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Management Misinformation Systems
Author(s): Russell L. Ackoff
Source: Management Science, Vol. 14, No. 4, Application Series (Dec., 1967), pp. B147-B156
Published by: INFORMS
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MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

Vol. 14, No. 4, December, 1967
Printed in U.S.A.

MANAGEMENT MISINFORMATION SYSTEMS *

RUSSELL L. ACKOFF

University of Pennsylvania

Five assumptions commonly made by designers of management information
systems are identified. It is argued that these are not justified in many (if not
most) cases and hence lead to major deficiencies in the resulting systems.
These assumptions are: (1) the critical deficiency under which most managers
operate is the lack of relevant information, (2) the manager needs the infor-
mation he wants, (3) if a manager has the information he needs his decision
making will improve, (4) better communication between managers improves
organizational performance, and (5) a manager does not have to understand
how his information system works, only how to use it. To overcome these
assumptions and the deficiencies which result from them, a management
information system should be imbedded in a management control system.
A procedure for designing such a system is proposed and an example is given

of the type of control system which it produces.

The growing preoccupation of operations researchers and management scien-

tists with Management Information Systems (MIS’s) is apparent. In fact, for
some the design of such systems has almost become synonymous with operations
research or management science. Enthusiasm for such systems is understand-
able: it involves the researcher in a romantic relationship with the most glamorous
instrument of our time, the computer. Such enthusiasm is understandable but,
nevertheless, some of the excesses to which it has led are not excusable.

Contrary to the impression produced by the growing literature, few com-
puterized management information systems have been put into operation. Of
those I’ve seen that have been implemented, most have not matched expectations
and some have been outright failures. I believe that these near- and far-misses
could have been avoided if certain false (and usually implicit) assumptions on
which many such systems have been erected had not been made.

There seem to be five common and erroneous assumptions underlying the
design of most MIS’s, each of which I will consider. After doing so I will outline
an MIS design procedure which avoids these assumptions.

Give Them More

Most MIS’s are designed on the assumption that the critical deficiency under

which most managers operate is the lack of relevant information. I do not deny
that most managers lack a good deal of information that they should have, but
I do deny that this is the most important informational deficiency from which
they suffer. It seems to me that they suffer more from an over abundance of
irrelevant information.

* Received June 1967.

B-147

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B-148 RUSSELL L. ACKOFF

This is not a play on words. The consequences of changing the emphasis of an

MIS from supplying relevant information to eliminating irrelevant information

is considerable. If one is preoccupied with supplying relevant information,

attention is almost exclusively given to the generation, storage, and retrieval of
information: hence emphasis is placed on constructing data banks, coding,
indexing, updating files, access languages, and so on. The ideal which has emerged
from this orientation is an infinite pool of data into which a manager can reach to

pull out any information he wants. If, on the other hand, one sees the manager’s
information problem primarily, but not exclusively, as one that arises out of an

overabundance of irrelevant information, most of which was not asked for, then

the two most important functions of an information system become filtration
(or evaluation) and condensation. The literature on MIS’s seldom refers to these
functions let alone considers how to carry them out.

My experience indicates that most managers receive much more data (if not
information) than they can possibly absorb even if they spend all of their time

trying to do so. Hence they already suffer from an information overload. They
must spend a great deal of time separating the relevant form the irrelevant and
searching for the kernels in the relevant documents. For example, I have found
that I receive an average of forty-three hours of unsolicited reading material
each week. The solicited material is usually half again this amount.

I have seen a daily stock status report that consists of approximately six

hundred pages of computer print-out. The report is circulated daily across man-

agers’ desks. I’ve also seen requests for major capital expenditures that come in

book size, several of which are distributed to managers each week. It is not
uncommon for many managers to receive an average of one journal a day or
more. One could go on and on.

Unless the information overload to which managers are subjected is reduced,
any additional information made available by an MIS cannot be expected to be
used effectively.

Even relevant documents have too much redundancy. Most documents can
be considerably condensed without loss of content. My point here is best made,
perhaps, by describing briefly an experiment that a few of my colleagues and I
conducted on the OR literature several years ago. By using a panel of well-known
experts we identified four OR articles that all members of the panel considered

to be “above average,” and four articles that were considered to be “below
average.” The authors of the eight articles were asked to prepare “objective”
examinations (duration thirty minutes) plus answers for graduate students who
were to be assigned the articles for reading. (The authors were not informed about
the experiment.) Then several experienced writers were asked to reduce each
article to 2 and 3 of its original length only by eliminating words. They also
prepared a brief abstract of each article. Those who did the condensing did not
see the examinations to be given to the students.

A group of graduate students who had not previously read the articles were
then selected. Each one was given four articles randomly selected, each of which

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MANAGEMENT MISINFORMATION SYSTEMS B-149

was in one of its four versions: 100%, 67%, 33 %, or abstract. Each version of
each article was read by two students. All were given the same examinations.
The average scores on the examinations were then compared.

For the above-average articles there was no significant difference between

average test scores for the 100%, 67%, and 33 % versions, but there was a
significant decrease in average test scores for those who had read only the

abstract. For the below-average articles there was no difference in average test
scores among those who had read the 100 %, 67 %, and 33 % versions, but there
was a significant increase in average test scores of those who had read only the
abstract.

The sample used was obviously too small for general conclusions but the
results strongly indicate the extent to which even good writing can be condensed
without loss of information. I refrain from drawing the obvious conclusion
about bad writing.

It seems clear that condensation as well as filtration, performed mechanically
or otherwise, should be an essential part of an MIS, and that such a system
should be capable of handling much, if not all, of the unsolicited as well as
solicited information that a manager receives.

