Managing Information and Knowledge in Organizations

A Literacy Approach

Alistair Mutch

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781134114979
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Knowledge is increasingly regarded as central, both to the successful functioning of organizations and to their strategic direction. Managing Information and Knowledge in Organizations explores the nature and place of knowledge in contemporary organizations, paying particular attention to the management of information and data and to the crucial en

Part One
The knowledge economy and managerial work

CHAPTER SUMMARY

KEY QUESTIONS

Chapter 1 Being information literate in the knowledge economy

• What are the claims made for the knowledge economy, in particular with relation to work organizations?
• What particular implications are there for skills and competences at work?
• How can we define the notion of information literacy and how is it shaped by its origins?
• Do we need to modify information literacy to be able to use it in the context of work organizations?

Chapter 2 Managers and information

• How do managers use information?
• How are our views of managerial use of information shaped by looking at managers as decision makers?
• How are views on information use changed by considering management as communication and negotiation?
• Can an examination of the function of management help our understanding?

Chapter 3 Data, information and knowledge

• How can we best characterize data, information and knowledge?
• What is the importance of data quality and ownership for use within organizations?
• How important are informal networks in the sharing of information?
• What is the distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge and how important is it?
• How can we conceptualize systems of knowing in organizations?

Chapter 1
Being information literate in the knowledge economy

INTRODUCTION

The title to this chapter contains two terms, both of which need careful treatment. The notion that we are in a ‘knowledge economy’ is a fairly widely used one; information literacy is a little less familiar. However, both are important in setting the context for our later discussions. The idea that we are, at least in the ‘developed’ world, in a post-industrial age in which information rather than land, capital or labour is the prime input is a staple of much contemporary debate. There are no doubt significant changes at work in the balance of the world economy, but we must be careful not to over-exaggerate these. In many cases the discussion is based on rather vague notions about the nature of information and on an over-emphasis on the potential of information and communication technology (ICT). In this chapter we look at some of the claims that are made in order to set the scene for our deeper consideration of organizational issues.

Whatever our assessment of some of the wilder claims, there seems no doubt that these broader changes have implications for those who work in organizations. One of these implications is, some argue, with the way in which work is approached, particularly at managerial levels. We will discuss some of these claims throughout the book, but one useful notion is that which claims that all employees, and especially managers, in the world of work which is shaped by the knowledge economy will have to be ‘information literate’. This is a useful notion in that it takes our attention away from an often obsessive concentration on technology and shifts it to central questions such as what do we mean by information and what counts as being literate in its use? Our discussions of the origins and nature of the concept of information literacy will lead us to question its applicability in the workplace. It will also help set the agenda for the rest of the book.

This chapter will examine:

• the claims made for the knowledge economy
• the implications for those at work in organizations
• the origins of information literacy and its applicability in the workplace
• some of the factors which influence the development of information literacy at work, with particular reference to the managerial use of information

THINKING ABOUT THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

One of the problems with considering the knowledge economy is the plethora of terms which are used. We have the ‘information age’, the ‘digital divide’, the ‘weightless economy’, the ‘network age’ and so on. These terms are closely bound up with important debates about changes in the nature of the world economy. One is the notion that we are entering a ‘post industrial’ phase of development, in which the nature of productive activity undergoes a profound shift from manufacturing to services. A second is the idea of globalization, the emergence of a world system of products and services. Of course, these terms are contentious and their very definition remains a topic of debate. Globalization, for example, relates both to increases in world trade and to shifts towards globally organized production systems. While such trends are hotly debated, not only in terms of their consequences but also in terms of the empirical evidence for their existence, there is little doubt that there have been some significant moves in the balance of activities across the world. The term ‘post-industrial’ can be profoundly misleading, as those involved in the manufacture of goods are at the highest level ever as a proportion of the world’s workforce. What the term in fact refers to is the change in the nature of the economy in the so-called ‘developed’ countries of the world. There has been a massive shift of basic manufacturing to the East, specifically to China, which emerged in the final years of the twentieth century as the manufacturing powerhouse of the world. We have to be careful in assuming that this means the death of manufacturing jobs in the traditional countries of the Industrial Revolution. However, it certainly means significant changes in the balance of those economies. In particular, the shift has been towards both service industries and to those areas of economic activity based on the exploitation of scientific and other knowledge. It is these trends which are summarised in the broad heading of the knowledge economy (Powell and Snellman 2004).

These shifts have attracted attention at the highest level of policy making, with governments in the countries affected anxious to promote both scientific based inquiry in areas such as biotechnology and a considerable increase in the number of those participating in levels of higher education. One of the concerns that we will explore below is that these initiatives tend to overlook the impact of longer term trends across the economy as a whole by focusing on particular sectors with distinctive characteristics. There is also a tendency to rather overplay the impact of technology, with many responses envisaging that simple investment in new forms of ICT by itself will bring about change. So it is important to look at some of the broader trends. One of the key thinkers in this area has been Anthony Giddens. A prominent social theorist, he has also been involved in debates at the policy level, with his formulation of the notion of the ‘third way’ between capitalism and socialism (Giddens 1998). He has collaborated with the journalist Will Hutton to examine some of the trends in employment and economy (Hutton and Giddens 2000), but his work has suggested some deeper trends. In his The consequences of modernity (Giddens 1990) he argues that what he terms ‘late modernity’, that is, the current phase of development, is characterized by what he terms ‘disembedded systems’. These are systems of operation which are removed from the situations of co-presence which characterize other, often earlier, forms of social organization. That is, much of modern life, facilitated by technology, is conducted at different times and in different places from those with whom we share it. This has a number of consequences, not least in making questions of information and knowledge more salient. Giddens suggests four features contributing to the importance of knowledge in the context of such systems:

• larger organizations;
• globalization;
• new forms of organization, particularly regulation;
• expert systems.

