Improving Output Quality and Minimising Business Risks with a Holistic Approach to Organisational Information Systems Development

Abstract

Improving the quality of products and services in an enterprise is the guide to superior competitiveness. Managers who carry out management functions which can affect the output quality of an enterprise (organisation) often rely on available data/information to make their decisions and to execute other business activities. Information technology (IT) is capable of offering accurate and timely data/information if suitably integrated into an organisation. The article: (i) proposes a reinforced holistic approach based on `systems thinking' for developing an IT based information system (IS) and discusses its significance for quality improvement and business risk minimisation; (ii) further examines an industrially based project for the design and development of an IT oriented information infrastructure system for risk assessment which employs a holistic approach. Proponents of continuous quality improvement (e.g. B. Bergman and B. Klefsjo, 1994) have often referred to quality improvement as a way of managing an organisation for growth and profitability as well as mutual benefits to the stakeholders. Emphasis is put on a business-led strategy to the development of an information system. The objective of the strategy is to identify key parameters of a business and achieve adequate specifications before attempting to develop an IT based application. The methodology of action research (AR) is employed as a means for organisational investigation and evaluation of models. Details presented are based on findings from a current industrially oriented project on the tendering process in manufacturing management