Information Management Process in Continuous Improvement Area at Worldwide Steel Company - Enterprise Information Systems Design, Implementation and Management: Organizational Applications - page 185

what happens in the industry, not only
regarding competitors but also about
what the theory has progressed in rela-
tion to its business. An employee who
does not like reading or who does not
want to study is not appropriate for the
company's strategies. The hiring of
people willing to live in this reality is
the first step for an efficient informa-
tion environment.
b) Technology investments : Great technology
does not mean good and useful information.
Technology should facilitate the access to
it. Although it is not the most important
component of the information environment,
technology is essential to improve the use
of information. It does not necessarily have
to be the most complicated, powerful or
more expensive, but more suitable for the
organization. An ArcelorMittal Continuous
Improvement general manager said that
a process, product or service must be on
adequate quality to use or will not be com-
petitive. What good is enriching a product
or a service with attributes that will never
be used? According to Davenport, using
the most appropriate technology can bring
countless benefits to information oriented
organizations. For example, instead of in-
vesting in a technology that will never be
used, you can apply its financial resources
by empowering people. In addition, more
familiar technologies facilitate and encour-
age access - the User spends his time with
the content of information and not on how
to operate the system. A company needs to
assess how the investment in technology help
or hinder the strategy and the informational
environment of information. The author lists
some points that should be observed when
investing in new information technologies :
i. A high degree of network intercon-
nectedness facilitates the exchange of
information in organizations.

ii. Knowledge and information workers
require personal computers or work-
stations on each desktop.
iii. Effective information management
increasingly involves providing net-
work access to internal information
repository.
iv. An increasing number of sophisticated
software packages could help manage
and distribute qualitative or document-
based information in organizations.
c) Physical Arrangement : The provision of
physical space can contribute to the sharing
of information or hinder it. However, the
nature of work and culture of the organiza-
tion must be respected. A physical space
that facilitates the flow of information in
a software company may be completely
inappropriate for a research center, for ex-
ample. According to the author, we exchange
information with people we keep in touch
frequently, especially staff. A communica-
tion barrier is overcome when we know
the caller. Davenport has some arguments
to justify our preference for face-to-face
communicating:
i. Facility - a personal communication is
easy if it does not require any writing
- not even a phone number.
ii. Likely Unplanned - the contact is visual,
there is no need to remember anything.
iii. “Wealth” - the non-verbal commu-
nication and body language enrich
communication.
iv. Trust - the personal contact creates
more confidence for the exchange of
information, due to the fact that it is
easier to exchange information with
someone else, but also because sign
language is important and people can
build trust based on the context, on the
experience of life and on the behavior
of the person you are talking to. Several
companies have altered their physi-