What suggestions can you offer Peter Flagstaff and Lindsay Gibson to improve knowledge sharing at the Flagstaff Marketing Group?
Transfer of knowledge and information sharing is very crucial for both the employees’ benefits and the organization. Therefore, Peter Flagstaff and Lindsay Gibson should work the best ways for improving knowledge sharing at the Flagstaff Marketing Group.
The organization can improve information sharing by encouraging those employees who have high potentials of knowledge to voluntarily transfer important information to facilitate the participation of those employees who have low potentials of knowledge to actively participate in sharing knowledge. This is important in the sense that it helps in creating some additional utility, which is essential in making sure that both the organization and employees achieve their goals and ambitions.
The information of knowledge sharing should be enhanced through a gradual process and can involve some incentives. Though, some of these incentives can be costly to the organization, they inspire the employees to work hard. The process of sharing and transferring information and knowledge can be improved by intensifying some of the consistent interests that exist between the employees and their employers. This positive role would encourage and help in promoting the transfer of knowledge and sharing.
How valid are the points made by the account executives for not doing a better job of sharing information?
The points made by the account executives for not doing a better job of sharing information are valid to some extent since once the knowledge is shared, especially on the company’s creativity; its originality is lost to other business competitors. This puts the business at risk because other market competitors would use the same marketing tactics to acquire many clients across the divide. Therefore, the organization needs to guard some of its business secrets.
For instance, there are cases whereby businesses experience high employee turnover, and some of the top management team members might choose to find other employment opportunities somewhere else. This puts the business at high competitive risk because the employees leaving the company carry with them skills and experience.
Another sad situation would be a case whereby employees creatively share knowledge on product design and development, especially when the company is intending to introduce a new product in the market. Unfortunately, the information about the new product is leaked to the competitors before it is launched. This places the company at risk since some scrupulous might modify and use the same product formula.
Consequently, the competitors’ products can be offered for sale in the market at a relatively cheaper price than that of the company. This makes the company lose a lot of its sales revenue. Therefore, by drawing from these situations, there are some valid points behind the account executives’ reluctance to do a better job of sharing information.
What cultural changes might be needed at Flagstaff to improve knowledge sharing?
Some cultural changes might be required at Flagstaff to improve knowledge sharing. One cultural aspect that cannot be underestimated when implementing the change is the interaction between the employees and the clients. Therefore, proper communication should prevail to enhance the easy flow of information. Much time should be given to the clients to freely communicate their views to the customer care representatives.
This is important in the sense that the customers need to feel satisfied with the company’s services when their problems are listened to. Besides, the top management team should actively engage employees in free discussion forums because this would facilitate knowledge sharing and management. These free interaction forums would encourage employees to come up with creative ideas for the benefit of the entire organization.