BUS602: Marketing Management

Information Overload 

There is a lot of information out there. How do you deal with it so you don't go into information overload? 

Remember your scanning focus, but follow-up leads that look as though they might be useful. 

Look for credible sources 

You will soon learn how to identify these. Trusting your expertise and insight about what is credible and what is not is essential. 

Stretch your thinking (or my brain hurts!) 

It will probably be necessary to re-train your brain to shift the patterns of the past to be more open to what you are seeing as you scan, and to shift from an operational to a strategic focus. Your brain will probably start to hurt! 

You will be dealing with complexity and uncertainty. You will be faced with an overwhelming amount of information when you start out. What you think is impossible now just might be plausible in the future, and this challenges – in a big way - what you believe to be true about the world. That is a truly uncomfortable process, so expect some "cognitive dissonance". 

If your brain doesn't hurt, you are probably not stretching your thinking enough! Scanning becomes easier over time. If you scan regularly, you will become an "unconsciously competent" scanner. 

Information sharing 

'The people of an organization are some of the best sources external information, but sharing it remains a major challenge: 

• Lack of awareness that information is useful to others. 
• Lack of trust and concern that information may be misused. 
• Organizational structure blocks information sharing. 
• Organizational culture rewards owning information, not sharing it'.