Decision Making and Knowledge Management: Brooks Restaurant Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of knowledge and information management within the context of Brooks Restaurant. It begins with an introduction that outlines the importance of managing information for effective decision-making processes. The report then delves into the decisions made in strategic planning, managerial control, and operational control, highlighting how these areas impact the organization's functioning. It identifies the specific information required to facilitate these decisions and enhance knowledge management. The analysis further explores the requirements for a complete Management Information System (MIS), suggesting necessary upgrades and modifications to improve efficiency. The report also addresses potential legal and corporate problems, offering suggested implications. The report emphasizes the importance of data collection, analysis, and application in strategic, managerial, and operational decision-making. The report concludes with a discussion on how to improve the existing MIS to support decision-making and optimize the restaurant's operations. The report also includes an appendix with illustrations to support the analysis.

Managing Knowledge and Information

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION (120-130).............................................................................................1
1 Decisions made in strategic planning, managerial and operational control..........1
2 Information required to make decisions which lead to greater knowledge
management............................................................................................................4
3 Requirement for system to make complete MIS...................................................6
4 Potential legal and corporate problems plus consideration of suggested implications
................................................................................................................................. 7
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................... 10
REFERENCES...............................................................................................................11
APPENDIX 1.................................................................................................................. 13

Illustration Index
Illustration 1: Understanding and Modeling Organizational Systems..............................2
Illustration 2: Understanding and Modeling Organizational Systems.............................13

INTRODUCTION
Managing knowledge and information is the process of making, distributing,
using and managing the information in the organisation (Stapel and Schneider, 2014).
The aim of the report is to analyse and research on information and knowledge that aids
in the process of decision making within the business of the organisation. In the
particular case of the Brooks Restaurant a brief research will be made which shows the
use of management information system in decision making process and knowledge
management. The decisions made in the area of strategic planning, managerial control
and operational control will be covered and the impact of it on the working of the
organisation will be discussed. The necessary information which is required to make
such decision will be identified that lead to greater knowledge management within the
business. The resource which will make the incomplete management information
system complete will be evaluated and various legal and corporate issues that the
business faces will be discussed and consideration of suggested implication will be
produced.
1 Decisions made in strategic planning, managerial and operational control
The Brooks Restaurant installed advance management information system which
help the company to make decisions in efficient and effective manner (Świgoń and
Weber, 2014). In order to run smoothly the manager of the organisations has to focus
on key areas of decision making that can create a huge impact, these areas include the
strategic planing, managerial control and operational control. The evaluation of these
areas are provided below:
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Strategic Planning
The process by which the organisation can allocate its resources, define an
effective strategy to make and efficient decision. The thoughts of managers of the
restaurant are future oriented as they have invested in management information system
which provide them all the details and information regarding the food and other
resources (Holtshouse, 2013). The management has to focus on more areas which
include anticipation of stock and supplies which assist them to make decisions earlier. It
helps them to avoid uncertainty and can generate the customer loyalty. To increase the
growth and development of the organisation, managers has made decisions to prioritise
and sort the activities in the way which can aid in improving the organisation work
quality and generation of revenue. In present the information system only forecast
weekly sales and food cost, the strategic decisions could be implemented which cover
more vast areas such as planning of future budgets, anticipation of net revenue by
comparing the previous year profits, etc (Quast, L., 2012).
The top level management needs to be updated on the information of food and
breaks out percentage analysing total sales and sales of each item. The organisation
has to plan according to its vision, mission and values so that it can serve its customer
in the best way possible and contributes towards the economy of the nation. The
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Illustration 1: Understanding and
Modeling Organizational Systems
(Source: Levels of Management, 2008)

