Managing Communications, Knowledge and Information: A Case Study of Zara UK

MANAGING
COMMUNICATIONS,
KNOWLEDGE AND
INFORMATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................2
1.1 Range of decision to be taken by Zara senior management team..........................................2
1.2 Information and knowledge needed to ensure effective decision making.............................3
1.3 Internal and external sources of information and understanding available in ZARA UK for
decision making...........................................................................................................................4
1.4 Recommendations for improvement to ZARA UK management team.................................5
LO2..................................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Identify stakeholders for a decision making process.............................................................6
2.2 Make contact with those identified and develop business relationships...............................8
2.3 Involve those identified in the decision making as appropriate............................................9
2.4 Design Strategies for improvement.....................................................................................10
LO3................................................................................................................................................11
3.1 Report on existing processes of communication in an organization...................................11
3.2 Design ways to improve appropriateness............................................................................12
3.3 Implement improvements to ensure greater integration of systems of communication in
that organization........................................................................................................................13
3.4 Create a personal plan to improve own communication skills............................................14
LO4................................................................................................................................................15
4.1 Report on existing approaches to the collection, formatting, storage and dissemination of
information and knowledge.......................................................................................................15
4.2 Carry out appropriate changes to improve the collection, formatting, storage and
dissemination of information and knowledge............................................................................21
4.3 Implement a strategy to improve access systems of information and knowledge...............23

CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................25
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................26

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Stakeholders of ZARA...................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Information, knowledge and management play an important role in increasing the efficiency of
business as well as help in gaining the competitive advantage in the market. Zara operates as a
retail clothing store and focuses on various decisions making for accessing the information and
knowledge systems. The report focuses on analyzing the information and knowledge that helps
in taking the decisions in an effective manner. Various external and internal sources are also
evaluated. Stakeholders’ are identified for the new opening of store and the communication
methods are identified to contact them in the most efficient way. The report also focuses on
various communication systems and how to improve those by implementing various strategies.
The last part of the report analyzes the need of advancement in information and communication
technology to bring effectiveness in business operations.
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LO1
1.1 Range of decision to be taken by Zara senior management team
Zara is one of the leading companies in our fashion industry and it is giving major competition
goals to other companies. It is a renowned fashion brand. The major objective of a company is to
increase number of customers by giving them satisfactory services and products. There are
various decisions which manager has to take for smooth functioning of a company. Various
decisions which help management team in making decisions are as follows:
1. Strategic decision: Strategic decisions are long term decision as it helps in changing the
strategies which will be helps in competition and might be risky for future (Hagiu, 2014). These
decisions are made by top level managers and by share holders. By mutual understanding
strategy can be changed by proper SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strength, Weakness,
Opportunity and Threat. Decisions are affected by various environmental factors as they are
changing with the changing environment. Manager has to take decisions by proper SWOT
analysis of environment. These decisions highly affect the working of the company.
2. Tactical decisions: This decision are taken by middle level managers as it does not involve top
level managers because they are short term decision which are less than a year it helps in
changing the technique of a company and nothing else. Though they are short term decisions but
require a sense of intellectuality from the managers. The middle level managers of Zara also
need to focus on such decisions.
3. Operational decisions: They are decision which is taken on regular basis. These are generally
taken by lower level managers. For example decisions regarding working capital, decision
regarding stock maintenance. These decisions have short period of time not more than a week.
Operational decisions are decisions relating to day to day working of a business.
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1.2 Information and knowledge needed to ensure effective decision making.
Hybrid model are made for flow of information from warehouses to store for availability of stock
and helps in maintaining the stock (Trianni et.al., 2016). There are various devices which are
handled by managers for feedback of customers and help in satisfying their needs by directly
contacting to the designers. This technique help in making proper balance between demand and
supply of customers so that there will be proper flow of information. Chain is developed between
operational, production and distribution channel which will help in making orders by passing the
information about the need of customers. This model deals in manufacturing related work.
Information system needs people technology and proper procedure needed to solve any problem.
The group of people are associated with decision making like expert system, decision support
system, and information system. The main objective of this support system is to promote better
decision making which helps in developing proper support system. It is necessary for smooth
functioning of the company (Laudon and Laudon, 2016). Information and knowledge are
backbone of any decision to be taken. They are essential for any organization. A decision can be
effective only if it is backed up proper information and complete knowledge.
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1.3 Internal and external sources of information and understanding available in ZARA UK for
decision making.
Internal as well as external information helps to make business decision more accurate. The
internal sources include all the information from the sources which are within the organization
like middle level management and employees of organization as they give information regarding
overall performance of company. Various internal and external source of information are
available in any company. These sources provide information as well as help in decision making
of company (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). The primary sources of data are generally managed by
Google and secondary sources are information is not part of Google as it required different
researches by different analysts. It helps in strength of an organization as it will help in real
experience of company and provides the clear picture of performance of company.
ZARA uses different approach for obtaining information from market which is different from its
competitors as it depends on elite design teams as they plan according to needs of the customers.
The speed of ZARA in product development is better than any other companies. It keeps on
developing its products and brings new products in the market on a regular basis. The
information collected through various sources forms the base of development for Zara.
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