Page 19 - Information Management 3rd Edition

Chapter 1 – The role of information management within a business
1.7 The relationship between the information function and the other functions in a business
As mentioned, in most large businesses, the following functions operate at middle- management level: administration, marketing, operations, purchasing and supply chain, human resources, financial, and public relations. These functions are also found in smaller businesses, but very often they are combined and one person manages two or even three of these functions. In a one-man concern, the owner will manage all the functions, of course. To enable the managers of these functions to make meaningful decisions, they require certain information.
It is the responsibility of the information manager to make information, which the other functions do not have or collect themselves, available to them. It is also essential that the information manager be aware of the different levels of management in the business, the types of decisions made at each level and the need for management information required at the particular level. Only when this is the case can useful and relevant information be communicated to the different levels and sections.
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An information system needs to be created to facilitate the gathering of
relevant information from all the functions and different levels of management.
This system must then be able to process the information and store it so that it
can be extracted easily. The information system now has the information stored as well as the requirements or needs of the different functions. These two aspects (the available information and the needs of the functions) must be matched by the system. The information manager must make sure that the relevant information issenttothosewhocrequireitofordecisionp-makingpuyrposes.Thisprocessmustbe coordinated and managed by the information manager.
If the information is complete, accurate, on time and logical, the average management decision will be very precise. When the information is inaccurate,
1.8 The information manager of the future
Although the job descriptions of information managers differ immensely due to the diversity in their positions, the primary purpose of the information manager and section is still to process information and to communicate it. At the same time, there are employees in the information section who need to be managed. They must be motivated, grown intellectually and involved in the decision-making of the business.
In a changing environment, especially technologically speaking, information managers also perform an important role as change agents. They implement new systems and they have to deal with the employees who operate and work with
ete, the de
that must be made by the different functional managers may be simple or complex. Simple decisions refer to routine decisions that are made daily with the minimum of information as input. This type of decision occurs at various levels in the hierarchy and requires a specific type of management information. The information manager must satisfy these requirements. Examples of internal and external information needed by the different functions in a business referred to above can be found Table 1.1.
unsuitable or obsol
ot possibly
be any better. The decisions
cisions cann
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