1.3. 1 research object of information management science

1. Establishment of research object of information management science

Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out: "The difference of scientific research is based on the special contradiction of scientific objects." It can be seen that whether a subject can exist independently depends on whether it has an independent research object. Therefore, to investigate the independence of the research object is to investigate the independence of the discipline, regardless of whether the theoretical system and research methods of the discipline are perfect or not. In other words, the independence of the research object is a necessary condition for the establishment of this discipline.

Information management is a science that takes information resources and information activities as research objects and studies the basic laws and methods of various information management activities.

2. Subject independence of information management.

If the research objects of two disciplines are exactly the same, they belong to the same discipline; If the former includes the latter, the former is the source discipline and the latter is a sub-discipline; If the objects cross, it is an interdisciplinary subject; If the two objects are completely different, they are two independent disciplines.

Information management is an independent subject because it has an independent research object. So which disciplines are sub-disciplines and cross-disciplines? From the table 1- 1, we can see that information management is a branch of management, and the general principles and research methods of management are applicable to it; At the same time, it is an interdisciplinary subject between informatics and other disciplines, and some principles and methods of interdisciplinary subjects are applicable to it.

Table 1- 1 Relationship between information management and other disciplines

serial number

Subject name

research objects

Relationship with information management science

1

manage

All management activities

Source discipline

2

Information science

Information and information activities

be interdisciplinary

three

message communication

Practice of information dissemination activities

be interdisciplinary

four

Information economics

Practice of information economy activities

be interdisciplinary

five

Information industry science

Information industry and its management.

be interdisciplinary

1.3.2 theoretical system of information management

With an independent research object, a discipline has the necessary conditions to become an independent discipline. The sufficient condition for the establishment of a discipline is to form an independent and relatively mature theoretical system. The theoretical system of information management can be summarized from the following two aspects:

1. hierarchy

The hierarchical structure of information management theory system can be divided into three levels: macro, meso and micro.

(1) macro level

It mainly studies the general principles and methods of information management, national economic information management, national information strategic management, national information infrastructure planning, construction and management, and global information strategic management.

(2) Intermediate level

I mainly study information industry management, regional information management, industry information management, information market management and information system management.

(3) Micro level

It mainly studies the production, dissemination and utilization of information, enterprise information management, operation and management of information enterprises and information management of non-information enterprises.

2. Content structure

Information management is a subject that studies the theory and application methods of information management in scientific organizations. It is a cross-discipline with informatics and other disciplines, and it is also a branch of management. Moreover, as an independent discipline, its theoretical research lags behind the applied research. Therefore, we divide the content structure of information management into two levels: basic theory and applied theory. Accordingly, we divide information management into theoretical information management and applied information management.

(1) theoretical information management

Theoretical information management studies the basic theory of information management, which mainly includes the following theories:

① Basic theory of information management: mainly study the definition, characteristics, classification, category and basic functions of information management; Principles, methods and architecture of information management; Basic functions such as planning, organization, leadership and control of information management; The formation and development of information management, etc.

② Information science theory: Information science is a science that studies the laws and application methods of information movement, and it is one of the most direct and important theoretical basic sciences of information management. The main research scope of information science is the essence of information, the measurement of information, the law of information movement, and the principle of controlling and optimizing by using information. Its main pillars are information theory, system theory and cybernetics.

Information theory is the predecessor of information science, and it is a science that uses mathematical statistics to study the measurement, transmission and exchange of information. This paper mainly studies the information transmission law that is common in communication and control systems and the basic theory that can best solve the problems of information acquisition, measurement, conversion, storage and transmission. Information theory can be divided into narrow sense, broad sense and broad sense. Narrow sense information theory is Shannon information theory, which mainly studies information measurement, channel capacity and coding. Generalized information theory is communication theory, which mainly studies the general theory of information transmission, including signal and noise theory, signal filtering and detection, modulation and demodulation, information processing and so on. Generalized information theory is information science, and its research scope involves all fields related to information, such as communication, psychology, linguistics, genetic engineering, decision science and so on. But information theory usually refers to Shannon's information theory.

