What I find fascinating about Information Overload in organizations is that there’s so much more to it than meets the eye.
There is a distinct layer of causes to this problem that I’ve been referring to collectively as “The Dark Side of Information Overload”, and they have a real presence in the murky undercurrents below the surface of the corporate culture. The formal culture, with its mission statements and values emphasizing fairness and cooperation, never acknowledges this Dark Side; but the employees can unerringly identify it and respond with defensive measures that can result in anything but cooperation.
I’ve been talking about this in all my Information Overload lectures, and now I’ve finally taken the time to put my ideas into a focused insight article.
If you want to understand why seemingly rational employees end up creating huge quantities of useless email that ultimately causes them only pain, here is the article. It will also set you thinking about the cure…