The Manager Needs the Information That He Wants

Most MIS designers “determine” what information is needed by asking
managers what information they would like to have. This is based on the as-
sumption that managers know what information they need and want it.

For a manager to know what information he needs he must be aware of each
type of decision he should make (as well as does) and he must have an adequate
model of each. These conditions are seldom satisfied. Most managers have some
conception of at least some of the types of decisions they must make. Their
conceptions, however, are likely to be deficient in a very critical way, a way that
follows from an important principle of scientific economy: the less we under-
stand a phenomenon, the more variables we require to explain it. Hence, the
manager who does not understand the phenomenon he controls plays it “safe”
and, with respect to information, wants “everything.” The MIS designer, who
has even less understanding of the relevant phenomenon than the manager, tries
to provide even more than everything. He thereby increases what is already an
overload of irrelevant information.

For example, market researchers in a major oil company once asked their
marketing managers what variables they thought were relevant in estimating
the sales volume of future service stations. Almost seventy variables were
identified. The market researchers then added about half again this many
variables and performed a large multiple linear regression analysis of sales of
existing stations against these variables and found about thirty-five to be statis-
tically significant. A forecasting equation was based on this analysis. An OR
team subsequently constructed a model based on only one of these variables,
traffic flow, which predicted sales better than the thirty-five variable regression
equation. The team went on to explain sales at service stations in terms of the

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B-150 RUSSELL L. ACKOFF

customers’ perception of the amount of time lost by stoppong for service. The
relevance of all but a few of the variables used by the market researchers could
be explained by their effect on such perception.

The moral is simple: one cannot specify what information is required for

decision making until an explanatory model of the decision process and the
system involved has been constructed and tested. Information systems are

subsystems of control systems. They cannot be designed adequately without
taking control in account. Furthermore, whatever else regression analyses can
yield, they cannot yield understanding and explanation of phenomena. They
describe and, at best, predict.

Give a Manager the Information He Needs and His Decision
Making Will Improve

It is frequently assumed that if a manager is provided with the information
he needs, he will then have no problem in using it effectively. The history of
OR stands to the contrary. For example, give most managers an initial tableau of
a typical “real” mathematical programming, sequencing, or network problem
and see how close they come to an optimal solution. If their experience and
judgment have any value they may not do badly, but they will seldom do very
well. In most management problems there are too many possibilities to expect
experience, judgement, or intuition to provide good guesses, even with perfect
information.

Furthermore, when several probabilities are involved in a problem the un-

guided mind of even a manager has difficulty in aggregating them in a valid way.
We all know many simple problems in probability in which untutored intuition
usually does very badly (e.g., What are the correct odds that 2 of 25 people
selected at random will have their birthdays on the same day of the year?).
For example, very few of the results obtained by queuing theory, when arrivals

and service are probabilistic, are obvious to managers; nor are the results of
risk analysis where the managers’ own subjective estimates of probabilities
are used.

The moral: it is necessary to determine how well managers can use needed

information. When, because of the complexity of the decision process, they
can’t use it well, they should be provided with either decision rules or perform-
ance feed-back so that they can identify and learn from their mistakes. More on
this point later.

More Communication Means Better Performance

One characteristic of most MIS’s which I have seen is that they provide
managers with better current information about what other managers and their
departments and divisions are doing. Underlying this provision is the belief
that better interdepartmental communication enables managers to coordinate
their decisions more effectively and hence improves the organization’s overall
performance. Not only is this not necessarily so, but it seldom is so. One would
hardly expect two competing companies to become more cooperative because

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MANAGEMENT MISINFORMATION SYSTEMS B-151

the information each acquires about the other is improved. This analogy is not

as far fetched as one might first suppose. For example, consider the following
very much simplified version of a situation I once ran into. The simplification of
the case does not affect any of its essential characteristics.

A department store has two “line” operations: buying and selling. Each
function is performed by a separate department. The Purchasing Department
primarily controls one variable: how much of each item is bought. The Merchan-

dising Department controls the price at which it is sold. Typically, the measure
of performance applied to the Purchasing Department was the turnover rate

of inventory. The measure applied to the Merchandising Department was gross
sales; this department sought to maximize the number of items sold times
their price.

Now by examining a single item let us consider what happens in this system.
The merchandising manager, using his knowledge of competition and con-
sumption, set a price which he judged would maximize gross sales. In doing so
he utilized price-demand curves for each type of item. For each price the curves
show the expected sales and values on an upper and lower confidence band as

well. (See Figure 1.) When instructing the Purchasing Department how many
items to make available, the merchandising manager quite naturally used the
value on the upper confidence curve. This minimized the chances of his running
short which, if it occurred, would hurt his performance. It also maximized the
chances of being over-stocked but this was not his concern, only the purchasing
manager’s. Say, therefore, that the merchandising manager initially selected

price P1 and requested that amount Q, be made available by the Purchasing
Department.

In this company the purchasing manager also had access to the price-demand

curves. He knew the merchandising manager always ordered optimistically.

Z

\ o \ I
E Q2 –u-\

03 0 1

I E~SS4IM IC

Pt P2 P3

PRICE

FIGURE, 1. Price-demand curve

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B-152 RUSSELL L. ACKOFF

Therefore, using the same curve he read over from Qi to the upper limit and
down to the expected value from which he obtained Q2, the quantity he actually

intended to make available. He did not intend to pay for the merchandising

manager’s optimism. If merchandising ran out of stock, it was not his worry.

