How Information systems could have helped Gorbachev's decision making

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Throughout his career as a politician Gorbachev often saw his visions not fully come to fruition in the way he imagined, from his agrarian reforms and perestroika to his economic reforms for the USSR. These statements must be somewhat qualified by saying that these problems were so intractable that the idea that he could take power and ‘solve’ them would be highly naive. (Brown, 1997)

Role of Information Systems

Before we dive into this topic we must first make clear what a Management Information System (MIS) is. A MIS can be defined as an “information system used for decision making, and for coordination, control, analysis and visualization of information in an organisation.” (Bourgeois, 2014)

Today, companies are in a race to enhance their capabilities to survive the fierce competition in the increasingly connected global market. This has led to organisations, private and public, attempting to advance their agility level through improving their decision making process. To achieve this the area of MIS and in particular the AI and Big Data capabilities within them have drawn large inflows of investment. Another reason for the inflows in investment is the change in the role of information systems from being one for supporting business operations to one that is central in reducing business risks and ensuring the best decisions possible are being made by all levels of management. A 2019 New Vantage Partners study showed that 916 of the Fortune 1000 companies are dramatically increasing their investment into these areas (New Vantage Partners, 2019). As a result of this the information systems that exist today are far more complex and helpful than the types that would have been available to Gorbachev during his era of power.

How they affect decision making

Decision making is a complex process that involves many variables and occurs at every level of management in organisations such as governments. Simply put decision making involves acknowledging a problem, creating some possible solution scenarios and choosing from these and implementing the chosen solution.(McKeown, 2009)

Decision making is one of the key activities in any organisation and influences the fate of the organisation. Management Information Systems provide the key decision makers either directly or indirectly through subordinates with the information they need to make decisions. MIS improves the awareness of the decision maker of all the angles of the situation they are looking to remedy. Without such a resource that provides reports and insight into performance leaders are more likely to make decisions based on bad information. According to McKeown, management information systems are used for three purposes:

1. Handling the present

2. Remembering the past

3. Preparing for the future

As we have said above MIS are now very much part of the fabric of most organisations so we will now briefly explore whether having MIS would have helped Gorbachev’s reforms have the effect he so desired.

Managers are recognizing that access to accurate information, available in a timely fashion, can positively influence decisions and in turn affect the efficacy of the overall organisation. In Gorbachev's attempt to radically reform the economic system in Russia he received much resistance from both individuals and agencies whose cooperation was necessary for implementing reform and also for keeping the economy functioning at its current level (Bretschneider, 2000). Having had large scale Management Information Systems may have taken much of the ability to control the economy through obstructionism and non-cooperation out of the hands of these agencies and individuals hands.

MIS would have been extremely useful to Gorbachev in his attempt at restructuring the government. From reports and metrics being gathered throughout the government he would’ve been able to identify the areas that were not working efficiently or were flawed in other ways. There will be more information on how information systems are being used in restructuring of organisations in another blog post so keep an eye out for that. (Brown, 1997)

Another example of how MIS could have helped Gorbachev would have been in his handling of the Chernobyll disaster. He attempted to contain the disaster and play down its severity but in the end was caught covering it up which further endangered the lives of countless USSR citizens. Had he had the information systems available to him today this decision based on imperfect information could easily have been avoided.

Hope you enjoyed!!

Bibliography

Bourgeois, D., 2014. Information Systems for Business and Beyond, s.l.: Saylor Academy.

Bretschneider, S., 2000. Information Technology and Restructuring in Public Organizations: Does Adoption of Information Technology Affect Organizational Structures, Communications, and Decision Making?. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory , 10(4), pp. 801-827.

Brown, A., 1997. The Gorbachev Factor. Oxford: Oxford Press.

McKeown, P., 2009. Information Technology and the Networked Economy. Zurich: s.n.

New Vantage Partners, 2019. Big Daa and Ai Executive Survey 2019. [Online] Available at: https://newvantage.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Big-Data-Executive-Survey-2019-Findings-Updated-010219-1.pdf [Accessed 26 02 2020].