1. Introduction
In Venezuela, public sector organizations have been characterized by a complex organizational structure, centralization in decision-making, short-term orientation, as well as excessive formalization, which leads to the weakening of the university model focused on the significant transformation that impacts on Qualitative and quantitative aspects, where articulated management prevails and responds to the new demands and advances that are taking place in the area of corporate communication and information management and services.
In effect, the management in the information units of public universities merits the strengthening of a culture of communication, teamwork and training of personnel in the new technological trends on the treatment and use of information in organizations. These processes must contribute to the competitive development of the university sector.
In addition, the information units or information document management units within public universities are constituted with the fundamental purpose of providing information services and protection of university memory, where preserved documents come together because they are considered to be of cultural, historical, administrative and legal, transcendent for organizational and social purposes.
These university management support units are fundamental entities to effectively administer the intellectual records of human capital that contribute to guaranteeing the continuity of development achieved by higher education institutions. Likewise, they enable the achievements and weaknesses of each management to be known for dissemination and analysis, to compare it with the current one and to verify the results.
It is important to highlight that the technical processes to manage the documents and offer them to the users (codification, classification, arrangement and document description), as well as the management processes carried out in the information units (planning, organization, management, measurement and control) favor universities in achieving their objectives in a positive environment for productivity and academic-administrative quality. If these processes do not adapt to current global scientific and technological trends, the services offered will be out of date with reality and will not favor efficient and timely organizational decision-making.
Identify the management processes of the information units of public universities.
2. Management Processes of the Information Units
In essence, for Bonachera (2005), the management of information units is in charge of planning, organizing, directing, measuring and controlling the resources, systems and actions associated with the information; Its development aims to minimize costs and maximize benefits derived from its use and treatment, while assigning information responsibilities to ensure a constant circulation of information flows.
Likewise, Cantera (2008) considers that the management of information units constitutes the set of knowledge and practices related to the structuring, organization and operation of documentary institutions, which implies considering the conceptual dimension that they present as organizations and open systems. to the environment in which they operate, and observe their performance as a result of the set of decision processes they adopt.
The information units, according to Gutiérrez and Zárate (2007), need the principles that underlie and sustain the administrative process for the agile, fluid and expeditious achievement of their objectives, even when their purposes are not profit or economic gain, to achieve its purpose of satisfying documentary information needs of users who are part of the society that establishes it.
Consequently, the information units, which comprise buildings, material, economic and human resources to achieve their objectives, need management. For Cantera (2008) the application of management processes is, to a large extent, the result of the recognized importance of the use of information as a strategic resource for organizations.
Two types of resources are managed in organizations: tangible and intangible assets. The former, among which are material and financial resources, allow the development of production processes in organizations. The latter, made up of information and knowledge, among others, determine the organizational benefits and the fulfillment of long-term strategies and aspirations. For these reasons, both must be administered properly.
However, management understood as a set of operations and actions that give life and dynamism to the periods of activities of the organizations, must be organized and integrated with the classic stages of the administrative process that includes planning, organization, integration, management and planning. control (Gutiérrez and Zárate, 2007). In other words, management is the action that is executed and carried out in each and every one of the operations and tasks of the entire administrative process in its different stages.
2.1. Planning
The planning process as a management technique, according to Bonachera (2005), in many cases, for the information units, is critical, because they cannot count on tangible benefits due to their non-profit nature and, nevertheless, must respond on budgets paid with taxation of taxpayers.
Likewise, Jaramillo, Montoya and Uribe (2008) mention that planning is an administrative process that allows developing and maintaining a strategic position between the information unit and the changing external conditions that the context offers or demands. Therefore, both the external context in which it operates (determined by threats and opportunities) and the skills of human talent, linked to the internal context of the information unit (to enhance its strengths and eliminate or overcome weaknesses).
However, Bonachera (2005) indicates that non-planning or random planning, could not mean a failure in the management of the information units, much less its disappearance. This would be unthinkable for reasons obvious to a public body. However, it would subtract great possibilities and opportunities against competitors, because planning can go a long way to avoid mistakes when making decisions.