Now the merchandising manager was informed about what the purchasing

manager had done so he adjusted his price to P2. The purchasing manager in

turn was told that the merchandising manager had made this readjustment so

he planned to make only Q3 available. If this process-made possible only by
perfect communication between departments-had been allowed to continue,

nothing would have been bought and nothing would have been sold. This out-

come was avoided by prohibiting communication between the two departments
and forcing each to guess what the other was doing.

I have obviously caricatured the situation in order to make the point clear:

when organizational units have inappropriate measures of performance which
put them in conflict with each other, as is often the case, communication be-

tween them may hurt organizational performance, not help it. Organizational
structure and performance measurement must be taken into account before
opening the flood gates and permitting the free flow of information between
parts of the organization. (A more rigorous discussion of organizational structure
and the relationship of communication to it can be found in [1].)

A Manager Does Not Have to Understand How an Information System

Works, Only How to Use It

Most MIS designers seek to make their systems as innocuous and unobtrusive

as possible to managers lest they become frightened. The designers try to provide
managers with very easy access to the system and assure them that they need
to know nothing more about it. The designers usually succeed in keeping man-
agers ignorant in this regard. This leaves managers unable to evaluate the MIS as
a whole. It often makes them afraid to even try to do so lest they display their
ignorance publicly. In failing to evaluate their MIS, managers delegate much of
the control of the organization to the system’s designers and operators who
may have many virtues, but managerial competence is seldom among them.

Let me cite a case in point. A Chairman of a Board of a medium-size company

asked for help on the following problem. One of his larger (decentralized) divi-
sions had installed a computerized production-inventory control and manu-
facturing-manager information system about a year earlier. It had acquired
about $2,000,000 worth of equipment to do so. The Board Chairman had just
received a request from the Division for permission to replace the original
equipment with newly announced equipment which would cost several times
the original amount. An extensive “justification” for so doing was provided
with the request. The Chairman wanted to know whether the request was
really justified. He admitted to complete incompetence in this connection.

A meeting was arranged at the Division at which I was subjected to an ex-
tended and detailed briefing. The system was large but relatively simple. At
the heart of it was a reorder point for each item and a maximum allowable

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MANAGEMENT MISINFORMATION SYSTEMS B-153

stock level. Reorder quantities took lead-time as well as the allowable maximum

into account. The computer kept track of stock, ordered items when required

and generated numerous reports on both the state of the system it controlled
and its own “actions.”

When the briefing was over I was asked if I had any questions. I did. First
I asked if, when the system had been installed, there had been many parts

whose stock level exceeded the maximum amount possible under the new system.
I was told there were many. I asked for a list of about thirty and for some graph

paper. Both were provided. With the help of the system designer and volumes

of old daily reports I began to plot the stock level of the first listed item over
time. When this item reached the maximum “allowable” stock level it had been
reordered. The system designer was surprised and said that by sheer “luck” I
had found one of the few errors made by the system. Continued plotting showed

that because of repeated premature reordering the item had never gone much
below the maximum stock level. Clearly the program was confusing the maximum
allowable stock level and the reorder point. This turned out to be the case in more
than half of the items on the list.

Next I asked if they had many paired parts, ones that were only used with

each other; for example, matched nuts and bolts. They had many. A list was pro-
duced and we began checking the previous day’s withdrawals. For more than
half of the pairs the differences in the numbers recorded as withdrawn were very
large. No explanation was provided.

Before the day was out it was possible to show by some quick and dirty

calculations that the new computerized system was costing the company almost
$150,000 per month more than the hand system which it had replaced, most of
this in excess inventories.

The recommendation was that the system be redesigned as quickly as pos-

sible and that the new equipment not be authorized for the time being.
The questions asked of the system had been obvious and simple ones. Man-

agers should have been able to ask them but-and this is the point-they felt
themselves incompetent to do so. They would not have allowed a handoperated
system to get so far out of their control.

No MIS should ever be installed unless the managers for whom it is intended
are trained to evaluate and hence control it rather than be controlled by it.

A Suggested Procedure for Designing an MIS

The erroneous assumptions I have tried to reveal in the preceding discussion
can, I believe, be avoided by an appropriate design procedure. One is briefly
outlined here.

1. Analysis Of The Decision System

Each (or at least each important) type of managerial decision required by the
organization under study should be identified and the relationships between
them should be determined and flow-charted. Note that this is not necessarily the
same thing as determining what decisions are made. For example, in one com-

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B-154 RUSSELL L. ACKOFF

pany I found that make-or-buy decisions concerning parts were made only at
the time when a part was introduced into stock and was never subsequently

reviewed. For some items this decision had gone unreviewed for as many as
twenty years. Obviously, such decisions should be made more often; in some
cases, every time an order is placed in order to take account of current shop
loading, underused shifts, delivery times from suppliers, and so on.

Decision-flow analyses are usually self-justifying. They often reveal important
decisions that are being made by default (e.g., the make-buy decision referred to
above), and they disclose interdependent decisions that are being made in-
dependently. Decision-flow charts frequently suggest changes in managerial

responsibility, organizational structure, and measure of performance which can
correct the types of deficiencies cited.

Decision analyses can be conducted with varying degrees of detail, that is,

they may be anywhere from coarse to fine grained. How much detail one should
become involved with depends on the amount of time and resources that are
available for the analysis. Although practical considerations frequently restrict
initial analyses to a particular organizational function, it is preferable to perform
a coarse analysis of all of an organization’s managerial functions rather than a
fine analysis of one or a subset of functions. It is easier to introduce finer in-
formation into an integrated information system than it is to combine fine sub-
systems into one integrated system.

