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Information as a tangible benefit
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10~
Information as a Tangible Benefit THREE contributions in a single recent issue of Omega [1-3] raised the issue of the benefits of information to managers. They all in various ways dodged perhaps the only major outstanding issue in MIS Management Information System. No amount of Mathuszian finesse [3] in measuring the incremental productivity of MIS projects as a basis for choosing between them answers the questions: 'What good do any of them do, and to whom?', The usefulness and benefits of information can only be realised by individual managers in particular situations. Any attempt to devise arbitrary measures of benefit for information services that does not start from and end with an analysis of the situations in which individual managers find themselves must be poppycock. For this reason the survey by Higgins and Finn [1] is encouraging. They are seeking to find out the attitudes which individuals (in their case Chief Executives) have towards corporate models and information, Mace [2] writing on accounting addresses the major issue but simply cites Snavely's [4] listing of attributes which data must have to be useful or beneficial. He is trying to demolish the case that such reports can be optimally designed if they have predictive ability. Whilst it's all very fascinating--academically, so to speak--why on earth do we not get down to the situation specific study of the ways individual manager's needs and/or wants for information arise and the outcomes that possession thereof occasions. Marketing and social/psychological researchers spend a very great time indeed analysing such situations. Good marketing research always proceeds through a qualitative stage before attempting to generalise and so of course, do all effective MIS creators and operators, The first discovery we always make is that each individual approaches a similar decision making situation with different expectations, attitudes, risk preferences and the like. That initial approach stance is the outcome of past experiences and learnings as well as the perceived pressures of the current position and the situation looking forward. Taking that stance apart, recently, for four individuals heading up identical management teams, revealed an infinite variety of needs responsiveness and benefit opportunities. And one individual found he could only absorb the information well in picture form (a sociologist); another thrived on numbers (a willing engineer). The medium, if not the message, became a crucially important element determining whether any benefit could result, what could be termed the 'massage'. The arena in which the individual manager makes use of the information he has assimilated also has to be studied in detail. His behaviour must be studied-preferably in comparison with those who do not have similar information but, if this cannot be accomplished, the individual's attitudes and behaviour must be studied longitudinally. It's a daunting prospect for any who are used to working with inanimate machines or who like to believe that their value judgements about what is good for a manager are best. The marketing frater-
O.M.E. 7;2
a
nity call that production orientation and find it works with customers if you are lucky or lucky enough to be empathetic. MIS cost streams in a business, thanks to more than a century of accountancy work and despite some theological divergences of opinion about allocation procedures, are relatively speaking easy to grapple with. The changes in managerial workloads, the shift of time allocation to greater or lesser opportunities, the posing of tactical and/or strategic questions that had hitherto gone unconsidered, these can only be assessed if we believe we should try. We find that the arrival of information frequently creates a need for more information---either for greater benefit to be achieved or because the first information sets undermined previously held confidence. Whether any MIS can be treated on the basis of five-year life-cycle projections that Mathusz suggests is tendentious. Our own experiences are that two or three would be more realistic with costs following the old bathtub curve over that span. Rather like the advertising budget, MIS is probably best handled on a dynamic budgeting approach from a zero base each time. To conclude, Higgins and Finn [ i ] have started the ball rolling by using a marketing research approach. Good. Now let's go further and use the techniques developed in the 60s and 70s. Quintessentially, let's study the Information Consumer with all the skill that the marketing researcher studies the industrial purchasing officer or the housewife. The technique exists. Aux armes. P.S. One of us has started already with university libraries [5]. Since 1972 we've been researching the question: "How much 'good' does a library do?" ll's the opposite view from "How good is the library'?" And both of us have faced the challenge in our own international publishing house with our own MIS. JUDITH ATHERTON
ManagementCentre Universityof Bradford Bradford,W. Yorkshire EnglandBD9 4JL GORDON WILLS
Schoolof Management Cranfield,Bedfordshire EnolandMK43 OAL REFERENCES 1. HIGGINS JC & FINN R (1977) The chief executive and his information system. Omega 5(5), 557-566. 2. MACE JR (1977) Criteria for the selection of reporting method. Omega 5(5), 567-582. 3. MATHUSZ DV (1977) The value of information concept applied to data systems. Omega 5(5), 593-604. 4. Sr~AVELV JH (1967) Accounting information criteria. Acc. Rev. 42, 223-232. 5. OLDMAr~ C & WILLS G (1977) The Beneficial Library. MCB Publications, Bradford, Engl.
