PROJECT INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES
Literature Review
Project Information, Communication Challenges and Best Practices
The current trend in most organizations of late has been the acquisition and implementation of sophisticated ICT applications and programs coordinated in a project manner in order to achieve the best results. This change in strategy has seen tremendous improvements in the running of these organizations and the general outcome in terms of customer satisfaction and the generation of profits. ICT focuses on the digital platforms of the organizations and makes sure that they all work in a coordinated manner. Such include communication, monitoring, database systems among others. In the past, most organizations have been completely depending on human labor to carry out these roles and responsibilities and the results have been devastating. This does not mean that human beings are incompetent, it rather means that human are vulnerable to biological concerns and bodily circumstances such as fatigue that do not allow them to work as effectively as computers. This paper reviews various literatures that delineating communication challenges, best practices and project information.
According to Vogelsang (2013) the introduction of ICT into these firms has seen the eradication of the previous mistakes that were always committed by employees on a daily basis. As much as ICT is a wide field which constitutes many aspects, the aspect of communication is the major reason why most of these organizations have decided to implement the use of modern digital technology into their systems for the achievement of the firms’ goals (Vogelsang 2013). This paper looks at the existing projects, the challenges that they face in terms of the communication networks that they are using and the possible ways of improving this situation through an evaluation of the best practices that can be adopted into the running of these systems.
Jimoyiannis (2012) observed that customer needs are changing. This is the modern era and most of the people have been encompassed into the digital era and it means they are moving from the old ways of doing things. It is imperative for organizations to realize this change and come up with new strategies. It does not necessarily means that everything is changing including the very basic fundamentals of life; it simply implies that as much as some things can never change, for instance, a customer’s need for bread will obviously never change, but what can change is how frequent the customer needs that particular bread . Jimoyiannis (2012) points out that the recent influx in behavioral changes as a result of modern technology has given people the impression that the best products are the ones that look like modern technology itself in terms of their branding and even packaging in the outside and quality.
As Brizzi, Ellen and Nuijten (2012) explain, organizations can only realize these changes and put them into practice if they find a way of developing new projects that will be devoid of communication problems and enhance best practices. The issue of developing a perfect organizational plan project has always been a challenging aspect to deal with. It requires a very critical approach into what is being discussed. This is the case because if an organization comes up with a project plan that is not effective and efficient enough, then there is the likelihood of that plan bringing in more loses than profits into the organization (Brizzi, Ellen and Nuijten 2012).
Turrey et al. (2014) inform that, the very first step into making good organizational future prospects in a project plan is to begin with the identification of the problem. This should be done after each and every department of the respective organization has been scrutinized thoroughly and particular voids identified within the systems. These problems should then be combined into one statement that will act as the problem statement (Turrey et al. 2014). The organization will then proceed to find ways in which this problem can be solved by coming up with suggestions and recommendations. In order to ensure that the best project plan is developed and eventually implemented, it will be of essence to review scholarly articles, books, journals and media sources in order to get the best understanding of what exactly is needed of them. It is advisable that a particular department in the organization be brought into focus. This will give the firm a better chance of thorough evaluation since they will be focusing on a particular small area. Once the organization has been able to come up with a successful plan for this particular department, a similar approach can then be applied to come up with an improvement strategy for the rest of the other departments (Turrey et al. 2014). A comprehensive analysis of the organization’s results in terms of these development plans will therefore, show a complete improvement in all the firm’s departments, meaning general progress.
This particular project plan will, therefore, focus entirely on the ICT sector, identification and eradication of the established communication problems within the system and finally, a scope into the best practices that can possibly be applied into the running of an organization.
Based on Brizzi (2012) analysis, the Understanding of ICT and how a plan based on this subject can be created and implemented in order to come up with the best practices for better customer satisfaction and loyalty and the eventual promise of good returns in terms of the net profit. This was identified given the fact that communication problems have been the hallmark of the degradation of most organizations in the aspects of development and the achievement of goals and objectives. This plan will seek to come up with solutions to these inconsistencies and then put them into practice. The communication plan will be developed alongside an information plan. An organization will be selected for this purpose. It will then be used a sample for the rest of the major organizations in the world. Positive results obtained from the implementation of this plan for this organization therefore, means that a similar approach can be applied by other organizations. For this article, the case organization will be the IM Flash Company.
Vogelsang (2013) devotes to answering the question; how can an organization can come up with a project plan based on ICT that will see to it that communication problems are eradicated and best practices enhanced for better customer satisfaction and the achievement of the company’s goals and objectives? Communication challenges present themselves in more than just one way. They show up in very many ways and it is important for the organization to have this in mind. The IMFlash Company established that in order for them to be able to get to the hallmark of these problems, they will need to start considering the main aspects of the organization in terms of subdivisions. The first part was the internal communication part. Within the internal communication part, there are other subdivisions also (Vogelsang 2013). These include the communication between the employees and the management, the communication among the employees themselves and finally, the communication among the management and between the employees and the customers.
