BTEC EDEXCEL AND DIPLOMA IN BUSINESS (MANAGEMENT & HUMAN RESOURCES) OFFERED BY INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

Individual Assignment

Managing Communications, Knowledge and Information

Individual Assignment

Acknowledgement
I would like to express my gratitude to Mr.Frank Gunasekara and Mr.Eranda Bandara who gave me the possibility to complete this assignment and for the guidance and support they gave in preparation of this study. Especially, I would like to give my special thanks to my parents who enabled me to complete this work. However, it would not have been possible without the kind support and help from my friends. Last but not the least I would like to thank all our peers and staff at I.C.B.T and specially Mr.Dhilum our coordinator who were ready to lend a hand in whatever way they can. I am making this project not only for marks but also to increase my knowledge. Thanks again to all who helped me.

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Executive Summary
The main purpose of this project is to show how communications, knowledge and information can be improved within an organization and making better use of Information Technology systems. Information, knowledge systems and communication are three aspects where a business needs to be concerned of, in order to run a business successfully. Effective management of these three areas is crucial to the success and effective use of organizations resources. These areas can help the firm to gain a competitive advantage. The aim of this report is to analyze the importance of communication in business and main stake holders of Cargills food city and the significance & benefits of making networks with them. And which includes how to contact and maintain relationships between them and the ways of getting stakeholders involvement into decision making and analyzing about further strategies to develop relationships. This study further explains about creating strategies to increase personal networking to widen involvement in the decision making process, developing communication processes and so on.

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Contents
List of Tables, Figures and Illustrations ................................................................................................... 4 1. 2. List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. 4 List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... 4

1 - Preface ............................................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 About Cargills Food city ................................................................................................................ 5 1.2 Subsidiary and Associate Companies ............................................................................................ 6 1.3 Organizational Hierarchy .............................................................................................................. 7 1.3 Cargills Organizational Hierarchy .................................................................................................. 8 1.4 Decisions taken at different levels ................................................................................................ 9 2 - Managing Information .................................................................................................................... 10 2.1 Organizational Information Requirements and Systems ............................................................ 10 2.2 Internal and external sources of information ............................................................................. 11 2.3 Information management at Cargills food city ........................................................................... 12 Evaluation of data collection methods ............................................................................................. 12 Information dissemination methods (Stimpson.P, 2002) ................................................................ 13 3. Technologies of communication .................................................................................................. 14 Existing processes of communication ............................................................................................... 14 Verbal communication process of Cargills ........................................................................................ 15 Digital communication process of Cargills ........................................................................................ 15 .............................................................................................................................................................. 15 4. Improvements through a personal development plan.......................................................... 16 Personal Networking and Business: .................................................................................................. 19 Networking techniques ..................................................................................................................... 19 Reference .............................................................................................................................................. 20

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List of Tables, Figures and Illustrations

1. List of Figures
Figure 1 - Information, collection and storage methods at Cargills food city. ..................................... 12 Figure 2- Communication...................................................................................................................... 14 Figure 3 - Cargills hierarchy chart ......................................................................................................... 15

2. List of Tables
Table 1 - Decisions .................................................................................................................................. 9 Table 2 - Organizational information .................................................................................................... 10 Table 3 - Personal development Plan ................................................................................................... 16 Table 4 - Barriers .................................................................................................................................. 18 Table 5 - Tips to minimize barriers........................................................................................................ 18

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1 - Preface
1.1 About Cargills Food city Cargills (Ceylon) PLC is a Sri Lankan corporate established in 1844 and built on a strong foundation of values and ethics. Guided by trusted leadership it spearheads the sustainable development of the food industry in Sri Lanka. Cargills food city was established in 1983 as a first supermarket chain in Sri Lanka. First outlet was at Staple Street. In 1993 when the company invested in its first manufacturing facility, Cargills ventured into the production of processed meats and Cargills supermarket began to source fresh fruits and vegetables directly from farmers. Cargills supermarket provides nutritious high quality products to consumer at the lowest possible price. Now Cargills food city is rated the fourth most valuable brand in Sri Lanka and the most valued retail super market in island. The retail chain has expanded with over 150 outlets spread across the Sri Lanka in more than 20 districts.

