The Importance of MIS
Using MIS, 7e (Kroenke)
Chapter 1 The Importance of MIS
1.1 True/False Questions
1) The number of transistors per square inch on an integrated chip doubles every 18 months according to Moore's Law.
Answer: TRUE
2) Moore's Law predicts that the price to performance ratio of computers will double once in eighteen months.
Answer: FALSE
3) Because of Moore's Law, the cost of data processing, communications, and storage is essentially zero.
Answer: TRUE
4) Today, because of Moore's Law, any routine skill is liable to be outsourced to the lowest bidder.
Answer: TRUE
5) Brad, an employee who works in the production department, has the ability to collaborate well with others. Brad's ability to collaborate is an example of a routine skill.
Answer: FALSE
6) Abstract reasoning is the ability to construct and manipulate models.
Answer: TRUE
7) Systems thinking refers to the skill that helps make a reasoned analysis of a problem and envision potential solutions to the problem.
Answer: FALSE
8) A person who is good at collaboration will avoid giving critical feedback to others.
Answer: FALSE
9) The most important skill for effective collaboration is to be able to give and receive critical feedback.
Answer: TRUE
10) Experimentation involves making a reasoned analysis of an opportunity and developing the most promising solutions, consistent with the resources one has.
Answer: TRUE
11) The term management information systems refers to the management and use of information systems that help businesses achieve their strategies.
Answer: TRUE
12) A system is a group of components that interact without a specific purpose.
Answer: FALSE
13) According to the five-component framework, the five components of an information system are present in every information system.
Answer: TRUE
14) Applications such as MS Word and Excel are examples of procedures.
Answer: FALSE
15) According to the five-component framework, the number of components in an information system increases in proportion to its complexity.
Answer: FALSE
16) The five-component framework applies to simple and complex information systems.
Answer: TRUE
17) Users should take an active role in system development to create an information system that meets their needs.
Answer: TRUE
18) Information systems exist to help people who work in an organization achieve the strategies of that business.
Answer: TRUE
19) A company should only develop information systems if its competitors have developed information systems.
Answer: FALSE
20) The five components of information systems are symmetrical.
Answer: TRUE
21) According to the five-component model of information systems, the data and software components of information systems are capable of performing actions.
Answer: FALSE
22) In the five-component model of an information system, data acts as a bridge between the computer and the human sides.
Answer: TRUE
23) In the five-component model of an information system, hardware and software are part of the human side.
Answer: FALSE
24) According to the five-component model of an information system, software is the most important component of an information system.
Answer: FALSE
25) Information systems differ in the amount of work that is moved from the human side to the computer side.
Answer: TRUE
26) The lower the amount of work to be moved from the human side to the computer side of an information system, the higher the complexity of that system.
Answer: FALSE
27) When considering different information systems alternatives, it will be helpful to consider the low-tech versus high-tech alternatives in light of the amount of work that is being moved from people to computers.
Answer: TRUE
28) Obtaining or developing new programs is more difficult than ordering additional hardware.
Answer: TRUE
29) Changing personnel responsibilities to suit an information system is more disruptive to an organization than ordering additional hardware for the information system.
Answer: TRUE
30) Changing the structure of existing databases causes more organizational disruption than changing working procedures.
Answer: FALSE
31) Ordering additional hardware creates the least amount of organizational disruption compared to changes in the other four components of an information system.
Answer: TRUE
32) Information technology and information systems are synonymous terms.
Answer: FALSE
33) Information technology is an assembly of hardware, software, data, procedures, and people that produces information.
Answer: FALSE
34) Information system refers to the products, methods, inventions, and standards that are used for the purpose of producing information.
Answer: FALSE
35) People can buy information systems, but they cannot buy information technology.
Answer: FALSE
36) Data refers to the knowledge derived from information.
Answer: FALSE
37) Data becomes information when it is presented in a meaningful context.
Answer: TRUE
38) Mary processes employee statistics to obtain a meaningful understanding of her organization. The data that she derives by processing becomes information.
Answer: TRUE
39) Information systems become a waste of time and money when users work with inaccurate data.
Answer: TRUE
40) Data accuracy is a critical requirement for good information.
Answer: TRUE
41) Good information is conceived from accurate, correct, and complete data.
Answer: FALSE
42) Good information requires that data be timely.
