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Dissertation Information for Maureen L. Mackenzie

NAME:
- Maureen L. Mackenzie

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- Long Island University (USA) (2003)

ADVISORS:
- Michael Edward Davison Koenig

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- David Jalajas
- Charles R. Hildreth
- Baichun Xiao
- Nicholas J. Mauro

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: The accumulation of information by line managers within a business environment and the resulting cognitive savings account

Abstract: The results of this 3-stage study have shed light on how line-managers behave when interacting with information on the job. A primary supposition within this study is that managers maintain a cognitive savings account where accumulated information is stored until a need for the information emerges. The research design of this study was constructed to explore line-managers' information behaviors. Rather than a controlled setting that forced information gathering techniques, the research design captured both an objective view (stage 1) and a more intimate view (stage 2 and stage 3) of information interaction and flow. In stage 1 quantitative data was gathered on the line-managers' intent-to-behave as related to information on the job. In stage 2 the information gathering relationships among a group of line-managers were graphically mapped and analyzed. In stage 3 one-on-one interviews were conducted with five line-managers to probe the results drawn from both stages 1 and 2. Together the three stages offer a more complete opportunity to understand the information behaviors of these managers. The results of stage 1 offer support for a theory that suggests that managers tend to accumulate information that is not necessarily relevant to any known need. These bits of knowledge are stored in a cognitive savings account. When problems emerge, managers dip into the savings account of stored knowledge and draw decision alternatives for which answers already exist, rather than search for new information. Stage 2 and stage 3 revealed that the assumption that a manager will seek out a colleague as an information source because he or she values the individual's level of knowledge is not always the correct assumption. Relationship, more than knowledge, can be the reason an individual is sought as an information source. Overall, the results of this study offer a different perspective of how a specific user-group may deal with the bombardment of potentially relevant information. Also organizational leadership may gain a broader perspective of how closely integrated the flow of information is with the relationships among interacting managers. And last, the study presents an insider view of the complex nature of a group of line-managers.

MPACT Scores for Maureen L. Mackenzie

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:08:18

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