The impact of information explosion on middle management

Abstract

The information explosion can be viewed as a change in generating, collecting, processing and storing information in a number of ways that make information readily accessible to the user. This explosion has been a result of tremendous achievements through electronic devices, telecommunication networks, computers and transportation. The change is having a great impact on middle management personnel whose work in many cases is being taken over by office robots. Information is vital to any type of organizational activity as an instrument of communication. An organization requires information about prices, competition, technology, and the market situation in order to formulate decisions and execute strategy. Hence, there is need for management to develop, encourage and maintain sophisticated information systems in their organizations for the following reasons (Koontz et aI., 1982): (i) to establish goals for the enterprise; (ii) to develop plans for the achievement of the goals; (iii) to organize human and other resources in the most effective and efficient way; (iv) to select, develop and appraise members of the organization; (v) to lead, direct, motivate and create an environment in which people want to contribute. In gathering information, the following factors should be taken into consideration: (a) the type of information required; (b) the quality of that information; (c) the quantity of information; (d) t~e t~me involved in collecting, storing, retrIevmg and disseminating the information; (e) the accuracy of information; (f) the cost of collecting, storing, retrieving and disseminating the information. The growth of information in technologically advanced societies is exponential. The acceleration curve of Fig. 1 shows how this revolution has been brought about by a number of technological advances. from this curve, one can see that innovations in communications technology during the past century have been extremely efficacious. The networks of telephones, telex, computers and satellites have exponentially increased the density of human contact. Ever since the dawn of the modern electronics communications era, after World War II, more people have been put into contact with one another, more knowledge has been accumulated and recorded, and more people have access to that knowledge than ever before in history (Williams, 1982).