predict future trends and behaviors
...
In some situations, where the nature of decision is complex, the decision-makers would
require additional information, analysis, an appropriate DSS model to support decision-making
...
MIS deals with mostly structured problems, whereas DSS provides information that helps in
analyzing and finding solutions to semi-structured and unstructured problems
...
MIS provides information on business performance that helps managers to control and
administer the day-to-day business activities
...

3
...

In addition to regular reports, it may produce an exception report which helps managers to
analyze and control the cause and effect of the exception and take appropriate action
...
To obtain a sales analysis reports, for example, containing figures related to performance
of sales based on the sales region, salesperson etc
...
However, to
know the effect of changes in different factors like expenses on promotion of a product, and
compensation to salesperson on the performance of sales, sales managers can interactively use
decision support systems
...
Management information system produces information by extracting and manipulating
business data, whereas Decision support system produces information by performing analytical
modeling of the business data
...

Brainstorming
Brainstorming technique involves a group of people, usually between five and ten, sitting around
a table in a classroom setting generating ideas in the form of free association
...

All these ideas are written on the blackboard with a piece of chalk so that everybody can see
every idea and try to improve upon them
...


(a) No judgements are to be made on these ideas when they are generated
...

(b) Welcome wild ideas, no matter how absurd they might seem
...
There should be no inhibition in generating any ideas
...

(c) Strive for quantity and not quality
...
The more ideas
there are, the better the chances that the best solution will not escape
...
The
system can make improvements on the ideas, not visualized by the participant who originally
suggested them
...

Brainstorming technique is very effective when the problem is comparatively specific and be
simply defined
...
The process is very time consuming and it is quite possible that none of the
ideas generated would be optimal
...
Also, the wasted time can be minimized if the members of the group
are chosen carefully so that they understand the problem and feel that their contribution towards
ideas generation will be substantial
...
Generally,
the problems handled by this technique are not specific in nature or related to a particular
situation at a given time
...
For example, the Delphi technique may be used to understand the
problems that could be created in the event of a war and after
...

For example, physicians would be used to get ideas on how to treat a particular disease such as
AIDS and medical psychologists will be used to deal with family of a patient of terminal disease
or who is in a coma
...
The following sequential steps characterize the technique:
(a) The problem is identified and set of questions is built relating to the problem so that the
answer to these questions generates solutions to the problem
...

b) Experts in the problem area are identified and contacted
...

c) Once received, the results of this questionnaire are compiled and analyzed and on the basis of
the responses received, a second questionnaire is developed which is mailed back to the
participating members
...

e) The responses to this second questionnaire are compiled and analyzed by the central
coordinator and if a consensus has not been reached, then a third questionnaire is developed,
pinpointing the issue and unresolved areas of concern
...
Then final report is prepared and a
solution is defined and developed if possible
One of the main advantages of the Delphi technique is that the group members are totally
independent and are not influenced by the opinion of other members
...
Judgements and the members do not have to be present at one
location; this means that an expert who is geographically separated can also contribute his
thoughts and opinions so that the cost associated with bringing these experts together is avoided
...

The main disadvantage of this technique is that it is highly time consuming and is primarily
useful in illuminating broad range, long term complex issues such as future effects of energy
shortages that might occur
...

Nominal Technique

The Nominal Technique is very similar to Brainstorming but is considered to be more effective
...
It may be physically domination is avoided
...
The group
leader or the coordinator either collects these written ideas or writes them on a large blackboard
as he received it
...

After all ideas are discussed and clarified, they are evaluated for their merits and drawbacks and
each participating member is required to vote on each idea and assign it a rank on the basis of
priority of each alternative solution
...

Fish-bowling
Fish-bowling is another variation of the brainstorming but is more structured and is to the point
...
One member of the group or the group leader is invited to sit in
the center chair and give his view about the problem and his proposition of a solution
...
Once the member in the center chair has finished talking and his viewpoint is fully
understood, he leaves the center and joins the group in the circle
...

The members can ask questions to the center based upon the new ideas presented by the member
...
All exchanges must be between the center and the group and no two group members
are allowed to talk directly
...
After all experts have expressed their views, the entire
groups discuss the various alternatives suggested and pick the one with consensus
...
For example, the decision may be to buy or not to buy, to situation requires an

extensive and exhaustive discussion and investigation since a wrong decision can have serious
consequences of either of the two alternatives, the group required to make the decision is split
into two subgroups, one favoring the ‘go’ decision and other favoring the ‘no go’ decision
...

These two groups meet and discuss their findings and their reason
...

This interchange of ideas and tolerance and understanding of opposite viewpoint results in
mutual acceptance of facts as facts as they exist so that a solution can be built around these facts
and thus a final decision is reached
...
A management information system (MIS)
extracts transaction data from underlying TPSs, compiles them, and produces information
products in the form of reports, displays or responses
...
Management information systems use simple routines like summaries
and comparisons which enable managers to take decisions for which the procedure of reaching at
a solution has been specified in advance
...
A typical MIS report is a
summary report, such as a report on the quarterly sales made by each sales representative of the
organization
...

