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Managing Communication Knowledge and Information

STUDENT NAME: ABDUL JALIL

Introduction:

Information is the crucial element for any kind of business. There are lots of giant companies

which are developed to provide information to the customers. Especially technological

companies provide valuable information on Smartphone by developing data network. In this

assignment the need of information and knowledge, their uses in decision making process have

discussed. By this time the use of information system is discussed in the context of a fictional

company AppiTaxi which is a London based taxi booking company. There are also discussions

about key important aspects about UBER which is a car booking American International

company headquartered in San Francisco, California. The assignment reveals that how

information system is important to provide better business service.

LO 1 Understand how to assess information and knowledge needs

1.1Discuss the range of decisions to be taken

Every start up business has to gather information according to the need as decisions are taken

based on the information. Initially there are many uncertainties because the start up business has

less access to the market and thereby less opportunities to reach customers. So the start up

business has to be more cautious to collect information and thereby conducting a rigorous

analysis which consequently provides valuable feedback (Adair, 2010). The information lacking

problem can be overcome by giving a close observation of the competitor’s early time’s

decisions and present market scenario. The competitors have passed a long way to their business

and by analyzing their past decisions with that market condition must give some trends of

expansion. As AppiTaxi is a start up business and it has less access to the direct market it can

analyze its competitors past decisions which gives it a long successful way from its early stage.

The close competitor of AppiTaxi is the UBER which is an American International company

headquartered in San Francisco, California provides taxi booking facilities to the customers with

the help of Smartphone. AppiTaxi can analyze the decisions of the UBER as it becomes a

successful business organization from its early times. Expansion decisions are almost same in the

similar business because the market condition and the customer needs are less likely to change

over time. The decisions taken by the UBER and their rationalities on those market scenarios can

help a lot in planning of the expansion of the AppiTaxi.

1.2Examine the information and knowledge needed to ensure effective

decision

Information is the most important factor on which decisions are based on. So the decisions taken

based on the available information and related analysis will not be viable if the information has

flaws on them. Managers must be cautious to understand the quality of the information and a

highly skilled research team is required to synchronize the valuable information. Information and

knowledge are directly related with each other. Information can be extracted from any sources

which is reliable. On the other hand knowledge is the professional judgment and technical

knowhow of a person who conducts analysis on the basis of the extracted information. In the

business world information changes every time and information loses its utilization if it is used

properly productively by any entity (Hind,1991). So the information must have to be updated.

The second thing knows its competitors from its best. As company eventually competes with its

established competitor in near future it is important to know the core business knowledge and the

competencies which make it successful. It will help it a lot to take any important decision and to

be in track in the market place. The third one knows its customers and market. AppiTaxi is a

startup business so it must have a sound knowledge about UBER which takes a good position in

the market. If AppiTaxi understands the UBER by collecting and analyzing information it will

take better decision for expansion.

1.3 Assess internal and external sources of information and understanding

Business needs information almost every time to take important strategic decisions. So it engages

to collect information from various sources. Information can be collected from two important

sources one is internal and the other is external. When business collects information from the

inside of the company it is called the internal information (Karl, 1993). Various departments like

purchase department, sales department, human resource department, finance department passes

their departmental data to help decision making process. Purchase department gives the

information about how much raw materials to be purchased, sales department provides

information about the forecasted sales, human resource department gives information about how

many employees to be recruited and finance department passes information about how much

money to be financed. The management then takes decisions and formulates strategies on the

basis of the information provided. The other source of the information is the external source

which gives information about the competitor, the market and customers and the business

environment. Competitors are the entities which battles for grabbing the market share in the

market place. For a startup business like AppiTaxi it will be helpful if it analyzes its past

successful decisions on those market scenarios in which UBER goes on and then formulate

effective decisions. The information about the customers and the market is a very crucial factor

because the customers are dominant player in the market who changes the market by changing

their consumption pattern. Business environment can affect the decision making process

positively or negatively by its nature.

1.4 Justify recommendations for improvement

Every decision is better than the other based on the based on the reliability criteria. For a start up

business like AppiTaxi it is important to take the best decisions on the right time. As it is a

London based car booking service providing company it must focus its targeted customers and

their actual needs (Uber.com, 2015). UBER exists in the same market here. AppiTaxi can follow

up the expansion planning of the UBER in its early stage. UBER has a huge technological

investment to build its strong network which benefits it by satisfying customer needs. AppiTaxi

should have conducted a market survey about its service in the market. The responses from the

customers will give the exact market scenario. The company should have to expense a lot to

build some core competencies based on the customer needs and responses. The current market

scenario of its business will give the idea of real life opportunities it may grab and threats which

it has to encounter to survive in the market place. As there are lot of uncertainties in

accomplishing decisions AppiTaxi must be realistic when collecting, analyzing information and

thereafter decision making. It has to work much on the area of customer satisfaction to take a

long term position in the market.

