Consultancy Management Techniques for Jaguar Land Rover - Case Study Example

CONSULTANCY MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES JAGUAR LAND ROVER Company profile One of the worlds renowned car manufacturer is shown by research to be Jaguar Land Rover. Jaguar company has developed and emerged as one of the most recognized brands worldwide.JLR manufactures a broad range of vehicles ranging from sport utility vehicles to luxurious cars.The income of the business entity has continued to improve over the years. With the advent of management science, the roles of managers at JLR has been redefined. The corporation needs to apply Management science tools such as decision trees to make decisions. Most organizations currently use Management Information Systems to make decisions such as when to reorder their inventory. Such management techniques have led to high expectation in terms of making decisions at the corporate level (JLR, 2015). Sources of data and information JLR has invested a lot of resources in research and development.The decision to invest resources of an organization requires contemplation.Information used to make decisions in JLR can be found in the internal systems of the company. Most organizations have been increasingly been relying on MIS to collect data on their employees, suppliers, customers and other stakeholders of the business. Consequently, transactions made are recorded in the systems of the company (JLR, 2015). The data collected will then be mined and translated into meaningful information that will be used to make decisions (Laudon and Laudon, 2004). To arrive at proper decisions, the data that is accustomed to the best alternative should be credible. The issue of quality data is very imperative since managers may settle for wrong decisions. Given the authority that has been bestowed to senior managers, they cannot afford to make bad decisions. Managers make capital investment decisions that require them to be very careful before making a step. As a result, the data that is availed to them to interpret so as to make decisions must be of high quality. Data can be termed to be of high quality it meets a number of standards. It should easily be interpretable. Further, there must be free from errors, must be reported in time for decisions to be made it time are among the standards used to assess the quality of data (Laudon and Laudon, 2011). The role of Management Information System is to provide managers with valuable information that can be used to make decisions. In most cases, the information collected must be properly organized. Usually, the data have been in a raw state making it necessary for it to be so that it can be easily interpreted. The most relevant information that is in reports presented to managers contains information regarding sales trends, demand forecasts, production schedule and accounting records among other things (Basu and Media, 2015). Qualitative and quantitative factors affect the judgment made by decision makers.Quantitive aspects arise in matters relating to sales forecasting, decision trees, critical path analysis and market research among other things.The factors provide the application of numerical figures to make decisions.However, it fails to give an accurate picture of other intrinsic factors that can affect the decision-making process.The qualitative factors that interfere with the decision-making process includes the strategic plans, the business environment and the reputation of an organization (McLeod and Schell, 2001). Criteria for selection of data and information The criterion for selecting data and information that are used to make management decisions varies from one organization to another. However, the most common method used involves collecting data from the systems of the body. The starting point of the collection is the moment a transaction is. At the particular instance, the data is captured into computers. The next step involves identifying the individuals concerned with the recording of data and information. Specific employees are usually recruited to deal with the collection of data and information. Essential elements of the data will be selected by analyzing the contribution of the data towards organizational performance.In order to align the data with the management report, security measures must be implemented to protect the data against infringement.In the case unauthorized employees tamper with the information and data collected, the management might end up receiving manipulated reports that they may use to make wrong decisions.The data will be presented using a number of tools.Tables may be used to give the information to the management because they simplify scattered data (Laudon and Laudon, 2011). Senior managers are usually time conscious due to their demand nature of their position it is sagacious to summarize complex in form of tables for them to go through quickly.In addition, tables are used to support information that has been relayed.Also, pie charts and bar graphs can be used to present information.The tools are used to give precise information so that decisions can be in time.In addition, projectors can be used to present information and data in a clear manner.Slide presentations usually summarize chunks of information and data into summary form that can effectively be.In case employees who have malicious objectives comes across such sensitive information, they can disclose it to competitors of the suppliers.For this reason, managers must have proper security measures that would prevent leaking of supplier’s information outside the organization.Such information should be in secure computer servers.The servers can be protected through the installation of firewalls, encrypting data and through password protection (Laudon and Laudon, 2011). Legal and ethical issues Most organizations invite suppliers to apply to supply them with the stock they have run out. Applicants for the offer, usually give sensitive information about their business entities that should not be.For this reason, the procurement policies of companies often