Management Info Systems My Mother Often Tells Essay

Management Info Systems

My mother often tells the story about one Summer as I was growing up. Each year, we would host a family reunion at one of the local parks. My mother hated this time of year because the guest list seemed to grow larger every year, and she was in charge of so many things. To her delight, when I was 9 years old, I offered to "manage" the reunion for her. I asked her for all the people who would attend, and spent days quizzing her on who would do what, who would bring what, and even what would the contingency plan be if the weather turned sour or some other unknown were to occur. My contribution to the event was a very precise and colorful chart in which I used up every single color combination in my crayon box, drew lines for responsible people and products -- in actually, my first Gantt chart. It was then that I learned how fascinated I was in the accumulation of data, not for data's sake, but for the process of making managerial decisions based on data.

Albert Hubbard, American Swimming Coach and Choreographer, once noted that "We may ask for information, but we are usually only interested in confirming our own opinions." To me, involvement in a Management Information Career would allow me to help invalidate Hubbard's belief. I know that MIS is essential, particularly in the 21st century's technological and global scope. It is not only computer systems, with which we need be concerned, but technology, people, data, the way data is used, and the way culture and society interact with technology.

To this end, I believe that my broad undergraduate education in both the humanities and hard sciences will more than adequately prepare me for graduate work in MIS. My studies in the humanities and social sciences help broaden my understanding of how individuals interact with societal norms to evaluate, design and implement systems that improve efficiency and contribute to a better…