Bill Mayon-White – författare

The main purpose of this paper is to contribute to the discussion about the design of computer and communication systems that can aid the management process. 1.1 Historical Overview We propose that Decision Support System can be considered as a design conception conceived within the computer industry to facilitate the use of computer technology in organisations (Keen, 1991). This framework, built during the late 1970s, offers computer and communication technology as support to the decision process which constitutes, in this view, the core of the management process. The DSS framework offers the following capabilities: • Access: ease of use, wide variety of data, analysis and modelling capacity. • Technological: software gel)eration tools. • Development modes: interactive and evolutionary. Within this perspective, computer and communication technologies are seen as an amplification of the human data processing capabilities which limit the decision process. Thus, the human being is understood metaphorically as a data processing machine. Mental processes are associated with the manipulation of symbols aOO human communication to signal transmission.

Managers and decision makers face an escalating challenge in understanding the dynamics of their organizations. A major element in this debate is the nature of linkage, or convergence, between organizational change and transformation, corporate planning and attempts to implement the planning at all levels in the process of transformation, and the role of information technology and systems for decision support and communication in organizations. This book was concieved to address this challenge. It contains papers addressing, especially: frameworks for organizational transformation; issues in corporate growth, upsizing, mergers and acquisitions; and issues in downsizing, privatization, outsourcing and personal innovation.