2. An Analysis Of Information Requirements

Managerial decisions can be classified into three types:
(a) Decisions for which adequate models are available or can be constructed

and from which optimal (or near optimal) solutions can be derived. In such
cases the decision process itself should be incorporated into the information
system thereby converting it (at least partially) to a control system. A decision
model identifies what information is required and hence what information
is relevant.

(b) Decisions for which adequate models can be constructed but from which
optimal solutions cannot be extracted. Here some kind of heuristic or search
procedure should be provided even if it consists of no more than computerized
trial and error. A simulation of the model will, as a minimum, permit comparison
of proposed alternative solutions. Here too the model specifies what information
is required.

(c) Decisions for which adequate models cannot be constructed. Research is
required here to determine what information is relevant. If decision making
cannot be delayed for the completion of such research or the decision’s effect is
not large enough to justify the cost of research, then judgment must be used to
“guess” what information is relevant. It may be possible to make explicit the
implicit model used by the decision maker and treat it as a model of type (b).

In each of these three types of situation it is necessary to provide feedback
by comparing actual decision outcomes with those predicted by the model or
decision maker. Each decision that is made, along with its predicted outcome,

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MANAGEMENT MISINFORMATION SYSTEMS B-155

should be an essential input to a management control system. I shall return
to this point below.

S. Aggregation Of Decisions

Decisions with the same or largely overlapping informational requirements
should be grouped together as a single manager’s task. This will reduce the
information a manager requires to do his job and is likely to increase his under-
standing of it. This may require a reorganization of the system. Even if such a
reorganization cannot be implemented completely what can be done is likely to
improve performance significantly and reduce the information loaded on man-
agers.

4. Design Of Information Processing

Now the procedure for collecting, storing, retrieving, and treating information
can be designed. Since there is a voluminous literature on this subject I shall
leave it at this except for one point. Such a system must not only be able to
answer questions addressed to it; it should also be able to answer questions that
have not been asked by reporting any deviations from expectations. An extensive
exception-reporting system is required.

5. Design Of Control Of The Control System

It must be assumed that the system that is being designed will be deficient
in many and significant ways. Therefore it is necessary to identify the ways in
which it may be deficient, to design procedures for detecting its deficiencies, and
for correcting the system so as to remove or reduce them. Hence the system
should be designed to be flexible and adaptive. This is little more than a platitude,
but it has a not-so-obvious implication. No completely computerized system
can be as flexible and adaptive as can a man-machine system. This is illustrated
by a concluding example of a system that is being developed and is partially in
operation. (See Figure 2.)

The company involved has its market divided into approximately two hundred
marketing areas. A model for each has been constructed as is “in” the computer.
On the basis of competivive intelligence supplied to the service marketing
manager by marketing researchers and information specialists he and his staff
make policy decisions for each area each month. Their tentative decisions are
fed into the computer which yields a forecast of expected performance. Changes
are made until the expectations match what is desired. In this way they arrive
at “final” decisions. At the end of the month the computer compares the actual
performance of each area with what was predicted. If a deviation exceeds what
could be expected by chance, the company’s OR Group then seeks the reason
for the deviation, performing as much research as is required to find it. If the
cause is found to be permanent the computerized model is adjusted appropriately.
The result is an adaptive man-machine system whose precision and generality
is continuously increasing with use.

Finally it should be noted that in carrying out the design steps enumerated

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B-156 RUSSELL L. ACKOFF

PROPOSED POLICIES

MARKETING EVALUATED PROPOSALS MARKET AREA MEMORY a
MODELS COM PARATOR

MANAGEMENT SELECTED POLICY (COMPUTER) PREDICTED (COMPUTER)

