Create Value In Projects Through Information Ecology2

04/08/23PM Values --Sonia Usih1

Create Value in Projects Through Information Ecology

The revolutionary idea of Information Ecology takes into account all information environments within and outside of an organization

Information is more valuable from a variety of sources than information from one source


IntroductionThis session will provide executives and project teams with information

management method and model to:

1. Create Value in Projects in order to integrate diverse types of information; handle and recognize evolutionary changes; emphasize on observation and description; and to focus on people and information behavior.

2. Utilize Environmental approaches for information management in Projects and open barriers to communication through the information ecology:

• Information Environment • Organizational Environment • External Environment

3. Manage the use of a Environmental model to continuously improve and define processes; to improve communication and shared information among employees; to improve employees performance


Approach

This session will provide executives and project team with information management method and model to:


Information Environment

The information environment is the site for most management initiatives and approach.

The most important components of the Information environment are the business or information strategy, politics, behavior and culture, staff, processes, and architecture

The components should define each project ‘s overall success; and how a change in one environment will impact or affect the other two environments (the organizational and the external environments)


Strategic information allows the organization to coordinate, gather, analyze and act on the most important information in a timely manner

Focus on:1. Information Content2. Sharing common information to ease

communication barriers across functions, division, and business processes

3. Information processes4. New information Market to leverage market

effectively

Information Strategy


-information strategy continues-

Create A strategy dialogue among decision makers

Decide who should participate ( i.e. Senior managers, middle managers, or project management professionals who generate ideas (Senior managers must join in the brainstorming since there is vested interest in resources in the information processes and content


Check if information strategy has been developed

Encourage senior and middle management and professional to participate in development strategy session

Ensure that management articulates clearly the difference between technology and information to employees

Ensure that one or more senior managers are responsible for implementing information strategy

Ensure that Project management’s information strategy is easy to understand and takes a position on specific information issues in the organization

Conduct Strategy Survey


Information PoliticsThe information strategy should be based on the political

structure of planning, economics, managing, and making decisions. Management should:

Address information politics Influence political realm in an organization Decide what information will be gathered and used within

Project management Question whether or not information and decision

making are open identify a specific information need Allow exchange of knowledge to be free among

employees, but compensate the employees for that valuable exchange of knowledge that benefit the company.

Measure information in cost Evaluate job performance in terms of the information

supplied by an employee


Information Behavior and Culture

Information behavior refers to how individuals approach and handle information

Information culture involves the entire organization of values and beliefs.

Learn how to describe or explain information rather than analyze it


Managing Information Behavior

Project management must identify the ways in which behavior and culture must change if their information initiatives are to succeed.

Manipulate information as a frequent primary activity

Pay attention to what employees are doing with information

Control information costs by management of information behavior

Manage financial and human resources behavior

Continue to communicate with various media


Sharing Information Sharing is a voluntary act of making information available to

others

Total Quality Management emphasizes distributing information for a firm’s strategy and objectives at all levels so that employees can formulate their own work plans accordingly

If business cross-functional processes are going to work then information sharing must be apart of the business strategy

Shift information politics evenly and in the right direction in order to share information

Those in charge need to set up standards for how employees decide what types of information to share, and with whom to share it with

Managers should not only model right behaviors, they must remove the organizational barriers to information sharing


Handling Information Inspiration (Overload) Communicate information in a compelling way to encourage the right

people to recognize and use it

Realize that most information transmission happens at the bottom of the information hierarchy of an organization

Information must be read and paid attention to

Do not only attend presentation or lecture from the CEO. Attend all level of information if possible

To improve engagement in information use the following attributes – Content (emotion, brevity, visual tools, aural tools, uniqueness, and

concreteness); Source (power, perceived expertise, personal appeal, objectivity, and

familiarity) ; Situation (perceived consequences or results, confront, who initiated,

individual versus group setting, voluntary versus mandated presence)


Information Staff Information staff are those who define, analyze, create,

maintain, manage, and advise on information resources

Employees who add value to the information for users

Staff who have abroad business understanding and knowledge of organization structure and function

Information staff are not be secretive, especially in a supportive role. Staff members that hold back information may not receive information in return

The primary goal of an information staff is to define information that will reduce uncertainty. Therefore, the value of the information to managers must be base on timeliness, accessibility, engagement, applicability or relevance, accuracy, and rarity.


Information Processes Information management process is a structured set of work activities that

comprise the manner in which companies capture, distribute, and use information and knowledge. The process orientation helps to introduce a cross-functional approach -- that is, the ability to draw on methods, tools and techniques of a variety of information-oriented functions in a company

identify all the steps or activities in a given information process; all the resources involved; all the people who affect each step including the people who owns the different processes and the clients that are identified with each process; and all the problems that arise

Emphasize measurability and improvement. A process manager can play a large part in enforcing the cooperation needed among various parts of the organization. Thus a participative approach to information and knowledge work processes that emphasizes outcomes, along with external factors such physical location and work team will probably deliver the best results.

