Effective Business Communication Case Study

Question

Task:
Case study: A multi-national organisation operates in various countries including
Australia, Vietnam, India, Oman, and Nigeria. The organisation manufactures and
distributes agricultural equipment to local and international clients. In total the
organisation has 8,000 employees in five countries and more than 1 million customers
worldwide. The head office is based in Australia. In recent years the organisation is facing
several communication challenges.

They include:

1. Ineffective use of social media such as blogs, wikis, social networks to support teams
in sharing ideas, building knowledge bases and task management.
2. Lack of quality feedback from clients on ways to improve product quality and service
delivery
3. Misunderstandings and lack of trust based upon intercultural communication issues
in different contexts

Your manager has asked you to develop strategies and plans to improve communication at
all levels In order to complete this task, you will need to review relevant academic literature
and case studies to provide evidence and examples.

Answer

Introduction: Effective business communication is perceived as the key to accomplishing

sustainable improvement in the performance of a business. The necessity for
communication within the organization as well as in the external context is profoundly
observed in the modern business environment that is characterized by drastic changes
consistently.

a. Description of organization: The following assessment is directed towards

evaluation of the case of a multinational organization headquartered in Australia
which deals with manufacturing and distribution of agricultural equipment with a
prominent local as well as international client base. The organization’s workforce
comprises of 8000 employees with its operations spread across five different
countries namely Australia, India, Vietnam, Nigeria and Oman (Adnan & Jambari,
2016). Another profound highlight that can be noticed in the case of the selected
organization is the formidable customer base which accounts for more than 1 million
customers all over the world.
b. Primary Purpose of the Report: The primary purpose of the report is vested in
addressing the communication challenges encountered by the case study
organization in recent times. The report would aim at evaluating the communication-
related issues faced by the organization and develop reasonable insights for resolving
the issues.
c. Scope of report: The scope of the report would include the three notable
communication issues that would be evaluated by referring to literature available
 with references to the three issues. The scope of the report would also imply that
there would be no consideration for the influence of additional factors that influence
effective business communication and would focus mainly on the three concerned
issues. The report would cover issues such as the use of social mediaas a resource for
business communication, feedback’s significance and the necessity of intercultural
communication.
d. Report outcome: The report outcome would be primarily identified in the
comprehensive interpretation of the nature of the issues and the factors that
promoted them that can help in deriving strategic recommendations for addressing
the issues (Asante, Miike & Yin, 2013). The report outcome would also emphasize the
implementation aspects of the recommendations alongside establishing metrics for
ascertaining the success or failure of the recommendations.
e. Structure Preview: The structure of the report would be divided into four distinct
sections with the first section denoting an introductory statement regarding the
scope and purpose of the report. The next section would present an analysis of the
situation encountered by the case study organization that would be illustrated in the
form of critical review of literature with respect to the three issues identified for the
organization. The third section of the report presents a concluding summary of the
discussions in the assessment which is followed by presenting recommendations for
addressing the individual issues (Bennett, 2017).

Analysis: Communication is an imperative factor for ensuring success and prosperity of a

business organization. The impact of corporate communication is not limited to the scope of
conveying information but also for crucial business activities that include motivation of the
workforce, coordination among different departments or business units of organization and
most important of all for management decision making (Breakenridge, 2017). The case of
the selected organization in this report reflects profoundly on the communication challenges
such as ineffective use of social media for improved support for teams in the organization to
develop knowledge bases, sharing information and ideas as well as supporting the
management of tasks.

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Other notable impacts of corporate communication in the case of the selected organization
are identified in limitations for acquiring quality feedback from clients that could cater the
needs for improvement in service delivery and product quality (Buenviaje, et al., 2016).
Furthermore, the organization also experiences pitfalls in intercultural communication that
are responsible for large-scale setbacks in the form of lack of trust and misunderstanding
among employees in the different geographical jurisdictions where the organization
operates(Apparaju, 2016).This section of the report would present a comprehensive
illustration of literature review in the case of the three communication challenges to
ascertaining the possible alternatives and the nature of the issues as well as their influence
on the organization’s effectiveness in the short term as well as long-term(Hall, 2017).

a. Issue 1
Social Media: The use of social media has become a common and mandatory
element in the society due to its notable involvement with the behaviour and
lifestyles of people. The effectiveness of social media as a tool for personal
communication is considered as one of the prominent reasons for its increasing
popularity. As per Haslinda, et al(2016), a clear overview of literature sources
depicting the implementation of social media as a tool for business communication
could provide major insights into the approaches used for business communication
in social media and the influence of additional factors such as nature of the social
media on its use(Haslinda, et al., 2016). Online marketing and communication have
improved many setbacks that were prominent in traditional methods. According to
Holmes &Parker(2017), the development of the internet in 1991 has been a notable
determinant of the changes in the world of communication (Holmes & Parker, 2017).
The internet facilitated options for removing potential obstacles from the
communication process and enabling collaboration as well as introducing
synchronous communication through instant messages and chat rooms that imply
real-time communication. The term social media can be defined as the collection of
internet-based applications that facilitate options for creation and sharing of user-
generated content (Ayob, 2017).

