Completeness Theorem of Information Precedence
Preface
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Overview
The method of information precedence analysis had a fundamental property which makes it a very efficient tool: it is complete in a certain sense. An information system for management control has the purpose of making integrated management possible.
Theorem
Propostion 1
Integrated management as as its purpose the obtaining of both "local efficiency" at each operating station in the organization and efficient coordination of the activities of all stations.
Corollary
Each management activity must have an influence, direct or indirect, upon at least one operating station.
Proposition 2
A management activity exercises influence by means of information.
Theorem 1
Each information set in a management information system must be a precedent (of some order) of at least one operation station.[1]
Theorem 2
Completeness theorem. Each and all relevant information sets in a management information system can be determined, and defined, by an information precedence analysis which starts at every operating station.
Discussion
Notice that the theorem states only that each relevant information [element] can be determined by precedence analysis starting at some operating station. There is no guarantee that it will be determined because the individual precedence analysis steps are intuitive procedures, or search procedures, which cannot be guaranteed to be complete.
Notes
- ↑ We are talking here of operations management. Strategic[al] planning systems, for instance, do not satisfy Proposition 1. Hence the theorems 1 and 2 do not hold for such systems.
