BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION
Dr. Sushila Shekhawat
Read the following case and answer the questions that follow.
⚫ The Marudhara group of companies had several divisions and hundreds of employees.
The company was family owned, family managed and completely family -oriented. The
owner, his brothers, their sons and daughters -in-law managed all the affairs of the
company. The heads of department contacted the directors(owners) for any decisions that
needed to be taken. One of the directors was always present in the office, and at hand, to
hand out decisions on critical or not so critical matters.
⚫ It was a norm to take decisions unilaterally without consulting the rest of the family
members. Sometimes employees were scolded for their acts and it was later found that
they had merely followed orders given by one of the directors. Departmental heads
started taking advantage of this functioning style. They knew which boss to turn to for a
particular wish to be granted. This type of functioning divided the staff into favorites and
non-favorites of one or the other of the directors. A major decision was made by one of
the directors. As it was beginning to be implemented another director made a decision
opposed to the one being implemented. This lead to an enquiry by each about what was
going on. It also led to a slowdown between employees first and the directors later. The
slowdown became a big issue and needed to be sorted out by the chairman, the original
promoter of the company.
⚫ The bitterness among the employees and the directors started to spread to
the operational areas of the company and hence the performance of the
company started suffering. Unable to trace the reasons, for this
deterioration, the chairman decides to call up a meeting of all the
divisional heads. The divisional heads could not help him arrive at a
solution. They mentioned nothing about how they approached different
directors for getting different things. The communication channels
remained blocked and things come to such a pass one day that young
directors asked for a division of the factory which came as a big blow to the
chairman.
i)Provide any two reasons for the failure of communication.
ii)How can a proper communication channel lead to better handling
of situation
⚫ Analyze the case given below and answer the
questions with reference to the
Communication problems and the possible
remedies for the same.
⚫ The president of Goodwill Corporation Ltd.,
Mr.Abhishek Mukherji wanted to facilitate
upward communication. He believed an
Open-door policy was a good option. He
announced that his own door was open to all
employees and encouraged senior managers
to do the same. He felt that this would give
him a way to get early warning signals that
could not be filtered or redirected through
the formal chain of command.
⚫ Mukherji found that many employees who used the
open-door policy had been with the company for years
and were comfortable talking to the president. Sometimes
messages came through about inadequate policies and
procedures.
⚫ Mukherji would raise these issues and explain
any changes at the next senior Manager’s
meeting. The most difficult complaints to
handle were those from people who were not
getting along with their bosses.
⚫ One employee, Anand, complained bitterly
that his manager had over committed on
behalf of the department and put everyone
under tremendous pressure. Anand argued
that long hours and low morale were the
major problems. However, he would not allow
Mukherji to either bring the manager into the
discussion or seek out other employees to
confirm the complaint.
⚫ Although Mukherji suspected that Anand might
be right, he could not let the matter lie and said,
‘Have you considered leaving the company?’This
made Anand realize that a meeting with his
immediate boss was unavoidable.
⚫ Before the three party meeting, Mukherji
contacted Anand’s manager and explained what
was going on.He insisted that the manager come
to the meeting willing to listen and without
hostility towards Anand. During the meeting
Anand’s manager listened attentively and
displayed no ill will. He learned the problem
from Anand’s perspective and realized he was
over his head in his new job. After the meeting
the manager said he was relieved. He had been
promoted into the job from a technical position
just a few months earlier and had no
management or planning experience. He
⚫ What techniques increased Mukherji’s communication
effectiveness?
⚫ Do you think an Open –door policy was the right way to
improve upward Communication?
⚫ What problems do you think an open-door policy creates?
Do you think many employees are reluctant to use it. Give
reasons for your answer?
Benefits of effective
communication
⚫ Healthier business relationships
⚫ Improved customer relations.
⚫ Increased awareness among employees.
⚫ Lesser misunderstanding.
⚫ Better quality of documents.
⚫ Enhanced professional image.
⚫ Increased productivity.
⚫ Stronger decision making.