To understand the processes of Project management create a generic process model that applies to many specific information processes within the Project management Office. Then analyze on more specific business processes that are information-intensive such as IT management, market research, financial reporting, and product configuration.


Define Process Model

Determine Requirements Capture Information Distribute Information Use Information


Information Architecture

Information architecture is a set of plans or blueprint that links information behavior, processes, and support staff to the aspects of the organization such as business processes, organizational structure, and physical location. Architecture not only includes engineered models or data but also maps, directories and standards

Initiatives for architectural information and design must be driven

by senior business managers instead by information management. Thus all key stakeholders must participate in the process

Executives must understand the business consequences if organization lacks an information architecture or has a poor one in place

Take into account behavioral changes in information architecture to initiate objective of information management


Other Methods of Information Architecture

• Information Engineering Architecture

• Information Mapping • The World Wide Web

(WWW)


Organizational Environment

The organizational environment should include the overall business situation or strategy, existing technology investment and physical arrangement of offices, units and plant facilities

The organizational environments directly impact the information environment of a company


Business Situation

Business situation includes business strategy, business processes, organizational structure, and culture, human resources and financial resources

If senior management does not connect the specific business issues of the company’s information environment then this can affect the success of the information management initiatives


- Business Situation continues

Emphasize on customer information --quantitative and qualitative information

Business processes -- imply that information is shared across functional boundaries within a firm

An organization’s general approach to human resources can determine whether the information initiatives fail or succeed. These are general information characteristics that human resources must question in applicants:

• Are managers and employees analytical?• Do they seek out information before making decisions or taking

actions?• Is attention paid to internal communications, whether they

involve an organization’s strategy, products or services, or other people?

• Are employees aware of what is going on with competitors, clients, and the rest of the external environment? Are they information seekers?

• If an organization is going to recruit and retain such individuals, it must recognize, evaluate, and compensate employees with these characteristics.


Conduct Business Situation Does Project management have a clear business

strategy and consensus about what makes the Project management successful?

Is the kind of information generate, distribute, and receive increases the value of Project management’s products and services?

Does Project management collects good information about the operation and performance of cross-functional business processes?

Is Project management information environment changing with the response of changes in the organizational structure and culture?

Does Project management understand the value of knowledge and capabilities of its employees?


Technology Investment

The following guideline should be kept in mind when investing in new technologies:

There should be a high degree of network inter-connectivity to facilitate the exchange of information in the organization

Knowledge and information staffs require personal computers, laptops, or workstations on each desktop

For effective information management provide network access to internal repositories with many CD-based databases and or access to external information services and databases

For effective management of organizational information environments use network management software

Use sophisticated software packages to manage and distribute qualitative document-based information in the organization

For external information access and communications, use the Internet


Physical Arrangement Physical arrangement is where the individual and groups are

located in relation to others with whom they work in relations to building layouts, offices, furniture in which people work; and physical appearance and distribution of information.

Employees with working of similar projects should communicate face-to-face by sharing physical space, location and information

Employees that are involve in organizational creativity and innovation work functions should have their own workspace, so that they can think. When creativity is completed then these employees can share and relate the information across functional processes.


External Environment

External environment can motivate our information actions in terms of what clients need, what competitors are doing, and what regulators' policies are. Three ways to in interact with the external environment:

Adapt to the outside world

Scan to changes in the world to which the organization must respond

Mold the outside world to its competitive advantage through information products or services

Utilizing the three types of markets, business markets, technology markets, and information markets. Different groups within the organization will look at these markets for different reasons -- By viewing them separately managers can focus on the user of the information gained, not on its source or format.


Business Markets

Changes in the worlds of clients, competitors, suppliers, business partners and regulators constitute critical information for any company. Managers must ask:

What do we need to know about our external environment to be successful?

On which customers, competitors, and external stakeholders do we most need information?

How will knowledge of these external entities influence our corporate behavior?

