HR Management help on: MANAGING COMMUNICATION, KNOWLEDGE & INFORMATION
- Introduction
This report majorly takes into consideration the communication methods used at TESCO. Tesco considered as the largest employer of the private sector in the region of UK. It is viewed that the Tesco Company has approximately 360000 workers globally. In UK, stores of the UK vary from small domestic sites of the Tesco Express to the large Tesco superstores and Extras.
The report covers the various ways which would help in order to improve the communication at the workplace. The personal development plan discussed below in this report would refer to the various guidelines which should be utilized. Knowledge & information system would also help TESCO in many ways. Importance & implementation of IKM (Information Knowledge System) have also been discussed in this report.
About Tesco
Tesco considered as the largest employer of the private sector in the region of UK. It is viewed that the Tesco Company has approximately 360000 workers globally. In UK, stores of the UK vary from small domestic sites of the Tesco Express to the large Tesco superstores and Extras. It is viewed that Tesco operates in almost 12 countries apart from UK, comprising Japan, China and Turkey. The Tesco Company has currently opened the stores in the US.
This global expansion is considered as the part of the Tesco strategy to grow and diversify the business. It is viewed that in its non –operations Tesco maintains on strengths and formed as the leader of the market in supermarket sector of the UK. This report indicates the communication methods which have been currently implemented at Tesco Company. This shows how effectively all the information is being communicated to all the staff members in the organization. This report also takes into consideration the various through which communication could be improved. A personal plan has been developed which would include the various improvements which should be kept in mind while implementing the various communication methods. Proper knowledge & information system has been recognized & achieved.
- Communication methods used at Tesco:
One of the major communication methods which have been used at Tesco would be to have an effective internal communication strategy. Internal communication in the organization would be regarded as a neglected strategy i.e. this aspect of communication cannot be eliminated within the organization (Boisot, 1998).
Internal communication would refer to one of the neglected areas of strategic management & planning. Tesco has invested huge amount of money & effort on their external communication method but was failed in expanding their plan for internal communication. Tesco realized soon that internal communication method has been regarded as one of the major areas which should be kept in mind while implementing the communication method (Boisot, 1998). Effective use of the internal communication at Tesco would help in order to have a proactive strategy which would help the organization in order to have long term success in the years to come. It has been observed that by implementing fair internal communication practices at Tesco, various benefits, important issues, elements have been taken into consideration which would otherwise have created confusion &widen the communication gap leading to misunderstandings.
The major reason to focus upon internal communication at Tesco would be to communicate to the employees, existing staff members & to provide high levels of customer satisfaction which would help in order to improve the productivity of the same (Boisot, 1998). This would also take into consideration how the information should be communicated to the external as well as the internal customers & maintain cordial relationship between the two in long term.
Communication has been defined a process or a manner through which people exchange their ideas, information, etc to one another. The communication process is called off as an effective one when the receiver understands the information sent by the sender in the similar manner (Boisot, 1998). Communication process is ought to be well structured & planned. In the absence of a well planned & structured internal communication, many a times the information send by the sender is wrongly interpreted. A well defined internal communication strategy would help in order to define as well as communicate the values, mission, vision, values, and goals to all the employees of the organization. .
- Ways to improve communication:
Some of the ways through which communication at Tesco could be improved would be by using the four types of communication models. They are as under:
Þ Visual communication
Þ Verbal communication
Þ Non verbal communication
Þ Written communication
As mentioned above that, internal communication refers to the type of communication which would help in order to maintain cordial relationship with the staff members. Hence, structured internal communication should be utilized which would help the organization i.e. Tesco to grow in the years to come (Browne, 2002). A consistent as well as open internal communication strategy should be used which would help in order to attain a proactive approach towards the entire staff of the company.
Some of the steps which should be carried out at Tesco in order to improve the communication at their workplace would be through the following such as:
Þ Hold regular meetings with the existing staff members. This would encourage all the staff members to put in their ideas or information as well as improve the entire communication in the workplace. This would also encourage the staff members to share their ideas & feel as a part of the entire decision making process (Browne, 2002).
Þ Minimize the middlemen. This means that, direct communication should be practiced amongst the staff members as well as the top level management. This would help in order to save time & minimize the unnecessary doubts (Boisot, 1998).
Þ Regular feedbacks sessions should be practiced. This would help in order to measure the productivity as well as efficiency of each & every individual working in the organization (Browne, 2002).
