Effectiveness of the Decision Support System-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the impact that the Decision Support System imparts on the performance. Answer: Introduction A Decision Support System (DSS) is interactive software that collects important raw data, organizes and analyses it such as to provide relevance to the decision makers such that their decision making capabilities are enhanced (Manzanares, 2014). It is meant to facilitate quality decision making by analyzing the business data. Thus, the decision support system poses impact on the decision made in an organization thus, affects the performance. Therefore it becomes a necessity to measure the perceived effectiveness of the decision support system, thereby, measuring the impact of the decision support system on the performance (Demirkan Delen, 2013). The paper highlights the effect of the decision support system by accessing the factors that serve to enhance the perceived effectiveness and the impact it imparts on the performance. The paper also states that according to various researches confirm that the success and failure of the information system depends entirely on the external envi ronment of the Information system. The research methodology used is simulation. A literature review is also provided and the finding as well as conclusion is also provided. Finally, the overall evaluation of the article regarding the effectiveness and credibility is also conducted. Introduction to the topic The article conducts a research on the perceived effectiveness of the Decision Support System. The article also focuses on the impact that the Decision Support System imparts on the performance. The Decision Support System is used immensely by the industries all around the world as they assist the decision makers by analyzing the raw business data and personal knowledge such as to solve various kinds of problems (Power, Sharda Burstein, 2015). Decision Support System is utilized to provide better decision such that the results obtained are more satisfactory. Moreover, the implementation of the decision support system leads to performance optimization (Keshtegar Vakili, 2018). The Decision Support System is computer based interactive software that store and analyzes the raw business data such that they would aid the decision makers of an organization to take decisions in such a manner that their performance is enhance and is optimized. The decision support system generally collects information regarding to the sales, revenue and the projections of sales of the new product (Accorsi, Manzini Maranesi, 2014). It also stores the information regarding the sales amount within selected time interval. Moreover, it also stores the inventory data and organizes it into relational database such that proper analysis of the data could be made. Literature review There exist numerous numbers of researchers that have researched on the Decision Support System and the Information system has implemented instruments that have the capability to measure the effectiveness of it different settings such as web based environment. Other study was made on group support system and the impact it lays on the performance. However, very few researches were made on the variables of the decision process such as the satisfaction, usefulness and the usage convenience (Jouini Dalla Pozz, 2014). Moreover, the past studies were more concerned and focused on the achievement of the goals and the process of attaining it rather than considering the decision variables impact on performance. The prime focus of the article is to bring to light the perceived effectiveness of the decision variables such as performance, satisfaction (Piltan Sowlati, 2016). It research is conducted to investigate on the factors the effectiveness of the Decision Support System. However, the re search does not evaluate the extent of the effectiveness of the decision variables on the performance and satisfaction. It only compares the decision variables with the complexity of the system. However, the usage of spreadsheet was seen by a few companies as it was more effective and offers various advantages as people are generally familiar with the Microsoft excel. Research Methodology The research methodology used was simulation to conduct the research. The simulation method allows the members to gain understanding of new things by performing it in a real world scenario such that the environment is authentic. Simulation aids the participants to acquire managerial skills, data identification skills as well as critical thinking skills. It also helps the participants to develop managerial skills through adoption of executive viewpoint by working in an authentic environment (Bharati Chaudhury, 2015). The research methodology incorporated 8 teams that were created without the consent of the researchers. The team operated in a real world marketing scenario. The methodology consisted of 8 runs of simulation with different groups of participating teams where the participants played six simulation periods comprising a year time. Furthermore, the companies were instructed to take certain decisions that would affect the current and upcoming operations. Each week after the simulation run the decisions were taken and email was sent to the instructor to feed the data in the computer program (Berner La Lande, 2016). On the basis of data the program analyzed the data and sent the output to the team, with the help of which the team would take vital decisions in the subsequent periods. However, the success parameter of the decision was measured by the performance of the system. Findings The results of the research were then obtained that validated some hypothesis and rejected some as they did not correspond to the effectiveness of the decision variables. Most of the companies adopted a Chief Information Officer (CIO). However, there were no reports of major modifications implemented and they implemented the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet as their system for the Decision support system. Different companies adopted different data analysis tools while only a few companies adopted the package provided. Moreover, the hypothesis considering the impact of familiarization with the system, its usefulness, personal use, user satisfaction, participation and the overall effectiveness of the system were also evaluated. The results of the research were as; the system is strongly dependent on the overall systems effectiveness regarding the success of the entire company and also meets the user expectations (Qrunfleh Tarafdar, 2014). However, the hypothesis of the usage of the system either by own or colleague, familiarity with the system as well as defining the system does not have any impact on the perceived effectiveness of the DSS. On the other hand, the performance of the company depends strongly on the user satisfaction, usefulness and DSS meeting its expectations (Shibl, Lawley Debuse, 2013). Moreover, satisfaction and enhancement in performance are directly proportional. The investment of a greater number of people does not guarantee increment in the performance. In consideration to the third hypothesis, that compared the performance with the complexity of the system, following results were obtained, the company with least complexity showed below average performance as the user satisfaction was low (Scott et al., 2015). The company with moderate complexity had the highest level of performance and thereby, the highest value of perceived effectiveness (Rasmussen, Standal Laumann, 2015). Moreover, the multifaceted system showed close relevance to the moderately complex system. The performance effectiveness and the complexity of the system represent an inverted U- shaped curve as complexity increases. Implication for management practices The article proposed various implications for the management practices. It clearly showed that user satisfaction is the main criteria for enhancement of the performance. It also started that the increased number of human resources does not necessarily guarantee the enhancement in performance (perka, 2015). The article helps the managers to take effective decisions such that the performance is enhanced and effective management of the information system is possible. Moreover, the proper analyzation of the data help gain profits to the organization as better decisions could be made through it. Overall evaluation of the article The article was based on the perceived effectiveness of decision support system and its impact on the performance of the organization. It also provides a clear understanding of the term Decision Support System and its advantages. The article was extremely efficient in discussing the variables of the decision support system. It also clearly described the simulation term with the procedure. The research methodology also provided the participants to learn by doing things in an authentic scenario which forced them to work with an executive outlook. Moreover, the literature review was properly conducted which proved that no previous research evaluated the impact of decision variables on the performance (Yu, Duan Cao, 2013). The hypothesis was properly analyzed according to the results obtained. The article effectively analyzed the hypothesis and provided the results accordingly. Moreover, the paper clearly mentions that simulation is highly complex thus, cannot totally engross all the va ried aspects of Information System. Moreover, the authentic environment involved reports that were self made and uncertainty lies as to whether the same would reflect in the real world scenario. Conclusion Thus, with the above discussion it can be concluded that there are various decision variables that poses significant impact on the performance of the organization. There are various decision variables such as usefulness and user satisfaction that leads to the increment in performance of the organization. The research conducted provided results that were compared with the hypothesis and a strong dependency was found in the moderate complex system and the enhancement of the performance. References Accorsi, R., Manzini, R., Maranesi, F. (2014). A decision-support system for the design and management of warehousing systems.Computers in Industry,65(1), 175-186. Berner, E. 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