Information Media and Source Patterns across Management Levels: A Pilot Study

Abstract:

This paper reports a pilot study designed to investigate media and source patterns for managerial information systems across three hierarchical levels of management. Our basic hypothesis is that media and source patterns will differ by management level. Eight executives in a large energy company were used to investigate the hypothesis: three senior executives, three middle-level executives, and two lower-level executives.

Portions of an earlier version of this paper were presented at the 1986 annual meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute.

Findings from this pilot study indicate that information media and source patterns do vary across management level. Specifically, it is reported that (1) lower-level managers favor the use of such information-rich media as observation tours, meals, and social activities and depend on external sources more than originally suspected, (2) mid-level managers depend on such media as the telephone and written, addressed documents to discharge their responsibilities, and (3) a large volume of written, non-verbal information is processed by senior executives.

This research was designed and executed as a pilot study and as such has certain methodological limitations. But, in spite of these considerations, this study is a first step in expanding our understanding of how information media and source selection patterns vary across levels of management, and it should serve to stimulate the design of hypotheses for future research.

Key Words and Phrases::

• Information media
• use of management information systems

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jack William Jones

Jack William Jones is Associate Professor of Management in the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University. He holds B.S.E.E., M.S.E.E., M.M.S., and Ph.D. degrees and has conducted research in the areas of decision support system applications, energy modeling analysis, and health care management. He has published in Decision Sciences, MIS Quarterly, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of the Operational Research Society, Business Horizons, and other journals. Dr. Jones’s current research addresses the uses of computers for strategic decisionmaking and the structure of executive information systems.

Carol Saunders

Carol Saunders is Associate Professor of Management Information Systems in the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University. She holds B.A., M.B. A., and Ph.D. degrees. Her research has focused on the issues of mis, communications, and intraorganizational power, and has seen publication in Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Communications of the ACM, Journal of Systems Management, and other journals. Her current research centers on the use of computer conferencing and topics promoting the greater integration of the mis and management disciplines.

Raymond McLeod

Raymond McLeod, Jr. is Associate Professor of Business Computing Science at Texas A & M University. His teaching interests center in the MIS area, and he is the author of Management Information Systems, now in its third edition. His research deals primarily with marketing information systems, executive information systems, and computer education of the deaf. Reports of his research have appeared previously in Journal of Management Information Systems, as well as MIS Quarterly, Decision Sciences, Business Horizons, and other journals.