The objective of this research is to identify the communicational aspects of organizational intelligence related to the management of information units. For this analysis, the theoretical contributions of Rodríguez (2008), Rodríguez and Galán (2007), Orozco (2007), Sánchez and Calzada (2006) Núñez (2006) and Paredes (2008) were used. Research according to its purpose is descriptive, field and non-experimental in design. The study population was made up of 25 directors of informative document management units from the public universities of the Maracaibo municipality (LUZ, UBV and UNA). As data collection techniques, a questionnaire made up of Lickert scale questions was used.It concludes by identifying and describing the communicational aspects of organizational intelligence related to the management of information units (clarity, timeliness, security, validity, adequacy and extensibility), evidence that allows the development of superior quality in the processes of management. The characteristics of each of these aspects lead to ensuring that organizational intelligence, information and communication complement each other.
Abstract
The objective of this research is to identify the communication aspects of organizational intelligence related to the management of information units. For this analysis, we used the theoretical contributions of Rodriguez (2008), Rodriguez and Galan (2007), Orozco (2007), Sanchez and Calzada (2006) Nunez (2006) and Paredes (2008). Research as its purpose is descriptive, field and non-experimental design. The study population consisted of 25 directors in the document management information of public universities in Maracaibo (LIGHT, UBV and A). As data collection techniques used a questionnaire consisting of questions Lickert type scale. We conclude by identifying and describing the communication aspects of organizational intelligence related to the management of information units (clarity, timeliness, security, validity, adequacy,and extensibility) is evidenced that allow the development of superior quality processes management. The characteristics of each of these aspects lead to ensure that the organizational intelligence, communication information and are complementary.
1. Introduction
Organizations today need to refine the use of their resources and simplify their operations to be in tune with current technological advances. This goal would be achieved through the implementation of processes adapted to their needs, applying organizational intelligence, improving corporate communication and recognizing the advantages of information management systems and information and communication technologies.
Sánchez and Calzada (2006) consider that in countries such as Spain and the United States, organizational intelligence is the product resulting from the collection, evaluation, analysis, integration and interpretation of the information available on aspects of foreign nations or areas of operation that are significant for planning. From this, information management is derived as the key to the development of administrative and organizational management functions.
In addition, as Uribe (2005) points out, the information units of the organizations, specifically in the information document management centers, require intelligence management both from the perspective of market and society conditions, as well as of the needs of their audiences; strategic planning, organization, direction of the different resources, control and constant evaluation of their organizational performance; seeking with all this, to be more efficient, effective, effective and competitive.
In this context, management in the information units faces the challenge of conceiving an operation adapted to current information demands and contributing to generating information services that add value to the community they serve.
Current trends in organizational intelligence applied to management in information units would allow developing actions that satisfy the needs of users, both internal and external (Moreira, 2006). Likewise, those organizations that apply intelligence adopt processes that lead to identifying, managing numerous interrelated procedures, analyzing and consistently following the development together to obtain continuous improvement in results by eliminating errors and redundant processes in the different organizational strategic functions.
Therefore, the application of intelligence today has become a fundamental tool for interpreting the information of any organization. Viability of the organizational intelligence process allows strengthening the management of important volumes of institutional information and heterogeneous data sources.
On the other hand, organizational intelligence as a process of analysis of the assets, documents or data accumulated in the organization, is in charge of extracting knowledge from them. So it is considered a new approach and a culture that universities must have for the management and use of information in today's society.
Organizational intelligence has been conceived as the capacity and function of data collection and analysis in order to systematically record and disseminate relevant information about the external environment and internal conditions of the organization. This allows creating knowledge suitable for decision-making and the strategic orientation of organizations (Núñez, 2006).
However, intelligence and information management are projected into the environment that surrounds the organization, which must be understood. Institutions are surrounded, both internally and externally, with information; but this does not always correspond to the expectations or demands of society and organizations. When corporate processes are communicated, it is important to act with intelligence, determination, sagacity, discernment, and critical thinking. On some occasions, the information communicated may contain errors or inaccuracies, be used in unethical personal interests or be confusing and inconsistent.
So, if there is no adequate management in the information units, which corresponds to current administrative trends; Public institutions of higher education may obtain unfavorable results in their organizational intelligence actions.
Based on the ideas presented on information management and organizational communication; and in order to avoid the forecasts presented, this research work aims to identify the communicational aspects of organizational intelligence related to the management of information units.
