Information Management

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Information Management

• LIS 387.8
• 2/8/99
• Martha Richardson

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Information Strategy

• Where do you want to go?
• How do you get there?

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Information Strategy

• Focus on
• Information content
• Common information
• Information processes
• New information markets

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Information Content

• Focus on information pertinent to business
• Identify most important types - Customers,
  competitors, financial, market
• Vary emphasis during business cycle
• Coordinate gathering, analyzing, and using
  information

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Common Information

• Share information across organization
• Establish common definitions common language
• Dont focus on technology as a solution

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Information Processes

• Focus on information flow
• Identify information to share
• Determine when and how

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New Information Markets

• Buy information
• Produce information
• Sell information

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Information Principles

• Encourage broad participation
• Breakdown barriers
• Recognize the value of information
• Develop guidelines
• Provide resources
• Keep it simple

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Strategy Techniques

• Business/Industry Analysis
• Value-chain
• Benchmarking

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Information Strategy

• Consider process as important as content
• Watch out for barriers

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Information Politics

• The wisdom of recognizing that information
  management is power. Paul StrassmannThe
  Politics of Information Management

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Information Politics

• Information federalism
• Information feudalism
• Information Monarchy
• Information Anarchy

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Information Federalism

• Representative democracy
• Weak central government
• Local autonomy
• Incorporates both information universalism and
  information particularism

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Strassmanns Layers

• Personal
• Local
• Applications
• Business
• Process
• Enterprise
• Global

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Strassmanns Layers of IM

• Global level - enable an enterprise to share
  secure information with entities outside the
  enterprise
• Enterprise level - supplies operating managers
  with necessary tools and data to develop and
  maintain business-specific applications

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Strassmanns Layers of IM

• Process level - integrates information systems
  across similar functional processes within the
  enterprise
• Business level - enables local managers with
  limited resources to adapt applications for
  specific needs
• Application level - facilitates rapid
  installation of new applications or modifications
  to existing systems

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Strassmanns Layers of IM

• Local level - adapts technology elements passed
  from higher levels to meet needs of employees and
  customers at point-of-use.
• Personal level - protects privacy and
  confidentiality of information originated by an
  individual for personal uses.

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Information Federalism Characteristics

• Can only be established by extensive negotiations
• Presence of local pockets of information
  healthy
• Will work only if information users interests
  have been considered
• Requires trustworthy information managers

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Information Feudalism

• Information controlled by lords
• Appropriate under certain circumstances
• Harmful if focused too narrowly

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Information Monarchy

• One individual controls
• what information is important
• establishes definitions of key elements
• attempts to control interpretation

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Information Anarchy

• Individuals create own information environment
• Personal computers exacerbate problem
• Workers value information
• Individualism leads to multiple data sources

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Technocratic Utopias

• Technology will solve all problems of information
  governance
• Distracts managers from real issue of information
  governance

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Political Tactics

• Information exchange
• Leaking
• Brokering
• Selective dissemination

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Economic Tactics

• Charge for communications within organization
• Look only at costs incurred for external
  information
• Evaluate performance based on information supplied

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Information Behavior

• How an individual approaches and handles
  information
• Searching
• Using
• Modifying
• Sharing
• Hoarding
• Ignoring

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Information Culture

• Pattern of behaviors and attitudes that express
  an organizations orientation toward information
• open vs. closed
• fact vs. intuition (rumor)
• internal vs. external focus
• controlling vs. empowering

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Why Manage Behavior?

• 40 of American workers are information workers
• Information workers spend high percentage of time
  manipulating information
• Information costs can be controlled better
• Information use can be maximized

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Information Sharing

• Act voluntarily
• Encourage horizontal flow
• Establish cross-functional processes
• Recognize appropriate reasons not to share
• Recognize barriers to sharing
• Encourage and reward appropriate sharing

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Information Overload

• View information through a filter
• Access is not usually a problem
• Encourage information use through engagement
• Encourage reaction to information
• Content, source, and situational attributes
  improve engagement

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Information Overload

• Hierarchy of Information Engagement
• Read/View
• Act on/Discuss
• Argue/Defend
• Present/Teach
• Simulate/live

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Multiple Meanings

• Categories
• Classification schemes
• Authority files
• Thesauri
• Common data elements
• Metadata

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Individual Behavior

• Use of information item for decision-making
  depends on
• When it is received
• How it relates to existing biases
• Whether or not the decision has already been made

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Individual Behavior

• Effect behavior by
• Issuing policies, guidelines, and tools for
  better organization
• Attempting to influence behavior of certain
  individuals

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Managing Behavior

• Individual level
• Small groups level
• Organizational level
• Interorganizational level

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Information Technology

• Introduction of information technology will
  change information behavior
• Multitude of communications mechanisms
• e-mail, fax, telephone, teleconferencing,
  videoconferencing, voice-mail, regular mail,
  internet

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Tactics

• Information behavior management
• communicate information is valuable
• clarify organizations information strategies
• identify information competencies
• manage information content
• make information management an organizational
  structure
• educate employees about educational behavior