OUTCOME

2 Ui INFORMATION F INQUIRIES Z
-j2

<~~~~~~~~~~~ o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UJ oz DATA D FIELD _MOTHERA SOURCES MARKET DATA OPERATIONS DEVIANT AREAS INFORMATION INFORMATION RESEARCH SYSTEM GROUP M ~~~~~~DATA oz 1 FIELD DATA ACTUAL PERFORMANCE MARKET SELLINGARS FORCEARS FIGURE 2. Simplified diagram of a market-area control system above, three groups should collaborate: information systems specialists, oper- ations researchers, and managers. The participation of managers in the design of a system that is to serve them, assures their ability to evaluate its performance by comparing its output with what was predicted. Managers who are not willing to invest some of their time in this process are not likely to use a management control system well, and their system, in turn, is likely to abuse them. Reference 1. SENGUPTA, S. S., AND ACKOFF, R. L., "Systems Theory from an Operations Research Point of View," IEEE Transactions on Systems Science and Cybernetics, Vol. 1 (Nov. 1965), pp. 9-13. This content downloaded from 54.84.104.155 on Tue, 03 Jul 2018 01:02:59 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Contents image 1 image 2 image 3 image 4 image 5 image 6 image 7 image 8 image 9 image 10 Issue Table of Contents Management Science, Vol. 14, No. 4, Dec., 1967 Front Matter Free for All Guest Editorial: Wicked Problems [pp. B141 - B142] Letters to the Editor [pp. B142 - B146] Management Misinformation Systems [pp. B147 - B156] Intuition and Relevance [pp. B157 - B165] Linear Programming Models for Water Pollution Control [pp. B166 - B181] Heuristic Scheduling in a Woolen Mill [pp. B182 - B203] A Model for Production-Distribution Networks with Transit Billing [pp. B204 - B218] Inventory Management for Minimum Cost [pp. B219 - B235] Ranking Procedures and Subjective Probability Distributions [pp. B236 - B254] Information Systems in Management Science [pp. B255 - B258] Marketing Science [pp. B259 - B263] Book Reviews untitled [pp. B264 - B266] untitled [p. B266] untitled [pp. B266 - B267] untitled [pp. B267 - B270] untitled [p. B270] untitled [pp. B270 - B271] untitled [p. B271] untitled [p. B271] Back Matter [pp. B272 - B274] ACCT 326 Writing Assignment #1 Managing in a global, digital society requires accountants to pay close attention to information. One of the reasons accountants have to pay close attention to information is because management will use the information presented by accountants for making crucial decisions. Finally, accountants must have the correct skills to perform this and other key functions. Required Readings (see classroom) Management Misinformation Systems (Russell L. Ackoff) CPA Horizons 20225 Report (AICPA) Paper Layout Part I (Information Management Today): Roughly 50 years ago, Russell Ackoff wrote about the importance, or lack of importance, of information that management needs in Ackoffs Management Information System (see attachment). After reading the article, you will analyze how each assumption applies or does not apply to our society today. Treat each assumption separately in your analysis. As part of your response, provide a specific example for each assumption. Part II (Information Managem SHOW MORE... Final Please assist. Synthesize the previous work completed in Milestones One, Two, and Three into your strategic health communication plan. The final submission should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. Develop a conclusion section for your proposal including the impact your public health media campaign will have on reducing health disparities and promoting social justice and the impact on overall health outcomes in your targeted population. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of your chosen communication tool by comparing your proposal to other examples and published research. Discuss an adaptation of your media campaign with a different communication tool and address what you would need to do to modify your campaign to include this. Explain why think this adaptation will enhance the impact of your campaign. PHE 330 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric Overview The final project for this course is the creation of a public health media campaign proposal. Healthcare issues affect billions worldwide and can range from healthcare reform to environmental crises. An effective and responsible communication strategy requires professionals with an understanding of biosystems and disease, nutrition and public health, the American healthcare system, and epidemiology and the ability to communicate information in a way both the media and the public can understand. Increasingly, health practitioners are looking to the field of health education and communication for methods to adapt behavioral science principles to the solution of selected health problems, thus empowering the public to make informed decisions and better healthcare choices, and improve overall health. For this final project, you will propose a public health media campaign for an emergent public health issue of your choice with instructor approval, from the perspective of a public health employee of a healthcare organization, also of your choice (with instructor approval). The project is divided into three milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules One, Three, and Five. The final project will be submitted in Module Seven. Note that with the final submission, you must add your conclusion section. In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes: Apply principles of persuasive communications to health education strategies for improving healthcare outcomes Evaluate interpersonal and mass communication tools and social media for their efficacy in disseminating public health information Analyze healthcare programs for their effectiveness in improving access to care, disseminating information, and promoting community health Analyze the relationship between health disparities and health outcomes in promoting social justice and improving population health Critique legal and ethical standards and policies for their ability to protect and improve dissemination of health information to the population Prompt For this assignment, consider yourself an employee of an actual healthcare organization of your choosing in which your role is to disseminate information to the general population about public health issues. Develop a proposal that discusses a media campaign your organization would use in responding to an emergent public health issue. Specifically, the following elements must be addressed, and your proposal should follow this general outline: I. Introduction (Module One) A. Identify your organization and briefly describe its function. B. Describe your role within the organization and how it relates to the dissemination of public health information. C. Discuss the programs and/or departments within your organization that are currently or could be used to: 1. Improve access to care. 2. Disseminate public health information. 3. Promote overall health of the population. II. Public Health Issue (Module Three) A. Provide a brief overview of your chosen public health issue or concern. B. Identify the population(s) at risk and substantiate your claims with research. C. Identify other parties that need to be made aware of the problem and explain why. D. What healthcare disparities are related to your selected issue, and how might they affect health outcomes in the identified at-risk population? Be sure to substantiate your claims with research. E. What might be done to reduce these disparities? Be sure to justify your reasoning with research. III. Communications (Module Five) A. Provide the most critical information about the issue that you need to disseminate to the population at risk. B. How will you ensure the information you present is appropriate for the target audience? Be sure to justify your rationale. C. What communications tool do you feel will be most effective for disseminating the information, and why? In other words, will you use, for example, social media, a newspaper article, or a PSA? Be sure to provide evidence to support your claims. D. What legal and ethical standards and policies must you consider in developing your media campaign, and why? IV. Conclusion (Module Seven) A. What role will reducing the health disparities you identified above play in promoting social justice in terms of improving population health? Be sure to substantiate your claims with research. B. What impact will the dissemination of this specific public health information have on overall health outcomes? In other words, considering the health education your proposed campaign will provide, would you expect health outcomes to improve, stay the same, or get worse? Be sure to explain your reasoning. C. