Managing Communication, Knowledge and Information - Assignment Example

MANAGING COMMUNICATION, KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION LO 1 The complexity and importance of decision generally influence the range of decisions that need to be taken. It is quite common practice to make a decision without a proper planning but that does not work. Past 20 years there have been researches going on and it showed that more than 50% of these decisions got failed and the reason for the failure is the methods that have been used for making those decisions. In order to make an effective and full proof decision the first thing that is necessary of proper planning, which will help in establishing a proper goal and the decision will not be made as the reaction of an external stimuli. LO 1.2 It is necessary to examine knowledge and information required in order to ensure the effective decision making (Maier, 2007). The first and foremost is planning, which is base of any decision making. In a business decision is made at all levels. For example let’s think of a retailer named Next. In order to keep the brand name high in the competitive market the managers of the company needs to take many sound decisions. This requires them to gain proper knowledge and possess the required information that help them taking sound business decisions. There are three broad levels where the decisions are being taken – strategic decision, tactical decision and operational decision. LO 1.3 While making sound and profitable decisions it is very much necessary to have access to both internal and external information and understanding. This would help in understanding the scenario and requirement and hence would help in taking the right decision. It is quite common for all organizations to generate substantial amount of information pertaining to their operation. This internal information plays a vital role in fruitful decision making and management of the organization. Likewise it is necessary to understand what is happening outside the boundaries of the organization (Gupta & Sharma, 2004). This comprises the external information, which would help in making decision on order to keep the organization competitive in the market. LO 1.4 As mentioned earlier that the method of decision making depends upon the nature of the decision to be made and the complexity of the decision. However, if the decision making procedure goes through certain stages it is sure that the decision would be profitable and would help the organization to move forward. It is not sure whether this can be termed as recommendations for improvements but it is seen that most of the decisions that followed these stages remain successful. It is necessary to listen to all possible options or solution without being judgmental. This would help you have as many solutions as possible under the sky. Setting up a time scale and hold the person accountable for making the decision. This would make the decision maker serious about what is being recommended. Most importantly gather as many information as possible and weigh the possible risks that may involve with the decision. This would help in assessing your decision in a better way. Assess the pros and cons of the decision and finally make the decision by following these stages. If you have answers for all the aforementioned stages you have made a sound decision. LO 2.1 Today it is highly volatile to remain competitive in the business market. The solid decision making ability helps in keeping your business to remain competitive. The complexity in the market as well as society along with the environmental, social and economic conditions give you the indication to involve various stakeholders to be a part of the decision making process. Today all the organizations are aware of their critical role in the community, environment and society – hence it is better for them to involve the stakeholders from various sectors in the decision making process. LO 2.2 The process of decision making had brought a great amount of success to the corporate organization when their competitiveness is concerned in the business market. Today it is not only the business leaders who take the decision. There has been a trend of involving the key stakeholders in the decision making process. This had been possible through the extensive networking process via all communication channels and creating that sound business relationship between the two parties. Networking and communication management are the two key entities that help in creating and managing the key contacts with the identified stakeholders. LO 2.3 As mentioned in the earlier sections that the stakeholders need to play a critical role in decision making process now it is time to identify how they can be appropriately be involved in the due process. The involvement of the stakeholders defines the key part of the corporate societal responsibility, which would help in achieving the triple bottom line. One of the network-based organizations named Global Reporting Initiative has made the engagement of the stakeholders in the appropriate a mandate. This engagement plays a key role in aligning the business with societal needs. LO 2.4 No process is cent percent full proof. There are scopes of improvements in every process. This holds good for decision making process as well. Look for the optimal moment where you can address the question to build strategies in order to improve the decision making process. Since 50 years the researchers, scholars and psychologists have found human judgment is bounded. Hence the first step is to come out of that boundary and set your mind free so that the decision making process can be more meaningful and strategic. Once of the most effective strategies to improve decision making process is to remain unbiased while taking any decision. M1 In today’s business world every organization is unique in their operations, strategic objectives, capabilities and strategic decision making (McInerney, 2002). Most of the organizations follow the process of planning and strategizing while making an impactful decision for running the business. Planning is the stepping stone to make any decision. One of the best strategies that modern day businesses are applying is to engage various stakeholders