Managing Communication, Knowledge And Information

Introduction :- This assignment is broadly described the range of decisions, examine the information and knowledge needed to ensure effective decision taking, assess internal and external sources of information and understanding, justify recommendations for improvement on behalf of Executive Director ABC private Ltd. The described informations are as follows: Decisions Level :-Decision is the process of selecting from several choices products or ideas, and taking action. The visionary element of management is making decisions. Managers are constantly required to evaluate alternatives and make decisions regarding a wide range of matters. Just as there are different managerial styles, there are different decision-making styles.

According to Ralph L. Keeney, professor at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business and co-author of Smart Choices: a Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions, managers commonly considers too few alternatives when making difficult decisions. When approaching a problem, decision makers need to regularly consider, starting at the outset "Is this I really need to decide?" In addition, the nature of the problem may change during the decision-making process, as either the situation changes or the decision maker's insights into the situation change. By not formulating the problem correctly, decision makers risk missing a whole range of other alternatives. Decision makers can improve the chances of asking the right question by probing objectives, goals, interests, fears, and aspirations. They also need to consider very carefully the consequences of each alternative. They can devise new alternatives through brainstorming and imagining as many options as possible, keeping in mind objectives, but not necessarily being entirely practical at first. In practice, action-oriented decision makers tend to focus on solutions without considering whether the According to Ralph L. Keeney, professor at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business and co-author of Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions, managers commonly consider too few alternatives when making difficult decisions. When approaching a problem, decision makers need to regularly consider, starting at the outset "Is this I really need to decide?" In addition, the nature of the

problem may change during the decision-making process, as either the situation changes or the decision maker's insights into the situation change. By not formulating the problem correctly, decision makers risk missing a whole range of other alternatives. Decision makers can improve the chances of asking the right question by probing objectives, goals, interests, fears, and aspirations. They also need to consider very carefully the consequences of each alternative. They can devise new alternatives through brainstorming and imagining as many options as possible, keeping in mind objectives, but not necessarily being entirely practical at first. In practice, action-oriented decision makers tend to focus on solutions without considering whether they are working on the right problem. Instead of choosing from decisions selected by others, decision makers need to review what decisions they should be addressing.

Planning for Decision Making: A business plan is one of the fundamental steps involved in beginning any business endeavor. At its most basic, a business plan outlines the overall goals of a business, why it is believed that these goals can be attained, and exactly how these goals will be obtained. Some business plans also contain different milestones and benchmarks that can be used to gauge the success of a business. The business plan is intended to help a business keep focus over the long run and guide decision making.

Decisions Making: Decision-making is a crucial part of good business. Every business faces a number of different decisions that must be made every day. All of these decisions must be made with the intent of meeting the overall goals and benchmarks of the company. This is especially true of businesses encompassing several different departments pursuing their own goals. Without a business plan guiding decision making, the different departments are likely to overemphasize their importance, which can be detrimental to the overall goals of the business. Attributes of an Effective Decision Maker: Calculated risk-taking: The risks and results of various alternatives must be weighed and the consequences accepted, whether positive or negative. Self-knowledge: Good decision makers know their own abilities, biases, and limitations.

Types of Decisions:

Strategic Decisions Tactical/ administrative decisions Operational decisions

Strategic decisions are the decisions that are concerned with whole environment in which the firm operates the entire resources and the people who form the company and the interface between the two.

Strategic decisions have major resource propositions for an organization. These decisions may be concerned with possessing new resources, organizing others or reallocating others. Strategic decisions deal with harmonizing organizational resource capabilities with the threats and opportunities. Strategic decisions deal with the range of organizational activities. It is all about what they want the organization to be like and to be about. Strategic decisions involve a change of major kind since an organization operates in ever-changing environment. Strategic decisions are complex in nature. Strategic decisions are at the top most level, are uncertain as they deal with the future, and involve a lot of risk. Strategic decisions are different from administrative and operational decisions.

