Integrated Management Project: Analyzing Communication Problems

This report provides an analysis of communication and conflict within an integrated management system, specifically focusing on a mobile application development company. It identifies the causes and effects of poor communication, applying theories such as Fishbone theory, 7s framework, and actor-network theory to understand and mitigate the issues. The report explores the impact of poor communication on various aspects of the company, including people, finances, marketing, and business strategy, using PESTEL analysis to contextualize the challenges. The study concludes with recommendations for improving communication, such as participative leadership and performance appraisal techniques, to foster a more integrated and effective management system. The report also includes a reflective section, discussing personal learning and insights gained during the project.

Integrated Business Management
Project (IMP2)

Executive summary
All the organizations based on the integrated management system to attain the better
outcomes from the international business processing. Integrated management is helpful to
develop the integrity and close connections between management and employees. By
considering this, the current report is focusing on the implementation of integrated management
system in the mobile application development company. Moreover, the company has a strong
demand of communication; however, the company is dealing with the problem of poor
communication and conflicts in the integrated management system. In this context, poor
communication has taken place due to several elements involving lack of motivation, poor
management, lack of leadership, the domino effects, lack of education etc. These causes raised
the problem of poor communication which has a contribution in development of conflicts in an
integrated management system.
Nonetheless, different theories such as Fishbone theory, 7s framework, actor-network
theory and effective leadership has been applied by the management to mitigate the issues and
problem of poor communication in integrated management system. On the other hand, with the
help of the relevant theories, productive results have been achieved by the company in an
integrated system. At the end, to reduce the problem of poor communication and conflicts in the
organization, few recommendations have been provided such as use of participative leadership,
use of performance appraisal techniques and well-connected online networks to improve the
level of communication.

Table of Contents
PART 1- REPORT..........................................................................................................................1
1.0 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................1
2.0 ANALYSIS................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Cause and effects of problem of poor communication and conflict......................................4
2.1.1 Applying Fishbone theory..................................................................................................5
2.2 Approaches for prevention of poor communication and conflict..........................................9
3.0 LITERATURE REVIEW........................................................................................................13
3.1 Defining integrated management system and relation with communication.......................13
3.2 Theoretical perspective of the poor communication and conflict.......................................15
3.3 Impact Poor communication and conflict on the team & company....................................18
3.3.1 People perspective on the impacts of poor communication and conflict.....................18
3.3.2 Financial perspective of the poor communication and conflict....................................20
3.3.3 Marketing perspective of poor communication and conflict........................................20
3.3.4 The business strategy perspective of poor communication and conflict......................21
3.4 PESTEL analysis and the impact of poor communication..................................................22
3.5 Operation management.......................................................................................................25
CONCLUSIONS...........................................................................................................................25
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................26
PART 2- REFLECTION...............................................................................................................29
1.0 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................29
2.0 REFLECTION DISCUSSION................................................................................................29
3.0 CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................33
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................35
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................43

Cause and effect Analysis..........................................................................................................43
List of figures
Figure 1: Fishbone diagram for the problem of poor communication and conflicts.......................6
Figure 3: 7s framework..................................................................................................................11
Figure 4: Integrated business management....................................................................................14
Figure 5:Evolutionory model of integrated communication.........................................................15
Figure 6: Ralfe's reflection model..................................................................................................30
Figure 2: Corrective and adaptive actions for problem of poor communication...........................43

PART 1- REPORT
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Integrated business management is a system which is associated with the collaboration of
all the functions of management including marketing, supply chain, research and development,
operations and production functions of the organization (Hill, Jones and Schilling, 2014; Kelly et
al., 2013). With the help of the integrated management, the organizations hold the accelerating
position in the performance of the business activities. Moreover, the company can be highly
focused towards the continuous improvement on the basis of outcomes from the integrated
system. Furthermore, all the functionalities can be synchronized in the company. In this context,
an integrated system has been analyzed with respect to mobile applications development
company for the upgradation of the business.
