Strategic Corporate Communication

CITY OF LONDON COLLEGE

STRATEGIC CORPORATE COMMUNICATION (EXTENDED DIPLOMA IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP) EDEXCEL QCF LEVEL 7: BTEC PROFESSIONAL

LECTURER: MRS FRIDA DSILVA STUDENT: SYED ZEESHAN AHMED BUKHARI STUDENT ID: 000105776

Strategic Corporate Communication

Lecturers: Miss Disilva Written By: Syed Zeeshan Bukhari a) Describe information management in your management in your organization, assess its value and make recommendations for change to improve communication and productive working relationships. Information: Information is the data that organised into a particular structure and has been processed in such a way which can be understood by the recipient of the message. Information is knowledge and understanding that is usable by the recipient. It reduces uncertainty and has exposure value. It must tell the recipient something not already known which could be predicted. Information Management: Information management explains the means by which an organisation effectively and efficiently plans, organises the information. It is gathering of information by different resources. It may be involve those who have stake in, or a right to that information. The aim and objective of the management is to provide the right information to the right person from the right source at right time. The various types of information are collected and stored in my organisation such as organisation policies, sales, profits, contractor and suppliers details, customers feed backs, stock details and employees details etc. What is Importance management? of good information

It helps strategically to the organisational objectives. It helps to adapt the quick changes in the market. Makes the organisation to best use of their resources for productivity and profitability. To meet the customers demand and quality of product. Helps for audit and the budgetary plan of my organisation. Training, promotion and recruiting of new staffs. To fulfil the legislative and regulatory requirements that governs the record keepings. 2

Strategic Corporate Communication It helps to amend the organisation policies according to new technology and systems. How does information management in your organisation help you and others to achieve the objectives? By making sure the organisation is fulfilling the requirement of the customers and providing them the best quality product and service. It helps the staff to share ideas and inform senior management and make timely effective decision when planning. Use of latest technology Share the pioneering ideas. To make sure the employees are motivated and satisfied. It is very excellent tool for the forecasting of the business. All staff as individual and groups has efficient access to and makes effective use of the information they required for work and to develop themselves. What communication methods (including ecommunication) are available and how useful they are? Communication exists in all organisations to keep them functioning. In our organisation each staff including the senior management has a defined sphere of action and responsibility and should receive information to help him carry out his designed tasks. Information provider need to analyse the key decision points in an organisation in order to direct information exactly where it is required. For effective communication it is important following factors must be considered: 1) Whether the mean of communication is appropriate for the receiver to understand the context. 2) Is the message send to the right person and right time? 3) How confidential is the message is? 4) Is message linked to the previous communication so it may need any reference? Our organisation always keep in mind that users of information of whatever level, must not be overloaded with unnecessary information . So we use following communication methods.

Strategic Corporate Communication Face-to-face communications: Interviews (Recruiting new staff) Formal meetings with area manager and regional manager to discuss sales and products. Informal contacts with customers and peers. Group discussion (Internal staff, Assistant Manager and Manager) Visual communications: Films and slides (Specially used in Head office in meeting when introducing new product and comparing the market competitors) Videos used in Area Manager and Regional Manager meeting. Advertising charts Posters hanging in stores to attract the customers. Paper written Communications: External mail by letters(Between different stores, Head office and Suppliers) Internal communication by memos Booklets and Manuals ( Policies and procedures) Reports (Budgets, Sales) Statements Organisational Magazines and newsletters Notice boards daily tasks and important events. Oral communication: Telephone Mobile phone Public address system Electronic Communications: Electronic Mails (Store to Store, Head office and customers) Data Transmission networks (Sale, and delivery order i.e. store to head office) Fax Short Text Messages Electronic data exchange (i.e. Computer to computer) All above communication methods are used in my organisation and all these sources of communication are very helpful depending upon the nature of information and situation. For example e-mails are very quick and time saving but sometimes the information is overloaded. Similarly sometimes meeting is

Strategic Corporate Communication very important for decisions and sharing ideas but it is time demanding. How your organisation storage and system do meets legal requirement? retrieval

Information in my organisation is stores in different ways depends up the security and confidentiality required. We store the employees and all data for appropriate purposes following data protection act 1998.Our organisation also follow the freedom of information Act. When new staff is recruited he has to sign the contract term and conditions which clearly says staff is to maintain the confidentiality of the business, production and all other matters to the people those who are not authorise to know. The paper works which have confidential data is destroyed properly after use. The main data is stored in Head office and Backup is also stored by Head office on a different place. All important Data is stored in both forms Hard and soft copy. Examples DVDs, CDs, External Hard drives and files. The information can be retrieved in hard or soft copy as the requirement nature by the authorised persons. All company policies procedure all staff personnel data and contract singed by the individual is can be retrieved by store Managers. What change can you recommend to improve communication and productive working relation? Communication is the back bone of every organisation to keep it functional. Following are the recommendations to improve the communication and working relation. Weekly staff meeting to discuss different issues. Introducing the suggestion and complain book. Training courses for the staff to develop the skills for the organisation. Using the right methods for presenting the information. Making monthly graph of customer feed back which shows the working struggle of the staff for providing best service. Sharing information and ideas with colleagues helps to reduce the uncertainty. Asking question from customers and encouraging them to provide different ideas. Proper listening every one until complete his conversation without interruption.

