MIS (Assignment 4)

What is green computing?

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_computing Green computing is the study and practice of using computing resources efficiently. The primary objective of such a program is to account for the triple bottom line, an expanded spectrum of values and criteria for measuring organizational (and societal) success. The goals are similar to green chemistry; reduce the use of hazardous materials, maximize energy efficiency during the product's lifetime, and promote recyclables or biodegradability of defunct products and factory waste.

Modern IT systems rely upon a complicated mix of people, networks and hardware; as such, a green computing initiative must be systemic in nature, and address increasingly sophisticated problems. Elements of such a solution may comprise items such as end user satisfaction, management restructuring, regulatory compliance, disposal of electronic waste, telecommuting, virtualization of server resources, energy use, thin client solutions, and return on investment (ROI).

The imperative for companies to take control of their power consumption, for technology and more generally, therefore remains acute. One of the most effective power management tools available in 2009 may still be simple, plain, common sense.[1]

Green Campus



Our nation’s institutions of higher education spend a significant portion of their annual operating budgets on utility services, diverting funds from valuable programmatic and community-building activities. The Alliance to Save Energy’s Green Campus Program is leading the way towards campus sustainability by bridging the divide between students and institutional energy costs. Through Green Campus, students are working to save energy on campuses by building general campus awareness, incorporating energy conservation and efficiency into course curricula, and implementing projects targeting energy use, student purchasing decisions, and operational changes.

http://ase.org/content/article/detail/3037



San Diego State Green Campus
by SDSU Greencampus

We are all about advocating energy efficiency and sustainability on campus. We believe in the back to basics approach: Organic living, thinking simple and exploring the rich relationship between people and the community.
Our Purpose
We aim to conserve energy usage and promote sustainability by advocating to students and community about the simple things they can do for the environment.

http://greencampus.winserve.org/greencampus/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=40

Green IT and Green Computing Technology

( Green Technology )

Green IT, also known as Green Computing, is the movement towards a more environmentally friendly and cost-effective use of power and production in technology. The crux of Green IT is to double or triple the bottom line investment costs by converting existing structures and systems to this more conservative mode of operation in green computing. Some common Green computing concepts are Virtualization, Recycling, Telecommuting and Power Management through the use of efficient devices. So help save the environment, save yourself some money and "go green" with green IT computing.

http://www.eweek.com/c/s/Green-IT/

My Opinion...

The university played a big role to push a campaigned for this “green campus computing” program. Many campuses had already imposed and cooperate to establish an eco-friendly environment through saving energy from using computers. My suggestions on how will the university can adopt this concepts are according to what I have read from the many articles and URL’s that promote green computing. First, today would not be too late to participate in this kind of program. The university directors, faculty members, instructors and students must have to cooperate to make this program possible. Those who are in position must imposed green computing in this university down to every colleges and departments. Campaigns should be done and proper notifications should be handled in order to promote the program to the students. Though this would not be achieve in a blink of an eye, at least, constant reminders specially to students who were the constant users must helped to take this practice as a daily routine and as is like breathing. As an IT student, we should be aware of every possible effect that would take place especially that we more knew how advanced technology gave benefits as well as disadvantage to the environment.

Mintzberg’s 10 Managerial Roles

Management expert Professor Henry Mintzberg has argued that a manager’s work can be boiled down to ten common roles. According to Mintzberg, these roles, or expectations for a manager’s behavior, fall into three categories: informational (managing by information), interpersonal (managing through people), and decisional (managing through action).

Mintzberg’s Managerial Roles

Informational-Monitor.Seek and acquire work-related information.

Ex: Scan/read trade press, periodicals, reports; attend seminars and
training; maintain personal contacts

-Disseminator.Communicate/ disseminate information to others within the organization.

Ex: Send memos and reports; inform staffers and subordinates of decisions

-Spokesperson.Communicate/transmit information to outsiders.

Ex: Pass on memos, reports and informational materials; participate in
conferences/meetings and report progress

Interpersonal-Figurehead.Perform social and legal duties, act as symbolic leader.

Ex: Greet visitors, sign legal documents, attend ribbon cutting ceremonies,
host receptions, etc.

-Leader.Direct and motivate subordinates, select and train employees.

Ex: Includes almost all interactions with subordinates

-Liaison.Establish and maintain contacts within and outside the organization.

Ex: Business correspondence, participation in meetings with representatives
of other divisions or organizations.

Decisional-Entrepreneur.Identify new ideas and initiate improvement projects.

Ex: Implement innovations; Plan for the future

-Disturbance Handler.Deals with disputes or problems and takes corrective action.

