Introduction

Managing communication knowledge and information

The fate of any business venture is decided by the
decision-making ability of the business leadership. Profiting in a business is
all about making the most of opportunity that performs in a market. Timing is
most important essence in the business. Quick decisions is more needed to
be made by business managers to take benefit of chances when they
present themselves. In today's world, one needs business managers who can
take quick decisions and execute the outlined strategy. Sometimes, a loss or
profit in the business brings down to one deciding moment of decision. That
is what business is all about, the decision-making ability of the thinking of
any organization; it decides how effective a role play in the business world.
Knowledge management (KM) is the process of
capturing, developing, sharing, and effectively using
organizational knowledge. It refers to a multi-disciplinary approach to
achieving organizational objectives by making the best use of knowledge.
Knowledge management efforts typically focus on
organizational objectives such as improved performance, competitive
advantage, innovation, the sharing of lessons learned, integration
and continuous improvement of the organization. KM efforts overlap
with organizational learning and may be distinguished from that by a greater
focus on the management of knowledge as a strategic asset and a focus on
encouraging the sharing of knowledge. It is an enabler of organizational
learning.

INTRODUCTION TO THE BUSINESS

Our main business is retailing of various products which is
needed by customers for their day to day use. As our business is operating in
fast moving consumer goods sector it should be more proactive to the
market within which it operates. We have 2 main retail outlet which provides
excellent service and also provides home delivering products for customers
as per their order. In order to be competitive in the market we prefer to
deliver excellent customer services to our customers. Our organization is
small in size and thereby it has less functions to carry out regardless like the
big organizations. The hierarchy of our organization is as follows;

Organizational hierarchy and the level of management

Manager

Assistant
manger

Superviso
r

Superviso
r

EMPLOY

EMPLOY
EE

EMPLOY

EMPLOY
EE

EMPLOY
EE

EMPLOY
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We have 2 retail outlets which are managed in such a

way that it would help to hold its customers and even attract more
customers so that the business will grow in future. We believe that having
right information about the market changes will help us to be more
competitive in the market. In order to react to insist change in the market.
The business should have the right information about the market in order to
take the right decision at the right time. The appropriate decision taken at
the right time has led to the success of our business over the years.
Decision-making increasingly happens at all levels of a business. Mainly the
three level of decision are taken in our business are as follows:

Strategic level: makes the grand strategic decisions about

investment and direction of future growth; it concerns long term goal,
philosophies and values. They are the least structured and most
imaginative; they are the most risky and of the most uncertain
outcome, partly because they reach so far into the future and partly
because they are of high importance. Usually this type of decision in
our business are taken after a meeting with supervisor and the
assistant manager and the manager.
Tactical level: tactical decisions about how their own department may
contribute most effectively to the overall business objectives they
tend to be medium range, medium significance, with moderate
consequences. These decision are made to help implement the
strategic decision; these type of decision my look at the available
resource and the money.
Operational level: employees are increasingly expected to make
decisions about the conduct of their own tasks, responses to
customers and improvements to business practice. They are every
day decisions, used to support tactical decisions, often structured and
their impact is immediate, short term, short range, and usually low
cost

External and internal sources of information and knowledge

Appropriate decision taken at the right time
has led to the success of the organization over the years. In order to make
above mentioned decision our organization required two types of
information. Theses information will let to make effective decision which has
to be taken in order to make the organization successful. The information
and knowledge about the market environment and business environment will
be gained in two ways, they are as follows:

Internal information:
Internal information are gather and used for
the decision making purpose inside the organization. These information
will be needed to make operational level decision and tactical level
decision in business. Usually organization use some sort of information
system to develop and maintain the internal sources of information.
According O'Brien and Marakas "an information system can be any
organized combination of people, hardware, software, communication
network and data resources that stores and retrieves, transforms and
disseminate information in an organization" (O'Brien & Marakas, 2001).
It means that the internal sources of information can be the employees
and the computers etc.

The employees can give information regarding various operations and

then the supervisors will take the decision according to the mangers
opinions. There are different kinds of internal information such as

Financial Information: These are the information available related to

performance, profit and loss of the organization. Business
information such as cost of products, salary, taxes, profit, loss, etc.
Personal and administration information: These are the information
about the employees their personal details, career information,
experience, skills, training, productivity rates, bonuses etc.
Marketing information: This information used to understand the
success of products and services offered by the organization and
internal marketing information are the sales figures, complains,
revenue generated etc.
Stock information: these are information related to buysing of goods
os such as cost of purchasing, transport cost, supplier details etc. As
our business is small in size it has few they source

External information:
External source of information are the
external information which are not governed by the organization
External information are gathered by managers that provides an
organization intelligence information regarding the outside parties
including customer, society, competitors, government etc.
The external sources of information provide
most valuable information regarding the organization environmental
factors. Our organization environmental factor consists of economic
factors, demographic factors, technological factors, political-legal
factor, and socio-cultural factors. This information is of very
importance for the business organization because the organization
environment serves as an obstacle between the business and its target
market. Through proper scanning of the environmental factors
managers are able to devise his strategies keeping in view the
dynamic environment.
These external information are helpful in
making decision regarding the market. These external information for
our business are collected through market research, survey, direct

inquires and through various other forms. Normally this type

information can be used if there is need to reduce the price of various
products, weather to have promotion, etc.

