Managing Communications, Knowledge and Information
LO 3. Be able to develop communication processes
3.1. Report on existing processes of communication in an organization
3.2. design ways to improve appropriateness
3.3. implement improvements to ensure greater integration of systems of communication in that organization
3.4. create a personal plan to improve own communication skills
LO 4 Be able to improve systems relating to information and knowledge
4.1. report on existing approaches to the collection, formatting, storage and dissemination of information and knowledge
4.2. carry out appropriate changes to improve collection, formatting, storage and dissemination of information and knowledge
4.3. Implement a strategy to improve access to systems of information and knowledge
M1 Identify and apply strategies to find appropriate solutions
M2 Select / design and apply appropriate methods / techniques
M3 Present and communicate appropriate findings
D1 Use critical reflection to evaluate own work and justify valid conclusions
D2 Take responsibility for managing and organising activities
D3 Demonstrate convergent /lateral / creative thinking
ASSIGNMENT BRIEF
Case:
Enterprise Rent-A-Car is the UK’s leading car rental company. The company offers daily and weekend car rental for private and business use. It also offers replacement vehicles following an accident. Enterprise has over 370 locations throughout the UK and over 90% of the UK population are within 10 miles of an Enterprise branch.
Enterprise in the UK is part of a multinational company with 8,200 rental offices in seven countries including the United States, Canada, Ireland, Germany, France and Spain. Branches are managed in a decentralized way. This means that managers make decisions at an individual branch level to suit the needs of its customers.
Founded in 1957, by entrepreneur Jack Taylor, Enterprise is a privately-owned business. It is committed to providing excellent customer service in all it does. This is dependent upon the Taylor family’s commitment to its skilled employees. Enterprise’s philosophy is simple – ‘Take care of our customers and employees and profits will take care of themselves.’ Its dedication to its employees is demonstrated by the fact that 99% of all vacancies are filled internally. All staff have access to training and most begin in the Graduate Management Training program to help career development. This helps progression from management assistant to assistant manager, branch manager and area manager.
Effective communication is fundamental to every aspect of a business. Enterprise has used a number of communication strategies to ensure its messages are received by a variety of stakeholders. These are both internal and external to the business. Its messages are tailored to suit the target audience to increase effectiveness. The challenge for Enterprise is to ensure it uses the best methods and channels of communication for each audience. These vary for its operational brand messages and its recruitment messages.
Read the case study carefully and answer the following tasks.
To meet LO 3.1.
• List at least 3 key messages the company would internally or externally communicate
• Explain the communication process at Enterprise in details by referencing from the case study
To meet LO 3.2.
Identify and explain different types of communication the company uses and explain the appropriatenessfor each regarding different stakeholders.
To meet LO 3.3.
Research future communication trends and suggest new methods the company could introduce to communicate with its customers.
To meet LO 3.4.
Evaluate your own English communication skills within a formal context and design a plan to achieve IELTS 6.0 within the next academic University year.
To meet LO 4.1.
Research how Enterprise-Rent-A-Car operates the following topics of information and knowledge:
• Collection
• Formatting
• Storage and dissemination
To meet LO 4.2.
Again research future trends in IT regarding the following topics:
• Collection
• Formatting
• Storage and dissemination
To meet LO 4.3.
IT infrastructure should be developed to support the organizations information systems such asdata storage and processing. Introduce a Knowledge Management Infrastructure for Enterprise.
To achieve M1:
Explain the main methods that Enterprise uses to overcome potential barriers to its communication strategies.
To achieve M2:
Analyze the benefits of Enterprise using a multi-channel approach to communicate its messages
To achieve M3:
Evaluate the effectiveness of Enterprise’s internal communications strategies.
To achieve D1:
You can express clearly your own opinion in your conclusion and present a personal idea in at least 200 written words.
To achieve D2:
You include a WBS for your assignment and check weekly the progress with your lecturer. You must present 4 signatures over a course of 5 weeks.
To achieve D3:
You can present a variety of different sources incl. books, magazines, personal interviews