Information management
Information science |
---|
General aspects |
Related fields and subfields |
Part of a series on |
Library and information science |
---|
Information management ( IM ) is the appropriate and optimized capture, storage, retrieval, and use of
This cycle of information organisation involves a variety of
Information management embraces all the generic concepts of management, including the planning, organizing, structuring, processing, controlling, evaluation and reporting of information activities, all of which is needed in order to meet the needs of those with organisational roles or functions that depend on information. These generic concepts allow the information to be presented to the audience or the correct group of people. After individuals are able to put that information to use, it then gains more value.
Information management is closely related to, and overlaps with, the management of
History
Emergent ideas out of data management
In the 1970s, the management of information largely concerned matters closer to what would now be called
Positioning information management in the bigger picture
In the transitional period leading up to the strategic view of information management, Venkatraman (a strong advocate of this transition and transformation,[5] proffered a simple arrangement of ideas that succinctly brought together the managements of data, information, and knowledge (see the figure)) argued that:
- Data that is maintained in IT infrastructure has to be interpreted in order to render information.
- The information in our information systems has to be understood in order to emerge as knowledge.
- Knowledge allows managers to take effective decisions.
- Effective decisions have to lead to appropriate actions.
- Appropriate actions are expected to deliver meaningful results.
This is often referred to as the DIKAR model: Data, Information, Knowledge, Action and Result,[6] it gives a strong clue as to the layers involved in aligning technology and organisational strategies, and it can be seen as a pivotal moment in changing attitudes to information management. The recognition that information management is an investment that must deliver meaningful results is important to all modern organisations that depend on information and good decision-making for their success.[7]
Theoretical background
Behavioural and organisational theories
It is commonly believed that good information management is crucial to the smooth working of organisations, and although there is no commonly accepted
Economic theory
In addition to the organisational factors mentioned by March and Simon, there are other issues that stem from economic and environmental dynamics. There is the cost of collecting and evaluating the information needed to take a decision, including the time and effort required.[11] The transaction cost associated with information processes can be high. In particular, established organizational rules and procedures can prevent the taking of the most appropriate decision, leading to sub-optimum outcomes .[12][13] This is an issue that has been presented as a major problem with bureaucratic organizations that lose the economies of strategic change because of entrenched attitudes.[14]
Strategic information management
Background
According to the Carnegie Mellon School an organization's ability to process information is at the core of organizational and managerial
Aligning technology and business strategy with information management
Venkatraman has provided a simple view of the requisite capabilities of an organisation that wants to manage information well – the DIKAR model (see above). He also worked with others to understand how technology and business strategies could be appropriately aligned in order to identify specific capabilities that are needed.[23] This work was paralleled by other writers in the world of consulting,[24] practice [25] and academia.[26]
A contemporary portfolio model for information
Bytheway has collected and organised basic tools and techniques for information management in a single volume.[7] At the heart of his view of information management is a portfolio model that takes account of the surging interest in external sources of information and the need to organise un-structured information external so as to make it useful (see the figure).
Such an information portfolio as this shows how information can be gathered and usefully organised, in four stages:
Stage 1: Taking advantage of
Stage 2: Tagging the noise on the
Stage 3: Sifting and analysing: in the wider world the generalised ontologies that are under development extend to hundreds of entities and hundreds of relations between them and provide the means to elicit meaning from large volumes of data. Structured data in databases works best when that structure reflects a higher-level information model – an ontology, or an
Stage 4: Structuring and archiving: with the large volume of data available from sources such as the
Competencies to manage information well
In 2004, the management system "Information Management Body of Knowledge" was first published on the World Wide Web[31] and set out to show that the required management competencies to derive real benefits from an investment in information are complex and multi-layered. The framework model that is the basis for understanding competencies comprises six “knowledge” areas and four “process” areas:
- The information management knowledge areas
The IMBOK is based on the argument that there are six areas of required management competency, two of which (“business process management” and “business information management”) are very closely related.[32]
