Managing Information in Organisations - Assignment Example

ADMI11 – Managing Information in Organisations Assignment 1 Student Name Student ID Number Introduction In formation quality (IQ) is the term that is used in describing the quality of what is contained in information systems. Information systems in an organization are normally loaded with data and information (Al-hakim, L. 2007, pp. 35). It tells how good the available information is for use. Information quality is important to organizations for purposes of change, communication, making decisions and understanding and responding to issues in the environment and avoiding certain failures and faults. Information quality is paramount to the functions and operations of any organization. Information quality is important for proper relationships between the organization and its clients, employees, stakeholders and the community (Eppler, 2006). The management, the organization and the stakeholders all need information quality in its three dimensions. Information quality should be timely, in the right form and with the right content. This paper will discuss the importance of information quality to an organization. Information Quality to Individual Users Just like the management and the organization, individual users need information quality to be able to make decisions at the personal level and help achieve the objectives of the team. The exact decision taken by a person varies from one individual to another and from time to time. It all depends on the nature of the tasks being performed in an organization (Hinton, 2012, pp. 56). Some individuals need to make more decisions than others as compared to implementing these decisions. Therefore, every individual in the organization must make some sought of decision and information quality is very important to such individuals. The individual user needs information quality in its three dimensions. The user must get information in time in order to make timely decisions that will not negatively affect the work being done. For example, an individual may be required to decide on the type of products to be produced for a particular season and compile a report of a particular process in the organization. Information delivered on time helps the individual to decide on the production and to avail the report on time (Wijnhoven, 2009, pp. 39). For such processes to be smooth, the individual user also needs accurate information that carries the right content and in the right form. All these help to improve the quality of decisions made by the individual and eventually the performance of the organization. The collective work done in the organization is the individual output of many people put together. Therefore information quality is important to individual users because at the end, it is the entire organization that needs that information (Al-Hakim, 2007, pp. 98). Information Quality to management The management of an organization needs information quality at the right time, in the right form and with the right content. Managers spend a lot of time making decisions about the organization (Al-hakim, 2007, pp. 67). An organization is part of a larger system. This is the environment in which the organization operates. The management needs information quality for them to make decisions about the government and its policies affecting the business, other organizations it deals with, employees, customers and the stakeholders. This environment has many dynamics and all the time there is something happening. There are good and bad new developments taking place. There are events that have the capacity of causing trouble to the business especially when they are not dealt with properly and opportunities that the management must take advantage of (Slone, 2006, pp. 88). For the right decisions to be made, the management needs information quality at the right time. Information quality is useless if presented to management late. Decisions are always made whenever the need is still there and the information is still relevant. For example information about a marketing opportunity should be relayed at the right time for the management to make a decision whether to take the opportunity or not. The management also needs information in proper content. Distorted information may be misleading and there is a possibility that it can result in the wrong decisions. Wrong decisions have been known to cause losses due to investments made in the wrong projects (Whitman, & Mattord, 2011, pp. 113). The form of the information presented to management also matters in the long run. Information should be presented in the right form for proper interpretation based on the tradition of the organization. Information Quality to organization The organization also needs information in the right form, at the right time and with the right content. In order to be more productive and able to meet the needs of customers in an efficient manner information quality is necessary. Information quality is required for purposes of coordination (Eppler, 2006, pp. 72). For purposes of communication and cooperation with government, stakeholders and other organizations, the organization must have information quality. Information presented at the right time is beneficial to the organization. Time is important because information is always useful within a specified time period. For example the organization may need to hire more workers because of an increase in the number of customers in need of certain services or products. Information about market trends should reach the decision makers of the organization at the right time (Wijnhoven, 2009, pp. 41). Information received late can cause the organization to lose out on important opportunities. It should be in the right form and have the right content so that misplaced actions are not taken based on the distortion in the information (Slone, 2006, pp. 19). Information is basically the raw material that the organization uses to produce each and every decision that the organization takes. The organization must make regular decisions on the objectives that need to be achieved, the way the decisions need to be achieved, the actions to be taken to achieve these objectives, the time of achieving the decisions and the resources that the organization needs to achieve these objectives. Information quality helps in taking decisions by everyone in the organization that work at various levels of the hierarchy of the organization (Whitman, & Mattord, 2011, 16). Quality information is also needed in conveying decisions taken to the people that have the responsibility of implementing the decisions that have been made and for monitoring the outcome as the work goes on. Therefore, information quality plays a very critical role in the operations of every organization. Information Quality to External stakeholders External stakeholders normally have a kind of relationship with the organization. The external stakeholders include the shareholders, political connections, suppliers, the community in which the organization operates, other businesses in the industry or other similar industries and the clients of the organization (Al-hakim 2007, pp. 32). External stakeholders need information about the welfare, performance and operations of the organization. This information should also be received in the right form, at the right time and with the right content. Stakeholders can be communicated with through advertisements, social media and the internet, public relations and media and other appropriate forms of communication (Hinton 2012, pp. 56). Information quality delivered to external stakeholders can affect their relationship with the organization if it is not based on the three dimensions. Late information that is not in the right form and has the wrong content may cost the organizations a lot of money in repair of the damage caused by such kind of information (Hinton 2012, pp. 58). Organizations should therefore be careful on the type of information quality they have for their external stakeholders because the survival of the company depends very much on the attitude they have about the organization. For example information that talks about poor performance of an organization may mislead the external stakeholders especially when the organization is not performing badly. This information can cause a lot of the organization’s clients to leave. The company may in the end lose the clients and the profits they may be bringing (Wijnhoven, 2009, 87). It may also use a lot of money to repair its tainted image. External stakeholders are not involved in the say to day operations of the organization but their need to be informed about the progress of the company cannot be ignored (Eppler, 2006, PP. 43) Conclusion The paper has discussed the importance of information quality to organizations. Every organization needs information quality in the best form, at the right time and with the right content. The individual user, the management, the organization and the stakeholders make decisions that affect the day today operations of the organization. All their decisions are based on information quality in all its dimensions. Without the three dimensions the information received may not be relevant or helpful. This may lead to losses and lost opportunities in the organization. Therefore, every organization must ensure that there is information quality in every activity. References Al-Hakim, L. 2007. Challenges of Managing Information Quality in Service Organizations. Idea Group Inc. (Online). Al-hakim, L. 2007. Information Quality Management: Theory and Applications. Idea Group Inc. (Online). Al-hakim, L. 2007. Information Quality Management: Theory and Applications. Idea Group Inc. (Online). Eppler, M.J. 2006. Managing Information Quality (Electronic Resource): Increasing the Value of Information in Knowledge Intensive Products and Processes. Springer. (Online). Green, M.A., Bowie, M. 2010. Essentials of Health Information Management: Principles and Practices. Cengage Learning. (Online). Hinton, M. 2012. Introducing Information Management. Routledge. (Online). Slone, J.P. 2006. Information Quality Strategy: An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship between the Organization and Information. ProQuest. (Online). Whitman, M.E. & Mattord, H.J. 2011. Principles of Information Security. (Online). Wijnhoven, F. 2009. Information Management: An Informing Approach. Routledge. (Online). Read More