Information, performance, and the human service manager of the 1980s: beyond "housekeeping"

The use of information to guide management action and improve program performance is vastly different from current applications in the human services and will be one of the hallmarks of the second era of information system development. This paper, based on the literature and a recent statewide study, portrays first era information use as quite limited. A model for assessing and guiding future development is presented, which includes attention to organizational contingencies, arrangement of data-based reports, and manager skills and attitudes. A series of techniques for transforming data into management action is proposed.