Edinburgh Napier University

  In support of peak performance all organisations require optimal information: information that arrives at the right time and in the right format, matching the quality requirements of its potential users (Marcusohn, 1995). In contrast to this, a superabundance of information, some of which may be irrelevant or of dubious quality, that arrives too quickly, can be damaging to employees and their business in the form of information overload. Two decades ago this concept was dismissed as a "phantom" that did "not exist for most people in most circumstances" [1] (Wilson, 1976). However, recent research conducted in industrialised nations of Europe, the United States and Asia Pacific demonstrates that the problems associated with information overload are now much more tangible: 49% of managers feel that quite often or very frequently they are unable to handle the information they receive and two thirds of them believe that information in their organisations is under-utilised. Some managers are even "reluctant to admit personally such sufferance for fear of being seen to fail in their job responsibilities...