⚫ Quicker problem solving
Functions of commuication
⚫ Information
⚫ Refers to role of communication in facilitating decision
making and problem solving
⚫ Adequate and effective communication eg.strike,deciding
a location
⚫ Control
⚫ Power to influence people’s behaviour
⚫ Comply with organisational policies
⚫ Adhere to their job description
⚫ Communicate job related problems
⚫ Motivation
⚫ Fostering of motivational spirit
⚫ Setting and defining clear goals
⚫ Giving feedback on the progress made
⚫ Reinforcing the desired behavior e.g.
⚫ Emotional expression
⚫ Functions of communication in letting out
the feelings and emotions of employees
⚫ Teams-communication provides an outlet
to their emotional outburst, pent up feelings
⚫ Corporate sector is changing fast. Work
environment, kind of jobs assigned, tools
used, people working
Roles of a manager
Manager’s
roles
Interpersona Informationa
Decisional
l l
Entrepreneu
r
Figurehead Monitor
Disturbance
Liaison spokesperson
handler
Leader Disseminator
Resource
allocator
Roles of a Manager
⚫ Interpersonal Roles-ceremonial duties
⚫ Figurehead
⚫ Leader-hiring, training and motivating employees
⚫ Liason-contacts external sources (groups,individuals)
Informational Roles
⚫ Collection of information by Managers from
organisations and institutions in the external
environment
⚫ Monitor-reads magazines,talks to others to learn the
changes,competitors planning
⚫ Disseminator-acts as a conduit to transmit information to
organisational members
⚫ Spokesperson-represents his/her company to outsiders and
transmits information on company’s
policies,actions,plans,results,etc
Decisional Roles
⚫ Four subcategories
⚫ Entrepreneur-initiates and supervises new projects
⚫ Disturbance Handler-responsible for corrective action
⚫ Resource Allocator- human,material and financial resources
⚫ Negotiator-discusses and bargains with external groups
Communication Networks
⚫ Upward communication
⚫ Downward communication
⚫ Horizontal communication
⚫ Spiral or diagonal communication
Informal communication
⚫ Information shared without any formally
imposed obligations or restrictions is called
informal communication.
⚫ Grapevine: this refers to pathways along
which unofficial information flows.
Benefits Limitations Guidelines
Less expensive than Fast spreading nature To be used as a
formal comm. can cause damage to supplementary channel
the organization only
May give some If unverified, ma cause Information to be
information that you troubles verified for facts and
may find otherwise also the source.
difficult to collect
through formal channel
Any outlet for May lead to Should not be ignored
employees to share misunderstanding if
their anxieties, incomplete
worries, and
frustrations.
Used voluntarily by May not be reliable as Employees using this
many employees it is oral only and also channel should not be
nobody owns the threatened or
responsibility for the encouraged too much
information
Fastest means of
spreading information
Tips for Effective Internal Communication
⚫ Ensure every employee receives strategic plan
(mission,vision,values statement, strategic goals)
⚫ Employee handbook updated personnel policies)
⚫ Develop a basic set of procedures
⚫ Hold meetings
Supervisor and employee
communications
A supervisor should conduct the following
activities:-
⚫ Have all employees provide weekly written status
reports to their supervisors.
⚫ Hold monthly meetings with the staff.
⚫ Hold weekly or biweekly meetings with all staff
together if te organization is small, otherwise all
managers together.
⚫ Have supervisors meet with their direct reports in
one-on-one meetings every month
⚫ Develop a basic communication plan.
Miscommunication
⚫ An interaction between two parties in which
information was not communicated as desired.
⚫ Causes:-
1. Organizational structure.
2. Difference in status.
3. Lack of trust.
4. Closed communication climate.
5. Incorrect choice of medium.
6. Information overload.
7. Message complexity.
8. Message competition.
9. Unethical communication.
10. Physical distractions.
Effectiveness in managerial
communication
⚫ Factors that render communication effective
are as follows:-
1. Appropriate communication style.
2. Audience-centered approach.
3. Understanding of intercultural communication.
4. Commitment to ethical communication.
5. Proficiency in communication technology.
6. Control over the flow of communication.
7. Reducing the number of messages.
Strategies for improving
organizational communication
⚫ Encourage open feedback
- 360 degree feedback
-suggestion systems.
-corporate hotlines.
⚫ Use simple languages.
⚫ Avoid overload.
-Rely on gatekeepers.
-practice queuing.
⚫ Walk the talk.
⚫ Be a good listener.
