Organization

Introduction

The whirlwinds on the arena of business are but a web of complexities brought about by various intrinsic and extrinsic demands of the society.  The essence of this paper dwells on the perception that the strategies used and make good use of by a certain company is the leading factor on how it shall be assessed as well as with the ability of the company to meet organizational goals and strategies.  Moreover, the variability of organizational strategies and managerial styles is not an assurance that the company shall be able to succeed in whatsoever objective the organization was able to establish (Schwab, 1999).

Factors such as time-series, simulation management, most appropriate economic design, target audience, inculcation of porter’s five forces of threat, the capability to sustain a summated growth and development and even the ideal schematics revolving on human resource development are also considered as vanguards in able to thoroughly assess an organization as that which is successful and domineering in that probable state of fact.

Travel Agencies: A short review

Tourism has been defined as a movement of people away from their normal place of residence, hence, delving back to history will lead one on the realization why travelling had always been a part of human lives.  Merchants in the primitive ages were considered as whom the “common” travelers since that they were were obliged to move from one place to another for the reason that their job requires them such perspective.

Moreover, as industrialization has thoroughly evolved through time, traveling also captured the hearts not only of small-scale or large-scale business enthusiasts, but including those who were perceivably inclined in the ‘sports’ landscape and other competitions at that.  In such delight, companies were raising a lot of income out of those who avail their service and thus, numerous companies dwelled on rather the more ‘creative’ sense of traveling service hence offering programs and promos jiving in with the delight of the masses.

In the recent times, it is evident that traveling has expanded its scope even to the walls of ‘leisure and lifestyle’ that many tend to inhibit the ‘habit of traveling’ for personal reasons also.  Further, globalization’s advent has also mounted the necessitating benefit to travel agencies since that the more that there had been rising ‘tourism’ projects and ideals brought by different states as a response to globalization, many are already swimming in the echelon of migration, and with it, their service is variably needed in the most abrupt sense.

Analysis on the scenario

In the scenario presented, what seemingly floats up as the main predicament of the study is that the sudden fall of the company’s growth pattern is considerably abnormal.  Given the fact that they have been taking the seat of prosperity for the past 5 years, it may be taken to assumption that the company has been flying in high colors on organizational administration.  However, digging deep on the circumstance, it may not be prudently assessed as that which is flexible enough in taking the alterations brought upon by the vortex of the business arena.

Perhaps the blame may not be thrown directly to the company since that the main culprit sought does not surface in the mishap of the company but rather on the control of nature.  But then primarily, it may be assessed that the company was not able to anticipate the incidences causing the sudden change nevertheless swallowing them in a state of shock.

Target Audience

As a travel agency, the four main factors which hook up the business would dwell on porter’s five forces of threat, at that.   As categorized, opportunities and threats, which is basically a portrayal of external change is the scale fall on the line of “five forces of threat,” namely, (1) threat of new entrants (rising companies of the same service rendered as well as with other rising airline companies which will offer ‘greater’ service than theirs), (2) competitive rivalry (competition in sales, in fame and in the service satisfaction), (3) threat of substitution (other transportation/communication offers such as train, bus, video conference and other sorts of the like), (4) power of buyers (upon knowing the fact that the society always change their “taste” primarily in the streamline of the kinds of travelers, whether it be business or leisure) and (5) power of suppliers (the fact that such is competition, resources is most likely to halt leading to scarcity from manufacturers, participation of airports and aircraft).  All which serve as the grounds for the success or the failure of the company.

Moreover, given the fact that the main subject and prospects for the purpose of venturing into business are the masses, it most likely true that customer satisfaction is a pious must.  In simple logic, selling does not only denote giving consumers the idea that a product/service offered on the market/industry, but rather dwelling on the array of perception that consumers are after good quality, cheaper price, durable and “line-with-satisfaction” (Easey, 2001).

The above mentioned threats then takes place, the world of business is a vortex of intrinsic and extrinsic challenges which requires critical analysis on what consumers need and logical wit to determine the flexibility of the product and service.  That is the main purpose of the survey and other forms of observation in the society are needed to achieve managerial goals and jive along with the “change of taste” and speculations of the masses.

Research Strategies

In the light of the consideration on the SWOT analysis, hunched as strengths over weaknesses / opportunities over threats, the company must jot down the organization’s strengths.  Former methods must be taken into realization the processes as well as the strategies which they implemented and utilized during the time when the company and the business were still taking much.  With that, the cited strengths of the company will then be assessed on the probable weaknesses through answering logical deliberative questions consequently falling on, the reasons why the company was not able to anticipate the downfall, the efficiency of the strategies used, assessment on the performance of the company as well as with its employees, an analysis on the trend or the flow of the society’s response to the travel agency and the cited mistakes during the previous years which is noted to be in need of enhancement and procurement scales.

After establishing the strengths and the weaknesses of the organization, which are considered as the intrinsic factors of the organization, the extrinsic dynamics must then be taken to assessment through the variance of opportunities versus threats.  It is inevitable in the business realm to have a blatant rise of dilemmas and other sort of the like.  Therefore, it is only just and right to smack a counter dynamic on the negative imbalance so as to create a stable streamline on the organization’s count.

As mentioned above, the rise of the threats must be critically analyzed; hence, such analysis must not undermine the sagacity of the company’s capacity as well.  Through the help of basic managerial procedures, the behavior of the organization may be deliberately analyzed, leading to a strengthened and flexible administration prepared for any form of challenge and sudden changes in the plot and climax of the business.

Data Analysis and Interpretation

To be able to get the glimpse on the investigation of the study laid beforehand, the researcher must be able to exhibit a logical claim on the potential deterrents such as the threat of terrorism, weather patterns, and other delivering factors of the change followed by the cash flow analysis of the company and the construction of feasible studies and researches to take back the streamline succession of the company’s economic and organizational salvation.

In addition to that, to be able to understand the data provided by both companies, one must first be enlightened with the in-depth definition of investment and marketing analysis. Integrating the Industry analysis on the economic pitch, Gross Domestic Product and Measuring the Return on Investments may serve as a pertinent illustration, thus defining the efficiency of the company.

In general, measuring the return of investment for an information system is not an easy task because of the complexity on the non-tangible benefits it has to offer, even if the cost of establishing the information system is clearly and be easily computed. In the end, the basis of the measurement of the return of investment is still in how it would affect the entities such is intended to be useful for or how the goals or objectives of a firm who puts up the system is attained or become more possible.  It has been recommended that more studies be made to make a standard basis for computation of the return of investment even if it has to involve many factors that are hard to manifest in numbers.

Research standpoints in assessing the value of the subject

A researcher must build up a proposal subject matter which helps out in the conclusion of whether a big national business should bring in a novel item for consumption, manufactured goods specialization, or service containing the following parts. It should comprise a synopsis which asserts the general purpose of the study or research. It must also concisely affirm the explicit intentions and succinctly depict the processes. Furthermore, it must point out the long-term target of the research and provide a picture of the entire suggestion.

The detailed objectives must deal with the study purposes in definite terms rather than sweeping statements and steer clear of hazy phrases such as “explain the course of”, “typify the happening of”, or “explicate means for” (Fox, 2000: 237). Moreover, the premises must as well be avowed where suitable, starting with a preliminary assertion that makes available a small setting which are evidently linked to each other. The researcher must also stay away from a “digging around expedition” or gathering information with no apparent signal of how it will be employed, offering a practicable essence of composition, rather than being overly wide-ranging or ambitious.

The initial information part must take account of no more than the facts relevant to the researcher’s request, indicative of proficiency with the systems and processes he or she is going to utilize. Gersten (2001) discussed that he or she must also apply comprehensible tables and diagrams in place of wording whenever reasonable and avert setting too various curves on a single chart (45). Additionally, he or she must supply diagrams with legends and characterization that create distinction apart from adjoining content and draw on fitting data. Subsequently, a summary of his or her results at the closing stages of every segments and statement of their significance must as well be discussed.

Forecasting methods towards obtaining goals

One of the fundamental proactive processes upon determining the kind of products needed for a business to perform lies in the field of forecasting.  This demand focused activity is comprises the entirety of logistic systems aimed in supporting activities with regard to planning, master production scheduling, inventories and all the other factors affecting the latter.  The revenue generation of such is maximized although the efficiency of the given perspective rests on the company’s profits declaration, equilibrium sheet and money or cash flow.

Conceivably, in long term utilization of the aforementioned technique, it is most likely to sustain positive outputs, such that there will be intangible results in the long run, armed in the view of stability and sustainability.  It is expected to bounce in less fewer back orders and lost sales; development in customer service levels; improvement in processes with regard to production planning and inventory stock investment and an advanced recognition over marketplace trends.