Regarding this idea, Chiavenato (2006) indicates that planning must be carried out at three levels of the organization, at the institutional level (strategic planning), intermediate level (tactical planning) and operational level (operational planning). Since planning attempts to make decisions based on judgments of each organizational level and not only on the data that allow us to face the environmental elements in the long, medium and short term.
In another order of ideas, planning designates, according to Bonachera (2005), the process of determining in advance the way forward. It consists of determining in advance what should be done, how it should be done, how much should be done and who should do it. It involves a forecast of the future and an analysis of the present to determine a mission, entrust oneself with objectives and carry out a series of activities aimed at achieving them.
For Melinkoff (2004), planning involves the idea of rationality, understood as the choice of one possibility among many. It also includes a rational ordering of resources, after precise objectives, and implies a formulation and execution in harmonic synthesis. This will allow material, spiritual and social satisfaction inside and outside the organization.
Likewise, Méndez (2004) indicates that the planning process is "a prospective function and has its own theory and methodology that supports it" (p. 31). Managers must make decisions about what they are going to do and how they are going to do it.
Likewise, the author identifies two moments of planning. The first has to do with the overall development of the organization, which includes decision-making and prediction operations. The second moment is related to organizational planning, which encompasses decision-making operations and the design of the structure of the organization itself.
2.2. Organization
Through this process, the information units develop and execute their activities and operations in an organized manner, applying the principles that together allow them to make the best decisions to exercise control of their assets, commitments and obligations that will lead them to a position with users. (Bonachera, 2005).
For Chiavenato (2006) the organization process includes the institutional, departmental design and the positions and tasks of the members of the company. In this sense, after formulating the organization's development plans, the physical structure of the organization is designed, as well as the corresponding internal social processes.
In this order of ideas, Méndez (2004) states that organizational design also implies decision making and presupposes having accurate information. Therefore, it is essential to carry out a sociotechnical diagnosis of the environment.
The organization of each and every one of the areas of the organization is one of the main functions that concerns the administration permanently, because with this it is very safe to achieve the expected results. To organize, you need to know how to use spaces, time, work, human resources, and financial resources (Bonachera, 2005).
2.3. Address
The direction for Chiavenato (2006), is conceived as the leadership assumed by a person, who through coordination and guidance delegates to other people: tasks, functions and in particular, the work to develop it with motivated responsibility and compliance, to achieve the objectives as an organized team. The management function is directly related to the way in which objectives should be achieved through the activity of the people who make up the organization.
As mentioned by Méndez (2004), this process aims to “lead the members of the organization by the manager, in order to execute development plans and therefore achieve the proposed results” (p. 42). Likewise, the cited author considers that management is linked to three interrelated threads: leadership, motivation and communication. The members of an organization are motivated to carry out their activities if leaders appear who, due to their personal or professional characteristics, stand as legitimate representatives of the group and, therefore, give them the basis to lead them to achievement. These individuals exercise their leadership effectively only through communication.
In another order of ideas, for Rubio (2008), management is considered the first rung of the management ladder and has the responsibility of executing the established guidelines and is based on the proposal and formulation of clear objectives that are assumed by the organization and tries by all means to achieve them.
In summary, to have recognition as a leading leader, at least one must have the personal qualities namely: communication, motivation and authority. This allows the application of effective motivation, delegation and communication theories. Excellent management will improve the effectiveness of the company through motivation and staff satisfaction.
2.4. Measurement
The measurement is carried out, according to Bonachera (2005) and Contreras (2007), through management indicators that make it possible to verify compliance with the objectives of the activities and projects and their contribution to achieving the objectives of the information unit. Méndez (2004) indicates that through this process, after having analyzed the organization, the managers reveal the state or situation at a certain moment on the basis of established indicators. Likewise, for Chiavenato (2006) the measurement process is carried out at the three levels of the organization through observation and reports to apply the corresponding corrective actions.
