THE INFORMATION PROCESSING ASPECT OF THE DYNAMICS OF A SYSTEM AS A BASIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ITS COMPUTER-BASED INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Abstract

ABSTRACT

All dynamic systems need to process information in order to function. This means that there is an information processing aspect to the dynamics of any system (Kampfner, 1998) that in fact embodies the way in which it processes information. Complex, adaptive systems such as modern organizations include natural and artificial means of information processing as part of their dynamics. Although the natural and the artificial forms of information processing are fundamentally different, they are also highly complementary of each other. One claim of this paper is that a synergistic combination of natural and artificial computing is essential to the ability of modern organizations to successfully perform their functions and persist in the face of an uncertain environment. I also argue that considering information processing as an aspect of dynamics is essential to finding the synergistic combination of natural and artificial computing that is needed for the effective support of function and adaptability in modern organizations.

The development of computer-based information systems can be thought of as a means of integrating computer-based information processing into the dynamics of modern organizations. The abstraction-synthesis methodology of information systems development, or ASM, (Kampfner, 1987, 1997) provides a conceptual framework for this integration. In the ASM, the information needs of the functions that the computer-based information system will support are determined on the basis of the information processing aspect of its dynamics. This is followed by the design and development of the computer-based processes that will help to meet these information needs in a manner consistent with the adaptability of the system as a whole. The synergy of the combination of natural and artificial computing is possible because these two fundamentally different forms of information processing can complement each other in many useful ways.