Þ It must be seen that, the bosses or the supervisors should not be too busy in their work that they won’t be able to spare some time for their subordinates. If the bosses would always be busy, the subordinates will have a closed door policy. This means that they will not be free to communicate with their bosses in a well defined manner (Blackler, 2005).
The main benefits by adopting such type of communication strategy would be that, a strong communication could be felt. A two way flow of information would be practiced from either top to bottom or from bottom to top. A structured feedback would also help the employees as well as the organization to measure the productivity & efficiency. The major goal which would be accomplished would be that, the employees would have a better understanding regarding the vision, mission, goals, and objectives of the organization in a well defined manner (Browne, 2002).
Some of the other benefits of adopting the internal communication strategy would be:
Þ Create a work place which would keep all the employees well informed.
Þ To create a common vision & goals to be accomplished in the organization
Þ To create a sense of understanding amongst the various employees at Tesco.
Þ Have a sense of belongingness at the work place
Þ A clear understanding of the communication process & gain certain level of commitment
Þ Efficient use of resources
Some of the important elements which should be taken into consideration while developing the personal plan would be to take into consideration both the internal as well as external communication strategies (Godbout, 2006).
The employees along with the people in management should support & believe that communication is a two way process to share the information. This process would help in order to respect as well as share each other’s view points on the various official aspects (Anteonelli, 2003). Proper training sessions should be taken care of, appraisals based upon the performance should be done on timely basis in order to motivate the employees to work hard, team meetings, sharing of the important notice with the help of the memorandums, etc should be done by the officials (Browne, 2002).
Aspects to be taken care off in the communication strategy should include the following. They are as under:
Þ To have a long term focus
Þ Have an integrated & an upgraded business strategy
Þ Enable two way flow of information amongst the employees & the management
Þ Be comprehensive
Þ Have consistent messages
Þ Use of the appropriate communication models
Þ Have clear values & goals
Þ Involvement of the entire management team towards the applicability of the communication strategy
Various improvements which should be taken into consideration with the implementation of the communication could be described as follows. Encouraging the flow of information which consists of the best of the information (Godbout, 2006). The business would require an in depth understanding of the internal communication strategy which would involve change in the cultures as well. All the methods should be taken into consideration & the most effective method should be adopted by Tesco (Anteonelli, 2003).
Issues to be taken into consideration while developing the strategy for Tesco would be as follows:
Þ Is there any communication process being used at Tesco? If yes, then would the new process so implemented would be able to replace it or not?
Þ Information which is being taken care off in the existing communication process.
Þ How it is being managed?
Þ Who is responsible to communicate the information in the organization?
Þ Who is responsible to create & disseminates the information?
Þ Who is responsible to manage the accountability of the existing communication model?
Þ What & how all information should be communicated?
Þ When is the information to be communicated?
Þ How the information is to be communicated?
Þ What different internal communication tools or mediums should be taken into consideration?
Þ Any factors which would have an impact on the overall success or failure of the communication model. If so then implement certain strategies which would help to overcome the same (Anteonelli, 2003).
- Personal Development Plan:
While creating the personal development plan, it should be noticed that one should possess good communication skills. This would help in order to set as well as clear all the goals, course of actions & convey your needs to people.
Once the goals have been realized, it must be noted that people should use their good communication skills. If an individual wants to improve upon its confidence, then the following aspects should be taken into consideration. They are as under:
| Þ Enhance their performance & feel better |
Þ Handle the problems in the most effective manner
Þ Be more effective in dealing with the clients, colleagues, supervisors, subordinates, etc.
Þ Grade yourself on the following basis such as verbal skills, written skills, vocabulary, grammar, listening skills, team work, presentation skills, negotiation, body language, etc.
Þ Once grades have been allotted on the each category, the individual should think why he should get that particular grade.
Þ Communicate more clearly
Once the various aspects have been taken into consideration which would help in order to improve one’s skills, confidence, etc the following benefits could be reaped out of it such as:
Þ A successful response from the people around
Þ Cordial relationship in the personal as well as business activities
Þ High levels of productivity
Þ Hassle free work flow
Þ Upgraded personal & professional image
Þ Effective decision making & problem solving methods
Þ Compelling advocacy
All the benefits mentioned above would help to depict how crucial communication is. It must be seen that, if a person has good communication skills then there are wide opportunities available with them (Browne, 2002). Communication skills would play one of the major roles in the personal growth of an individual as well.