Contrary to such, the level of accuracy on forecasts may somehow lead to erroneous if the following will not be able to be given rather much attention: average, clustering of demands to a certain echelon; trend, increase and decrease of demands; seasonality, the whirlwind of consistent intervals whether it be in hours, weeks, months or seasons; cyclical, annual form of cycle of forecast involving recession and expansion; and random error, unpredictable changes enormously take occurrence.

Conclusions and further remarks

The essence of studying organizational management, and imposing such in a higher regard of obtaining goal objectives, entails a certain company not only on the basis of revenue generation, but also with the consideration of consumer satisfaction.  The mere fact that the level of competition in the world of business is outrageously mounting, an intellectual business tycoon must see to it that the techniques and the methods used in reaching the upstream and the downstream in the realm of business is well taken care of and sustained in the perception of development and not organizational downfall (Hersey, Blanchard, & Johnson, 2007).

Having been vested with the responsibility of meeting the demands and the challenges of the 21^st Century, the most realistic and efficient move to venture is to critically analyze certain factors which may have been the cause of pressure within the company.  The following may be relevantly assessed: first, conduct an evaluation of the company’s performance in the economic realm and cite the strengths and the weaknesses of the organization (Hazlitt, 1998); second, a trace back on the company’s generation of income then noting on the highest market rate versus the lowest, then computing the average level income (Ray, 1999; Sheehan, 2003). Endorsement of the approved study proposal of the researcher may rely heavily on the abovementioned criteria. To smooth the progress of review and follow-up will be done by the manager for the competent researcher.

References:

Easey, M. (2001). Fashion Marketing. Malden USA: Blackwell Publishers.

Fox, R. D. (2000). Using theory and research to shape the practice of continuing professional

development. Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions, 20(4), 237.

Gersten, R. (2001). Sorting out the roles of research in the improvement of practice. Learning    Disabilities Research and Practice, 16(2), 45.

Hazlitt, H. (1998). Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic

Economics. New York: Three Rivers Press.

Hersey, P. H., Blanchard, K. H., & Johnson, D. E. (2007). Management of Organizational Behavior (9th ed.). New York: Prentice Hall.

Popovich, Ken (2002 May). Fiorina, Capellas Unveil the New HP, ¶3, ¶10. Retrieved  August

12, 2007, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_zdewk/is_200205/ai_ziff26526.

Ray, S. J. (1999). Strategic Communication in Crisis Management: Lessons From the Airline Industry. Westport: Conn. Quorum Books.

Schwab, D. P. (1999). Research Methods for Organizational Studies. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Sheehan, J. J. (2003). Business and Corporate Aviation Management: On Demand Air Transportation. New York McGraw-Hill Professional.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2006). Human Resources, Training, and Labor Relations Managers and Specialists, ¶ 7. Retrieved August 12, 2007, from http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos021.htm.

From wearable’s to fresh technology, the e-tech world has gain command to each and every aspect of business, everybody is more inclined over to the latest gadgets.Technology can be first and foremost center in today’s era, it doesn’t mean we will forget about the employees,since they are most important people behind the scenes.

The development zone usually believes that people are our prime tool in shielding and developing the team i.e. major challenge when scaling up.People have always been of immense significance to organization, for the reason that they endow with brainwave, imagination, idea and enthusiasm that carry on an organization energetic and help to make progress.

How tedto Get Star Building Your Organisation a People-Centric?

• Let information flow

Once information is free to flow, things will start to happen. Every single person in an organization can share,contribute,connect and converse with any other. Since each individual is a mine of insight and each combination of two or more is a potential collaboration of alternative perspectives, there is a powerful hive mind in every organization.

The community carries the insight and ability to make things happen, the organization just needs to plug into it. Organizations are hubs of knowledge focused around a specific entity, in this case the business. There are certain jobs that machines can do better than people, but people are irreplaceable to anything that bring to any organization. Effort,energy and humanity that people bring to any organization is incomparable.

• Transparency

When an organization is more transparent with their employees they tend to be more successful. This type of atmosphere gives employees feeling esteemed. They are encouraged to be artistic and contribute their input. Transparency endorses a type of relieve that allow employees to communicate efficiently. As in Piramal Group,HR motive was to build a credible system and process within the system.So,according to surveys,employees felt that there was a requirement for clarity and transparency when coming to performance management.Then company started sharing information about various aspects with its employees such as performance level,bonus payout and clauses involved in it.This created more awareness and transparency.

• Formulate co-creation a model

Making meaning together as a team is primary. Either through workshops to beat how the mission statement should build up or multi-stakeholder planning on policy, it guarantees that result are mutually produced and valued. While co-creation is the model, culture, apparition and guts don’t need to be passed down from above but are infused throughout the organisation.

• Recruit for people, not roles

It is always possible to find people with the right skills for a given role but it is harder to find someone who is aligned for an ideological level. As the company nurture, it’s no longer feasible for founders to be drawn in each and every interview. Only it is possible to ensure that there is atleast one interview round devoted to ensuring a ethnicity and value fit.It is the point at which you can create that a candidate is motivated by the same things that the organisation is supposed to do.

• Make everyone accountable

If everyone has freedom to operate then everyone becomes accountable for their actions. It make smooth flow of information in all directions within the organization, removing the inaccessibility of the most senior people and giving a voice to the most junior. It is an ‘in it together’ mentality, where everybody is focused on acting in the interests of the organization.

• Create plenty of opportunities for honest feedback

It’s one thing to say that you’re open to receiving feedback from your staff, but much more difficult to create safe places and opportunities for that feedback to come forward.Creating more of these opportunities is an ongoing target

• Breaking ritual by suggesting alternative

An Alternative is a powerful tool, specially when it facilitate people to work in the way that go well with them best. The most significant object is regarding people’s perception and natural sense of their work hours. People should be able to make decisions on how, when and where to spend their work day in order to be productive.

Workplace design is a key factor an organizations helps in generating choices. An excellent example of people-centered workplace design is redesigning a major portion of office space towards relaxed and comfortable cooperation spaces rather than constricting employees to an assigned desk every day, it’s greatest to give them the additional choice to work in a variety of settings, which can warm up them from one project to the next based on cooperation needs and tools required. Meetings do take place in lounge chairs or host one in a cafe setting
rather than around a conference table.

• Practicing Empathy as a Design Exercise

As people-centered design applied to physical spaces ; services.It can improve communication,collaboration in the workplace, energy leadership further enables empathy, observation, ideation and reflection among its people. Learning how to transfer our energy levels during a discussion allows for more productive conversations that achieve a common goal. What is often underestimated is how many our employees energy levels dictate our overall productivity.Energy leaders choose how to show up and may turnaround an outcome by applying empathetic listening approaches and spending time observing as well as acknowledging behavior.

There is a widespread belief in the organizational world that in today’s society the future of any one company depends critically on how it is viewed by key stakeholders such as shareholders and investors, customers and consumers, employees, and members of the community in which the company resides. Public activism, globalization and recent accounting scandals have further strengthened this belief; and have also brought the importance of strategic communications management into closer orbit.

Not surprisingly, therefore, both the academic and professional worlds have been suggesting frameworks and models that prescribe steps towards the ‘strategic’ use of communications including such ideas as ‘integrated marketing communications’ (Kitchen and Schultz, 1999), ‘corporate identity management’ (Van Riel and Balmer, 2007), ‘reputation management’ (Fombrun, 2006), ‘stakeholder communications’ (Christensen and Cheney, 2004) and ‘excellent public relations’ (Grunig and Grunig, 2008).

Much of this work has been prescriptive in suggesting factors that may hinder communication in an organization, frameworks for managing these factors, and for managing firm-stakeholder interactions, as opposed to a more grounded and detailed understanding of the practices of communications among organizations and how these may make a difference in the management of firm-stakeholder relationships.

Such an understanding is, I suggest, particularly important given the rift between the importance placed by CEO’s and senior executives upon effective communications, that is, linking communications activities with the overall organization strategy and objectives of the organization, and their views that there is a huge under-performance in the communications profession in the US, the UK and continental Europe because of a lack of qualified personnel and a limited understanding of what communication practices actually make a difference (Argenti et al., 2005; Murray and White, 2004; Van der Jagt, 2005).

Against this background, I will be conducting primary research into factors that hinder effective communications in my organization that have had consistently strong and glowing reputations over the past years, despite market setbacks and negative coverage in the media. The overall aim here was to elicit and conceptualize in more detail the factors and issues that define Effective Communication (EC) in my organization.