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using your chosen communications tool? Be sure to justify your reasoning with specific examples and research. D. How might you adapt your proposed media campaign for use with a different communications tool? In other words, if you have chosen social media as your preferred tool, what changes would you need to make to your campaign for it to be compatible with another tool, such as a newspaper or television ad? Be sure to explain your reasoning. E. How might the legal and ethical standards and policies you identified above enhance or limit your ability to disseminate the necessary information? Be sure to justify your reasoning. Milestones Milestone One: Approval of Public Health Issue and Organizational Context In Module One, you will submit your chosen public health issue (e.g., obesity, smoking, access to healthcare) and the organization you will represent in the public health media campaign to your instructor for approval. Some examples of topics and organizations include smoking and the Office of the Surgeon General; folic acid and the Centers for Disease Control; and obesity and your state department of health. In a one-page submission, you will describe the proposed organization, your role within the organization, and the programs/department which will be responsible for the media campaign. (Critical Element I). This milestone is graded with the Milestone One Rubric. Milestone Two: Overview of Public Health Issue and Primary Intervention In Module Three, you will provide a brief overview of your approved public health issue and the primary intervention that will be the basis of your media campaign. Summarize your health issue and identify the population(s) at risk in the form of a four-page health problem statement. The health problem statement entails answering the following four questions: 1) What is occurring? 2) What should be occurring? 3) Who is affected and to what degree? 4) What could happen if the problem is not addressed? (Critical Element II). This milestone is graded with the Milestone Two Rubric. Milestone Three: Public Health Media Campaign Communication Strategy, Audiences, Tools, and Partners In Module Five, you will submit an overview of the communication tool and media campaign plan. In a four-page paper, identify relevant audiences for your media campaign and how you plan to interact with them. Provide the critical information that you need to disseminate to the population at risk (primary audience). Identify other relevant audiences (secondary or tertiary) and discuss how information prepared for them may differ. (Critical Element III). This milestone is graded with the Milestone Three Rubric. Final Submission: Public Health Media Campaign Proposal In Module Seven, you will submit your public health media campaign proposal. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. Synthesize the previous work completed in Milestones One, Two, and Three into your strategic health communication plan. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. Please note the following: You will need to develop a conclusion section for your proposal including the impact your public health media campaign will have on reducing health disparities and promoting social justice and the impact on overall health outcomes in your targeted population. This submission milestone will be graded with the Final Project Rubric (below). 3 Deliverables Milestone Deliverable Module Due Grading 1 Approval of Public Health Issue and Organizational Context One Graded separately; Milestone One Rubric 2 Overview of Public Health Issue and Primary Intervention Three Graded separately; Milestone Two Rubric 3 Public Health Media Campaign Communication Strategy, Audiences, Tools, and Partners Five Graded separately; Milestone Three Rubric Conclusion Final Submission: Public Health Media Campaign Proposal (Note: This is a compilation of Milestones One, Two, and Three, plus your newly written conclusion section.) Seven Graded separately; Final Project Rubric Final Project Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Your Public Health Media Campaign Proposal should be 710 pages, using 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and APA citation standards. The final submission should include at least six scientific sources. Note: Scientific references should be peer-reviewed sources from professional journals or scientific reviews. Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value Introduction: Your Organization Meets Proficient criteria and uses industry-specific language to establish expertise Identifies organization and describes its function Identifies organization but does not describe its function Does not identify organization or describe its function 2 Introduction: Your Role Meets Proficient criteria and uses industry-specific language to establish expertise Describes role within organization and how it relates to disseminating public health information Describes role within organization, but does not address how it relates to disseminating public health information Does not describe role within organization 2 Introduction: Programs: Improve Meets Proficient criteria and demonstrates keen insight into organizational structure and functions Discusses programs and departments that are or could be appropriately used to improve access to care Discusses programs and departments, but they are not appropriate for improving access to care Does not discuss programs or departments that are or could be used to improve access to care 6 4 Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value Introduction: Programs: Disseminate Meets Proficient criteria and demonstrates keen insight into organizational structure and functions Discusses programs and departments that are or could be appropriately used to disseminate public health information Discusses programs and departments, but they are not appropriate for disseminating public health information Does not discuss programs or departments that are or could be used to disseminate public health information 6 Introduction: Programs: Promote Meets Proficient criteria and demonstrates keen insight into organizational structure and functions Discusses programs and departments that are or could be appropriately used to promote overall population health Discusses programs and departments, but they are not appropriate for promoting overall population health Does not discuss programs or departments that are or could be used to promote overall population health 6 Public Health Issue: Issue Meets Proficient criteria and uses industry-specific language to demonstrate expertise Provides an accurate, brief overview of problem Provides a brief overview of problem, but overview is not accurate Does not provide a brief overview of problem 2 Public Health Issue: At Risk Meets Proficient criteria and identification integrates relevant theories and research Accurately identifies the population(s) at risk and substantiates claims with research Inaccurately identifies the population(s) at risk, or does not substantiate claims with research Does not identify the population(s) at risk 2 Public Health Issue: Other Parties Meets Proficient criteria and identification integrates relevant theories and research Accurately identifies other parties that need to be made aware of the problem and explains why Identifies other parties that need to be made aware of the problem, but with gaps in accuracy, or does not explain why Does not identify other parties that need to be made aware of the problem 6 Public Health Issue: Disparities Meets Proficient criteria and demonstrates keen insight into the relationship between health disparities and health outcomes Accurately identifies healthcare disparities and their impact on health outcomes Inaccurately