Strategic Corporate Communication Daily necessary actions taken by the staff are to be written on the notice board and must be checked in the ending of the day. If some product is out of stock then satisfy the customer by offering different substitutes and must be used polite language. b) Write a report making recommendation for a decision you need to make in your area of work. The nature of decision need to be made: The Farm Foods Ltd has changed its opening hours (8:00-2000) all over the UK and due to credit crunch people like to buy same stuff in lower price so Farm Foods Ltd is the cheapest place for the customer. Due to recessional situation our customer raised by 30%.Then organisation is to decide how customer service requirements can be met. There are no of options to meet these requirements. What information you used to help you to make your decision? When ever a decision is to be made then some information is used to make decision. Same way I used the following information to make a decision. 1) Quantitative information: I checked the last three months sales of the store which is raised. Analyse the no customers visiting the store daily for last three months has been raised by 30%. We order big delivery frozen and dry stuff to meet the customer requirements. 2) Qualitative information: Collecting the information from suggestion box regarding the service. Questionnaire from the customer about customer service. Suppliers information regarding receiving the delivery. 3) Checking the previous information and decision taken in the same circumstances. 4) Detailed meeting with regional Manager and Area Manager and consulting alternatives.

How you ensure the information was valid and relevant?

Strategic Corporate Communication To get good results from the decision and make it more effective it must be ensured that information being used for the decision is valid and relevant. Validity and Relevance information: To check the validity of information source of information must be confirmed. The information was valid because it was result of last three months sale (Checked daily sale). The number of customer has been raised during that time. Head office monthly sale report and supplier monthly delivery reports. As the no. of customers is raised so there is requirement of new staff or over time for the existing staff. The decision making model you used and why? I used the Criteria Matrix model for making decision. I used this model for following reasons. 1) It is easy for implementation. 2) Meeting the customer requirements. 3) Cost factor 4) There was no. of options. 5) This is one of the dynamic decision tool in which we can add more options. 6) It gives a clear picture for making a decision. How you applied the decision making model? Before applying the model I find out more than one solution and make criteria. These are the factors which will directly affect the decision. The rating scale I took for criteria was 0-10 (where 0= doesnt meet criteria at all, and 10= fully meets the criteria in every respect). The process is further refined by giving a weighting to each criterion to reflect its relative importance compared to the other criteria. The criterion is as follows; Criteria 1: Short term solution 5% Criteria 2: Long term solution 20% Criteria 3: Customers satisfaction 30% Criteria 4: Cost 25% Criteria5: Risk 10% Criteria6: Profitability 10% Evaluation Criteria (rated 0-10) Alternativ 1 e solutions 2 3 8x0.3 =2.4 4 5 6 Rating out of 10 6x0.1 5.95 0

Recruit 02 1x0.0 8x0. Part time 5 2

4x0.2 3x0.1 5 0

Strategic Corporate Communication staff Recruit 01 full time staff Give over time to existing staff =0.0 5 6x0.0 5 =0.3 0 9x0.0 5 =0.4 5 =1.6 4xo.2 4x0.3 =0.8 =1.2 3x0. 2 =0.6 6x0.3 =1.8 =1.0 0 5x0.2 5 =1.2 5 3x0.2 5 =0.7 5 =0.3 0 4x0.1 0 =0.4 0 2x0.1 0 =0.2 0 =0.6 0 5x0.1 4.45 0 =0.5 0 8x0.1 4.60 0 =0.8 0

Conclusion and recommendations: The above evaluation criteria table shows that recruiting 02 part time staff with rating 5.95 which is best option and it is beneficial for the organisation for long term solution. The second option is to giving over time to existing staff with rating 4.60 which is not good for long term because of the customer satisfaction for service and profitability of organisation. In this case it was recommended to give over time to existing staff until recruitment and training of new staff. Because new staff will take some time to get familiar with the environment. It was also recommended to contact the recruiting agencies to get a trained and experienced staff as soon as possible. C) Review a meeting, which you have recently held in order to inform and reach decision .You should answer the following questions: Meeting are held in all types of organisations whether the organisation is administrative, productive, maintenance etc. The purpose of the meeting is to solve problems, share ideas and information, setting new objectives, briefings and presenting performance. The meeting which I conduct was about the plan maintenance of the electrical and mechanical equipment. The purpose of the meeting was as follow: a) Machinery routines carried (Hand or power turning of Machinery which is not use) b) Log books inspection and monitoring parameters and comparing with last readings. c) Information about maintenance due and different spares gears required for maintenance. How did you plan the meeting?

