Video Transcript: Anthony's Triangle Explained

Hello everyone, and welcome to Mr. Simplifies Tutorials. In this tutorial, we're  going to look at Anthony's framework for managerial activities, also used in the  study of management information systems. Now, what is Anthony's framework?  Now, Anthony's framework is a tool used to understand how decisions are made in an organization. Now, management information systems or MIS play a key  role in facilitating information to aid decision making. This framework can  therefore be used to understand the need for MIS and how it's actually used in  an organization. Now, Robert Anthony fundamentally believed organizations as  a hierarchy of decision making levels. He demonstrated decision making in a  triangular form, often referred to as Anthony's triangle. Now, what is this  triangular structure of information? As per Anthony? Now, the framework views  decision making in such a way that there are many operational decisions at the  bottom level of the triangle, some tactical decisions in the mid level, and few but  very important strategic decisions at the highest level of the triangle. Okay, the  higher in the in the triangle and item is, the more scope it covers in the  organization, and the less precise it becomes on an individual level. So  decisions at the top management level are broad, strategically critical and are  seldom very specific. Now as items move down, they become more detailed and apply more precisely to people and processes. Okay? Now, the management  process consists of these distinct levels, as proposed by Anthony. Now, the level at the top is the strategic planning level, the level in the middle is the managerial control level, and the level at the bottom is the operational control level. Now  let's look at strategic planning. Now, this is the level that deals with the goals  and objectives of the entire organization. It specifically focuses on changes in  organizational objectives, the resources required to fulfill objectives. At a broad  level, the policies that will aid achievement of the objectives and the use and  disposal of resources to attain these objectives. So at that level, it's a this is a lot to do with what the organization actually wants. What are the objectives? Why  are they actually trading? You know, in brief, so this is the most important role  hierarchy in any organization. The decisions taken here will have far reaching  impact on the organization. This is a level which sets the direction in which the  organization will head. This This level is usually held by a small number of  people at the top of the organization, and the challenge they often face is  predicting the direction in which the organization is headed and the external  environment it operates in. So those are the sort of challenges that they at the  top face now managerial control is the middle level. This level ensures that the  resources required to attain organizational objectives are acquired and used  efficiently and effectively. Okay, this is a level wherein mid managers operate.  This is at this level managers take guidance from the strategic planning level  and control the activities in the organization to ultimately achieve the  organizational objectives set out at the highest level. The impact from this level  is is sort of medium term. Okay, so this level effectively focuses on interpersonal

interaction or man management, operating within the thresholds of the policy set at the highest levels and quality assurance and balancing efficiency and  effectiveness, again, okay. Now the level at the bottom is operational control.  Now the mandate in this level is to carry out specific tasks with a view to follow  the directives set by the higher level. So the directives are set at the middle  level, the managerial control level, and the tasks are actually performed in the  operational control level. It's also important to take efficiency and effectiveness  into account here, the decisions made at this level have very limited scope and  very little impact on the overall organization, while management control is  concerned with people, operational control is actually concerned with the actual  tasks at hand that need to be completed. The nature of tasks here can be  repetitive, as there will be specific goals and resources at play here, so specific  tasks will be provided and specific outcomes will be expected from people  operating at this level. Now, where is this framework actually used? How do we  use this framework? As we've seen, this framework actually offers a hierarchical  view of decision making and information needs, okay and management  information systems, therefore can view this to classify and categorize the  information that's already available, and can ensure that the right level of  information is available to the specific levels of personnel that operate at  different levels for optimal decision making and task management. Okay, so  that's why this is used this this framework is actually used in terms of  management information systems, of studying management information  systems, and in terms of understanding how management information systems  can be used in organizations. Okay, so that was, that was an explanation on  Anthony's framework. I hope the video was, was useful for you. I thank you very  much for your attendance, and as always, support this video by by spreading  the word. Like this content, subscribe and also please take a look at my new  Facebook page. Thanks very much. Bye, bye.