A Framework for Management Information Systems

A management information system typically refers to the broad category of managerial aspects of an
Information Systems. The information systems used in an organization can well be implemented to aid the
decision making process when the managers and analysts work in synergy. However, there is an apprehension
when it comes to efficient application of information systems in decision making and the purpose of this article
is to provide a framework that helps us to understand the evolutions if MIS activities within the organization
and planning for information systems activities that can be used for supporting different kinds of decisions.
Taxonomy for managerial activities by Robert Anthony: Three categories –
To help in managerial activities, Anthony suggested three categories to develop different systems-
1) Strategic Planning – It focuses on the choice of objectives for the organization and on the activities and
means required to achieve these objectives. Hence, the major aspect is predicting the future of
organization and its environment.
2) Management Control – It involves interpersonal interactions and takes place within the context of
policies and objective developed in strategic planning. It also covers the goal to achieve effective and
efficient performance.
3) Operational Control- It the process of assuring that specific tasks are carried out effectively and
efficiently.
The main difference between management control and operational management is that the former is
associated with people while the latter is concerned with tasks; consequently there is much less judgement to
be exercised in operational management. These three categories are segregated mainly on the basis of the
information input that they need and this where the role of information systems is defined across the three
categories. The information needed by strategic planners is obtained from external sources and is aggregate
and non-routine in nature while it is the opposite in case of operational management. While information
requirement of the two categories are far ended from each other, the requirements for managerial control lies
somewhere between the two.
Herbert Simon’s categorization of Decision types:
Simon divided the decision types into two categories viz. programmed and non-programmed. The programmed
decisions are routine and repetitive in nature while the non-programmed decisions call for intelligent and
adaptive actions. The former has been called as ‘structure’ while the latter as ‘unstructured’.
Simon also said that all decision making problems can be broken down into three categories – searching the
environment for conditional calling for decision; inventing, developing and analyzing possible courses of action;
and selecting a course of action. A fully structured problem is that in which all the three phases are structured
and we can specify algorithms and decision rules to select best solution.

Hence, the viewpoints of Anthony and Simon give two different ways of looking at managerial activity within
organizations where Anthony’s categorization is based on purpose of management activity while Simon’s
categorization focuses on the way a manager deals with existing problems. The combination of these two vies
provides a useful framework which can be used to examine the purpose and problems of information systems
activity.
The structured problems, given their repetitive nature, can be addressed using computers and overlap heavily
with operational management. However, the unstructured problems need manager’s involvement at a much
higher degree and overlaps with the strategic planning domain. This same framework given back in 1971 forms
a base model to build further models of organizational structures in information systems in today’s moder
world.