This extended conceptualization is based upon a view of EC as a ‘practice’, which focuses upon how practitioners engage in the doing the ‘real work’ (Cook and Brown, 1999, p. 387) – a view of that, I hope, will stimulate conceptual debate and empirical research and offer a more informed basis for practitioners to make sense of their professional realities and act upon it.

CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND CRITIQUE

According to writers Ewen (1996) and Cutlip (1995) the professional discipline of effective communication activities undertaken by an organization to inform, persuade or otherwise relate to individuals and groups in its environment – developed itself, expanding in its scope and activities, because of public skepticism, political reform, turmoil and activism throughout the 20th century. At the height of the Industrial Revolution, power was largely concentrated with big businesses, although the balance has since then shifted towards powerful groups in society including governments, trade unions, investors and stockholders (Broom et al., 1991). In response to the increased saliency and power of such groups, new areas of expertise such as investor relations, public affairs, issues management and employee communications were added to the existing specialties of media relations and publicity. The ‘managerial discipline’ has since then, as writers Van Riel (1995) and Cornelissen (2004) have documented, evolved into the ‘managerial function’ of communications.

The fundamental contrast being that under effective communications activities and specialties (eg media relations, government relations, employee communications, community relations, advertising, investor relations, corporate design and issues management) have been increasingly taken together and consolidated into one or a few units or departments and, importantly, these activities are increasingly given shape and coordinated from the strategic interests of the organization as a whole.

Van Riel (1995: 26) for example suggests in this regard that effective communication as a managerial function is ‘an instrument of management by means of which all consciously used forms of internal and external communication are harmonized as effectively and efficiently as possible’, with the overall objective of creating ‘a favorable basis for relationships with groups upon which the organization is dependent’. The evolution of effective organization and its recognition as a managerial function is furthermore documented in the relatively high position of communications managers and departments (e.g. ‘Corporate communications’, ‘Public Affairs’ or ‘Corporate affairs’) within organizations’ hierarchical structures (Cornelissen, 2004), the rise of a new ‘style’ more business savvy ‘corporate communications’ manager (Freeman, 2004; Harris and Bryant, 2006; Marion, 1998), and the widespread adoption of the effective communication vocabulary of ‘stakeholders’, ‘identity’ and ‘reputation’ (Argenti, 1996; Van Riel, 1997).

In reviewing these literatures that have dealt with the function and process of communications between firms and groups in their respective environments, I observed two key points about the current conceptualization of effective communication and its embodiment as a managerial function in firms around the globe. First, theories and theoretical frameworks in these literatures implicate the importance of effective communications in firm-stakeholder interactions – and in that sense are coming together (cf Schultz et al. , 2000: 3) – but only focus on the process of communicating between a firm and stakeholders in its environment.

These theories have been particularly focused on stakeholder effects and outcomes (e. g. images, reputations, relationships) established, but have paid very little attention to the managerial activities, professional issues and organizational contexts that characterize effective communication (cf Vercic and Grunig, 2000). Thus, there is a gap between theoretical deliberations on the relevance and importance of communications and descriptive accounts of its actual use and embodiment in practice. The Organization of Communication Work

The way in which communication practitioners and functional areas are organized is important as it not only determines to a large extent whether the communications function is enabled to provide strategic input into decision-making at the corporate level, but also whether the communication activities that are carried out at various places within the organization are streamlined and coordinated. In other words, the way in which communications is organized carries important strategic and political dimensions and is also crucial for the effective support and integration of communication activities.

Ever since the 1970s, academic and practitioner writings have emphasized that firms should consolidate rather than fragment their communications by bringing practitioners and functional areas together into central organizational departments, with the purpose of pooling and enhancing communication expertise and increasing the organizational autonomy and visibility of communications within the organization (e. g. Cook, 1973; Dozier and Grunig, 1992; Grunig and Grunig, 1998; Schultz et al. , 1993; Van Riel, 1995).

Siemens, for example, has consolidated all of its communications staff and their responsibilities into a ‘corporate brand and design’ department responsible for the strategic development and policing of the Siemens umbrella brand values, brand design and brand portfolio management, a ‘corporate communications’ department which includes advertising, internal communications and media relations, and a central ‘corporate messages’ unit encompassing both senior communications professionals responsible for developing and guarding the overall corporate story of Siemens and copy writers for speeches of senior managers.

Such consolidation is according to a number of research surveys (eg Cornelissen and Thorpe, 2001) now commonplace, with the exception of a few large corporations like General Motors which rather than bringing functional areas together into a few central communications departments have devolved them as stand-alone units (eg a governmental affairs unit) or subordinated to other functions such as human resources or finance. Generally, then, there app-ears to be a greater consolidation of communications into a few departments, yet still in separate ‘corporate communications’ and ‘marketing’ or ‘corporate branding’ departments.

Within large firms, such as multidivisional firms and multinational corporations like Siemens, Nokia, Philips and Shell, the relationship between the corporate center or group headquarters and the various business-units is usually a major strategic issue. One key structural consideration here, is as Argenti (1998: 5) suggests, to have ‘all communications focused by centralizing the activity under one senior officer at a corporation’s headquarters or to decentralize activities and allow individual business units to decide how best to handle communications’.

Most large multinationals like Siemens, Shell, Nokia and Philips have a combination of centralized ‘global’ departments at the corporate center and decentralized ‘local’ departments, teams and professionals in business-units around the world. Within both Philips and Siemens, the ‘corporate branding’ and ‘corporate communications’ departments have defined a brand charter and a number of work processes to assist professionals within the business with their specific communication programs.

The obvious reasoning behind these examples is that although bringing communications specialists together vertically into one or a few departments may lead to enhanced efficiency, to the ability to develop specialized, distinctive capabilities, and to ease of management through the centralization and consolidation of communication activities, it may not lead to coordination between communication-related departments and with other functional areas (eg human resources) outside those departments, and it risks ‘turf wars’, functional myopia, and over specialization.

A horizontal structure overlaying the vertical structure, therefore, is often seen as necessary for coordinating disparate communications tasks and activities, which also recognizes that communications with key stakeholders might emerge from various places within the organization and that the process of developing and executing communication programs is therefore essentially cross-functional or cross-disciplinary (Heath, 1994).

Horizontal structure can take various forms including multidisciplinary task or project teams, formal lines of communication, standardized work processes (Philips), council meetings (Shell, Siemens), communication guidelines (Siemens, Philips) a corporative vision and communications strategy (Nokia) or the use of ‘czars’ (senior practitioners working as integrators between departments). Large organizations in both the private and public sectors generally need at least some of these horizontal structures.

Particularly in multidivisional firms operating across geographical borders, horizontal structures do not appear to be a luxury but an absolute necessity. In recent years there has been a lot of discussion around the departmental arrangement of communications and the reporting relationship of the central corporate affairs department (see Cornelissen, 2004). Ultimately, the stakes of this discussion are about the professional status of corporate communications (vis-a-vis other established functions as human resources and finance) and its strategic involvement in decision-making at the highest corporate level.

Claims that have been made to this effect include the arguments that different communications disciplines should be consolidated in a single department, and that the head of this department should report directly to the CEO or the senior management team (or be a member of this team) to bolster and secure the functional expertise as well as the strategic involvement of corporate communications in decision-making. Broom and Dozier (1986) and Grunig and Grunig (1998) characterized this involvement in organizational decision-making as perhaps most important to the communications practitioner than any other measure of professional growth.

The guiding idea in this regard is that a direct reporting relationship to the CEO may be seen as an indication that there is indeed a broad, growing recognition among corporate executives and corporate boards that the ability to succeed will depend upon the firm’s ability to effectively communicate with its stakeholders; and that therefore the communications function is recognized as an absolute, integral part of the top management function.

White and Mazur (1995) have added that such a direct reporting relationship is also important as it leads to excellent communications management as senior management is counseled on issues, and stakeholder and identity considerations may more easily get factored into the process of organizational decision-making. The results from a number of studies indicate that in the large majority of cases, there is indeed such a direct reporting relationship from the staff communications department to the CEO and/or executive team (e.

g. Argenti and Forman, 2000; Cornelissen and Thorpe, 2001; Grunig and Grunig, 1998; Grunig et al. , 2002; Van Ruler and De Lange, 2003). In most large organizations, such a direct reporting relationships consist of counseling and advising the CEO and senior executive team on stakeholder and reputation issues, rather than having a direct involvement (through a seat on the executive team) in corporate decision-making. Contribution of Work and Activities

The contribution and consumption of work and activities carried out by communication practitioners takes place at three levels within large firms: the corporate, market (or business-unit), and operational levels. Strategies and activities at the corporate level are concerned with the overall purpose (mission and vision) and scope of the firm to meet its various stakeholder expectations and needs. Strategies and activities at the market level are concerned with determining how the firm will compete successfully in particular markets.

