Levels of the Decision – Making Process (More Types of the Information)

1. Strategic Level
For making the decisions strategically, strategic information is very essential. This type of the information is very wholistic and un-structured in the nature. Strategic Information is obtained in huge amounts from the external environment. During this level, futuristic inputs are used as these help in the long – term planning.

The futuristic inputs generally include –
a. Emerging technologies
b. The competition
c. Consumer preferences
d. Socio – economic – political changes

2. Tactical Level
Medium and short term planning is generally done with the help of the Tactical information that can be obtained from the middle management, budgets, fore – casts, analysis, cash / funds flow projections etc.
The Tactical information can be obtained from the internal environment and also from the external environment.

3. Operational Level
The people ranging from a shift to a day or a week or a month can be controlled or operated with the help of the Operational Information and this type of the Information provides a great look about what is currently happening around with – in the organization. The Tactical information is obtained from the internal sources and covers the certain product, specific activity and a smaller number of the people.

Sources of the Information
As explained above, the Information is born from the data i.e. the data acts as the base for the formation of the Information. Data is the raw material from which the information can be or is obtained. So it can be said that the Information Is obtained from the data and the data further is obtained from the various sources, so now it becomes very important to have an in – depth view about these various sources.

The data can be obtained from the various sources that can be either external or internal in the nature. When the researcher collects the data for the first time, it is referred to as the Primary data. But when the data is borrowed by the researcher from the other sources, it is referred to as the Secondary data.

The Primary data can be collected from the following sources –
1. Directly from the respondent.
2. Various techniques like the observations, questionnaires, interviews etc.

The Secondary data can be collected from the following sources –
1. Newspapers
2. Magazines
3. Trade journals
4. Government Publications
5. Government Policy Documents
6. Research Reports
7. Websites

Types of the Information
1. Action Information
a. Induces the action.

2. Non Action Information
a. Communicates only about the status of a situation.

3. Recurring Information
a. Such Information is generated at the regular Information.

4. Non Recurring Information
a. Non repetitive in the nature.

5. Internal Information
a. Generated through the internal sources of the organization.

6. External Information
a. Generated through the external sources.

Uses of the Information
Information is very critical for the management and is always referred to as the difference that eventually makes the difference and the Information is quoted by these words due the following uses or the features that it possesses –

1. Helps in the minimization of the element of the surprise and the uncertainty in the process of the decision making.

2. Plays a very vital role in the improvement of the quality of making any type of the decision.

3. Causes the minimization in the elements of the risk and the uncertainty in the decision making.

4. With the help of the Information, one is able to achieve the most optimum results with in the given constraints.

5. The decision making behavior is also improved a lot with the help of the Information.

Presentation of the Information
The presentation of the Information is a very important process and it needs to be done very carefully and in a very accurate manner. The presentation of the Information is a very especial art. The collection of the data must be done in the best possible way and from the best possible sources and after this the data should be processed analytically. With this, a lot of value can be added to the Information. But all this can act as a flop show if the presentation of the data has not been done in a good way as in such a scenario the Information is not able to communicate to the receiver anything about the value.

The presentation of the Information largely affects the degree of the communication and some of the other factors that at times can have a huge influence on the degree of the communication can include the following –

1. The various methods of the Transmission.
2. The manner of the information handling.
3. Limitations and the constraints of the receiver.
4. The Organization.

Hence, it can be said that the degree of the communication needs to be taken care of and can be improved with the help of the message routing, which includes the distribution of the Information to all those who are responsible for the various actions or the decisions in any way. One important thing that should be kept in mind and should be followed is that the summarization of the data must be done as by doing so one is able to avoid much of the confusion, misunderstanding etc.

The various steps of the process of the Information can be understood from the following table –