Ex: Settle conflicts between subordinates; Choose strategic alternatives;
Overcome crisis situations

-Resource Allocator.Decide where to apply resources.

Ex: Draft and approve of plans, schedules, budgets; Set priorities

In the real world, these roles overlap and a manager must learn to balance them in order to manage effectively. While a manager’s work can be analyzed by these individual roles, in practice they are intermixed and interdependent. According to Mintzberg: “The manager who only communicates or only conceives never gets anything done, while the manager who only ‘does’ ends up doing it all alone.”

http://management.atwork-network.com/2008/04/15/mintzberg%E2%80%99s-10-managerial-roles/

IT/IS Leadership Roles

In many companies, CIOs struggle against the perception that their job is merely to keep the e-mail flowing. After all, CEOs know immediately when basic services fail but are less aware when investments in new technologies fall short or, even more problematic, when companies aren't making the IT investments they need to refresh their businesses. By structuring and governing different aspects of IT to deliver different goals, companies can be more confident that they are getting the most from their IT investments.

New IT leadership roles

As companies restructure IT to support differentiated roles, IT leaders will need to decide where their strengths lie and which aspect of IT they aspire to manage. In our work with leading companies, we see four roles emerging for CIOs. Each relies on different skills and offers the company a different value proposition.

Head of scale

This role expands on the CIO's traditional responsibility for managing IT infrastructure and enterprise systems, broadening it to include improving efficiency and driving down cost of all commodity business services -- not just IT -- by taking advantage of scale and the potential for outsourcing and offshoring.

At many companies, CIOs in this role also have accountability for shared services or back-office functions (such as finance, procurement, and human resources) and for driving down transaction costs through investments in enterprise- resource-planning (ERP) systems and offshoring.

Executives who thrive on improving efficiency and squeezing costs from IT operations are well suited for this role. Measures of success include reducing transaction costs and the level of working capital by making payment processes more efficient. P&G's Filippo Passerini, for example, standardized processes and established a global shared-services organization that is recognized as best in class.

Business process manager

This role involves focusing on differentiating a company's existing business operations from those of competitors. Increasingly, CIOs in this mode manage not only IT resources but also operations and processes, such as customer service, that are part of the core business.

This approach creates a single point of accountability for improving business processes through automation or more traditional routes and makes it possible to develop new products and services rapidly. Such a leader works closely with business unit leaders to improve business processes for competitive advantage. Robert Carter of FedEx saw opportunities to use IT to integrate the company's logistics services more tightly with the supply chains of its clients, so it wins contracts by virtue of its integral support for their processes.

Chief innovator

IT investments in new business models or innovations that open up new markets call for a focus on experimentation and a willingness to learn from failure. Playing this role requires some distance from a company's current businesses, since innovations occasionally threaten to cannibalize them.

In typical organizations in most industries, the IT leader is less likely to be a chief innovator than a scale or process leader. But when technology innovations can make a big difference, CIOs choosing to play the role of innovator can be extremely valuable. Consider Randy Mott's contributions to the evolution of Dell's business model when he was the company's CIO.

After a long career at Wal-Mart Stores, he applied lessons he learned about supply chain and data warehouse technology to enhance Dell's build-to-order business model that uses better information about the price of components and a more sophisticated customer segmentation to make timely, customized sales offers.

Strategic technology adviser

This role involves coordinating the activity among all three of the areas already listed. It is the role that most current CIOs see themselves playing, but many are so mired in daily operational responsibilities that they have only a limited ability to own and evangelize for the enterprise view associated with each of the preceding roles.

To be truly effective in this one, IT leaders should aspire to board-level status, with strong connections not only across functions within the company but also to external parties in other organizations, including clients and suppliers. At Wal-Mart, Linda Dillman led the retailing industry's adoption of radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags by coordinating the efforts of the company's business and functional leaders and of its vast network of suppliers and distributors.

Because each role requires a distinct skill set for success, it's difficult to play all four roles successfully at once. Developing focus takes time, as does earning a record of success in any of these roles. The trends that would push IT leaders into a shared-services support role are likely to increase, so IT leaders should quickly move toward the role where they can add the most value to their companies.

http://www.enterpriseinnovation.net/article.php?cat1=1&id=976

REFLECTION/Learnings...

