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Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank You, for bringing us together
today. We thank you for another life to enjoy, another day to
learn, and a new set of things we will experience. As we go
through our lessons today, may You let us be instruments to
do good things. Help us be respectful, honest, and kind to
one another.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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The term ‘information’ is described as the structured,
organized and processed data, presented within
context, which makes it relevant and useful to the
person who wants it. Data means raw facts and figures
concerning people, places, or any other thing, which is
expressed in the form of numbers, letters, or symbols.
INFORMATION VS KNOWLEDGE
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Knowledge means the familiarity and awareness of a
person, place, events, ideas, issues, ways of doing
things, or anything else, which is gathered through
learning, perceiving, or discovering. It is the state of
knowing something with cognizance through the
understanding of concepts, study, and experience.
INFORMATION VS KNOWLEDGE
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One of the biggest flaws in the way decisions are
made is the failure to identify not just how much
information is needed to make an effective
decision but what constitutes the right information.
As a result, for every manager making a decision
based on insufficient data there is another who
gathers too much information or the wrong
information.
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The manager is deciding to launch a new product in Japan.
He may have all sorts of information about consumer tastes and buying
habits in the US and in Europe. He may have some good data on the
costs of exporting the product to Tokyo. He may even have Japanese
friends who think that it’s a sure-fire winner. Yet, he lacks the one piece
of information he most needs – namely what Japanese consumers think
about his product.
Example Situation:
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Three types of information:
● need to know information (must have)
● nice to know information (background)
● and irrelevant information (interesting or
not, of no use for this decision)
Interrogate the problem
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● What are the key success for this decision?
● What could go wrong?
● What impact will it have if it does?
Interrogate the problem
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Information Drift-Roger Dawsons’ 8 factors
in the information gathering process
Availability drift: is when the decision-maker gives more weight to
information that is readily available.
Experience drift: people tend to see things in terms of their own
personal or professional interests.
Conflict drift: human beings have a natural tendency to reject
information that conflicts with their own beliefs.
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Information Drift-Roger Dawsons’ 8 factors in the
information gathering process
Recall drift: people are better at recalling information about topics
that are familiar to them. They are not so good at recalling data
from areas where they have no expertise.
Selectivity drift: because human beings are unable to absorb
everything, they tend to filter out information and observations
about issues that do not interest them.
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Information Drift-Roger Dawsons’ 8 factors in the
information gathering process
Anchoring drift: if you are not an expert in a particular are, there is
a tendency to latch on to the first information that comes to light,
or the opinion of the “first experts” consulted.
Recency drift: we all have a tendency to place greater emphasis
on what has just happened to us. We may also inclined to place
more trust in recent information even though analysis carried out
some time ago was more thorough.
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Information Drift-Roger Dawsons’ 8 factors in the
information gathering process
Favourability drift: people have a tendency to look harder for
information that supports their own beliefs or views than to
actively seek out data that contradicts them.
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Example:
• Who carried out the research? Who paid for it?
• What were the researchers trying to do? Were they asking the
right questions to the right people?
• Why? Is it an objective view or are there any vested interests
involved? What premise or hypothesis were they trying to
support or demolish?
• Where was it conducted? Europe, US, Africa? Worldwide? Does
that make it more or less applicable to here?
• When was it carried out? Was it done last month? Last year?
Years ago? Is it out of date?
• How was the study conducted? Was it based on a large or small
sample? Telephone interviews or face-to-face? Were
respondents anonymous? Does it make it more or less reliable?
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Internal source requires careful handling.
“Chinese Whispers”
Inaccurately transmitted gossip. 'Chinese
whispers' refers to a sequence of repetitions
of a story, each one differing slightly from the
original, so that the final telling bears only a
scant resemblance to the original.
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Questions to evaluate the information
1. Does the person giving me this information have a personal
stake in this decision? Is he/she consciously or unconsciously
trying to sway my opinion?
2. Does the person gathering this information have a reasonable
amount of experience in this area?
3. How much time did this person have to put the data together? Is
there a danger that time pressure has led to superficial reporting
for short cuts?
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Questions to evaluate the information
4. Does the person presenting this information have a prejudice of
one kind or another?
5. How does this data reflect on the individual providing it? Does it
make him, or his department look good or bad?
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Three types of information flow.
1. Task Information – what people need
to know to do their jobs. When job
holders themselves define this
information, it is in very different terms
than those used by senior managers.
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Three types of information flow.
2. Context Information – what the
individual needs to know to see how or
his tasks and decisions fit into the
broader picture.
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Three types of information flow.
3. Motivational Information –
information the individual needs to feel
that his or her efforts are appreciated.
Motivational information needs to be
fine-tuned to the needs of individuals
and teams.
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Information Glut
Recent research confirms that information overload is now a major
problem for many managers. A study published by Reuters in
November 1996, for example, claims that an excess of data is
strangling businesses and causing employees to suffer mental
anguish and physical ill health. The problem is exacerbated by
inadequate IT training and the failure of many organizations to
introduce policies and procedures for managing information.
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Information Glut
The effects of the information glut, the report suggests, are
procrastinating and time wasting, leading to the delaying of
important decisions, a distraction from main job responsibilities, the
tension between colleagues, and loss of job satisfaction.
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Alleviating the problem
According to Paul Waddington at Reuters, companies need to focus
on effective information-sharing technology, rather than the
indiscriminating approach many have taken so far, and create
formal policies and procedures for information management.
Written standards for e-mail, for example, he says, could drastically
reduce the problem of junk e-mail by providing clear guidelines
about the sorts of information that should be circulated and to
whom.
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Developing Good Information Habits
● Ask the right questions to narrow down the data required for a
decision.
● Interrogating the source
● Interrogating the data itself to extract the useful nuggets
● Testing for bias
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Steps in message segmentation.
● Training in separating primary information from secondary
information, which, no matter how interesting, is irrelevant to the
specific situation.
● More effective pre-analysis filtering of information so that
managers receive only what they need to know in order to do
their work efficiently
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Steps in message segmentation.
● Improved communications- and presentations
● Templates for regular reports and updates which create a
consistent reporting format
● Better training in the use of IT tools
● Training in prioritizing information interrogation
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“Information is a source of learning. But unless
it is organized, processed, and available to the
right people in a format for decision making, it
is a burden, not a benefit.”
William Pollard
