Information Management
Introduction
The modern age of digital electronics made it possible for business and corporate organizations to keep up with the demands of their industries. At present, most business organizations are equipped with the latest information technology (IT) systems that enable them to function fully and effectively in the efficient delivery of their products and services. Businesses have evolved since in the way the staff and employees work in
IT has given everyone an opportunity. It has provided every person with the ability to communicate and perform tasks which were impossible to do before the arrival of the 21st century. As such, modern information technology has been considered the result of a crucial connection between digital and communication technologies. It has been declared as the fundamental core of an information system, which involves various interactions between data, the users, software, hardware, business corporations and their environment.
Information has always been a critical factor to a success of a business. For this reason, every company in this age must realize the importance of information technology. Not only does it play a role, but it must somehow, blend with the corporation’s business strategies and techniques. To fully understand the concept of information technology, one must examine its interaction with the world and all its factors around it such as economic, political and social issues. Unless IT professionals are aware of this fact, they are most likely to remain as mere pawns to those who are.
Likewise, in the corporate world today, business firms who encounter many setbacks with regards to their IT projects are a result of their failure to understand all the factors that are involved in information systems, including the management and organization aspects.
Definition of Information Management
A number of articles, academic papers, journals and other relevant references have provided and researches on the concept of information management. The continuous advancement in technology gave way to inquisitive inquiries on the logic that governs information management, its importance and its drawbacks. It has been studied in the perspective of different disciplines such as social, political, legal management, communication, science, and business courses. Information management has been a familiar concept since then.
Information management (IM) is the administration of data with regards to its uses and transmission as well as the application of theories and techniques of information science to be able to create, modify, or improve information handling systems within a particular business organization (slim.emporia.edu/park/glossary.htm). It is the function of managing the organization’s information resources which includes the creating, capturing, registering, classifying, indexing, storing, retrieving and disposing of records and developing strategies to manage records. It also includes the acquisition, control and disposal of library and other information products, items kept for reference purposes, and the provision of services to internal and external customers, based on information resources. Data administration, archival records and the handling of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests are also classified under this category (metadata.curtin.edu.au/manual/classification.html).
IM describes the measures required for the effective collection, storage, access, use and disposal of information to support agency business processes. The core of these measures is the management of the definition, ownership, sensitivity, quality and accessibility of information. These measures are addressed at appropriate stages in the strategic planning lifecycle and applied at appropriate stages in the operational lifecycle of the information itself (). It is the provision of relevant information to the right person at the right time in a usable form to facilitate situational understanding and decision-making. It uses procedures and information systems to collect, process, store, display, and disseminate information (). Information management is the handling of knowledge acquired by one or many disparate sources in a way that optimizes access by all who have a share in that knowledge or a right to that knowledge
().
The importance of accessible, retrievable and usable data files by the different members of the business organization will be helpful in providing a working environment wherein efficient work functioning and business operations exists.
Good Information Management
Good information management is characterized by the efficient flow of communication within the organization. There should be good channeling of information using the most efficient medium available. This is evident if the employers and the employees are using the same language game in order to understand each other and function fully in accomplishing their tasks and responsibilities to the organization.
In the individual perspective, the correspondent of the message should be able to deliver the thoughts and procedures needed in completing a communication process with his or her clear message transmission. The message itself should be clear and not confounding so as to avoid delays and return of memos for example. The medium or channel used to provide the message should have the capacity to relay the exact and correct information at the specified time. The receiver of the message on the other hand, should be in the same communication context with that of the sender so as to ensure understanding.
If the company or business organization has the capability and the resources to provide these conditions in the organization wherein there are free access to data and information by all company personnel which will enable them to function fully in their duties and responsibilities, the success of any business operation will be guaranteed. The company leaders should realize that investing on the human resources capabilities as well as technological equipment will hasten profit and will benefit the whole organization. Advancing the technological know-how of the people in the business organization through workplace learning modules and practices will boost the competitive advantage of a particular business organization. The business establishment should have the financial resources to afford the quality and efficient technological gadgets and equipment that will facilitate the smooth communication flow inside the company or firm. Constant updating of knowledge and skills of the employees as well as the maintenance of the communication media used by the organization should be given priority since it provides advantages to the company which otherwise will not be available.
Importance of Information Management
(1998) discussed the importance of good information management in the ever-increasing demands of the global business industries which are common nowadays. He emphasized the relevance of the search for global efficiency, local responsiveness, transfer learning and external alliances through proper information management in a particular business organization.