Primary Elements: The primary elements that can be identified in social media

are blogs, social networking sites and social search applications and platforms. As
per House(2014), the explicitly accessible and scalable communication technologies
identified in social media are responsible for the capability of social media for
introduction of formidable and substantial changes in communication between
individuals, communities, and organizations(House, 2014). The implementation of
social media for communication is primarily based on the principle of improved
availability and is responsible for developing groups on the social networking sites
and other platforms on the basis of educational level, social status or nationality that
are found in the real world social groups and classes (Jandt, 2017).

Implementation of Social Media: The implementation of social media for

communication and collaboration could also be justified on the grounds of six core
principles that are accountable as the defining characteristics of social media. First of
all, social media contributes to participation of various individuals in the society
through mobilizing the community for contributing to the process of
communication. This factor can be leveraged to improve communication within an
organization’s various departments thereby leading to enhanced levels of
participation of employees in the communication process. According to Manisaligil &
Bilimoria(2016), the next significant aspect that can be noted in the case of social
media is the collective nature of social media that implies the involvement of people
in the creation of content rather than focusing on individual generation of content
and distribution (Manisaligil & Bilimoria, 2016). The implications of transparency
could also be identified as a core principle of social media which is identified in the
form of references to the facilities for viewing, utilizing, reusing, improving,
validating or critique of the content that is distributed on social media. The defining
characteristic of independence in the case of social media could not be undermined
as it specifically relies on the facilities for users to contribute independently without
the involvement of another participant. The other core principles associated with the
significance of social media are persistence and emergence which implies that
content is provided in a persistent state enabling users to view, distribute and
improve the content (Martin & Nakayama, 2013). The principle of emergence reflects
on the flexibility for individual users to adapt to the changing needs of collaborative
interactions which signifies the scope for adaptability in social media. As per
 Mindess (2014), the use of these core principles in the case of business
communication can be aptly reflective of eliminating barriers pertaining to
conventional approaches for business communication (Mindess, 2014). The example
of transparency in the information sharing among employees could be a major
motivation for improving the level of trust among employees alongside facilitating
opportunities for presenting suggestions for collective involvement of employees in
decision making.

The application of social media also facilitates the features for real-time adaptability
so that employees could be flexible in their approaches to communication rather
than depending on a predefined framework for business communication (Nabi,
Foysol & Adnan, 2017). The changes in the domain of communication can be
accounted as a formidable aspect of the contemporary business environment.
Furthermore, it is essential to reflect critically on the differences in application of
social media for personal communication and business communication.

According to Neuliep (2017), the primary challenges that are identified in the case of
utilizing social media for communication in context of organizational purposes are
identified in consciousness of individual employees regarding the pervasive impact of their
personal life on their professional life as well as the training and development required for
effective technology adoption(Neuliep, 2017). The use of social media for professional
purposes could result in conflicts with the identity of an employee in their personal life
which suggests that employees could be apprehensive regarding the use of social media for
business communications. It is imperative to consider the impact of training and
development needs for employees to cope effectively with the business approaches for
communication. However, it is also essential to focus on the necessity of technology
adoption primarily for the provision of reactive support as well as services of support and
resolution.

The use of social media for external context such as the purposes of marketing could be noted in
various literature sources but the implementation of the resource for communication in the
internal context is associated with the needs for establishing a comprehensive support network
that can be accessed by the employees for accomplishing their allocated tasks and
responsibilities through coordinated measures (Piller, 2017).

b. Issue 2
Feedback: Communication in its generic form is associated with eight distinct
components that are referred to in majority of communication theories. The
components are independent of each other and are accounted as basic aspects of any
communication process. According to Rojas, Rojas &Villamizar (2017), the
components include the source, sender, receiver, channel, destination, context,
message,and feedback. Feedback is considered as the sole element responsible for
inducing a two-way communication process with respect to a specific message
(Rojas, Rojas & Villamizar, 2017). Feedback can be defined as the reaction of the
destination or the receiver to the source or sender of a message through direct or
indirect channels. In the context of business communication, feedback within the
internal, as well as external contexts of the organization, facilitates adequate scope
for improvement of business operations and their effectiveness in catering the
sustainability of a firm. The necessity of customer feedback is viewed from a
significant perspective as it is aligned with the identification of the customer’s
perception regarding a specific brand on the grounds of their experience of the
brand’s products and services thereby impinging formidable impacts on the business
of the organizations.

