Stress and information availability - what is the link?

Managers are claiming to be more and more stressed as they have more and more to do, and less time to do it in. E-mail has ensured they are swamped with more irrelevant information than ever before, and the explosion of information systems makes finding out what is really going on in the business increasingly difficult.

On top of this there are always meetings to attend and the only time they catch up is over weekends or after hours. The result is anxiety arising from lack of information and the feeling of being out of control. Add to this scenario the archaic accounting practices required of the commercial world and managers soon realise that even if they do get information in time, it is not likely to offer a useful, actionable view of the business.

Accounting practices and traditional reporting cultures ensure that once a set of figures are produced, tax allowances, rebates, amortisations and special allowances mean that these figures will alter days, weeks and sometimes months after they have been produced. This forces most managers to "fly blind", and to function under extreme pressure. Furthermore, obtaining a realistic, holistic view of the business in time to make the right decision is difficult enough, but aligning this decision process to organisational strategy becomes virtually impossible. A realistic view of the business would make the decision-making process far easier.

Managers are expected to make decisions when they usually only receive the previous month`s figures well into the next month. To top it all the information is delivered in a format that is virtually unusable in the decision-making process, such as in an accounting format or traditionally structured reports. Once this information is received it must be manipulated and massaged into a format that is suited to a particular decision making process. This is the Shadow IT department - where every decision-maker maintains their own set of information in a usable format in Excel spreadsheets and then spends evenings or weekend manipulating it into a format that will tell them what is really going on, or support their version of the truth.

Information systems such as business intelligence should be designed to deliver the right information, in the right format in enough time to make the right decision. The sad truth is that most of these systems are used to deliver the same information, only faster. This means that managers have more time to manipulate information, and have to go to fewer places to gather the data. The problem is these decision support tools are being deployed as reporting automation tools.

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The solution is to use these tools, as they were originally designed, to deliver information in a format that does not require massaging or manipulation and that operational users and board members alike trust. The next step is to deliver the information in time. Let users know if they are going to make their targets during the reporting period and if not, why. Then managers can actually do something about it. Knowing that there was a problem after a reporting period has closed is virtually useless. And most managers have a hunch about problems and "feel" their figures are not going to be right. This leads to businesses stumbling from one crisis to the next, with a manager`s skill being defined by how well they manage this stress, and not by how well they do at avoiding it in the first place.

Knowing what is happening now and being able to see what effect it will have on future business and why, will go a long way to alleviating this type of pressure. And while there is no silver bullet that will solve all problems, the ability to see what is really going on in the business will at least allow managers to stress about real rather than perceived issues.