Developing a Technology Usage Agreement to Ensure Compliance and Data Security

This report highlights the importance of effective communication system in an organization. It emphasizes the need for Media- Watch to improve its information and knowledge management systems by implementing technology usage agreements, comprehensive technology plans, bandwidth upgrades, off-site storage, software services, and periodic maintenance. The report suggests that these improvements will enhance decision-making, improve employee engagement, and increase overall organizational performance.

Managing
Communication
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 3.1 Different communication processes available to a small voluntary organization...........3
Sender:......................................................................................................................4
Communication Channel:.........................................................................................5
LO 3.1 & 3.2 Improvement in appropriate communication and ensuring integration of systems
of communication........................................................................................................................6
LO 4.1 &4.2 Identify and recommend improvements to the organization's existing approaches
......................................................................................................................................................7
LO 4.3 Improvements in access to
systems of information and knowledge......................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
Communication is the most essential element of organizational effectiveness as it
integrates the organizational core business processes and facilitates smooth functioning.
Managing communication is an complex task for any organization as it requires coordinated
support from all organizational members (Alna, Haccoun and Belcount, 2010). The organization
chosen for this report is a small politics activist named Media-watch. In this report the various
topics has been covered which are related to the communication process in voluntary
organizations. Moreover, the improvements in communication and integration of system
communication system is also developed here. In addition to this, recommendations are also
given for the Improvements in access to
systems of information and knowledge.
LO 3.1 Different communication processes available to a small voluntary organization
Communication is the process of conveying information between two or more people
with an objective of understanding sender's intended message by receiver. Following are the
steps of communication process :
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(Source : Process of Communication, 2015)
Sender:
A person who intends to forward the message with an intention of sharing important
information is known as sender to others. In all the small organizations, similar process of
communication is followed in order to share the information (Andrews and Russell, 2012). For
Media-watch, the procedure of communication is almost similar and when it conveys any type of
information to society, it is also called as communicator or sender.
Ideas:
Ideas are the subject matter of the communication process as the process is totally based
on them. Ideas can be in form of opinion, attitude, feelings, views, orders or suggestions which
are shared by Media-watch to the society. The media-watch aims at providing socially
responsible media and also protest against potentially harmful contents to the society (Benbya,
Passiante and Belbaly, 2004). The ideas of the Media-watch are delivered to the society in order
to protect them from unethical issues raised in the environment.
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Illustration 1: Process of Communication