Larger organizations demand new styles of management, styles which are often heavily dependent on performance information (in turn enabled by ICT) to monitor and control operations. These organizations often operate in a global fashion, which both makes the use of standard information more important and raises new barriers to its existence, by way of local meaning systems which conflict with the desire for one global picture. Trends, generally summarized under the heading of ‘neo-liberalism’, have seen new forms of economic regulation, which often depend on the use of data to represent the affairs of organizations, notably those in the public sector or the recently privatized utilities. Hence the widespread use of league tables of performance, where summarized indicators are made available for public consumption in the belief that these will engender competition and so raise standards. Finally, Giddens refers to the way in which we are all increasingly dependent on expert knowledge, often built in to the products and services we use. So, for example, it was once possible for the average motor car driver to diagnose and fix basic problems with their car’s engine. Now that these are controlled by sophisticated engine management systems this is no longer possible.

Technology, of course, is central to many of these developments. It has led to some claiming that we are now in a ‘network age’ in which the nature and shape of organizations is radically changed (Castells 2000). We will examine some of this evidence in a little more detail later, but the work of Giddens and others is often characterized by a rather sweeping approach to the evidence of what is actually happening in organizations (Jones, Orlikowski and Munir 2004). In order to explore this, we need to consider some of the claims that are made about the changing nature of both the products and services organizations provide and the nature of employment. The comments which follow are largely based on experience in the developed countries, as this is where these trends are claimed to have operated with most effect. One starting point might be with the nature of the products on offer. While much attention has been focused on the large shifts in basic manufacturing, there have also been changes in the nature of the more complex manufactured products, changes which impact on the importance of information and knowledge in work organizations.

This shift from products to services and, within products, from simple products to complex ones containing much information, is mirrored in broader shifts in the nature of economic outputs. IBM, for example, is a company which was founded on the production of computer hardware, but now makes more money from its move to services such as consultancy. These service industries are often associated with what Leadbetter (1999) has termed the ‘weightless society’. That is, using the power of ICT to overcome barriers of time and distance, much economic activity is involved with the manipulation of representations rather than with the production of tangible outputs. The classic example is the financial services sector, where money does not physically change hands but is represented by symbols which can be exchanged electronically. Coupled with the trends which Giddens identified, this has tended to place more emphasis on the sharing of explicit knowledge, meaning knowledge which can be taken from its original context and represented in forms which can circulate widely around organizations. This is not without its problems, as we will see in Chapter 3.

MANUFACTURING TRAINS: FROM PRODUCTS TO SERVICES

The production of locomotives and rolling stock to run on railways involves the production of large, expensive and complex pieces of machinery. In traditional railway operation, such large items were often manufactured by the railway company which operated them, thus ensuring a close relationship between the machine and the conditions in which it operated. If they did not build the stock themselves, railway companies often closely specified their requirements. Once delivered, stock was maintained by another division of the railway company, which owned and operated extensive repair facilities, often capable of substantially rebuilding equipment. However, conditions of operation in the railway industry have changed, with the emergence of specialist rolling stock manufacturers and, often, the separation of elements of operation of the railway. In the UK, for example, rolling stock is now purchased from specialist manufacturers by leasing companies. These lease the stock to train operating companies, who in turn buy access from the operators of the rail infrastructure. This is an example of the new forms of operation that Giddens discusses, with a complex regulatory regime based on detailed performance measurement.

The consequence for the rolling stock manufacturers is that they no longer simply sell a product, but they also sell services. Most contracts now include not only the delivery of the stock, but also the signing of a maintenance contract, in which the manufacturer undertakes to maintain the equipment for a period of years. This means that the manufacturer now has a direct interest in how the train runs. They use sophisticated on-board software to monitor running and pass back data for diagnostic purposes. There needs to be a two way flow of information and knowledge between the production and maintenance functions. Maintenance will need to know how the trains were constructed, for this will help them in better fault finding and correction. In turn, the lessons that maintenance learn in practice can be of immense value in building trains which will not be so prone to failure. In this way, the organization becomes more connected, with the information produced in one part being of value to others. This systemic nature of information use will be seen to be of considerable importance.

Source: Haigh 2000; Wolmar 2001

However, these changes in the nature of economic outputs also have implications for the nature of employment. Reich (1991) has drawn attention to the importance of what he terms ‘symbolic analysts’, that is those, classically in the financial sector, who work only with electronic representations. Their skill lies in combining their knowledge of what the symbols represent with their broader knowledge to take action, action which is also dependent on the ICT available to them. The nature of the work means that it is not necessary for it to be tied to one particular place (Knorr-Cetina and Preda 2005). Although this might technically be the case, in practice much of the more skilled work still takes place in particular physical locations, because it also depends on a clustering of expertise, reinforced by more tacit personal relationships. What can be shifted is the ‘back office’ work, where the symbolic analysts are complemented by a legion of low paid data workers. One major trend has been the ‘off shoring’ of much of this type of work to economies such as India which possess not only an educated workforce but much lower costs.

Changes in employment als...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Preface
• Introduction
• Part One The knowledge economy and managerial work
• Part Two Technology, structure and individuals
• Part Three Power, culture and the institutional formation of information
• Part Four Conclusion
• Glossary