The Current And Emerging Communication Technology

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Part A

1) Communication structure and information flow

a) List three internal stakeholders of Micro-Ware Ltd and give:

i) Their personal agenda

ii) The influence they are currently having on the organization.

Answers

Ralph Yung-He is the CEO of Micro-ware Ltd which is an average sized software company. He has a good record over 10 years with the company and relies on team leaders. He prefers to have a ‘quiet word’ with the relevant team leader and let them convey the message to the staff.

Jeff-He is a young marketing graduate who has a huge passion for the company and also takes over the general manager’s role instead of Manu who left the company. He likes to have team meetings and wants to change the standard guidelines of the organization database in order to make it meet better marketing standards. Furthermore he continues to the technologists about the importance of making their software ‘customer friendly’.

Sally-She leads a small administration team and works for the company some years. The CEO relies on her a lot for maintaining the communication lines in the company. She contact with the various team leaders and their senior staff using a range of communication methods. She is currently feeling rather undervalued and is secretly looking for another job.

b) Outline the business demographics of the three key teams and the three individuals; Jeff, Ralph and Sally in the software company

Answers

Production department and technologists- they led by the general manager Manu who left the company unexpectedly. The technologists are mostly young and significant autonomy to their current projects. And the technologists prefer to use technology as their communication method. Now Jeff is charge in the general manage.

Marketing-It is a small and new department led by Jeff. The staffs who work in the marketing are very familiar with electronic communication and social networking compared to the administrative staff.

Administration-It is led by Sally which is a small team. And it consists of older women and one man who is near retirement age. They have worked at least over 8 years in the company and most of staffs prefer face to face or phone communication.

c) The meeting Ralph called was not very successful. Outline a structured four part procedure for organizing and managing meetings that Micro-Ware Ltd can adopt.

Answers

i) Identifying a purpose of meetings-it has to be clear and communicated correctly.

ii) Selecting proper time, participants and departments.

iii) Notice of meeting-it should be notice to all participants for the meeting.

iv) Setting the agenda-the success of a meeting depends on how the participants prepare.

d) Explain six ways in which the principles of group dynamics could be used to help solve the problems within the software company.

Answers

i) Cohesiveness- make a group being in putting together when they work together.

ii) Norms- designated standard for the meeting in order to aggregate responses of members.

iii) Conformity- make the participants ideas reach in agreements and get to the result of the meeting.

iv) Groupthink- lead in a way that helps groups to achieve a same goal.

v) Using appropriate leadership- evaluate the teamwork between the members and it comes to congregate the members, their ideas, and make good results.

vi) Review- reconsider about new ideas, check updated agenda and existing performance not to mislead the result of meeting.

e) Outline three ways a comprehensive intranet could improve internal communications at the software company

Answers

Business operation and management-Through the intranet, the members of the company can access the information and data of the company. It means time saving and easy searching the data what they need. Finally can devote developing the company.

ii) Enhance collaboration-If there is a comprehensive intranet, the staffs have an effective communication each other without the boundry between each department.

iii) Time- The information can be sent to the company faster and then it will save the time of communication each other.

2) Organisational goals and policies

a) Identify six ways in which any company can be deflected from its goals by communication problems.

Answers

i) Distance barrier- Face to face communication is the best in most cases. Distance creates barriers because of lack of non-verbal language and immediate feedback.

ii) Physical barrier- It can block proper communication. Sometimes we do not even realize that this is the case. One should be aware and try to rectify such disabilities.

iii) Technical barriers-Electronic devices are always open to disturbances, faults and failure. One has to guard against this and ensure through feedback that the message has been received as intended.

iv) Personal barrier- One’s personality is important as it affects everyone. A negative person may ‘wear’ people down and cause barriers to effective communication. Awareness and a positive approach to dealing with problems lead to better communication.

v) Emotional barriers- It can be good when one can share it but it becomes a barrier when the feeling prevents us from thinking or communicating clearly. Therefore, it is advisable to be careful with negative feelings and to adopt strategies to overcome them.

