Information Structure, Information Technology, and the Human Services Organizational Environment

This article examines current trends in data collection and information use in human services organizations. Issues for managers who are planning information systems, including practitioner resistance to automation, are described. The authors propose that conceptual integration of agendas for human services automation, practice evaluation, and service effectiveness enables the development of coherent information systems that are more fully useful to all levels of an organization. The paradigm of structure of information is presented as the fundamental, unifying variable for the integration of agendas. The paradigm is applied to use of data demands and information in automation and evaluation, assessment of existing organizations when considering information system innovations, and prediction of the impact of those innovations on the organization.