The purpose of life is a life of purpose.
Robert Byrne

My regret was that I wasn’t able to attend the first meeting with our professor Randy S. Gamboa for the MIS class. That was Thursday, June 18, 2009. I was sick that time (not very sick) but was very confident that there was no classes (again) like the past few days where I came to school early than my schedule. If only I knew that our professor for that subject was Mr. Gamboa, I would probably jump out of my bed and went to school though I’m not feeling well. I was very much aware that being absent either late must be a big, big, and big NEVER!!! Unfortunately and honestly, I wasn’t informed very well. Poor me!!! I was just surprised when my classmates asked me why I wasn’t around during the first day discussion knowing that were much afraid to miss the class with Mr. Gamboa. Well, it was too late to mourn and rather to blame myself for what I’ve missed. That’s why all I can do to cope up is seek information on what was happened in that span of hours.

As its usual manner, it was started with a prayer. And since there were new faces coming from USEP-Tagum, there was a short self-introduction. Then the formality of discussions followed.My Gosh! I was horrified to know that were going to make a blog site and have to post three assignments to be checked sooner. I can hear the loud beat of my heart especially when I started to ask what would be the topic to be posted. Nosebleed!!! Added to my horrible feelings was the excitement for the incoming company visits. I thought if how would it be like? Will my confidence boast out when we are going to conduct the Information System Needs Assessment? Will I make it individually? Oh! How I wished it will be a group work. More heads are better than one, hehehe…

I find it really hard to understand their explanations (am referring to my classmates) when I asked them to give me important details that could help me so that I could have something to post for my blog. Though I can’t expect too much detailed stories from them, I still tried to find other ways for me to be able to write something for this reflection. I have read the forums, and through the stories told there, I have given the ideas on what was happened on that meeting and how the discussions were going on.

The course description “Management Information System” was mainly the topic. This three-word course title has been examined. Like what is M.I.S? The class was then asked to define “management” and many students have shared their answers. Mr. Gamboa on the other hand said that management implies that someone or something needs to be managed; he/she or it is not capable of being independent (from Gador). Management comprises planning, organizing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal (wikepedia). Mr. Gamboa then asked the class in situation, if we were an employee, would we like to be controlled? Mostly answered YES, at least at first. But the realization came that people cannot be controlled because we have our different characteristics and attitudes, we have our own and unique moods. We are not robotics to be controlled. We are not machines but human who have life, who breathe and who thinks. Well, I was then caught in a deep thought when I knew how interesting the topic was. I remembered during the last summer, when one of our instructor said that it should not be called as “manager” since we can never really managed people but rather we can just “supervised” them. It hit me. Does it mean that supposedly, there would be no such word as “manager” (when refer to a company) but “supervisor” can be? We, people don’t need to be controlled. We don’t stick to what others just said. We were capable to think and decide what would be better. We were capable to lead. Yes, we must be led rather than directed. Mr. Gamboa agrees to that single statement. That is why it was concluded that the right term should be “lead”. Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen (wikepedia). Thus, it also deals with people. As RSG said that leadership and management are two different words (from Soriano) but both handles people. Leadership is one of the most salient aspects of the organizational context. It only differs on how would these two words attained its goals and objectives. On the other hand, generally speaking, the concept of information is closely related to notions of constraint, communication, control, data, form, instruction, knowledge, meaning, mental stimulus, pattern, perception, and representation (wikipedia). And lastly, in a general sense, the term information system refers to a system of people, data records and activities that process the data and information in an organization, and it includes the organization's manual and automated processes. In a narrow sense, the term information system (or computer-based information system) refers to the specific application software that is used to store data records in a computer system and automates some of the information-processing activities of the organization.

Is Management Information System is the appropriate description for this course? It stunned me. Isn’t it the appropriate one? I was puzzled. As to my stand for the appropriation of the MIS description, yes! Since management information system (MIS) defines as a subset of the overall internal controls of a business covering the application of people, documents, technologies, and procedures by management accountants to solving business problems such as costing a product, service or a business-wide strategy. Management information systems are distinct from regular information systems in that they are used to analyze other information systems applied in operational activities in the organization.[1] Academically, the term is commonly used to refer to the group of information management methods tied to the automation or support of human decision making, e.g. Decision Support Systems, Expert systems, and Executive information systems (wikipedia). It wasn’t affected by the separate meaning of each term. Because as it stated above, it is a subset of the overall internal controls of business. It follows that this MIS is just a term given to the discipline focused on the integration of computer systems with the aims and objectives on an organization.

Finally, the discussions get lightly. And before I forgot, I wasn’t surprised the good news that Mr. Gamboa is now the National President in IT Educators in the Philippines because I do really believe that he would be one of the biggest names and it really happened. USEPians, we must be PROUD!!!