Management information system case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Management information system - Case Study Example The system developed by Kronos is induced with latest technology that takes into account several factors such as sales in individual Wal-Mart stores, customer traffic during peak hours, number of units sold, average time taken to sell a television as well as average time taken to unburden a truck full of shipment. All this information is logged onto the system with an increment of 15 minutes and the data is then measured against the information logged in the previous year. This allows the system to anticipate the requirement of workers at a particular time and thereafter a flexible schedule is prepared. However, this new system has met with severe criticism from employees as many of them have expressed their concern about the decreasing stability of their jobs which in turn may create financial adversity for them. In light of these facts, what follows is a case study regarding the ethical dilemmas facing the company and its employees as well as the consequences of implementing this s ystem. The flexible scheduling system developed by Kronos may lead to unpredictable scheduling of work hours which may jeopardize the work life as well as personal life of employees. The system may entail an employee to be present on call during rush hours or may also require an employee to be present during the night shift in the 24 hours Wal-Mart outlet in spite of the employee’s inconvenience. The underlying problem in this case is that employees have no choice other than complying with the system as non compliance may result in the termination of their employment contract. In fact, many of the Wal-Mart associates have expressed their concern regarding the fact that this system is being used by senior managers in order to pressurize the workers to work for more hours without even considering about the impact that such pressure may have on the lives of the worker. Therefore the ethical dilemma that is being faced by Wal-Mart is the fact that the system is in