that the most productive manager or operator is one who has a minimum number of decisions to make. This assertion does not mean that managers and stock traders should not make decisions. Rather, it means that managers and stock traders should not be burdened with requirements to make routine decisions; that a decision-making system should be established, by which most routine decision making will not directly involve managers and stock traders. At issue in the financial markets is the definition of a routine decision. The most contentious example of this dilemma is program trading (Clark, 1989, p. 36). Program trading is based on the use of computerized decision models that take much of the decision-making prerogatives related to huge pension fund and mutual fund trades away from human operators. It is also true, of course, that human operators designed and constructed the decision model.
A major contributions of computer technology to the decision-making process in the financial markets is the conservation of time with respect to dealing with information overload. A second important contribution is that computers
enable managers and traders to make better use of often inadequate information. Further, computer technology makes it possible to efficiently manipulate information so that it can be used effectively in problem-solving models.
Applications of computer technology are also changing the global character of financial markets (Cap, 1989, pp. 713 715). Advanced technology has made possible instantaneous financial transactions on a worldwide basis. The growth of significant financial markets in Asia as a complement to those in Western Europe and the United States has created a demand for 24-hour per day, seven-day per week trading. Initially, major investment banks in the three world regions offered their services to investors in each of the other regions through this advanced technology during the normal hours...