Information Management & Technology

1. Information Management & Technology “Success in information management is 5% technology, and 95% psychology.” – Tom Peters Information Technology

2. Overview • Sensemaking • Information Politics • Information Management • So What? Information Technology

3. 1. Sensemaking • What is sensemaking? • “The making of sense” • “Structure of the unknown” • It is active not passive • What sensemaking is NOT? • Interpretation • Central Questions • How do people make sense? • Why do people make sense in the way they do? Information Technology

4. D. Attributes of Sensemaking 1. Grounded in identity construction • Protective of self • Consistent with positive self-conception • Linked to roles 2. Retrospective • Reflective • Based on memory • Synthesizes equivocal experience • Provides order, clarity and rationality Information Technology

5. Attributes cont. 3. Category and schema creating • Creates new features • Brackets reality 4. Social • Names become “good enough” to meet needs 5. Ongoing Information Technology

6. Attributes cont. 6. Focused on and by extracted cues • Based on familiarity • Kenneth Burke, terminology is a reflection, selection and deflection of reality 7. Driven by plausibility rather than accuracy • Accuracy is subordinate to coherence and pragmatics • Speed is more important than comprehensiveness Information Technology

7. E. How do we sensemake in organizations? • Create vocabularies • Develop procedures for categorizing • Cultivate “thought-terminating clichés” • Hold meetings • Create, filter and distribute information • Cultivate political structures Information Technology

8. 2. Information Politics • Why do we have information politics? • “Information is not innocent.” James March • “One reason the stakes are so high in information politics is that more than information is at stake” (Davenport) • “Information sometimes feels as common in organizations as water; since its so plentiful, there is a natural instinct to channel it rather than drown in it.” (Davenport) Information Technology

9. B. Info. Politics Continuum Anarchy Federalism Feudalism Monarchy More Less Centralization of Control Information Technology

10. C. Evaluating the Info. Politics Information Technology

11. 3. Information Management A. What are the goals of system? • Reasonable accuracy • Timeliness • Accessibility • Engagement • Applicability • Rarity Information Technology

12. B. What are key information tasks? • Pruning • Contextualizing • Enhancing Style • Variation • Interactive • Push-pull • Staging • Dramatizing • Choosing the right medium Information Technology

13. C. Linking tasks to goals Information Technology

14. 4. So what? • Take into account sensemaking • Conduct research on opinions and organizational climate • Tell the right stories about the past (revise history) • Link memories to the present • Integrate information from various sources (often uncontrollable) • Use technologies to understand and shape sensemaking Information Technology

15. So what cont. • Manage the information politics • Elect the right information politicians • Select the right political system • Avoid information “silos” • Match information policies to organizational mission Information Technology

16. So what cont. • Add value to information • Recognize that sensemaking trumps information sharing • Distinguish between information and knowledge problems (What is a knowledge repository?) • Realize limits of technology to facilitate sensemaking Information Technology