Consultancy Management Techniques - Essay Example

Management Techniques Contents Contents Relevant sources of data and information for the management report. 3 Finding data 3 Quality of data 4 Information that needs to go in a Management Report 4 Qualitative VS Quantitative 4 Criteria for selection of data and information so much data will be collected 5 Selecting the most important elements 5 Ensure it fits within management report. 5 Presenting information 5 Legal and ethical requirements relating to the collection, use and storage of data and information 6 Storing confidential information 6 Ensuring decisions fit within an ethical and legal framework 6 E-commerce risk management of data storage and collection 6 Evaluate methods of communicating decisions 7 Communicating ethical decisions 7 Key stakeholders of decision 7 Impact of decisions 7 Justify and example your decisions 8 Process for implementing a communication method 8 Logistics of communicating information 8 Communication model you will use 8 Barriers of communication 9 Challenges for an organisation like JLR 9 References 10 Relevant sources of data and information for the management report. Finding data The data to be used in the management report can be sourced from a variety of data sources. Some of the data sources can be internal and some of the data sources can be external. Internal data sources are represented by the financial data of the company and other internally generated reports. External sources of data are represented by industry reports or when comparing with performance of other companies their annual report presents a valuable source of information. Quality of data Quality of data is very important and if the data quality is poor then the quality of the generated management report will also be poor. For internal sources of data, maintaining data quality is not that important as data is extracted through company generated reports whose authenticity is verified. For external sources of data to ensure data quality care must be put on selecting a good data source. Data should be extracted only from reputed research firm, company reports and other reputed reporting agencies. Information that needs to go in a Management Report Information that needs to go in a management report depends on the type of management report. Mostly the information that goes into a management report is financial data, industry analysis reports etc. The report actually presents a picture of the specified area and how it affects the management. Sometimes vision of top executives and other qualitative information may also go into a management report. Qualitative VS Quantitative In a management report the data used can be both qualitative and quantitative. The quantitative data represents those data which can be statistically or mathematically analyzed. There is certain other form of data which cannot be analysed in this manner and those data represents qualitative data. Qualitative data are those data which represents what an industry expert views about the future of a particular industry and likewise (Johnson, and Christensen, 2008.  ). Criteria for selection of data and information so much data will be collected The data that will be collected by the company in the course of operation will be huge. The data will be of all sorts ranging from sales data, to financial data, to industry data, to human resource data. This is a digital age which means that the data collection mechanism has seen a rapid change and so the amount of data collected and will be huge. Selecting the most important elements Collecting the data is just an initial step in creating the management report. The next important step is to select and keep the relevant data and discard the rest. To understand which data is relevant and which is to be discarded, it is very important to define the scope of management report. Once the scope and purpose of the management report has been defined and the broad guideline of the report is framed the most important elements that will be required for the report can be filtered out and rest can be discarded. Ensure it fits within management report. To ensure that the data and the information fits in the management report it is very important to define the scope of management report and then find data that fits the scope and purpose of the management report. Once the data that fits the scope and purpose of the report has been identified, it can easily be fitted in the management report. Presenting information Collecting and keeping all the necessary data and information is necessary but not the ultimate step in creating a good management report. The next important step is to present that information in such a way that it is attractive and the users of the report can get to their desired information in the easiest, quickest and most efficient manner. For the purpose of writing a good and effective report the extensive use of graphs and charts is recommended. Legal and ethical requirements relating to the collection, use and storage of data and information Storing confidential information In case of gathering data from various sources especially when generating reports that compare between two different suppliers companies the research organization of the person doing the research gets his hands on various sensitive and classified studies. The point over here is to store the confidential information in such a manner that it does not fall in the hands of unscrupulous peoples (David, 2009.). Ensuring decisions fit within an ethical and legal framework Companies these days are not only responsible to the stakeholders but are responsible the broad list of stakeholders including government, customers, regulators, investors, local community etc (Donaldson, 2009). In making a decision thus it is imperative to keep the viewpoints of all these stakeholders into perspective (McPhail, 2013). While taking a management decision it is thus required that the company keeps in perspective of the ethical and legal requirements and thus make the decisions analytically (Friedman and Miles, 2006.). E-commerce risk management of data storage and collection The present generation is a digital world with devices connected to the network. Many a time’s the customers and the company are themselves unaware of which of the devices that