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Chapter 17: Managing Information
Pedagogy Map
This chapter begins with the learning outcome summaries and terms covered in the chapter, followed by a
set of lesson plans for you to use to deliver the content in Chapter 17.
• Lesson Plan for Lecture (for large sections)
• Lesson Plan for Group Work (for smaller classes)
• Assignments with Teaching Tips and Solutions
What Would You Do Case Assignment – Delta
Self-Assessment – Computer Comfort
Management Decision – Switching to the iPad
Highlighted Assignments
Key Points
What Would You Do?
What kind of information technology can Delta Airlines use
to minimize the number of lost bags?
Management Team Decision
Should a cell phone manufacturer release information to the
public about the call drop rates of its equipment?
Practice Being a Manager
To thrive in the information rich environment of modern
business, managers must effectively utilize the various tools
available. Students consider which tools might work best for
a given need.
growing technology lexicon is important for a successful
management career.
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using recycled materials.
Supplemental Resources
Where to Find Them
Course Pre-Assessment
IRCD
Course Post-Assessment
IRCD
Learning Outcomes
1 Explain the strategic importance of information.
The first company to use new information technology to substantially lower costs or differentiate products
2 Describe the characteristics of useful information (that is, its value and costs).
Raw data are facts and figures. Raw data do not become information until they are in a form that can
3 Explain the basics of capturing, processing, and protecting information.
Electronic data capture (bar codes, radio frequency identification [RFID] tags, scanners, and optical
character recognition) is much faster, easier, and cheaper than manual data capture. Processing
information means transforming raw data into meaningful information that can be applied to business
4 Describe how companies can access and share information and knowledge.
Executive information systems, intranets, and corporate portals facilitate internal sharing and access to
company information and transactions. Electronic data interchange and the Internet allow external groups,
PowerPoint slides with lecture notes
IRCD and online
Who Wants to Be a Manager game
IRCD and online
Test Bank
IRCD and online
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Terms
acquisition cost
association or affinity patterns
authentication
authorization
electronic scanner
executive information system
(EIS)
expert system
protecting information
radio frequency identification
(RFID) tags
raw data
Lesson Plan for Lecture
Pre-Class Prep for You:
Pre-Class Prep for Students:
• Review the chapter and determine what points to
cover.
• Bring PPT slides.
• Bring book.
Warm Up
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Content
Delivery
Topics
PowerPoint Slides
Activities
Why Information Matters
1 Strategic Importance of
Information
1.1 First-Mover
1: Managing Information
2: What Would You Do?
3: Moore’s Law
4: Why Information
Have students think about
what Moore’s Law means
in practical terms. How
2 Characteristics & Costs
of Useful Information
2.1 Accurate
2.2 Complete
9: Characteristics of
Useful Information
10: Costs of Useful
Information
Getting and Sharing
Information
3 Capturing, Processing,
& Protecting
Information
11: Getting and Sharing
Information
12: Capturing
Information
13: Processing
Consider linking out to
www.nocards.org to
present a contrarian view of
RFID
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4 Accessing & Sharing
Information &
Knowledge
16: Accessing and
Sharing Information and
Knowledge
17: Executive
23: Benefits of External
Access & Sharing
24: Electronic Data
Interchange
25: Web Services
Segue into this part of
lecture by asking students
why, when, and with whom
they think companies
may unwittingly be using
an Intranet every day.
Special
Items
Conclusion
Lesson Plan for Group Work
Pre-Class Prep for You:
Pre-Class Prep for
Students:
• Review the material to cover and modify the lesson plan to meet
your needs.
• Research and bring in a set of magazine or newspaper ads that
• Bring book.
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depict the characteristics and/or costs of useful information.
• Visit the “Did You Know” page of the Webopedia.com Web site.
• Bring a small prize to give to the winning group in the Webopedia
quiz (e.g., 5 pieces of candy, 5 iTunes downloads). Make sure you
Warm Up
Begin Chapter 17 by asking students, “What is information?” and “How is that different
from raw data?” Depending on the direction you want to take the class, ask, “What role
does information play in a company’s strategy?”
Content
Delivery
Introduce the chapter by asking students, “Who is Gordon Moore and why is he
important?”
Present Moore’s Law, and discuss with students what Moore’s Law means in practical
terms. How long can the law continue? Can computing costs reach zero? What are the
Once you go over subsections 2.1 through 2.4 (characteristics), ask students what kinds of
costs are associated with getting information that is accurate, complete, relevant, and
timely. Derive the information from subsections 2.5 through 2.9.
Break for the following activity:
“What Do You Really Know about Information?”
Divide class into groups of 3-4 students and give each group a copy of the quiz you
Lecture on Capturing, Processing, and Protecting Information (Section 3).
Break for the following activity:
recent work on control by having them consider how a manager could/would control
“Can You See Me Now?”
Divide your class into groups of 3-4 students each and have each group consider the
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Lecture on Accessing and Sharing Information and Knowledge (Section 4).
Conclude with the following activity:
“Ad Sort”
Divide the class into groups of 2-4 students and give each group a packet of photocopies
of the ads you found relating to information. Alternatively, you can divide your set of
finish it as an assignment.
2. If you have finished covering Chapter 17, assign students to review Chapter 17 and
read the next chapter on your syllabus.
Remind students about any upcoming events.
Assignments with Teaching Tips and Solutions
Case Assignment – What Would You Do?
