Information Systems and Management in Business 1^st Ed

Ali Hussain Higgi (2009)

Publications: Troubador

ISBN : 9781848761988

Introduction

The preface of the book suggests that it is aimed at undergraduate students majoring in information systems or business/management information systems. The main problem with such titles is that they cover a wide variety depending on the HEI’s definition. My feeling is that the book is perhaps too generic for an undergraduate on a course that resides within a Computing Faculty but is perhaps more suited to a student on a Business Studies course that requires study of the use of information systems in business and management (as is suggested by the title). Having said this it would then seem that part 4 would not be completely appropriate for such students.

Style and layout

The text flows reasonably well and is broken up into manageable sections. There are some instances of typographical errors which are a little annoying and there is overuse of bold text often highlighting words which are neither key points nor words which are indexed. The layout of the text is a little flat and uniform and could have been broken up with some examples/case histories etc. Some of the diagrams do not bring much additional information or aid understanding and in my copy many were of poor quality with regard to printing. It is a pity that some of the excellent case studies found at the supporting website were not used within the body of the text book to help explain the points and put them into context. Similarly each chapter ends with a set of multiple choice review questions but much more thought provoking questions can be found on the web site. Whilst it is extremely useful to have a website with additional material it would seem that the author has left too much here rather than including it in the text.

Evaluation

I found this book to be almost, but not quite, a useful addition to the range of text books on the subject. There are several alternative texts that cover the topics needed by MIS/BIS students but which cover more detail on the business strategy element. It may be that there are courses which do need the overview of information systems given in parts 1, 2 and 3 followed by technical detail on UML and XML given in part 3, in which case this text is a good fit. However I feel that it suffers from a lack of focus. I would certainly recommend it as background reading for my students but would advise them to supplement this with more in-depth coverage found in alternative texts.

Back to Book Review