identifies healthcare disparities, or does not address their impact on health outcomes Does not identify healthcare disparities 6 Public Health Issue: Reduce Meets Proficient criteria and demonstrates keen insight into the relationship between health disparities and health outcomes Discusses methods for reducing disparities that improve outcomes, and justifies reasoning with research Discusses methods for reducing disparities, but does not fully address improving outcomes, or does not justify reasoning with research Does not discuss methods for reducing disparities that improve outcomes 6 Communications: Critical Information Meets Proficient criteria and uses industry-specific language to demonstrate expertise Accurately provides the critical information that needs to be disseminated to the at-risk population Provides information that needs to be disseminated to the at-risk population, but information is not critical or is not accurate Does not provide critical information that needs to be disseminated to the at-risk population 6 5 Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value Communications: Appropriate Meets Proficient criteria and explanation integrates particularly relevant theories and research Comprehensively explains how to ensure information presented is appropriate for target audience, and justifies rationale Explains how to ensure information presented is appropriate for target audience, but with gaps in detail, or does not justify rationale Does not explain how to ensure information presented is appropriate for target audience 6 Communications: Tool Meets Proficient criteria and provides specific examples of how chosen communications tool will support proposed campaign Identifies communications tool that will be most effective for disseminating information, and provides evidence to support claims Identifies communications tool for disseminating information, but does not provide evidence that supports this being the most effective method Does not identify communications tool for disseminating information 6 Communications: Legal and Ethical Meets Proficient criteria and demonstrates keen insight into legal and ethical considerations in media campaigns Comprehensively discusses legal and ethical standards and policies that must be considered in developing media campaign, and justifies reasoning Discusses legal and ethical standards and policies that must be considered in developing media campaign, but with gaps in detail or does not justify reasoning Does not discuss legal and ethical standard and policies that must be considered in developing media campaign 6 Conclusion: Social Justice Meets Proficient criteria and demonstrates nuanced considerations of social responsibility Accurately describes the impact of reducing health disparities on social justice in terms of improving population health, and substantiates claims with research Describes the impact of reducing health disparities on social justice, but not in terms of improving population health, or does not substantiate claims with research Does not describe the impact of reducing health disparities on social justice in terms of population health 6 Conclusion: Health Outcomes Meets Proficient criteria and demonstrates keen insight into the relationship between health education and health outcomes Comprehensively describes the impact of the dissemination of information on overall health outcomes, and substantiates claims Describes the impact of dissemination of information on overall health outcomes, but with gaps in detail, or does not substantiate claims Does not describe the impact of dissemination of information on overall health outcomes 6 Conclusion: Chosen Meets Proficient criteria and articulation is exceptionally clear and logical Accurately identifies advantages and disadvantages of using chosen communications tool and justifies reasoning with specific examples and research Inaccurately identifies advantages and disadvantages of using chosen communications tool, or addresses one but not the other, or does not justify reasoning with specific examples and research Does not identify advantages and disadvantages of using chosen communications tool 6 6 Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value Conclusion: Adapt Meets Proficient criteria and provides specific examples of how alternate communications tool will support proposed campaign Comprehensively explains changes necessary to adapt to a different communications tool and explains reasoning Explains changes necessary to adapt to a different communications tool, but with gaps in detail, or does not explain reasoning Does not explain changes necessary to adapt to a different communications tool 6 Conclusion: Enhance or Limit Meets Proficient criteria and demonstrates keen insight into legal and ethical considerations in media campaigns Comprehensively describes how legal and ethical standards and polices could enhance or limit ability to disseminate information, and justifies reasoning Describes how legal and ethical standards and policies could enhance or limit ability to disseminate information, but with gaps in detail, or does not justify reasoning Does not describe how legal and ethical standards and policies could enhance or limit ability to disseminate information 6 Articulation of Response Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-to- read format Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization. Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas 2 Total 100% 7 PHE 330 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric Overview Prompt Milestones Milestone One: Approval of Public Health Issue and Organizational Context Milestone Two: Overview of Public Health Issue and Primary Intervention Milestone Three: Public Health Media Campaign Communication Strategy, Audiences, Tools, and Partners Final Submission: Public Health Media Campaign Proposal Deliverables Final Project Rubric Running Head: 5-2 FINAL PROJECT: MILESTONE THREE 1 5-2 FINAL PROJECT: MILESTONE THREE 7 Milestone 3 XXXXXXXXXX Southern New Hampshire University Mrs. Tami Ford Public Health Education & Communication October 2, 2022 The HIV/AIDS epidemic remains to be a chief community fitness unruly in many parts of the world. To effectively address this problem, raising awareness about the disease and its transmission is essential. One way to do this is through media campaigns. Media campaigns can be an effective way to reach a broad audience with a message about HIV prevention. However, several considerations must be considered when developing a media campaign for HIV. These include the need to ensure that the campaign is respectful of the privileges of people with HIV and that it is designed in a way that is culturally sensitive and appropriate for the target audience. Additionally, it is important to consider the potential for the campaign to have unintended negative consequences. These considerations must be considered when developing a media campaign for HIV. The essay will discuss the importance of developing an effective communication tool for HIV and provide some tips on creating such a tool. It will also discuss the legal and ethical considerations that must be considered when developing a media campaign for HIV. The communication tool for HIV should be designed to raise awareness about the disease and its transmission. It should also provide information about how to prevent HIV transmission and how to get tested for HIV. The media campaign should target high-risk groups, like homosexual men, and use various channels, such as social media, television, and print media (World Health Organization, 2022). The audiences relevant to the media campaign for HIV are those at high risk for contracting the disease, like homosexuals, individuals injecting drugs, and commercial sex workers. The campaign should use a variety of channels, such as social media, television, and print media, to reach these audiences. The messages should be tailored to each audience and provide information about how to prevent HIV transmission and get tested for HIV. The critical information that needs to be disseminated to the population at risk for HIV is how to prevent HIV transmission and how to get tested for HIV. The prevention messages should be tailored to each audience and include