Strategies and activities at the operational level concern the way in which communication manages its own resources, processes and people to help deliver corporate and market-level strategic goals. Central to the question of what factors or contribution effective communication makes and whether this is located at the corporate, business-unit or strictly operational level, is the definition and enactment of the function as either strategic or tactical.

As a strategic function, there is likely to be strategic involvement of communications practitioners in managerial decision-making at the corporate and business-unit levels. Such a strategic view of communications, which in part has already been realized within the business world but in part is also still aspirational (Cornelissen, 2004), means that communications strategy is not just seen as a set of goals and tactics at the operational level – but that its scope and involvement in fact stretches to corporate and business-unit-wide decisions and activities.

At the corporate level, where strategy and activities are concerned with the corporate mission and vision as well as corporate positioning, communication practitioners can aid managers in developing strategies for interaction with the environment. In this sense, communication practitioners are directly involved or support strategic decision-making through their ‘environmental scanning’ activities which may assist corporate strategy-makers in analyzing the organization’s position and identifying emerging issues which may have significant implications for the firm and for future strategy development.

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

This research will use a descriptive case study approach to assess the factors that hinders effective organization in my organization. Gerald R. Adams and Jay D. Schvaneveldt (1997) define the descriptive case study approach as “an in-depth study of one or a limited number of cases in which each case is treated as a whole”. The authors further added, “The descriptive case study approach is particularly helpful when deeper understanding is needed” (Adams & Schvaneveldt, 2001).

This case study will be conducted with my own organizations who have a strong reputations with their stakeholders and the marketplace. This organization is an ideal subject for this study chiefly for two reasons. Firstly, this organization is a multi-divisional firm operating under the same corporate umbrella. As such, it is typical a large firm with over 75000 employees around the world and over 100 employees spread over the gulf countries. It has an elaborate organizational structure stretching from the C. E. O. to the lowest ranked employee.

There have been problems of communication both vertically and horizontally and even with the outside public (clients). Secondly, my organization has an excellent reputation in the eyes of its stakeholders and the general public according to ToMAC (Top of Mind Awareness of Corporate Brands) scores and reputation rankings published in recent years. This organization therefore allows us to examine not only the range and kind of activities carried out within my organization, but also as to what extent these make a difference (given the strong reputations enjoyed by my organization).

A descriptive case-study approach was chosen as most appropriate for our theory-building purposes (Yin, 2003). It will allow us to examine effective communication holistically and address each of the ‘practice’ dimensions mentioned above. Surveys using written questionnaires and interviews will be conducted with senior managers of my organization, for example, the president of corporate communication and marketing communication, the communication managers within divisions, and if possible, the board member who is responsible for (corporate) brand communication.

Here, a topic guide will be used with topics that are relevant in the context of the factors and practice of effective communications. However, the guide may left enough room for the respondent to communicate his or her particular views on in what way activities and dimensions (structure, political and cultural issues, professionals) are linked for effective communication in an organization. The topic guide consisted of the following themes: communication organization (How are communications activities and the staff responsible for them departmentalized and

structured within the corporation? What organizational factors and facilities exist to support effective communications? What is the professional ethos and culture of communications staff and of people in other departments of the organization? ), communications work (What is the general view of people within the organization (ie the CEO and senior managers, marketing staff, communications staff, and others) of effective communications and its role and contribution to the organization?

How is decision-making concerning effective communications strategy organized? What does the process of effective communications strategy formation look like, in both corporate and market-led communications? What general activities does your job involve? ) and communications professionals (What is the general profile of communications practitioners working in the organization? How are communications staff recruited and selected? What training and development initiatives and trajectories exist for communications staff? ).

I will then analyze the data by looking for common themes across the interviewees in my organizations and by identifying links between the dimensions of effective communication practice. MAIN ARGUMENT The practice of effective communication was conceptualized by circumscribing in very broad terms four dimensions: (1) the roles, skills and activities of practitioners, (2) the organization of these practitioners and their work, (3) political and cultural issues that contextualize and mediate these activities, and (4) the communication and consumption of the process and products of activities performed.

Throughout discussion, and in the course of the primary research with my organization, I hope to identify factors that hinder or promote effective communication practice. The first process labeled as strategic positioning describes the ongoing efforts of effective communication practitioners to position themselves as credible communications managers to senior executives within the executive team and in other functions by developing staff, by finding appropriate mechanisms for coordinating work, by developing value-added activities and by communicating the contribution of effective communications to the organization.

Underlying this process is perhaps the realization that communication practitioners need to enact managerial roles through management activities like environmental scanning, counseling and strategic planning that demonstrably add value to the corporation, and that they need to vie for an organizational arrangement that gives them a central, recognizable place in the firm from where to counsel and support senior management as well as managers in other functional areas.

To illustrate, within my organization the emphasis on corporate branding and the development of a corporate brand architecture will be presented as central to the corporate strategy of the organization: We have to influence decisions about what businesses do we invest in and what businesses we do not want to be in … We have a clear business strategy ‘ go for profit and growth ’ , which sounds really general but behind this is an intensive and very detailed program, the management system, which our branding architecture and systems tie into.

The overall corporate target is to attain worldwide leadership in each of the businesses that we are active in. Business success is the most important thing and that is driving the brand values and the brand strategy’ (Director of Brand Architecture). There is a constant concern with the strategic positioning of corporate branding and corporate communications, not just to increase and communicate the current performance but also to secure a receptive environment at the senior management table.

The head of corporate communication worldwide is a close advisor of our CEO. In fact, the incoming CEO, Kleinfeld, has a doctorate on the topic of corporate identity, and has a deep understanding of branding and communications’ (Vice President Corporate Brand and Design). A second process that we identified involves what we term cultural accommodation which describes how effective communication, its practitioners, its organization and the general way in which it is practiced is embedded in the cultural context of the organization.

Effectively, the choices made by my organization regarding staffing, training and development, structuring and the model of effective communication strategy development are all highly varied, yet linked to the core of its business, history and culture. Such variety and cultural adaptation may point to what Gratton and Ghoshal (2005) call signature practices; practices and processes that embody a company ’ s character and are therefore somewhat unique and idiosyncratic, rather than general and universal for the entire industry.

Signature practices are linked with the core values of the organization and evolve from a company-specific history and are embedded in its culture and core values. Within my organization, as mentioned, effective corporate communications is seen as a part of an Organization-Wide technocratic engineering culture where every function and the work processes involved are documented and standardized, so that these can be constantly monitored, updated and optimized. Work processes (e. g. media inquiries) within corporate communications have equally been documented and standardized in flow-charts and worksheets (following ISO quality specifications).

This kind of signature process may not work in other companies in the consumer electronics industry (or indeed other industries) as it is tied to my organizations’ core cultural values and company history. Expected Outcome The expected outcome of this study on “Factors that hinder effective communication in my organization,” are the important dimensions of this perspective. These are (1) the communication roles, skills and activities of practitioners, (2) the organization of these communication strategies among practitioners and their work, and (3) political and cultural issues that contextualize and mediate these communication activities.

Together, these dimensions (see Table 1) provide a framework for considering the practice of effective communication in its entirety. Table 1 : Summary of the practice conceptualization of effective communications Dimension Themes Roles and activities of — Manager vs technician practitioners — Generalist vs specialist — Professional development, status and contribution Organization of — Departmental arrangement effective communication work — Reporting relationship and/or seat on executive team — Centralization vs decentralization Political and cultural issues

— Status of communication practitioners and their work — Added value of communication activities — Cultural accommodation Contribution of communication and activities — Strategic or tactical contribution — Input into corporate strategy and decision- making — Interface between communication and other Functional areas (e. g. Finance, Human Resources, etc) I also articulated two processes (strategic positioning and cultural accommodation) that appear to be important factors to the practice of effective communication. In all, the practice-based conceptualization of effective communication makes the following contributions.