Answer: TRUE
43) Data should be relevant to the subject, not necessarily to the context.
Answer: FALSE
44) Data needs to be sufficient for the purpose for which it is generated, but just barely so.
Answer: TRUE
45) A good information system is one that provides the users with more information than what is required.
Answer: FALSE
46) Information systems should be subject to the same financial analyses to which other assets are subjected.
Answer: TRUE
47) Data is worth its cost when an appropriate relationship exists between the cost of data and its value.
Answer: TRUE
48) Microsoft defines a strong password as one that contains no more than seven characters.
Answer: FALSE
49) A good password is one that contains the user's name or company name.
Answer: FALSE
50) If you need someone's password to access a system, you should ask her to enter her password and look away while she does that.
Answer: TRUE
1.2 Multiple-Choice Questions
1) ________ states that the number of transistors per square inch on an integrated chip doubles every 18 months.
- C) Moore's Law
2) According to Moore's Law, the ________.
- C) number of transistors per square inch on an integrated chip doubles every 18 months
3) Which of the following is a major implication of Moore's Law?
- D) Costs of communications and storage have become very low.
4) Which of the following ratios has fallen as a result of Moore's Law?
- A) price/performance
5) Which of the following types of skills is most likely to be outsourced to the lowest bidder?
- B) accounting skills
6) Which of the following is categorized as a nonroutine cognitive skill?
- D) systems thinking
7) Carlos is a business student doing an internship at Bruno and Venus, a firm specializing in exports of sophisticated equipment to other countries. He finds that he is unable to create a representative chart depicting the relation between processes such as procurement, shipping, and billing. This indicates that he lacks ___skills.
- A) abstract reasoning
8) Abstract reasoning is the ability to ________.
- B) make and manipulate models
9) ________ is the ability to model the components of a system, to connect the inputs and outputs among those components into a sensible whole that reflects the structure and dynamics of the phenomenon observed.
- B) Systems thinking
10) A manager will essentially require ________ skills to clearly understand how the resources that his or her company uses are converted to desired outputs.
- B) experimentation
11) Meredith constantly analyzes her work in terms of her individual contribution that she makes to the overall output of the organization. This shows her ________ skills.
- C) systems thinking
12) When presenting an idea to his colleagues, Marcus failed to consider others' views and got defensive when people asked him questions. This situation indicates that Marcus lacks ________ skills.
- B) collaboration
13) ________ is the activity of two or more people working together to achieve a common goal, result, or work product.
- C) Collaboration
14) Erin is a manager for a reputed software firm. She typically monitors and evaluates the existing working procedures of her subordinates. She constantly changes these working procedures so that they are consistent with the company's resources. This shows her ability to ________.
- B) experiment
15) ________ refers to making a reasoned analysis of an opportunity, envisioning potential solutions, evaluating those possibilities, and developing the most promising ones, consistent with the resources one has.
- D) Experimentation
16) Which of the following is an example of computer hardware?
- A) a monitor
17) The storage disk in a computer is an example of the ________ component of information systems.
- A) hardware
18) An operating system like Windows or Linux is an example of the ________ component of an information system.
- A) software
19) Adobe Acrobat is an application that allows users to create and edit digital documents. Adobe Acrobat is an example of a ________.
- D) software
20) A customer relationship management (CRM) system contains the names and phone numbers of customers. Such details stored in a CRM system are part of the ________ component.
- B) data
21) Mark follows certain steps to access the supplementary readings for a Assignment when using his organization's library management system. These steps that he follows are examples of the ________ component of an information system.
- A) procedure
22) The words that an individual types in an MS Word document exemplify the __ component of the IS.
- B) data
23) The ________ component of the five-component framework of an information system includes individuals who maintain the data and support the networks of computers.
- B) people
24) Which of the following statements is true of business users who administer the development of information systems?
- B) They should take an active role in the system's development.
25) According to the five-component model of information systems, the ________ component provides instructions for the people who use information systems.
- D) procedure
26) The process of automation is a process of moving work from ________.
- D) human side to computer side
27) Which of the following components in the five-component model of information systems is considered an actor?
- B) hardware
28) The hardware components of an information system will act as a(n) ________.
- D) actor on the computer side
29) Your company uses a software tool to manage its supply chain. This software tool is an ________ of your company's information system.
