Better Decisions
Industrial Management, Jul/Aug2001, Vol. 43 Issue 4, p21, 5p, 1 diagram 
Denton, D. Keith
People are drowning in data. Decision makers are spending too much time processing marginally relevant information and too little time analyzing the context of data. Dealing with the information overload requires a radical departure from our present use of technology and information. It will require a new mindset through which we feel free to discard some data. A study commissioned by Reuters News Service in 1996 found that 40 percent of 1,300 business people surveyed in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore believed their ability to make important decisions was hindered by an overabundance of information. Half the respondents claimed they were unable to cope with the volume of information they were receiving, but two-thirds wanted even more. This might indicate that even given the huge volume of information they are receiving, they are still not getting what they need. Many executives are indicating that technology adds extra steps to work processes and bombards them with more information than they can handle. Statistics bear this out. Despite the proliferation of paperless communication vehicles such as the e-mail systems, shipments of office paper to companies in the United States have risen 51 percent in recent years.  Both the individual and the organization must address the problem of information overload. Workers must give serious thought to creating a personal information environment that suits their needs. This means they will need to know and analyze how they spend their time. Using process measures that track the percent of time spent on critical task could be of value. Workers could distill ways to improve how they distribute their time. Organizations can also help reduce excess information. More thought needs to be given to identifying the critical information that needs to be pushed to select groups of relevant employees rather than needlessly distributing data to broad employee groups.

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