First, it has started to open up the ‘black box’ of the organization in which communication activities take place. Effective communication is conceptualized as an organizational phenomenon rather than a macro strategy problem detached from the internal dynamics of the organization. Internal politics, structure and cultural issues are introduced into the field of managing effective communications, not as inevitable failings or difficulties within firms, but as significant for communications strategy outcomes, perhaps even as attributes to be exploited positively

for the status and contribution of effective communication. Second, the ‘practice’ conceptualization of effective communication has started to ‘humanize’ the field (cf Pettigrew et al. , 2002: 12). In effect, all factors and activities are seen to emerge from human action – from the actions and contributions of communications practitioners, as well as the reactions by senior managers and managers in other functional areas (human resources, finance, etc. ) of the organization.

Finally, as this case study hopes to demonstrate, the factors of effective communications consists of interrelated dimensions, and as such I extend prior perspectives that have narrowly focused on either dimension or only on the strategic outcomes of effective communication activities.

References

List Argenti, P. A. (1996) ‘Corporate communication as a discipline: Toward a definition’, Management Communications Quarterly, 10, 73 – 97. Argenti, P. A. (1998)

Corporate Communication, (2nd edition) McGraw-Hill, Boston. Argenti, P. A. , Howell, R. A. and Beck, K. A. (2005) ‘The strategic communication imperative’, MIT Sloan Management Review, Spring , 46(3) , 83 – 89 .

Broom, G. M. , Lauzen, M. M. and Tucker, K. (1991) ‘Public Relations and marketing: Dividing the conceptual domain and operational turf’, Public Relations Review, 17, 219 – 225. Christensen, L. T. and Cheney, G. (2004) ‘Articulating identity in an organizational age’, in S. A. Deetz (ed. ) Communication Yearbook , Vol. 17, Sage, Thousand Oaks , 17 , pp. 222 – 235.

Clarkson, B. E. (1995) ‘A stakeholder framework for analyzing and evaluating corporate social performance’, Academy of Management Review, 20, 92 – 117 . Cook, S. N. and Brown, J. S. (1999) ‘Bridging epistemologies: The generative dance between organizational knowledge and organizational knowing’, Organization Science, 10, 382 – 400.

Cornelissen, J. (2004) Corporate Communications: Theory and Practice, Sage, London. Cornelissen, J. P. and Thorpe, R. (2001) ‘The organization of external communication disciplines in UK companies: A conceptual and empirical analysis of dimensions and determinants’, Journal of Business Communication, 38, 413 – 438.

The management and storage of organizational information is necessary for the attainment of organizational objectives. An analysis of Frito-Lay and RTA cases reveals that both companies needed a knowledge management system response to address the problems of access to organizational information for use mainly by staff in performing their tasks within their organizations. Both organizations engaged consultants to set up knowledge management systems for them.

A centralized knowledge management system would ideally assist in reducing call handling time at RTA and likewise save knowledge retrieval time at Frito-Lay, thus enhancing efficiency for both organizations. At RTA the approach was to build a system suitable for re-use of information as opposed to Frito-Lay where new knowledge had to be created and interpreted for use. Both approaches succeeded in addressing the existing problems. In order for the systems to be effective, accurate information inputs for both systems were needed.

Introduction It is imperative that knowledge be available, organized and accessible at all times for it to be useful for all the intended purposes. The absence therefore of a properly functioning and efficient knowledge management system leads to problems that hinder organizational performance. This paper compares and contrasts two approaches to knowledge management systems developed in response to problems that staff faced in performing their duties at Frito-Lay and Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA).

Robertson (2001) gives an account of the knowledge management project at RTA and Shein (2001) describes a case study on the knowledge management system spearheaded by the sales force at Frito-Lay. Concept of Knowledge Management at Frito-Lay and RTA Frito-Lay and Step Two (the consulting firm for RTA) shared the same concept regarding knowledge management as evidenced by their submissions that a centralized electronic knowledge management system within each organization would enhance efficiency in the organization’s day to day operations.

Both companies believed that employee performance was key to the proper functioning of the organization and that a useful system of managing knowledge would ease the burden on employees scampering around for information, thus enhancing their capability to perform. However, the only difference was in what each of the two organizations expected the system to process. Comparison and Contrast of Problems Faced Frito-Lay and RTA shared a major common problem in that their staff was hindered in performing their duties due to the poor accessibility and availability of organizational information.

At Frito-Lay, staff that had the job of retrieving knowledge wasted a lot of time doing so, especially because they had to cater for numerous requests emanating from different salespersons needing the same type of information. At RTA, in contrast to Frito-Lay where information was available but scattered, much of the knowledge was not documented and was also in paper form. Some of the information needed updating and rewriting in manner considered easy to read.

Some similarities can however be drawn considering the situation at Frito-Lay where knowledge was not available because each salesperson had also kept valuable information stored in their own system, a similar case to the undocumented information which came directly from the RTA staff’s heads. Information sharing and communication was another problem that was experienced at Frito-Lay especially given that the salespersons at Frito-Lay were geographically dispersed.

Due to the lack of a centralized knowledge management system, online collaboration and brainstorming for the geographically dispersed salespersons was impossible. Equally important was this problem at RTA where because of the lack of a centralized knowledge management system, communication was not easy between all levels of management and frontline staff. At RTA a unique problem existed because a large numbers of new staff were recruited to the newly established and centralized call centre and they needed knowledge to smoothen their work at the same time reducing pressure on their superiors and the help desk.

Comparison and Contrast of Solutions to Problems Faced As a solution to the problems, both Frito-Lay and RTA engaged the services of consultants who had experience with knowledge management systems. A knowledge management portal on the corporate intranet was viewed as an answer to the problems at Frito-Lay and likewise databases were set up based on Apache webservers at RTA. Similarly for both organizations the systems were based on capturing and consolidation of information to a central location.

The two systems allowed for communication online. Differences however existed in the approach taken to building the systems. The differences between the users of the system and hence the design, basically emanated from the fact that for RTA, call centre personnel needed a system that processes information without engaging them yet at Frito-Lay the system was needed to assist salespersons to understand and interpret the information. Both consultancy firms worked with internal staff to develop the systems.

At Frito-Lay a pilot team was used to test the system, whereas Step Two had the advantage of installing and customizing a system they had already tested elsewhere. Step Two therefore concentrated on improving the design and the content. In spite of this, Frito-Lay enjoyed the advantage that their pilot team made an input and their consultant also made use of technology systems that had already been approved at Frito-Lay. Conclusion and Effectiveness of the Two Solutions

In conclusion, information became easily available and could be shared to feed into key decisions impacting on the organizations. Information only becomes useful when it is available on demand leading to its efficient use. I therefore believe that both solutions effectively addressed the problems by easing the information access burden. In both cases the knowledge management system worked to cement work relationships, confidence and trust amongst the employees as they executed their duties.

I would say the approach and design of each system was well aligned with the organizational objectives. The underlying assumption at RTA was that the data input into the system is accurate and produces the right predetermined outcomes to assist call centre staff with routine information provision. The approach at RTA therefore was aimed for creation of consistency whereas at Frito-Lay the system was designed to allow the sales force to produce creative dynamic outcomes. The only shortcomings I would foresee would be simply of a technical nature expected with any new technology introduction.

Such problems I believe can easily be managed by constantly reviewing and making the necessary adjustments to the systems. References Robertson, J. (2001, August 10). Knowledge management project for Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA), Retrieved March 27, 2009 from: http://www. steptwo. com. au/papers/rta/index. html Shein, E. (2001, May 01). Case Study: Frito-Lay Sales Force Sells More Through Information Collaboration, Retrieved March 27, 2009 from: http://www. cio. com/article/30167/Case_Study_Frito_Lay_Sales_Force_Sells_More_Thro ugh_Information Collaboration.

The aim/purpose of this report is to discuss how the information systems are managed systematically in an organizational operation.

How those frontline managers should be competent in managing the systems, developing business plans and budgets as well as managing the resource proposal are made are researched in sources listed in the Bibliography and the practicable application of it in business as demonstrated by the case study of Blacktown city council which is followed by the theory of manage workplace information systems with the help of class notes and further researched on the Blacktown city council and is presented as two facts information as theory and practical.

To manage information systems systematically and scientifically frontline managers must be capable of identifying, acquiring, analyzing, reviewing, and using appropriate information so that the organization would run effectively and efficiently. This report is written in such way that it satisfy all the 9 points needed for frontline managers to make right decisions at the right time for the successful operation of business, considering the proper management of a team to achieve team goals and objectives.

This report has been written to satisfy the requirements of course in the ‘Electrical Engineering Unit,’ Ensure Team Effectiveness at WSI TAFE NSW Mount Druitt College.

OVERVIEW

Management of information system (MIS) is a planned system of the collecting, processing, storing and disseminating data in the form of information needed to carry out the functions of management. In a way it is a documented report of the activities those were planned and executed.

