How Information Is Used

How Information Is Used
The role of an organization is to collect and distribute information. No matter the type of business or organization, information is a key component in its success. Each portion of an organization: management, billing, etc. information needs to be provided to each one separately, as well as information that needs to be shared.
Information is considered to be what is known beyond random chance predictions. Information must surprise and reduce the uncertainty from recipient.
In this day in age, computers and information processing are everywhere. The use of computers influences when decisions are made, as well as what decisions are to be made. The use of computers also affects how a business is organized, and how an employee feels about their job. Basically, information processing and computing can be pervasive.
Information in an organization flows in two major ways: Vertically; where the information flows up and down between managers and CEO’s, General Managers, etc. Information also flows horizontally, where the information is shared between each department in the organization. A great example of this would be in department stores; each department may have their own marketing, and sales; however, they do need to share their information to avoid any confusion.
In my line of work, the proper use of information and how it flows, is extremely important; Life or death important. Each morning I head to my sister-in-laws house to take over taking care of my niece, for her. There is not really much use for charts and check-ins, so we communicate vocally to let each other know what has been done, what needs to be done, as well as medication changes, or if her medication was already administered, or if she needs them. One little mistake in what is communicated between the two of us, could cause my niece to become extremely sick, and worse case, can cause her death.
Information between my sister-in-law, and myself is not the only information that needs to be communicated. There are a list of Doctors, Traveling Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, and Case workers we need to keep up-dated any time something changes in her schedule, medication, health, or her funding. In order to make sure that my niece continues to get the proper care, and the funding to ensure her care, we need to keep in constant contact with her Case worker, it is also our job to contact the companies that supplies all her medical supplies: Feeding Tubes, bags, and Feed, Tracheotomy supplies, briefs, etc. If we drop the ball on contacting these places we will run out of the necessary products to keep her breathing properly, feed, and personal hygiene taken care of.
Because there is only the two of us (my sister-in-law, and I) taking care of my niece, the flow of information is normally just passed between us (except once a month when we do I check-in, and supply orders). It is easy for us to forget to supply each other with the information we need, and most days I will write down my niece’s Blood Pressure, O2 and Pulse, as well as her Blood Sugar, this way when it is needed later on in the day for medication purposes, I can direct my sister-in-law to the information.
The only time we would need to be worried about unauthorized use of information, would be if someone got a hold of my niece’s bank account information, or even her Medicaid number. To avoid this ever happening, we keep her banking information, medical records, and insurance cards locked up in a fire-safe box. Although this is not the way that the majority of organizations keep their information safe, this is what we do, and at the time it is the best we can do. We are looking into getting programs set up on my sister-in-laws private computer, to help us keep track of all of her information, supplies, etc.

Reference Page
(Based on Jonscher C. An economic study of information technology revolution. In Allen TJ, Morton MSS. Information technology and the corporation of the 1990s, Oxford University Press, New York, 1994., 5-42