Encoding:
As, the subject matter involved in the process of communication is theoretical and
intangible so it is very important to use certain symbols such as words, actions or pictures. The
subject matter of the communication process is transformed into these symbols for making it
effective and this process is called encoding. Media-watch also transform its intended message
by using words, symbols and picture order to delver the message effectively to the society
(Desouza, and Awazu, 2006). If the message is properly encoded to the society, it creates a good
impact on the society. In the campaign of Media-watch, it uses proper presentation and encoding
of messages so that it could be shared properly and able to create an impact on society which
lead to the change.
Communication Channel:
After encoding the message, the communicator must use appropriate channel of
communication so that it could be forwarded to the receivers. The information is transmitted by
using specified channels which may be formal or informal. In addition, the channels of
communication used by Media-watch are print media, social media, television, radio and media
campaigns (Doole and Lowe, 2008). The objective of this firm is to safeguard the society from
the unethical issues. To serve this objective, the communication channel must be appropriate so
that it could have significant impact on society.
Receiver:
Receiver is the person who has received the forwarded message by the sender and he tries
to understand the message in the best way so that the desired objective could be achieved
(Fulton, 2009). In case of Media-watch group, the receiver of the message is society for which
the message is meant for.
Decoding:
The receiver of the message from the communicator tries to transform the message in
such a way so that he can discover its meaning to achieve the objective. The society also tries to
understand the shared message by this group as it is in their welfare and if properly understood,
then it results into the drastic change in society (Greenbank, 2011).
Feedback:
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Feedback is a process which ensures that receiver has received the message and
understood in the same manner as sender meant it. In case of Media-watch, the feedback from
the society can be seen as the positive change followed by the same (Gupta and Et.al., 2007).
LO 3.1 & 3.2 Improvement in appropriate communication and ensuring integration of systemsof
communication
The major problem in Media-watch was that the volunteer supervisor was engaged in so many
projects so she was not able to give time to delegation of projects by communicating with
volunteers. Most of the volunteers of this firm are involved in updating databases, solicitations
and mailings so writers volunteer focus was only on writing and doing special projects. Thus, in
the organization only the horizontal top down communication from this particular supervisor was
there and the vertical communication was thoroughly ignored which results into the
miscommunication (Hall and et.al., 2011).
In order to improve the communication at Media-watch company, the vertical
communication must be installed in this organization so that everybody should know about each
other's responsibilities and could not be dependent on each other to perform it. If the projects are
properly delegated and everybody is made accountable for their own work then there will be a
proper coordination in activities to be performed and also the fewer chances of communication
(Hinton, 2006). The proper channels of the communication must be installed in this organization
so that volunteers can communicate with each other regarding their projects and tasks. If there
will be a proper vertical communication, then it will ensure integrity and fewer chances of
omissions. In Media-watch, communication was totally external and internal communication was
purely ignored which causes a great deal of confusion (Illia and Balmer, 2012). In order to
remove confusions, the supervisor of volunteers should delegate the written instructions on hand
outs to all volunteers for setting their time block and properly assigning the work.
In Media-watch, it is very important to make the system of communication integrated
with the internal as well as external environment. If the communication system of this
organization is not integrated, it will not be as effective as it is expected to be. The internal
communication system must be integrated with the external communication system in order to
ensure effectiveness in work performance (Malhotra, 2005). However, proper communication
channels must be installed in the organization so that volunteers can communicate with each
other. If proper channel is installed in the organization, it will be able to avoid speculation and
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rumours among employees in lack of information. High quality of information system involves
regular and timely two way communication regarding work related activities and tasks. After
installing a proper channel of communication system in the organization, it is integrated to the
external environment (Münstermann, Eckhardt and Weitzel, 2010). The integration of external
and internal communication results into the organizational effectiveness.
LO 4.1 &4.2 Identify and recommend improvements to the organization's existing approaches
Collection
In order to improve data collection methods following initiatives can be taken by Media-watch :-
 To modernize and improve the instruments of data collection.
 The methods should be applied systematically so that it can have a positive effective on
response rates (Pulakos, 2009)
 To take systematically and effectively follow ups from respondents and correction in
errors occurred.
Following are the strategic focus areas which may be taken in account while collecting data :
 Focus on utilizing administrative registers
 Increasing automated data capture from
businesses
 Data collection tailored to the respondents information sources and preferences (Schmitt,
2011)
 Develop a professional support service Data collection from Internet sources
Formatting
After collecting the data, data is sorted and categorized in order to generate the relevant
information from it. The formatting of data can improved by using the advance tools of
formatting and data sorting. Management Information System (MIS) is useful in sorting the data
and making the effective use of this information (Tofanelli, 2012).
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Storage
The Media-watch can use Management Information System (MIS) in order to store the
useful information. Whenever, the manager needs the information, he can retrieve the data from
this system. MIS is the study of people, technology and the relationship among them. It helps the
firm in providing the relevant information whenever required (Walter, 2010). The appropriate
data can be sorted from this system by sing advance tools.
Dissemination of information
If the message is conveyed by the social media sites like face book and twitter, it is very
soon disseminated as there are many posts shared in a single day on these sites. So the message
should be conveyed by using the appropriate tools such as magazines, print media and social
awareness campaign so that it could have a impact in mind of society for a long term (Hall and
et.al., 2011).
Knowledge
The supervisor must develop a time saving communication system such as memos, e-
mails and written communication methods to assign the tasks effectively and in a specific time
frame. In order to gain certain type of knowledge, the organization can install knowledge
management (About Information Systems. 2006). Media-watch can be able to retain the useful
data and extract the relevant information whenever required for a particular project.
LO 4.3 Improvements in access to
systems of information and knowledge
Following steps can be taken in order to improve the information and knowledge system by
Media-watch :
Step 1
Media-watch must develop a Technology Usage Agreement for its volunteers which
provide cover against compliance issues like web surfing, data or music download policy and
data confidentiality. It also helps the organization in prohibiting the visiting website categories
which invite viruses such as torrent sites, gambling and file sharing sites (Illia and Balmer,
2012).
Step 2
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After developing Technology Usage Agreement, a comprehensive technology plan is
created which involves systematic replacements of obsolete workstations and ways to measure
the new technologies. It will provide a outline that how the information system installed by this
firm will run in presents and in the future while taking in account the changing ternds of the
information and knowledge industry.
Step 3
This organization should contact to ts service provider to investigate about its bandwidth.
These type of bandwidth makes the performing multitasking very easier and also decreases the
hangups which are due to the slower updating (Walter, 2010). Media-watch must install the
bandwidth, it will give it several benefits such as multitasking, faster speed and ease in
operations.
Step 4
Media-watch should consult with other firms who are the provider of off-site storage for
its key documents and databases. This service is very easy to install and provides easy disaster
recovery if there any major system issues or virus occurred (Alna, Haccoun and Belcount, 2010).
It will make the assess to information and knowledge very easy for this organization and it will
be able to generate more relevant data for its projects.
Step 5
The software is considered as a service option for functions like word processing, email
and customer relationship management. This services enables the web based solutions which the
organization install on its each workstation. The service makes the data more available for the
user at any time and any sector.
Step 6
The firm can also install free software to make the technology budget fee up in order to
update the machines faster. Many companies like Google, Sun and Adobe provide free services
entice customers to retain them for along term (Tofanelli, 2012). By using this type of software,
this organization will be able to update its machines and tools faster which results into the
improved performance and better results of search outcomes.
Step 7
Then the periodic maintenance downtime is scheduled and the volunteers of this
organization must involved in managing updates, scan for viruses and examining error logs in
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duration of this scheduled downtime to provide cover against data loss. Media-watch should
maintain its periodic downtime so that it could be able to prevent data loss in the firm.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above report that the communication system of any
organization plays a significant role in the organizational effectiveness. In the above case study,
the problems related to the communication system of Media-watch has been highlighted. It is
observed that along with the horizontal communication, vertical communication also plays an
important role in effective execution of its objectives. In order to improve the information and
knowledge system, recommendations are provided. The recommendation are given in order to
improve the organization's existing strategies such as data collection, storage, formatting and
dissemination of information. Communication system of any organization can significantly
contribute in its success or failure.
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REFERENCES
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Hinton, M., 2006. Introducing Information Management: The Business Approach. Routleedeg
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Malhotra, Y., 2005. Integrating knowledge management technologies in organizational business
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Online
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http://pubsonline.informs.org/journal/isre>. [Accessed on 1st May 2015].
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Process of Communication, 2015. [Online]. Available
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