This is aSt Patrick college MCKI assignment helpin which we discuss managing communication, knowledge and information in specific organization with case study of TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS.

 Introduction

Knowledge, Communication and information plays a very crucial role in the modern day scenarios in which they for the pillars for effective modes of communication in the organizations.In rendering the same, IT solutions play a very crucial role in the development of the medium for effectively communicating the various modes of knowledge and information sharing in the organizations. In the modern era of globalization and stiff competition, organizations need to take adequate steps to be able to stand on par with the various technical advancements as IT is becoming the backbone of any modern industry (Al-Hawamdeh, 2002).

Task 01

Demonstrate how you understand how to assess information and knowledge needs.

Discuss the major decisions to be taken. (AC 1.1)

Information and knowledge forms the base as well as the assets of an organization. Every organization needs to identify the various information and the knowledge needs in order to attain its strategic goals (Allen, 1984). This definition of the need must come from the lower hierarchies to the top and then the ultimate decision needs to be taken by the Decision makers of the Organization. For taking strategic decisions, firstly the need of the organization needs to be analyzed. In a company like TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS, generally the decisions are focused on the core committee which is focused on the internal IT development. As part of the major decisions for accessing the information and knowledge needs, TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS performs the following tasks:

• Value chain analysis
• Analysis of the existing IT setup and the need to streamline the various business processes.
• Based on these analysis, the decisions are taken based on priority for the implementation as well as for the IT infrastructure need.
• Moreover, the decision are taken at the process level for the various entities that needs to be part of the information and knowledge system
• For managing these knowledge and information systems, effective and efficient resources needs to be identified (Allen, 1984).
• Decision skills are also judged for mapping the appropriate skillset to the various data management processes.

Thus, all these decisions percolate to the higher management who ultimately takes these considerations and plan the strategic goals involving the knowledge and information management system (Allen, 1984).

Examine the information and knowledge needed to ensure effective decision taking. (AC 1.2.)

TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS as an organization had over the years developed several methods to enable them in effective decision making. In today’s modern era of technology and innovativeness, there are several forms in which the information as well as the knowledge base enables effective decision making. There are several database softwares and knowledge bases which are rich repositories of several tools and data enable the decision making process ((Bontis, 1999). Generally in order to have effective and fruitful decisions, appropriate data in the structured format is required. TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS as an organization uses several Enterprise Solutions to help them manage the various knowledge as well as the information and produce the same to the decision makers in the most effective manner. TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS uses several software which act as middleware in fetching the data from the various source systems and render effective data mining options with various data models and graphs for easy and effective data analysis for effective decision making (Bontis, 1999). All these data sources are integrated to the Enterprise system which render data based on the business or process needs.

Assess internal and external sources of information and understanding. (AC 1.3.)

There are several forums which are used by the organizations in clearly defining the communication strategies for information as well as understanding within the organization. The various internal sources include the Bulletin boards, the discussion boards, emails, communication groups, etc. The HR plays a very crucial role in sharing the information on the internal front. The various external sources include the social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. There are also several specific blogs which companies use as well their own websites to capture the insights as well as information from the various sources for addressing several business success stories and issues (Bollinger, 2001).

Justify recommendations for improvement. (AC 1.4.)

TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS as an organization had taken knowledge and information sharing to great levels and is one of those Information Technology companies which had set a bench mark for the same. However there are few areas in which it needs to work upon:

• It needs to provide more flexibility to the employees in connecting to each other on the social forums with the restrictions of sharing confidential information.
• It needs to have more forums for discussions with the decision makers or the higher management on a regular basis. This would ensure better communication of knowledge and information.
• It needs to have a better planning system in place which can manage the knowledge bases on a more common forum.
• It also needs to implement the most modern technologies in order to have seamless business processes that also integrate as well as align with the various business objectives as well as the strategies of the organization (Bontis, 1999).

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Task 02

Explain how you would create strategies to increase personal networking to widen involvement in the decision making process.

Identify stakeholders for a decision making process. (AC 2.1.)

Decision making process is a highly responsible task and adequate measure needs to be taken into consideration for making the decisions at the organizational level (Choo, 1996).There are several stakeholders at the organizational level who are core part of the decision making process:

• The Higher Management – They are the ultimate decision makers composed of the Board of Directors, CEO, CFO, CIO, etc. which decides the various actionables that needs to be incorporated in alliance with the strategic goals.
• The Middle level Management – They are the influencers as well as the communicators for the various decision making processes (Choo, 1996).
• The Employees at the field level – They are the influencers at the root level for the decision making process and they enable as well as execute the various decisions which are taken at the organizational level.