The search for global efficiency implies that the organization must be able to coordinate and consolidate its activity within each relevant function to achieve available immediate economic opportunities. There should be a collection of comparative performance information from different locations around the world to support decisions on how effectively allocate
resources and source requirements which may be facilitated by building a global data network. This particular global data network will collect and provide access to information which conforms to some globally standards. Organizations often wish to go further, to implement standard application systems world-
wide, in order to ensure the integrity of information, facilitate the transfer of activities and people, and perhaps achieve scale economies in systems
development and processing. Conceptually, however, the base requirement is for the definition and communication of standard data.
Achieving local responsiveness, on the other hand, implies limits to standardization. The expectation is that organizations will want to identify some level of standard/core product, but also provide a variety of optional features which may be present or absent in the delivered product depending
on local, legal, or market conditions. Thus the ‘world car’ or ‘global TV’
becomes tailored to suit the requirement of each market segment–
glocalization’ in the vernacular. Global IT investment to support this
environment may include production scheduling and control systems to
support the management of high variety and IT and communications
networks to facilitate the efforts of dispersed marketing/engineering/
manufacturing groups who are tasked with developing the next generation of global core products or creating the required local derivatives.
These capabilities would need to be planned and developed at global
level, to interface with and supplement local systems which meet local
needs, especially national sales activities.
The co-ordination required for transfer of learning would seem to be along
functional dimensions, across multiple locations involved in research and
development, marketing, service, and so on. Communication networks providing electronic mail, and computer and video conferencing facilities to
support informal dialogue among professionals are the obvious IT contribution. Construction of globally accessible knowledge bases or know-
ledge systems may follow, as examples of best practice or scarce expertise
are recognized and codified for distribution to others who can use or
build upon them.
Finally, the potential IT contribution may be extended beyond the
organization. For example, (1987) has described how an organization may extend its economies of scope through external alliances between
companies with different skills and cultures. Inter-organizational information systems can provide new opportunities to operationalize this concept.
In the vertical dimension, Benetton use IT to support what
(1988) call Value Adding Partnerships with manufacturers and
retailers. In the horizontal dimension, (1990)
have described the global ‘information partnerships’ between airlines, hotel
chains, and car rental companies.
The Challenge of Communication Barriers
In relation to the importance of good and quality information management, there are communication challenges that have always existed in the proper operation and functioning of a particular organization.
There will be cases of employees who are not computer literate enough to make use of the technological equipment provided by the company. This will pose danger in the communication flow of the system. This had been a problem before the advances in computer technology but today, companies have long ensured that employees and staff they will be hiring can answer to the demands of the business. Those who are willing to learn new knowledge and skills are invested upon and supported by the company since business leaders have realized the potential of quality work force.
Usually technical drawbacks or the technical system failures is the only challenge that hinders an effective communication management because the members of the organization are always willing to take the opportunity of learning new knowledge and skills from which they will benefit as individual persons as well.
Evaluation of Current Information Management
Managing the information that the company uses in its daily operations is crucial in any business organization. Information is the blood stream of every company on which every staff; employee and supervisor work on to be able to meet the demands of the clients and customers of the business. This is the reason why there should be proper management flow within the organization. Direct link between the supervisors and the subordinate employees should be efficient enough to answer to the daily work loads of the members of the organization. Communication between and among the members of the organization should be prioritized in order to provide a well-functioning business operation within and outside an organization.
Digital information is more fragile than information produced on paper and most other tangible formats because digital storage media have shorter life spans and accessing digital information requires software and hardware that may no longer be available when the file is needed. However the choices we made when we create and store documents, spreadsheets and databases and the like can improve their likelihood of remaining usable and findable over long periods of time.
In order to be most efficient in terms of the time and documents saved considerations not just by the Communication Systems Head Officer but also of every individual member of the business organization. An employee should have an idea of the future use of the file or document he or she is working on because most of the time, the files that were being manipulated at present will still be usable in the future. It should also be remembered that the reusability of a particular file is both a disadvantage and an advantage. The employee should also know how the data and files of the company are stored. There are offices whose documents are shared by every member of the company through networked hard drives. If there are cases of data file which are worked on a single and independent work station, the employee should be able to store the document in a removable drive like diskettes, CDs and flash disks so that other members of the company can have immediate access to the file. The professional administrator should have the foresight as to which particular software file format will be usable for the next couple of years. Constant upgrading of the program used by the company and having a reliable technical support system will help in avoiding situations that may bring problems regarding data retrieval and use. Description of the data file should also be indicated so that reusing the file and its retrieval will be accomplished in the most efficient way possible.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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