Introduction
A business information system (BIS) is an interrelated component that involves cooperation managers and employees. The goal is to convert raw data into useful information that can aid decision-making. In history, this business tool is merely used as efficiency measure; however, it is currently a source of competitive advantage (2005). Due to the vitality of corporate information, this paper is motivated to discuss the important components of a useful information management system. To apply this initial knowledge, we will evaluate how a European company, Finnair, regulate its information management policies and strategies. The second half of the paper is dedicated to managing communication which evaluates the value of different communication methods and how to overcome certain barriers. Conclusion and recommendation is also attached.
Good Information Management Model
Emphasized on information not on data. It is a current dilemma for managers to be drowned in data but lack information to be used in actual decision-making. This can be caused by burn-out due to over formalization of data gathering processes. By the time managers are about to plan or resolve a certain issue, these standard operating procedures pull them down in their path to bring hard decisions. Since these are rules, managers have to face time extensions (1984 ). However, when crucial decisions are involved, actions really speak louder than words. The risk would be higher and much more decisions could diminish its value when they are deferred in favor of deepening the rationale through data mining. In addition, the entrepreneurial spirit of the organization is set aside in favor of available data that are oftentimes assorted. Creativity and risk-taking that have far more self-esteem outcomes (2003) are undermined that can loose very important organizational aspect.
This thinking is important because it has both business-level strategy implications (). The reduction of data clutter can minimize information system costs whereas the savings from this can be transferred on training and other additional benefits for employee motivation. However, it should be remembered that even though the organization could result to minimal data, the concept of lean and mean management (2000) should also be viewed. Strategic data asset is one that has the right information, in the right place, in the right format and at the right time (2006). Since these four key ingredients are difficult to observe in raw data, the experience and cognition ability of managers serve as fillers to gaps that data cannot instantly provide to its users.
In view to this, it is clear how information should overtake stress over data. The combination of people and process including value judgment are key factors in which data cannot provide. Actually, if seen in an unbiased way, organizational data can serve as inputs to every decision-making of any departments. For example, demand data has primary use for the sales team while it also has merit when budgeting is developed by the finance unit. However, managers (people) measure the relevance of a particular data based on its general classification and relate to the real world. Consequently, they will have to adapt/ bargain on organizational culture, interdepartmental relationships and risk level (process) before such data can be used in decision-making. Significant data need not be placed in file cabinets or expensive database when the organization knows the right people and the right process to approach every organizational challenge.
Focus on people. Managers and staffs are required to be absorbed in information management to derive optimal outcomes. In the fore, accountability will be displaced from the change-averse staffs to managerial leadership (2004). First, they should understand the role of information like it can add value to products/ services. Another, to avoid information overload, people should have clear understanding about the boundaries of their work and how would they approach potential and actual information. By doing so, they would know their priorities giving them more confidence to make decisions based on their area of concern. This is when assigning responsibility participates in the success of the process. Of course, an organization does not need a large number of decision-makers as it may only create disassociation to one another. Training staffs to come-up with work ethics to employ judgment at certain functions can improve self-esteem as well as limit the boundaries of SOPs. Outside personal consideration to motivation, creating a culture of information management can even aid the firm in maintaining the practice over the long-term with decreasing motivation costs.
Focus on processes. Policies are inevitable inputs to increase acceptability and compliance of information management. For example, a new approach to network access control (NAC) is developed to integrate access controls with current policies of a firm ( 2006). Even though not intended to strictly punish non-conforming staffs, these will serve as an alarm clock to ring their consciousness every time crucial information came their way. By doing so, it is also inevitable to create a knowledge inventory and information audit to strengthen policy implementation. This involves identifying the cost and benefit of information management in order to place rationale to every involved procedure and eliminate ones that have returns below its costs. As such, scanning the internal as well as external environment becomes necessary ( 2003). This provides the current variables that can measure the level of importance of a specific knowledge inventory.