System theory is a theory that takes the general system as the research object. Its founder is Austrian-American biologist L. V. Bertalanffy. The main idea of system theory is that a system refers to a whole which is composed of various elements interacting with each other and has a certain overall function and purpose. Internally, these elements interact to form a certain structure; Externally, the whole formed by these elements is interrelated with the environment, showing certain functions and purposes. Elements-structure-system-function-environment constitute the five-in-one relationship of the system. The general characteristics of the system are integrity, connection, hierarchy, purpose and dynamics.

Cybernetics is a theory that studies control systems, and its founder is American mathematician Wiener. Its basic principle is that control refers to an asymmetric interaction between things. Things form a control relationship, during which one or several things must take the initiative to play a role, called the subject or controller; At the same time, there are one or more objects to be acted upon, which are called controlled objects or controlled objects. Generally speaking, the controller has a certain control goal, and the controller gradually realizes this goal by constantly exerting influence on the controlled object. The process that the controller exerts influence on the controlled object is also the process that the controlled object feeds back information, which is called feedback. Feedback is the basic concept of cybernetics. It is precisely because of the feedback that the behavior of achieving the control goal will not deviate from the goal. Information is the basis of control, and control is to find the right direction and strategy from relevant information.

③ Management theory: Management is an independent discipline, and information management is its sub-discipline. The basic principles of management are all applicable to information management. The basic contents and principles of management can be summarized as the following eight aspects.

The principle of system refers to the principle of integrity, purpose, hierarchy and dynamics of the system in management activities, fully coordinating the relationship between various components and giving full play to their best functions, so as to realize the optimization of management objectives.

The principle of integration, separation and integration means that when carrying out management activities, we should put the management object as an organic whole in the environment and grasp the management object, function and goal as a whole; Then scientifically decompose the whole into parts, implement a reasonable division of labor, and clarify the functions of each part; Finally, the overall coordination and effective synthesis are carried out to achieve the overall goal.

The principle of feedback means that in management activities, we should pay attention to the response of the management object to the output information of the control system, and adjust the control direction in time according to these responses to maintain the stability of the object system and the consistency of its objectives.

The closed principle is an extension of the feedback principle. It means that when carrying out management activities, we should not only pay attention to the implementation process, but also pay attention to the supervision and feedback process, constantly adjust management decisions according to the results of inspection and evaluation, and realize closed management of the formation, implementation, evaluation and new decision-making of the results.

The principle of energy level refers to the establishment of management levels and order according to different energy levels, the establishment of various norms and standards, the granting of different powers to different energy levels and the dynamic adjustment to ensure the orderly and effective management activities.

The principle of flexibility means that in management activities, we should consider the plasticity of people and things themselves and the variability of the movement process of objective things, and then grasp the adjustability under certain principles or within a certain range to realize effective dynamic management.

The principle of power refers to correctly understanding and mastering all kinds of power sources and providing a series of effective power mechanisms when carrying out management activities, so as to correctly stimulate power and make management activities continue effectively, thus continuously promoting the realization of organizational goals.

The principle of benefit means that when carrying out management activities, we should pay attention to practical results, pay attention to the unity of social benefits and economic benefits, and strive to create maximum benefits by using limited human, material, financial and information resources.

The above principles are interrelated and mutually restricted, which is one of the basic theories of information management.

(2) Application information management

Applied information management studies the applied theory of information management. It mainly consists of the following contents:

① Enterprise information management

This paper mainly studies how to use modern information technology to collect, sort out, analyze and utilize the information involved in all aspects of enterprise production and operation, and cooperate with the people, money and things of the enterprise to realize the enterprise's goals.

② Government information management

It mainly studies the information management, informatization and office automation of government departments.

③ Information production management

This paper mainly studies the theories and methods of information product development and production, including the mechanisms and methods of information collection, identification, screening, sorting, activation, storage and dissemination.

④ Information system management

It mainly studies the analysis, design, implementation, evaluation and maintenance of information systems, the allocation of organizational information resources, and the relationship between information system management and organizational competitive strategy.

⑤ Information industry management

This paper mainly studies industrial development and management mode, industrial policy, industrial legislation, traditional industrial informatization, and the relationship between industrial economic issues such as industrial structure, industrial correlation and industrial organization and industrial management.

