1. Simulation 5: Management Information Systems.
In the light of Task 4 you will have seen how much organisational success depends
upon being able to find the ‘perfect fit’ between the business environment (Market
Conditions) and the capability of the organisation/company itself. The problem,
however, is that organisations and their managers are often so focused on daily tasks,
‘fire-fighting’, the short term, defending the status quo and striving towards strategic
targets set in the past, that time to look at the present conditions or to think about the
future is a luxury that cannot be afforded.
Managers need time to be able to consider changes in the marketplace and broader
business environment and their impacts and implications for company strategy and
operations. To do this, they need a vast range of information to be regularly and
consistently collected, organised, analysed, evaluated, communicated and shared in a
timely fashion across the company.
Instructions:
Three Teams of 6: each select ONE of ColmarCo’s three divisions (ensure no
duplication) and produce a:
Management Information Acquisition and Management Specification
Identifying a structure and process for identifying critical information required by the
division to support management of change within the division and how it can be
acquired, processed, transmitted and turned into useful management information.
Remember: the company will need your proposal to be economic, effective and
efficient – it will want innovative ideas of the lowest cost means of acquiring such
information. Prepare to present your Specification.
The Fourth team of 6: you are each going into Tourism with a view to a
management role so you each need to be able to have your own ‘Personal
Management Information System’ (regardless of who you are working for) to keep
you briefed. You do not, however, have a corporate-sized budget to do this.
Produce your own ‘Personal Management Information System’ identifying the
things you will keep track of (and why) and the means by which you will do this in
the professional world. How will you collate such information so that you may use it
effectively?