Mixture of information origin. For small organizations, limiting information search using its own employees or noting its own experiences is not only usual but also practical. But for large firms, this thinking can bring devastative effects due to absence of pro-activeness (1990). It can be applied with competitive strategies by its competitors without even knowing how it came and for what purpose. The lack of preparation speaks for this problem. They are eaten by competition before they can act. The myopic view of internal information gatherers about the current situation and future consideration is convergent to the adage that “Mirrors are deceptive”. They tend to miss the loopholes of firm operations because they are acting out to prevent or cure them. Hence, gathering relevant data to resolve such issues are unconsciously or consciously undermined.
In this view, information search can reach other firms or industries. By doing so, knowledge inventory are filled with new ideas that can maximize the opportunity to be at a pro-active state. It can be argued that this may lead to burn-out/ overload, however, the processes described will weigh the cost and benefit of deriving and keeping the information. In addition, the approach to people will also hold in such a way that managers will store primary knowledge while considering secondary ones. Further, consultancy services can be tapped in order for a broader look in organizational operations can be conducted and the avoidance of personal biases or hindrance can be invoked. Pepsi succeeded to cut down its operational costs when it hired PA Consultancy Services for advice (2006). This option cannot only bring another alternative information source for the firm but also indicate fresher knowledge guided by theoretical background. This is important to avoid subjectivity in vital managerial decisions.
Evaluation of Information Management of FInnair
When one crosses an organizational issue about information, the first thing that comes into mind is information technology. Technological change provides competitive advantage to firms that adapt it first (2003 ). Being a subset of a larger strategy, information management relies on the level of available technology. This is why a Finish-carrier and international airline, Finnair, outsourced IT programmers and bought packaged software (2004). The action made the firm more efficient because it can strategically plan its flights based on market considerations. Not only that, the firm also derived growth outcomes in the advent of the new technology making it expand its hubs to cater to a larger customer base and air traffics.
Most of the acquired technology and software is intended for executive and managerial decisions in the areas of scheduling, pricing, profit maximization and growth (2004). As such, legal requirements of air authorities can be realized without putting pressure on growth due to some regulations and traffic constraints. On the other hand, access is limited to schedulers and managers undermining participation from staff-level employees. For example, flight and land stewards are not aware of the bulk of passengers they will serve for specific schedules. This may result to ambiguity in their task that can adversely affect performance. The technical lay-out of information encrypted in databases may also be found by staffs ineffectual. For the firm to be able to comply with people focus condition, the technology should be made understandable to staff-level.
Further, the technology-based information management of the firm deviates from time criteria of data. The inclusion of software support into the system requires testing and evaluation (2004), thus, trial and error method would be probable. This could diminish the short-run benefits from the system as completion requires both financial and business sacrifices. In addition, the firm insisted to integrate all necessary inputs into the software development without making the completion process longer. In effect, the firm is emphasizing more on data not on information which can disrupt the value of the technology. Too much dependence on technology also signifies the weakening of the firm’s trust on its managers and staffs. Entrepreneurial spirit is not fed in favor of technology.
Inputs being supplied to the software to incur reliable information come from its users. Therefore, the inability of the firm to focus on people instead of data is a clear manifestation of data emphasis. Overload will be the likely outcome if not resolved. The process is also with loophole. Finnair engineers and the software development provider are under siege to expedite the completion (Moorman 2004). The lack of precautionary measures to halt behavioral differences like policy agreements had contributed to slow-up of the process. The firm wanted customized services with 100% software capability utilization. With the demand resulting to human conflicts against consultants and delay, it can be concluded that the information management of the firm has its over-maximizing criteria or simply they wanted a perfect result. However, without the four criteria above, strategic asset through information can be hard to obtain.