- Information technology: The pace of change of
- Information system: While historically information systems were developed in-house, over the years it has become possible to acquire most of the software systems that an organisation needs from the software package industry. However, there is still the potential for competitive advantage from the implementation of new systems ideas that deliver to the strategic intentions of organisations.[4]
- Business processes and Business information: business information. Business process management is still seen as a relatively new idea because it is not universally adopted, and it has been difficult in many cases; business information management is even more of a challenge.[34][35]
- Business benefit: What are the benefits that we are seeking? It is necessary not only to be brutally honest about what can be achieved, but also to ensure the active management and assessment of benefit delivery. Since the emergence and popularisation of the Balanced scorecard[36] there has been huge interest in business performance management but not much serious effort has been made to relate business performance management to the benefits of information technology investments and the introduction of new information systems until the turn of the millennium.[26]
- Business strategy: Although a long way from the workaday issues of managing information in organisations, competitiveness. Strategic analysis tools such as the value chain and critical success factor analysis are directly dependent on proper attention to the information that is (or could be) managed [4]
- The information management processes
Even with full capability and competency within the six knowledge areas, it is argued that things can still go wrong. The problem lies in the migration of ideas and information management value from one area of competency to another. Summarising what Bytheway explains in some detail (and supported by selected secondary references):[37]
- Projects: Information technology is without value until it is engineered into information systems that meet the needs of the business by means of good project management.[38]
- Business change: The best information systems succeed in delivering benefits through the achievement of change within the business systems, but people do not appreciate change that makes new demands upon their skills in the ways that new information systems often do. Contrary to common expectations, there is some evidence that the public sector has succeeded with information technology induced business change.[39]
- Business operations: With new systems in place, with business information improved, and with staff finally ready and able to work with new processes, then the business can get to work, even when new systems extend far beyond the boundaries of a single business.[40]
- Performance management: organisational learning and development.[36]
Summary
There are always many ways to see a business, and the information management viewpoint is only one way. It is important to remember that other areas of business activity will also contribute to strategy – it is not only good information management that moves a business forwards.
Operationalising information management
Managing requisite change
Organizations are often confronted with many information management challenges and issues at the
The early work of Galbraith
In early work, taking an information processing view of organisation design, Jay Galbraith has identified five tactical areas to increase information processing capacity and reduce the need for information processing.[42]
- Developing, implementing, and monitoring all aspects of the “environment” of an organization.
- Creation of slack resources so as to decrease the load on the overall hierarchy of resources and to reduce information processing relating to overload.
- Creation of self-contained tasks with defined boundaries and that can achieve proper closure, and with all the resources at hand required to perform the task.
- Recognition of lateral relations that cut across functional units, so as to move decision power to the process instead of fragmenting it within the hierarchy.
- Investment in vertical information systems that route information flows for a specific task (or set of tasks) in accordance to the applied business logic.
The matrix organisation
The lateral relations concept leads to an organizational form that is different from the simple hierarchy, the “
See also
- Balanced scorecard
- Business process
- Content management
- Data management
- Information excellence
- Information Management Body of Knowledge
- Information Resources Management Journal
- Information system
- Information technology
- Journal of Global Information Management
- Knowledge management
- Master of Information Management
- Project management
- Records management
- Strategic management
References
- ^ Evans, C., 1979. The Mighty Micro, London: Victor Gollancz.
- ^ Venkatraman, N., 1994. IT-enabled business transformation: from automation to business scope redefinition. MIT Sloan Management Review, 35(2), pp.73–87
- ^ a b Cross, J. & Earl, M., 1997. Transformation of the IT function at British Petroleum. MIS Quarterly, 21(4), page 403
- ^ a b c d e Ward, J. & Peppard, J., 2002. Strategic Planning for Information Systems (3rd Edition), Chichester: Wiley
- ^ Venkatraman, N., 1994. IT-enabled business transformation: from automation to business scope redefinition. Sloan Management Review, 35(2), pp.73–87.
