Scholarship, Leadership, Practice, Essay Example

Lao Tzu once said, “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves” (Brainy Quotes, 2013). Leadership is essential in every industry. Leaders are not born however; they are trained up through education, experience, and practice. Information literacy affects all facets of scholarship, practice, and leadership. Individuals that seek out leadership must study the strengths and weaknesses that leaders will come to face with when managing individuals in the information technology industry. Leaders are in the position to inspire, motivate, and engage others within their organizations. In order to achieve the tasks of what leaders are required to do, they must include the aspects of practice and scholarship in their education. In doing so leaders must have an unequivocal understanding of the principles of leadership through scholarly research and practice. In scholarly practicing must include these principles into their daily routine, and display leadership behaviors and practices. These leaders that can achieve these can navigate their organizations through challenges time within the IT industry. This paper looks at the importance of information literacy in the aspects of scholarship, practice, and leadership within IT industry. By first looking the importance of scholarship, and how information literacy is essential in the practice of good research in order to be an effective leader within the industry.

Scholarship

Within every industry the influence of information literacy is engaged in scholarship, practice, and leadership. More and more literacy information is available through the internet as technology and information is increasing. Information is defined as, “the communication or reception of knowledge or intelligence: knowledge obtained from investigation, study, or instruction, intelligence, news, facts, and data” (Merriam-Webster, 2010). Davenport (2002) said, “Information is data endowed with relevance and purpose” (Davenport, 2002). Individuals gather data that transforms into information that has been understood and received as knowledge. This knowledge is then used to obtain information from reading books, newspapers, articles from the internet, or from individuals trained in relaying information for academic means. Leaders use a variety of research methods that include grasping the concept of information literacy. (Turusheva, 2009) Included are libraries, internet databases, and the internet which is the go-to place where IT managers and others collect and gather literate information. It’s essential for those in the position of leadership to validate the information that is needed to make wise decision making, and authority calls. In order to become a good leader continual practice and improvements need to be made in the way that information is stored and assessed. The role that effective leaders take on are the roles of scholars the continually search for reliable and impartial knowledge through in depth research (Russell, 2009).

Practices

Leaders will be in the position to make educated decisions where they must rely on up to date information and historical data, which could affect the entire organization. Technology is continuously growing as the society is adapting to keep up. As the growth of technology increases the amount of information increases as well (Lauer & Yodanis, 2004). Lauer and Yodanis (2004) believe that information will correlate between good and bad, and will be available to more people as access increases. Leaders must have the skills and the knowledge in information literacy in order to make the right decisions for the organization. Information literacy is not a simple task, as it is the skill required to locate, evaluate, utilize, and share information with others, in such industries as education, information management, and other areas where new information is always needed (Bellinger, Mills, Castro, 2004).

Information literacy is essentially the foundation of learning in the rapidly changing environment to the continuous changes in information technology. There are several methods that are used in practicing information literacy; information literacy is a critical tool that scholars used in order to obtain information (Russell, 2009). The internet and other databases are useful tool in obtaining information. IT managers value the internet for obtaining relevant information in making wise decisions for overcoming potential problems. Leadership practices is utilized when leaders know the right skills to gain the right knowledge in finding the right information (Bellinger, Castro, and Mills, 2004). Leadership practice is a part of educating to increase the knowledge of not only employees but also the entire organization. The information is then shared with others in order to be used to inspire, motivate, and teach others. Leadership practices are more routinely followed within IT as the procedures of technology changes. IT managers must navigate through a changing industry in requirements and protocols that require significant knowledge, and constant need for general information literacy. Within the IT industry information literacy is key for understanding different formats, software, hardware, and other forms that are pertinent in the industry.

Conclusion

In conclusion, information literacy is essential in the aspects of scholarship, practice, and leadership. Leaders are not born but they are learned, through practice, education, and diligence. Leadership skills are developed through much practice and research skills that are created through education, and scholarly means that are need in IT. In the field of IT, knowledge is significant for the function of the organization. Information literacy is transform from the library to develop skills using the internet and other electronic data bases to obtain new and relevant information. This information must be acquired in order to keep the organization successful and up to date. As information continues to change and increase in technology begins to affect to society, the practice of information literacy skills are needed in order to assess the right and the wrong information. The core aspect of information literacy is to strengthen the intelligence of the leader’s knowledge, and ability to make the correct decisions for the best of the organization.

References

Bellinger, Gene, Durval, Castro and Anthony, Mills. (2004). Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom. Retrieved from http://www.systems-thinking.org/dikw/dikw.htm

Buckland, M. (1991). Information as thing. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 42 (5), 351-360.

Davenport, Thomas. (2002). Knowledge Management Case Book: Siemens Best Practice. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Information. (2010). Merriam-Webster. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/information

Laurer, S.R., Yodans, C.L. (2004). The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP): A tool for teaching with an international perspective. Teaching Sociology, 32(3), 304. Retrieved from EBSCOhost database.

Turusheva, L. (2009). Students information competence and its importance for life long education. Problems of Education in the 21st Century, 12(1), 126-132. doi: 42742862.

Russell, P. (2009).Why universities need information literacy now more than ever. Feliciter, 55(3), 92-94. doi: 41553415

Zabel, D. (2004, January). A reaction to information literacy and higher education. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 30(1), 17-21.