In most organisations meeting are considered just time wasting factor. But if the purpose of the meeting is clear then objectives 8

Strategic Corporate Communication can be achieved in the decided time frame. To make the meeting successful I planned as follows: Meeting members: When I fully understand the purpose and objective of meeting then I made a list of parties, members who are attending the meeting. Timing: The time of the meeting was carefully determined so that those who are essential achieving function of meeting are able to attend Agenda points: Agenda points were agreed before the meeting and circulated to all concerned and interested parties along with related papers. Duration of meeting: All related members of meeting were informed about the timing and duration of the meeting through appropriate communication method. Form of meeting: The most appropriate method for that meeting was face -to-face communication because it was with in the organisation. Visual aids: Before the meeting visual aids such as projector, slides, pointer copy of slides for the participants were arranged. Minutes: A well qualified technical member was detailed to write down the minutes during the meeting. What leadership style did you choose to adopt and why? The transformational leadership style was used in the meeting because of face -to-face meeting so lot of time was spent in communication. I used this style because I like to delegate the responsibility among the team and I think it was highly effective approach. How did you chair the meeting to ensure it achieved its objectives? Chairperson is key player in the meeting to make the meeting effective and achieve its objectives. Acting as a chairperson I took the following actions before and during to ensure the meeting successful. 1) Identifying and clarifying the objectives of the meeting. 2) Confirming all concern members is attending the meeting. 3) Just before starting meeting asked about the moral and preparation.

Strategic Corporate Communication 4) Starting the meeting in time. 5) Now waiting for the late comers. 6) Discussed the agenda points and writing the minutes and clarified what action to be taken and by whom. 7) Solved the conflict in a constructive way. 8) Shared the information and ideas about new coming tasks. 9) Ended the meeting within time deadline. How did you encourage participants to express their views and manage any conflict or difficult behaviour? In meeting effective behaviour can provide chairperson and colleagues with a much higher chance of achieving objectives. During meeting I encouraged the members to participate effectively by asking questions, alternative solutions, their implementation, previous practices and their own ideas and also providing my own short and to the point contribution. I also used confrontation approach to deal with conflict. I encouraged exchange the views and ideas to reduce the differences and gathering them on one solution which was effective for organisation. What actions did you take to follow up on meeting? When the meeting was over I took the following actions. 1) Reviewed what happen at the meeting. 2) Monitored the action agreed one. 3) Dealt with minutes and all other concerning papers, checked draft minutes and issued the minutes along with other concerning papers to all those who attended the meeting, were not able to turn up and other concerning parties. 4) Support required by any department (Mechanical, Electrical, Electronic) to accomplish the task. How did you seek feedback on your skills as Chairperson and what were the results? 1) After the meeting I distributed a questionnaire to all participants to ask their views and comments about the meeting and areas to be improved. 2) By noticing the participation and body language during the meeting. 3) Noticing how relevant they ask questions and response.

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Strategic Corporate Communication In general meeting went very well as planned and was very effective in the following aspects. a) Time management was appreciated. (stating and finishing in time as planned) b) Answers for the raised questions were satisfied and logical. c) Solving the conflict in a constructive way was interesting and informative. d) Meeting environment was friendly. What would you seek to improve next time? 1) Although meeting started in time but few members were late and interruption was created when they joined the meeting. So special instructions will send all regarding the time punctuality. 2) Discussions were very effective but some time members were away from meeting context. To manage me noticed chairperson is to contribute more in next meeting. 3) Special arrangement for disable persons (sitting, listening) 4) Refreshment soon after meeting is helpful to make the environment friendlier.

Reference: Books: 1) Unit C44: Effective communication and information management (Level 5) 2) Management concept & practices (Tim Hannagan 1995 1st edition) 3) Decision support system & intelligent system (Efraim Turban, Jay E. Aronson 2001 6th Edition) 4) Management information system (T Lucey 1997 8th Edition) Websites: www.mindtools.com dated 28th January 20011. www.effectivemeetings.com. Work Experiences: 1) Working in Farm foods Ltd. 2) Worked for Engineering Organisation 5 years.

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