Overview of Salvation Army The red shield (Salvation Army) demand is helping and supporting more than one million children, men and women to stand back on their feet each day. Also, the Salvation Army is world’s biggest Christian community welfare association with more than 1.
5 million members working across the world. . The army founded by English Methodist minister William booth and her wife Catherine booth in 1865 London, United Kingdom but it was originally known as North London Christian Mission.In short way, he started this mission as Christian mission but which was re-named during 1878 as the Salvation Army.
Well, his objective was to make an international religious and charitable oragnisation. During 1880, Edward Saunders as well as john gore brought the Salvation Army to Australia. It was first established during 1880 in South Australia. It’s been 130 years in Australia. Overall Australia currently, there are total 243 church-based store and 293 salvo stores available.
In addition, they also provide some service in Korean, indigenous and Chinese languages but they most welcome to visit experience their worship and services. Presently the Leader of the army is Linda Bond. The Salvation Army is providing services in 175 different languages within 126 countries. Army has more than 8,500 active officers and staff sending in excess of 1000 particularly designed community agenda across Australia.
In short method, every 30 second oragnisation helping one person, which is 1 million Australian citizen helped by every year. This are the main work of the salvation army, which is providing with Different programs, campaigns etc way for free of charge: domestic violence, addiction, age care, overseas aid, employment, homeless, family tracing, court and prison services, emergency relief and family support, salvos store and other services which contain asylum seekers support also disability programs in Australia.The oragnisation has lots of different corporate supports across the Australia like AMP foundation, seven network, Australian executor trustees, Kmart, Myer, village roadshow who provides promotion, help in their red shield appeal and sponsorship. The Salvation Army is pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to the Inquiry established by government into existing definitions of charitable, religious and community service not-for-profit organisations within Commonwealth Law and Administrative Practice.Our vision, The Salvation Army is a growing, loving community of people dynamically living God's mission in a broken world. Our mission, The Salvation Army raised up by God for the work of: Transforming Lives, Caring for People, Making Disciples, Reforming Society Our values, recognizing that God is always at work in the world we value: Human Dignity, Justice, Hope, Compassion, Community The Salvation Army in which we interviewed was based in Cheltenham and was a very small branch with an older demographic.
Bill Jones was the person we had conducted the interview with on Monday april 29th Overview of Collaborative Platforms The collaborative platforms and knowledge sharing methods used by the Salvation Army based in Cheltenham are simple but effective. The Salvation Army is a not for profit organisation looking to help the community in many different ways, as such, their business structure and strategies are different from that of a normal business. The Salvation Army utilises different collaborative platforms to deliver different forms of information.The Salvation Army uses a few different collaborative platforms to share knowledge and communicate. These include the company intranet, local shared drives and databases, inductions for new volunteers as well as informal communication between staff members.
Knowledge Management Orientation The Picture is showing the organisation structure of the salvation store, that how group is related among the salvation group. The commanding officer is a main controller of the store which control associated officer, office manager, advisory board, disaster service and The administration group.The second main in command is director of operation ;amp; administration group which control the director of social minister, development officer, SACC executive officer, accountant, store manager. Source: The Salvation Army Australia, 2013 Analysis The Salvation Army has numerous collaborative platforms in place for the use of knowledge transfer and communication. There is a cross section of collaborative platforms used that are nationally standardised by corporate headquarters, and other collaborative platforms are specific to the local branch.
Through the analysis of current collaborative platforms in place for the Salvation Army in Cheltenham, there are some clear opportunities for efficiency improvements. The Salvation Army utilises the information technology platform in the form of a companywide intranet. Bill stated that “The main purpose of the intranet was for information sharing and making things more easily accessible”. The intranet allows all staff nationally to access the same standardised information. It also provided such things as company policies, contact details and internal news.The intranet is a tool which allows staff to be informed of national updates as well as allowing for a more efficient method of sharing information.
However, Bill mentioned that there is little time and/or inclination for staff to read intranet updates. Bill also advised that the intranet is mainly used as a means for searching for contact details and forms or policies. Librarianship is another collaborative platform utilised by this branch in the form of a local shared drive which allows local staff to access a shared database. This database had a collection of various data and allows for captured management.Some of the data that would be available to local staff are donations received within a certain time period, items donated, any upcoming campaigns, job allocation for each volunteer ect.
The database system used by Bill and his colleagues is one that is very simple to understand and allows everyone to access the required information from their own computer. The database system is required as it also captures donation and revenue totals as well as expenditure amounts. These figures are then sent to corporate headquarters at the end of each quarter.Bill advised that the database is an effective way to keep all staff up to date in terms of stock control and donations.
At the Cheltenham Salvation Army branch, there is Human Resource Management (HRM) platforms employed as a means of transferring knowledge. Bill is in charge of the induction programs that given to all new volunteers and he advised that there are two main sections of the induction program. Firstly, the new volunteer will undergo a company induction, that is, one that has been provided nationally across all Salvation Armies.This first section of the induction is one that goes into a broad overview of the Salvation Army, including details about the roots of the organisation, their mission and their culture. The second part of the induction is one that is store specific and more ‘hands on’.
It entails an experienced volunteer demonstrating store specific processes and information regarding daily task management. There is explicit knowledge transfer on a national level in the form of inductions with manuals, presentations and booklets.At the local level, knowledge shared on a tacit basis by sharing personal experiences and demonstrating, in person, processes that need to be completed. Bill acknowledges that on a local level, the induction may not be standardised, as each person had different ways of completing different tasks and it is an opportunity for improvement.