The mobile application development company is an organization that develops and
deploys various mobile applications. Currently, many businesses in the market both local and
international relay on mobile applications to meet customers’ needs. This has prompted the
development of a mobile application that normally is used by smartphones to perform a specific
task. Some of the categories of mobile applications include web applications, multitasking
applications, and operating system or native applications. Web mobile applications include those
mobile applications for websites. Native mobile applications are developed for the most
operating system and include those applications for a specific task such as banking, shopping and
utility apps. Multitask mobile application are those applications that build for various uses such a
website and are built on operating systems (Madden 2014, p. 99). Integration of various business
process, functions and factors enable the development and production of mobile application easy.
Integrated management, therefore, encompasses all the process of integrating various
organizational processes and systems to a complete framework. Mobile application developing
company bases its operation on the integration of various business process and functions.
Moreover, an integrated system may be helpful for the respective mobile company to
achieve the effectiveness in business processes and all departmental functions. However, the
company is dealing with a problem of poor communication and conflict in the organization.
Additionally, the problem has adverse impact on the performance of employees and business at
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international marketplace. Therefore, it shows that the integrated management system gets
affected by the communication because in the absence of effective communication, an integrated
system cannot be operated in the company. Hence, to deal with the identified problem of the
organization, a set of objectives and aim has been determined as follows-
Aim
To analyze the problem of communication and conflict in the integrated management of
the mobile application company.
Objectives
In order to accomplish the aim of the current study, several objectives have been framed
as follows-
 To understand the concept of integrated management system and various factors affecting
it
 To assess the impact of poor communication and conflict on integrated management of
mobile application company
 To critically identify the potential reasons behind poor communication and conflict
through the application of suitable theoretical framework and models
 To recommend various ways through which integrated management system can be
applied in the mobile application company
Rationale of the study
The communication and conflict negatively affect the business performance due to poor
collaboration between different departments. However, companies target to implement the
integrated approach; yet, the issues associated with the communication affect the overall
performance. Most of the organizations deal with the problem of poor communication which
arises the conflicts among the employees’ reason of lack of information regarding the situation.
By considering it, management becomes unable to manage the diversified workforce and cannot
integrate the entire human and non-human resources within the organization. However, the
integrated management system in the company might be possible to maintain a standard level in
the competitive business environment because integrity delivers the fruitful results for the
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business. In this context, the report is based on the exploration of an integrated management
system to manage a problem of poor communication and conflict in the organization.
Here, to resolve the issues related to communication and conflicts, an effective integrated
management system has been deployed in the organization so that all the functional departments,
required resources and systems can work collectively. Further, an integrated management will be
helpful to manage the supply chain, demand review of the clients, production and operations
management etc. Moreover, with the help of review of adequate approaches and theories, an
effective implementation of integrated management might be supportive in the mobile
application development company. Apart from this, many communication companies use the
web application, multi-tasking system for the effectiveness of the services. Most of the
companies use an integrated system but less emphasis has been laid on the issues and impact of
poor communication on an integrated management system. Owing to this, the present study has
been carried out to assess the importance of communication in an integrated management for the
effectiveness of business.
Methods of analysis
There are two types of methodologies involving qualitative and quantitative which are
used as per the nature of the study (Neuman, 2013). Quantitative study is based on the statistical
tools such as Chi-square, t-test, ANNOVA etc. which provides relatively accurate outcomes
because scientific methods are applied on the collected numerical data whereas in qualitative
study, the researcher uses the own experience and ideas to obtain the possible outcomes with
detailed analysis (Bernard, 2017). In this context, qualitative study has been used for the
collection of data because a detailed analysis is required for the attainment of aim of the study.
By considering the qualitative study, a thematic analysis has also been done to derive the detailed
information regarding the problem of poor communication and conflicts in the implementation of
integrated management.
2.0 ANALYSIS
The problem is related to poor communication and conflicts in the mobile application
company which has direct and indirect impact on the integration management Here,
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communication and conflict has significant impact on the integrated management system which
has been analyzed with the help of theoretical aspects.