Evaluating the Value of Communication Methods
According to elements and capabilities. Written word is suitable for organizational messages whose impact is of long-term nature to the receiver (2006). It is also an effective method when the message has several technical points or personal feature that can be difficult for the receiver to comprehend when spoken and too awkward to hear in a crowd. In view of this, written messages preserve the objectivity and ethics of communication. For an individual staff, it can be a useful tool to aid in the process of information retention while for the organization it can be a source of professionalism as correspondence tends to be filed for evidence and future reference. Because of this, this method is used to produce organizational manuals and external letters. In a veil, this is a cost effective strategy to educate staffs and managers about corporate developments and events and create professional relationship with other stakeholders.
On the other hand, spoken word is fitted for mostly short-term/ operational requirements of the organization (2006). It is a practical approach to make operations efficient especially when accomplishment is related to time constraint. Although it is more informal than written words, its value is derived by its capability to show emotions and stress the importance of the message. It offsets the lack of retention feature of the former with its ability to touch human interests and emotions making records and future reference less required. Common media that goes with spoken word is phone and meetings in which straightforward delivery of messages are directly related to the ability of the speaker.
Although analyzed separately, corporate communication necessitates the combination of written and spoken words for optimal value. Particularly for for-profit corporations, the cause of its existence and continuing operations is largely based on its performance which is reported though a conference with provision for visual aid to reflect significant numerical data. The best model to consider in their combination is that written words serve as an aid to memory for complex set of ideas while spoken ones is used to pinpoint the relevant ideas through change of intonation and even deal with uninterested audience. Due to this, deciding on when to change the use between them lies in the ability of the speaker to put his foot over the audience, that is, considering their needs and preferences. As such, the nature of delivery should be referred to the nature of the audience making written and spoken word combination more intricate.
According to dimension. Recorded communication can take the form of letters, faxes and e-mails (2006). As such, it suits for messages that require compound judgment on the part of the receiver. It also suggests that the message is of utmost importance and must be acted upon in an accurate and acceptable level. The sender uses recorded communication because he wanted to incorporate all necessary aspect of the message and increase its recovery value through highlighted words, close-up video shots, etc. In the contrary, live communication encompasses messages which might be of the same importance as the recorded ones but whose action from the recipient demands immediacy. As such its value can be more appreciated by placing it within a recorded communication initially and be follow-up by live contact with the receiver. This will preserve the both the substance and periodic importance of the message.
Passive communication somewhat extends in the nature of live ones but differs in the sense that it is strictly unidirectional in which live ones could be conversant ( 2006). Its value relies on the ability of the message to resolve possible ambiguities or conflicts the message can inflict to its recipients. Thus, this demand an unblemished type of message since by the time recipients start to ask or clarify something, passive delivery is out of context. If explicitly converted into generally accepted medium, it can provide quicker responses. On the other hand, interactive communication is one that has feedbacks. This allows the sender to polish the rough edges of his message and somewhat create a learning curve possible for future delivery improvements. It also encourages staffs to bring out their views that can constitute a healthy organization and stimulate creativity. When an interactive speaker has earned an in-depth knowledge of the audience, he can make easily transform complex messages with abrupt responses into acceptable passive mediums.
The Type of Media to Use
Media/ Dimension/ Characteristic
Conditions
Audio tape and CD/ Recorded and passive/ Spoken
The message can be conveyed using only sound like educational contents. Its value increase when the recipient is on the move and outside business premises.
Video tape/ Recorded and passive/ Spoken and other images including written words
The message content requires long-lasting retention that can be filled by memorable impressions in the video and its technicality can ensue boredom.
Letters and memos/ Recorded and interactive/ Written and other images
The message is personal to the recipient. The cost and effort made to produce the letter reflects how the sender emphasized the endeavor.
Manuals/ Recorded and passive/ Written and other images
When the information is intended for visitors within the office premises that make it inappropriate for intranet to be used.
Fax/ Recorded and passive/ Written
The message is suited in a form of letter but with immediacy importance.
E-mail/ Recorded and interactive/ Written
Effective to send messages to multiple recipients without printing and messenger costs.
