Final answer:
Information Systems in business are crucial for executing processes, storing data, and monitoring performance. They draw parallels to living systems in terms of information management and must stay adaptable while maintaining ease of use. The balance between complexity and understandability is essential for effective IS design.
Step-by-step explanation:
Information Systems (IS) play a critical role in executing business processes, capturing and storing process data, and monitoring process performance. They are designed to be highly adaptable and easy to interpret and communicate, supporting business needs on a large scale. In terms of maintaining attention during tasks, systems must be designed to provide relevant information that helps users focus on their work. The use of information theoretic approaches allows for IS to process and store data efficiently, ensuring quick retrieval and accuracy, vital in business decision-making processes.
Taking inspiration from living systems, which store, retrieve, transmit, and respond to information essential to life processes, Information Systems in organizations are structured to perform similarly for business processes. This means that just as an ecological system functions based on its ability to manage information, so too must business processes be supported by IS in a way that allows for the real-time tracking of performance and the facilitation of strategic decisions.
However, as with Integrative Biological Models (IBMs), there is a balance to strike between the complexity of the system and its understandability. Business IS should be complex enough to handle the demands of large-scale processes but designed in a way that their analysis, understanding, and communication do not become overly complicated. Following protocols such as the ODD (Overview, Design concepts, and Details) can help in overcoming such challenges and ensuring that the IS supports business processes effectively.