2.1 Cause and effects of problem of poor communication and conflict
There are several leading causes including lack of education, the domino effect, improper
management, scarcity of motivational factors etc. for the poor communication at the workplace
which arises the conflict in the entire organization (Snee, 2010; Katz, Lazarsfeld & Roper, 2017).
In this context, Goetsch & Davis (2014) stated that lack of education is the key factor to lead a
poor communication in the employees because interaction get affected by level of education.
Moreover, in the absence of professional learning employees feels like unimportant people in the
organization and deny to be connect with entire management. On a contrary, Ceravolo,
Schwartz, Foltz‐ramos & Castner (2012) argued that poor communication takes place in absence
of an impressive leadership because the employees do not get any support in the organization.
However, an effective leader regularly interacts with the team members and focuses on those
issues which are blocking the growth of employees as well as company. In this context, effective
leadership style plays a role of supportive element in the integrated management because
employees transform the free flow of information in the direction of a leader (Yukl, 2013).
Therefore, it reflects that poor communication takes place in absence of complete direction of the
leader and do not emphasizes on the issues which are occurring in the team work. Hence, it
shows that effective leaderships are important to lead the employees and in a critical situation so
that they can be motivated towards the scenario of integration and the problem of poor
communication easily resolved. In this context, the existing mobile company which is
completely dependent on the communication perspective, so, without adequate level of
communication, business cannot sustain in the market due to raising queries by customers any
time and company’s employees are bound to revert on the issues to make them satisfy.
On the basis of analysis of issues, it has been found that with the help of the participative
leadership, an integrated management system can be developed in mobile application company.
In this regard, the leader may involve the employees and team members in the decision-making
process for boosting their motivation and collaboration among them. In this manner, the problem
of lack of communication can be sorted out as well as the level of motivation can be boost at the
workplace through participative practice. Therefore, a social commitment can be developed
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among the team members by using the participative leadership and results become more relevant
to the identified problem of the company. For example, a leader of Apple company, Steve Jobs
used the participative leadership at the time of failure of the business in the year of mid of
1990’s. The business was not generating the revenue and almost it came at the stage of shut-
down. (St. Thomas University, 2018). At that time, with the help of participative leadership,
Steve jobs focused on the integrated management system by the involvement of skilled
employees in the decision-making process. In this stage, Miao, Newman, Schwarz and Xu
(2013) asserted that the participative leadership was helpful to remove the issues related to
communication because it is associated with collaboration and integrated management in the
company. On a contrary, Huang, Iun and Gong (2010) argued that participation leadership theory
can be supportive merely through use of reward and motivational aspects because a close
relationship cannot take place without a leading factor. Further, it requires psychological
delegation of authority instead of count on supervisions. Apart from this, Woods and Woods
(2013) explained that participative leadership demanded for the delegation of responsibilities and
rights to perform the specific task then only employees motivates towards the engagement.
Otherwise, it may create the issues related to power, purpose and understanding. However, the
leader of Apple Inc. involved the lead designers, manufacturers and entrusted people in the
business activities and results achieved in the form of success of business and become a leader at
international mobile market. On the other hand, it shows that participative leadership creates the
collaboration among the team members and leader because all the decisions are based on the
collective aspects of employees
2.1.1 Applying Fishbone theory
Fishbone theory may be helpful to discover the causes of the problem of poor
communication and its effects on the integrated management. because theory dictate the reasons
that why the problem is arising in the particular problem (Fishbone & Abilock, 1981; Kamhawi,
2012).
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Figure 1: Fishbone diagram for the problem of poor communication and conflicts
(Source: Researcher’s own diagram)
 Poor management and lack of education- On the basis of Fishbone diagram, it has
been recognized that poor leadership, lack of communication, poor management etc. are
the major elements which causes the problem of poor communication and conflicts in
company (refer figure 1). In this regard, Rahim (2017) stated that poor management is
one of the critical elements which causes the issue of poor communication in the
organization. In the absence of effective management system, the employees would not
be able to communicate with top level, leaders and correspond team members. However,
Covello, McCallum and Pavlova (2012) argued that lack of education is the major factor
which arises the poor communication and conflicts in the respective mobile company
because if the people are not enough educated and experienced then they usually face
issue at workplace. In this context, due to lack of knowledge and education, the
employees lack from the relevant information which is demanded for the team work.