1.3.3 theoretical schools of information management

The formation of information management theory began in the United States in the late 1970s. The initial germination appeared in the fields of business administration and government departments. Based on the idea of information resource management, they gradually formed the "information system school" and "file management school". In the mid-1980s, the theory of information resource management was gradually introduced into Europe, and directly or indirectly spread to all countries in the world. In Europe, the theory of information resource management has aroused great interest of researchers in the field of literature and information science. In the theoretical research of information resources, the ideas of library science and information science are consciously or unconsciously introduced, and information resource management is called "information management" for short. In the 1990s, Chinese scholars in the field of literature and information science absorbed more information management ideas from European scholars, and formed an "information management school".

1. School of Information Systems

It is the mainstream of information resource management theory in Europe and America. The main representatives are Horton and marchand, who are the most systematic and mature theoretical schools among the three schools. Its characteristics are as follows:

(1) Attach importance to the resource characteristics and property characteristics of information, the cost management of information resources, and the input-output analysis.

(2) Pay attention to the combination of information system theory and management theory, with management theory as the key link and information system as the core.

(3) Pay attention to the practicality of information resources, emphasize the application of information resource management in practical fields, and emphasize winning competitive advantage and identifying profit opportunities from information resources.

(4) Pay attention to the strategic nature of information resource management, research and decision analysis of CIO and its responsibilities.

(5) Pay attention to case study and collective study. All kinds of theories and theories are mostly the results of cooperative research, and the collaborators are mostly composed of researchers in teaching research and practice.

(6) Its objects are mainly managers in the field of business administration, teachers and students majoring in management information systems and general information managers. However, the school does not include library science, archival science, information science and other disciplines, and its scope of application is limited to some extent.

2. Archives Management College

Its representatives are B.R. Ricks, K.F. Gao and Michael Cook. Its main features are as follows:

(1) equates information resources with records, and thinks that records are the main resources and property of an organization, and efficient record management is helpful to the realization of organizational goals.

(2) Paying attention to the life cycle of records-the creation, collection, storage, retrieval, distribution, utilization and maintenance of records is essentially an information management process, which constitutes the internal basis of records management theory.

(3) Pay attention to the comprehensive management of multimedia. Its "record" has gone beyond the scope of document record and evolved into the concept of "document information" similar to that of Chinese scholars, with the aim of realizing the integration of document information disciplines on the basis of record.

(4) It has not risen to the level of strategic management. Judging from its theoretical content, archives information management seems to be between empirical discipline and theoretical discipline.

(5) The management of document information has not been truly unified, and its main contents are still letters, documents, reports, forms, microforms, etc. Its essence is an extended file and document management.

(6) Although information system theory and management theory are also applied, it is only a framework, and the content is still the content of file management.

Archives management theory is a kind of information resource management theory related to office document processing, which has a broad application market, spread widely in Europe and America and has a great influence.

3. School of Information Management

It is the theoretical school with the biggest internal differences among the three schools, and its representatives are scholars such as Martin, Cronin, Davenport, Lautmann and China.

(1) Martin's information management theory

William martin's information management theory is the closest to the information resource management theory, which mainly involves the connotation, significance, elements, principles, cognition, restrictive factors, implementation and process of information management.

(2) Cronin and Davenport's information management theory.

This theory is devoted to the unification of theories of different information disciplines, and tries to analyze the profound connotation of information management by using models, metaphors and related analysis methods from intuition and make it rise to the general theoretical level. They divide information management into three models: metaphor model, metonymy model and classification model. Metaphor model is a method to describe the target with characteristic things. Common metaphors include resources, assets, property and commodities. Metonymy model is a method in which parts represent the whole, and commonly used metonymies include images, keywords, abstracts, abstracts, screen menus and so on. The classification model is based on the obvious factors of * * * to constrain the separated entities. Common classification methods include hierarchical classification, comprehensive classification, semantic web, graph theory, clustering classification and so on. Cronin and Davenport's model and metaphor are a method to infer and establish theoretical models from the rich semantic content contained in existing concepts, which requires imagination and innovation.

(3) China's information management theory.

(1) Lu Taihong's three-dimensional structure theory.

As shown in figure 1-2, the theory holds that information resource management is the reinforcement of three basic information management modes, which are:

Corresponding to the technical management mode of information technology, its research content is new information system, new information media and new utilization mode; Corresponding to the economic management mode of information economy, its research methods are information commodity, information commodity market, information industry and information economy; Corresponding to the humanistic management mode of information culture, its research direction is information policy and information law.

