Transaction processing applications as organizational message systems: implications for the intelligent organization

An analysis is made of three types of transaction-processing systems which support customer feedback in terms of four message system processes, namely: routing, summarizing, delay, and modification. The ability of transaction-processing systems to facilitate intelligent decision-making is seen as a function of the extent to which an organization is able to structure the incoming transactions. The amount of structure then determines the extent to which information technology can increase the efficiency of message processing and minimize the amount of individual discretion which can result in message delay and distortion.<>