by The Open University
Available in 39 free installments
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Information comprises the meanings and interpretations that people place upon facts, or data. The value of information springs from the ways it is interpreted and applied to make products, to provide services, and so on.
Many modern writers look at organisations in terms of the use they make of information. For instance, one particularly successful model of business is based on the assets that a firm owns. Assets have traditionally meant tangible things like money, property, plant, systems; but business analysts have increasingly recognised that information is itself an asset, crucial to adding value. As Grant said in Section 1, information underpins competitive advantage. Indeed, there are writers, such as Itami and Roehl (1987), who believe that the true value of an organisation is in the information it uses and creates.
But, of course, there is a negative side too: the use of information in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors is increasingly the subject of legislation and regulation, in recognition of the damage its misuse can have on individuals.
Note: All activities in this unit consist of a statement of the activity followed by some guidance and/or a discussion. You should read the guidance before attempting the activity, and the discussion after attempting it.
(a) In your Learning Journal, write down the main objective ? sometimes called the mission ? of your organisation.
(b) List the main kinds of information your organisation requires to meet its mission. Note down any areas in which the mission makes preserving the value of information difficult.
(c) Read the Introduction to IT Governance: A Manager's Guide to Data Security & BS 7799/ISO 177799 (2nd edition) by Alan Calder and Steve Watkins (the Set Book) and make notes on why information is important to a modern organisation.
Your answer to (b) will depend on the nature of your organisation. If your organisation produces a product, you may be able to identify information that is used in the creation of the product, including intellectual property such as designs and patents. If your organisation is a retailer, appropriate information might include customer information and price lists. A not-for-profit organisation will perhaps have employee lists, client lists, stock lists, a charter, etc. All for-profit organisations are required to keep financial information.
Don't worry if you feel that you take little from your reading of the Introduction to the Set Book at this stage. We suggest that you make a note to reread the material, and to refer back to the notes that you made, once you have completed this unit. You are likely to find that you are then better able to appreciate the arguments presented.
(a) The mission of the Open University is to be:
open as to people ? making university study available to an increasingly large and diverse student body and providing learning opportunities that meet individuals' lifelong needs;
open as to places ? providing learning opportunities in the home, workplace and community throughout the UK and selectively elsewhere, and serving an increasingly mobile population;
open as to methods ? using and developing the most effective media and technologies for learning, teaching and assessment whilst attaching central importance to the personal academic support given to students; and working collaboratively with others to extend and enrich lifelong learning;
open as to ideas ? developing a vibrant academic community that reflects and supports the diversity of intellectual interests of all our students and staff and that is dedicated to the advancement and sharing of knowledge through research and scholarship.
(b) Within the Open University there are very many types of information that are required to meet this mission. Examples include the following.
Teaching information: This information is provided in the huge range of courses the OU produces, thus supporting the first, third and fourth of the mission statements. By providing teaching information in a variety of formats, including printed text and electronic text, the second mission statement is supported too.
Research information: This information is embodied in the research documents written by OU researchers, and supports the third and fourth mission statements.
The teaching and research information also provides the basis for much of the OU's funding, thus indirectly supporting all four mission statements.
Administrative information: An example is provided by the student records kept on courses studied and results, one use of which is to allow the OU to suggest appropriate choices of future study, thus supporting the first mission statement.
Strategic information: Such information includes documents that explore the possible futures of the OU, including proposed buildings, academic programmes and catering plans, thus providing support for all the mission statements.
The openness expressed in the mission makes the value of information difficult to preserve, and so this openness needs to be tempered by some measure of closedness, to protect the OU's competitive advantage in teaching, for instance.
(c) The Introduction to IT Governance: A Manager's Guide to Data Security & BS 7799/ISO 177799 stresses the ‘convergence between business management and IT management? and hence the importance of information in the running of a business. It also asserts that the ‘commercial viability and profitability? of organisations ‘increasingly depends on the security, confidentiality and integrity of their information?. Later, it states that information is becoming ‘more and more the strategic [enabler] of organisational activity? and that it is ‘the very life-blood of most organisations today?.
Original Copyright © 2007 The Open University. Now made available within the Creative Commons framework under the CC Attribution – Non-commercial licence (see http://creativecommons.org/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/).