2. Communicational aspects of organizational intelligence
The relationship established between communication and intelligence, according to Rodríguez (2008), is observed in different ways in correspondence with the conceptions and specific contexts in which they develop. However, the characteristics of each one lead to ensuring that organizational intelligence, information and communication complement each other.
For Arévalo (2008) communication, consisting of a sender, a receiver, a means of communication and a message; it is maintained only by the exchange between the parties. Likewise, internal and external signals are received in organizations, but the development of a communication process will only generate excellent feedback through organizational intelligence.
Communication is a process of dialogue, where the parties accept and trust that the exchange of information will be useful for both. According to Streatfield and Wilson (1999, cited by Deagostini and Comenzana, 2005), improving an organization's sensitivity to the importance of knowledge demands a cultural change towards greater openness, with the consequent risks and costs. In general, information is considered a source of power and sharing it means losing part of it.
For Manfredini (2007), communication is considered one of the elements that fosters contact between human beings and is present in any context where man is a part, since it allows people to exchange knowledge, share experiences, ideas and feelings. When individuals relate, there is such an influence that it modifies the reality in which they are immersed. This modification also occurs in organizations, since they are made up of human talent and, in turn, are their raison d'être.
Similarly, organizational intelligence will allow the exchange of information and knowledge on the operation of the organization and define and promote its image through the use of communication (Deagostini and Cormenzana, 2005).
For organizational intelligence, Núñez (2006) indicates that communication is vital, since organizational intelligence processes include actions of search, location, filtering, storage, analysis of information of different types according to the objectives of the organization and its different entities. and groups. These actions involve re-elaboration of information with added value, creation of informative products and selective dissemination of the same through organizational structures and towards the environment.
Furthermore, organizational intelligence is linked to communication with the environment; However, the author cited continues mentioning, this intelligence is closely linked to the management in the informative document management units, for the integration of internal and external information in order to analyze and put knowledge management into action in the organization because of the relativity between the organization and the environment. This derives from the conception of open organizations, and the communication facilities established by information and communication technologies.
However, for communication effectiveness, trust between the parties and the feeling that both obtain benefits are necessary. The information provider must consider the communication process as part of its work, and not feel that it compromises its performance. The receiver must be certain that the information provided is adequate, and trust it to be able to use it.
Organizational communication, for Castro (2007) is a necessary strategic tool to achieve added value that differentiates the organization within the competitive environment. If communication is developed correctly, it will help the organization to function properly and more easily achieve its profitability objectives, be it economic, social or both.
Likewise, Chiavenato (2006) considers that communication in companies is an efficient decision-making process and leads to efficient conduct for the system in general, therefore the decision-making process can be efficient, since it requires definitive group conditions in where everyone is a participant in the communication process. Furthermore, Helliringel and Scolum (2002) define communication as a process that uses the transfer of ideas, information and meanings between people, it involves not only the transmission but also the understanding of messages.
Organizational intelligence, through the communication process, allows, according to Porto (2009), to control elements such as organizational inertia, ambiguity of information ownership and destination, the difficulty in assigning value to information, its low level of use and analysis. These elements attempt against the fulfillment of strategic objectives, mission and vision of the companies.
In this sense, Arévalo (2008) indicates that communication, oral or written, is the substantive content of the organizations' information units, and conditions all management workflow in them. A well-recorded communication in any medium is essential for decision-making and to determine organizational objectives.
Likewise, continues to indicate the cited author, any manager who does not have data and information with attributes of accuracy, relevance and updating, will encounter many difficulties in controlling the organization and launching new projects. On the other hand, as communication flows and is constantly modified in organizations, the information transmitted will include essential characteristics for the development of organizational intelligence.
In another order of ideas, the communicational aspects of organizational intelligence, according to Núñez (2006) allow to identify, analyze, represent and modify the functional structure of the organization, its work and information flows, control processes, link people, functions and tasks with each other and the environment.
Likewise, Arévalo (2008) and Deagostini and Comenzana (2005) state that organizational intelligence, taking into account the way in which the members of organizations exchange information and knowledge, contains the following superior quality communicational aspects: clarity, opportunity, security, validity, adequacy and extensibility. These aspects are determining factors for the determination of objectives, control and innovation, since the quality of communication is a decisive factor to correctly guide organizational objectives and decision-making.
