Toward a Multi-Level, Multi-Goal Information System.

Abstract The article presents information towards a multi-level, multi-goal information system. Work in industrial operations research has been proceeding now for twenty years. A major by-product of this work is the concept of the firm as a complex total system, resembling a living organism rather than a machine. The relationship between firms and biological systems can, of course, be pushed too far. Transfer of theory from one discipline to another may provide nothing more than superficial analogies. The total system concept, however, is at least a picturesque way of saying that a firm is a set of activities that must be coordinated. A firm certainly is not alive, but it has to behave like a living organism. This desirable result will not be achieved without a great deal of work, unlike the situation in a living organism with its ready-made organization structure. Embedded in the organization structure of a living organism is its information system this too must be designed for the man-made firm. Investigation into productivity in British firms concluded that the most important determinant of a firm's potential for growth and improved efficiency is the ability of its management to lean about its environment. Like the operation of the thalamus, the accounting function both assists and controls the management group through the information it selects and transmits to it.