Role of Information Technology in Business Management

This assignment focuses on the role and importance of information technology in business management, including ethical and social issues, different types of networks, and the impact of ICT and the internet on business. It also discusses the stages of system development and the potential benefits and drawbacks of IT in Tesco.

INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY

ABSTRACT
This assignment had focused on role and importance of information technology in
running a business or in management of business operations. It has also helped in explaining
different kinds of ethical and social issues that are faced by businesses due to information
technology. There are various kinds of networking technologies that are used by retail sector
organizations like Tesco. These technologies are used for various kinds of different purposes.
Other this this in this assignment Growth in ICT and use of the Internet has also been explained.
Various kinds of effects that these technologies that they have on business has also been
explained and lastly, different stages that are involved in system development has been explained
in detailed manner. These factors or points has further helped in explaining Potential benefits and
drawbacks of Tesco in Information Technology in a detailed manner.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................1
Role of information technology in Management.........................................................................1
Ethical and social issues associated with Technology.................................................................2
Differentiate between types of networks.....................................................................................2
Growth in ICT and use of the Internet and its effects on business..............................................3
Different stages of systems development....................................................................................3
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION...................................................................................................4
Role of IT in the success or failure of Tesco...............................................................................4
Ethical and social issues that pertain to running businesses........................................................5
Different types of networking technologies................................................................................5
Importance of social media in Tesco...........................................................................................6
Different stage of system development life cycle........................................................................6
Potential benefits and drawbacks of Tesco in Information Technology.....................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Information technology can be defined as an application or study of computers or any
other kind of technology that can be used for storing, sending data, retrieving or receiving data or
information (Dutta, Geiger and Lanvin, 2015). It is a broad concept which is used by
organizations in order to sustain within this competitive market. It is one of the most important
factors which is required by the organizations to focus on if they want to compete with their
competitors in this competitive market. IT not only helps an organization to increase their
productivity, efficiency but also helps them to gain competitive advantage (Schwalbe, 2015).
This assignment will focus on role of IT in the success or failure of Tesco, ethical and social
issues that pertain to running businesses, different types of networking technologies, importance
of social media in your business different stage of system development life cycle, potential
benefits and drawbacks of Tesco. Tesco is a British multinational retail sector organization that
was founded in 1919 in England, United Kingdom.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Role of information technology in Management
According to the view of Zurawski, (2018) Information technology plays a vital role in
management. It helps the managements of an organization to focus on enhancing overall
efficiency and effectiveness of the business process, increase collaborative working, enhanced
decision making. It helps in simplifying various kinds of management functions such as
planning, budgeting, retaining staff members, saving and protecting employee’s information.
Other than this information technology helps management of an organization to track their sales
data, their productivity level, expenses etc. this information extracted from information
technology system can be used by management to track their profitability, maximize investment
or return as well as also helps identifying improvement areas in which organization can bring
improvement. Effective and proper use of Information technology can also help the management
of an organization to maintain and manage their relationship within their customers, analyse
needs, wants and desires of their customers so that if any kind of change is required to be done
then it can be done. In this manner importance of information technology in management
increases as it can enhance decision making done by the management of an organization, identify
improvement areas for the growth of an organization and many more.
1

