Electronic Communication at Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Electronic Communication at Work - Essay Example As the report declares ICT has changed not only the social life but also the nature of working life of the people. ICT has greatly changed the nature of work of the Australian community in many aspects which has been brought about by use of new technologies in work. This paper stresses that the diffusion of ICT in some of the aspects of the traditional jobs shows that they can be performed by clients themselves at all levels. For example the increased presence of photocopying machines and computer has taken the services at home from the commercial centres as more people now own these machines. The presence of the internet has led to creation of new jobs in the market as well as evolution of new methods of working. In the industries, it has also changed the nature of work and some of the traditional jobs are not turning multi skilled or they have come to add value in order to remain more viable in the market. Therefore it has led to diversification of skills that are required to perform a certain job while in other cases it has led to reduction of the skills required. This has been an important change in the way we work. The rise of electronic technology has facilitated the aspect of computerization of almost all the sectors of our life. The prod uction sector has been changing very fast which has led some of the trade skills traditionally considered important obsolete. For example typesetters and engravers in the printing industry and the circulation desk in the libraries have been rendered obsolete by the emerging technology. There has also been a great reorganization of the work place. (Capuro 2006, p. 65) This reorganization has led to creation of some departments which never existed before. The change in technology has brought about realignment of the workplace. For example the increased data handling capacity of computers has led to change of some departments that existed before. Computerization in the workplace has also led to the need to have workers who posses computer skills. It has become a requirement for every worker to have the basic computer skills in order to carry out their duty effectively. The use of computers in all departments demands multi-skilled workers. (Coyne 1995, p. 71) ICT has also led to breaking of boundaries of many occupations. There has been replication of services handled by different departments. For example, there has been increased sharing of duties between different departments that have reduced the boundaries between them. If we take the case of human resource department and the accounting department, both share the same database on the employees which is used to account for the payroll by the accounting department while the HR department use for supervision. (Forester 2004, p. 32) The nature of work has also been changed by the development of new products and process inputs in the production process. The change in technology of the production process has led to development of new product and new production process which has changed how we do our work. However the speed at which these new products and

Case Study- Marks & Spencer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Case Study- Marks & Spencer - Essay Example Case Study- Marks & Spencer Despite new policies being made and brand’s shares overtaking the UK general retail index since 2009, M&S still fails to be a hit around the globe. I think this is because save cost savings, little improvement is made in financial performance with majority of customers who approach M&S stores belonging to old age group. This is one of the main shortcomings of the company that it fails to attract younger people especially women to its stores and this is an area where more work needs to be done by M&S management in order to compensate for the fall in profits. A growing body of arguments attempts to find out what exactly M&S should do to combat falling fashion sales which despite different policies and many changes made within company, fail to reverse. People who ardently used to approach M&S stores for quality shopping experience now hesitate because apart from dwindling standard, there is also lack of innovation and flair in designs and patterns of clothes. This explains why M& S is currently relying more on food sales for annual profits as clothing sales continue to struggle. I think it would be a better future strategy if M&S decides to focus less on celebrity-laden advertising campaigns and invest more in bringing back the quality and originality in its clothing designs. It is reported that M&S CEO Bolland faces pressure from critics as the business reports consistent fall in clothing sales. (Thompson 2013). In contrast to cloth sales, M&S has made more progress as the most significant food retailer in the UK in terms of customer satisfaction. I think that same old arguments regarding performance and clothing sales will keep haunting M&S cloth stores in the coming years if the leaders do not make radical changes in the company. Employee empowerment is good but this is also true that M&S has suffered quite much as a result of deciding to distribute power to the lowest level possible. This decision started many of its store managers making many decisions on their own which were not very well-thought-out and negatively interfered with both fashion sales and customer loyalty. It is suggested that delivery of power to employees working on all levels is good but only if top management continues to heavily monitor all operations being performed. It is also recommended that people at top positions in the company who have power should establish a new healthy culture at M&S plc in an attempt to rid it of its constipated culture. This is the biggest challenge which should be analyzed in order to plummet down the rate of operation problems. Also, failure to meet profit targets is one of the primary issues encountered by the management. Several issues like poor relations with investors and suppliers, embarrassing boardroom arguments, failure to provide trendier clothes at lower prices, and more than necessary autonomy given to people working at low level are responsible for this. I think that as a way of