Management of information technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Management of information technology - Essay Example in this hostile environment and to cope with such dynamic environment brought by information technology, it is extremely important to keep pace with management, technological and organizational issues concerned with the development and use of information systems. There are massive issues in this field and they need to be thoroughly evaluated in order to reap maximum benefits. This report explores the management and other issues related with information technology in the leading bank of Middle East, Eskan bank. Eskan bank has a huge customer base and it has been consistently expanding for the past few years. With increased competition from the rival banks entering the market and with consumers demanding a wider range of financial services, the bank was looking for ways to exploit the available technology to sustain its lead. It took a major shift in its direction and invested in information technology and acquired a core banking solution for its banking operations from a well-renowned software service provider Misys. Information Systems Strategic Planning (ISSP) refers to the â€Å"activities directed toward (1) recognizing organizational opportunities for using information technology, (2) determining the resource requirements to exploit these opportunities, (3) and developing strategies and action plans for realizing these opportunities and for meeting the resource needs† (Boynton and Smud, 1987, p.59). Strategic planning is a top level management activity and it requires absolute commitment from those positioned at the higher level of organizational hierarchy. The strategic plan charters the mission, short term and long term plans of the organization. The need for improved information systems project planning has been obvious because the cost of information system has risen rapidly and it’s approximately forty percent of the total expenses in some organizations (Hoffer, George and Valacich 2002, p. 141) As the Eskan bank was embroiled in a competitive

Postmodernity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Postmodernity - Essay Example Talk about religion, culture, art and even technology and you are certainly confronted with both fundamentalists and a new wave of thinkers who will normally feel that postmodernism should be the accepted way of life (Anderson 2003). Well, it then begs the analysis of the whole concept of postmodernism to clearly see its true connotation and to draw lines between the term and the conventional modernism. Modernism, contrary to popular knowledge, has been in existence since somewhere in the late 17th or early 18th centuries (Chan, 2008). It is a period that radically transformed all manner of life in science, art, religion, culture etc. The ideas and thoughts propounded by postmodernists are normally subjects of much analysis. This arises out of the true nature of postmodernism. It has normally been seen that postmodernists are driven by that ultimate opposition and antipathy towards modernism. Whatever is conventional in the mindset of the modernist is therefore what the postmodernist seeks to prove wrong and nullify as old and traditional (Deely, 2001). A more recent trend seen is where postmodern fundamentalists have been constantly attacking and questioning some of the most celebrated knowledge in academic and professional realms (Eagleton, 2000). As a very special characteristic, postmodernism fundamentally relies on the voice of reason and the ability to inspire change through the avoidance of the bandwagon effect where humanity simply borrow from their past without much thought or ability to think and analyze what is good for them. With modernism, humanity evidenced the development of the Enlightenment era in which reason was used to establish fundamental truths about the world (Docherty, 2003). These truths have gradually been developed and have guided life for the past few centuries. Well, it has to be realized that postmoderns are normally against such guiding principles. To them, the concepts of morality and ethics, which are normally considered univer sal, are merely subjects of personal and subjective decision. In several instances, it can be seen that postmodernity tries to bridge the gap that is normally left with the flaws of modernism. In a critical perspective, postmodernism is not simply a way of life. On the contrary, the word is simply meant to address a wide range of social, economic, cultural and political changes that have lately inundated the world. It is the modernistic way of life supplemented with modern technology, globalization, individualism, feminism and multiculturalism (Gidders, 1999). On the cultural perspective, the move towards ethnic pluralism and relativism has made people to nostalgically think about their past cultures and what has been lost over time. Indeed much has been lost. On the social scale, the digital age has made the flow of information across the world as easy as possible. This has radically transformed lifestyles across many areas as new ways of life are adopted. Postmodernity encompasses that timeframe between the early 1980s to the present. It is a period that saw the emergence of a new economy-the postindustrial, which effectively replaced the earlier forms of life like aristocracy, working class and middle class (Zygmunt, 2000). Much of this era is however defined by the emergence of