strategic decisions influence the business in many ways and its the responsibility of the
top level management to keep formulating and implementing the well framed strategies.
For Example, an executive assist system include operating plan development, profit
planning, trend sales forecasting and human resource planning.
Managerial Control
The aim of control is to adapt to environmental change, cope up with
organisational uncertainty and avoid wastage of cost. The management of restaurant
has to established standards to measure the performance of the system in the
organisation (Dingsoyr and Smite, 2014). In the present context, the managers are
focusing on controlling avoidance of orders by customers. This aid them to eliminate the
items which are the least favourable by the consumers from the menu card of
restaurant. The managerial control impact in organisational decision making process in
different ways as the management has to focus on the standards of performance and
made analysis on the basis of them.
The managerial control governs the development of policies and operating
procedures that regulates the performance of the work task. In current scenario of the
organisation, the decision can be formulated for transformation of menu card, which aid
the management to increase the sale and reduce the avoidance of order. The middle
level managers are responsible for planning of menus and recording the rationale for
void orders (Ellwart, Bündgens and Rack, 2013). For Example, The managerial decision
can be made to setting up the customer feedback where an organisation get exact idea
about the standards of performance and can work forward to reduce the void of orders.
Operational Control
The system is designed to make sure that day to day activities are consistent
with developed plans and objectives. In the present context the task is done by waiter
such as taking order, placing it online in one of the six terminals established in the
organisation and delivering it to the right customer. In addition to that, he also provides
the feedback to the customer if the restaurant goes out of particular food item. This all
activities are the part of operational control. This is basically for lower level managers
for decision making process where they formulate and implement the strategies which
assist in operational control. It aims to focus on events in a recent period and corrective
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action is taken where performance does not meet standards. It helps in providing
excellent services to the customer, which eventually increases the image and reputation
of the organisation. For example, the system of transaction processing include tracking
and processing of order, control of machine, plant scheduling, securities trading and
compensation.
2 Information required to make decisions which lead to greater knowledge management
Decision making is the process by which an organisation generate, formulate and
implement those strategies which will work according to the vision and mission policy
and work progressively towards achieving the objectives. Various information are
required to make decision such as:
Information required to make strategic decisions- There are various information
which helps in formulating of strategies which aid the business to established an
effective work quality and assists in long run. In the present case the restaurant has
installed the advance management information system which not only help in decision
making process but also aids in implementing the strategies which work according to
the values of business (Bhatt, Pankaj and Rodger, 2014). Currently the system provides
information of sales of food items versus total sales, which only covers the limited area.
To increase the area of knowledge management process the system has to upgrade to
anticipate the budgets, sales and purchase forecasting and total revenue generation of
business.
These informations are very essential as they provide an exact position of the
organisation and further help the management to improve the quality and efficiency by
formulating and implementing effective decisions. The information also include the taste
and preference of customer so that it can be added in the menu card to increase the
sales of that item. The top level management is responsible for acquiring and recording
the necessary information regarding formulation of strategies.
Information required for managerial decisions- From the present case, the
information which is necessary for making and formulating decisions at managerial level
is the records of the void orders made by the customers. The managers need this
record to develop their knowledge management as it covers the issues of quality and
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quantity. The documentation of the void orders is the responsibility of the middle level
managers. The decision to be made in the managerial area are greatly dependent upon
the information available to the managers who make decisions (Stapel and Schneider,
2014). It is an important process of the organisation. There are six terminals established
in the restaurant where the waiter can give information of orders of the customer to the
cook. It is essential to record the particular data as it can aid the managers to formulate
specific decisions on the basis of it.
The illumination not only influence the middle level management but also impact
on the knowledge management of the organisation. On the basis of such information
the managers can compare and make analysis of the current standard of performance
and with previous standards (Roy and Mitra, 2015). In order to measure the actual
standards of performance of the system the data and information is very important for
the organisation for formulation and implementation of the decision to accomplish the
organisational goals and objectives.
Information required for Operational decision making
For highlighting the trouble spots and identification of the interconnection with
other task, the data is required to make decisions for operational activities are very
important. From the present context the information which is required to make the
operational decisions are depended upon tasks and activities conducted in the
restaurant. These activities are lower or ground level and mostly handled by the low
level management. Activities like taking orders of customer, providing them feedbacks,
giving the information of order to the cook, giving the customer their bills, etc. In order to
increase the efficiency of activities the low level management required these
informations. It portrays the exact idea of the organisation operational level and assist
them and formulating and implementation of the decision (Leonard, Swap and Barton,
2015). There are various advantages of the online system of transferring the
information. Such as it eliminates the carbon copies, issue regarding handwriting of
waiter, display out of stock messages, etc. These informations are very essential to
management as it help them to forecast sales figures, helps in planning of menus and
display information of stock and supplies.
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3 Requirement for system to make complete MIS
The management information system installed in the organisation requires some
upgrade and modification to make it complete. It needs to be modernise according to
the needs and requirement of the restaurant. If the system provide the effectiveness of
performance of employees and on the basis of it calculate their incentives it can
become a complete MIS. The results are not provided to the customer and their
feedbacks are not attended by the employees (Hudson, 2017). So, there is requirement
to update the system so that it can provide the results and assign feedback of customer
to employees, a complete management information system can be created. MIS should
hold this practice by giving such information which will assist in the progression of
efficiency in the organisation and operational system. Study the areas of strong
executive information system is also necessary for development and operations. The
