As teacher extends the deadline of assignment 4 Knowledge Plan, we have more time to interview,
write our parts and collect the tasks together.
After conducting the interview, I want to summarize the main issues of TCI company while Lan and
Trang are noting the transcript:
-High centralization: only top manager can make decisions, other lower levels are told what to
do only, decisions overload on top level, less quality decisions in quick time.
-Lack of collaboration and integration between departments. Each department just try to finish
their work independently, departmental conflicts, less responsibility and accountability of employees.
-Employees are lacking of awareness of the company's goals.
-The website is inflexible to be navigated and used by customers and partners, they can not get
enough information about the company, about the transaction and make effective use for their needs.
-SOme employees are eager to improve their knowledge and experience, but the company do not provide
them an effective way to expand the knowledge or encorage them to learn from each other, face
with problems and solve problems by themselves, the tacit knowledge can not be transfered
and expressed, the company will become old-fashioned and not adapt with environment as qucikly as
other organizations.
I want to add one more issue :
The culture of vietnam impacts on the culture of TCI. For example, there is the distance between manager and employees. therefore, the working enviroment is not friendly. Employees are afraid of manager. So, they won't dare give the straight question or opnion. It will prevent to share knowledge between manager and employees
This is
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Question 1: What is your company’s mission statement?
Mission Statement is “Offer customers competitive pricing, timely transportation, individualized value-added logistics services and integrated global automation, while adhering to strict quality standards.”
Question 2: Can you tell me your organization’s structure
There is about 1 general director, 6 departments, 3-6 people in each department. However, only operation department has 10-15 people. Six departments are Inbound and Outbound (Sea freight and Air freight), Operation, Research & Development, Finance and Human resource department.
Question 3: What is your company’s main goal?
We set two kinds of goal such as official goal and operative goal
- Official goal is open new office in Danang, expand service and joint the stock market in 2007. Moreover, we want to get about 2 million USD sale revenue/year.
- Operative goal is each employee must achieve his/her assigned target. Otherwise he/she will get the money punishment.
Question 4: What policies company set?
- Employee will get the salary reduction if they are lazy and not on time. Moreover, we make compliment for any excellent contribution and performance. The money prize is about 500,000 to 1,000,000 VND/ month.
- Beside holidays, every year each employee is allowed to have a vacation which last in 12 days,
- Every employee has to formally dress in company.
- Employee must report to higher level people if he/she is in trouble.
- Employ must finish their assigned job.
Question 5: Does your company have any training program for staff?
- New employee is trained in 2 months before he/she really work
- Each employee is trained by manager of assigned department.
- Especially, salespersons are trained by all departments’ managers because they need to have the basic knowledge about the every activity in company.
Question 6: Who can answers or gives explanations when employees have concerns relate to business process?
- Manager gives advises
- When we have problem, we usually ask manager. He helps employees to solve problems.
- He is the person to give the last decision
- He has been working in this industry for 10 years
Question 7: Who do you think knowing what is going on and who is doing what in the TCI?
- Sales person is the key player in the TCI
- They must know the core business
- They must know the tasks of employees, who do for what because their business relate to all employees in the company
Question 8: What are tacit and explicit knowledge in the TCI?
- Explicit: reports, malfunctions, procedure documents, databases, websites
- Tacit: meeting, discussion, ideas, experiences
Question 9: what kind of technology your company is using?
Email, Intranet, telephone, website, database, data warehouse, data mining, IT service, MIS, ERP, automatically ID card checking machine which check the time of each employee come to company.
Question 10: How does the website help for the company?
- I seldom access on the company website. Honestly, it does not help anything for my business. I do not know what are putting on the web
- I just a form
- I show some our partners
- I usually meet direct to customers or we use phone.
- The company is small in one building so I can meet direct with others
Question 11: How do customers use the website to get information, give orders or tracking?
- Customers contact direct with sales person through phone or meet directly
- It is difficult to contact trough the web
- We do not update information on the web
Question 12: How is the learning in the company?
- Before, the company sent some employees to study oversea but they refused because they are busy or taking care for family
- Working more will help us to familiar with the job
- Sales person rarely share information or experience with others Explicit knowledge & tacit knowledge
Assignment 4:underline text
1) Identified 3 different roles in the TCI Company:
Sales & Marketing Department: sales person
Finance & Accounting Department:accountant
IT Department: IT person
2) Identify one expert and one gatekeeper within the TCI Logistics Company
Expert: The general manager
Gatekeeper : The sales person
