D02 BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS

Prerequisites None beyond those required for any student undertaking the Diploma Course.

Assessment By a single 3 hour externally set examination paper. All candidates must be aware of the speed of change in this sector of business. Studies should reflect changes in communications methods, the standards of equipment and software available for use and the effects these will have on the organisation and its employees.

It is suggested that, as most text books are soon out of date due to the speed of change of Information Technology, candidates should concentrate on recommended books only and that they should supplement and update their subject knowledge by reference to articles found in reputable newspapers and trade magazines.

1. An understanding of the structure of an organisation and responsibilities of an organisation with particular reference to employees in the Information Technology sector.

2. An awareness of his/her role within an organisation and how employees are selected for positions.

3. A general understanding of the benefits of Information Technology to an efficient organisation.

4. A general awareness of the problems faced within an organisation by the introduction of Information Technology.

5. An appreciation of the fundamental need for data security and integrity within an organisation.

6. An awareness of the need in all organisations for a well trained staff, how to provide training programmes for all staff and to know how this can be implemented in such a way as to allow for the reluctance of established staff to face changes in operational methods.

7. An understanding of the various techniques used in communication including oral, non-verbal and aids such as charts, slides and videos and how they can be used in the preparation and execution of interviews, meetings, conferences and seminars.

8. An understanding of the use of all current methods of communication within an organisation and between organisations.

9. A general understanding of recent developments in telephone systems and the wide range of communication facilities now available to organisations.

10. A general knowledge of commercially viable Proprietary Software Packages and an understanding of their benefits to efficient organisation.

11. An appreciation that in most countries legislation has been implemented to eradicate computer crime and to protect the rights of data subjects and users.

12. A general understanding that computer viruses exist and how best to protect systems from infection.

13. An appreciation of belonging to a team or group, the responsibilities of working in a team environment and the interaction between team members and managers.

1.1 Give a clear description of an organisation’s structure.

1.2 Appreciate most methods of communication used in an organisation.

1.3 Understand the lines of communication and responsibility.

1.4 Describe administrative procedures.

1.5 Understand the need for Discipline and Security procedures.

1.6 Show a general awareness of Health and Safety, Fire and general alarm procedures.

1.7 Appreciate how information is stored and protected.

1.8 Describe the structure of the organisation within which they work or study and the typical structure of an organisation in the manufacturing or service sector.

1.9 Recognise the different types of organisation including; sole trader, partnerships PLCs, public sector.

2.1 Show an awareness of their own situation and their role within a team and/or employment.

2.2 Identify the likely problems that could occur through inexperience, the best ways to tackle such situations and who to approach for help in defined areas of difficulty.

2.3 Demonstrate a clear understanding of their exact position within an organisation, real or simulated.

2.4 Effectively describe his/her role within their organisation (real or simulated) by being able to describe their job function.

2.5 Give a statement of and/or employment the responsibilities of their job (real or simulated).

2.6 Understand the techniques of Interview preparation for prospective employees.

2.7 Appreciate the fundamental qualifications required for a specific job and the range of personal qualities required.

2.8 Appreciate the elimination rationale in the preparation of a shortlist.

2.9 Describe the interview format.

3.1 Appreciate that with appropriate use of the latest advances in Information Technology there is a minimised day to day reliance on the specific knowledge and experience of key personnel.

3.2 Demonstrate that benefits include: a better handling of routine office operations including correspondence and mailshots.

3.3 Appreciate that IT can produce more efficient distribution systems, faster production of all reports including accounts and versatility in their presentation.

3.4 Appreciate that IT can produce quicker and more accurate reaction to customer queries and complaints.

3.5 Understand that improved accuracy and information availability will benefit many profit areas including costings, more effective purchasing, reducing age of debts, and the number and value of bad debts.

3.6 Have an understanding that better planning to absorb growth within existing staff limits may reduce unnecessary overtime and give the potential for reducing staff levels.

4.1 Appreciate that it is often the case that people responsible for Information Technology within an organisation may be younger, less experienced and have not benefited from established promotion from lower management as is usually the case in other departments.

