Topic 1: The Information Paradox

The more information you have to process, the less communication you conduct.

The goal of communications planning and information distribution is to increase understanding among the project stakeholders. Advances in communications technologies have introduced choices in the type of communications vehicles used. The addition of digital technologies to analog technologies has created new and innovative ways of combining interpersonal and mass communication interactions. Presumably, the

greater the choice, the greater the chance for achieving the ultimate goal of communications planning and information distribution.

For the individual, the reverse is the norm. John Thorp, in his book, The Information Paradox, states that, “An increasing amount of money is being spent on new technologies that will deliver even more information as time goes on. Yet, neither the information nor the technology dollars are being consistently translated into business value.” One of the primary reasons for this “information paradox,” is the inundation of the individual with oftentimes useless information. It is nothing today to hear about project team members opening their e-mail in-boxes on Monday morning to find 50, 100, or 200 unread e-mails. Much of this is because of the “Reply to All” choice in responding to correspondence.

• Support or refute Thorpe’s premise that the more information you have to process, the less communication you conduct.
• Take into consideration whether it is ethical to focus on the project team members to the detriment of the stakeholders, versus focusing on the stakeholders value to the detriment of your project team members.

Hello Professor and Class,

I can definitely see where Thorpe is coming from, a lot of us spend unwanted time checking emails and correspondence from people. If we put a little more effort in checking that it is not sent to all and only those necessary this would save people a lot of time. This will take considerable time away form you communicating with employees and team members and making sure things are running smoothly.

I think that it is important to take into consideration whether it is ethical to focus on the project team members to the detriment of the stakeholders

because the team members are the ones that are making sure that the quality of the work is being done to the specifications that will make the stakeholders and customers happy with the product of the project.

Denise

References:

Thorpe, John, The Information Paradox, retrieved from;

https://www.fujitsu.com/caribbean/Images/Information_Paradox_Complete_20

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