current MIS lacks the decision support system, so to complete the management
information system a decision support system should be initiated (Galliers and Leidner,
2014). MIS helps the organisation to speed up the problem solving capacity and growth
in the quality of decision and support. To make the information system complete the
support for decision making is necessary.
It posses a category of information which based on computer including
knowledge based system that hold the decision making activities. The rapidly changing
environments and preference of the consumer impacts the menu of the organisation
(Olander and Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, 2015). This increase the void orders and affect
the growth and production of the business. The key requirement to complete the
management information system is to upgrade the database of the system with the
latest trends and lifestyle of population of the country. This database will assist the
organisation to provide their customers with up to date menus. The management
information system also support all the important decisional areas in the organisation
such as strategic, managerial and operational level. It will not only lower the burden of
the management but also provide a platform for making effective and efficient decision
making policy in the restaurant business. Earlier it has been established for just doing
transaction process related activities and decision making at minimal level (Galliers and
Leidner, 2014). But due to frequent changes in external and internal environment and
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rapid growth of competitions lead to up gradation of the management information
system. Now management wants more from the system such as contributing in decision
support system and evolved it in executive information system.
Management information system is standardised combination of hardware, data
sources, people and communication networks that gather, transforms and share the
information throughout the organisation (Thannhuber, Bruntsch and Tseng, 2017). The
restaurant has established management information system which aid the organisation
to transferring the information within the company. The information system is capable of
generating sales forecast, displaying the current stock and supplies and eliminate the
process of carbon printings which not only increase the speed of overall process in work
but also help in effective and efficient growth of the organisation (MIS - Knowledge
Management System. 2017). It helps the organisation to make decision at all level of
management. The manger with help of MIS can improve the quality and speed of
decision. An organisation can conduct all activities from operational to top level in an
efficient and effective manner.
For example, A complete MIS must improve managerial efficiency, increase the
speed of solving problems, assist in interpersonal communication, advancing training
and learning, increasing control in operations and personal, making new evidence to
hold a decision, generating competitive advantage over competitions, reassuring
analysis of research and discovery on the side of decision making activities,
acknowledging new approaches which can help the business to grow rapidly. If these
points and areas are covered by the management information system, then it can
recognise as the complete MIS (Ellwart, Bündgens and Rack, 2013).
4 Potential legal and corporate problems plus consideration of suggested implications
The Brooks Restaurant by using online and management information system
may face several legal and corporate issues. Some issues are provided below:
Legal Issues
1. Data Protection- As per the data protection act 1998, it is the duty and
responsibility of the organisation to protect and safeguard the personal data and
information of the employees, customer and stakeholders so that misuse of that
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information can be prohibited. As the restaurant is depended upon online
database from its operational to top level activities, it is the responsibility of the
managers to handle data with care (Schnackenberg and Tomlinson, 2016). The
misuse of information can drag the organisation into legal consequences and the
management has to deal with punishment and penalties prescribed in the laws.
2. Consumer Protection Act 1987- It is an essential element in the laws i.e. to
protect and safeguarding the consumer by serving them fresh and good quality
meal. In restaurant business it is very important to have effective quality of
resources which can keep the food products fresh and germs free. If not handled
with care, food products will contaminate and results in diarrhoea and food
poisoning to the consumer (Taal, Van der Velde and Langbroek, 2017).
Organisation may face legal issues if any of its customer complain regarding the
quality.
Corporate Issues
1. Menu- The restaurant business is currently facing the issue of void orders by
customers. This is the serious problem as it affect the goodwill as well the
revenue of the organisation. The products describe in the menus are outdated as
there is huge change of taste and preference of the customers. The organisation
is lacking the supply of food stock which affects the menu of the restaurant.
2. Customer Service- Poor customer service sometimes results in loss of the
organisation reputation (Świgoń and Weber, 2014). The management of
restaurant provides the immediate billing and display of prices facility to the
customer. But due to some technical issues it shows incorrect information. Thus
lead to corporate issue in the organisation.
3. Management- The management of the restaurant is responsible for providing
efficient quality and services to the customers. Though several issues are faced
by the organisation due to lack of managerial actions. The management
information system is limited to the transaction process and does not aid in
complete decision support system (Holtshouse, 2013).
Recommendation and Suggestion
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 To prevent the leakage of data the organisation has to install the proper security
measures. Up grade the database management system of the company so that
except top officials and human resource managers no one can access the vital
data and information.
 Improvements are required in quality of food and other items which are essential
to prevent any serious disease to the customers (Ellwart, Bündgens and Rack,
2013). Quality control team must be set up to detect the contaminated food item
and throw it out from the production. Consumer safety is the essential for any
organisation and for restaurant business it is an important condition which is
meant to be fulfilled.
 There is greater need to update the management information system as it is very
important to the organisation to increase the speed of decision making and
problem solving. It also helps in increasing the interpersonal communication and
assist in analysis of research and exploration in executive information system.
 Management has to take control of void orders. Establishment of new menu is
required which contain the items according to the trends and recent taste and
preference of the consumers.
 Modification required in printer as it is classified into only three which hot, cold
and bar printer (Bhatt, Pankaj and Rodger, 2014). The more classification
according to the type of food must be provided such as chinese, continental, etc.
 Training and development is to be provided to the manpower, so that they can
use the technology efficiently and effectively.
 The features of the system to be increase. Anticipation regarding budgets,
revenues, stock and supplies must be provided accurately. It helps the restaurant
to make estimation of the current position.
 Management information system should provide the efficiency of performance of
waiters so that accurate incentives can be generated. It also needs to show the
outcome of the customer feedbacks. It helps in increase in satisfaction level of
the consumers.
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