13th Conference on Professional Information Resources

Autor: Jan Vymětal, VŠB - Technical University of Ostrava - Faculty of Economics, Czech Republic

Fulltext

Abstract:

The goal of a corporate information centre in present information society is to supply top quality information to a maximum number of users at minimum costs, under minimum administrative demanding and demand form. Information centre provides these services in particular for the strategic management of the company, using information technologies and information sources. The aim of this process is to increase competitiveness of the organisation, reduce risk in adopting decisions and, finally, raise profit.
Gradual transformation of information society into a knowledge one will result in the transformation of information business centres into knowledge ones. Information management will be extended by knowledge management. Knowledge centre will basically support knowledge development of all the company employees, as well as that of external ones. The aim of supplied services will remain the same.
In knowledge company the information and communication technologies will be replaced by an extended and newly-defined personnel management. The role of technologies in industrial and information company will be overtaken by e.g. sociology, personnel management, psychology, communication, social information science, individual education, education of organisation, corporate culture, etc. The expected concomitant hereof will be the reluctance and the need to solve many related problems, namely:
- understanding of knowledge as the basic and most important form of capital in global economy securing prospect, strategic development, specific competitive advantage and profit;
- finding a new phenomenon adequate to information and communication technologies that have significantly accelerated the development of information company worldwide;
- replacement of technocratic thinking characteristic for industrial and information company by thinking using in particular humanitarian arts;
- raising labour productivity using knowledge managers, including their unconventional management and control, motivation, acceptance, sharing of knowledge, continuous studying, networking development, preference of critical, analytic-synthetic way of thinking, accepting the intuition as a function of knowledge, experience and skills, ability to improvise;
- principle that the one “knowing” does not necessarily have to be the manager – knowledge specialist need not to be a manager;
- notion of permanent changes as a basic precondition for the next development of the organisation;
- including knowledge into the product and thus improving its attractiveness;
- preserving knowledge in organisation - a higher risk of leakage of knowledge due to decreased loyalty of employees, higher demand for knowledge specialists in ever tougher competitive business environment, not using of seniors;
- changes in organisation’s culture - supporting the acquisition and sharing of knowledge, appreciation of a personality, of a success;
- coping with the fact that the current group of managers will be extended by a knowledge manager (golden collars);
- obligation to undergo risk even if making a mistake – the only certainty is uncertainty;
- revaluation of the importance of the mistake and the right for mistake – in justified cases a tolerable mistake can be viewed as an investment for the future, not as a reason for repression;
- restructuring of educational process in line with new requirements of knowledge company to practical demands and raising the importance of education in various fields.

About author:

Jan Vymětal completed the Secondary School of Chemistry in Ostrava (1959), correspondence degree course at the Department of Organic Chemistry of the Chemical – Technological University of Prague (1969), took an external research assistantship at the Department of Coke and Gas of Chemical-Technological University of Prague (1972) and in 1994 habilitated for the field of chemical and power usage of fuels at Technical University of Mining , Ostrava. From 1959 he worked at the Urx Works, Ostrava and Valašské Meziříčí – the current DEZA a.s. He worked thirty years in the corporate Research Institute of Coke Chemistry as a research worker and manager of the research group. In 1990 he was charged with establishing a corporate information centre which he was managing until his retirement in 2002. These days he has been working as an external lecturer at the Faculty of Science of Ostrava University, Faculty of Economics, Technical University of Ostrava and at the Professional College at Valašské Meziříčí. He focuses on using information in corporate practice, information and knowledge management and on professional communication and presentation. He is a member of the Academic Council of the Faculty of Science, Ostrava University, chairman and member of the state examining board for defending thesis of degree works and academic dissertation, and a consultant-specialist.

Jan Vymětal is a chief-author of technical publication “Information Centre in Corporate Practice” (1996), “Introduction in the Study of Technical Literature” (2000), “Technical Literature and Information in Chemistry” (2001), “Information and Knowledge Management in Practice” (2005) and many reference books on tar chemistry and chemical technologies. He is an author and co-author of 143 technical and scientific works, 38 patents and many papers for technical conferences. He is a member of the Czech Chemical Society, Czech Society of Industrial Chemistry (member of the Board of Directors from 1990), Czech Union of Chemical Engineers, American Chemical Society and New York Academy of Science. His biography has been regularly published in “Who´s Who in the World” since 1980, in Hübner´s Who is Who (2006) and in many other world biographic publications. In 2006 he was awarded a prize of Vojtěch Šafařík by the Czech Chemical Society for his merits in chemical engineering.

Author: Ludmila Mládková, University of Economics, Czech Republic

Author: Olga Girstlová, GiTy, a.s., Czech Republic

Author: Tereza Šedivcová, ČSOB, Czech Republic

Author: Dagmar Vránová, EPMA - European Projects &Management Agency, Czech Republic

Author: Anna Diačiková, Chemosvit a.s., Slovakia

Author: Jan Mottl, AiP Safe s.r.o., Czech Republic