Mis 250/350 Ch3 Vocab

Front 1

Economic theory that views the firm as a nexus of contracts among self-interested individuals who must be supervised and managed.

Back 1

Agency Theory

Front 2

Descriptions of management based on behavioral scientists' observations of what managers actually do in their jobs.

Back 2

Behavioral Models

Front 3

Formal organization with a clear-cut division of labor, abstract rules and procedures, and impartial decision making that uses technical qualifications and professionalism as a basis for promoting employees.

Back 3

Bureaucracy

Front 4

Models of decision making where decisions are shaped by the organization's standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Back 4

Bureaucratic Models of Decision Making

Front 5

Loosely coupled but interdependent networks of suppliers, distributors, outsourcing firms, transportation service firms, and technology manufacturers

Back 5

Business Ecosystem

Front 6

Set of activities and decisions that determine the products and services the firm produces, the industries in which the firm competes, firm competitors, suppliers, and customers, and the firm's long-term goals.

Back 6

Business Strategy

Front 7

Senior manager in charge of the information systems function in the firm.

Back 7

Chief Information Officer (CIO)

Front 8

Traditional description of management that focused on its formal functions of planning, organizing, coordinating, deciding, and controlling.

Back 8

Classical Model of Management

Front 9

Model used to describe the interaction of external influences, specifically threats and opportunities, that affect an organization's strategy and ability to compete.

Back 9

Competitive Forces Model

Front 10

Activity at which a firm excels as a world-class leader.

Back 10

Core Competency

Front 11

Mintzberg's classification for managerial roles where managers initiate activities, handle disturbances, allocate resources, and negotiate conflicts.

Back 11

Decisional Roles

Front 12

System that directly links consumer behavior back to distribution, production, and supply chains.

Back 12

Efficient Customer Response System

Front 13

Representatives of departments outside the information systems group for whom applications are developed.

Back 13

End Users

Front 14

Competitive strategy for developing new market niches for specialized products or services where a business can compete in the target area better than its competitors.

Back 14

Focused Differentiation

Front 15

The nature of participants in an industry and their relative bargaining power. Derives from the competitive forces and establishes the general business environment in an industry and the overall profitability of doing business in that environment.

Back 15

Industry Structure

Front 16

Cooperative alliance formed between two or more corporations for the purpose of sharing information to gain strategic advantage.

Back 16

Information Partnership

Front 17

The formal organizational unit that is responsible for the information systems function in the organization.

Back 17

Information Systems Department

Front 18

Leaders of the various specialists in the information systems department.

Back 18

Information Systems Managers

Front 19

Mintzberg's classification for managerial roles where managers act as the nerve centers of their organizations, receiving and disseminating critical information.

Back 19

Informational Roles

Front 20

Mintzberg's classification for managerial roles where managers act as figureheads and leaders for the organization.

Back 20

Interpersonal Roles

Front 21

Expectations of the activities that managers should perform in an organization.

Back 21

Managerial Roles

Front 22

The capacity to offer individually tailored products or services using mass production resources.

Back 22

Mass Customization

Front 23

Model of strategic systems at the industry level based on the concept of a network where adding another participant entails zero marginal costs but can create much larger marginal gains.

Back 23

Network Economics

Front 24

A stable, formal, social structure that takes resources from the environment and processes them to produce outputs.

Back 24

Organization (technical definition)

Front 25

The set of fundamental assumptions about what products the organization should produce, how and where it should produce them, and for whom they should be produced.

Back 25

Organizational Culture

Front 26

Models of decision making that take into account the structural and political characteristics of an organization.

Back 26

Organizational Models of Decision Making

Front 27

Models of decision making where decisions result from competition and bargaining among the organization's interest groups and key leaders.

Back 27

Political Models of Decision Making

Front 28

Activities most directly related to the production and distribution of a firm's products or services.

Back 28

Primary Activities

Front 29

Competitive strategy for creating brand loyalty by developing new and unique products and services that are not easily duplicated by competitors.

Back 29

Product Differentiation

Front 30

Highly trained technical specialists who write computer software instructions.

Back 30

Programmers

Front 31

Model of human behavior based on the belief that people, organizations, and nations engage in basically consistent, value-maximizing calculations.

Back 31

Rational Model

Front 32

Precise rules, procedures and practices that have been developed to cope with expected situations.

Back 32

Routines

Front 33

A movement from one level of sociotechnical system to another. Often required when adopting strategic systems that demand changes in the social and technical elements of an organization.

Back 33

Strategic Transitions

Front 34

Activities that make the delivery of a firm's primary activities possible. Consist of the organization's infrastructure, human resources, technology, and procurement.

Back 34

Support Activities

Front 35

The expense a customer or company incurs in lost time and expenditure of resources when changing from one supplier or system to a competing supplier or system.

Back 35

Switching Costs

Front 36

Specialists who translate business problems and requirements into information requirements and systems, acting as liaison between the information systems department and the rest of the organization.

Back 36

Systems Analysts

Front 37

Economic theory stating that firms grow larger because they can conduct marketplace transactions internally more cheaply than they can with external firms in the marketplace.

Back 37

Transaction Cost Theory

Front 38

Model that highlights the primary or support activities that add a margin of value to a firm's products or services where information systems can best be applied to achieve a competitive advantage.

Back 38

Value Chain Model

Front 39

Customer-driven network of independent firms who use information technology to coordinate their value chains to collectively produce a product or service for a market.

Back 39

Value Web

Front 40

Organization using networks to link people, assets and ideas to create and distribute products and services without being limited to traditional organizational boundaries or physical location.

Back 40

Virtual Organization

Front 41

A collection of rights, privileges, obligations, and responsibilities that are delicately balanced over a period of time through conflict and conflict resolution.

Back 41

Organization (behavioral definition)