Information Systems and Decision-Making in Public Organizations

Introduction

Public organizations have evolved in recent years, developing ways to cope with fast decision-making through the use of information systems. Information systems management gained importance in the public sector because of the mounting pressure on these organizations to perform (Karim, 2011). Statistics and other valuable data can be analyzed and presented to decision-makers, allowing for quick response time and fast implementation of policy. This, however, was not always the case.

Before the push toward information systems, decision-making in public organizations relied on written reports and interviews (Karim, 2011). Although these methods remain pertinent today, they have been transformed into usable, easily absorbed formats that prove more effective than traditional paper-based approaches. The rise of information systems accompanies a broader shift in which public organizations rely less on traditional methods and more on the capacity to give people quick and effective access to data analysis, yielding better decision-making outcomes. This essay focuses on the background of information systems and decision-making in public organizations, and on how information systems can be used specifically to improve the already-evolving decision-making process.

The central recommendation of this essay involves the use of cloud services to create an easy-to-access means of collecting and distributing information. Cloud services are a recent innovation made possible by the increase in storage capabilities seen in the last decade and by improvements in online services (Chang, Walters, & Wills, 2015). These improvements have produced a quick and effective means of data exchange without compromising security. Although additional concerns about data breaches remain, cloud services can enable greater use of big data in public organizations and may lead to further innovations in the pursuit of informed decision-making.

Background of Information Systems in Public Organizations

The roots of information systems in public organizations lie in the formation and use of management information systems. In the late 1990s, there was a desire to create a free and easy exchange of data between governmental organizations. Because information can be seen as power, it needed to be made available while also being safeguarded against misuse. As a result, several agencies preferred to maintain autonomy over such information. For instance, job training agencies tasked with assessing state job training programs needed data from several state agencies to do so. "However, despite obtaining verbal agreements from the top managers of the agency, the lower-level programming staff delayed the sharing of data for months" (Garson & IGI Global, 1999, p. 30).

Given the lack of security features and convenient means of data exchange, public organizations began implementing management information systems to gain access to the data needed for informed decision-making. Without this kind of data management, it would be difficult today to perform many necessary organizational functions, because the extra processes required before the adoption of information systems made decision-making slow and tedious. Information systems therefore allowed practitioners to improve their decision-making through gains in time efficiency and convenience.

Information systems also improved through the use of the internet (Garson & IGI Global, 1999). The internet provided a means of exchanging and transmitting data that was fast, convenient, and conducive to further innovation. It helped bring about a revolution in decision-making by expanding the reach and capability of information systems (Garson & IGI Global, 1999), and this evolution has continued through the present day. Today, information systems have crossed into cloud service applications that allow for even greater ease of information exchange.

Importance of Information Systems for Decision-Making

The decision-making process depends on information that can lead to both constructive and divisive assessments. Although some data can lead to improved and effective evaluation, other data may not. It is important to recognize that different kinds of data may be unnecessary in relation to decision-making — particularly in public organizations that do not require measures to assess profitability. Research highlights the differences between data types and how training and management capacity can shape specific decision-making outcomes:

The findings indicate that two strategic performance measurement system (SPMS) components — namely, the importance of non-financial performance measures and the use of operational efficiency measures — have significant positive associations with performance information use for strategy implementation and strategy assessment decisions. The extent to which SPMS models are used is found to be positively associated with performance information use for strategy implementation, but not for strategy assessment decisions. Furthermore, the relationships between SPMS variables and strategic decision-making are moderated by information systems/data limitations and management's commitment to attaining strategic goals (Abdel-Maksoud, Elbanna, Mahama, & Pollanen, 2015, p. 528).

Decision-making outcomes have become heavily reliant on data that can be accessed, evaluated, analyzed, and transmitted quickly. Information systems enable the rapid delivery of this information and facilitate performance through software and hardware designed to collect and examine data without requiring complex and tedious manual calculations. Software can quickly generate statistical outputs and present analyzed information in charts and graphs (Abdel-Maksoud et al., 2015). It is thanks to these innovations that decision-making can grow to meet current demands. If information systems do not continue to improve, and if public organizations do not continue to adopt new methods, decision-making could lag due to a lack of available resources and applications to streamline data collection and analysis.

Conclusion

Information systems and decision-making have both evolved considerably in recent years. Although public organizations still retain certain traditional decision-making practices, a growing number have opted to improve their agility and effectiveness by adopting efficient strategies suited to the demands of contemporary society. To achieve this, many modern public organizations have adopted new management information system components, including cloud applications for storing relevant information. With access to cloud storage, public organizations can more effectively promote communication, flexibility, and agility in today's expanding and rapidly changing environment.

Cloud storage may be perceived by some as challenging from a security standpoint. However, as applications for better data handling continue to improve, public organizations are seeing increased adoption of such services, driven by pressure to accelerate the decision-making process. Because effective decision-making requires accessible, easy-to-understand knowledge, information systems have evolved to meet those needs.

Various challenges related to information systems — particularly data breaches — still require resolution. Nevertheless, the age of information systems has arrived, and with it the evolution of informed decision-making. Public organizations must now make policy and budget decisions quickly, with little time to deliberate over collected information. Information systems allow data to be transmitted securely and without the need for time-consuming manual processes. The future is likely to bring further innovation, especially in the areas of security and convenience, ultimately leading to broader improvements in public organization decision-making.

References

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