Managing communication, knowledge and information Essay

Managing communication, knowledge and information - Essay Example This paper seeks to establish an understanding of the meaning of communication, information and knowledge management, and show how these three aspects can be improved within an organization, including the integration of Information Technology systems to hasten company’s operations. In details, this paper will look at communication process, internal and external sources of knowledge and how managers can improve the communication process as well as communication skills. In addition, the role played by various stakeholders in ensuring effective communication is explained. Lastly, it also covers how IT systems can be used for collecting, analyzing, storing, disseminating and providing access to knowledge and information. Discussion Communication management Communication is the process of transmitting a message from a sender to a receiver in a comprehensible manner. It can also be the process of sharing thoughts, ideas, and feelings with others while making sure that those thoughts , feelings and ideas are well understood by the people concerned. Communication is all about speaking, listening as well as observing. Effective communication is crucial in the business world and personal life too. Since communication accounts for the difference between success and failure in many businesses and that it is critical to the successful operation of modern organizations, effective communication is an absolute must. Moreover, every person in an organization needs to understand the principals of effective communication. Companies everywhere are working towards the realization of Total Quality Management (TQM) and effective communication, and the manner in which individuals perceive and converse with each other in the workplace is crucial. Poor communication reduces quality, weakens productivity, and later leads to anger as well as lack of trust among stakeholders in an organization, and therefore, communication process is the guide towards the realization of effective com munication. In communication process, the passing of information from the sender to the receiver takes place, and individual who follow the process have the opportunity to become more productive. Communication process within an organization is usually determined by the nature of the organizational structure. Communication process is made up of four key components, which is encoding, the medium of transmission, decoding and feedback. The communication process begins with the sender who can be an individual, group or organization that initiates communication and ends with the receiver. The sender‘s attitude, experience, knowledge, skills experience, perceptions and culture have an influence on the message. Therefore, the sender is usually responsible for the success of the message, and the written words, spoken words and non-verbal language selected are paramount in ensuring the receiver interprets the message intended (Burnett & Dollar 1989). The encoding process is the first s tep in the communication process. A sender must encode, which means translating information into a message that represents ideas and concepts usually in the form of symbols, and it becomes a coded message which will now be communicated. The