② Hu Changping's information management theory.

In the book Introduction to Information Management published by 1995, he constructed a macro information management system based on social information. The theory takes "users and services" as the center, the orderly operation of social information flow as the key link, the control and industrialization of social information flow as the focus, and the unified information management mechanism of scientific and technological information and economic information as the leading idea. Its essence is the deduction and expansion of scientific and technological information management theory.

1.3.4 research methods of information management

The research method of information management, in a broad sense, is the sum of all ways, means, tools and methods in information management activities. The study of information management methods is conducive to the rise of empirical methods to scientific methods and the transformation from perceptual methods to rational methods; It is conducive to the specialization of general methods and the refinement of special methods, and provides rich materials for the information management method system; It is beneficial to determine the applicable methods according to the specific research objectives and research environment; There is effective coordination between specific research situations and specific methods, and effective regulation of research objects by specific research methods.

There are many research methods of information management science, which are divided into philosophical methods, general scientific methods and special research methods according to the general to specific ways.

1. Philosophical method

Philosophical method is the highest research method of all theories. Dialectical materialism philosophy is the theoretical basis and the highest research method of information management. Its basic theory and method are dialectical materialist world outlook, methodology and epistemology. The application of dialectical materialism philosophy to study the relevant theories of information management is highlighted in the understanding of the concept and essence of information.

For example, Weiner pointed out that "information is information, neither matter nor energy" when defining information. In the book Cybernetics from a Philosophical Perspective, Klaus believes that information is different from matter, it is a universal attribute of matter rather than matter itself, it can exist independently without affecting the existence and movement of matter, and it mainly shows the movement state and interaction of matter.

The relationship among matter, energy and information is a philosophical problem, and it is a method to explore the attribute of information from the perspective of Marxism.

2. General scientific methods

(1) system method

System science method is widely used in information management. These methods mainly include: expert system method, system model method, system engineering method, feasibility analysis method, cost-benefit analysis and evaluation method, system decision quantification method and so on.

(2) operational research methods

Operational research is an applied science in the field of management, which uses mathematical methods to make overall plans for problems that need to be managed, so as to make decisions. The application of operational research methods in information management includes: linear programming method of operational research is used to study the rational allocation of information resources; Dynamic programming method is used in computer retrieval and network construction.

(3) Mathematical and statistical methods

Mathematical and statistical methods are often used to measure information, and information measurement refers to accurately describing information from the relationship of quantity. The amount of information exists objectively, and the research and grasp of the amount of information determines the maturity and development of information science in a certain sense. Shannon cited probability theory in his information measurement, and creatively linked information measurement with eliminating uncertainty, thus promoting the qualitative leap of information measurement theory. Typical applications of mathematical and statistical methods in information management include: using mathematical models to establish information measurement methods for the interaction between users and information records in information service environment; Establish an information index system; Scale measurement of information economy; Knowledge economy measurement, etc.

(4) Technical experimental methods

Information management is a highly applied subject. In the field of information organization and retrieval technology, almost every new theory or technology comes from technical experiments. For example, text word retrieval, hypertext retrieval, networked Web information retrieval and text retrieval with thesaurus all started from technical experiments.

3. Professional research methods

Information management adopts both universal research methods and unique research methods of this discipline, mainly including qualitative research methods and quantitative research methods.

Qualitative research method of (1) information

From the viewpoint of information, the research object is regarded as a process of information transmission and information conversion. Through the analysis and processing of information flow, the regularity of the research object's movement process is obtained. It is characterized by taking the concept of information as the basis for analyzing and handling problems, regardless of the specific structure and motion state of the object, and abstracting the motion of the object into an information conversion process, that is, the process of information input, storage, processing, output and feedback.

(2) Information quantitative research methods

The quantitative research method of information is mainly to study the phenomenon, process and law of information quantitatively, so as to establish a set of scientific concepts with "quantity" stipulation and quantitative methods. At present, this method is not only applied to the quantitative study of the law of literature information exchange, but also to the fields of information retrieval theory, information system design, quantitative evaluation of information service effect and user information demand investigation and research.