LO 2 Be able to create strategies to increase personal networking to

widen involvement in the decision-making process

2.1 Identify stakeholders for decision Making process

New business organization needs to take decisions to turn its business viable and to ensure a long

journey in the market. Management takes decisions by analyzing the future prospects of the

business. New investment is made to build unique characteristics which will differentiate its

product from that of the competitors. Stakeholders are the group of parties which have a direct or

indirect interest on the business (Mori, 2015). There are two types of stakeholders; one is internal

and the other is external. Internal stakeholders directly influence the decision making process of

the business. Any decision which is controversial to the interest of the internal stakeholders is

strongly prohibited to take. The decision which management takes must be consistent with the

company mission, vision and views. External stakeholders are consumers, tax authority,

regulatory agencies which trace the decisions of the company whether they goes right or wrong.

Stakeholder’s analysis is necessary for any kind of businesses before taking any decisions.

Management wants to keep a sound and long term good relationship with its stakeholders to do

successful business in future.

2.2 Make contact with those identified and develop business relationships

Business relationships are very important factor in any kind of business. Every business adopts

skilled employees and expenses much to develop long term business relationships. It reduces

costs and time as well as complexities. Business relationships are very much important for the

start up business. Successful business relationships help them to be structured in new business.

AppiTaxi must have to build key business relationships in the market. As there always exists a

question about the stakeholder’s interest in decision making, management should care about this

issue in relationship building. The stakeholders provide capital, market for the product and the

environment to carry out business activities. AppiTaxi will try to convince all the entities which

have a direct or indirect interest in the company to build the key relationships in the business

area. It can follow the tactics UBER used on its early times for building relationships. There is

need of sitting with the representative of the stakeholders, discussing the key decision issues with

them, sharing the opinions to build successful business relationships (Biddle, 2015).

2.3 Involve those identified in the decision making as appropriate

Business decisions which all have been proposed are not equally profitable or viable for the start

up business. So there must have some selection process for finding out the best ones. According

to Anon (2015), business relationships are the long term profitable issues for any kind of start up

business. Management should carry out a rigorous analysis on the proposed decisions. AppiTaxi

will find the appropriate decisions for expansion by discussing with the stakeholders. Then it will

carry out an analysis which will express that how much the selected decisions will be viable by

comparing the similar decisions in practice by its competitor UBER. Once it finds that its

decisions will be effective in the market place then it will formulate the decisions.

2.4 Design strategies for improvement

Strategies are the key business process or procedures which enhances the productivity and

profitability of a business. Every business sets its goals and vissions based on the business

operation in the market. Strategies are the process or procedures to do the same and structured

tasks in the easier way. When formulating strategies some important things must be considered

for getting better result. Strategies will focus the core business products or areas where it can

attain efficiency better than its competitors (Improving Evidence-based Decision Making--

Recent Advances in Research-transfer Models, 1998). Surveys and analysis are very much

important for designing effective business strategies. The proper information about the market

knowledge about the customers will help to design better strategies. The leadership quality and

the intuition of the top level managers must be needed to design and formulate good strategies.

AppiTaxi will design its strategies by accumulating the all available information of the

customers and the market. The strategies for early establishing of the UBER may help AppiTaxi

to design its own business strategies.

LO 3 be able to develop communication processes

3.1 Report on existing processes of communication in an organization

Communication process is one of the important aspects of an organization. It is the entire process

through which management communicates with the all departments within and outside the

organization. The decisions and accountability are transferred between the management and the

other department. UBER develops a very strong and cost saving communication process by

developing software (IndiaToday, 2015). This software allows the customers to directly

communicate with the workers by placing a command into the machine. The machine

reinterprets the command to the available workers who are liable to perform the task. Then

customers can select the workers by whom the task to be performed. The process of

communicating with the customer group and the worker group on the network is called the

Uberfication. The software itself acts as the supply side between the workers and the customers.

The software reduces its cost of operational infrastructures and time and increases efficiency in

communication process.

3.2 Design ways to improve appropriateness

Communication system is the heart of the technology based business. Where information is the

element of the business and it is transferred to the persons who have need this, communication

process is the ultimate thing which must concern. AppiTaxi is the Smartphone based technology

company which provides information about the cars available for booking and the fare of the

rent. UBER is the similar business which provides its strong software system. It provides

information to the customers on the network which it is called uberfication (Chron,com, 2015).

AppiTaxi should develop a strong network with the help of building software to ensure the

accurate information about the fares and taxi booking in time. Appropriateness is the word we

use to explain how much anything is effective for meeting any needs. AppiTaxi must have to

very cautious in providing information to its customers. If it fails to provide the accurate

information timely it will not ensure appropriateness and consequently it will reduce its

customers. Building effective communication system through developing software is very

challenging and expensive. But there is no scope to avoid this because company has to satisfy its

customer needs.