Usually, management information systems are used to produce reports on monthly, quarterly, or
yearly basis
...
In addition, they provide managers online access to the current performance as well as
past records of the organization
...
The decisions taken with
the help of executive support system are non-routine decisions that affect the entire organization
and, thus, require judgement and sight
...
They use the advanced graphics software to
display the critical information in the form of charts or graphs that help senior executives to
solve a wide range of problems
...
They filter, compress, and track data of high importance and make it available
to the strategic-level managers
...
They also assist senior managers in answering the following
question:
• What business should we do?
• How are our competitors doing the business?
• Which units can be sold and which new units are to be bought?

Models of concepts and models those are conceptual
The term "conceptual model" is ambiguous
...
A distinction can be made between what models are and what models
are models of concept
...
But they are, mostly, intended to be models of real world
states of affairs
...
A model of a concept is quite
different because in order to be a good model it need not have this real world correspondence
...
For example, in management problem structuring,
Conceptual Models of human activity systems are used in Soft systems methodology to explore
the viewpoints of stakeholders in the client organization
...

Type and scope of conceptual models
Conceptual models (models that are conceptual) range in type from the more concrete, such as
the mental image of a familiar physical object, to the formal generality and abstractness of

mathematical models which do not appear to the mind as an image
...
A model may,
for instance, represent a single thing (e
...
the Statue of Liberty), whole classes of things (e
...
the
electron), and even very vast domains of subject matter such as the physical universe
...

Overview
"Conceptual modeling is the activity of formally describing some aspects of the physical and
social world around us for the purposes of understanding and communication
...
Also, a conceptual model must be developed in
such a way as to provide an easily understood system interpretation for the models users
...

1
...

3
...


Enhance an individual understanding of the representative system
Facilitate efficient conveyance of system details between stakeholders
Provide a point of reference for system designers to extract system specifications
Document the system for future reference and provide a means for collaboration

The conceptual model plays an important role in the overall system development life cycle
...

These failures do occur in the industry and have been linked to; lack of user input, incomplete or
unclear requirements, and changing requirements
...
The importance of conceptual modeling is evident when such systemic
failures are mitigated by thorough system development and adherence to proven development
objectives/techniques
...
With that expanded presence, the effectiveness of conceptual modeling at capturing
the fundamentals of a system is being realized
...
These techniques can be applied across multiple
disciplines to increase the users understanding of the system to be modeled
...
Some

commonly used conceptual modeling techniques and methods include; Workflow Modeling,
Workforce Modeling, Rapid Application Development, Object Role Modeling, and Unified
Modeling Language (UML)
...
DFM is a fairly simple technique, however, like many conceptual
modeling techniques, it is possible to construct higher and lower level representative diagrams
...
Data flow modeling is a central technique used in systems development
that utilizes the Structured Systems and Analysis and Design Method (SSADM)
...
Entity-relationship diagrams, which are a product of executing
the ERM technique, are normally used to represent database models and information systems
...
The entities can represent
independent functions, objects, or events
...
To form a system process, the relationships are combined with the
entities and any attributes needed to further describe the process
...
These
conventions are just different ways of viewing and organizing the data to represent different
system aspects
...
Like most conceptual modeling techniques,
the event driven process chain consists of entities/elements and functions that allow relationships
to be developed and processed
...
In order to progress through events, a
function/ active event must be executed
...
Other elements exist
within an EPC, all of which work together to define how and by what rules the system operates
...


Joint Application Development
The Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM) uses a specific process called Joint
Application Design (JAD) to conceptually model a systems life cycle
...
The JAD
process calls for a series of workshops in which the participants work to identify, define, and
generally map a successful project from conception to completion
...

Place/ Transition Net
Also known as Petri Nets, this conceptual modeling technique allows a system to be constructed
with elements that can be described by direct mathematical means
...
e
...

State Transition Modeling
State transition modeling makes use of state transition diagrams to describe system behavior
...
Most
current modeling tools contain some kind of ability to represent state transition modeling
...

Technique Evaluation and Selection
Because the conceptual modeling method can sometimes be purposefully vague to account for a
broad area of use, the actual application of concept modeling can become difficult
...
However, before evaluating the effectiveness of a conceptual modeling technique
for a particular application, an important concept must be understood; comparing conceptual
models by way of specifically focusing on their graphical or top level representations is
shortsighted
...
In general, a
conceptual model is developed using some form of conceptual modeling technique
...
Understanding the capabilities of the specific language used is inherent to
properly evaluating a conceptual modeling technique, as the language reflects the techniques

descriptive ability
...

