Information Ecology - Chapter 5 Politics - Review

1. Information Ecology - Chapter 5Politics - Review • Politics = Power • Natural and inevitable component of IM • Politics must be addressed explicitly

2. Information Ecology – Chapter 5Politics - Review • 4 Models of Information Control: Monarchy Federalism Feudalism Anarchy More central control Less central control

3. Information Ecology – Chapter 7Information Staff - Review • People matter more to IS now than ever • Defining, analyzing, creating, maintaining, managing, advising on information resources • “Content interpreters” – add value to data • “Computers by themselves are limited to such relatively simple tasks as storing and retrieving, which means that information must be supported by people.” • Must focus on business value and use of information rather than technical tasks of storing and searching • What was the name of the movie whose clips we saw last week?

4. Information Ecology – Chapter 6Information Behavior & Culture • Information behavior – how individuals approach and handle information • Searching, using, modifying, sharing, hoarding, ignoring • Information culture – pattern of behaviors and attitudes that express an organization’s orientation towards information • Most managers agree these are important but don’t manage explicitly • No one is responsible

5. Information Ecology – Chapter 6Information Behavior & Culture • Most workers today are information workers • Manipulating information is frequent, primary activity • Some part of an organization’s value lies in its knowledge • Technologies to capture/disseminate organizational knowledge are of little use if people involved aren’t inclined to use them • Managing information behavior should be akin to managing financial or HR behavior

6. Information Ecology – Chapter 6Information Behavior & Culture Information behaviors that improve the IE: • Information sharing • Voluntary act of making information available to others (versus reporting) • Those who control the right information also have the most power • Doing between peers (versus up/down hierarchy) has biggest impact: horizontal data flow • E.g. knowledge database

7. Information Ecology – Chapter 6Information Behavior & Culture • Required to make business processes cross-functional • Barriers: • Functionally based information systems • Incompatible information architectures • Political/cultural differences • Hoarding • Sharing credit • Performance needs to be measured and rewarded differently

8. Information Ecology – Chapter 6Information Behavior & Culture • Rotate managers between different functions • Frequent face-to-face meetings with other managers • Information sharing between companies • i.e. within an industry • User groups • Not all information should be shared • Management should have standards for what information should be shared and with whom to share it • Political, emotional and/or technical barriers must be removed

9. Information Ecology – Chapter 6Information Behavior & Culture 2) Information overload • Too much available information and too little attention • Access to information is not enough • Must be communicated in a compelling way that encourages audience to use it • Most information communicated in read/view mode • Little engagement on part of receiver • Even if received, it may not be acted upon

10. Information Ecology – Chapter 6Information Behavior & Culture Secondary Engagement Attributes

11. Information Ecology – Chapter 6Information Behavior & Culture • Organizations must develop IS to focus attention on key information • Initiatives to increase use of information in decision making (versus “gut”)

12. Information Ecology – Chapter 6Information Behavior & Culture 3) Dealing with multiple meanings • E.g. what is a “customer” • Each organization has own definition, own database • For key information, central control may be best • May not be optimal for all organizations – compromise • Need to monitor and police use across organizations

13. Information Ecology – Chapter 6Information Behavior & Culture • Getting Behavior to Change • IT not enough – behavior change not objective • Communication with impacted community must be broad, frequent and ongoing • Appropriate rewards/controls must be in place to reward/discourage behavior • Enforcement must be taken seriously • Rewards/sanctions must be administered consistently • Incentives to do the right thing must be advertised • Should be part of employee evaluation

14. Information Ecology – Chapter 6Information Behavior & Culture • Issue guidelines/policies/tools to help individuals structure personal IE • Emphasize information use versus “Big Brother” • Total information freedom expensive • Rules are often implicit and part of office politics • Start with managing information behavior of individuals/small groups before taking on entire organization • Importance of senior management modelling good behavior • Non-management is a form of management

15. Information Ecology – Chapter 6Information Behavior & Culture Impact of IT on information behavior • Firms assume because technology has been implemented, people are using it • Too much email? • Policies about who to send/reply to • Read only at certain times of day • Employees need help to choose how to share information

16. Information Ecology – Chapter 6Information Behavior & Culture Tactics for Information Behavior Management • Communicate that information is valuable • Clarify information strategy/objectives • Identify needed information competencies • Focus on managing specific types of information content • Assign responsibility for IB, making it part of organizational structure • Create committee/network to address IB issues • Educate employees about IB • Raise sticky IM issues with everyone

17. Information Ecology – Chapter 6Information Behavior & Culture Assessment Survey for IB and Culture: • My organization has clearly identified the types of IB and overall IC it wants to have • Employees are evaluated and rewarded on the basis of particular IB – e.g. sharing, improving presentation • My organization has established and documented the IBs it wants to encourage • Training is provided to help develop desired IB • We recruit and hire employees in part because of their IB