Customers have noticeable influence over the selection of brand according to their
choices which are based on positive experiences of the brand’s products and services.
Therefore companies are interested in collecting information and feedback from
customers regarding the different transactions of customers with the brand and
general attitudinal data that can be leveraged for accomplishing the objective of
improving customer experience (Sadia, et al., 2016). However, various indications
have suggested a prominent disparity between the collection of feedback and
implementing necessary action according to the feedback which can be attributed to
the lack of an integrated, systematic and organized process or framework for making
use of collected feedback.

The definition of customer feedback implies the possibilities for distinct forms but is
generally obtained through surveys that can be conducted through various channels
such as telephonic, online, mail or personal surveys. The surveys are generally
focused on dimensions of customer experience that could be substantially critical for
customer satisfaction and loyalty (Samovar, et al., 2014). The lack of customer
feedback could be a major setback for planning and develop strategic approaches for
product and service improvement and it is not necessary that the lack of availability
of customers for obtaining feedback would always be responsible for this. In certain
cases, the inappropriate treatment of the feedback data could render it irrelevant for
obtaining valid insights to develop a necessary plan of action. Shen, et al. said that
the general approach followed for treatment of customer feedback is their
representation in the form of graphs and charts derived through comprehensive
numerical analysis(Shen, et al., 2016). However, the reports are complex to
understand thereby leading to setbacks in the implementation of an action plan to
leverage customer feedback for improving products and services. Another potential
reason for which feedback cannot be used to the advantage of the organization is
identified in the superfluous complications associated with the process of executing
the feedback in action.

This factor could be largely attributed to the time taken for decision making from the
available feedback which also implies delays in implementing action plans. Therefore
a client-centric business has to be dependent on the dynamics of customer feedback
management as a mandatory strategic approach through which it can accomplish the
objectives of improving customer experience (Sorrells, 2015). Customer feedback
management could be described as a process that enables the integration of
customer feedback into operational processes such as customer support, account
management, product management and sales thereby increasing their efficiency and
orientation towards customers’ needs.

Customer Feedback Management: The process of customer feedback

management has to be associated with the mandatory implications towards
systematic gathering of customer feedback data, critical analysis of data and
interpretable dissemination of the feedback alongside information regarding follow-
 up actions. According to Stachova, Stacho &Vicen (2017), the effectiveness of
customer feedback management is identified in the provision of response and profile
data of customers in the responsibility of appropriate authorities that can implement
the data for accomplishing business objectives. The business objectives of an
organization could be accounted as the driving factors for implementation of
customer feedback management (Stachova, Stacho & Vicen, 2017). For example, in
context of marketing objectives, the customer feedback has to be directed towards
development of marketing solutions tailored to the target audience and the definition
of a message that could resonate with the audience. In the case of service objectives,
the customer feedback is used to determine whether the products and service
offerings, as well as support provided by the organization, are able to address
customer expectations.

c. Issue 3
Intercultural communication: Intercultural communication has become a
prominent entity in the domain of business especially with large-scale improvements
in globalization observed all over the world. The primary aspects of intercultural
communication addressed in literature refer to the influence of culture on the
perspective of individuals, communication theories in different cultural contexts and
the common barriers to intercultural communication. As per Zheltukhina, et
al(2017), majority of research on intercultural communication has been directed
towards identifying and investigating the communication among people from
distinct cultural backgrounds. The studies are generally associated with investigation
of differences between separate cultural groups and the interactions between the
groups(Zheltukhina, et al., 2017). Communication and culture can be accounted for
the significant aspects of intercultural communication. Communication categorized
into verbal and non-verbal communication is generally associated with the necessity
of learning a foreign language for verbal communication and variations in standards
of non-verbal communication according to the culture.

The implications of culture could be identified through Hofstede’s model which

conceptualizes culture as a combination of four distinct elements such as heroes,
symbols, values,and rituals. Symbols are reflective of images, gestures, objects,and
language that are recognized in specific cultures. Heroes could be identified in
imaginary or real persons that are revered in a culture and are generally assumed as
benchmarks for social behaviour (Manisaligil & Bilimoria, 2016). The element of
Rituals reflects on the mandatory activities that are exercised at free will in a
particular culture and can be defined in examples of religious customs or expressing
respect to other people. These three facets are considered visible element of culture
while the aspect of values forms the core component of culture and is generally
vested in the preferences or tendencies of people to act in specific manners according
to difference in situations.

