Information technology and management is the organization and control over the collection of information from several sources, processing and distribution to large audiences. Information management started off as a simple subject till information technology took off in the 1970s. With the incorporation of data maintenance, information management has developed into a deep, vast and highly specialized subject.
Now information management includes organizing, retrieving, acquiring and maintaining. Various disciplines are associated with information management.
Behavioural science was co-related to information management by the Carnegie Mellon University by Barnard and March with Simon. Organisations are taken as cooperative systems which require a remarkable level of information processing and accompanied by an expanded need for decision-making at different levels (March and Simon, 1958). They believed that rational theories proposed for improving management, sometimes cannot be executed.
Jay Galbraith (1977) has enumerated five organisation design strategies aimed at improving information processing. He felt that the organizational information processing capacity could be achieved by creation of lateral relations and vertical information systems and that the need for processing could be reduced through environmental management, creation of slack resources and creation of self-contained tasks.
Computer technology has been used in engineering for 2 decades but a transition has occurred from traditional engineering graphics to information engineering graphics (Ciupaila, 2005) so that the computing possibilities are expanded to include even artificial intelligence. An arc or a tangent can be plotted using just 2 commands and projection is easily possible. The traditional method is now seemingly useless.
The graphics on the computer increases the possibility of adding more essential information and data (Ciupaila, 2005). Even now the system is not completely exploited to its full potential. Many more new graphical systems are waiting to be modeled. The different branches of engineering require independent researches. Civil engineering has especially benefited from computerisation (Ciupaila, 2005).
Artificial intelligence is the branch of computer science which makes computers behave like humans. Programming the computers to play games like chess, to make decisions in real life situations like illnesses, to understand natural human languages, that simulate the intelligence to reproduce the physical pains of experimental animal brains and to make the computers see and hear and react to other sensory stimuli constitute artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence, 2008). These contribute to the world of information that we already have and that would allow humans to experiment further.
The Decision Theory is significant only when there is more than one choice for action and when a doubt arises as to which action provides more benefits. Information management utilises this theory to ascertain the risks involved and the outcomes possible.
Strategic planning follows which helps decide finally the plan of action. Managers deal with risk by calculating expected gains or yields based on probability in a rational manner. A decision maker can be risk neutral(completely relying on probability or risk averse (when he is a fraud) or risk prone when he knows that his decision is causing a loss. The precautionary principle is a decision resorted to by the final decision maker which is a vague procedure in management.
An information-rich environment has immense potential to improve business performance and competitiveness of enterprises (Kirk, 1999). Considering that information managers are not always competent enough to handle the wealth of information, the problem could be solved through the chalking up of guidelines to ease the process. The organisation must be divided into smaller groups to handle the information. The discussion of information and organisations must first have an overview of the organisation by examining images to draw implications for management of the information (Kirk, 1999).
The second part concerns the outlining of a hierarchy of definitions which would be appropriate to draw further implications. The achievements of organisations depends heavily on the information available. The organisationsâ goals, culture and stance would be derived from it. The organisational learning concepts and theory are also based on the information management. Information management is ethics-laden (Kirk, 1999) and must ensure that the information capability allows adaptation to the changing external and internal environment.
Information management has a political, social and cultural aspect too. A full range of information must be available from the resource to the force of change and development (Kirk, 1999). Information is integrated into the organisation and influences the culture, structure and work patterns. The manager is the disseminator, monitor and spokesman of information or he is the nerve center. It involves a lot of networking.
The diffusion of new innovations depends on the organisational theories. The expectancy theory, the improvement of communication channels and the decentralised thoery leading to innovative thinking in the hierarchy below the highest decision maker all contribute to positive changes in information management (Kirk, 1999). The concept of organisational learning is now recognised to enhance competitive advantage, lead to innovations and effectiveness.
The management theory says that teamwork is a means by which information managers can effectively mobilise their team-mates to improve business performance.
(Adler et al, 2007, pg.2). They should reorganise work to âaccommodate task interdependenciesâ, allowing some autonomy to them to handle the interdependencies.
The work is made satisfying to the employees and thereby more effective for the business. Factors that can facilitate or impede work must be resaerched into and utilised effectively. So research is another discipline which improves management of information and business (Adler et al, 2007, pg.2).
Language is one discipline which has to be mastered if the information manger is to effectively transfer his thoughts to the employees. Expression using correct terms and conveying information positively to his co-workers begin by first becoming a good listener. Procedures must be followed for improving the quality of the managerâs voice. Interpersonal communication must be developed. Healthy criticism and allowing employees to share their views for better propspects, accepting their plans for success all together pave the way for harmony in administration.
Bertanlanffyâs systems theory (1962) says that it should be a regulative device to guard against harmful factors. It encourages regular interaction and group acitvities so that organisational psychology is derived from the industrial psychology. The sharing of information and interactions provide for a rich baseline of feedback on which to work upon.
Data overload, the necessity of improving the performance of recognition based symptoms, immersion in virtual-reality environments, sharing of time and attention management have led to ergonomic changes in the information system. Designers are trying to meet the challenges through multimodal interfaces (Sarter, 2006).
Applied psychology is the scientific investigation of mind and behavior when applied to real life situations. It is behind many changes in our life, at home, when shooping and how we behave in our workplace. Information management is closely connected to applied psychology in that the behavior of the employees may be adjusted with the managerâs enterprising techniques.
Information technology and the information system have so many disciplines now associated with them. Time will tell how many more can become associated with them.
References
Adler, Paul S, et al, (2007), âCritical management studiesâ, Taylor and Francis Group LLC, Pgs 1-61.
Artificial Intelligence, 2008. Web.
Bertalanffy, Ludwig Von (1962). General system theory – A Critical Review. General Systems 7, 1-20.
Ciupaila, Lionginas and Zemkauskas, Jonas; (2005), âInfluence of informational technologies on engineering graphics modelsâ, Journal of Polish Society for Geometry and Engineering graphics, Vol.15, Pgs 50-56.
Galbraith, Jay R. p. 49 ff. (1977), Organization Design, Addison-Wesley.
Kirk, Joyce (1999)âInformation in organisations: directions for information management” Information Research, 4(3). Web.
March, James G. and Simon, Herbert A. (1958), Organizations, John Wiley & Sons.
Sarter, Nadine S.; (2006), âMultimodal information presentation: Design guidance and research challengesâ, International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, Vol 36, Issue 5, 439-445.