In the context of information age the only thing which gives organization a competitive edge is information. Success of an organization is heavily depending upon the ability to process the business information generated both internally and externally to the organization. Information warehousing is perceived as an efficient information management tool. The role of information professionals, who understand the value of information in an organizational set up is continuously evolving. In this paper an attempt has been made to highlight the role of an information professional in the development of an information warehouse in learning organizationDocumentation Research and Training Centre

Tharayil, Abdul Jaleel

English

Librarians' Digital Library

DRTC Workshop on Information Management 
6-8 January 1999 
 
 
 
PAPER: AC 
 
 
 
INFORMATION WAREHOUSING VS LEARNING 
ORGANIZATION: THE MORE DYNAMIC INFORMATION 
PROFESSIONAL  
 
 
 
Abdul Jaleel Tharayil,  Information Specialist, National Data base Division, General 
Directorate of Information Systems, KACST,  P.O Box 6086,  Riyadh-11442,  KSA 
 
[In the context of information age the only thing which gives 
organization a competitive edge is information. Success of an 
organization is heavily depending upon the ability to process the 
business information generated both internally and externally to 
the organization. Information warehousing is perceived as an 
efficient information management tool. The role of information 
professionals, who understand the value of information in an 
organizational set up is continuously evolving. In this paper an 
attempt has been made to highlight the role of an information 
professional in the development of an information warehouse in 
learning organization.] 
 
 
1   INTRODUCTION 
 
It has been well accepted that the modern organizations are open systems where there 
is a continuous flow of information 'into and out' of the system. Success of an 
organization is greatly depend on their ability to process the business information 
generated both internally and externally to the organization. Many organizations have 
already established corporate intranets, information warehouses, etc. in order to bring 
in a control over the information and thereby establishing a learning and sharing 
culture.  
 
Abdul Jaleel Tharayil  2 
 
There is a consensus on the fact that information is being increasingly recognized as a 
strategic resource for success. However due to the enormous increase in the volume of 
data/information available in the corporate premises, it has become more crucial to 
tap the relevant information at the right time in the right place in the right format. In 
other words they are information waste lands incapable of providing useful business 
to management. 
 
No doubt the world library community is going through a comprehensive transition 
due to the challenge of technology and the opportunities available. In particular, the 
corporate librarians are to be more dynamic than ever before, they have to equip 
themselves with the new tools and techniques of information management. The scope 
of this paper is limited to underline importance of an information professional in the 
development of an information warehouse in a learning organization.  
 
2   NATURE OF THE ORGANIZATION 
 
Today's organization face an external environment that is increasingly complex 
volatile and highly competitive. In an international survey conducted by HBR 1200 
managers identify a wide array of forces of change, globalization of market, political 
realignment realignment,  communication and technological improvement, flattening 
of organization, etc (Kanter, 1991) are the significant factors. Organization would like 
to survive during these times will have to reinvent themselves, restructure themselves, 
and rather reengineer themselves.  
 
Leadership for successful transformation, change management, crisis management etc 
have become the talk of the day among the senior mangers and officials. 
Organizations are to be ready for a 180 degree departure from the previous angle. 
Presently organizations are developing corporate intranet, information warehouse, etc. 
for a better, effective and efficient decision making and to build a learning and 
sharing culture in order to: 
 
               -  bridge the time lag between the transfer of knowledge into skills 
   -  avoid repeating the old mistakes or would like to learn from experience. 
Information Warehousing……   3 
   -  become learning organization 
 
3.  LEARNING ORGANIZATION VS INFORMATION WAREHOUSING 
 
3.1  Learning  Organization 
 
Basically it is the realization to develop mechanisms for continuous learning and 
thereby enhance the capacity to be adaptable to the external business environment that 
has underlined the need for learning organization. According to Skyrme associates, 
learning organizations are those that have in place systems, mechanisms and 
processes that are used to continuously enhance their capabilities and those work with 
it, for it to achieve sustainable objectives for themselves and the communities in 
which they participate.  
  
Another definition given by Pedler[7] "A learning company is an organization that 
facilitates the learning of all its members and continuously transforms itself " . Nancy 
Dixon[7] explains "The essence of organizational learning is the organizations ability 
to use the amazing mental capabilities of all its members to create the kind of process 
that will improve its own. 
 
In simple terms we can say that learning organizations are the one which shows a 
constant and a continuous thirst for knowledge in its entire dimensions i.e. to acquire 
knowledge, create new knowledge and its ultimate transfer into skills.  
 
According to Skyrme associates free exchange and flow of information, efficient 
information management techniques are the two significant characteristics of a 
learning organization. Not to mention, information warehousing will lay down the 
foundation stones of information management and ofcourse the information 
professionals have a greater role to play .  
 
 
 
3.2  Information warehousing 
 
Abdul Jaleel Tharayil  4 
As we know that all organizations are information communication systems except  the 
fact that some organizations are more information intensive than others. Depending 
on the nature and type of the organization, information use, its transfer and exchange 
also varies. However the data i.e. both internally generated and external to the 
organizations are to be gathered, analyzed, synthesized for its optimal use. So that the 
culture of a learning organization can be built into the system. 
 
Majority of the cases the corporate environment is information poor but data rich 
owing to the enormous amount of crude or unrefined data available in the corporate 
premises. Rather they are information waste lands incapable of providing useful 
business to management. Many a time the private information kept on the corporate 
premises exceeds the total corporate information and they are accessible to a selected 
few, and the reason why it is information poor. 
 
Recent articles dealing with information warehousing have raised a public interest or 
awareness in this topic but they have contributed very little towards answering the 
more significant question, i.e. what goes into an information warehouse? What kind 
of information do mangers and workers use? What could be the depth of data 
abstraction/summarization required ? etc. it is in this context that an information 
professionals, who understands the information seeking behavior of his clientele, 
comes into picture. 
 