Discuss how to make contact with those identified and develop business relationships (AC 2.2.)

Networking forms the base for strategizing as well developing the business based on customer needs. There are several activities which needs to be considered in order to have a good business relationships and it is basically by the use of effective networking skills. TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS as an organization had taken several measures to communicate regularly with the identified prospects for the business by sending newsletters, business proposals, identifying or creating the needs based solutions and presenting, constant touch with the prospects using the sales team for both personal as well as for social networking ((Choo, 1998). The contacts are also made using the various modern technologies like Video Conferencing, Webinars as well as over conferences.

Discuss how does personal networking helps in the decision making process? (AC 2.3.)

Networking in today’s connected world is becoming highly crucial to gain the important insights based on the various business process improvement. For the networking forums, several platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. are used for external networking and several Communication forum or Bulletin Boards on the Intranet for internal networking. Networking forums help in comprehending the various issues or challenges which the various people in the organization face at levels across the organization (Eppler, 2006). These forum of communication provide insights on the organizational level to the various decision makers to take appropriate steps thereby creating a structured alignment for the various issues that are faced by the employees and the customers at the various business levels.

Design strategies for improving personal networking. (AC 2.4.)

Personal networking is very crucial in remaining knowledgeable at the various levels of personal and professional fronts. Networking helps in becoming more knowledgeable as well helps us in staying informed (Laudon, 2004). The following strategies could be followed to improving the personal networking:

• Trying and using the social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook more often and staying connected.
• Monitoring the various public forums for the business related information.
• Monitoring and analyzing the various forums on the Intranet and also on the organizational portal to keep a track of the various discussions occurring at the organizational level (Laudon, 2004).

Personal networking not only enables the reach of the individuals but also of the organizations as a whole as they become the sole purpose of business development.

Task 03

Explain how you would help communication process.

Considering selected organization evaluate existing processes of communication and make suggestions to improve it.  (AC P3.1. & 3.2.)

The essential communication that happen in an organization are through the sender, the receiver, the message and the channel. The process includes the following steps

• Encoding: Encoding is basically the translating of the information into a systematic form what will result in effective communication. This results in creating the message in form of speaking, writing, gesturing, or touching(Laudon, 2004).
• Transmission Channels: There are be several verbal as well as non-verbal modes of communications that the TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS uses and that can be through phones, communicators, or several chatting or messaging applications.
• Decoding: Decoding of the messages are essential and this is done for effective communication. It involves comprehending the content of the information sent and then determining the sender's intention in transmitting it(Laudon, 2004).
• Noise: Noise is something that interferes in the mode of communication process. The success of the process of communication depends to a large extent on over-coming the noises.
• Feedback: After all the above 3 processes, the feedback from the receiver is highly essential in order to confirm that the intended message had percolated through the communication system and the same has been communicated back to the sender as a confirmation.

These are the various modes of communication that are followed for creating a harmonized environment in the organization.

How will you implement improvements to ensure greater integration of systems of Communication in that organization? (AC 3.3)

TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS as an organization has a well implemented ERP system which forms the base for the communication in the organization for the various internal purposes. However, there are still some areas of improvements in which the organization needs to build upon:

• TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS needs to have more of its communications on cloud, owing to the advancements of the technologies and the growth of the usage of the mobile devices (Rowley, 2008).
• TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS should also create separate user based logins to ensure data privacy.
• TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS should also have a regular audit system in place to monitor as well as control the information as well as knowledge integration process.

Create a personal plan to improve your own communication skills. (AC P3.4.)

