CHAPTER 11 - REVIEW - Operational Procedures and Communication

Operational procedures affect all of us all of the time. From the moment we get up in a morning till we go to bed at night operational procedures exist for everything we do. These procedures may be unwritten, and we may be unconscious of them, such as which shoe to put on first. On the other hand we may be very conscious of what clothes to wear on which occasion. Other procedures may be clearly indicated such as at what colour traffic lights to stop and go. We live in a world in which more and more operational procedures depend on computers. These operational procedures and the prescriptive controls that they employ are not determined by computers, — they are designed by people. It is therefore extremely important that their designers understand the basic principles of operational procedure design, and how this relates to people and events in the real world in which they operate.

Communication is an overused word that seems to mean all things to all people. In this chapter we have seen identified the essential components of communication, and how they relate to one another. Most importantly we should note that we should not limit our consideration to the obvious channels of verbal and written communication. Communication covers a wide range of channels, and the combination of the signals transmitted through these produces complex messages. In the Management Universe the subtleties of these complex messages is something of which we should always be keenly aware.

We have also examined briefly organisational communication and the implications these have in different types of organisational structures. Finally we have noted the implications in the use of computers for Management Information Systems.

At the battle of Copenhagen Horatio Nelson did not wish to receive the order to withdraw. He put his telescope to his blind eye, he was unable to see the signal, and no communication occurred. It is not possible to communicate with people who cannot or do not wish to see or hear.