assure the business entitys security of their details (Thomas, 2008). In order to ensure that decisions fit within ethical and legal frameworks, it is necessary to the management must ensure that it adopts ethical programs within the organization.Through the adoption of such programs, it will guarantee that decisions are within the ethic standards of the business entity.In addition, it is important to ensure that the policies of the organization are congruent with the laws governing the country.By providing the internal policies are in line with the national legislation it will guarantee that decisions made to do not conflict with the legislation of the state.Such measures will ensure that the organizations avoid unnecessary legal suits that are costly to the firm (Laudon and Laudon, 2011). With the global market adopting the e-commerce model in doing business, there has been an increase in online transactions.In order for online transaction to be carried out, customer must provide their information on the internet.The information being disclosed may be regarding the customer’s financial details.Such information is very sensitive and must be safeguarded at all cost.Revealing such information may compromise the security of customer.It is unethical to employees handling such information to disclose it to third parties.In addition, if customers discover the unlawful act they may end up seeking legal redress (Laudon and Laudon, 2011). Methods of communicating information Once ethical decisions have been made they should be to all stakeholders.The decisions should be from the top level managers to middle-level administrators.The middle managers should the pass the message to supervisors who will later on communicate to employees.Precisely, the communication should take a top-down approach or vertical approach.Employees should be an opportunity to react to the decision.Some of the key stakeholders of the organization that must be of the ethical decisions includes the suppliers, customers, shareholders, employees and government agencies (Aguilar, 1994). The benefit of ethical decisions making is that it will help maintain a moral course during difficult times.When organizations undergo difficult times, it is possible to employees change their behavior. However, through making consistent ethical decisions, it might discourage them since they may face the music later on.Ethical decision-making, as a result, leads to accountability (Crane and Matten, 2010). Implementing communication methods The management should use the transactional model of communication since it overcomes the shortcomings of the linear and interactive models.The model encourages continuous communication with all parties irrespective of the prevailing circumstances.In the particular model of communication, all stakeholders must interact at all levels.Organizations should adopt the model since it encourages sharing of information across all levels.Customers may have an opportunity to exchange information with top level management.Sharing of information between the two parties may help improve the performance of the company (Wood, 2009). Some of the barriers to communication includes surplus of information, conflict of information, lack of transmitters, lack of proper channels and lack of knowledge.Information overload confuses managers on which causes of action they should take.Making a decision becomes difficult since they have to scrutinize the whole data and information availed to them (Button and Rossera, 1990).Conflicting information makes managers sit down for long so that they can decide on which information they wanted to relay.If an organization lacks a proper line of communication, it might be difficult to determine the source and credibility of information.Consequently, employees will be slow to react since they may treat such information as a mere rumor (Klimova and Semradova, 2012). Some of the problems that face organizations that are underperforming includes relying on knowledge to make management decisions.Most organizations have moved away from the approach since technology has provided them tools that can aid in the decision-making process.Computer simulation programs have been adopted in the manufacturing industry.Such simulations are used to make a decision on how to schedule the production process.Current managers need to active in finding tools that can help them make effective decisions within a limited timeframe.Management science tools such as the tree diagram are some of the models that can perform such tasks (Haag et al,1998). Reference List Aguilar, F. J. (1994). Managing corporate ethics: Learning from Americas ethical Behavioral Sciences, 31, 207-211. Basu,C. and Media,D.(2015).What Are the Basic Kinds of Reports Produced by a Management Information System?< http://smallbusiness.chron.com/basic-kinds-reports-produced-management-information-system-30845.html> Button, K., and Rossera, F. (1990). Barriers to communication. The annals of regional companies how to supercharge business performance. Crane, A., and Matten, D. (2010). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and digital firm. New Jersey, 8. Haag, S., Cummings, M., and Dawkins, J. (1998). Management information systems. Jaguar Land Rover,(2015).Company Information.[14.2.2015]. Klimova, B. F., and Semradova, I. (2012). Barriers to communication. Procedia-Social and Laudon, K. C., and Laudon, J. (2004). Management information systems: managing the Laudon, K. C., and Laudon, J. P. (2011). Essentials of management information systems. Marketing Information System" published in. McLeod, R., and Schell, G. (2001). Management Information Systems 8/e. Chapter-17" Multimedia systems, 279, 280-297.science, 24(4), 337-357. Sousa, K., and Oz, E. (2014). Management information systems. Cengage Learning.sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press. Thomas C. Redman (2008).Decision Criteria Through The Data And Information Lens Upper Saddle River: Pearson.Wadsworth. Wood, J. T. (2009). Communication in our lives (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson- Read More