cation. They found that a typical percentage of products that needed no re-working were 92%. The American managers found that this information was not available to them in their factories at home but on investigation it was found that their ratio was 8%. They then worked on this factor for 6 months at which point the ratio had moved up to 66% and, more importantly, productivity was 25% higher. There is no doubt that better communication between management and information specialists, plus a wider knowledge by both groups of MIS principles would greatly facilitate the task of developing relevant and appropriate information systems. There is, unfortunately, no simple checklist of essential features, which, if followed, will automatically produce the perfect MIS. What is required is an awareness and understanding of key principles and function so that the design, implementation and operation of the MIS is the result of informed decisions and judgments rather than haphazard development without regard to real organizational requirements. Knowledge Requirements for MIS By their nature, MIS draw upon a wide and growing range of concepts and techniques and Figure 1/2 shows the major areas of knowledge, which are considered to be the most important in the development and operation of MIS. Figure 1/2 has been drawn not only to show the various areas of knowledge, which are each developed in subsequent chapters of the thesis, but also to show that inter-relationships exist between all the areas. This point is stressed because the knowledge areas are not self-contained, independent entities but interact with, and complement, each other. The understanding of these interactions and cross relationships makes the task of designing MIS much more difficult but conversely, enhances the likelihood of designing relevant information systems which make a positive contribution to the organization. It will be seen that encircling the core of the diagram is an a...
