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. This work: (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 risks 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, for example, Deming, Juran, Crosby and Taguchi (TMgt, 1990; Bergman and Klefsjo, 1994) have often referred to quality improvement as a way of managing an organisation (or a business) for growth and profitability as well as mutual benefits to the stakeholders. In the details following, emphasis is laid 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, in which the collaborative establishments are Renfrewshire Enterprise, Paisley and Compaq Computer Manufacturing Limited, Bishopton in the West of Scotland. The sections below discuss: (i) a reinforced holistic approach to the development of an IT-based IS; (ii) application of an AR-based method and preliminary results obtained.