Administrative decisions are routine decisions which help or rather facilitate strategic decisions or operational decisions. Operational decisions are technical decisions which help execution of strategic decisions. To reduce cost is a strategic decision which is achieved through operational decision of reducing the number of employees and how we carry out these reductions will be administrative decision.

The differences between Strategic, Administrative/tactical and Operational decisions can be summarized as followsStrategic Decisions Strategic decisions are longterm decisions. These are considered where The future planning is concerned. Strategic decisions are taken in Accordance with organizational mission and vision. These are related to overall Counter planning of all Organization. These deal with organizational Growth. Administrative Decisions Administrative decisions are taken daily. These are short-term based Decisions. These are taken according to strategic and operational Decisions. These are related to working of employees in an Organization. These are in welfare of employees working in an organization. Operational Decisions Operational decisions are not frequently taken. These are medium-period based decisions. These are taken in accordance with strategic and administrative decision. These are related to production.

These are related to production and factory growth.

Gaining a better understanding of how problems can be solved and decisions made is essential to our national goal of increasing productivity. It works the same way in any organization. At ABC communication plays an important role in almost every aspect of a business. Good communication is essential to building a cohesive and effective team. Good communication skills are essential to managing the performance of the team members and knowing how to communicate well to large group and minimize the risk and problems developing in the work place. So any decision I take, I am always about to

get the most out of it. In this year 2012 I want to come out with the structural change of the organization. For an instance, I want to carry on with the construction of a new building with proper IT facilities around. I even want to make some changes to the company logo and product covers. I want to have a 247 phone service so that customers and other bodies can voice their comment, recommendations and suggestions. I am also thinking of a TV show as a part of CSR. I have wide plans to create something that will boost social awareness. I am after a permanent change that can benefit the whole company and build strong bonding between the employers and employees and employers and employees.

The first industrial revolution showed us how to do most of the world's heavy work with the energy of machines instead of human muscle. The new industrial revolution is showing us how much of the work of human thinking can be done by and in cooperation with intelligent machines. Human minds with computers to aid them are our principal productive resource. Understanding how that resource operates is the main road open to us for becoming a more productive society and a society able to deal with the many complex problems in the world today.

Examine the information and knowledge needed to ensure effective decision taking:

Primary Data:

Data that has been collected from first-hand-experience is known as primary data. Primary data has not been published yet and is more reliable, authentic and objective. Primary data has not been changed or altered by human beings; therefore its validity is greater than secondary data.
Importance of Primary Data: Importance of Primary data cannot be neglected. A research can be conducted without secondary data but a research based on only secondary data is least reliable and may have biases because secondary data has already been manipulated by human beings. In statistical surveys it is necessary to get information from primary sources and work on primary data.

There is verous way of collecting data. There are also some positive and negative impacts are always there.

Data never gathered before. Advantage: find data you need to suit your purpose Disadvantage: usually more costly and time consuming than collecting secondary data Collected after secondary data is collected Types of Primary Data Demographic/Socioeconomic Age, Sex, Income, Marital Status, Occupation Psychological/Lifestyle Activities, Interests, Personality Traits Attitudes/Opinions Preferences, Views, Feelings, Inclinations Awareness/Knowledge Facts about product, features, price, uses Intentions Planned or Anticipated Behavior Motivations Why People Buy (Needs, Wants, Wishes, Ideal-Self) Behavior Purchase, Use, Timing Primary Data Can Be Gathered By:

Communication Methods Interacting with respondents Asking for their opinions, attitudes, motivations, characteristics Observation Methods No interaction with respondents

Letting them behave naturally and drawing conclusions from their actions Methods include: Surveys Focus Groups Panels Highly versatile in terms of types of data Generally more speedy Typically more cost effective Electronic media have made observation cheaper Activities, Interests, Personality Traits