Ethical and social issues associated with Technology
As per the view of Saunders and Brynjolfsson, (2016) due to advancement in technology.
Ethical and social issues associated with technology are continuously increasing that are faced by
organizations. Ethical issues associated with technology are: Individual privacy is one of the
most important factor issues which is faced by organizations as well as by individuals due to
advancement in technology. Privacy of individual is continuously been compromised. Most of
the companies collect personal data of their customers for their business which is completely
unethical. Organizations nowadays continuously monitor their employees, clients and customers
information on the name of security. Not only this organizations continuously record their
employee’s activities through security cameras which is completely unethical. Due to this
increase in usage of technology ethical issues are increasing and putting organizations into an
ethical dilemma of whether they should track their employees of customers information or not.
Many organizations on the name of business and security track their employee’s location which
is completely unethical and wrong. Due to this tracking of an individual’s location organizations
are slowly controlling their employee’s movement and limiting their rights in many different
ways. This in completely unethical and wrong in many different ways. Saunders and
Brynjolfsson, (2016) further explains that, other than ethical issues, social issues related to
technology are also increasing in a drastic manner. Due to increasing use of technology social
issues such as online harassment is increasing continuously. It is one of the main social issue
which being faced by many people today. Usage of technology has increased till an extent that
spreading of fake news has increased because of which people are being manipulated. It is one of
the major social issue which is associated with the technology.
Differentiate between types of networks
As cited by Lee, Thomas and Baskerville, (2015) explains that, there are various kinds of
networks that are used by organizations as per their requirement and convenience. There are
mainly three main types of networks that uses different medium and connect different number of
computers depending upon the geographical location. Local area network (LAN) is the first main
type of network. It is a type of network in which data can be shared between personal computer
and work stations. All the computers in this network are connected with the help of a switch
using some kind of addressing scheme defined by TCP/IP protocol. It can be said that it is mostly
used for connecting small geographical area. Speed provided by LAN is quite high. Second type
2

of network is metropolitan Area Network (MAN). It covers much larger area as compared to
LAN and can connect more than two computers together to share data or information (residing in
same or different cities). It can also be said that this network can cover larger areas such as town
or cities. Last type of network is Wide area network (WAN). WAN is a kind of network that
covers larger geographical location such as state or a country. This network is comparatively
costly and has high speed.
Growth in ICT and use of the Internet and its effects on business
As per the view of Passey and Samways, (2016) ICT or information and communication
technology is an extended term of IT which is mostly used for integrating telecommunication
and computers. Due to advancement in technology ICT is continuously growing and rapidly
enhancing. ICT is impacting the manner in which people access information. Most of the people
are focusing on accessing information with the help of internet. Growth of ICT has also helped
people in sharing information through internet, electronic mails etc. Samways, (2016) further
says that, usage of internet today is also increasing continuously which is impacting business in a
drastic manner. More and more number of businesses today are using internet for various
purposes such as for research, develop new idea, connect within their customers. In fact, it can be
said that it is affecting business in many. Organizations are slowly becoming dependent upon
internet for their daily functions. Usage of internet has helped the business to enhance their
communication through which they can communicate with their customers as well as employees.
Usage of internet has also increased area of marketing through which organizations can reach a
greater number of customers in an easy manner. Other than this collaboration with other
businesses has also increased, organizations can easily communicate and build relation with
other organizations as well as can also focus on enhancing their business globally.
Different stages of systems development
As per the view of Rivard and Aubert, (2015) explains that, system development is a process
of defining, testing, designing, and developing new software’s of systems. System development
is one of the most important area which is being focused by various organization like
development of internal systems, development of database etc. There are various stages of
system development that can be used by organizations to develop a new system or project. As
advancement in technology is continuing demand of various kinds of system is increasing. As a
result, demand of new different kinds of system is increasing. In order to develop a new system,
3

a project need to go through various stages of system development. Sanchez, (2018) says that
there are seven main stages of system development. First is planning in which scope of the
system development is determined and resources as time required is identified. Second stage is
of system analysis and requirement in which both functional and non-functional requirement of
the system are identified. Third stage is system design in which necessary specification,
operations and features of the system are designed and proposed. Fourth stage is of development
in which real development of the system take place. Fifth stage is of integration and testing in
which all the phases of the developed system are integrated together and tested. Sixth stage is
implementation stage in which production of system take place and data or information from old
system is transferred into new system. last is maintenance stage in which maintenance of system
take place and if any kind of new requirement is required to be added then it can be done.
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
Role of IT in the success or failure of Tesco
IT plays a vital role in success of Tesco especially in management of their complex retail
operations (Gunasekaran, Subramanian and Papadopoulos, 2017). Its importance in retail sector
has been increasing continuously especially because of globalization. Globalization has
increased competition of Tesco in the market in which they operate and because of this usage
Information systems within the organization has increased like point of sales, point of supply
systems etc. these kind of systems helps Tesco to manage their business operations in an
appropriate manner. Not only this as advancement in technology is increasing, competition in
this sector is also increasing due to which demand for management system that can control or
store data or information and can cope up with all kinds of transactions involved in Tesco has
also increased (Thomas, 2015). These information system has helped Tesco to gain competitive
advantage and perform their operations in an appropriate manner such as: it has increased
Tesco’s ability to respond to the evolving or changing market needs and requirements, collect
and analyse customer’s data so that they can understand their customer’s needs, requirements
and preferences and bring changes within their business accordingly. Other than this Tesco also
uses information technology systems for tracking of all their transactions, goods and to
synchronize their global data so that they can manage their inventory level.
4

