The Contribution of Information and Information Technology in Building Organizational Resilience

The Contribution of Information and Information Technology in Building Organizational Resilience

Sergio Ricardo Mazini
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5970-4.ch002
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Abstract

This chapter presents an approach to the strategic role of information and information technology in enterprises through alignment with organizational strategic planning and the contribution in building organizational resilience. It is important for companies to realize the deployment of strategic planning through organizational strategic planning of information and information technology, with the aim of identifying information needs, actions and solutions that will contribute to the monitoring and tracking of defined strategic objectives, and also in building organizational resilience. The chapter also discusses the contribution of information technology to the information systems of companies, through the resources and solutions currently available, such as business management systems - ERP, Sales Force Automation - SFA, Business Intelligence - BI and calculating the need for productive resources - MRPII. The research method is a survey conducted in firms located in an industrial Brazilian shoe industry. This study develops a framework for the analysis and deployment of strategic planning on organizational strategic planning information and information technology.
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Introduction

We are in the 21st century and living in a knowledge society, where business is changing rapidly and where the success and survival depend on the organization's ability to adjust to the dynamic business environment. This raises some questions: How can we develop the best strategy for business? How information systems can contribute to the strategy defined? What is the contribution of information technology to the existing information systems in business?

The use of available resources through information technology, enables organizations improve the quality, responsiveness and integrity of the data and information provided in your information system (Alesi, 2008). Sustainable information systems require the assistance of information technology (Fiksel, 2003)

The purpose of this chapter is to seek to understand the importance and strategic role of information and information technology in the business environment, thus allowing the construction and direction of organizational resilience. After the literature review of the main issues related to the subject as: systems and business, organizational strategic planning, the strategic role of information and the contribution of information technology to information systems, we defined the following research questions, which will be key to the development of this research:

  • How to identify the need for information necessary for the evaluation and monitoring of organizational strategic planning?

  • How to identify the need and contribution of resources and solutions currently available through information technology in building organizational resilience?

The research was conducted, with companies from an industrial Brazilian footwear, aims to survey and analyze the maturity of these companies in achieving the organizational strategic planning, and identify how these companies identify information needs, actions and solutions that will contribute to the monitoring and tracking of defined strategic objectives. With the data and information acquired through research, will produce a framework for the analysis and deployment of strategic planning on organizational strategic planning of information and information technology to be proposed at the end of the chapter.

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Background

Organisational Resilience

Originating from the Latin word meaning resilio return to a previous state, being used in engineering and physics to define the ability to return to a physical body its normal state after having suffered a pressure about themselves.

According to Ates and Bititci (2011), the business environment is constantly changing and managing change to adapt to an uncertain future is a challenge that requires resilience – the capacity of an organisation to survive, adapt and sustain the business in the face of turbulent change.

Regarding organizations, resilience exists in both the individual and the organization, seeking answers to turbulence and discontinuities and involves the ability to withstand systemic discontinuities as well as the ability to adapt to new risk environments (Burnard & Bhamra, 2011).

Is important understand the organizational strategy and the information necessary to monitoring the goals, thus creating an environment conducive to the development of organizational resilience environment. (Kitching et al., 2009).

Other definitions are found to organizational resilience: Hamel and Valikangas (2003), resilience refers to the capacity to continuous reconstruction; Horne and Orr (1998), resilience is the fundamental quality to respond productively to significant change that disrupts the expected pattern of event without introducing an extended period of regressive behaviour.

A resilient organization has certain characteristics:

  • Flexibility;

  • Responsibility;

  • Proactive;

  • Resistance to stress;

  • Structure based on knowledge;

  • Ability to adapt;

  • Ability to resume when the results are not as expected;

  • Quick to respond to new situations.

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