in the decision making process. Engaging the stakeholders helps them aligning the business to the societal requirements. Through the researches it is seen that human judgment is often bounded and in order to make an impactful decision you need to remain unbiased while involved in the decision making process and need to listen to all possible solutions and ideas. D1 From the above discussion it is evident that in today’s business world decision making plays a critical role in taking the business to success. A small error today can cost you and your business in the future days. Hence it is important that you take the right decision, rather an impactful decision, in order to be in the competition. Thus it is recommended to involve as many minds as possible since it will fetch more context and more ideas, which will in the end help you choosing the best ones among the lot. Listening to all the ideas is recommended along with involving various stakeholders as it opens multiple horizons to take your business to success. Case Study LO 3.1 In Omega Airlines the supervisor Leigh Randell is trying to achieve something that is beneficial for the entire organization. For this she needs to team up with people from other functional areas, which drove her to communicate with them. Leigh had used the existing and traditional processes of communication in order to communicate with Tom, the Passenger Service Representative. The existing and most communication process involve email or an official letter explaining the idea. Sometimes internal communicator is also helpful in gaining small information from some other sources in order to achieve the common goal of the team. The afore-mentioned existing processes of communication are common in any organization as matter of fact (Wright, 2005). Sometime many organizations uses casual catch up over a cup of coffee in order to discuss things in their functional area and also try to find how the two teams can integrate in order to achieve a common goal. LO 3.2 Leigh did not receive any response from Tom and also when there was a meeting between two Vice Presidents, Tom and Leigh, it was clearly understood that neither Tom and nor his boss Alan Brook had the clear understanding what exactly Leigh wants to achieve. It is evident that the communication of Leigh was not proper. It is better if Leigh can include seriousness of her idea in the communication and the impact that it can make to the business then it would have been easy for both Tom and Alan to understand better. It is seen that inspirational and motivational approach to communicate ideas plays a great role in the success of any organization. Hence it is advised if Leigh could include some motivational approach to her communication to Tom the result would have been better and the two VPs need not to come into picture to sort out the issue. Breaking the communication into small pieces that would include the matter and why Leigh is sharing the communication is a great idea to achieve the goal. If Leigh would have appreciated Tom’s hard work in her communication that might have worked in her favor. LO 3.3 Implementing the suggestions or the plans of making the communication better and more impactful is a tough task. However, Leigh needs to look for the change in the way of communication for the benefit of the organization as well for her improvement as an individual as well as a professional. In this case study Leigh needs to include some motivational and inspirational approach to her communication process so that the receiver can get motivated and feel the need of the request. Implementing the ideas of improvement is tough unless you can make others understand the importance of the idea how it benefit the organization. There is no change in the process of communication as such but to include some innovative improvements to it. LO 3.4 If Leigh wants to improve her communication skills the urge should come from within. She needs to be passionate about improving her communication skills after which there can be a plan she can make. The best way to improve the communication skill is by interacting with as many people as possible and taking part in various speakers’ forum. It is suggested to make a habit of reading various books – especially related to communication improvement. This would help in understanding various types of communication and its importance. As mentioned earlier, try to include some motivational and inspirational stuff in the communication that she is sending. Most importantly try to include the purpose of the communication and benefit as well. M2 Leigh is advised to use the traditional communication channels for communicating with the teams members of other functional areas. After she designed the strategies for improving her communication and following the same rigorously it was seen that she had good improvement in her communication skills. It was seen that she started to use motivational and inspirational approach along with the reason for requirement in communication to others, which had a positive effect. Would she had done this before she would not face the jeopardy while and her work would have been easier. D3 The creative thinking of Leigh in communicating her thoughts and ideas received positive response from the receivers and her boss too feels happy that Leigh has improved in her communication skill. Most importantly the receptiveness of her new ideas changed drastically, which is evident from the changed way her ideas are being looked at. Her communication now carries why they should help her in getting the required information. This approach makes the receiver feels the importance of the information required. References Maier, R. (2007) Knowledge Management Systems: Information And Communication Technologies for Knowledge Management (3rd ed). Berlin: Springer. Gupta, J. & Sharma, S. (2004) Creating Knowledge Based Organizations. Boston: Idea Group Publishing. ISBN 1-59140-163-1. McInerney, Claire (2002). "Knowledge Management and the Dynamic Nature of Knowledge". Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 53 (12): 1009–1018. Wright, K. (2005) Personal knowledge management: supporting individual knowledge worker performance". Knowledge Management Research and Practice 3 (3): 156–165. Read More