vi) Semantic barrier- It is important to know that different regions have different ways of using the language. Ignorance of grammar, vocabulary and tone can lead to misunderstanding the goals.

b) Outline two ways in which Jeff may be deflecting Micro-ware from its goals through his choice of communication methods and mediums

Answers

i) Jeff is focusing too much on the team meeting and it causes stress and tension between the staffs. And finally it affects the performance levels drop and also wasting the time of staff.

ii) Jeff is promoted to a general manager instead of Manu who left the company suddenly. And also he wants to improve marketing standards. It causes other department has a difficult time to meet their performance.

c) Explain two things he could do to refocus and get everyone working on achieving the key goals.

Answers

i) Jeff should establish proper comprehensive intranet which could save time of staff and make the staff concentrate on their performance.

ii) Jeff should interact with staffs, accepting their idea, suggestions and get feedback from them. It will make other department using time very efficient and make their performance higher than before.

3) Organisational culture and ethics

a) From the case study outline how any three different aspects of Micro-ware Ltd’s organizational culture(s) and ethical behaviours(e.g. range of cultures within the company, rituals and routine, power structures, stories) impact on effective communication and its management?

Answers

i)Ethical behaviours-Rob makes a computer crime by stealing the report from Sally’s computer. He breaches her privacy.

ii) Responsibility- Ralph thinks only about his bonus and his position, his personal goal, not goal for the company. It will turn down the company growth.

iii) Power structure- Jeff is too much focusing on the meeting, not getting feedback, communicate with staff. It causes tension and stress between staffs.

b) What two breaches of privacy can you determine from the information in the case study?

Answers

i)Rob downloads some information from Sally’s computer without her permission.

ii)Soma takes pictures of magnet with Mark and sends them to all staff.

c) Beyond the case study provide two other possible ways in which privacy can be breached in a business environment.

Answers

i) Sharing information which a company collects can be sent to another company, a competitor.

ii) the information of staff profile can be breached through the internet if there is no security system.

d) What copyright infringements can you determine from the information in the case study?

Answer

Jeff plans to use the data copyrighted to a powerful USA company without any permission.

e) What are the possible implications of these infringements for the company?

Answers

The company can lose their customer and get distrustful image. It will cause the company break down. Also it can be sued because of stealing information without permission.

4) Current and emerging communication technology

a) Name five types of mediated and/or face-to-face organization communication strategies used in this case study.

b) Describe the purpose of each strategy

c) Give an example of how each type of strategy is used

Answers

Face to face communication- It is an effective communication method when there is a meeting for an organization. Everyone can participate in the meeting, share their idea, suggestion, updated data and understand, even the non-verbal communication. e. g. Jeff makes lots of team meetings.

ii) Phone–It is easy way to communicate with each other. If there are some questions for the meeting, it can be used right away. It can make save time compare to face to face communication. e. g. Sally receives a phone call from the internet security department which let her know about Jennifer who has been downloading X rated images and has stolen software in her computer.

iii) Report- It is a written information for communication. It is useful to keep the privacy safe and anonymous. e.g. Ralph gives note paper and pens for everyone in the meeting to get information about the issues concerning Jeff’s leadership and list suggestions to improve staff performance.

iv) Electronic communication- It is useful to send data, information, upcoming agenda and feedback very quickly. It can save time. e.g. Sally e mails the CEO about the matter about Jennifer who downloads X rated images and havs some stolen software downloads in her computer.

v) Social networking- It is useful to send data like documents, pictures and videos. It can save time and money. Also it can make social network on the internet. e.g. It is used for the marketing and production staff.

d) Give examples of four emerging communication technologies the software company could use to improve their internal and external communication

Answers

i) social networking site- facebook, twitter

ii) video conference- skype, facetime for apple product user, msn.

iii) cell phone

iv) e mail.

Eunyoung yoo ID number: 12020902