Words: 997
Just finished his first year in the master degree’s program and attended an internship with a famous IT company. After the orientation, the company offered him the first account with the Royal Hotel which he can manager from the start to the end. He arrived at the hotel with a one-week assignment. In the first meeting with the General Manager (MM) of the hotel, the manager told Blake that the service they provide to the customers was “unacceptable”.
The high standard of the hotel ask for better service. The manager wants all the problems of the room be solved before guests move in. After listening the task, and examine the current situation, Flake’s solution to the task is to install the M-Tech’s Express! Rapid Response Solution. 4 main advantages were mentioned when he presented the idea to the executive team. Rapid response, quality control, preventive maintenance and reporting are the reasons Blake choose this system. Upon the installation of the system, Blake did preparations for it such as the negotiation with vendor, configuration and set up cost, ongoing maintenance and support.
However, he was called to a new account Just before the implementation. As the Job was transported to his classmate in University, Blake turned all the information of the project to his classmate with a word of caution, stating the complexity of the Job should not be underrated. However, after a month and a half, he was called to come back to the hotel and to solve the problem caused by the installation of the new system. According to what Blake saw and heard from the hotel, the new system was successfully installed but soon be abandoned because employees “lose the interest” rapidly afterward.
Discussion about question answers 1 . Despite having relatively little specific information about why the system failed, what do you think are the main reasons for such failure? The information system is a combination of software, hardware, data, people and procedure. It is not solely depending on the technology, interactions between people also counts. In this case, multiple reasons have caused the situation in this case: (1) Ignorance of the real situation: The new technology may meet the needs of the hotel. However, the task stated by the GM can be done in a much easier and cheaper ways.
For example, they can require employees to use written form reports in order to reduce the slippage percentage Ana reoccurring problems. Reporting every problem real time may cause extra work for maintenance. Gathering all the problems in a period of time and report them afterward may be more efficient, besides, the additional cost can be greatly reduced. (2) Did not take employees into consideration: In this case I am aware that the employees are interested in the new technology first, but soon “lose that interest”. It could be caused by the hard operation of the new system, thus the caching may took a long time.
While the old method is much easier and have been used for a long period, to change this habit can be tough. (3) Time limitation: We can see from the case that Blake only have one week to do his Job. Although main research has been done during this time including the funding investment and negotiation with vendor, there is no time and chance for field test. The whole project is theoretical. (4) Overestimate and underestimate the problem: After analyzing the situation, Blake decided to choose Express! As the information system. I think the unction of the system is oversold in this case.
Reporting problems in the suites can be done in many ways other than using this system. Blake may not be familiar with this system as well. Also, the communication with vendor is not successful because he did not ask for advice about utilizing this system for those specialists. 2. How can you fix these problems? (1) Ignorance of the real situation: Before the set-up of the new system, a thorough research about whether it is important to do it or not should be done. In this case, I can see that this situation had been going on for a period of time from Gem’s word.
So information such as the frequency of problem occurrence can be collected. With further investment, substitutions may be found. (2) Did not take employees into consideration: During the time the plan was put up by Blake, he did little investment on employees. Surveys or questionnaires toward people who will be using this system had not been done as shown in the case. I think this is a major mistake in my point of view, because this factor cannot be calculated or estimated. Without the opinions from employees, uncertainty after installation will surely increase. 3) Time imitation: This is a factor that Blake had no control over of. Project at this scale should have a more time to do investment and testament. Especially for a student who had no working experience before. (4) Overestimate and underestimate the problem: When Blake was negotiating with vendor and specialists of this system, he should ask for advice and information about applying this system on the hotel. They are more experienced and could provide alternative solutions to the problem. However, Blake failed to communicate with them properly and cause the information deficiency.
In this case, I am more aware of the five major component of information system: Software, hardware, data, people and procedure. They are all crucial individually, but the interaction between are more important and complex. In real case, people factor may needs more investment because they cannot be controlled like software and hardware. Plans depends on theory may encounter many problems in real case. Before starting a project, all five parts need to be examined carefully so they can perform normally In ten real solution. Blake Ignored ten relationship Detente can part of information system cause the problem.