Considering Affecting Factors
Building on some of their earlier work, Gemino and Wand acknowledge some main points to
consider when studying the affecting factors: the content that the conceptual model must
represent, the method in which the model will be presented, the characteristics of the models
users, and the conceptual model languages specific task
...
The presentation method for selection purposes would focus on the techniques ability
to represent the model at the intended level of depth and detail
...
A participant's background and
experience should coincide with the conceptual models complexity; else misrepresentation of the
system or misunderstanding of key system concepts could lead to problems in that systems
realization
...
The difference between creating a system conceptual model to convey system
functionality and creating a system conceptual model to interpret that functionality could involve
to completely different types of conceptual modeling languages
...
The focus of observation
considers whether the conceptual modeling technique will create a "new product", or whether the
technique will only bring about a more intimate understanding of the system being modeled
...
A conceptual modeling technique that allows for development of a system
model which takes all system variables into account at a high level may make the process of
understanding the system functionality more efficient, but the technique lacks the necessary
information to explain the internal processes, rendering the model less effective
...

Understanding the conceptual models scope will lead to a more informed selection of a technique
that properly addresses that particular model
...

1
...
How will the conceptual model be presented?

3
...

5
...


Who will be using or participating in the conceptual model?
How will the conceptual model describe the system?
What is the conceptual models focus of observation?
Will the conceptual model be efficient or effective in describing the system?

Another function of the simulation conceptual model is to provide a rational and factual basis for
assessment of simulation application appropriateness
...

Metaphysical models
A metaphysical model is a type of conceptual model which is distinguished from other
conceptual models by its proposed scope
...
This is to say that it explains the answers to fundamental questions
such as whether matter and mind are one or two substances; or whether or not humans have free
will
...
semantics model
Semantics are the actual intention when human practice conceptual modeling or use conceptual
model after the conceptualization
...
By languages, human actually use language elements and the relationships which are
concepts and concept models
...

Epistemological models
An epistemological model is a type of conceptual model whose proposed scope is the known and
the knowable, and the believed and the believable
...
Logical
models can be broadly divided into ones which only attempt to represent concepts, such as

mathematical models; and ones which attempt to represent physical objects, and factual
relationships, among which are scientific models
...
A structure that gives
meaning to the sentences of a formal language is called a model for the language
...
Model theory has close ties to algebra and universal algebra
...
These and other types of
models can overlap, with a given model involving a variety of abstract structures
...
Akin to entity-relationship models, custom categories or sketches can
be directly translated into database schemas
...

Scientific models
A scientific model is a simplified abstract view of a complex reality
...
Attempts to
formalize the principles of the empirical sciences use an interpretation to model reality, in the
same way logicians axiomatize the principles of logic
...
The world is an interpretation (or
model) of these sciences, only insofar as these sciences are true
...
In a
parametric model, the probability distribution function has variable parameters, such as the mean
and variance in a normal distribution, or the coefficients for the various exponents of the
independent variable in linear regression
...

Model selection is a statistical method for selecting a distribution function within a class of them,
e
...
, in linear regression where the dependent variable is a polynomial of the independent
variable with parametric coefficients, model selection is selecting the highest exponent, and may
be done with nonparametric means, such as with cross validation
...
For
example, a statistical model of customer behavior is a model that is conceptual, (because
behavior is physical) but a statistical model of customer satisfaction is a model of a concept
(because satisfaction is a mental not a physical event)
...
The economic
model is a simplified framework designed to illustrate complex processes, often but not always
using mathematical techniques
...

Structural parameters are underlying parameters in a model or class of models
...

Models in systems architecture
A system model is the conceptual model that describes and represents the structure, behavior,
and more views of a system
...
The first one is the non-architectural approach and the second one is
the architectural approach
...
The architectural approach, also known as system architecture, instead of picking many
heterogeneous and unrelated models, will use only one integrated architectural model
...
These models are models of concepts; the authors specifically state that they are
not intended to represent a state of affairs in the physical world
...

Logico-linguistic models
Logico-linguistic modeling is another variant of SSM that uses conceptual models
...
It is
a graphical representation of modal logic in which modal operators are used to distinguish
statement about concepts from statements about real world objects and events
...
Entity-relationship modeling is a database modeling method, used to
produce a type of conceptual schema or semantic data model of a system, often a relational
database, and its requirements in a top-down fashion
...

Entity-relationship models have had wide application in the building of information systems
intended to support activities involving objects and events in the real world
...
However, this modeling method can be used to build computer
games or a family tree of the Greek Gods, in these cases it would be used to model concepts
...
A
domain model includes the various entities, their attributes and relationships, plus the constraints
governing the conceptual integrity of the structural model elements comprising that problem
domain
...

The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space
where interaction between humans and machines occurs
...
Examples of this broad concept of user
interfaces include the interactive aspects of computer operating systems, hand tools, heavy
machinery operator controls, and process controls
...

A user interface is the system by which people (users) interact with a machine
...
User interfaces exist for various
systems, and provide a means of:



Input, allowing the users to manipulate a system
Output, allowing the system to indicate the effects of the users' manipulation

Generally, the goal of human-machine interaction engineering is to produce a user interface
which makes it easy (self exploratory), efficient, and enjoyable (user friendly) to operate a

machine in the way which produces the desired result
...

With the increased use of personal computers and the relative decline in societal awareness of
heavy machinery, the term user interface is generally assumed to mean the graphical user
interface, while industrial control panel and machinery control design discussions more
commonly refer to human-machine interfaces
...




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