- A) instruction on the computer side
30) The ________ component in the five-component model of information systems is considered a bridge that connects the computer side and the human side.
- C) data
31) Which of the following pairs of components constitutes the computer side of information systems?
- D) hardware and software
32) Which of the following pairs of components constitutes the human side of information systems?
- C) people and procedures
33) Which of the following is a low-tech information system?
- B) a file of email addresses stored in an email program
34) Which of the following components of an information system is the easiest to change and results in the least amount of organizational disruption?
- A) hardware
35) Drudgen Fitness Inc. is a fitness equipment provider that markets its products through a chain of retail outlets in four states. As part of its expansion strategy, the company decides to open outlets in four more states and decides to revise its existing business processes. According to the five-component model of information systems, which of the following processes will be the least disruptive to the organization?
- D) buying and installing new computers in the new outlets
36) Which of the following would be the most disruptive to an organization when implementing an information system?
- D) changing reporting relationships
37) It is generally more difficult to make changes to the ________ of an information system than to the database itself.
- D) procedures
38) Graham & Hilda Corp. is a firm that offers enterprise software solutions to independent retailers. The firm recently entered into a contract with a major national retail chain to develop and implement proprietary software that tracks inventory, restocking, and supplier information. Which of the following actions will be most difficult to perform when implementing the new information system?
- D) training the employees to use and manage the new system
39) Identify how information technology differs from information systems.
- A) One can buy information technology, but not information systems.
40) Which of the following is a component of an information system, but not of information technology?
- C) people
41) Which of the following statements is true of information technology (IT)?
- A) Information technology (IT) refers to the products, methods, inventions, and standards that are used for the purpose of producing information.
42) Which of the following is considered information rather than mere data?
- B) the return on investment of an advertising campaign
43) Which of the following is a common description of information?
- C) knowledge derived from data
44) Which of the following best describes data?
- C) recorded facts or figures
45) You have a spreadsheet that provides the airfares to different cities from Chicago. If the contents of the spreadsheet are used to make a decision, it will be considered ________.
- B) data
46) Which of the following is a critical characteristic of good information?
- B) accuracy
47) Sandra is the production manager at a soda manufacturer's bottling plant. She receives a report that contains the list of raw materials stored in the warehouse. She notices that the list also includes items that are not present in the warehouse. The list that she received would not qualify as good information because it is ________.
- A) inaccurate
48) Which of the following statements is true of good information?
- C) Good information should be based on correct and complete data.
49) The CEO of an organization asks the human resources manager to send information about the rate of employee turnover in the organization for the last quarter. The manager sends the salary details of new hires during this period. This information is likely to be of little use to the CEO because it is ________.
- C) irrelevant
50) The CEO of a large company asks the sales manager to report the sales figures of the previous quarter. The manager immediately sends her the list of products sold in the previous quarter. These details do not qualify as good information because they are ________.
- D) not relevant
51) Which of the following statements is true of data characteristics in the context of information systems?
- B) An appropriate relationship should exist between the cost of data and its value.
52) You are looking to buy a home that costs less than $700,000, but your real estate agent keeps sending you fliers for homes that cost $1,000,000 or more. This information is likely to be useless because it is ________.
- C) irrelevant
53) Information is considered inefficient if ________.
- D) it is irrelevant to the subject
54) Which of the following is the least critical aspect of good information?
- C) additional data
55) Caroline asks her secretary to send information on the meetings that she needs to attend next month. Her secretary, Joanne, provides her with the details immediately, but leaves out certain additional details that are irrelevant to Caroline's requirements. Which of the following statements is true about this scenario?
- C) The information that Joanne gave was accurate and sufficient for Caroline's purpose.
56) Which of the following statements is true about the quality of information?
- A) Information should be just barely sufficient for its purpose.
57) Which among the following is the most appropriate technique for creating memorable, strong passwords?
- D) using a collection of randomly picked letters, numbers, and special characters
58) Melissa wants to create a password. Which of the following is the strongest password that she could use?
- D) NOOCSmyPw$42
59) Which of the following is a valid guideline for maintaining good password etiquette?
- B) Never ask another person for his or her password.
60) Jeff is the IT manager of his organization. He needs to use his coworker's account to access some information. In keeping with password etiquette, how should he go about getting his coworker's password?
- A) He should request the coworker to type in the password on the system without Jeff looking at it.