It can also be defined as the subset of the overall internal control of a business covering the application of people, documents, technologies, and procedures by management accountants to solving business problems such as costing a product, service or a business-wide strategy. Most importantly MIS are those systems that allow managers to make decisions for the successful operation of businesses.

MIS is the process of allocating information an organization’s inputs, including human and economic resources, by planning, organizing, directing, and controlling for the purpose of producing goods or services desired by customers so that organizational objectives are accomplished. If management has knowledge of the planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of the business, its decisions can be made on the basis of facts, and decisions are more accurate and timely.

As a result, the manager could easily distinguish the weaknesses and the strength of the company so that they could work them out properly by removing the drawbacks and overcoming the weaknesses and overpowering the strength so that the company could properly achieve the set goals in efficient and effective manner. In addition to this, managers should be considerably aware of the aim/ goal of the company and the overall team participation taking care of the entire team member’s Occupational Health and Safety.

In the age of information technology, the need for relevant and timely information to support management in decision making is increasing due to market competition. The quickly changing environment brought about by the rapidly expanding capabilities of computer equipment has substantially shortened system’s life cycles. Consequently, management must continuously develop its organization’s information system or, soon face the competitive disadvantage resulting from obsolete information systems.

Blacktown city council is a governmental organisation which governed and funded by the government of Australia and it is actively participating in the development projects in cooperation with Federal Government of Australia. It is a public sector as well as community sector organisation. Its nature includes developing and initiating plans and projects, developing the strategies for the welfare and facilitating the people of entire Blacktown including the dense multicultural and diverse community.

It also includes the facilities like the basics of life including the leisure and lifestyle, arts and entertainment like libraries, parks, reserves, child care centres, clubs etc. The nature of work involves governing all the people living in Blacktown as a local government and providing each and every facilities that a local government should provide and is capable of. It includes the managing waste ,cleaning the public places, constructing the parks, reserves, clubs , child care centres and repairing of all those and lots of other projects.

The aim and objectives of Blacktown city council can be briefly explained as below:

• To serve a whole Blacktown community as a parent organisation.
• To provide each and every facilities for the diverse and dense multicultural community.
• Carry out different planned project and implementing it for the development of Blacktown city and its welfare.
• To workout for the different ways that can satisfies the local people and maintains the social harmony, peace, etc.
• To provide safe environment for people in working and enjoying freely.
• Safeguarding the people needs and necessities and maintain secure place to live in.

The project is on the Blacktown City council, Department of planning Engineering Team’s proposal of the ‘promotion of solar city products’ initiatives.

Effective use of the information system is the key for the success of the company so that it is extremely necessary to ensure the effective use of organisational information systems. In case if the information is not immediately available strategies should be developed and the decision should be made.

There are different barriers for the effective information gathering and unavailability of the immediate information. Poor documentation, poorly designed information systems, poor searching skills, inexperienced, untrained, unskilled managers, imperfect computer systems, lack of human resources and the politics are the great hidden costs in organisation which will led us to the information shortage of immediate information. Hence, the strategies involved in sorting those problems out can be described as followed:

• All the information systems should be properly designed with all the new and advance technologies.
• Outdated computer systems should be renewed and supervised with the effective and useful information.
• Information managing staffs should be trained and should be experience with very good skills.
• Human resources should be properly managed and workload to the workers reduced.

Also information should be gathered with best methods with raw data continually scanned and selected most useful pieces in timely manner. Examples of some common processes would include:

• Interviews with focussed questions towards organisational goal.
• Reports should be with good secondary source of information.
• Focusing group also including a way of getting brainstorming ideas on a particular topic from people who represent a range of employee, client or supplier positions.
• Questionnaires witп questions of carefully worded to lead to people to respond in a certain way.
• To ensure the proper management of information systems it is necessary that collection of information should be timely, adequate and relevant to the needs of various teams.

For the information to be on the effective use it should be available on when it is needed so that information should gathered and organised on the time. Adequate data is the complete data which is sufficient information when it is needed to be applied. Relevant information is also called as- to the point, means which is accurate information. Untimely and inadequate data or information could even mislead the information systems from achieving it goals. So it becomes necessary to monitor that information be relevant, sufficient and on at right time.

Before the implementation of the strategies it is necessary to review the organisational goal or purpose as well as occupational health and safety as these are the things which matters the most. The range of strategies that ensures the collection of information is timely, relevant and adequate to the needs of the teams can be explained in details as below:

Transactions processing systems: All the transactions should be constantly monitored by the information system . All the processes of the transactions should be recorded in the database as sale items, amount, time, date, employee etc. that each and every data goes to the system.

Management information system: Data base plays the most important role in information management system covering in about each and every sections of the organisation. If database is managed timely and properly, it will be relevant, adequate and timely information.

Decision support system: As decision making is the most important and crucial part of management of any organisation, decision support system plays a vital role in it. So it provides interactive information support to managers during the decision making process. This would help in timely and relevant decision making. . Manual systems: Although electronics and digital systems become the basics of information management, manual systems are equally important yet. Filing cabinets, message books, phone directories and card systems are all legitimate information systems which are still used and plays one of important role in timely and adequate information management. The success of these strategies could be measured by comparing that information with the new information and the weakness and drawbacks can be correctly categorized and figured out so that managers have the right vision of their outcomes and goal.

Implementation of all those systems correctly would also ensure the managerial success as well as the strategic success in organisation.

Planning is the basics of organisational success, as every outcome depends upon its performance plan and its implementation. The organisational strategic planning processes produce a direct impact on the organisational aim or goal. So it becomes extremely necessary that it should be on the right tract on the organisational benefit. Hence the strategic processes that would identify and report relevant information to support the organisation’s strategic planning processes.

At team level, resource planning involves planning for the resources ( staffs, equipment, budget, technology, Company databases, Integrated management software, Client relationship management tool, Supply chain management tool, Application jobs, Network infrastructure, Data servers and storage systems, Security devices) that is needed for next cycle. Not everyone will be involved in the macro- level resource planning that involves the acquisition of capital and other big ticket items. However it is important that everyone in an organization undertakes this at the macro level.

Many organizations have specialists or staff whose roles are dedicated to resource planning. Computer plays main role as the prerequisites for all the information systems. While computers cannot create business strategies by themselves they can assist management in understanding the effects of their strategies, and help enable effective decision-making. MIS systems can be used to transform data into information useful for decision making. Computers can provide financial statements and performance reports to assist in the planning, monitoring and implementation of strategy.

MIS systems provide a valuable function in that they can collate into coherent reports unmanageable volumes of data that would otherwise be broadly useless to decision makers. By studying these reports decision-makers can identify patterns and trends that would have remained unseen if the raw data were consulted manually. Those principles are relevant for the proposals that manager might take at a macro level. Most importantly the strategic planning processes can be identified and report relevant information can be supported by the following types of Systems:

Management information systems can be used as a support to managers to provide a competitive advantage. The system must support the goals of the organization. Most organizations are structured along functional lines, and the typical systems are identified as follows:

• Accounting management information systems: All accounting reports are shared by all levels of accounting managers.
• Financial management information systems: The financial management information system provides financial information to all financial managers within an organization including the chief financial officer.
• The chief financial officer analyses historical and current financial activity, projects future financial needs, and monitors and controls the use of funds over time using the information developed by the MIS department.
• Manufacturing management information systems: More than any functional area, operations have been impacted by great advances in technology. As a result, manufacturing operations have changed. For instance, inventories are provided just in time so that great amounts of money are not spent for warehousing huge inventories.In some instances, raw materials are even processed on railroad cars waiting to be sent directly to the factory. Thus there is no need for warehousing.
• Marketing management information systems: A marketing management information system supports managerial activity in the area of product development, distribution, pricing decisions, promotional effectiveness, and sales forecasting. More than any other functional areas, marketing systems rely on external sources of data. These sources include competition and customers, for example.
• Human resources management information systems: Human resources management information systems are concerned with activities related to workers, managers, and other individuals employed by the organization. Because the personnel function relates to all other areas in business, the human resources management information system plays a valuable role in ensuring organizational success. Activities performed by the human resources management information systems include, work-force analysis and planning, hiring, training, and job assignments.

The above are examples of the major management information systems which would support the decision making and the report relevant information at the strategic level. There may be other management information systems if the company is identified by different functional areas.

Technology plays the role of backbone in the context of information management. All the technology should be used in such a manner that it ensures the complete utilization as well as it ensures that it can satisfy the level of information that an organisation need to fulfil its goal.