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1.2 Subsidiary and Associate Companies

Millers Limited Store Locator

Magic Kotmale

Kist

Private Labels

Kist Knuckles

Book City

Cargills

Kist Biscuits

Express

Supremo

Food City

Finest

KFC

Cargills Lanka Milk

Milca

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1.3 Organizational Hierarchy In an every organization there are three main levels of management. Strategic level Tactical level Operational level Strategic level In this level mostly the information is used to plan organizations objectives and strategies. Tactical level In here this kind of information is used by the middle level managers for management control activities, purchasing, distribution, stocking and etc. Operational level In this level line managers have to ensure whether they have done their particular work or task.

Strategic Level Tactical Level Operational

Level
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1.3 Cargills Organizational Hierarchy

Strategic level

Tactical level

Operational Manager

Divisional Heads

Other Functional Managers

Operational

level

Executives

Clarks

Low level Staff

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1.4 Decisions taken at different levels

Decisions taken differ according to the levels in the hierarchy. Higher level managers take important, unique decisions which can be also known as programmed decisions or strategic decisions. On the other hand non programmed decisions or routine decisions are taken by lower level managers.

Decisions can also be categorized as strategic decisions, tactical, and operational decisions.
Table 1 - Decisions

Decisions Strategic Decisions: it sets the direction of the company Tactical Decisions: It is about how things will get done

Examples - Market new products - Expanding the distribution network

Who makes the decision Top level managers: Chairman, Directors

Managers
- How to market the new product - Recruiting and training marketers - At Cargills the marketers or the operational level staff decides daily on which product to market according to customer requirement. For e.g. if the marketer is going to market a medicine Operational level, employees

Operational Decisions: Day to day decisions that keep the organization running successfully

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2 - Managing Information
2.1 Organizational Information Requirements and Systems Information is important for long term benefits of a firm as well as to run day to day operations. Firms daily gather information and also give out information. Organizations require information for several reasons.
Table 2 - Organizational information

PLANNING Requires knowledge of the available resources, possible time scales and the likely outcome under alternative scenarios. CONTROLLING Once a plan is implemented information is required to assess whether it is actually preceeding as planned and to check for variations. RECORD TRANSACTION Information about each transaction or event is required for reasons such as evidence, legal requirement, and operational information.

PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT Comparisons against budget or the plan is able to be made. DECISION MAKING Information is required at different levels of the organization to make decisions.

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2.2 Internal and external sources of information

month-end conference

Daily reports

E-mails

Conversations

Telephone

Internal sources of information

Free sims

Emails

Group website

Telephones
External sources of information

Suggestion box

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2.3 Information management at Cargills food city

Information management is the collection and management of information from one or more sources and the distribution of that information to one or more audiences. (Course material) The marketing department at Cargills food city gathers a great amount of information relating to different areas. Marketing and the sales staff provides important information to the other departments and to different levels in the organization.
Figure 1 - Information, collection and storage methods at Cargills food city.

INFORMATION Customers Supplier Products Competitor

Communication
Surveys verbally Product catalogues , verbally. Company website

Storage
computerised database computerised database

computerised database
computerised database

Evaluation of data collection methods

Primary methods Meetings, Telephone calls, Catalogues and leaflets

Secondary methods - Dealers , Competitors, Consumers.

Information gathering can be categorized as shown above. Cargills uses various methods in gathering information however these methods also have limitations up to a certain extent and might be unsuitable on certain occasions. Therefore it is necessary to evaluate and check the effectiveness of these methods.
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Information dissemination methods (Stimpson.P, 2002)

Intranets: it is a mini version of internet. Employees in an organization use networked computers to access the data held in a server. The user interface is a browser, similar to those used on the internet. It consists of information relating to a wide variety of topics. Extranets: this is an intranet that is accessible to authorized outsiders, using a valid username and password. The user name will have an access right that is which areas of the extranet are possible to be viewed.