10~
Information as a Tangible Benefit THREE contributions in a single recent issue of Omega [1-3] raised the issue of the benefits of information to managers. They all in various ways dodged perhaps the only major outstanding issue in MIS Management Information System. No amount of Mathuszian finesse [3] in measuring the incremental productivity of MIS projects as a basis for choosing between them answers the questions: 'What good do any of them do, and to whom?', The usefulness and benefits of information can only be realised by individual managers in particular situations. Any attempt to devise arbitrary measures of benefit for information services that does not start from and end with an analysis of the situations in which individual managers find themselves must be poppycock. For this reason the survey by Higgins and Finn [1] is encouraging. They are seeking to find out the attitudes which individuals (in their case Chief Executives) have towards corporate models and information, Mace [2] writing on accounting addresses the major issue but simply cites Snavely's [4] listing of attributes which data must have to be useful or beneficial. He is trying to demolish the case that such reports can be optimally designed if they have predictive ability. Whilst it's all very fascinating--academically, so to speak--why on earth do we not get down to the situation specific study of the ways individual manager's needs and/or wants for information arise and the outcomes that possession thereof occasions. Marketing and social/psychological researchers spend a very great time indeed analysing such situations. Good marketing research always proceeds through a qualitative stage before attempting to generalise and so of course, do all effective MIS creators and operators, The first discovery we always make is that each individual approaches a similar decision making situation with different expectations, attitudes, risk preferences and the like. That initial approach stance is the outcome of past experiences and learnings as well as the perceived pressures of the current position and the situation looking forward. Taking that stance apart, recently, for four individuals heading up identical management teams, revealed an infinite variety of needs responsiveness and benefit opportunities. And one individual found he could only absorb the information well in picture form (a sociologist); another thrived on numbers (a willing engineer). The medium, if not the message, became a crucially important element determining whether any benefit could result, what could be termed the 'massage'. The arena in which the individual manager makes use of the information he has assimilated also has to be studied in detail. His behaviour must be studied-preferably in comparison with those who do not have similar information but, if this cannot be accomplished, the individual's attitudes and behaviour must be studied longitudinally. It's a daunting prospect for any who are used to working with inanimate machines or who like to believe that their value judgements about what is good for a manager are best. The marketing frater-
O.M.E. 7;2
a
nity call that production orientation and find it works with customers if you are lucky or lucky enough to be empathetic. MIS cost streams in a business, thanks to more than a century of accountancy work and despite some theological divergences of opinion about allocation procedures, are relatively speaking easy to grapple with. The changes in managerial workloads, the shift of time allocation to greater or lesser opportunities, the posing of tactical and/or strategic questions that had hitherto gone unconsidered, these can only be assessed if we believe we should try. We find that the arrival of information frequently creates a need for more information---either for greater benefit to be achieved or because the first information sets undermined previously held confidence. Whether any MIS can be treated on the basis of five-year life-cycle projections that Mathusz suggests is tendentious. Our own experiences are that two or three would be more realistic with costs following the old bathtub curve over that span. Rather like the advertising budget, MIS is probably best handled on a dynamic budgeting approach from a zero base each time. To conclude, Higgins and Finn [ i ] have started the ball rolling by using a marketing research approach. Good. Now let's go further and use the techniques developed in the 60s and 70s. Quintessentially, let's study the Information Consumer with all the skill that the marketing researcher studies the industrial purchasing officer or the housewife. The technique exists. Aux armes. P.S. One of us has started already with university libraries [5]. Since 1972 we've been researching the question: "How much 'good' does a library do?" ll's the opposite view from "How good is the library'?" And both of us have faced the challenge in our own international publishing house with our own MIS. JUDITH ATHERTON
ManagementCentre Universityof Bradford Bradford,W. Yorkshire EnglandBD9 4JL GORDON WILLS
Schoolof Management Cranfield,Bedfordshire EnolandMK43 OAL REFERENCES 1. HIGGINS JC & FINN R (1977) The chief executive and his information system. Omega 5(5), 557-566. 2. MACE JR (1977) Criteria for the selection of reporting method. Omega 5(5), 567-582. 3. MATHUSZ DV (1977) The value of information concept applied to data systems. Omega 5(5), 593-604. 4. Sr~AVELV JH (1967) Accounting information criteria. Acc. Rev. 42, 223-232. 5. OLDMAr~ C & WILLS G (1977) The Beneficial Library. MCB Publications, Bradford, Engl.