Quality Information

Running head: GOOD, BAD, AND UGLY

Good, Bad, and Ugly:

The Impact of Quality Information on Decision-Making

Roni Kimberland

Management Information Systems

Dr. David Lifer

October 12, 2010

A hurried mother writes a check at a grocery store and in the midst of the chaos imposes the numbers when recording the transaction in her register. Two days later, thinking she has fifty dollars in her account, that same mother swipes her debit card to purchase forty dollars’ worth of fuel only to be declined. An uninsured man has been feeling under the weather and decides to research his symptoms on the internet. A popular health site produces results matching a common flu. The man follows the advice of the website and self-medicates with ibuprofen. After a few days, his symptoms worsen and he is rushed to the hospital. The man discovers his “flu” was liver failure and the ibuprofen sped up the breakdown of this vital organ. The leader of a country receives intelligence from his security advisors that reveal a terrorist threat within his country is inevitable due to the possession of nuclear weapons by the dictator of a rival nation. The leader declares war on the opposing country. After ten years and countless innocent lives lost, the leader discovers the weapons never existed.

A woman was embarrassed, a man became ill, and a leader lost credibility because of a decision. Each one these individuals, regardless of fault, became victims of inaccurate information. Some repercussions affected only a singular party, but others affected entire nations. Information is the entire basis for all decision making-globally, nationally, personally and in professionally. The quality of the information determines the outcome of the decisions. In this paper, I will discuss the impact of quality information on the decision-making process- good, bad, and ugly.

Author Ralph Kimball has said, “Quality data is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the...