4.2 Understand that many staff in an organisation have built up their skills over many years and feel threatened by their functions being replaced by computer systems.

5.1 Understand that any loss of data will jeopardise an organisation and that certain losses could result in the organisation being put out of business.

5.2 Have a general understanding that such losses can result from environmental causes (eg. excessive heat or humidity; negligence; deliberate sabotage; flooding or fire) as well as because of other, non-environmental, factors.

5.3 Appreciate that all organisations must have a security plan and that all employees must be aware of their responsibilities.

5.4 Understand that data security is dependent on a commitment by all to ensure that the physical access to work stations is restricted to authorised employees only.

6.1 Demonstrate the advantages to the organisation of personnel being trained to specific levels and qualifications.

6.2 Identify who needs training and to what level in basic procedures, use of peripherals and packages

6.3 Appreciate the need for, and the difference between, training and education, and understand the roles of service providers both in the private and in the public sectors.

6.4 Produce an organisation chart for staff training that should indicate a timetable for action and a clear rationale for the training required by all members of the organisation.

6.5 Understand that many staff are reluctant to change and often express a real fear of having to learn to use new technologies.

6.6 Understand that in preparing training for such staff that course details should stress that the group involved would be small and preferably consist of staff of equivalent levels of responsibilities.

6.7 Appreciate that the content should include overviews of the packages used by the organisation rather than including a lot of hands-on use of the packages.

6.8 Understand that for all training the environment must be relaxed and where possible be away from the workplace.

7.1 Understand the role of oral and non-verbal communication in organisations.

7.2 Understand the elements that make for good oral communication in face to face and telephone conversations.

7.3 Understand how to use and interpret non-verbal communication signals such as expressions, gestures and posture.

7.4 Understand the importance of communication aids such as charts, slides and videos and how to prepare and use them effectively.

7.5 Understand how to prepare for meetings, seminars, conferences and interviews so as to make the best use of the various communication techniques.

7.6 Appreciate the need to listen to others and to check their understanding of information received by asking questions.

8.1 Understand that correspondence by letter can be very slow and it should only be used when really necessary.

8.2 Understand how and when letters should be generated.

8.3 Appreciate that many letters can be standard documents reproducible from word processing files and personalised.

8.4 Understand that letters generated in this way are extremely cost effective as they require a minimum of time for decision making on what should be written and do not take up valuable typing staff time.

8.5 Appreciate the techniques in the use of mailshots to and/or databases to produce letters and address labels or envelopes, by mail merging techniques.

8.6 Understand that a letter should not be written in a way that allows any misinterpretation and is a legal document and must be respected as such.

8.7 Understand that a memorandum is also a legal document for internal use and should only be written to clarify situations or to give specific information such as dates of meetings, action that must be taken by given dates etc..

8.8 Appreciate the use of the telephone for quick information seeking and giving.

8.9 Demonstrate that a telephone call can be used to put over a personalised message to a client where a conversation is required to determine the best action to solve a particular problem etc..

8.10 Appreciate that excessive use of the telephone is expensive and unless notes are taken during its use, facts are easily forgotten.

8.11 Understand that decisions reached during telephone conversations are open to later misinterpretation and are not acceptable in contracts of law.

8.12 Appreciate that it is usual for both parties to follow up any important conversation with a written confirmation of decisions reached.

8.13 Appreciate that a fax is fast and can go to any user with the appropriate equipment.

8.14 Understand that the document can include both text and pictorial images and that it is accepted as a legal document in most countries.

8.15 Appreciate that use can be made of ‘off peak’ tariffs by storing messages for later access and that the same message can be sent to multiple destinations.

8.16 Understand that electronic mail involves the use of computers on local and wide area networks for sending messages from one station to another.

8.17 Prepare an advertisement for a service offered by the organisation or for a specific position of employment within an organisation.