In this order of ideas, Bonachera (2005) and Contreras (2007) indicate that the measurement process is carried out through analysis, which will take into account the main variables that determine the operation, production and effect. These variables express in different ways the degree of obtaining the expected benefits from the management activity in the information units, in addition, they provide information to obtain the necessary operating parameters for the preparation of new activities and projects.
For measurement purposes, the cited authors mention that the main indicators of operation and results may be:
Efficiency Indicators: they relate the costs of the product / service of the activity or project with the time invested in production. They should be compared with the projections and in general with the assumptions that were taken into account in the preliminary evaluation of the activity or project in which a minimum production was defined, at a cost per period of time.
Coverage Indicators: it relates the number of users or beneficiaries of the activity or project in a given period of time. Like the previous indicators, they must be compared with the target population and the incorporation projections over time.
Quality indicators: they relate the characteristics of the goods or services produced by the information unit, in terms of quality, according to the acceptance by users. It is obtained through surveys or systems for receiving suggestions, complaints or claims from users. They are expressed as good, fair or poor quality, according to the content of said systems and the weights defined for each variable that measures quality.
Impact Indicators: they measure the contribution of the activity or project to the change in the diagnostic indicators as a result of its operation.
2.5. Control
The control is applied after the measurement of the results of the management, comparing with the planned and taking corrective action of the deviations to ensure the achievement of the objectives. Méndez (2004) states that "control refers to the fact that those responsible for directing the organization are constantly reviewing whether the plans are being implemented or not" (p. 49).
Management control is based on the relationships between the different levels of responsibility to achieve the objectives of the organization (Rubio, 2008). It is a comparative information system, which aims to follow the progress of the plans that have been implemented in the organization. Through it, the results obtained are determined, and the differences of that comparison and their possible causes are established, in order to make corrective decisions to keep the variables within the desired limits.
According to Chiavenato (2006), the control process is in charge of verifying if the inspected activity is achieving the desired results and, therefore, presupposes the existence of previously developed objectives and plans.
In this way, indicates Rubio (2008), the fundamental purpose of control is to serve the organization's operation through the detection of deviations, the investigation of their causes and the implementation of corrective actions. This may involve simple steps, such as minor changes in direction, reformulating goals to meet or exceed them, plans, systems, or procedures. In other cases , proper control may lead to setting new goals, formulating different plans, modifying the organization's structure, improving integration, or making major changes in management and leadership techniques.
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).
The population object of study for the development of this investigation is represented by 25 managers of the informative document management units or information units of the public universities of the Maracaibo municipality. 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.
4. Results
In relation to management, it is shown that 64.00% always leads staff, in order to execute development plans and therefore achieve the proposed results. Furthermore, 33.33% almost always does it and 2.66% sometimes. The results corresponding to the measurement are also observed and it can be seen that 41.33% always carry out this management process and 40.00% almost always carry it out. While 9.33% sometimes verify their organizational processes, 6.66% almost never and 2.66% never do it.
The control indicator showed that 45.33% almost always executes the process of verifying the proposed organizational processes and objectives. Similarly, 34.66% always verify them, while 13.33% sometimes and 6.66% never carry out this process.
Then, with regard to the management of information units, with respect to the processes of planning, organizing, directing, measuring and controlling the resources, systems and actions associated with the information; it is evident that these are standardized, tending to always use them and that, coinciding with Bonachera (2005), they are applied for the development of objectives to minimize costs and maximize benefits derived from the use, treatment of information and responsibilities are assigned to ensure constant circulation of information flows.
5. Conclusions and Recommendations
The fundamental purpose of the management processes of the information units of public universities is the application of administrative principles in order to adequately use the information that universities, in this case, require for their best operation. The management of the university information units is developed through planning, organization, direction, measurement and control. These administrative principles focus on information services, on technical, strategic and productive processes and on resources that allow the use and treatment of information.
The fundamental purpose of the management processes of the information units of public universities is the application of administrative principles in order to adequately use the information that universities, in this case, require for their best operation.
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