Human Factors in Technology

Human Factors in Business Technology

Since the so-called "Digital Revolution," information technology (IT) has become fully integrated into contemporary business management at every level and in every business management function (Robbins & Judge, 2009). The planning function is maintained within IT systems from long-term strategic perspectives at the organizational level down to the shortest-range planning at the business unit and individual employee level. Organization is greatly assisted by IT systems, as are the other two principal functions of management: directing/leading and controlling. In fact, contemporary business functions rely so heavily on IT systems that many of them would be completely incapacitated by the loss or systemic malfunction of IT services (Robbins & Judge, 2009).

Discussion

Within the modern business organization, IT systems allow management to incorporate the contemporary version of the principles of scientific management first introduced in the late 19th century (George & Jones, 2008). Information technology systems are equally critical to recruitment, training, supervision, evaluation, and communication at every level. For example, IT systems have introduced spread sheets, automated network planning and scheduling functions, real-time video conferencing, and voluminous data storage and archiving. Today, IT systems are responsible for generating and communicating management directives and essential memoranda, remote status reports, and day-to-day operational decisions (Robbins & Judge, 2009).

Still, modern IT technology is a growing field that is not perfect. Information technology systems sometimes malfunction and they currently present the single greatest risk of major financial loss and risk of causing loss of control over confidential and proprietary information. That is mainly because Internet crime is the fastest-growing type of crime and is responsible for between $50 and $100 billion annually in business losses attributable to malicious attacks on IT systems by unauthorized entities seeking to breach network security controls (Robbins & Judge, 2009).

Today, all medium-size and large business organizations rely heavily on IT personnel for much more than strictly their technical expertise. Specifically, the growing trend is to integrate IT personnel much more comprehensively into a much wider range of business functions because it is largely impossible to design, monitor, and maintain the IT system of large organizations without considerable understanding of many business management and operational needs.

Information systems are also used extensively for employee training but in some cases, the quality of that training suffers by virtue of the low quality of IT-based training programs or their implementation (George & Jones, 2008; Robbins & Judge, 2009). Another potential problem linked to reliance on IT systems is that the enthusiasm to upgrade IT processes can sometimes lead to unrealistic expectations and to corresponding unanticipated losses (Robbins & Judge, 2009). That is just one significant reason that integrating IT personnel into business functions more comprehensively than their traditional roles within business organizations is a necessity.