Organisational Culture for Information Managers (eBook)

Gillian Oliver (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF | EPUB

2011 | 1. Auflage
192 Seiten
Elsevier Science (Verlag)
978-1-78063-275-9 (ISBN)

Infos

In today's digital environment the workplace is characterised by individuals creating information perhaps independently of formal systems, or establishing new systems without knowledge of information management requirements. This book explains and explores the concept of organisational culture, specifically within the domain of information management. It draws on the author's wide-ranging practical experience in different workplaces and uses research findings from cross-cultural studies of information management. - Uses research findings from cross-cultural studies of information management - Provides tools to develop practical and realistic solutions to real-world problems - Draws on the author's wide-ranging practical experience in different workplaces.

Dr Gillian Oliver is a Senior Lecturer in Archives and Records Management at the School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Her background in professional practice spans both library and records environments - most recently in digital preservation. Working in Britain, continental Europe and New Zealand prompted an interest in cultural differences for Oliver in the ways in which information is managed. This has been her principal motivator in researching organisational culture in depth.

Textauszug

1

The significance of organisational culture

Abstract:

This chapter explains the concept of organisational culture and establishes why it is necessary for information managers to understand this. The values accorded to information and attitudes to it are indicative of the information culture of organisations; understanding organisational culture will enable the development of appropriate strategies and systems. Two contrasting views of organisational culture are discussed, one which assumes culture is solely internally based and the other which acknowledges the external environment in which the organisation is situated.

Key words

organisational culture

information culture

national culture

Introduction

This chapter begins by discussing why it is important to understand organisational culture. Then I start to establish what organisational culture encompasses. Although it is a term that most people are familiar with, and many use frequently when discussing their workplace, interpretation and understanding vary greatly. Two of the key perspectives are discussed, one of which has unfortunately been very prevalent and influential on management thinking, to the detriment of information management. The final section of this chapter outlines the multilevel approach to organisational culture that underpins the thinking in this book, acknowledging the existence of national, occupational and corporate cultural influences in shaping our working environments.

Why is understanding organisational culture so important?

Whether you are a librarian, records manager or archivist, the objective of your work is to manage information. The primary purpose for which you are attempting to manage information will vary according to your occupation. Records managers and archivists manage information as evidence, for accountability. Librarians manage information for knowledge and awareness, and also sometimes for entertainment. So far, so good. These distinct purposes provide a universality for the work undertaken by information managers and enable us to work collaboratively (regionally, nationally and globally) to explore and develop appropriate technologies, systems and processes. However, the specific organisational context that librarians, records managers and archivists are working within is a primary influence on the way that they go about achieving their work objectives. For example, the way in which you would go about ensuring your clients are mindful of their information management obligations in a very structured setting such as a law firm would be quite different to a more anarchic environment such as a university.

Most information managers fulfil key roles in providing the necessary infrastructure to enable the organisation that they serve to function efficiently and effectively. But the nature of that organisation will vary widely, according to a number of factors, in particular

 Geography – Where the organisation is situated, whether it is multinational or restricted to one region or country. These features will determine the legislative environment, the languages used by employees and customers, and national cultural characteristics. Also of critical importance are the information and communication technology (ICT) capabilities of the location. For example, ready access to wireless internet facilities will be a significant influencer on the expectations of employees for accessing and creating information.

 The functions of the organisation – These will determine the legislation and standards that the organisation is subject to, which in turn will influence the types of information created and required to be accessed and retained.

 The management of the organisation – This may affect the priority accorded to managing information, and resourcing of those activities. Also, the priorities accorded to information systems, information literacy and digital literacy skills of staff throughout the organisation will in turn impact on the success of information management initiatives.

These factors are intertwined, and are likely to influence each other, but all play a role in shaping the culture of the organisation. Each of these will be explored further in this book.

Understanding the importance of these factors will enable the diagnosis of an organisation’s information culture – that is, the values accorded to information, and attitudes towards it, specifically within organisational contexts. Every organisation, no matter how large or small, regardless of type and function, wherever in the world it is situated, has an information culture. Table 1.1 presents a framework for the assessment of information culture; the levels are explored in Chapter 6.

Table 1.1

Framework for information culture assessment

Information culture is inextricably intertwined with organisational culture, and it is only by understanding the organisation that progress can be made with information management initiatives.

Organisations are microcosms of their broader societal context. They may appear to be self-contained, but definitely do not exist in isolation from their broader context. Often consideration of organisational culture focuses solely on internal factors, primarily management and resourcing. The key aim of this book, however, is to highlight and untangle all those features that influence what happens at the library, records service or archives.

One of the features that characterise information management is the sheer diversity of settings in which it is implemented. For that reason, many practitioners remain in the same environment and it can be difficult to swap settings, largely because of the specialist skills and knowledge required. A law librarian, for instance, attempting to change focus to a hospital setting will often be regarded as making a career shift and may find entry into the new field problematic. Consequently, any consideration given to the more fine-grained or nuanced aspects of organisational culture is often overlooked. Where there is differentiation according to setting in literature and guidelines for practice, this is generally restricted to broad-brush domains such as medicine and law. Nevertheless, the work of information managers in, say, hospitals in various parts of the world, although focused on the same outcomes, may be quite different in terms of priorities accorded to different services and activities.

The ways in which information managers will be affected by organisational culture will vary according to the extent to which the main elements of their work (users and materials) are internal to the organisation, or external. For example:

 Special librarians in businesses, government departments, hospitals and so on will customise services to suit the needs of their clientele, who are likely to be generally internal to the organisation. Those needs will reflect, and be influenced by, the culture of the organisation.

 Records managers and archivists in similar settings also have the challenge of customising and targeting services. In addition, the environment will greatly impact on the information itself that is the focus of their information management goals, namely, the ways in which records are created, managed and stored by individuals.

 In public library settings, organisational cultural challenges will be experienced not so much from the user or information perspective, but in dealing with the parent body. Public librarians have to understand the organisational culture of the local authority in which they are operating, in order to formulate appropriate strategies and present them in such a way as to facilitate acceptance.

 In further educational settings such as universities, clients will vary much more widely on the spectrum of internal to external. Students occupy more ambiguous territory as they are officially part of the organisation, but may be quite peripheral, especially if study is on a part-time basis. Also the complexity of the subcultures associated with the different disciplines that make up the university is enormously challenging.

Organisational culture and information management – academic research

There is an extensive body of literature published about research into information technologies and culture, including organisational and national comparative studies. The growth of multinational organisations, and deployment of information and communication technologies facilitating the globalisation of business have brought cross-cultural management and communication issues to the fore. An analysis of articles published in the leading information systems journals over a nine-year period identified over three hundred articles relating to global information management, i.e. ‘the development, use and management of information systems in a global/international context’ (Gallupe & Tan, 1999: 1).

In contrast to information systems, there has been very little published research on the role of organisational and/ or national culture in the library and recordkeeping fields. J. Periam Danton proposed an outline curriculum for the study of comparative...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 4.3.2011
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Buchhandel / Bibliothekswesen
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Planung / Organisation
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Unternehmensführung / Management
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Wirtschaftsinformatik
• ISBN-10: 1-78063-275-4 / 1780632754
• ISBN-13: 978-1-78063-275-9 / 9781780632759