8.18 Be aware of the importance of exhibitions to the future development and continuing trade of an organisation.

8.19 Understand that exhibitions are an opportunity to promote the organisation’s image and services to a targeted audience.

8.20 Have an awareness of the pre-planning required for the success of an exhibition and the ability to design a simple, but effective stand to best display their organisation’s services.

9.1 Be aware of the growth of personal telephones including car phones, portable and cell phones.

9.2 Understand how these portable phones are changing the way that many organisations operate particularly in the sales and service areas.

9.3 Describe the growth and usage of fax machines and understand the benefits of them to organisations.

9.4 Understand the use of telephones for teleconferencing and for dial-up access to information sources such as Prestel.

Objectives

10.1 Show a general understanding of Proprietary software packages and their benefit to an efficient organisation.

10.2 Appreciate that word processing should always produce high quality, individualised documents.

10.3 Understand that word processing allows document input, editing, formatting, reformatting, storing, replacement without having to print out or alter printed copies.

10.4 Understand that mail merging allows one basic document to be prepared and as many individualised documents as needed to be printed out.

10.5 Appreciate that documents prepared by word processing can be electronically transmitted through electronic mail systems to anywhere in the world.

10.6 Understand that when using spreadsheets that set calculations can be established by a skilled operator allowing data input to be carried out by other staff.

10.7 Appreciate that spreadsheets permit fast and accurate processing of figures to a predetermined requirement, the ability to establish unique budgets, cash flow analyses, stock movement reports, timed work control programmes.

10.8 Appreciate that reports can be published as tables of figures or as graphs and charts.

10.9 Give a full description of the value of Desk Top Publishing (DTP) to the organisation.

10.10 Understand how the origination of required print work can be minimised using DTP.

10.11 Appreciate the function of a database package and its ability to enter, store, retrieve, modify, sort, index and selectively report on data according to an organisation’s requirements.

10.12 Appreciate that there are standard general purpose accounting and order processing packages that can be used to manage the financial affairs of all sizes of organisations from personal finance to major corporations.

10.13 Have a general awareness of the use of Enquiry languages.

11.1 Describe the potential effects that computer crimes could have within any organisation and the action needed to prevent their occurrence.

11.2 Understand that it is an offence to copy and use software without a licence.

11.3 Appreciate that copies of software or data taken from another system may contain a virus that can ruin all data held in a computer system.

11.4 Understand that it is wrong to use a system without authority and also wrong to enter unauthorised areas of any system.

11.5 Understand that it is wrong to gain access to any system to use or alter data for personal benefit.

11.6 Appreciate that most countries have or are adopting Data Protection Laws, Copyright Laws and Computer Misuse Acts.

11.7 Understand that any organisation that is dependent on computer systems is liable to loss of stored data through unauthorised access and this would adversely affect performance or even lead to the winding up of the organisation.

11.8 Appreciate that computer frauds perpetrated by members of an organisation or outside ‘Hackers, through communication links, are nowadays commonplace.

11.9 Be aware that every organisation should take positive action to protect its systems and that in fact they may be liable for any losses that affect customers should their system not be well protected. The security should be of a very high standard to prevent unauthorised access to the system.

12.1 Understand the main differences between a computer virus and general data tampering and fraud.

12.2 Appreciate that a computer virus is parasitic programming usually attached to the initialisation procedure.

12.3 Give details of the typical effects and symptoms of a computer virus.

12.4 Appreciate that viruses can be programmed to be effective at pre-determined dates.

12.5 Understand that infections are usually caught or induced when linking to other systems or when programs are transferred.

12.6 Understand that the best defence against infection is good security and constant vigilance.

12.7 Understand that the only remedy when infected is to wipe the system clean and reload programs from authorised clean versions and back-up copies of data files.

13.1 Appreciate the attributes of a team or group in terms of normal behaviour, responsibilities, purpose and solidarity.

13.2 Understand the qualities required to work as an effective team member.

13.3 Understand the roles of team leaders and managers and the different styles of management.

13.4 Understand the differences between peer-to-peer communications and those from staff to managers and managers to staff.