So this technological information should satisfy the demand of the organisation. It is obvious that any organisation is not same every time and change according to the time. So the information system or technology cannot be able to satisfy the nature of change in the information system in an organisation. So it becomes an essential that technology should be constantly monitored and constantly improved. The manager should be able of getting most out of the available technology to the organisation so that at the minimum cost and expenses company could get the maximum benefits.

It is necessary to understand that the amount of information is not the problem but rather the lack of effective tools and skills to manage, use and store the information. The information is in the system or technology is available is not a guarantee you are deriving maximum benefit from it. So the using of technology effectively can be briefly explained in the following ways:

• The resources of the organisation such as intranet and email or the existing developed system are reliable so that it does not affect the availability of information at any point of time.
• People have been adequately briefed or trained on the use and features of the technology available so that they can properly handle the information systems and make the maximum use of available resources.
• Policies, training materials, the staff phone directory and other vital information stored on the company intranet. This saves paper and ensures all staff has up to date information.
• A filing system should be organised in such a manner that it can be clearly and easily available to the people who are in need of it and it saves the vital time. A regular maintenance process to remove documents, customers and other information that is no longer relevant or current.
• People should be trained on the regular manner so that they could properly deal with the demand of the new and developing information systems.

The proper management of information also includes the team involvement and it is extremely necessary that whole team is working as a unit so that maximum utilization of resources can be done with minimum input if the team work as one unit. So it becomes necessary to ensure team effectiveness.

Ensuring Team Effectiveness in a team plays the most important role in achieving goals and objectives of the overall organization and the team itself. The team’s purpose, roles, responsibilities, goals, plans, and objectives should be identified and these are related to the organizational goals, plans and objectives. Each and every team members should be supported in meeting the expected outcomes. Plans are developed to ensure that work required by the organization to carry out its goals. Opportunities should be created and should be properly managed for the team to provide input into ny of the team’s operations including decision making. To get maximum out of team or utilising the involvement of team in the workplace is the responsibility of manager. So managers should come out with the strategies which would maximise team contribution, involvement and support for the business plan and budgets. The strategies would involve following:

• Each and ever team members’ occupational health and safety should be ensured so that all the staff can concentrate on their work and give maximum of them.
• Team members should be motivated towards their job and they should be constantly be considering the aim or goal of the organisation is and how they can contribute as an individual and as a team member for the company goal.
• Team should be involved in business plan so that that the planning and its implement would be better. The common elements of business plan including Executive summary, vision, company description, action plan, market position, product or services, operation, marketing/ sales, financial information. So if all these information are available for entire team for the business plan, team contribution would be increased.
• Budgeting process should involve feedback from all key stakeholders. Apart from the intimate knowledge, team members have of operation, involving them will make them know and understand what you are trying to achieve. If they are involved in target setting, they are more likely to accept the targets and be motivated to perform. The budgets including Revenue budget, expense budget, profit budget, cash budget, capital expenditure budget, variable budgets should be properly fixed out and the forecasting and its utilization should be properly managed.

Success of organisation depends upon its planning and implementation. Planning plays vital role as what ever is planned the ultimate destination of the company as well as workplace information systems. Planning is directly associated with the organisational aim or goal, it becomes necessary that planning would be effective and its implementation can be carried out efficiently. With only one development phase remaining before the new system is to put into use, managers and information specialists have a good understanding of the work necessary to implementation plan.

This planning process should be a function of line management, at least as far as key decisions or alternative plans are concerned. The systems analyst may prepare plans to assist managers, but managers must have the last say. At the same time, managers require the services of the systems analyst to detail plans. The major strategies involved in implementation of plans, tasks, or milestones, can be discussed as following:

1. planning implementation activities should be carried out in taking consideration of the aim or purpose of company, information systems and the occupational health and safety;
2. announcing the implementation is to be done so as to inform the employees of the decision to implement the new system and to ask for the employees’ cooperation ;
3. organising for implementation can be described as assigning the project and information managers as well as all the new facilities including offices and information resources and equipments;
4. acquiring resources, facilities and offices including the installation of a new system to replacea currentone and major revision of the facilities;
5. obtaining the hardware resources; it plays major role in information systems as it would be the equipment for the management of workplace information including computers;
6. obtaining the software resources; Information managers are assign with the responsibility of the management of software required for all the information systems. The software like intranet, company websites, database should be obtained and managed by the managers;
7. preparing the database; data base should be designed according to the need of the information system of the organisation;
8. educating and training the participants and users;
9. the cutover to new system.

The plans should list all subtasks for each of these major tasks so that individuals in the organisation may be assigned specific responsibilities. Developing good user documentation is an important part of the implementation process. Documentation is extremely important in diagnosing errors and marking changes, especially if end users or systems analyst that developed the system are no longer with the organisation.

The documentation of manual IS may consist of:

• Announce the implementation
• Organise for implementation
• Acquire resources, facilities and offices
• Obtain resources-hardware
• Obtain resources-softwares
• Prepare the database
• Educate and train the participants and users

Managing the contingency plans should be prepared to address an unexpected change to the plan of the organisation and information systems. So managers should prepare the plans required in case of change like industrial disputes, supply problems, loss of a key customer, and fire damage to key equipment.

The effective management of contingency plans would be:

• to identify the internal and external factor in the organisation that can cause a significant change to happen to the organisation
• ask a series of ‘what if …. ’ question around those factors that affect your organisation
• brainstorm some suggestions on how you could best meet those situations with no, or minimum, disruption to your business
• briefly record these plans and file in case of need.

It will benefit you update these plans each year as part of your normal planning or budgeting process.

Resources plays important role in the organisational information systems as they are the basics of the information. So managing the equipments, like hardware software, databases etc. should be done. To do these resource proposals and estimates of the resources should be developed. For this, consultation should be carried out with the stakeholders and proposals should match the organisational business plans and organisational goal. The installation of a new system too replace a current on may require a major revision of facilities as well as completely new offices, computer rooms, and production layouts.

The project manager must prepare rough layouts and estimates and submit a proposal for approval. Facilities and space planning should begin as soon as approval of gross space allocations has been obtained. the urgency for such planning is two-fold. First here may be a long lead-time if new partitions, electrical work, air conditioning and even new building are required. Second, the detailed workflow depends upon the physical arrangements of building. The training personnel will be more successful if their operations are base on exact physical relationships mong the people and the equipment in the work processes. Hardware resources: The system design is made available to the suppliers of the type of computing equipment contained in the approved configuration. Each supplier is provided with the request for proposal. The description of the system design enables the suppliers to select those computing units that will d the best job. The installation schedule tells the suppliers when the equipment must be delivered and made ready for use. When suppliers choose to complete for the order, they each prepare a written proposal.

When all the proposal have been received and analysed, the steering committee selects the suppliers. The information specialists provide support for this decision by studying the proposals and making recommendations. With the acquisitions approved, the firm places the order. Software Resources: When a firm decides to create its own application software, the programmer uses the documentqation prepared by the systems analysts as the starting point. The programmer may prepare more detailed documentation, such as structured English or program flowcharts.

The coding is performed and the programs are tested. The end products is a software library of the application programs.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The project for the Blacktown solar cities is running from 2006 to 2013 and this business plan has been developed in the context of the solar city vision for the promotion of solar cities products. As planning and development section of Blacktown city council are committed to the conservation, restoration and enhancement of an environment which plays an important role in balancing the social, economic and environmental imperatives in Blacktown city.

This initiative has the aim to promote solar products that reflect the Council’s positive vision towards environment. The initiative is to train and equip a team of consultants who will promote solar products offered by Blacktown council as a solar city initiative. This team will conduct home interest in the range of solar products and encourage people for using these solar products so that they could get reasonable benefits as well as contribute towards the environment. The members of this team will inform and register the potential consumers of the council’s range of products.

The timing period of this initiative is one year after which it will be reviewed for its inclusion onto 2010-2011 Blacktown council’s management budget. The estimated cost of this initiative is $53,705. Details of expenditure are listed as facts in the action plan summary. As the total budget allocation for health and environment services for 2009-2010 is $1,676,128. With its help Blacktown residents, business and community organisations save money by using energy more wisely, contribute towards environment, saving energy and generating their own energy then it should be considered worthwhile.

