Organizational+Information+Theory

=Summary= toc

Organizational Information Theory is primarily concerned with how organizations process information to make sense of it. It explains how individuals within organizations communicate vital information in order to guarantee success and efficiency in their environment. The **Living Systems Metaphor** helps us to better understand organizations and the ways in which they handle information. This metaphor compares an organization to an organism: the human body, for example, is controlled and regulated by the various systems it contains, such as the circulatory system or the skeletal system, and each of those systems is integral to the human body's overall ability to function. Similarly, within organizations, different systems regulate and control the organization as a whole, helping it to deal with information and consequently achieve its goals and function effectively. The emergence of new technologies has revolutionized the ways in which organizations manage information. This is a common example of a change in organization information processing, which results in constant change of the organization itself as well. The Living Systems Metaphor is helpful in remembering this aspect of the theory, since organisms such as ourselves are also constantly changing. Organizations are "works in progress."

The **theory of sociocultural evolution** also helps to explain how organizations collect and manage information. It stems from the Darwinian concept that only the fittest survive in challenging surroundings. In other words, when an organization receives bad information, it needs to do something about it. Organizations need to take action when they receive important and/or ambiguous information. Organizations that do not attempt to adapt to new and often ambiguous information have a much lower chance of succeeding.

There are three assumptions to OIT: 1) "Human organizations exist in an information environment" (West and Turner 296). This is not referring to a physical environment but rather the various stimuli and messages that all organizations encounter. Today's society has offered us so many outlets (electronic and otherwise) to receive information. Therefore, it is important that members of an organization create and maintain an information environment because without current information and an accurate interpretation of that information, especially in today's information-bombarded society, an organization will fall behind.
 * ASSUMPTIONS**

2) "The information an organization receives differs in terms of equivocality" (West and Turner 296). Equivocality means that something has multiple meanings, which can be confusing in an environment where it's necessary to have a level of clarity about the information being shared and processed. Since members of an organization have different amounts of knowledge and different abilities when it comes to interpreting information, said information is often understood in multiple ways.

3) "Human organizations engage in information processing to reduce the equivocality of information" (West and Turner 296).
 * **The Stages of Reducing Equivocality**:
 * 1) Enactment: any type of action gains more information than no action at all, and thus it is important for an organization to do something instead of allowing ambiguous information to pass by. This basically means that the organization has to choose an interpretation of the information.
 * 2) Selection: organizations must select the best process for gathering information. In other words, the information seeks out extra information to help clear up the ambiguity of existing information.
 * 3) Retention: organizations must use their accumulated knowledge in order to make knowledgeable decisions. Retention is necessary to avoid repeating mistakes, and it allows for knowing what is successful.

Works Cited: West, Richard L., and Lynn H. Turner. //Introducing Communication Theory: Analysis and// //Application //. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. Prin t.

= Key Terms and Definitions =


 * Theory of sociocultural evolution ** : Darwin's belief that only the fittest can survive challenging surroundings
 * Equivocality**: the extent to which organizational messages are uncertain, ambiguous, or unpredictable
 * Rules ** : guidelines that organizations have for analyzing messages and responding to them (help to reduce equivocality)
 * **Duration**: organizational rule stating that decisions regarding equivocality should be made in the least amount of time
 * **Personnel**: organizational rule stating that the most knowledgeable workers should resolve equivocality
 * **Success**: organizational rule stating that a successful plan of the past will be used to reduce current equivocality
 * **Effort**: organizational rule stating that decisions regarding equivocality should be made with the least amount of work
 * Cycles**: series of communication behaviors that serve to reduce equivocality
 * **Act**: communication behaviors indicating a person's ambiguity in receiving a message
 * **Response**: reaction to equivocality ( serves to provide the clarity which is being sought in the act)
 * **Adjustment**: organizational responses to equivocality

= Outside Research =

__"Adoption of cloud computing technologies in supply chains: An organizational information processing theory approach"__ by Casey G. Cegielski, L. Allison Jones-Farmer, Yun Wu and Benjamin T. Hazen

The Department of Supply Chain and Information Systems Management located in Auburn University conducted a study to see what factors would make a company consider using the cloud computing system to enable electronic supply chain management systems in their respective organizations.

First, the internet is considered to be built upon connectivity and is built on an "information technology (IT) infrastructure". The internet is also a very key tool for businesses so, companies and organizations often depend on this technology as well as the information provided to help make their organizations function to an optimal capacity. Cloud computing models create the option where organizations can receive previously unavailable physical IT information for a lesser portion compared to what is required for original resource commitment. Cloud models are based on connections and can support a lot of different kinds of organizational needs which leads to "optimized systems utilization".

For companies in a complex supply chain, flexibility is a key component that is needed and the cloud computing model is one to provide such flexibility. In addition, cloud computing can oversee “on-demand computing power” and this model can be more maintained around a lower cost compared to other computing models. There are also no limits to what cloud computing can do and that this exists in different formats as well. Cloud computing models also enhance performance all while being more efficient regarding internet supply results in a supply change. Organizations are also enhanced by the the cloud computing model. However, many uncertainties prevent certain organizations from adopting the cloud computing model in their supply chain management systems.

The Auburn research team asserts that the cloud computing model is a system that helps to oversee “communication, coordination, and collaboration” in specific companies and it is also a support system for the many applications a company has. The cloud computing system also is very versatile in that it can scale systems to meet organizational needs, be flexible and reduce the cost paid for use of the system.

However, the aforementioned uncertainties do hinder some companies from adopting this computing model and they exist in four forms: environmental uncertainty, task uncertainty, inter-organizational uncertainty and information processing uncertainty. Environmental uncertainty results from decision making complexities that exist within the organization. Task uncertainty is related to complexity as well as interdependent tasks. For inter-organizational uncertainty, relationships in the organization create uncertainty. For information processing uncertainty, it has the effect of moderating the relationship between the aforementioned uncertainties and the “intention to adopt cloud computing technology”.

So, to asses the hindrances created with these uncertainties, the Auburn research team conducted multiple studies. The first one they conducted was emailing “44 IT executives employed by manufacturing, retail, and logistics firms” a survey asking what the issues would be in adopting the cloud computing model. From this survey they concluded that capacity was one of the most important factors in an organization’s information processing capability. And in addition, capability will help “enhance the magnitude of these relationships (within the company)”.

More surveys and studies were conducted with the people involved with IT in their companies to gauge whether or not a company wanted to adopt the cloud computing model. Through these, the Auburn team discovered that there was a “significant association between firms’ perception of environmental uncertainty and intention to adopt technologies”. The same held true for task uncertainty, and inter-organizational uncertainty. As for informational processing uncertainty, the study strongly believed that the relationships between information processing capability and environmental uncertainty and task uncertainty will be a strong predictor of whether or not a company will adopt the cloud computing model.

As a final study, the team interviewed the participants asking them about what comments they could make regarding the various uncertainties. For environmental uncertainty, the main concern would be that data would be unsecure to outside companies. But, for task, inter-organizational and information processing capability uncertainty, many benefits were foreseen in correlation to adopting the cloud computing model. But, as they concluded, the aforementioned uncertainties combined with the information processing capabilities affect a company’s intention to adopt the cloud computing technologies. This study “[enhanced] the understanding of technology adoption in the supply chain”.

__Citation:__ **Casey G. Cegielski, L. Allison Jones-Farmer, Yun Wu, Benjamin T. Hazen, (2012) "Adoption of cloud computing technologies in supply chains: An organizational information processing theory approach", International Journal of Logistics Management, The, Vol. 23 Iss: 2, pp.184 - 211** [|Article itself]

=Additional Material=