INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

IN LIBRARY & INFORMATION CENTER

 Contents_Week 3

● Role of IT in an organization
1. IT and Information Processing
2. Effect of Technological change

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 Introduction

"Information technology is no longer a business

resource; it is the business environment."

John Browning (1990), The Economist

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• In the early decade (1950s and '60s), “elecsystems” could
be afforded by only the largest organizations. They were
used to record and store bookkeeping data such as journal
entries, specialized journals.
• “were used to generate a limited range of predefined
reports, including income statements, balance sheets and
sales reports. They were trying to perform a decision
making support role, but they were not up to the task”.
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 Role of IT in an organization
IT role for a modern organization is based on 3
classification that fundamentally influence its efficiency
and effectiveness :
– the basic role,
– the informational role
– the managing process role

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 Role of IT in an organization

NT
MANAGEME
TOP managing process role

MIDDLE MANAGEMENT
informational role

LOWER MANAGEMENT
basic role

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 Role of IT in an organization

MANAGERS managing process role

(EIS, DSS)

SUPERVISORS informational role

(MIS)

SUPPORT STAFF basic role

(Processing)

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 IT as a Solution to
Environmental Change

• The cost of IT has plunged since the 1960s resulting

in enormous investments in IT applications that have
stimulated organizational change.
• Drucker (1985) has very rightly defined organization
as "a structure in which information serves as the axis
and as the central structural support."

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 Huber (1990)
referred role of IT as a
● devices that transmit, manipulate, analyze, or
exploit information;
a) in which a digital computer processes information
integral to the user's communication or decision
task; and
b) that have made their appearance since 1970 or
exist in a form that aids in communication or
decision tasks to a significantly greater degree than
did pre-1971 forms.
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 IT and New Organizational Structures
of Interdependence
• Benjamin and Levinson (1993) emphasized that for
IT-based change to be effective, technology, business
processes, and organization need to be adapted to
each other.
• Comparing the present information revolution with
the Industrial Revolution, Malone and Rockart (1993)
indicated that the latest changes in IT would lead to
the evolution of new technology-intensive
organizational structures.
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 Role of IT in organization

• Information technology and organizational forms

– Flatten hierarchies
– Centralized and decentralized structures
- distribution channel management
– Organizations as networks - supply chain
networks

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 Role of IT in organization

• At organizational process level

– Communication and groupware
– Leverage learning & best practices curve advantages
• At task level
– Job redesign - mass customization production
– Quality of work
– Better production processes

IT helps daily operation and organizational strategy

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 6 Elements of
a computer system

1. People - the most important part and beneficiary of a

computer system, generally categorized as either end-users
or developers
2. Procedures - are descriptions of how things are done, i.e.
manuals, documentations, …
3. Data/Information - raw facts (data) and processed data
(information) that are used to produce the desired result

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 6 Elements of a computer system

4. Hardware - the physical element of a computer system

categorized according to the basic operations they
perform: input, processing, output, storage and
communications.
5. Software - provides the step by step instructions that tell
the computer what to do. Generally software is divided
into system software and application software.
6. Communications - refers to the electronic transfer of data
from one place to another
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Information Processing
 What is information processing?

• Information processing is the changing (processing)

of information in any manner noticeable by an
observer/witness.
• As such, it is a process which describes everything
which happens (changes) in the universe, from the
falling of an apple (a change in position) to the
printing of a text file from a digital computer
system.
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• Information processing can more specifically be
defined in terms by Claude E. Shannon as the
conversion of latent (hidden) information into
manifest information.
• Latent and manifest information is defined
through the terms of equivocation (remaining
uncertainty, what value the sender has actually
chosen), dissipation (uncertainty of the sender
what the receiver has actually received) and
transformation (saved effort of questioning -
equivocation minus dissipation).
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 Information Processor
• An information processor or information processing
system, is a system (electrical, mechanical or
biological) which takes information (a sequence of
enumerated situations) in one form and processes
(transforms) it into another form, e.g. to data, by an
statistical process.

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 4 Components of
Information Processing System

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 Input
• In information processing, input refers to either
information received or the process of receiving it.
• In human-computer interaction, input is the
information produced by the user with the purpose of
controlling the computer program.
• The user interface determines what kinds of input the
program accepts (eg. control strings or text typed with
keyboard and mouse clicks).

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 Processor
• Processor, (Central Processing Unit) is the
component in a digital computer that interprets
instructions and processes data contained in
computer programs

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 Storage
• Computer devices designed for information storage and
retrieval.
– Computer storage
– Hard drive
– Computer memory
• Collections of stored information:
– Archive — a collection of records
– Books
– Memory stores the record of experience
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 Output
• Output is information produced by the computer
program and perceived by the user.
• User Interface of the program define the kinds of
output the program produces, and the kinds of input
the program accepts.
• Output tends to refer specifically to explicit output,
something that is intentionally provided for the user.
• The whole process known as human-computer
interaction
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 How is data processed
into information?

Input Process Output

Data Information

* 3 stages involved…

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 How is data processed
into information?

