A manager or a decision maker uses his sensory receptors, normally eyes and

ears, to pick up information and transmit them to brain for processing and storage.
The result of this processing will be a response which may be a decision, an action
or at least recognition of the event for future use. Hence, a manager can be said to
be an information processor.
While processing the information for a managerial response, the manager also
uses accumulated knowledge from memory. The capacity of a manager to accept
and process inputs to produce output is variable and limited. That is why it is
observed that all the managers of the same level do not accept or absorb all the
inputs which the information may provide. The limitation arises sometimes on
account of the information overload which is external to the manager. This is a
case of too much information or extra information creating a problem for the user
of the information to sort out the relevant from the irrelevant or the appropriate
from the inappropriate. The manager in such a situation adopts the method of
filtering the information.
Filtering is a process whereby a manager selectively accepts that much input,
which his mental ability can manage to process. The methods of filtering, which
the information processor adopts, are mentioned in the Table 7.6
Table 7.6 Methods of Filtering Method Example
Comment

The frame of reference by using knowledge and experience.

Universally acclaimed normal decision procedure.
Select data babes on proven methods.
Period, products, market segments, decision rules or procedures.
Break even analysis, methods of fixing inventory levels.
Pricing, introduction of a new product, selection of technology. Critical decisions.
Ignore the past data, consider only some products. Select only the relevant market
segments. Select that data whereby a specific decision rule can be applied.
Ignore the intangible factors. Ignore the demand variation based on experience.
Consider only the important factors affecting the decision. Use the known decision
models.
The filtering process blocks the unwanted or the inconsistent data or the data
which does not match the frame of reference. An inexperienced manager or a less
knowledgeable manager through filtering may omit data, distort data responses
and, therefore, may draw incorrect inferences.
The information processor establishes the filters based on experience,
knowledge and know-how. The choice of filters may be changed due to stress,
urgency of decision making and the confidence in a particular method of decision
making. Many a times a processor is required to perceive process and evaluate
probabilistic information. The processor may be deficient in the intuitive
understanding of the information, in the ability to identify the correlation and the
causality, and in the capability for integrating the information.
An experienced manager is a skillful information processor where he is able to
change the frame of reference or select the decision making tool for the available
information. He is also in a position to add more knowledge base information to
the current information to increase the value of the information. A generalized
model of information processor is shown in Fig. 7.3
Fig. 7.3 Generalized Model of Information Processor.
Managers individual Differences
BRAIN
USE OF STORED KNOEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
INPUTS FROM
EYES, EARS
FILTERING AND BLOCKING