3.3 Implement improvements to ensure greater integration of systems of

communication in that organization

Improving information system is very good news for the employees and especially for the

customers for the technology based company. Once the management finds the improvement

which is required for providing the service in a better way it will have to design the changes with

the existing information system without any disruption (Hargie, 2006). It is very much

challenging to make the improvements feasible. There may have a chance of losing current

information from the information system. AppiTaxi wants to improve its communication system

to provide the service to the customers in a better way. The improvement is basically software

development which will increase its efficiency in sharing the information with its customers and

the workers. As AppiTaxi wants to carry out business in London first, it will develop a strong

network through the data sharing tools and GPS within the city. The customers will be

encouraged if the information on the network is appropriate and timely. The integration of the

new changes to the existing information system will be carried out properly and efficiently on

the way to satisfying customer needs.

3.4 Create a personal plan to improve own communication skills

Communication skills are very important to lead a business in a long way. Managers have to be

good leader with their communication skills which are required to lead the business (Anon,

2015). Business encompasses a wide variety of people who perform different task according to

their assigned responsibility. Personal planning is preparing by own for communicating with the

others within or outside of the business. The perception ability is very important because the

person who perceives things right by himself can help others to guide in the right way. If the

manager is clearly aware about the goals of the business then he will guide others about what to

be done for attaining those goals. A manager has to focus several areas to improve

communication skills. He has to be humble enough to respect others opinions. He will also aware

about the emotions of the people. It helps to communicate effectively on some emotional

scenario. Manager should have the strong motivational power to encourage the employees for

attaining the organizational goals. Personal plan helps a manager to be aware about the self

communication skills and the areas he has to focus to be more efficient. There is a tremendous

need of better communication skill in the area of business. Personal plan helps the manager to

overcome the lacking and makes him more efficient.

LO4 Be able to improve systems relating to information and knowledge

4.1 Existing approaches of collection, formatting, storage and dissemination of

information and knowledge:

As a technological service company AppiTaxi can use two types of information sources. These

two sources are internal and external sources (Heilprin, 2970). Internal sources lies within the

firm. These sources are employees, customers, internal accounts, audit and other data. Collecting

information is necessary for all kinds of firms. Especially in technology firms, information is the

main thing. External sources of information are third party audit, customer data and other

external sources. External information comes from online surveys, customer feedback,

newspaper and other external sources. External information is crucial for technology based firm

because profit of this kind of firm depends on customer satisfaction. Research and development

department does the task of collecting and formatting data. Then information is distributed to

accounting, finance and management department. All departments use information for decision

making purposes. Amalgamation of data from all personnel is required for this purpose.

Accounting, finance, management and production department work both separately and together

for this purpose. After formatting information, it is stored and sent to all departments’ head of

management and CEO. According to the information and knowledge given, Production

department takes decision of innovating something new or repairing existing processes. Stored

information is used when asked by any department in future.

4.2 Carry out appropriate changes to improve the collection, formatting,

storage and dissemination of information and knowledge:

It is said that, perfection is a continuous process. It AppiTaxi wants to be perfect in its area it

should have to be improve its processes gradually. The key of improvement for any firm is

information and knowledge. AppiTaxi can improve by using more customer data to find out

more customer demands. The first thing the firm needs is the more efficient information system.

More accurate information should be collected to get more accurate results. The firm may use

modern systems like scorecard balancing system. Information is the life of a technology firm.

AppiTaxi can use a combination of different types of information collecting system. Information

should be formatted more appropriately to get more accurate result. Technological development

and up gradation is necessary in almost all stages of information. Besides new technologies

should be developed to attract new customers (Ifad, 2015). Dissemination of information means

distributing information to different stakeholders. Firm’s stakeholders are shareholders,

employees, customers, suppliers and managers. Appropriate information should be disseminated

to different stockholders. Time to time review and correction is also needed.

4.3 Implement a strategy to improve access to systems of information and

knowledge:

Success of a firm relies on implementing a right strategy at the right time. An information and

knowledge management strategy of a firm starts from its mission, vision and objectives.

Strategies can be for internal information and knowledge management and external information

and knowledge management (Itinfo.am, 2015). The aim of the strategy is achieving the firm’s

goal by using its internal resources. These intrinsic resources of AppiTaxi are required for

developing an efficient strategy. Strategy can be for short term and long term. The main focus of

a short term strategy is the current focus of a firm. On the other hand, long term strategy focuses

on the long term goal of a firm. It may be different from its short term goal.

Conclusion:

There are lot of technological firms which are developed to provide information need to the

customer. Information Technology has developed significantly and the new idea of giving many

services has emerged. AppiTaxi is such type of company which wants to provide car booking

facilities through the data network service on Smartphone. The assignment shows how

information technology is used to provide business services and its uses in decision making

process. The investment in IT sector for developing strong network service is a main concern for

many other companies. It reduces the cost and time of information processing and enhances the

service quality. Thus information system and communication knowledge help to establish a long

term profitable business in the market.

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