2.1. Clarity
Both organizational intelligence and communication are intelligible to the user or issuer of both. Arévalo (2008) indicates that the information by itself must be universal, therefore it must be understandable from any point of view. This characteristic is essential to carry the organizational processes for decision making and problem solving. Porto (2009) mentions that the effectiveness of collective thinking and decision-making processes will depend on clarity in the dissemination of information.
Supporting this idea, León, Castañeda and Sánchez (2007) indicates that clarity in communication is the first requirement for the development of organizational intelligence, since the collective mind resides in processes through which some people influence others through the perfect transmission of your ideas.
2.2. Opportunity
All communication based on organizational intelligence, according to Arévalo (2008), should reach its users in due time. This aspect is more profound, since from the organizational point of view the spread of information is considered to be the propitiator of opportunity.
For Núñez (2007), all the approaches and models oriented to information and communication management, as well as organizational learning are based on strategies to create, transform, transfer or socialize knowledge, develop intelligence and be based on communicational exchange. within teams and between work groups.
Likewise, León, Castañeda and Sánchez (2007) point out that, to achieve good results in the development of organizational intelligence, the knowledge of each of the members must be disseminated among them and this is achieved through timely communicative interaction. Likewise, there must be excellent communication between the members of the organization that allows the timely exchange of knowledge.
2.3. Security
Security allows different information users to use the same procedures to obtain the same data. Arévalo (2008) indicates that in organizational intelligence these data will be those collected through the research instruments developed by the organization.
For León, Castañeda and Sánchez (2007), obtaining data collected through monitoring processes of all the information and skills available, both internally and from the environment, allows the development of knowledge and organizational intelligence. If the procedures used are uncommon or unknown to the strategic and tactical areas of the organization, the development of knowledge is delayed, increases its costs and creates an insecure environment, which reduces the opportunities to produce effective innovations.
2.4. Validity
Communication is represented in the form of concepts and measures in accordance with reality, using pre-established conventional languages (Arévalo, 2008). For Porto (2009), validity allows us to measure the degree to which the information represents what it intends to communicate. In organizational intelligence, validity in communication includes logical coherence, using correct symbols and languages, and prediction, where descriptive statements are in conformity with forms of knowledge and with data from original sources.
In this aspect, Núñez (2006) indicates that the use of a valid and common language in communication throughout the organization is the appropriate way to articulate common conceptions, both cognitive and affective, connect the dispositions and create a structure that allows to generate, use and communicate organizational knowledge between individuals and groups. This indicates that there is a unity between communication, knowledge, intelligence and organizational learning.
Likewise, the information disseminated among the members of a team can raise the limitations of each individual's mind and lead to the solution of problems that each one could not solve alone. In this process, according to León, Castañeda and Sánchez (2007), mutual feedback between individuals is essential, who must use a valid common language for integration with the entire organization.
2.5. Adequacy
Organizational intelligence uses adequate communication, accounting for all the facts and testimonies of the activities carried out. Arévalo (2008) mentions that in the information units it refers to the communication supported in the documents, which constitute a set of “realities” registered for the use of the organization.
Proper oral or written communication enables each team member to gain a common understanding of core concepts and differences and makes future communication more effective. According to León, Castañeda and Sánchez (2007), the existence of an atmosphere of a team that communicates adequately shows who can or should adopt a certain function in different situations, in order to meet the objectives with greater efficiency.
2.6. Extensibility
Through organizational intelligence, communication supports the achievement of organizational objectives, because the processed information presents application options and possibilities for decision-making and problem solving. According to Arévalo (2008), organizational intelligence is essential for the generation of knowledge in companies and institutions, since it develops processes that allow detecting and understanding changes, creating knowledge and making decisions with the required rationality. These processes have a marked dependence on information, communication and knowledge.
However, Núñez (2006) points out that extensibility, as a communication process linked to organizational intelligence, can be more complex when it occurs in different groups (either within the organization with different functions or with the external environment), given by differences between subcultures or specific group senses, different points of view on the same meanings. But these differences can more clearly reproduce and apply new knowledge.
In this way, the reproduction of knowledge is based on documents, since it facilitates its usability and integration. According to Probst, Raub and Romhardt (2002, cited by León, Castañeda and Sánchez, 2007), corporate documents are an essential and transcendental source of information that shows the memory of those operations that have given some result within the organization.
3. Methodology
This research is descriptive, since, as mentioned by Hernández, Fernández and Baptista (2006), it will independently measure the variables under study.