Existing methods of collecting formatting and disseminate the

information and knowledge
As our business is small in size it has less
information to be rolled within the business. Firstly the person who needs
information should must know what kind of information that they need to
make the decision. First usefulness of a particular information should
evaluated against the organizational objectives and using social and cultural
backgrounds. Issues and problems which are relevance to the receiver
should be understood and information related to that should be collected.
Information types such as Bibliographic information, Practical information,
Referral information, Statistical data and Analytical information can be
considered. Then this information should be formatted according to the
organizational requirements (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009).
For this condensing information using
digests and abstracts, consolidating information to catch the main output
and repackaging information such as changing it to understandable format
can be done. Then this relevant and updated information should be stored in
organization. This can be done in documentation form or in online form. In
storage should be concern to easy access and easy retrieval of information
according to the requirements. Then dissemination of information should be
done and should first verify the appropriate receiver of the information. Then
the appropriate media of dissemination of information should be selected.
The media such as Oral media (words), Electronic media (TV, radio, internet,
email, fax, video, podcasts, teleconferencing, webcasts). Choosing the
correct media for the communication is vital to reach the potential.
Existing process, technologies of communication in business
Communication is a process which sender and
receiver sharing of a common meaning. Communication process has key
components as sender, encoding, transmission, decoding, receiver and feedback.

Communication technology has changed the way the world conducts

business. Cellular phones, webcams and the Internet are only a few of the
many tools business regularly used that were unheard of a little more than a
decade ago. The advent of this technology and its variety of benefits has
made conducting business easier and more assessable to small business like
us globally. The important factor in a communication process is people who

involves it. Therefore, a useful tool to identify and reflect upon our personal
strengths and areas for development is the personal SWOT analysis. In order
to improve the effective communication, SWOT analysis is a useful technique
to help people identify these strength and weakness; analyze the
opportunities and treats in workplace. Using this tool in company will help
employees develop their career. Manager can focus on developing the
strength and opportunities while minimizing the weakness and reducing the
threats in the business.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of the
improvement of technology in business communication is the financial
savings it affords small businesses and global corporations alike. Tasks that
once took large sums of money may now be completed with a touch of a
button for pennies. This has allowed small businesses like us to better
compete with larger organizations in the global market. Where once we
would have stored business information in filing cabinets, now the same
information is referred to as data and 99% of it is stored in digital form.
What this means is that if someone in another city needs to see a file,
instead of having to courier it to them overnight we simply attach it to an
email and send it to them instantly. The medium that has made this possible
is the Internet. This revolutionary medium has allowed business
communications to become faster, more efficient and completely free from
geographical limitations. The Internet has made possible a wide range of new
business communication tools wchich are currently used by our business are
as follows:

Email This has become the main form of communication for our
businesses, as it is relatively fast and very cheap and can be used to
forward and receive additional files attached to each message.
Instant messaging (IM) IMing is faster and more convenient than
email or telephone, and is an excellent way for employees to
communicate with one another in real time.
Social media Social media has allowed businesses to communicate
on a much more personal level with their customers and more over this
helps to advertise our products to our customers and also to get their
feedback on servicers so that we can improve the services we provide
in future. We believe that high level of customer satisfaction is needed
if we want to grow and expand the business in future.
Targeted advertising Using tools such as Adwords, businesses can
now target potential customers much more accurately.
Video conferencing Video conferencing allows participants to attend
virtual meetings with colleagues and clients via a video link on their
tablets or smart phones. With this technology our manger can directly
contact the supervisors.

Moreover, the expediency provided by business

communication technology is also beneficial in interpersonal communication.
Previously, businesses would have to plan conferences for individuals who sit
in separate locations to meet. Before Voice of Internet Protocol, or VoIP,
technology, placing a long distance telephone call was an expensive gesture.
Current VoIP and cellular telephone technology, however, has made flat rates
for local and long distance calls common place. This made us to save money
in contacting various our suppliers. The important factor in a communication
process is people who involves it. Therefore, a useful tool to identify and
reflect upon our personal strengths and areas for development is the
personal SWOT analysis. In order to improve the effective communication,
SWOT analysis is a useful technique to help people identify these strength
and weakness; analyze the opportunities and treats in workplace. Using this
tool in company will help employees develop their career. Manager can focus
on developing the strength and opportunities while minimizing the weakness
and reducing the threats in the business.

Communication weakness within the organization and

recommendations
In order to have effective communication in our business it is vital to
recruit, train and develop suitable people across the organization. The communication within and
outside the company will have impact only when the receiver (one who receives and interpret the
message) pursue exactly what the sender (a person who transmit and idea or message) mans. This
depends a lot on the people inside the organization. If staff within our organization are talented and
have mature personality they will interpret the message by using their professional skills acquired
through various training and development. If the case is opposite, the organization will be facing
difficulties in every wake of life. Likewise staff within our business should be given more training so
that they can improve their Communication skills. Moreover good communication skill of employees
will also add goodwill to Wal-Mart (Usray & Matz, 2006).
As our business is getting bigger and bigger we need to have a
proper information management system. Management information system provides information in
the form of pre-specified reports and displays to support business decision making.

To make a good decision experience, good information and interpreting the

information correctly is quite vital. Information and knowledge plays an important
role in modern organizations. Due to the complexity of business processes people
need high level of knowledge, skills and expertise