4.  DYNAMIC INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 
 
The centrality of information to many activities in an organizational set up raises an 
important question about our over all ability to exploit new set of IT tools to carry out 
information activities more efficiently. What is termed information management skills 
are not associated with learning to use IT tools but requires new ways of thinking and 
working, a significant factor is the ability to derive sense out of the increasing amount 
of information available in the corporate premises. That is making sure that the right 
information is available at the right place at the right time in the right presentation. 
Here is an endeavor to delineate the dynamic role of an information professional in a 
learning organization.  
 
Information Warehousing……   5 
In a learning organization it is essential that each individual learns and subsequently 
the group and the organization as a whole. So the question to be addressed by the 
information professional is therefore not only whether information is important but 
also how information intensive are operations, how do the individual seek 
information, acquire information and meet their demands/wants/needs. It is therefore 
important for the information professional to learn and understand the information 
seeking behavior of the organization and the individuals at large.   
 
Information professional supposed to be the best person to know the needs and wants 
of an organizational clientele should know the wealth of the information that has been 
accumulated both inside and outside the organization. 
 
On the other hand in a learning organization users need online facilities to help them 
retrieve information to get expert advises, to discuss issues concerning their work in a 
common platform/conference/meetings,  to update their knowledge and locate 
resources that match their expectations and desires. 
 
Conversely, an information professional is concerned with the finding and filtering 
information, mining facilities to track down the clients information seeking habits and 
desires. So the greater challenge is to know which subjects are becoming more 
important as indicated by the trends in the number of objects available against the 
number of requests being lodged. 
 
In addition an information professional needs to know the cost of creating 
information, using information and transporting information and also the cost 
involved in finding and fixing errors.   
 
We can also use supplemental facts such as the ratio of usefulness to extraneous 
information, the quantity of information destroyed and created annually. The relative 
value of  information stored redundantly in multiple forms, the problem of homonyms 
and synonyms in a data warehouse to resolve the conflict by bringing control over the 
vocabulary being used etc. So that an efficient information warehouse can be built in 
order to facilitate the existence of a successful learning organization. 
 
Abdul Jaleel Tharayil  6 
5.  CONCLUSION 
 
Information warehouse is a prerequisite for any learning organization who would like 
to persists in the in the success front. Information professionals in a learning 
organization should have to have the necessary skills for the management of a large 
volumes of information, data mining capabilities and thorough knowledge of 
information analysis and synthesis.  Understanding of the information seeking 
behavior of the organizations and the individuals holds high. Lastly the gumption to 
seek and understand the value of information and the readiness to meet the challenges 
in this ever changing information arena will prove the dynamics of the information 
professionals.  
 
6.  REFERENCES 
 
1. Agada, J. Outsourcing of corporate information services: implications of 
redesigning corporate library services. International Information and Library 
Review, 28, 1996; 157-176. 
 
2. Bater, B. (1997). The inclusive intranet: linking into legacy systems. Aslib 
Proceedings, 49(1), 21-24. 
 
3. Choo, Chun Wei. Information management for the intelligent organisation: the 
art of scanning the environment. ASIS Monograph series, Information today, 
NJ, 1995  
 
4. Davenport, T. H. (1996). Knowledge management case study [Online]. 
Available: http://www.bus.utexas.edu/kman/hpcase.htm [1998, April 22]. 
 
5. Davenport, T. H., & Prusak, L. Blow up the corporate library. International 
Journal of Information Management, 13,  1993; 405-412 
 
6. David A. Garvin. Building a Learning Organization,  Harvard Business 
Review, VOL. 71   NO. 04 , July-August 1993; 78-91 
 
Information Warehousing……   7 
7. David Skyrme Associates. The learning organization, Management insight 
no.3. http://www.skyrme.com.insights/3lrnorg.htm 
 
8. Eek, Jan, Knowledge architecture and enterprise competence network: the 
challenges, the pain, the rewards. FID News Bulletin, Vol. 47, No. 7/8, 1997; 
201-205 
 
9. Fox, L. Libraries and Intranets [Online]. Available: 
http://stauffer.queensu.ca/~foxe/ola/sec1_1.htm [1997, October 13] 
 
10. Hatvany, Bela, Sharing Knowledge is a love experience. FID News Bulletin, 
Vol. 47, No. 7/8, 1997; 206-209 
 
11. Helm, P. Hewlett-Packard and the intranet - case study and alliances. Aslib 
Proceedings, 49(2), 1997; 32-35 
 
12. Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. Transcending becomes boundaries: 12000 world 
managers view change. Harward business Review, Vol. 69, (1) 3, 1991; 151-64 
 
13. Karlseth, Karl, Knwoledege Management: Putting information and peoples 
knowledge together. FID News Bulletin, Vol. 47, No. 7/8; 1997; 191-195 
 
14. Omfjord, Terje, Intranet and Information : Bringing order to chaos, FID News 
Bulletin, Vol. 47, No. 7/8, 1997; 196-201 
 
15. Perkins, Alan. Information warehousing A strategic approach to data 
warehouse development. http://www.visible.com/iwintro.htm 
 
16. Redding, John. Hardwiring the Learning Organization, ASTD,  VOL. 51   NO. 
08 , August 1997; 61-67 
 
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Senge, ASTD, VOL. 45   NO. 10 , October 1991;  37-44 
 
Abdul Jaleel Tharayil  8 
18. Wodehouse, L. The intranet - the quiet (r)evolution. Aslib Proceedings, 49(1), 
1997; 13-19. 
 


Information Warehousing Vs Learning Organization: The More Dynamic Information Professional

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