This initiative is taken in response to a lack of formally recruited consultants who will be promoting the Solar City products in the Blacktown area. The types of products being promoted includes different packages that will be provided featuring solar PV, solar hot water, energy efficiency, free energy audits, smart meters, demand management, cost reflective pricing and innovative financing which would be easy, economic, effective and efficient. 2. Vision:

The ‘promotion of Solar City Products’ initiative is consistent with the Solar City Vision of the Blacktown Council. This is outlined below: Blacktown Solar City Facts Blacktown City is the first Solar City in New South Wales. With funding under the Australian Government’s $75 million Solar Cities initiative, the Blacktown Solar City consortium is working with industry, businesses and the local community to rethink the way they produce and use energy.

PRACTICAL BENEFITS OF SOLAR CITY VISION FOR THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

• Over one megawatt of solar electricity technology will be installed on private and public housing and on commercial and iconic buildings, which saves a lot of electricity which could be sold to the foreign country to have a good national income as well would be supplied to the remote part of the country.
• Financial solutions will be available to help consumers finance their solar systems so that there will be no financial problems for it.
• About 5000 job vacancy will be created so as to fight with the current job losses and economic downturn in the country. More than 2,100 solar water heaters will be installed in private and public housing, which will help to reduce the bill as well as use right source of energy.
• 3,500 energy efficiency consultations for households and businesses which would serve people.
• 30,000 energy efficinency packs will be available for households and commercial customers, to support their energy efficient choices.
• Offering 1,000 customers the opportunity to adopt pricing structures that allow them to save money by changing the times they use energy. 200 households will receive discounted ceiling insulation packages to participate in a trial to measure energy savings from properly installed insulation.
• A trial giving energy providers direct access to air conditioner and pool pump switches will be conducted during periods of peak electricity demand.
• 4,000 smart meters will give residential customers timely information on energy use.

PROFILE OF BLACKTOWN CITY COUNCIL

Blacktown city council is just 35 km from the Sydney CBD. It is a home to over 295,000 people making it as the largest local government area in New South Wales.

Blacktown city population is spread across 46 suburbs. The 12 industrial estates, 2 major retail centres and 30 local retail and commercial centres are providing employment for more than 100,000 multicultural and varied diverse individuals. Five leisure centres, four libraries , over 20 child care facilities, as well as high profile clubs, tourism , sporting, entertainment, accommodation, conference and other recreational facilities and some 850 parks and reserves are fulfilling the demands of leisure and lifestyle, and arts and entertainment of local people.

The council has a debt free budget of over $275 million. 15 councillors including Mayer of Blacktown city are running the council. This council is highly efficient in waste management and strongly protective of our environment. This council was awarded the state’s most prestigious local government award for performing to the highest standards of excellence in public services.

RESEARCH UNDERTAKEN AND DATA COLLECTION

A research undertaken includes the survey conducted in the Blacktown city. The survey through telephone, direct conversation, Feedback from the website, consultation with the analysts of the Blacktown city council also with all the staffs, public areas, e-mail, mailbox etc. can be done to collect the data and know the weakness area and the strong ponit. The data collection in the database would also includes the feedbacks with recommendations, which can be reviewed for the change in strategies and plan for the Blacktown solar city.

VERIFICATION OF DATA

The forth coming data collected from the overall survey is needed to be verified.

All of those data should be checked and confirmed that those data would give the idea that what brings the clear concepts of the public vision and city council can know what they want and how they want. So this data must be review by the approved person in the organisation who can sort out the issues relating the data collection through the researched. This data is send to the team manager or the chief engineer for review.

FINANCIAL CALCULATION AND CAPITAL SOURCES

Blacktown City Council is dedicated to providing residents with the best possible living and working environments, as well as making plans for the future that promote the interests of those who live, work and play in the City. The 2009-2012 Management Plan (including 09/10 Budget) was adopted by Council on the 17 of June 2009.

It outlines how Council will allocate it’s resources to service the City in a financially responsible and equitable manner, to ensure quality services and resources are delivered to our community. Based on the expenditure, the capital amount which is the direct source from the budget is to be outlined. Blacktown city council expanses in the field of solar city project are about $100,000 and which includes $53,705 for the initiatives and remaining of the budget is to be modified or reviewed by the chief engineer or the team leader, So that the proper utilization of budget is carried out.

RECOMMENDATIONS

This proposal recommends that the idea behind implementing the project, Blacktown solar city is the best thing to do by a local government like Blacktown city council.

The benefits of solar products such as solar water heater, solar PV, etc to the people would certainly encourage the Blacktown city resident for contributing in environment conservation and global warming reduction. This projects should run not only on the Blacktown premises but should be carried out in whole world so that every one in the world would get benefit of it and we could see better future. Conclusion: The above mentioned facts of theoretical way of managing workplace information systems and their practicable application in the Blacktown city councils’ solar city project would satisfies all the basics required for the management of workplace information systems.

REFERENCES

1. www. blacktown. nsw. com. au
2. www. integral. com. au
3. Handouts given in the class about the case study of blacktown city council.

Seven Organizational Approaches The seven organizational approaches consist of theses: 1. Body planes and body direction 2. Body cavities 3. Quadrants and regions 4. Anatomy and physiology 5. Microscopic to macroscopic 6. Body system 7. Medical specialties The body planes and body directions are used to study by dividing it with planes when in an anatomical position. Coronal plane or frontal plane is the vertical plane that divides the body front and back. The front of the body is the anterior or ventral. The back of the body is the posterior or the dorsal. Laying face down is the prone position.

Lying on the back is dorsal supine. Sagittal plane is a vertical plane that dividends the body into right and left section. The body cavities consist of seven cavities. Cranial cavity is within the bony cranium. This contains the brain, cranial nerves, as well as other structures. Spinal cavity is the continuation of the cranial cavity, it travels sown the midline of the back. Spinal cavity is within the bones of spinal column. This contains the spinal cord, spinal nerves. Thoracic cavity is within the chest surrounded by the breast bone (sternum) anteriorly, ribs, bones of the spinal column posteriorly.

Thoracic cavity contains the lungs. Abdominal cavity is within the abdomen. Pelvic cavity is a continuation of the abdomen cavity. The pelvic cavity is surrounded by the pelvic (hip) bone. The abdominopelvic cavity contains organs of the gastrointestinal, reproductive, and urinary system. These internal organs in the abdominopelvic cavity are known as the viscera. You can study the human body by Quadrants and Regions. You have the four quadrants which include the left upper and left lower quadrants and the right upper and right lower quadrants.

There are also nine regions which include the right and left hypochondriac regions, the epigastric region, the right and left lumbar regions, the umbilical region, the right and left inguinal or iliac regions, and hypogastric region. Anatomy and Physiology are way you can study the human body as well. Anatomy is the study of the structures of the human body. Physiology is the study of the functions of those structures. Microscopic to Macroscopic is a way the human body can be studied according to its smallest part and how they combine to make larger and more complex structures and systems.

Body systems are another way the human body can be studied according to its various structures and how they function together as a whole. The following are a list of body systems: Gastrointestinal system, respiratory system, cardiovascular system, blood, lymphatic system, integumentary system, skeletal system, muscular system, nervous system, urinary system, male genital and reproductive system, female genital and reproductive system, endocrine system, eyes, ears, nose, and throat system. The human body can be studied according to the medical specialties that make up the practice of medicine.

Relationship between goals and objectives and organizational vision, mission and values An Organization has to put into consideration its mission statement which consists of the vision, mission and values when establishing goals and objectives. This is because the mission statement acts as a guide for the individuals running the business as well as the daily operations of the organization. The goals on the other hand give statements about what the organization wants to achieve while objectives give statements about what is going to be achieved and when (Hofstrand, 2006).

Therefore, the goals and objectives give specific directions as to what and when the organization will achieve its vision, mission and values. For that reason, when establishing goals and objectives, it is important to note that they have to be in sync with the organization’s vision. What is more, they have to be incorporated with the organization’s mission of how the vision is set to be achieved (Hofstrand, 2006). Further still, the organization’s goals and objectives have to be in line with the values of the company as well as the employees.

All these are important because the goals can only be achievable if they fit with the vision, mission and values of the organization. Thus, the organizational vision, mission and values act as guidelines for establishing goals and objectives (Hofstrand, 2006). Still, there exists a close relationship between organizational vision, mission and values and the goals and objectives. The latter can only be set after the former have been defined clearly. The vision is an image of the desired goals an organization aims at achieving.

It describes what the organization aims to achieve generally whereas the goals will give specific and concise statements about what the organization aims to achieve. Therefore, the main relationship is that goals and objectives have to be based on the organizational vision, mission and values (Hofstrand, 2006). Reference Hofstrand D. (2006). Creating a mission statement, setting goals and developing strategies. AgMRC.