Limitations were found involving the communication between the employees and the management. The end result of the presence of these limitations is that there was lack of effective communication between the employees and the management. Such barriers include:
- Lack of proper communicationchannels
- Poor communicationskills showed by both the employees and some of the people in the management
- Time wastage in sending messages and as such, the messages were taking too long to reach their intended parties
- The security of this communicationwas not guaranteed.
The same problems were identified for the communication among the employees. The major problem came in the communication between the employees and the customers. This is because; type of communication is literally the most important given the fact that it is the one that leads to results and customer satisfaction. It was discovered that due to the reason that most of the employees have poor communication skills, the relation between the employees and the customers was at a big mess (Gregoriou 2015). This was established to be a grave matter since it could possibly lead to the disloyalty of employees due to unsatisfied circumstances. The end result of this occurrence is that the company will run the risk of making loses and eventual close up of the business.
Turvey (2014) disuses that, this circumstance does not only apply to the type of communication involving employees and the customers, it applies to all the types of communication practiced within the organization. This calls for the need to find solutions to these problems before matters get out of hand. A team of experts suggested that the best way to deal with such complexities is to come up with a computerized communication system that will see to it that these barriers are broken and that all forms of communication practiced in the organization are all effective and guarantee good results. In other words, ICT was established to be the answer to these problems. Before solutions can be provided, it will be essential to first of all have a good understanding of the initials ICT and what ICT is all about.
Sarngadharan (2010) agrees that Information and Communication Technology is the backbone for all the major scientific advancements made on the universe. ICT encompasses all the applications of the use of modern equipment for communication purposes. Such include the use of computers in the communication process in terms of social media websites and other sophisticated software that can be used for the purpose of communication (Sarngadharan 2010). ICT extends to the various ways by which communicated information can be secured from unauthorized access. This brings in the concept of cloud computing and satellite technology. The communication links and networks are also a vital factor in ICT (Rowland 2017). This is because they are the roots of ICT and they are a vital component in the communication process since without their proper functioning, then there would not be any form of communication at all. Khoddam (2015) adds that, an ICT plan will involve the digitalization of all the departments of the organizations starting from the communication equipment used and everything else. The monitoring systems should also be considered in this case. The implementation will therefore, involve the integration of this newly acquired and established modern equipment together with the ICT links and basic networks. The organization will then see the need of replacing its experts concerned with the communication needs of the company with better qualified personnel or training the existing ones.
Jimoyiannis (2012) argues that the problem of lack of proper communication channels should be solved by obtaining modern connections and links that are in the market. Advanced communication equipment such as the use of optical screens and surveillance cameras should be applied (Jimoyiannis 2012). Cliché informal forms of communication channels should be avoided at all costs. Such include the use of timed out telephones and mobile phones with the later being considered too casual and out of practice. The implementation of vibrating devices and modern screens that will be implanted in all the necessary areas of the organizations should be put into consideration. The IMFlash Company should find it necessary to run checks on how great communication companies such as the Vodafone are working in terms of the forms of communication channels they are using and then implement the same or even better systems into their own organizations.
According to Čičin (2012) communication skills are very important in the running of the organization. If an employee cannot communicate effectively with his manager or customer, then there is the possibility of tremendous negative repercussions on the development of the company. Most of the key players in many organizations lack adequate good communication skills. The main reason why this happens could be as a result of them not having being adequately trained on how to communicate effectively. The only possible way by which the IM Flash Company can reverse this situation is by introducing a team of experts in the field of communication skills to educate the employees and the management on the best way to communicate to each other and to the customers (Čičin 2012). Training sessions will be created for this purpose. However, to be sure that a positive impact is being achieved, it will be necessary to run evaluation tests in order to trace the performance of these individuals. This should not be done like an actual classroom examination, it should be done in the way of exposing the trained individuals to the customers and then obtaining the customers’ feedback on how they were treated as far the communication between them and the company’s employees is concerned.
Acquiring advanced communication equipment and creating modern communication and networking links through cloud computing and satellite integration will see to it that the security of the company’s communicated and stored information is guaranteed. Acity (2012) identified that cases of time wastage and the resulting devastations due to late communications would have been avoided by advanced communication equipment. An information management plan is basically a plan that will ensure that the company’s information contained in files and computer databases is kept safe from unauthorized access and that it can be obtained easily by the company’s management whenever it is needed.
The decision of the IM Flash Company to integrate ICT into its operations is the best decision that they have ever made so far. ICT is beneficial inclusion into the company’s union and it will not be long until the benefits start showing up. It will be of great essence for the other companies which have been suffering the same fate as the IM Flash Company to obtain a similar project plan and implement it for their own benefit.
References
| Acity, Meghanathan, N., Nagamalai, D., & Chaki, N, 2013. Advances in computing and information technology: proceedings of the second International Conference on Advances in Computing and Information Technology (ACITY) July 13-15, 2012, Chennai, India. Volume 3 Volume 3. Berlin, Springer. Brizzi, L., Ellen-Wolff, I., & Nuijten, A, 2012. Oracle APEX best practices. Birmingham, UK, Packt Pub. |
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Khoddam, S., Hall, M. R., & Fisher, J, 2015. C.S. Lewis and the Inklings: reflections on faith, imagination and modern technology.
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