Information can be gathered through customers by using customer data (transactions of products or services purchased, complaints, how long a customer took to paid an invoice, geographic location organizational structure, personnel) and customer knowledge -- value-added information gained form experience or reflection of data --to capture this knowledge ask questions, conduct interviews and surveys, read books on eliciting and responding to customer information


-Business Markets continues

Gather information from suppliers Gather competitors' intelligence by using these process steps: Identify information need

Collect information from inside company, on-line databases, and from people ousted company

Analyze information by using functional and chronological sorting, market-share analysis, organization charts, benchmarking, product/service comparison, stock-market performance, value-chain analysis, strength and weakness analysis, vulnerability analysis, and listing distinctive capabilities

Report information to a decision-maker by formatting and communicating information

Identify the issues that are common to all competitor intelligence efforts

Gather information from regulators and public policy


Technology MarketsThe technology markets comprise of products and services available on the

outside world

To leverage information about external technology markets, senior managers must take several crucial steps:

They must a have regular process for assessing technologies They must let business strategies drive the technologies implemented, as

well as allowing important technologies to influence those strategies They should engage all manager, not just a few specialists, in

understanding and assessing potential useful technologies by following these steps:

1. scan/identify new external technologies2. create the business case for how to apply new technology3. conduct technical and market analysis4. implement and rollout technology5. To monitor new technologies break them into categories based on

their relationship with the organization’s work and then define IT as either, Infrastructure, current use, or innovative

6. Infrastructural capabilities such as communications, document processing and transaction processing include phones, voice networks, personal computers, fax machines etc. Establish common standard so that programs, documents and messages can be exchanged easily within the company


Information Market

Information markets include already-gathered information about external entities (such as customers or competitors) and aspects of the external environment itself (industry data standards, government reporting requirements or products and services compose of information). External information markets includes on-line databases, published works, opinions of experts and industrial leaders, political themes and currents, demographics, and trade show information.


Implementation Start with information management staff and information mapping

Capture and distribute information with high value and to motivate increase use of information and knowledge. Create a senior role (Chief Knowledge Officer) -- knowledge and information should be managed by all employees and the Chief’s role is to educate and influence them; create a process managers role, process analysts or processes specialist roles

Utilize your Project Management Office for all processes

Create a map-given a specified information domain which can be identified by an information strategy exercise--map could be completed in a couple of months. Start mapping key processes, or customers or products, or competitors

A high level of senior management awareness, support, and participation is necessary for the change program to be successful. Thus information need to be clarified as to what is being managed; and excessive structure and misplaced precision (for accuracy and definition) of information should be avoided. Also it is necessary to have a vision of what the organization will look like if everything goes right

Information providers must view their jobs as facilitators to support managers and employees. And they must build relations with various providers in the organization such as IT professionals, collectors and keepers of information (Project management officer), market researchers, and controllers (business managers, accountants, administrators)


Create Value In Projects will generate positive values for management and stakeholders within a project.

It will assist management in the project management of information through technology and people that will save management millions of dollars on unnecessary technology to employees who do not understand how to use information and technology effectively.

Technical data will become more meaningful to users and designers since the information would be in its process format

Better access to information in making decisions

Information processes can be better evaluated with the project management processes (scope, cost, time, quality, procurement, human resources, communication, risk, and integration assessments) for its timeliness, accuracy, relevance, accessibility, engagement, applicability, and rarity

from the environmental model and process open up a creative enterprise that gives effective ‘production/production capable balance’ thereby producing communication and information at higher level

Benefits


-benefits continues

Better coordination of information strategy with Vendors and

partnership proposals through project management proposals, integration processes /architecture and or model, business market readiness and conversion and technology support

Managerial Information requirements can be better determined for production, sales and marketing, purchasing and logistics, and for planning

Information behavior and culture will be better transferable for employees

Besides Project management’s values, motivation and initiative, and leadership of interdependence will be created for win/win alternative in creating a better way for effective interpersonal skills. That is, one person’s success is not achieved at the expense or exclusion of the success of another. The benefits


References

Clive Hazel, Social Issues and Technology--Impacts on the Socio-Technical Systems and the Organizational Environmental System, Course Coverage #430, DeVry, Chicago, 1997.

Thomas H Davenport and Laurence Prusak , Information Ecology: Mastering the Information Knowledge Environment, 1997

Ernst & Young Center for Business Innovation, Mastering the Information Environment Research Note, 1993.

Ernst &Young Center for Business Case Study, Making Knowledge Known, 1994.

Steven Covey, Principle-Centered Leadership, 1980. Sharon Mckinon and William Bruns, The Information Mosaic, Harvard Business

School Press, 1992. . Michael Porter, Competitive Strategy, New York, Information Mosaic, Harvard

Business School Press, 1992. Andrew Bartmess and Keith Cerny, Building Competitive Advantage through a

Global Network Capabilities, California Management Review, 1990. Vince Baraba, Meeting of the Minds: Creating the Market-Based Enterprise,

Harvard Business School Press, 1995. David W. DeLong, Identifying Effective Information Behaviors--An Exploratory

Study Robert Taylor, Value-Added Processses in Information Systems, Norwood, New

Jersey, 1986.


Presenter’s Information

Sonia Usih, PMP, MCPM, BSc. Eng.

Phone: (905) 428-2615

Link: http://www.linkedin.com/in/soniausihonlineprofile

E-Mail: [email protected]

Create Value In Projects Through Information Ecology2

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