Ethical and social issues that pertain to running businesses
There are various kinds of ethical and social issues that are faced by retail organizations
like Tesco in running a business. Tesco saves all the information of their customers. Not only
this they even track their customers shopping behaviour in order to understand their shopping
behaviour which raises ethical issues as privacy of their customers is being compromised
because of this (Shao and Lin, 2016). Another ethical issue faced by organizations in running a
business is related to market research. Retail sector organizations like Tesco conduct an online
market survey in which quite personal questions are asked to the respondents on the name of
market research which further creates ethical issues for the organizations as privacy of their
customers is being compromised due to this. social issues that pertain to running businesses: Due
to advancement in technology most of the business operations are becoming fully automatic due
to this job cut is increasing i.e. organizations are cutting off job as most of the tings are done
automatically. It is one of the main social issue which pertained for running business. For
example, most of the retail sector organizations are focusing on automatic their inventory
management with the help of inventory management systems due to which job cut in this field is
increasing. Another social issue faced by retail organizations like Tesco because of Information
Technology is Education i.e. at many places ibn the world people are not much advance or
literate about types of technology or the ay in which it can be used. This creates a social issue for
Tesco i.e. people will not be able to use their technology like self-check out etc. as they won’t be
able to use the technology in a proper manner.
Different types of networking technologies
Network is one of the most important things which is required to be focused on by the
retail sector organizations as most of their business is managed online for which they require
networking technologies (Kawakami, Barczak and Durmuşoglu, 2015). There are various kinds
of networking technologies that can be used by Tesco at different levels for different purposes. In
order to connect all of their branches together, manage their online business, transfer funds,
verify funds and many more they require networking technologies. Local area network or LAN
is used by Tesco for connecting all the systems of their organizational building together such that
data transfer or receiving within the building can be done in an appropriate manner. Each of the
organizational building has their own LAN network. LAN not only helps the organization to
connect all of their systems together but it works as a backbone for the organization to manage
5

all of their functions properly. It helps the organization to communicate with each other without
requirement of passing through the third-party network. This also helps them to maintain security
and protect their data or information. They also use wide area network or WAN for connecting
all of their branches present globally together. This helps then to communicate or send or receive
data globally.
Importance of social media in Tesco
Tesco is one of the best example of the way in which retail organizations should use social
media as they use is as a platform to provide service to their customers and engage themselves
with their fans in an appropriate manner (Bala and Venkatesh, 2015). First of all Tesco uses
Facebook for interacting with their fans and customers. They have more than 1.6 million fans on
Facebook. They uses Their Facebook page timeline so that if their customers have any kind of
query then customers can tell them that on their timeline. Any kind of day to day update within
their products or services then they post it on social media so that they fans or customers can get
to know it. They also have their presence on other social networking sites such as Twitter. They
have separate accounts for each of their stores so that customers can directly message their
queries to the respective store. On other social media they focus on posting any kind of delicious
recipes for healthy living or any kind of promotional events. This easily helps them to connect
with their customers and if their customers are facing any kind of issue then they can directly get
to know the issue they are facing.
Different stage of system development life cycle
System development is a process which is used for deploying any kind of information
system or project. It is an important aspect which is required to be considered by organizations
whenever they want to develop an integration system (Kawakami, Barczak and Durmuşoğlu,
2015). There are various stages in which system development is sone. These stages are known as
system development life cycle. It is also known as application development life cycle. These
stages help in system development by following a sequential process so that information system
developed is developed and deployed in a sequential manner. First stage is planning in which
requirements of the system are defined, resources required for system development are also
defined. Second stage is Analysis stage in which functional and non-functional requirements are
defined. Third stage is Design in which design document is prepared in which functionalities that
are required to be delivered are defined. Next stage is Implementation in which implementation
6

