Question

THIS IS A DISCUSSION TOPIC. PLEASE HELP ME. I NEED THIS IN 5 HOURS.

What types of communication flows are evident in your workplace (or former workplace)? Is the workplace more consistent with a flat or horizontal organization? What type of organization would you prefer to work in and why? Discuss information technology and how IT is used, with regard to describing the three primary types of information systems.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Introduction:

Communication is of the utmost importance when running a business. There are four main types of communication flow within a business: downward communication, upward communication, horizontal communication and multi-directional communication. Historically, companies communicated unilaterally, with one boss at the top giving the orders to all below. However, today most successful businesses use multi-directional communication, which incorporates all the different styles. Using a multi-directional approach removes communications barriers and improves outcomes.

Types of Communication Flow:

Downward Communication

Downward communication simply means that the orders come from the top and make their way down through the workforce. This form of communication is hierarchical in nature. However, downward communication is helpful and necessary in many instances. One example of downward communication is a superior setting a deadline and creating targets for subordinates. Another example is employee reviews. Ultimately, downward communication lays out work objectives and helps clarify the details of necessary tasks.

Upward Communication

Upward communication flows from a lower level of an organization's hierarchy to a higher level. In practice, workers use upward communication to make suggestions, offer input and file complaints. Allowing lower-level workers to have a say in operations is imperative to business success. One reason for this is that even the lowest-level employees have unique perspectives on their work and what is needed to get the job done. For example, say a CEO sets a target that each member of the company’s sales team must sell $10,000 of product each month. The sales team knows that this target isn’t achievable within the current work expectations if even the most successful sellers are barely hitting $10,000 each month. The sales team can use upward communication to inform the CEO that the target is out of reach.

Horizontal Communication

Horizontal communication (also known as lateral communication) takes place when employees at the same level interact. Peer communication is time-saving and allows workers to coordinate tasks with one another. Horizontal communication also allows for greater cooperation and problem-solving. When workers share information and brainstorm solutions to problems, things run more smoothly and outcomes improve. Think of horizontal communication as the embodiment of the popular saying, “two heads are better than one."

Diagonal or Multi-Directional Communication

Diagonal or multi-directional communication is the use of various methods of communication including upward, downward and horizontal. It is healthy for an organization to use different approaches to communication. When communication flows from just one direction, an organization is utilizing just a fraction of its potential. Diagonal communications allow all employees to contribute their full knowledge and expertise to a company. However, using this style of communication doesn’t mean that all employees should communicate chaotically. Multi-directional communication works best when the systems and expectations of communication are clear to all members of an organization.

2.Organizations can vary in the way they are organizationally structured. The structure of an organization is very important for achieving maximum productivity, managing individual work needs and reaching of corporate goal and objectives. An organization’s structure consists of the method that an organization employs to delineate lines of communication, policies, authority and responsibilities. It determines the extent and nature of how leadership is disseminated within the organization. It is the method to ensure effective channels of communication.

There are two types of organizational structures which are usually adapted by the organizations. Organizations either have a hierarchical or flat structure. The type of structure chosen by an organization is determined by several factors. These include size of the organization, employee’s skill, leadership style, business objectives, and technology employed etc.

Hierarchical organization is also known as a ‘tall structure’. It is characterized by a large number of layers between top management and the lower ranks of the organization. It has an organization structure that follows the layout of a pyramid. In such organization, every employee in the organization, except one, usually the Chairman, MD or CEO, is subordinate to someone else within the organization. The layout has multiple entities that descend into the base of lower rank level employees, who occupy the bottom of the pyramid. Hierarchical structure is normally adopted by large organizations.

A flat organization (also known as horizontal organization) structure is an organization structure in which the organization has a few or no levels of middle management between executives and staff. There may be only one layer or a few layers between the top of the management and the lower level employees. Flat structure is usually adopted by the smaller organizations.

both flat and hierarchical have their own advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages of a Flat Structure

• It elevates the employees' level of responsibility in the organization.
• It removes excess layers of management and improves the coordination and speed of communication between employees.
• Fewer levels of management encourage an easier decision-making process among employees.
• Eliminating the salaries of middle management reduces an organization's budget costs.

cal have their own advantages and disadvantages

Disadvantages of a Flat Structure

• Employees often lack a specific boss to report to, which creates confusion and possible power struggles among management.
• Flat organizations tend to produce a lot of generalists but no specialists. The specific job function of employees may not be clear.
• Flat structure may limit long-term growth of an organization; management may decide against new opportunities in an effort to maintain the structure.
• Larger organizations struggle to adapt the flat structure, unless the company divides into smaller, more manageable units.

Information Technology is any computer-based tool used to work with information and support the information -processing need of an organization. These tools include; computers, software, routers, servers, printers, modems, just to name a few.

Businesses will increase their efficiency when they embrace Information Technology. The primary goal of a business is to serve its customers. In this age of information technology, a business can gain the competitive advantage when it uses information technology to its maximum. Today perfect service is only possible if a business has the right information in the hands of the right people at the right time and this can only occur through the appropriate use of information technology. This means that the challenge facing any business is to plan for, develop, manage, and use its three most important resources, i.e., information, information technology and people – to provide perfect service to its customers. Below I have listed a few uses of information technology in business.

USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS

Either small or big business, they will need to scale out a plan to utilize opportunities brought by ‘’Information Technology’’ Businesses use IT in four ways to support

(1) information-processing tasks

(2) decision making

(3) shared information through decentralized computing and

(4) innovation

Three primary levels of information system:.

Operational management level

The operational level is concerned with performing day to day business transactions of the organization.

Examples of users at this level of management include cashiers at a point of sale, bank tellers, nurses in a hospital, customer care staff, etc.

Users at this level use make structured decisions. This means that they have defined rules that guides them while making decisions.

For example, if a store sells items on credit and they have a credit policy that has some set limit on the borrowing. All the sales person needs to decide whether to give credit to a customer or not is based on the current credit information from the system.

Tactical Management Level

This organization level is dominated by middle-level managers, heads of departments, supervisors, etc. The users at this level usually oversee the activities of the users at the operational management level.

Tactical users make semi-structured decisions. The decisions are partly based on set guidelines and judgmental calls. As an example, a tactical manager can check the credit limit and payments history of a customer and decide to make an exception to raise the credit limit for a particular customer. The decision is partly structured in the sense that the tactical manager has to use existing information to identify a payments history that benefits the organization and an allowed increase percentage.

Strategic Management Level

This is the most senior level in an organization. The users at this level make unstructured decisions. Senior level managers are concerned with the long-term planning of the organization. They use information from tactical managers and external data to guide them when making unstructured decisions.

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