18. Information Ecology – Chapter 8Information Management Processes • IM: structured set of work activities that make up the way in which organizations capture, distribute, and use information and knowledge. • Identify all steps in process • All resources • All people • All problems that arise • May lead to changes that make a difference

19. Information Ecology – Chapter 8Information Management Processes • IM as process: • Emphasizes measurability and improvement • Description aspect of IE • Implies ownership: Process Manager • Implies customers • Introduces cross-functional approach to utilize methods, tools and techniques across organizations

20. Information Ecology – Chapter 8Information Management Processes Steps for generic IM process: • Determine Requirements • Difficult since must identify how managers and workers make sense of their IE • Political, cultural, strategic, psychological aspects • Understand the problem before trying to solve it • The more time spent on this step, the less time spent on implementation • Tension between spending this time and inevitable change

21. Information Ecology – Chapter 8Information Management Processes “In order for an information-management-process model to have any real value, it has to reflect the turbulence, volatility and complexity of markets, workplaces and the human mind.”

22. Information Ecology – Chapter 8Information Management Processes 2) Capture Information • Ongoing, iterative activity • Scanning information • Automated and human • Tailor to individual or organization; synthesize for target audience • Filter noise to avoid information overload • Analysts are real key; add context, interpretation, comparisons, local implications etc. • Ideally everyone scans and shares

23. Information Ecology – Chapter 8Information Management Processes Information from 3 sources: • Outside expertise • Publications, conferences • Cognitive authorities • Individuals/institutions with credibility in field • Inside scuttlebutt • Your own organization’s grapevine

24. Information Ecology – Chapter 8Information Management Processes • Categorizing information • Human activity: people define • Categorization schemes • Mediate between others with different views • Monitor capture process to see if new categories needed • Update categorization scheme frequently • Labor intensive to do it well

25. Information Ecology – Chapter 8Information Management Processes • What business function will be advanced by proposed categorization? • What individual information behavior will be optimized by given categorization? • What information is to be categorized? Does its structure lend itself to a natural categorization? • Can existing categorization be utilized without overly compromising the IM objective? • How will categorization scheme be maintained and updated over time? • Process approach helps to point out IE components: strategy, politics, behavior, staff, technology

26. Information Ecology – Chapter 8Information Management Processes • Formatting/Packaging Information • We utilize synopses rather than reading all the details ourselves (style/presentation) • Often done via documents • Focus on what documents are used in an organization to determine information requirements • Must be packaged appropriately and filtered for intended audience • Should be on-line access

27. Information Ecology – Chapter 8Information Management Processes 3) Distributing Information: connecting employees with the information they need • Generally few of the people who need it know where to get it • Effective information architecture guides users to what they need • Political structures like federalism make distribution across organizations easier

28. Information Ecology – Chapter 8Information Management Processes • Push or pull? • Push: central provider decides what to distribute to whom and when (passive) • Users don’t know what they don’t know • Pull: users are the best judges of what they need when they need it (active – must seek – Internet) • Electronic distribution fast • How to get information into electronic form? • Sometimes faster to make a phone call • Who should get information? • Needs to get to right audience to be useful • E.g. service, performance feedback • Stakeholders: investors, regulators, customers, community • “Organizational learning occurs not only through capturing information, but from distributing it to others.”

29. Information Ecology – Chapter 8Information Management Processes 4) Using Information: “Like medicine that’s never taken, information is no good until and unless it is used.” • Highly idiosyncratic – up to mind of user • Garner support via contract before actually doing any information gathering • Ensure customer really wants and plans to use the information

30. Information Ecology – Chapter 8Information Management Processesv • Measurement • Hits on database or document repository • Infrequently utilized information may be dropped or modified • Popular information analyzed to determine why • Who is using • Symbolic Actions • Executive example • Rewards/prizes/incentives • Mission statements/best practices

31. Information Ecology – Chapter 8Information Management Processes • Institutional Context • Management meetings • Performance Evaluation • Personnel oriented rewards/punishment • Evaluate based not only on outcome of decisions but information and decision processes used to make them

32. Information Ecology – Chapter 8Information Management Processes • How to improve the IM Process • Top down reengineering doesn’t work well in knowledge/information professional settings • Insufficient worker participation • Radical measurable improvements in processes difficult to quantify • Hire smart people and leave them alone • Doesn’t tend to lead to improved coordination and productivity • Participatory approach that emphasizes outcomes versus detailed work steps and utilizes teamwork will likely deliver best results • Emphasize: • constant improvement over time • Key roles played by people • Use of multiple interrelated factors