Thematical orientation of technical and economic information for executives and some methods of solving it
Abstract
The needs of executive bodies, both state and party organs, and top-management for information on special literature differ very much from those of other users of technical and economic information. These needs are not restricted to a certain science discipline or one subject field only but are extending to scientific technological, economic, economic-statistical or marketing aspects at the same time which may serve the progress and economic growth of the whole people's economy.
For preparing the material available, information for top-management, therefore, cannot and should not seek to be complete or follow what is called the principle of relative completeness but can only aim to render highly selective relevant information. Nor can the method of selection be determined by the content value of the information alone or by its significance, that is by an objective viewpoint, instead, it has to be governed by a primary subjective (teleological) consideration, in other words, the extent to which the prepared information serves the objectives of top-management.
In order to make mission-oriented top-level information possible to be adequately selected from the rich flow of technical, scientific, and economic literature, these top-level missions or tasks, as well as the particular fields of interest here to be clearly defined. The definition should enable information offices that are preparing and supplying that information for top-management to separate thematic groups or topics from a wide range of technological and economic fields and phenomena serving as principles of selection. What we mean, then, by the term thematic orientation is that the information given to top-management should be oriented to thematic groups and topics.
Thematical orientation may be defined in two ways which do not exclude each other but are complementary:
1. a pre-determined outline of thematical groups (fixing thematical groups);
2. indication or recommendation of individual topics in a definitive way (thematical inspiration).
Thus, both of them are needed in order that executives may really be given such information as can help them to fulfil their tasks. Further, it is dealt with the definition of thematical groups in Czechoslovakia, GDR and Poland, as well as with its basic principles in Hungary.
The author agrees with the practice of fixing thematical groups divided into functional task subgroups (as practised in Czechoslovakia and in the German Democratic Republic), along with a detailed listing of topics within the subgroups (as in Poland).
Further on the question is examined how it were possible or appropriate to transfer the selective thematical-oriented information to their users so that the methods adopted should result in the most affective information. This problem is significant in what can be called “polythematical” information services (periodical or occasional publications), since in case of monothematical publications the single topic or thematical group is, by itself, adjusted to the required objective.
The present practice of isssuing polythematic periodical publications for top-management shows that each issue contains informative papers or studies or other material in just a few subjects which can by no means give an overall picture of the main thematical groups as indicated (or prescribed) in the thematical information; moreover, by this method, certain thematical groups cannot or can only poorly be covered in the individual issues. Instead of this, the author suggests that the structure of informative periodicals for top-management should be formed In a way that it should comply with the thematical groups of the pre-determined thematical orientation, and to each group appropriate informative material should be given; this ought to be carried out In a form that besides studies in certain topics, space should also be given to relevant statistical and market data, as well as to other economic news.