While formulating the personal development plan, the following questions should be kept in mind such as:
Þ Determine how the information has been communicated. The limitations in the communication process (Godbout, 2006).
Þ How to manage the communication process? Who has the sole responsibility?
Þ Measurable communication objective attached with various business goals
Þ Engage the management into the internal communication strategy which would help in maintaining cordial relationship with one another.
Þ Engage the staff members in all the aspects of the organization
Þ Develop a process which would help in measuring the effectiveness of the strategy so adopted (Blackler, 2005).
Þ Determine the various medium which would help in order to attain the goals of internal communication.
Þ Implement a content writing protocol which helps consistency form all the content providers.
Þ Implement a plan which would help in order to build awareness amongst the employees (Abell & Oxbrow, 2001).
One of the ways through which the effectiveness could be measured would be by linking the internal communication strategy which would help in order generate opportunities for the organization i.e. Tesco in the long run.
- Knowledge & Information System:
Information Knowledge Management could be defined as an intended plan of process, structures, tools, etc. which would help the organization in order to expand, share, improve or renew the effective utilization of the three major elements of the academic capital such as Human, Social & Structural (Zack, 1999).
The information knowledge management (IKM) consist of various policies, practices & strategies which would help the enterprise i.e. Tesco, in order to represent, identify, create & adopt various experiences which would help them in order to establish themselves in the ever changing electronics industry (Scarbrough & Swan, 1999).
With the help of IKM strategies, the company or the business organization would be able to improve the performance, have a competitive edge over its competitors, lead to various types of innovation, constant improvement at the work place, communicate the various lessons learnt from the organizational learning, etc (Zack, 1999). Information Knowledge Management proves to be as one of the most important element & an asset which would majorly highlight & promotes sharing, communicating the knowledge within the organization (Scarbrough & Swan, 1999).
- Importance & Implementation of IKM at TESCO:
The implementation of IKM in an organization refers to a planned process & a critical aspect within an organization (Day & Wendler, 1998). Implementation of the IKM strategy refers to a fair involvement of the organization in the industry by coming up with certain new ideas to make the whole process lucrative. Various strategies would be developed which would help in ascertaining the resources assigned to them (Hansen, Nohria & Tierney, 1999).
In order to make the whole process of implementing the IKM Strategy in an organization successfully, appropriate members should be allotted so that they would be able to use the KM System in the most effective as well as efficient manner. Goals need to be achieved within a stipulated time period (Firstone, 2001).
In case of Tesco, there would be various aspects which should be considered & kept in their minds while implementing the IKM Strategy (Day & Wendler, 1998). The key points which should be taken into consideration are as below:
Þ Mapping of the business processes within the organization under one segment which could lead to high levels of gain in the near future which would help the end users (Day & Wendler, 1998).
Þ With clarity draw out the method for the entire lifecycle of knowledge managing from data capture to the final withdrawal of knowledge (Hansen, Nohria & Tierney, 1999).
Þ Proper communication & sharing of the knowledge with the front line managers regarding the various activities in the enterprise (Boisot, 1998).
Þ Proper assignment of the resources (financial as well as non financial) in order to develop an entire model of the system (Scarbrough & Swan, 1999).
Þ Appraise the development and attain response from the front-line members on a frequent interval (Hansen, Nohria & Tierney, 1999).
Þ To formulate the strategies time & again this would help the organization in order to improve themselves in near future amongst the various other electronic firms (Abell & Oxbrow, 2001).
Þ Ascertain a strategy for taking care of difficulties like time constraints and data confirmations (Hansen, Nohria & Tierney, 1999).
- Conclusion:
Hence, it could be concluded that a planned or a structured internal communication would help in order to have a long term business. The internal communication methods should be made as strong &effective as compared to the external communication strategy. It must be seen that the communication strategy should be well defined & structured as this would help in the effective implementation of the same (Godbout, 2006). A proactive approach should be formalized which would help to inform all the employees of the company regarding the mission, vision, goals, values, etc.
While developing a communication plan or a strategy various aspects such as set out objectives, engagement of the management officials, develop a proper plan would help the staff members to be aware regarding the communication strategy. Although the effort of developing and implementing the internal communication plan is extensive the benefits will include better-directed, more committed, and highly efficient employees (Abell & Oxbrow, 2001).
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