Technical managers about technical information

Abstract

After 1968 – when the new economic mechanism was introduced in Hungary – the interest of industrial enterprises towards technical-economic information increased substantially. Experiences show, however, that due to material and personal reasons right practice of getting information hardly developes and it is only partly the fault of enterprises. The troubles of information flow have also certain outside reasons, primarily because of insufficiences in the co-ordination of needs and services. The study summarizes opinions and experiences of managers in five big industrial enterprises regarding this complex problem. During the investigation a special type of deep interviewing proved to be the most suitable method: the author directed conversations on problem-groups fixed in advance. Conversations were recorded on tape and summarized for this article. Interviewees defined their attitude – among others – concerning the problem: many or few information. It was proved that the systematic character is missing in the organization of information and it gives to the users the impression of an unbearable mass of information. It was verified that services and methods of technical libraries and local documentation units are not able to satisfy the increased needs. Typical motivations of information acquisition and information arrangements for decision making were also examined. Individual methods in information practice of technical managers were investigated. It was made possible that the five interviewees could classify the value of the various information sources. The latter analysis proved again that oral communication can create efficient and useful possibilities also in approaching the most abstract technical problems. The material proceed close to sociological methods also illustrates that there are new possibilities for investigating the users' opinions.