Similarly, Stowell and Welch (2012) asserted that an information system cannot be
implemented in the organization if the employees have lack of knowledge and least
experience of technology. The problem of uncertainty and complex phenomena cannot be
assessed in the absence of technology.
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At this chronology, Lundgren & McMakin (2018) asserted that poor management
is the major reason for the enhancement of poor communication and high level of
conflicts in the company. The management of the mobile application company might
have the issues in managing the workforce as well as lead the employees in a right
direction and manage the co-workers and colleagues. Therefore, it reflects that poor
management has greater impact on the maximization of poor communication and
conflicts instead of lack of education because inadequate management has an adverse
impact on the efficiency of employees and develops the loopholes in the business.
 Poor leadership and lack of motivation- According to several theories, poor leadership
and lack of motivation are the key elements which causes the problem of poor
communication and conflict in the mobile application company. In this context, Rahim
(2017) stated that lack of motivation demoralizes the employees to perform the better-
quality work in the services and manufacturing industry. For example, a mobile company
is going to launch an advanced service in the mobile then it is quite important for the
company to communicate with employees and keep employees informed about the goals
and objectives of the business. Furthermore, to meet the objectives, the proposed
strategies and goals must be communicated to respective employees to get them ready for
the support in the operation of new service. On a contrary, Salahuddin (2010) argued that
poor leadership has adverse effects on the communication as well as outcomes of the
employees. However, the effective leadership is needed for the continuous professional
improvement and desired results for the success. Nonetheless, Carver, Johnson and
Joormann (2009) asserted that motivational factors are more significant to lead the
employees’ level of satisfaction and working criteria. Moreover, due to lack of rewards
approach and low incentive tendency enhances the lack of motivation among the
employees and they resist for the integration.
For instance, a leader of the organization must be transparent and knowledgeable
in context of the subject matter; otherwise, the followers cannot be controlled and
managed. Moreover, a problem of poor communication and higher number of conflicts
can be arising at present. For example, the CEO of Uber, has put the immense efforts for
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the success of the company to bring the company at international level. In this regard, the
CEO has applied various marketing strategies to beat the competitor as OLA. Hence, the
company is getting success in the metro cities because the people do not have time to
wait for government vehicles so they hire the cab on personal basis to save time. In this
manner, the company is coming into existence due to effective leadership of the leader
and preferences of the customers (James, 2017). Therefore, information technology is the
effective aspect for the better integration between serves and users (Stowell and Welch,
2012). It shows that the mobile application company can be affected by poor leadership
because it has a contribution in the maximization of inadequate communication. The
employees become demotivated and harsh in the nature with co-workers which resulted
in low productivity and profitability.
 Cultural diversity and the domino effects- Martin & Nakayama (2013) stated that
cultural diversity leads a problem of poor communication in the organization because the
employees were not able to understand the diversified culture of the employees in the
same organization. However, companies consist of employees from different background,
cultural values and assumptions which may cause poor understand among each other.
Moreover, due to diversified cultural environment, employees feel hesitation which
creates a challenge in front of them that how to communicate with others. However,
Vaara, Sarala, Stahl & Björkman (2012) argued that the level of diversified culture can be
minimized by providing the effective cultural training with respect to completion of
business activities. Furthermore, the level of confidence of the workers can be enhanced
and can take the initiatives to communicate with others to maintain anintegration in the
organization of environment. Apart from this, Martin & Frost (2011) explained that the
domino effects develop the chances of poor communication in the organization because
the dominating people always try to dominate the others which leads conflicts among the
employees. Moreover, conflicts arise due to lack of discussions on the problem.
Therefore, it reflects that all the components as lack of leadership, domino effects and
cultural diversity affects a problem of poor communication which explores the issues and
conflicts in an integrated system of management.
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