Intranet/ Recorded and interactive/ Written and images
When the message requires attachments, say, confidential map in which local network can only view the message.
Radio/ Live or recorded and passive/ spoken
The message is immediate and can be obtained using sound.
TV/ Live or recorded and passive/ spoken and images
Requires actual images in order for the message to have value.
One to ones/ Live and interactive/ spoken, written and other images
The message requires meeting a certain agreement with immediacy to perform the participant’s respective duties.
Meetings/ Live and interactive/ spoken and other images
The same as the preceding but with minimal number of participants known to the speaker.
Phone/ Live and interactive/ spoken
The message is personal and immediate.
Video conferencing/ Live and interactive/ spoken and images
When meetings are held in a distance and the parties have to see each other.
Overcoming Barriers to Communication
Classify the barriers. When an organization is confronted with minimal responses from a company-wide message, the problem can be approached in varying directions involving numerous variables that can be technical and behavioral in nature (2004). Without holding the bull on its thorns, the golden time can diminish in thin air which can have financial and business implications to the organization. This problem can also be continuum because the root has yet to be discovered. In view of this, there is a need to create an information system and database that can provide the organization useful techniques on how to address communication barriers. The occurrence of the barrier can also be discovered where it happened within the communication process. In effect, preventive/ curative measures can be efficiently applied.
Rationalize resources on the type of medium to be used. As observed, different forms of media only differ in the level of technology applied resulting to augmented efficiency of the communication process. If the organization does not have the technological resources to let them exploit electronic media, they should be able to accept such fact. They may be too small to introduce hi-tech media under the conditions of economies of scale (1999). In addition, it can also promote organizational ties between managers and employees as the latter will see themselves as important part of operations considering that managerial messages are transmitted with personal touch. The firm may not have valuable physical resources but it can shift its focused into more valuable and inimitable human/ organizational resources.
Improve the face value of one organizational speaker. In view of the growing gap between managers and employees and cost-reduction schemes of some industry challengers and followers, it is helpful to create a spokesperson that will connect the Board and other key organizational departments to the rest of the staffs. This can aid in building a trustworthy figure within the organization that staffs can have attachment and build communication relationship. This is a solution to minimize departmental jargons in a meeting or one-to-ones forum. In addition, it can also provide an environment in which each employee is at ease in listening with the speaker. Charisma is something few people have and so the organization should choose the most compatible person for this job.
Conclusions and Recommendations
As implied in attach 1 and 2, the organization has its own communication environment as well as management (and employee) uncertainty levels. The paper offers a combination of information and communication management to adjust the context to the actors’ technical and behavioral characteristics. With this, two recommendations emerge: namely;
The nature of information has direct implications to communication methods. If the information is crucial to decision-making, this can be resolved by using a type of communication model that can preserve its confidentiality as well as detailing the facts involved. As a result, it is important to identify information and classify them in several categories (employee use, organizational, confidential, general, etc.). In doing so, storage and retrieval using communication methods can be cost and strategy effective. The communication method should adapt to the content of the information. This should alert the records section of the organization to be able to sort out this information in a way that can be retrieved and disseminated using compatible communication methods. The input to the desired output is information and communication method serve as channel to achieve the outcome according to the criteria of the sender as well as conditions of the receiver.
Continuous review of information and communication relationship is necessary. As most information that requires urgency is guided with technological advances, the suitability of messages flowing into electronic media should be monitored in their effectiveness. As technology use suggests cost-efficiencies, the organization can limit its value-creating aspects within machines. Hence, competitive advantage is less likely. Interdepartmental communications using face-to-face interaction can provide inimitable asset to the organization that other competitors can hard discover and inappropriate to apply. At times of stagnant growth, the management should consider revising or testing their communication methods to suit not information content and potential to create competitive advantage.
Appendix
Attachment 1: Communication Model ()
Attachment 2: The Uncertainty Management Matrix (2004)
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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