Secondary Data : Data collected from a source that has already been published in any form is called as secondary data. The review of literature in nay research is based on secondary data. Secondary data is often readily available. After the expense of electronic media and internet the availability of secondary data has become much easier.
Pre-existing data not gathered for purposes of the current research Not new data second hand

Secondary data Back up data secondary in use

Formal vs. Informal Communication Informal Usually used with friends and family Contains shortened version of words Contains slang words Formal Used in a Professional Setting No Slang Pronounce words correctly

Assess internal and external sources of information and understanding:

What is Internal Communication:

Internal communications is a generic expression for all communication (formal and informal) that an organization undertakes with its close stakeholders i.e. those people with whom it has a relationship that requires support, principally direct/indirect employees and/or members. The main purpose of formal internal communications is to inform employees or members of the direction and performance of the organization (and/or team). There are two sides to strategy in internal communications. In the first instance there is the organization's strategy what it hopes to achieve and how it plans to go about achieving it. That strategy will be supported and, to some extent, delivered through effective internal communications. In this context internal communication can help on several different levels: Tell: simply informing people of the direction, non-negotiable Sell: anticipating some form of backlash, requiring some persuasion Consult: seeking specific areas of input to the decision-making process Involve: seeking varying degrees of involvement and co-creation Secondly, and more importantly, internal communications needs a strategy of its own. It should be positioned more than a simple plan of tactical interventions in support of business activities. The strategy should consider the following: Market: What does the organization know about its audiences' needs? How should its audiences be segmented? Message: What is it the organization's message is trying to achieve? In what tone should it be conveyed? Media: Which channels work best for the different audience segments? How will it maximize reach and cut-through? Are there clear editorial guidelines for each? Measurement: Are there clearly defined success criteria? What are the leading and lagging measures? As well as informing all of the other three M's, it should be used to demonstrate value and measures of performance (ROI, message penetration, hit rates, quality of feedback, etc.) The strategy will inform the best way to organize effective communications.

Various Types Of Internal Communication

Today there are a plethora of techniques and technologies used to Communicate, both up/down and side-to-side within an organization:

One-on-one meetings: - One-on-one meetings between the direct report and their manager provide an uninterrupted private time to receive and discuss the direct reports project status while at the same time providing a vehicle for personalized feedback and mentoring. Emails :- The benefits of using email for internal communications are numerous, and can help internal communication specialists: Maintain consistent branding and ensure all communications are "on message". For global corporate communications email enables organizations to easily empower regional offices at a local level. For example companies with offices in more than one country can provide head office communications, which can include space for regional messaging. Voice mails: - A voice mail system is a centralized system used in businesses for sending, storing and retrieving audio messages. A voicemail system in a business is essential to keep external and internal communications flowing seamlessly and efficiently. Video broadcasts: - Video conferencing is the use of real-time video and audio streaming to enable people conversing over the Internet to be able to see and hear each other. This can be as simple as a point-to-point meeting between two people in private offices or as elaborate as a multi-point meeting involving several sites with people in offices, boardrooms, auditoriums, or conference rooms. Intranets: - An intranet is similar to a Web site, and it uses Internet protocols, but it's an internal network exclusive to one company. An intranet is the perfect place to post weekly reports, memos, and goals. This way, everyone is on the same page. Annual Reports :Quarterly Reports Road shows

Four essential elements of successful internal communications Is focused on one (only) specific strategic business issue Is written in language the receiver is able to comprehend Has an outcome that is specific and measurable Is delivered in a timely manner and in a medium that the receiver is willing and happy to receive it in External Communication:

External communication covers how a provider interacts with those outside their own organization. This may be with the public, employers, community organizations, local authorities, job centers, careers offices, funding bodies, specialist agencies and other training providers.

Positive aspects of external communication

Good use of collaborative partnerships to widen participation Productive partnerships that enhance the learner experience Effective communication with outside agencies Close working relationships with employers Justify recommendations for improvement: