1. Information Management & Technology
“Success in information management is 5% technology, and 95% psychology.” – Tom Peters
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Information Technology

2. Information Technology
Overview
Sensemaking
Information Politics
Information Management
So What?
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Information Technology

3. Information Technology
1. Sensemaking
What is sensemaking?
“The making of sense”
“Structure of the unknown”
It is active not passive
What sensemaking is NOT?
Interpretation
Central Questions
How do people make sense?
Why do people make sense in the way they do?
Interpretation is too narrow, it focuses on merely “reading”, not “authoring”
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Information Technology

4. D. Attributes of Sensemaking
1. Grounded in identity construction
Protective of self
Consistent with positive self-conception
Linked to roles
2. Retrospective
Reflective
Based on memory
Synthesizes equivocal experience
Provides order, clarity and rationality
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Information Technology

5. Information Technology
Attributes cont.
3. Category and schema creating
Creates new features
Brackets reality
4. Social
Names become “good enough” to meet needs
5. Ongoing
Social – Tree is good enough for us, but not the forest ranger. So “accuracy” is not vital.
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Information Technology

6. Information Technology
Attributes cont.
6. Focused on and by extracted cues
Based on familiarity
Kenneth Burke, terminology is a reflection, selection and deflection of reality
7. Driven by plausibility rather than accuracy
Accuracy is subordinate to coherence and pragmatics
Speed is more important than comprehensiveness
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Information Technology

7. E. How do we sensemake in organizations?
Create vocabularies
Develop procedures for categorizing
Cultivate “thought-terminating clichés”
Hold meetings
Create, filter and distribute information
Cultivate political structures
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Information Technology

8. Information Technology
2. Information Politics
Why do we have information politics?
“Information is not innocent.” James March
“One reason the stakes are so high in information politics is that more than information is at stake” (Davenport)
“Information sometimes feels as common in organizations as water; since its so plentiful, there is a natural instinct to channel it rather than drown in it.” (Davenport)
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Information Technology

9. B. Info. Politics Continuum
Anarchy
Federalism
Feudalism
Monarchy
More
Less
Centralization of Control
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Information Technology

10. C. Evaluating the Info. Politics
Monarchy
Federalism
Feudalism
Anarchy
Common vocabulary
Info. Access
Quality of Info
Efficiency
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Information Technology

11. 3. Information Management
A. What are the goals of system?
Reasonable accuracy
Timeliness
Accessibility
Engagement
Applicability
Rarity
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Information Technology

12. B. What are key information tasks?
Pruning
Contextualizing
Enhancing Style
Variation
Interactive
Push-pull
Staging
Dramatizing
Choosing the right medium
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Information Technology

13. C. Linking tasks to goals
Pruning
Providing
Context
Enhancing style
Choosing channels
Accuracy
Timeliness
Accessibility
Engagement
Applicability
Rarity
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Information Technology

14. Information Technology
4. So what?
Take into account sensemaking
Conduct research on opinions and organizational climate
Tell the right stories about the past (revise history)
Link memories to the present
Integrate information from various sources (often uncontrollable)
Use technologies to understand and shape sensemaking
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Information Technology

15. Information Technology
So what cont.
Manage the information politics
Elect the right information politicians
Select the right political system
Avoid information “silos”
Match information policies to organizational mission
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Information Technology

16. Information Technology
So what cont.
Add value to information
Recognize that sensemaking trumps information sharing
Distinguish between information and knowledge problems (What is a knowledge repository?)
Realize limits of technology to facilitate sensemaking
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Information Technology