Influence of Culture on Perception: The influence of culture on perception of

an individual is identified through the three phases of the process of perception that
include selection, organization,and interpretation. Selection aspect of perception is
vested in the perception for similar stimuli in a foreign environment that can be
considered as responsible for the difficulties in understanding new languages that
are different from the native language of the receiver. The perception is associated
 with organization of the selected information into an interpretable fashion and the
organization is generally based on a specific attribute that is found commonly in a
group (Rojas, Rojas & Villamizar, 2017). Interpretation is another notable
determinant of the effectiveness of intercultural communication as similar
situations, gestures or actions can be perceived differently by various people.
According to Holmes &Parker (2017), the influence of cultural stereotypes is
profoundly observed in the case of interpretations of people regarding culture.
Another promising theoretical model that can be accounted for determining the
influence of culture on communication in business is Hall’s high and low context
culture concept (Holmes & Parker, 2017).

High context culture is defined explicitly through the surrounding environment

without the requirement for description while low context culture is dependent on
communication through verbal communication. The low context cultures are highly
dependent on detailing and specificity of verbal messages thereby leading to
appreciation for verbal abilities in low context cultures. On the other hand, in the
case of high context cultures, sensitivity towards nonverbal messages is profoundly
observed and messages are generally presented in the physical context or through
internalization in the person. High context cultures are generally associated with
communication on behalf of a group rather than individual perspectives with
emphasis on the use of intermediaries (Manisaligil & Bilimoria, 2016).

Conclusion: The assessment presented an introductory statement for the tasks that would
be undertaken in the report with prominent emphasis on the scope and primary objective of
the report alongside a description of the case of the multinational organization that is
considered for evaluation. Then the report presents a literature review that helps in
evaluation of the issues in communication encountered by the organization that leads to
development of suitable recommendations that are presented in the final section of the
report.

Recommendations: Based on the inferences derived from analysis of the issues

encountered by the multinational corporation with respect to business communication,
different recommendations can be suggested individually for the three issues evaluated in
this assessment.

a. Issue 1
social media: First of all, it is essential for the organization to address the use of
technology adoption recommendations in order to help employees to improve their
use of social media to coordinate for task management and sharing information. This
measure has to be implemented by the human resources department of the
organization at its five different locations in international markets and the various
business units of the organization. The human resources department maintains
direct contact with the workforce and is responsible for providing them with
necessary training and support to improve their potential for delivering efficient
performance in their tasks. The human resource department would have to work in
unison with the technical department of the organization to select competent
trainers that can assist employees in understanding the necessity of social media as a
tool for intra organizational communication. The training and development schedule
would also account for resolution of issues arising from the apprehensions of
 employees regarding the intervention of their professional activities on social media
in their personal lives through communicating necessary information for managing
security and preference settings on social media that can help in effective
management of personal and professional profiles. The evaluation of the success or
failure of the recommendation could be realized through the implementation of data
analytics in order to figure out the involvement of employees with social media and
the tasks accomplished through it. The evaluation would also provide insights into
the social media platforms used frequently by employees that can help in tailoring
business communications to the specific platform thereby encouraging higher
employee engagement on social media.
b. Issue 2
Feedback: In terms of feedback issues, the recommendation would be guided
towards the implementation of an integrated customer feedback management
process that can be realized throughout the different areas of operation of the
multinational firm. The formidable customer base is a notable pitfall that can lead to
complicacies in collection of feedback which could also be attributed to the lack of
understanding of the context in which the data has to be collected. The use of the
general mode of survey questionnaires should be directed towards the most basic
aspects of customer experience such as product quality, product user experience, and
product aesthetics. In the case of agricultural equipment, the product user
experience and the conformity of the product to customer expectations of
performance as well as effectiveness of customer support services should also be
included as major entities in the survey questionnaires. The use of native language
translators for dissemination of questionnaires could be a prolific contributor for
accessing feedback that could be leveraged for product and service delivery
improvement. The measurement of the effectiveness of the recommendation could
be realized through using previous records of customer feedback in terms of volume
and comparing it with the volume of feedback data obtained after implementing the
suggested recommendation.
c. Issue 3
Intercultural communication: The aspect of intercultural communication could
be addressed through reflecting on the context of the culture in which
communication is carried out which can be identified with diversity in the case of the
concerned multinational firm. The company should prefer localized communication
rather than standardization of the communication process that could lead to
acceptance of the employees for the communication process. The reflection in
distinct aspects of the host culture alongside the context of the culture could enable
the organization to refrain from unacceptable behaviours and actions in different
cultural contexts thereby leading to effective translation and perception of the
communicated information. The success of the recommendation could be
interpreted from the use of feedback within the internal environment of the
organization obtained from employees that would depict the extent of perception of
the messages communicated by the organization. The emphasis on values of the
organization by the senior management could also be considered as a prolific
measure for addressing the issues of intercultural communication through alignment
of practices in accordance with the uniform values.