I would also need to focus on the following tasks in order to create and develop a successful plan as part of the communication skills development:

• I should join an online course that would enable me to learn as well as improve my communication skills with greater efficiency.
• I should also start reading more and more books as well as communicate more with the employees as this would not only imbibe confidence but also help in improvising my speaking skills.
• I also should take up courses that would make me capable enough to be able to prove myself in the organization with the various managerial learnings and the aspects to develop the same.
• Analyze the problems in hand with utmost certainty and clarity to provide rich results(Rowley, 2008).
• Aim to take up additional responsibility on various fronts like managerial, supervision, analytical and move to higher roles in quicker time.
• Several team building skills needs to be worked upon by me so that there are lesser conflicts and more bonding in the working team.
• I would also like to lead any of the departments of the organization based on the skills that I develop over the years along with the expertise in order of scale and magnitude. Further based on the relationship I develop with the subordinates I would also be able to develop and nurture the expectations of the team that I would be leading.
• Lay out several developmental plans for the growth of the organization as well as for personal development thereby creating a harmonized growth plan(Laudon, 2004).

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Task 04

Explain how you will improve systems relating to information and knowledge

Identify and evaluate existing approaches to the collection, formatting, storage and dissemination of information and knowledge. (AC 4.1.)

TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS plays a very crucial role in managing its information and knowledge base to precision.The organization has a very structured process which is taken care by the ERP solution, which also enables it to streamline the varied Business Processes with the Business objectives. It uses the SAP ERP solution for managing all its processes related to HR, Finance, Operations, Marketing, Employee Engagement, etc.

For collecting the data, the SAP user interface plays a very crucial role in collecting as well as collating the data from multiple sources. Specific roles and responsibilities are set in order to create as well as modify the data. For all other official purpose MS Office is used which is used for data creation. For storage, it uses the Servers both On-Premise as well as On-Cloud in order to manage as well as store the data with utmost efficiency. Dissemination of the data also takes place using the SAP ERP solution. It also provides the facility to upload as well as download the information as well as knowledge base from the user interface.

What strategies can you design and implement to improve the current approach used to collection, formatting, storage and dissemination of information and knowledge? (AC 4.2.)

Information systems plays a very crucial role in maintaining as well as enabling the various business related activities. Thus, these systems needs to be improved or upgraded on a regular basis. The following tasks can be performed in order to improve the existing systems in TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS:

• TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS has a comprehensive IT department which keeps a regular check as well as takes proactive measures in sustaining as well as maintaining the ERP system along with other software systems that are part of the information and knowledge sharing platforms(Laudon, 2004).
• TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS IT team also needs to upgrade or update the software on a regular basis in order to use the modern technologies with the latest features.
• Also TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS may in future look out for options which are on cloud as it would reduce their operational costs.
• Current systems also need to be more user friendly so many of the knowledge base systems are not user friendly.

What are the steps you will take to implement a strategy to improve access to systems of information and knowledge? (AC 4.3.)

Accessibility of the systems pertaining to information as well as knowledge plays a very crucial role in materializing the purpose as well as the relevance of its usage. Currently the accessibility is restricted only at the organizational level in TECHNO INFOSYSTEMS. However the following steps can be taken in order to improve the access to the various systems:

• Mobile based user interface can be built in order to extend the usability through mobile devices.
• The current system also needs to be hosted on Cloud in order to gain accessibility through mobile devices as well as remotely(Bollinger, 2001).
• The accessibility can also be extended by creating specific interfaces that can be accessed via the Internet.
• The accessibility may also seek its growth by connecting to the various Social Networking sites which will not only increase the access but also extend and market the same which would work in the enablement of the marketing process (Turban, 1996).

Conclusion

Communication, information and knowledge management plays a very important role in development of the organizations. They for the backbone of the organizations especially in the IT domain. Information and knowledge management provides the organizations with the required information or data at the required time in order to enable several business outcomes. Personal networking as well as communication strategies plays a very important role in rendering specific results mainly at the decision making process (Turban, 1996). Several organizations lays special importance in nurturing as well as improving the various soft skills of its employees.

References

Allen, T. J. 1984. Managing the flow of technology: Technology transfer and the dissemination of technological information within the R&D organization. MIT Press Books, 1. Al-Hawamdeh, S. 2002. Knowledge management: re-thinking information management and facing the challenge of managing tacit knowledge. Information research, 8(1), 8-1. Bollinger, A. S., & Smith, R. D. 2001. Managing organizational knowledge as a strategic asset. Journal of knowledge management, 5(1), 8-18. Bontis, N. 1999. Managing organisational knowledge by diagnosing intellectual capital: framing and advancing the state of the field. International Journal of technology management, 18(5), 433-462. Choo, C. W. 1996. The knowing organization: how organizations use information to construct meaning, create knowledge and make decisions. International journal of information management, 16(5), 329-340.

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