Bridging Operational, Strategic and Project Management Information Systems for Tactical Management Information Provision

Abstract

Abstract: Tactical Management is a distinctive managerial function that needs to be delineated both in the managerial and information systems sense. This research of literature investigates current types of managerial information systems in order to evaluate the various manners tactical management is addressed. Ongoing research supports us to pursue a goal of properly defining Tactical Management, its characteristics and distinctiveness from the Operational, Strategic and Project Management; but also its connection points and overlapping collaboration areas with these managerial functions. This ought to provide proper basis for recognizing the information system requirements for tactical management and shed light on what should and can be done differently, in order to align the tactical management business profile and needs with the information provisioned by managerial information systems. Given that Tactical Management needs adaptability to changing context (organizational and environmental); is facing the complexity of issues of different nature to be dealt with; communicates with widest scope of stakeholders, entities, processes and developments to be informed about; faces a variable set of diverse incoming and outgoing information flows whose mismatch needs to be addressed; and last but not least, should be able to perform system design, prior process design and management. This research reaches several important findings in the direction of under‑addressing of tactical information needs by current types of managerial information systems; ingestion or assimilation of the tactical managerial level of decision‑making by operational or strategic management; attempts to automatize the handling of mismatch of incoming and outgoing information; strive for real‑time information environments; divided tendencies towards providing adaptability or predictability to the management; diverse ideas for context capturing and treatments of tactical management as process or system. The implicit purpose of the research is to attract attention to tactical management, its importance that can bring substantial competitive advantage to the businesses, and the incremental potential tactical management will realize when being accordingly supported by the information systems of tomorrow.