Internet: through websites, and sites such as LinkedIn, Cargills is able to disseminate information on their company and products. Therefore it is better if Cargills can create their own website so that a large amount of information can be given out.

Database system: this is also another method of disseminating information internally at Cargills. Employees in different departments can access to the data held in the database. All the tools used to communicate can also be identified as dissemination methods for e.g.: the leaflets and catalogues given out to customers disseminate information regarding the products. Furthermore the marketers task is to disseminate information to their customers. Marketing itself is a method of information dissemination. Also at Cargills it is the marketing that gathers data on customers, products, competitors through research and make available to other departments. E.g. the information on competitors is useful for the accounts department when it comes to pricing decisions

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3. Technologies of communication

Existing processes of communication

Communication means exchange of information, between two or more people at work. Most of the companies dont have proper communication and plan so all the time misunderstanding can occur between two individuals and resentments build because people are not communicating effectively with each other. Company would receive bad outcomes but to avoid that problem Cargills has communication process to deliver proper information to management people.

Figure 2- Communication

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Verbal communication process of Cargills Cargills always follows verbal method with their stakeholders. Companys specific goal is to have people understand and what management is trying to say through the verbal communication in order to communicate the valuable message. In this process company uses oral and written communication with their stakeholders e.g. presentations, announcements, feedbacks, and conversations etc also are using by Cargills to share the collected information. Digital communication process of Cargills This process in this is by using email messaging system, websites suggestions, online group chats, fax, social Medias and internet to communicate message. By using this method Cargills could able to convey the information at the same time could maintain strong relationships and it is very faster & easier and company dont want to spend too much time and paper wastage is also low. When we look at the Cargills communication processes they need to make some improvement for effective communication inside the company so this report has suggested appropriate improvements.

Figure 3 - Cargills hierarchy chart

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Managing Communications, Knowledge and Information

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4. Improvements through a personal development plan

Table 3 - Personal development Plan

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There are many ways that Cargills can implement within company to ensure the greater systems of communication processes in Cargills. Establish a defined employee orientation process that outlines the company policies and employees roles within them. Create monthly employee newsletter with company news and holiday calendars and other morale building information. Conduct regular staff meetings, group discussions to keep people updated on company changes and aspects. Company wants to encourage the people input and participation at the meetings and other events. Implement anonymous employee communication survey where people can provide their independent feedback about companys policies. Ensure the appropriate channels through which company can communicate are working and are effective. E.g.; internal publication, messages on websites, email, broad casts, posters. Any way sufficient feedback has to give by company. Hold employee grievances programs, suggestion programs such as quality circles to improve communication in company.

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Table 4 - Barriers

Table 5 - Tips to minimize barriers

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Personal Networking and Business:

Networking is building relationships with others and getting to know each other. In a business context networking is developing business relationships and enhancing trust and communication to do business easily and profitably. More often this is done by exchanging leads and referrals to their potential customers. A referral is the opportunity to do business with someone who potentially needs your products or services and is expecting you to contact them.

Networking techniques Business cards: a business card is a simple but a very useful tool in networking. It is common but networking would be effective only if the card has the necessary relevant information, such as who you are? What you do and why someone should have your contact..

Social networking sites: There are a large number of sites these days e.g. LinkedIn, face book, Twitter and so on. These sites help businesses to promote their company, introduce their products and basically to meet people and build relationships. Cargills marketers have their profiles on face book, with the company details. It has a large audience.

Greetings: To keep the relationship with their customers and suppliers Cargills send wishes on customers and suppliers birthdays and for various festive. Suggestion boxes: Customers and even employees can give their suggestions on the companies current activities and improvements. Anyone would feel free to give their ideas as it is more confidential.

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Reference

Text books references Jane. P. Laudon_ management information systems_ Pearson education_ India 2004 John adair_ effective communication_ macmillan publishers Ltd_ London 1997 Stimpson.P, Business Studies, Cambridge University Press, New York.

Websites References http://www.cargillsceylon.com/OurBusinesses/FoodCity.aspx For company introduction (viewed on 27th of Dec 2012)

http://human-treasures.com/Communication.htm

For communication process (viewed on 23rd of Dec 2012)

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