Ackoff Management Misinformation Systems Essay Example

understanding of what information is needed to achieve it. This will place a demand on whoever is tasked with providing the information to try figure out what and how much information management may need. And too often people go with the concept that too much information is better than too little. Having that idea can sometimes lead to information overload. And it also may lead to providing irrelevant information. A clear sense of direction would alleviate much of this.

If managers are provided with the information they need, they will then have no problem in using it effectively; I will agree that if managers are provided with the information they need that there is potential to use it effectively. However, there is no guarantee. They may not know the full value of the information given, which will cause them to be incapable of using the information at its full potential. I believe that it is necessary to establish how well managers can use needed information. Providing decision rules and performance feedback would be a tremendous help in identifying and learning from past mistakes.

Better interdepartmental communication enables managers to coordinate their decisions more effectively; I do agree that communication is needed and very important when it comes to effectively working together. An organization cannot function properly in the absence of communication. However, I agree with Ackoff’s contention that there needs to be a limit on the communication between each department. The example given is a perfect illustration of how having access to too much information can become detrimental to success of a company. Everyone wants achieve an excellent performance rating.

To give each department with conflicting performance ratings

access to each other’s information will have the potential to cause conflict within the organization. Therefore is important to assess the organizational structure and the performance measure before determining what information can be shared. A manager doesn’t have to understand how his information system works, only needs to know how to use it. I most definitely disagree with this assumption. To install the best possible systems management infrastructure, you must first thoroughly understand the system you intend to manage.

If the manager only knows how to use the system, it means that the manager is limited to that specific task. At any given time, any sort of problem can arise and cause a problem and without any understanding, the manager will remain clueless as to what to do. The manager will then have to depend on someone else to troubleshoot the problem. That is if the problem has been identified. According to the case cited, it took a year to uncover a major malfunction of the newly implemented system. $150,000 a month is a lot to pay for not having a full understanding of the system.

References

http://www.acasa.upenn.edu/ackoff67.pdf