The description leads the researcher to present the object of study as it is, groups the facts and turns them into information that characterizes the observed reality. In this way, it seeks to describe distinctive and particular characteristic aspects of the object of study (Finol and Camacho, 2006).
The design of the present investigation is non-experimental, transectional, through which no situation is constructed, but rather existing situations are observed, not intentionally caused by the researcher.
Non-experimental research is one that is carried out without deliberately manipulating the variables, that is, the phenomenon is observed as it occurs in its natural context, and then analyzed. Non-experimental designs have less rigorous control than the experimental one, which is more natural and closer to everyday reality (Fernández, Hernández and Baptista, 2006).
On the other hand, the investigation is transectional, since the variables of study, organizational intelligence and management of information units are measured only once, without taking into account their evolution or changes over time. As Hernández, Fernández and Baptista (2006) mention, cross-sectional or transectional research designs aim to describe the variables and analyze their influence and interrelation at a given moment, at a single moment.
In descriptive investigations, the population confirms the credibility of the phenomenon studied. For Hernández, Fernández and Baptista (2006), the population represents the subjects or objects of study, who will be measured according to the initial approach of the investigation.
The population object of study for the development of this investigation is represented by the managers of the informative document management units or information units of the public universities of the Maracaibo municipality.
According to Reyes et al. (2009) and Finol and Camacho (2006), the selection of the population sample can be census or calculated. It is census by involving all the informants in the investigation process, when the limited sample or the conditions of the investigation so require. In the case of the present investigation, since it is a finite population of up to fifty (50) subjects, the sample was determined by population census.
Regarding the data collection technique, whose purpose, according to Reyes et al. (2009), is to measure the nature and degree of individual differentiation, the survey was used and the questionnaire as an instrument. This instrument validated by 5 experts and with reliability verified through Cronbach's Alpha coefficient, consisted of a series of questions designed with alternatives and closed answers, with a Lickert-type scale, consisting of “a set of items presented in the form of statements or trials before which the reaction of the subjects to whom they are administered is requested ”(Hernández, Fernández and Baptista, 2006, p. 264) and whose characteristics allow obtaining written information from the respondents.
The data analysis technique used in the research is descriptive statistics for each variable, since the frequency distribution was carried out with their respective tables (Finol and Camacho, 2006). The answers offered by the respondents, through the questionnaire, were presented in frequency and percentage tables for each indicator and sub-indicator, which were necessary for the qualitative descriptive analysis and discussion of the results.
4. Results
To identify the communicational aspects of organizational intelligence related to the management of the information units, the statistical calculation of the results obtained from the object of study was carried out, who in this case is represented by the directors of the informative documentary management units of the public universities of the Maracaibo Municipality (See Table 1).
The indicator of opportunity as a communicational aspect of organizational intelligence showed a trend towards 52.00% for the alternative almost always, since the studied mentioned that with this frequency the information is disseminated timely to the organization. Likewise, 42.00% indicated that it is always disseminated in a timely manner and 6.00% indicated that it was carried out sometimes.
It is also verified that the data and information recovery security processes are always (38.00%) and almost always (38.00%) standardized and certified by the university. However, 22.00% indicates that sometimes and only 2.00% think that they are almost never.
With regard to validity, it is distinguished in Table 1 that 54.66% consider that the information disseminated almost always represents what they intend to communicate and that communication among staff is efficient and 33.33% indicate that it always is. Of the respondents, only 12.00% reported that validity is sometimes presented in the information.
For the adequacy indicator, it is evident that 58.66% shows that they always use adequate communication, accounting for all the facts and testimonies of the activities carried out. Likewise, 37.33% use it almost always and 4.00% sometimes.
And it can also be verified that 61.33% of the subjects studied always consider that the information allows the university to be supported in its decision-making and to create knowledge. Furthermore, 34.66% indicated that this occurs almost always. Of the respondents, only 2.66% showed that this sometimes happened and 1.33% never.
5. Conclusions and Recommendations
Through the identification and description of the communicational aspects of organizational intelligence related to the management of information units, it has been shown that clarity, timeliness, security, validity, adequacy and extensibility allow the development of superior quality in management processes. The characteristics of each of these aspects lead to ensuring that organizational intelligence, information and communication complement each other.
Likewise, public universities are in an environment that constantly demands information to make decisions. Therefore, it is recommended that the competent governing bodies establish and carry out explicit information and communication policies that contribute to organizational intelligence processes, in order to minimize their management problems based on information that can be accessed through multiple channels or formal or informal routes.
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