and integration of the system is done and last is Maintenance stage in which maintenance and
testing of the system is done.
Potential benefits and drawbacks of Tesco in Information Technology
Potential benefits of using informational technology for Tesco are: Central system can help
Tesco in managing ad maintaining information of all of their products or items (Bala and
Venkatesh, 2015). Availability of all the information within a central system has helped then in
enhancing their decision making for business expansion, increasing product sales etc. IT system
also helps them to speed up their warehouse efficiency which further helps them to reduce
distribution of products.
Drawbacks of Tesco for using information technology are: One of the main drawback is that
Tesco’s routine investment because of these IT system increases which further enhances their
operational cost. Cost for Recruitment of IT team who maintain and manages their IT system
increases. Another drawback of using these systems is that their maintenance of the system, its
confidentiality, integrity and availability of system data has increased their targeted budget
which has further affected their overall revenue and overall profit.
CONCLUSION
From the above assignment it has been summarized that usage of information technology
is continuously increasing within organizations. Mostly information technology is used for
sending, receiving, analysing or interpreting data. It has been analysed that information
technology plays a vital role in management of an organization like maintaining relationship
with customers or employees. But it has also been analysed that due to increase in usage of
information technology various kinds of ethical and social issues are increasing that are been
faced by organizations or other individuals. These issues are putting organizations in ethical
dilemma of whether they need to do such unethical thing or not. It has been observed that usage
of internet is growing within organizations in many ways affecting businesses in many ways. Not
only this organizations are continuously becoming dependent upon these technologies and are
using these technologies for various purposes such as research, development of new ideas etc.
7

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bala, H. and Venkatesh, V., 2015. Adaptation to information technology: a holistic nomological
network from implementation to job outcomes. Management Science. 62(1). pp.156-179.
Dutta, S., Geiger, T. and Lanvin, B., 2015. The global information technology report 2015.
In World Economic Forum(Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. P80-85).
Gunasekaran, A., Subramanian, N. and Papadopoulos, T., 2017. Information technology for
competitive advantage within logistics and supply chains: A review. Transportation
Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review. 99. pp.14-33.
Kawakami, T., Barczak, G. and Durmuşoğlu, S.S., 2015. Information technology tools in new
product development: The impact of complementary resources. Journal of Product
Innovation Management. 32(4). pp.622-635.
Lee, A.S., Thomas, M. and Baskerville, R.L., 2015. Going back to basics in design science: from
the information technology artifact to the information systems artifact. Information
Systems Journal. 25(1). pp.5-21.
Passey, D. and Samways, B. eds., 2016. Information Technology: supporting change through
teacher education. Springer.
Rivard, S. and Aubert, B.A., 2015. Information technology outsourcing: An introduction.
In Information Technology Outsourcing (pp. 15-34). Routledge.
Sanchez, J.M., 2018. The information technology revolution and the unsecured credit
market. Economic Inquiry. 56(2). pp.914-930.
Saunders, A. and Brynjolfsson, E., 2016. Valuing Information Technology Related Intangible
Assets. Mis Quarterly. 40(1).
Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Marchewka, J.T., 2016. Information technology project management: Providing
measurable organizational value. John Wiley & Sons.
Shao, B.B. and Lin, W.T., 2016. Assessing output performance of information technology
service industries: Productivity, innovation and catch-up. International Journal of
Production Economics. 172. pp.43-53.
Thomas, S.J., 2015. Exploring strategies for retaining information technology professionals: A
case study.
Zurawski, R., 2018. The industrial information technology handbook. CRC press.
Hills, J., 2018. Information technology and industrial policy. Routledge.
8