Data Process Information

Author
Title Cataloging
Imprint
Catalog Record
Subject Process
Call No. Filing
Accession No. Process

Storage Card Catalog

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 The information
processing cycle
New
Document

Data
Input Process Output

Document
Stored Data
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 The effects of
technological change

• Technophobia
• Cyberphobia
• Computer anxiety
• Technostress
 Technophobia, Cyberphobia,
computer anxiety & Technostress

• The advent of new technology into the

workplace and into society generally, can be
very frightening for some people.
• Why people are frightened of new technology?
• “technophobia”, “cyberphobia”, “computer
anxiety” and “technostress” to describe such
fears.

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• The research of Rosen and Weil (2000) in the USA has
explored human reactions to the introduction of
additional technologies into the home and the
workplace in recent years.
• They studied the responses of clerical and support staff,
managers and executives in businesses across the USA
and found that, although there are people who are
genuinely excited by new technology and enjoy using it,
there are a substantial number who are resistant to
technology.

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• Human fears of technology may emerge because its
introduction, or increase in use, appears to threaten
the status quo.
• That could be a change in the routine at work that
was happily undertaken for the past 20 years, or the
fear of being left behind, or replaced by others who
have the relevant technology skills.

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• Change generally can bring both uncertainty and
discomfort into our lives (Burton, 1992). It may
provoke strong emotional reactions in people
ranging from the confusion, fear and stress (Cooper,
1998) often associated with loss and bereavement.
• “The equivalent of a bereavement (sadness) … might
be … the introduction of a computer system using
the World Wide Web” (Whetherley, 1998).

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 Resistance in the workplace

• Negative reactions to technology displayed by

individuals are generally termed “resistance”. In the
workplace, this might take the form of “an
unwillingness or inability to be trained and to learn the
new system.
• They may become ‘passive non-users’, continuing to
rely on the manual version of the system” (Bichteler,
1987).
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 Resistance in the workplace

• Further signs of resistance to a new system might be an

increase in absenteeism that can be costly to the
organization and possibly to the individual concerned.
• Staff might also become aggressive, negative, and
argumentative, denigrate colleagues and withdraw – all
actions contributing to a rather hostile and unfriendly
working environment (Bichteler, 1987).

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 Physical changes

• Resistance to new technology can be related to

fears of its effect on health (Morris & Dyer,
1998).
• In the early days of computerization in libraries,
Dakshinamurti (1985) noted that library
personnel reported eyestrain, backaches and
headaches resulting from automation.

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 Physical changes
• Although barriers and filters have been introduced to
minimize the glare of VDUs, library staff often stand
looking at PC screens for long periods.
• Carpal tunnel syndrome is a problem which, resulting
from repetitive motions such as using a keyboard,
can lead to numbness or tingling in the hands (Quinn,
1995) and was reported recently by respondents in a
study of university library support staff (Jones, 1999).

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 Fear of the unknown

• It might be argued that resistance is related less

to the technology itself, than its introduction
implies such as increasing the amount of work
which still has to be performed in the same
amount of time or “fear of an increased
workload” (Morris and Dyer, 1998).

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 Fear of the unknown

• A study of academic library staff noted that the

introduction of technology had added more
responsibilities to their job but this was not
reflected in their salaries (Jones, 1999).

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 Reduced the opportunity

• Technological change may reduce opportunities for

interaction with colleagues and staff and in a
profession that prides itself on its service culture this
could be viewed in a negative manner.
• Staff working at an academic library felt that
automation had reduced the opportunity for contact
with users and other staff, something that they
considered to be a main motivating factor in their job
(Sykes, 1991).
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 Attitudes of library staff
to technological change

• Research, which explored the influence of the

attitudes of library staff, found that attitudes
towards computers were positively associated with
computer use and were also predictive of the
number of hours of work performed on a computer.

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 Attitudes of library staff
to technological change
• A study carried out in 1989 investigated the
impact of IT on staff deployment in UK public
libraries and found that the introduction of IT
had been a positive experience in general,
although some staff had found it to be an initial
barrier.

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 Training and
technological change

• Training is generally acknowledged to be essential in

introducing successful change in the workplace.
• Training appears to affect perceptions of technological change
and attitudes to ICT and change.
• Training may increase the individual’s use of information
technology (Gilmore, 1998).

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 References
Drucker, P.F., "Playing in the Information-based 'Orchestra'," Wall Street Journal,
(June 4, 1985).
Huber, G.P., "A Theory of the Effects of Advanced Information Technologies on
Organizational Design, Intelligence, and Decision Making," Academy of Management
Review, 15 (1990), 47-71.
Benjamin, R. & Levinson, E., "A Framework for Managing IT- Enabled Change," Sloan
Management Review, (Summer 1993), 23- 33.
Malone, T.W. & Rockart, J.F., "How Will Information Technology Reshape
Organizations?: Computers as Coordination Technology," in S.P. Bradley, J.A.
Hausman and R.L. Nolan (Eds.), Globalization, Technology, and Competition: The
Fusion of Computers and Telecommunications in the 1990s, Harvard Business School
Press, Boston, 1993, 37-55.

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THANK YOU
SEE YOU NEXT WEEK, FOLKS!