What Really Happened? – Solution
DELTA AIRLINES
In the opening case, you learned that while Delta Airlines was one of the three worst airlines in terms of
baggage handling performance. Furthermore, for airlines in general, 28% more bags are delayed today
With advances in technology, clearly there have to be ways to use information technology to track bags
and sharply decrease the number of delayed bags. If Amazon can send emails and texts notifying
customers when their orders leave the warehouse, arrive at their local airports, and are delivered to their
homes, then why can’t Delta do the same thing with luggage that’s supposed to never leave the airport,
except in passengers’ hands? Surely there are ways to do this. What information technology changes
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would need to be made at the counter, behind the counter as bags are sorted and routed to planes, and
then on the tarmac, as bags are sorted one last time as they are put on or taken off planes?
Raw data are facts and figures. Raw data do not become information until they are in a form
Delta Airlines’ historically poor job of handling baggage is clearly related to Delta trailing its
competitors in the use of information technology to track and manage baggage handling. Delta
To address this issue, Delta tore out its existing baggage handling system under Terminal B
in the Atlanta airport, replacing it with an automated baggage system with redesigned conveyor
belts and scanners to read bar code tags. The primary advantage of bar codes is they can be read
And while Delta is now catching up with its competitors in terms of high-tech baggage
handling systems, it has now become a market leader by being the first airline to offer real-time
assigned to each bag.
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How much of a difference have these new baggage and information technology systems
Grocery stores and Home Depot have been using self-checkout lanes for several years. What kind of
information technology would be required to use self-tagging, where passengers put destination tags on
their own bags, and would that help the baggage problem or make it worse?
Getting and sharing information is one of the key parts of managing information. And
capturing, processing, and protecting information are the key steps in getting and sharing
information.
There are two basic methods of capturing information: manual and electronic. Manual
Processing information means transforming raw data into meaningful information that can be
applied to business decision making. Delta’s new real-time tracking system, in which each bag
Protecting information is the process of ensuring that data are reliably and consistently
The challenge for airlines, like Delta, that have begun or are considering self-tagging
Let’s start with the issue of protecting information. All airlines use bar codes on boarding
passes, either printed from your home computer or from the check-in kiosk at the airport. As we
learned in the chapter, an increasing number of airlines, including Delta, now send electronic
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Likewise, if passengers enter or scan their boarding pass information into a special self-
tagging kiosk at the airport that prints out the same bar code tags that airline check-in staff now
put on bags, customers will still have to show their boarding pass and ID to airline staff before
Finally, will the use of self-tagging help or hurt Delta’s ability to minimize the number of
bags it mishandles? As mentioned above in regard to check-in time, at first it will probably
depend on whether passengers properly attach bar code tags to their bags. If the bar code is
partially hidden, or if passengers neglect to remove old bar code tags from previous trips, then
Finally, Delta baggage handlers were caught stealing cameras, laptops, iPods, and jewelry from
passengers’ bags. If we’re going to use technology to get more bags delivered on time, how can we also
use technology to deter theft among our own employees?
Delta baggage handlers were caught going through passenger luggage in the baggage
compartment of an airplane in Hartford, Connecticut. They took laptops, cameras, jewelry, and
other things of value. Similar thefts occurred at New York City airports, but the thieves would
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Delta moves 65 million bags a year. Susan Elliott, a Delta spokesperson said, “Instance of
So, what steps can Delta (and the TSA) take to discourage and minimize theft from passenger
bags? One step, already taken by the TSA, is to minimize hand checking of luggage. Increased
use of machines to check for explosive materials and devices accomplishes that, but hand checks
Unless we get to the point where Delta and other airlines install camera in the bellies of their
planes, it will be impossible to electronically watch over bags at all times. That’s why old
fashioned investigatory work will have to be a part of the process. For example, after reports of
the TSA to make greater use of technology.
London: Your Luggage Is Missing; Why British Airways Is Worse Than Even U.S. Airlines At Losing (and
Finding) Bags,” Wall Street Journal, 21 August 2007, D1; S. McCartney, “The Middle Seat: Why Your Bags Aren’t
Better Off On a Big Airline,” Wall Street Journal, 2 September 2008, D1; S. McCartney, “The Middle Seat: What It
Costs An Airline to Fly Your Luggage,” Wall Street Journal, 25 November 2008, D1; S. McCartney, “The Middle
Seat: When Sticky Fingers Handle Your Bags,” Wall Street Journal, 17 December 2009, D1; S. McCartney, “The
Middle Seat: Better Odds of Getting Your Bags,” Wall Street Journal, 2 December 1010, D1; D. Michaels,
“Airlines’ Expert on Missing Bags Fights Lost Cause: Mr. Price’s Luggage Keeps Getting Mislaid; Buy Insurance,
He Says,” Wall Street Journal, 13 August 2009, A1; C. Palmeri, “Broken–Guitar Hero,” BusinessWeek, 3 August
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Self-Assessment
COMPUTER COMFORT
Computers are ubiquitous in modern society, but that does not mean that everyone embraces them. As
with any innovation, some people are reluctant to adopt computer technology for whatever reason. The
assessment for this chapter helps students discover how comfortable they really are with evolving
computer technologies.
In-Class Use
Have students open their books to page 683 of the text and give them 8 to 10 minutes to complete the
inventory. Give students a moment to add their raw score and then go over what the scores mean (see
below under Scoring”). If you want to show students the distribution of scores in the class, use the Self–
Scoring
All even-numbered items should be reversed scored. That means, if a student put a 1 in the blank, he or
she should change it to a 5 before tabulating a final score. Scores range from 19 (a low level of computer
Management Decision
SWITCHING TO THE IPAD
Purpose
The purpose of this case study is to challenge students to consider the pros and cons of becoming an early
adapter of information technology.
Setting It Up
Ask students, “When is the last time that you regretted buying a new phone or computer or television?
What was it about your purchase that you regretted?”
Questions
1. Considering the various first-mover and second-mover advantages, would you switch to the iPad or
wait?
The first company to use new information technology to substantially lower costs or differentiate