The lack of HRM within organisation, demonstrated in the lack of a culture that encourages knowledge management combined with the high turnover rate and in turn the lack of social capital, reveals the reasons for the poor knowledge management at this local Salvation Army branch.The culture within the local Cheltenham branch is not one that encourages or enforces a sound knowledge management culture; this is clearly demonstrated by the lack of a trained and experienced knowledge leader. “Knowledge leaders need to be recruited, without the proper knowledge, capabilities or resources, proper knowledge management cannot be achieved. ”( Debowski, S.
2006) the high turnover rate, due to the nature of the business, also makes it difficult to foster social capital.Within the local Salvation Army, there is no strong collective identity and staff members do not feel the benefit of good knowledge management. However, we must take into consideration the nature of the business, that is a not for profit organisation, in which majority of the work is completed by volunteers and hence, it is inevitable that there will be high turnover. Through further analysis, it is observed that within the local Cheltenham Salvation Army branch, there are HRM issues which include difficulty in fostering social capital and culture due to the high turnover rate.In addition, there is also a lack a business management collaborative platform by way of strategic planning as well as knowledge philosophy. This is mainly due to lack of resources available as well as the high turnover rate which is directly linked to the nature of the business.
The Salvation Army employs various collaborative platforms to share information nationally across the organisation as well as internally at the local branches. The platforms that are used within the organisation are not the most efficient, however, for a charitable organisation; the processes are at the most basic level and are effective.There are many prospects for continuous improvement opportunities for more efficiently and effectively managing their knowledge and communication, however this is a difficult task with their limited resources and time. Recommendations: Upon the interview we came to conclude that the Salvation Army will need to change some of their communication platforms in order to better themselves as a company and further extend their knowledge management.Some recommendations for the Salvation Army would be further developing their intranet database to include comprehensive sections where comments and conversations can be made.
This enhances the communication between staff and employees as well as the community. Its promotes two way communication within the organisation which benefits both staff and employees as it keeps everyone in the loop as to what is going on. Another means of communication that would be beneficial to the Salvation Army would be the introduction of social media use.Social media strongly enhances the relationship with customers/consumers/community and the staff of a particular company.
It would also enhance communication and customer feedback which the Salvation Army is lacking at the moment. Internet profiles allow for criticism to be made by customers, which can be taken onboard by the company to improve operations and the way they go about the tasks they do. Overall, even though the means of communication that the Salvation Army use at the moment are affective they are becoming outdated and too basic.The company will need to make changes soon in order to keep up with the evolving world technological enhancement.
Conclusion: The Salvation Army in Cheltenham has various collaborative platforms in place which help them operate their business on a daily basis whether it be through librarianship, information technology, business management or human resources management. Through this report we have discovered that their platforms are very simplistic however, due to the nature of the business and the demographics of the workplace it is suitable for the daily operations.We do recommend some changes within the business to promote more two way communication whether it is social media or blogs as this will allow for greater generation of ideas and creativity in the workplace to promote greater efficiency and effectiveness. References: Argote, L.
(1999). Oragnisational learning: Creating, retaining, and transferring knowledge. Norwell, MA: Kluwer * * Davenport, T. H. and Prusak, L. 2000, Working Knowledge, How Oragnisations Manage What They Know, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
Debowski, S. 2006, Knowledge Management, John Wiley ;amp; Sons, Australia.Epple, D. , Argote, L. , ;amp; Murphy, K.
(1996). An empirical investigation of the micro structure of knowledge acquisition and transfer through learning by doing. Operations Research, 44, 77–86. * * Fuller, S. 2002, Knowledge Management Foundations, Butterworth Heinemann, U.
K. Harry Collins, Tacit ;amp; Explicit Knowledge, 2010, The University of Chicago The Salvation Army Australia, 2013, viewed on 14th April 2013, http://www. salvationarmy. org/ Velasquez, M. (2000). Globalization and the Failure of Ethics.
Business Ethics Quarterly, 10(1), 343-352. Appendix One.Interviewing a manager gives a broader understanding of what a particular organisation is about, how their operations take place and the way knowledge is shared. Following the interview with Bill Jones from the Salvation Army branch in Cheltenham many interesting ideas were drawn upon. The interview consisted of thirteen clear questions. Most questions were answered in great detail and benefited our presentation.
Some questions however, did not have the answers we had expected. A piece of information that was intriguing was the fact that the Salvation Army branch in Cheltenham did not have a knowledge manager.The human resource manager took care of human resources and knowledge management/sharing. This proved to be an issue when it came to the organising and sharing of information. The human resource manager had many roles and duties to undertake; therefore his time to deal with knowledge management is limited. This is shadowed through their knowledge management systems that are in place.
As mentioned, the systems are basic and a little outdated. Although they have been affective, soon enough they will need to be updated.Bill mentioned that he is aware the systems of communication need to be redone and revamped but does not have the time or financial support to do this at the moment. Bill also discussed Salvation Army’s intranet page. The page is in a bulletin like format where only dot points of useful information were stated.
This information could be on upcoming events, procedures, training dates, extra shifts available and so forth. The page seems to work when it comes to passing on information from the company to its employees but not when it comes to the use of a two-way communication line.There is no way for the employees and community to write comments or opinions on the page. Bill agreed that introducing this means of communication would promote staff involvement, as it would provide a base where employees could meet to discuss issues or general topics and queries and receive feedback. It was also stated that a large majority of employees that worked for the Salvation Army were volunteers. Many were ‘one-off’ volunteers who did not require much communication with the fellow staff and management of the organisation.
They would often assist the organisation with duties and tasks but did not form a strong relationship with the staff and management as a whole. In saying this, there were volunteers who had been participating for years on end and did have this formed relationship, who would benefit from the upgrade of the way in which they share knowledge. Once the interview was completed a broader understanding of the oragnisation was obtained. We managed to clear up queries and points we were unsure about which assisted in the final presentation.
