Key Learnings and Ramifications for Information Quality Management
"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."
Information quality (IQ) management is not just about doing things right, but doing the right things. It matters not how "right" you conduct data cleansing. The right thing to do is improve the processes to prevent the defects that require correction.
"Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work."
W. Edwards Deming's first point of quality states that management has two sets of plans: those of today, to get work done, and those of tomorrow, to understand and satisfy the ever-changing needs of the customer.
IQ plans are useless unless they are implemented into a culture of information quality.
"A poor organization structure makes good performance impossible, no matter how good the individual managers may be."
The information-age organization is horizontal and agile because it manages information in shared, enterprise-strength databases rather than vertical and proprietary silos of data that have become albatrosses around the nervous system of the enterprise.
"The most valuable assets of a 20th century company were its production equipment. The most valuable assets of a 21st century institution, whether business or non-business, will be its knowledge workers and their productivity."1
Drucker coined the term "knowledge worker" as early as 1960. In 1966 he wrote, "Modern society is a society of large organized institutions. In every one of them ... the center of gravity has shifted to the knowledge worker, the man who puts to work what he has between his ears rather than the brawn of his muscles or the skill of his hands."2
It is a pity Drucker was not able to influence the information systems industry. If he had, we might not have the relationship problems between systems and business professionals. Our language would have "knowledge worker" as the general term for business professionals instead of the unempowered term "user." The term "user" is an oxymoron in the information age of "business intelligence," "customer relationship management" and "knowledge management" as a term to represent the most important resource to an organization - its people.
"There is only one valid definition of a business purpose: to create a customer."3
Drucker went on to say, "Businesses are not paid to reform customers, they are paid to satisfy customers."
Information quality managers must always focus on the knowledge workers, the information "customers" who require information to satisfy their end-customers. IQ practitioners' goal must be to create an environment that empowers information producers to create quality information to meet their information customers' needs. Deming says, "the consumer is the most important part of the production line," and "the obligation to the consumer never ceases."4, 5 What this means for information quality is clear: "the obligation to the knowledge worker never ceases."6
"Put your resources on tomorrow, where the results are, and not on yesterday, where the memories are."7
Watching the fall of Sears, Roebuck and Co. with its acquisition by bankrupt K-Mart as the result of Wal-Mart's domination of today's retail market has been painful to me, for Sears hired and trained me in my early information systems career. However, they fell victim to yesterday's successes.
Watching GM slip further towards failure while Toyota is aggressively moving to become the number one auto manufacturer in the world is also painful, for my father-in-law is a retired GMer.
Drucker cited both Sears and GM as success stories in past decades. But these and other business failures dramatically illustrate that yesterday's successes do not guarantee tomorrow's success when others are putting their resources on tomorrow's breadwinners.
Information quality management is one of tomorrow's breadwinners. Seeking to rely on yesterday's failed information systems and business management practices will lead to frustration and failure. But planning and executing an effective information quality management practice is key to enabling your enterprise's future success.
What do you think? Let me hear at Larry.English@infoimpact.com.
References:
- Drucker, Peter F. Management Challenges for the 21st Century. New York: HarperBusiness, 2001.
- Drucker, Peter F. The Effective Executive. New York: HarperCollins, 1967.
- Drucker, Peter F. The Practice of Management. New York: HarperCollins, 1954.
- Walton, Mary. The Deming Management Method. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1986.
- Deming, W. Edwards. Out of the Crisis. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001.
- English, Larry P. Improving Data Warehouse and Business Information Quality. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1986.
- Drucker, Peter F. Project Management Seminar.
Larry P. English is president and principal of INFORMATION IMPACT International, Inc., Brentwood, Tennessee, and the author of the widely acclaimed book, Improving Data Warehouse and Business Information Quality: Methods for Reducing Costs and Increasing Profits. English is cofounder of the International Association for Information and Data Quality (www.iaidq.org). English is an internationally recognized speaker, teacher, consultant and author and may be reached at larry.english@infoimpact.com or through his Web site at www.infoimpact.com. For more on how to improve your IQ principles and techniques, and prevent your organization from wasting millions in information scrap and rework, join the IAIDQ (visit www.iaidq.org).