information about using condoms, getting tested for HIV, and taking PrEP (World Health Organization, 2022). The testing messages should provide information about where to get tested and how to interpret the results. Other relevant audiences for the media campaign for HIV include health care providers, people living with HIV, and the general public. The messages for these audiences should provide information about how to prevent HIV transmission, get tested for HIV, and access treatment and support services. There are several considerations to take into account when presenting information about HIV to different audiences. One of the most important considerations is the audience's health literacy and numeracy level. It is vital to communicate in a way that the audience will be able to understand (Han et al., 2018). This may require using more straightforward language or providing more explanations for specific concepts. Another important consideration is the audience's culture. It is important to be respectful of different cultural beliefs and practices. It is also important to take into account the audience's English language proficiency. It may be necessary to provide information in multiple languages or to use interpreters. Many theories can be used to predict persuasion and guide behavior change. One of the most relevant theories for this context is the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). This theory posits that people's intentions to engage in behavior are determined by their attitude towards the behavior, their perceived normality of the behavior, and their perceived control over the behavior (Han et al., 2018). This theory can be used to guide the development of messages that are designed to persuade people to engage in HIV prevention behaviors, such as using condoms, getting tested for HIV, and taking PrEP. Another relevant theory is the Health Belief Model (HBM). This theory posits that people's health behaviors are determined by their beliefs about the seriousness of the health threat, their beliefs about their susceptibility to the threat, their beliefs about the effectiveness of the recommended behavior, and their perceived barriers to engaging in the behavior (Han et al., 2018). This theory can guide the development of messages designed to persuade people to get tested for HIV and access treatment and support services. The most effective communication tool for HIV will be a social media drive. Public media podiums such as Twitter and Facebook have become extremely popular in recent years. They offer a great way to reach a large audience with a message about HIV prevention (Flentje & Sorensen, 2018). A social media campaign can be very cost-effective, and it can reach a large number of people in a short period. Additionally, social media platforms allow people to share information with their friends and followers, which can help to spread the word about the campaign. Another benefit of using social media for an HIV prevention campaign is that it allows people to converse about the issue. People can ask questions, offer advice, and share their own experiences with HIV (Flentje & Sorensen, 2018). This can help de-stigmatize the disease and encourage people to get tested and treated if infected. Finally, social media platforms can be used to target specific groups of people. For example, Facebook allows advertisers to target people based on their interests, demographics, and location. This means that the campaign can be tailored to reach the most vulnerable to contracting HIV. Several legal and ethical considerations must be taken into account when developing a media campaign for HIV. The most important consideration is the need to ensure that the campaign is respectful of the privileges of people with HIV. This includes ensuring that the campaign does not discriminate against people living with HIV and that it provides accurate and up-to-date information about HIV and its transmission (Flentje & Sorensen, 2018). It is also important to ensure that the campaign is designed in a way that is culturally sensitive and appropriate for the target audience. This includes ensuring that the campaign materials are accessible to people with different literacy levels and that they are relevant to the cultural context in which they will be received (Flentje & Sorensen, 2018). Finally, it is crucial to consider the potential for the campaign to have unintended negative consequences. For example, the campaign might inadvertently increase stigma or discrimination against people living with HIV or provide inaccurate information that could lead to risky behavior. All of these considerations must be taken into account when developing a media campaign for HIV. Failure to do so could result in an ineffective or even harmful campaign. Several potential partners could be involved in a media campaign for HIV. These include non-governmental organizations, government agencies, and private sector organizations (USAID, 2020). Government agencies can provide funding for the campaign and access to important networks and resources. Non-governmental organizations can provide expertise and support in developing and implementing the campaign materials. Private sector organizations can provide financial support and access to important channels for delivering the campaign message. It is important to involve all potential partners in the planning and development of the campaign to ensure that the campaign is effective and meets the needs of all stakeholders. In conclusion, a media campaign for HIV should be designed to raise awareness about the disease and its transmission. It should also provide information about how to prevent HIV transmission and how to get tested for HIV. The campaign should target high-risk groups, like homosexual men, and use various channels, such as social media, television, and print media, to reach these audiences. The messages should be tailored to each audience and provide information about how to prevent HIV transmission and get tested for HIV. References Flentje, A., & Sorensen, J. L. (2018). Mass Media and HIV Prevention. Encyclopedia of AIDS, 13041307. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7101-5_93 Han, H.-R., Hong, H., Starbird, L. E., Ge, S., Ford, A. D., Renda, S., Sanchez, M., & Stewart, J. (2018). eHealth Literacy in People Living with HIV: Systematic Review. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, 4(3), e64. https://doi.org/10.2196/publichealth.9687 USAID. (2020, January 9). DREAMS: Partnership to Reduce HIV/AIDS in Adolescent Girls and Young Women. Www.usaid.gov. https://www.usaid.gov/global-health/health-areas/hiv-and-aids/technical-areas/dreams World Health Organization. (2022). HIV/AIDS. WHO. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hiv-aids Running head: 1-3 FINAL PROJECT: MILESTONE ONE 1 PHE 330 FINAL PROJECT: MILESTONE ONE 5 1-3 Final Project: Milestone One XXXXXXXXX Public Health Education & Communication Tami Ford Southern New Hampshire University September 4, 2022 I. Health Problem. I have chosen to complete my final project discussing Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). There are quite a few people that I know that are near and dear to my heart living with this virus. There are many misconceptions about HIV that the public has simply due to unawareness. With most common public health issues there are many questions that need to be answered to solve the myths. Mental health and substance use disorders can also make it difficult for people to take their medications as prescribed. When HIV is not treated or maintained, it can lead to the fatal diseases Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Of note, you cannot have AIDS without being infected with HIV. According to the Center for Disease Control, HIV can affect anyone regardless of sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, gender, or age (CDC, 2022). However, certain groups are at a higher risk for HIV and weigh special considerations due to the specific risk factors. Gay and Bisexual men, pregnant women, infants, children, Transgender people, people who exchange sex for money, people who inject drugs, etc. These are all considerations of the causes for higher risk for being affected by HIV. However, with the modern medicines