- ^ Venkatraman, N., 1996. Managing IT resources as a value center, IS Executive Seminar Series, Cranfield School of Management
- ^ a b Bytheway, A., 2015. Investing in Information: the Information Management Body of Knowledge, Geneva: Springer
- ^ a b March, J.G. & Simon, H.A., 1958. Organizations, Wiley
- ^ see Opp, K.-D., 1985. Sociology and economic man. Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft/Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, pp.213–243
- ^ Winter, S.G., 2000. The satisficing principle in capability learning. Strategic Management Journal, 21(10-11), pp.981–996
- ^ Hedberg, Bo (1981), "How organizations learn and unlearn", in: Nyström, P.C. & Starbuck, W.H., Handbook of Organizational Design, Oxford University Press
- ^ Mackenzie K.D. (1978), Organizational Structures, AHM Publishing Corporation
- ^ Mullins, L.J (1993), Management and Organizational Behaviours, 3rd ed., Pitman Publishing
- ^ Wigand, Rolf T., Picot, Arnold and Reichwald, Ralf (1997), Information, Organization and Management: Expanding Markets and Corporate Boundaries, Wiley & Sons
- ^ Cyert, R.M. & March, J.G., 1959. A behavioural theory of organizational objectives. Modern Organization Theory, Wiley, New York, pp.76–90
- ^ Morton, M.S.S., 1991. The corporation of the 1990s: Information technology and organizational transformation, Oxford University Press
- ^ Senge, P.M., 1990. The fifth discipline, Doubleday
- ^ Earl, M.J., 1989. Management Strategies for Information Technology, Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
- ^ Hammer, M. & Champy, J., 2009. Reengineering the Corporation: Manifesto for Business Revolution, A, Zondervan
- ^ Nonaka, I. & Takeuchi, H., 1995. The knowledge creating company: how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation, New York, NY, USA: Oxford University Press
- ^ Belmiro, T., Gardiner, P. & Simmons, J., 1997. Business process re-engineering—A discredited vocabulary? International Journal of Information Management, 17(1), pp.21–33
- ^ Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Army (2012). Information Operations. Joint Publication 3-13. Joint Doctrine Support Division, 116 Lake View Parkway, Suffolk, VA., p. 18.
- ^ Henderson, J.C. & Venkatraman, N., 1993. Strategic alignment: leveraging information technology for transforming organizations. IBM Systems Journal, 32(1), pp.4–16
- ^ Zachman, J. A. (1987). A framework for information systems architecture. IBM Systems Journal, 26(3), 590–616
- ^ Cross, J., 1995. IT outsourcing : British Petroleum's competitive approach. Harvard Business Review, 73(3), p.94
- ^ a b Ward, J. & Daniel, E., 2005. Benefits Management: Delivering Value from IS and IT Investments, Chichester: Wiley
- ^ Ashbrook, D. & Starner, T., 2003. Using GPS to learn significant locations and predict movement across multiple users. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 7(5), pp.275–286
- ^ Shirky, C., 2005. Shirky: Ontology is Overrated -- Categories, Links, and Tags. Clay Shirky's Writings About the Internet. Available at: http://shirky.com/writings/ontology_overrated.html Archived December 20, 2016, at the Wayback Machine [Accessed May 23, 2013]
- ^ Noy, N.F., McGuinness, D.L. & others, 2001. Ontology development 101: A guide to creating your first ontology, Stanford knowledge systems laboratory technical report KSL-01-05 and Stanford medical informatics technical report SMI-2001-0880
- ^ Chu, C. et al., 2007. Map-reduce for machine learning on multicore. Advances in neural information processing systems, 19, p.281
- ^ IMBOK, 2004. The Information Management Body of Knowledge. Available at: http://www.imbok.org [Accessed May 12, 2015]
- ^ Bytheway, A., 2015. Investing in Information: the Information Management Body of Knowledge, Geneva: Springer, p29
- ^ Carr, N., 2003. IT doesn't matter. In Wringing real value from IT. HBR OnPoint, pp. 3–10
- ^ Belmiro, T.R. et al., 2000. Are BPR practitioners really addressing business processes? International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 20(10), pp.1183–1203
- ^ Davenport, T.H. & Short, J., 2003. Information technology and business process redesign. Operations management: critical perspectives on business and management, 1, p.97
- ^ a b Kaplan, R. & Norton, D., 1996. The balanced scorecard - translating strategy into action, Boston MA: Harvard University Press
- ^ Bytheway, A., 2015. Investing in Information: the Information Management Body of Knowledge, Geneva: Springer, p31
- ^ Schwalbe, K., 2013. Information technology project management, Cengage Learning
- ^ Scholl, H.J., 2005. E-government-induced business process change (BPC): An empirical study of current practices. International Journal of Electronic Government Research (IJEGR), 1(2), pp.27–49
- ^ Saeed, K.A., Malhotra, M.K. & Grover, V., 2005. Examining the Impact of Interorganizational Systems on Process Efficiency and Sourcing Leverage in Buyer–Supplier Dyads. Decision Sciences, 36(3), pp.365–396
- ^ Knights, D. & Murray, F., 1994. Managers Divided, Chichester: John Wiley
- ^ Galbraith, J.R., 1977. Organization design, Addison Wesley