Summary
Knowledge and information have been essential factors throughout the history of the evolution of organizations, both to achieve organizational goals and to boost productivity and job performance. Most corporate executives rely on information and communication technologies to collect, store and manage information and knowledge. However, within the executive level there are controversies as to whether or not modern technologies effectively support these processes, which are definitely essential for better decision making. That is why, in this article, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), such as large data warehouses and techniques to manage and administer data and information,They are one of the conditioning priorities that every organization must execute in order to achieve its organizational objectives.
Introduction
Some of the technological tools applied to modern corporations by senior executives (Senior Management) for the decision-making process are, among others, the Knowledge Administration (KM) –that is closely linked to knowledge workers-; Business Information Systems -where ERP is one of the most important-; storing the information in large receptacles known as the Data Warehouse (DW) and Data Mining to explore and manage such information; Digital networks such as the Internet and Intranet, among others, are part of this influence of technology in large companies.
Knowledge and information technologies in decision making
There is controversy in the opinions of executives regarding the great benefits of incorporating these technological tools to support the decision-making process. But does IT really play a relevant role in decision-making of large corporations? Does implementing them lead corporations to success and achieving their goals? Here we will try to answer these questions.
Specialists offer managers two completely different technologies to support administrative processes, according to the opinion of Seely, BJ and Duguid, P. (2000). These are Process Engineering and Knowledge Management, where the first one deals with the structured coordination of people and information and is from the top down, it also assumes that it is easy to code the creation of value and establishes that organizations compete in a predictable environment. The second, instead, focuses more on effectiveness than on efficiency and is from the bottom up. She believes that managers can better promote knowledge with inventiveness and improvisation, with which people really achieve things. Knowledge Management, unlike Process Engineering,believes that value creation activities are not easy to pin down and assumes that organizations compete in an unpredictable environment. On the other hand, Knowledge Management supports companies in such a way that those that could efficiently capture the knowledge hosted in their organizations could take over the future.
According to Shah, S., Horne, A. and Capellá, J. (2012), Organizations that use data in a better way, should train employees with techniques to increase their knowledge of the data to incorporate with more efficient information in decision-making and also offer them the right tools. These can be acquired through workshops, or more effectively, through ongoing training. Today, the ability to find, store, and analyze data has grown exponentially, and companies are investing many millions of dollars to manage vital supplier and customer information.
For this they rely on Information Systems such as Data Warehouse -to store large volumes of data, which is defined as an integrated collection of corporate information designed for recovery and analysis in support of decision-making processes; Data Mining, to search for information; Management Information Systems such as CRMs (Customer Relations Management System), to manage customer information; SCMs (Supply Chain Management) to manage logistics between suppliers and customers and their inventories and DSS (Decision Support System).
As Jacobson, A. and Prusak, L. mention, Knowledge Management is a very useful tool in organizations for searching and obtaining knowledge. Both web browsers and data mining collect a large number of terabytes of emails and documents looking for clues that connect information requesters to sources. These information search processes are very expensive and, moreover, they go up in price about 25% annually, according to a study by the International Data Corporation (IDC). They also point out that executives should be concerned with understanding why some employees are more skilled than others at collecting knowledge and adapting it for their own use. They advise that they look in their companies who do a good job like a CRM, for example,You have the ability to acquire customer information about your company's products that are important to them.
On the other hand, Johns, T. and Gratton Spotlight, L. (2013) consider that Knowledge workers are today independent and capable of performing tasks anywhere and anytime, thanks to the development of work virtualization. As a first wave, virtual freelancers (virtual freelancers) arrived. Large-scale freelance work started in the 1980s, when it emerged as a "nation of freelancers," virtual workers using recent technology such as email and networking. These new technologies allowed an individual or a specialized service provider company to be hired without going to a workplace and to perform remote work.These technologies benefited marginalized talent and allowed parents at home, retirees, and students to enter the job market. The main services provided included graphic design, report writing, translation and document transcription. Businesses benefited from hiring virtual freelancers for discrete jobs that didn't rely on real-time collaboration, so both parties gained flexibility. Freelance virtual workers installed offices in their homes, gaining control over their free location, their working hours and their processes.Businesses benefited from hiring virtual freelancers for discrete jobs that didn't rely on real-time collaboration, so both parties gained flexibility. Virtual freelance workers set up offices in their homes, gaining control over their free location, their working hours and their processes.Businesses benefited from hiring virtual freelancers for discrete jobs that didn't rely on real-time collaboration, so both parties gained flexibility. Freelance virtual workers installed offices in their homes, gaining control over their free location, their working hours and their processes.
On the other hand, there are those who believe that technologies such as Knowledge Management is not what everyone believes, for example, Gilmour, D. (2003) mentions that it is a fiction that Knowledge Management is strategically supporting companies in the United States, Those who spend billions of dollars a year on software and other resources to encourage information sharing among employees, but don't know where the cost advantage is. Thus, the problem is that most of the executive information that is shared is based on a failed advertising model, where someone collects information from employees, organizes it, advises its availability and sits down to see what happens. Employees quickly collect a large amount of information and there is no time to fully capture it.They only collect a fraction and sometimes the published knowledge is already obsolete.
In our information age, the best times are the worst, because although the hardware is modern, portable and cheap, corporations today invest much more in technologies, as well as their total expenditure on facilities - offices, warehouses and factories. For example, in 1987 US companies spent an average of US $ 1,500 per employee, but in 2005, this expense had more than tripled, -US $ 5,100 per employee. Furthermore, given the abundance of technology in the market, executives face three problems: 1. What does each technology do, 2. What technology should they buy and 3. How can it be successfully implemented in their main processes. Most managers feel unable to handle so much technological change and for that reason they are less involved with Information Technology projects. In 2005,A study of nearly 800 American executives found that 50% said it was a big problem to align business with information technology strategies, says McAfee, A. (2006).
Opinions about the strategic advantage of employing IT in organizations have executives divided into two camps: Those who believe that IT support is crucial in executive decision-making and those who believe that the use of IT technologies Information does not represent any strategic advantage in corporations. However, the important thing for decision-making is that executives do not see information technology projects only as technological facilities, but must also begin to understand these projects as stages of organizational change, where senior management has the responsibility to manage.
The more you try to make a change, the more things stay the same, comment Sirkin, HL, Keenan, P. & Jackson, A. (2005, Oct). Additionally, executives employ different approaches in different parts of the organization, making the confusion that normally accompanies change even worse.
The application of Information Technology in an organization also represents a notable organizational change and change in employee attitudes, which executives often fail to understand. This change management is complicated because, in part, there is little agreement among executives on the factors that most impact change initiatives. Studies conducted in this regard show that in most organizations, two out of three change initiatives fail.
Executives have a lot to do with the success or failure of any project involving information technology. Administrators must react and put all their knowledge and experience to change when using new technology. As McAfee, A. (2006) points out, technologies can cause a project to fail, but they cannot ensure that it succeeds. For this, the participation of managers from outside IT is required. Administrators accept - behind closed doors - that IT success requires their participation and commitment, but they have no idea when, where, and how they should get involved. In part it is because they usually operate without a model of what IT brings to organizations,how they can affect companies and what executives must do in order for the implementation of information technologies to be successful.
Bibliographic reference
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