they are using are connected to the internet. The devices that are connected to the internet range from the simple smoke detectors to the driving control features. Keeping this in perspective it is imperative that the company takes steps to safeguard its data and prevent it from falling in the hands of unscrupulous people. Evaluate methods of communicating decisions Communicating ethical decisions After making an ethical decision the point is how to communicate the same to the related stakeholders of the company. The point in communicating ethical decision is that ethics are not written over anywhere. It is more of an unwritten code of conduct for the employees of the company. Thus the ethical decisions should be communicated keeping all these factors in mind so that it is easily acceptable to all the stakeholders. Key stakeholders of decision There are various stakeholders of the company to whom the company is responsible. The various stakeholders of the company to whom the company is responsible are the customers, government bodies, competitors, regulators, members of the society at large environment etc (Lasserre, 2012). So for each and every decision the company takes the views of these stake holders should be taken into perspective (Henry, 2011). Impact of decisions The problem of decision making arises as people have a brain that has limited processing power. So when faced with different competing criterion the main point is to choose one out the several available options and that involves making a decision (Goodwin, and Wright, 2014). While making a decision the tendency is to often oversimplify the problem. This leads to the generation of less than optimal solution to the problem and can lead to inconsistency and biases. While making a decision thus it is important to take into consideration all the factors (Hayes, 2010). Justify and example your decisions I was faced with a choice and decision scenario when deciding on which is the particular laptop that I should buy. First of all I had the decision of going for a laptop with very high configuration. However when I searched the market I found that such a laptop would not fit my budget. So I decided to go for a laptop within my budget that would fit my working and usage level and ultimately made a good choice. Process for implementing a communication method Logistics of communicating information Logistics of communicating information refers to how information is transmitted or communicated between the source and sender of the information to the intended receiver of the information. The information that originates from the source or sender of the information travels to the intended receiver of the information through a communication or transmission medium (Ferrante, 2010). In case of linear communication the information is transmitted from the sender to the receiver in a unilateral way (Thomas, 2009). However in most communication there is an interaction that takes place where both sender and receiver participates in the communication process. Communication model you will use There are various communication models that exist. In linear communication the message originates from the sender and travels to the receiver through a communication medium (Wood, 2009). In the linear model the speaker only speaks and never listens and the listener only listens and never speaks but this does not happen in real world. So the interactive model of communication was designed where both parties participate to communication (Nelson, 2010). Another communication model is the transactional model. The communication model preferred by me is the interactive model or transaction model. Barriers of communication There are several barriers to effective communication that exists. The barriers are: Using jargons which are not understood by the audience, Language difference, inability to expresses differences, noise and other environmental causes, cultural barriers, social taboos, physical problems, problem of understanding a foreign accent, Cultural differences etc (Hogan, and Stubbs, 2003). Challenges for an organisation like JLR JLP is a multinational organization with its operations present in different countries across the world. The barriers to effective communication that exist for a company like JLR is the fact that the people of different countries communicate using different languages, follow different cultures, have different accents and differ amongst each other in many aspects (Kutz, 2013). The challenge therefore is to understanding the individualities of persons belonging to different regions and devising adequate communication strategies for each region. References David, F. R., 2009. Strategic Management Concepts. 12th edition. New Jersey: Pearson Education International. Donaldson, J., 2009. Codes, stakeholders and business philosophy. International Journal of Value-Based Management, Vol. 12(2), pp. 241-256. Ferrante, P. 2010. Risk and crisis communication. Journal of Professional, 24(1), pp. 38-45. Friedman, A. L. and Miles, S. 2006. Stakeholders : Theory and Practice: Theory and Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Goodwin, P. and Wright, G. 2014. Decision Analysis for Management Judgment. NY: John Wiley & Sons. Hayes, J., 2010. The Theory and Practice of Change Management. Denmark: Palgrave Macmillan. Henry, A., 2011. Understanding Strategic Management. New York: Oxford University Press. Hogan, K. and Stubbs, R. 2003. Cant get through: eight barriers to communication. NY: Pelican Publishing Company. Johnson, B., and Christensen, L. 2008.  Educational research: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Kutz, K. 2013. Barriers to cross cultural communication. Munich: GRIN Verlag. Lasserre, P., 2012. Global Strategic Management.   Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. McPhail, T. L., 2013. Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders and Trends.West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons. Nelson, C. 2010. Communication styles and business growth. Journal of Financial Planning, 3(1), pp. 8-11. Thomas, G. F. 2009. The central role of communication in developing trust and its effect on employee involvement. Journal of Business Communication, 46(3), pp. 287-310. Wood, J. T. 2009. Communication in our lives. Belmont, CA: Thomson-Wadsworth/ Read More