Chapter Summary

Information-needs assessments should be conducted to determine what technological and information requirements are needed for the successful operation of an organization. When conducting an information-needs assessment, a company should consider their current performance and the existing standards for other businesses and then implement changes for improvement. Systemic interviewing, which is the broad interviewing of employees, should be conducted to evaluate the quality and efficiency of equipment, the knowledge and training of employees, and whether barriers to information flow are present.

The desired state of a company is addressed in the company's mission statement and the company's vision statement. The mission statement presents a company's current goals and expectations, while the vision statement addresses the future goals of the company.

Once a company's current information capabilities are identified, the company can determine the information needed to move toward its goal, whether it is technical information, education and training, or evaluations of the competition. There are many sources for finding this information, including the Internet, business journals, newspapers, trade publications, television, radio, books, magazines, and libraries.

Online Links

University of Missouri at St. Louis College of Business Administration (Page 25)
http://www.umsl.edu/divisions/business/General_Business.html

Search Engine Web sites (Page 39)
www.altavista.com
www.askjeeves.com
www.google.com
www.webcrawler.com

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