HCPS is a private health organization based in Geneva, Switzerland.

It offers advice and treatment to

wealthy people and company employees all over the world. Its advertising emphasizes that it
provides a personal health service tailored to the individual's needs. The HCPS group was formed a
years ago, following a takeover of HCPS by Sanicorp, another health care organization. Since the
takeover, the company has become more centralized, with more decisions being made by the top
management at head office. the working language of the group in English.

Communication problems

following the takeover, a number of serious communication problems have arisen. Read the emails
sent by Gloria Richter, office manager, and by Ursula Kireger, Sales Director.

EMAIL 1

there are some communication problems I wait to bring to your attention

1. Each day we receive a huge number of emails from colleagues inside a company and from
overseas customers. some important , many are not. My staff seem to spend all day checking and
softing e-mails, which is time-consuming as results in them neglecting other duties

2. my staff don't understand why you got rid of the staff lounge after takeover. They say that it used
to be a good place to meet people from other departments and to exchange ideas. Most of them still
have not met anyone from Sanicorp yet.

EMAIL 2

since the take over, problem have arisen and they need to resolving soon

1. A lot of middle managers are really confused about who they should report to. we know
management and planning a reorganization, but isn's it time they tols us what's happening?

2. Several department heads are unhappy because they can't get a quick answer when they want to
spend money, even small sums. When they ask their present line manager for authority to buy
something, for example, a piece of equipment, the usual replies is "it's not up to me anymore"

TASK

1. Make a list of all the communication problems in the company

2. In your opinions, what is the most serious problem mentioned in the emails?

3. As a PR manager, make a brief presentation to suggest the best actions to solve the
communication problems
Through email from Office manager Gloria Richter and Sales Director Ursula Kireger, we
can see a lot of communication problems. I will show you a total of 6 communication
problems that were pointed out in the email:
1 is: Staff receiving too many e-mails, many of them is not important and its don't need to be
sent. Checking and sorting these is preventing them from getting on with their real work
2 is : Staff lounge has been taken away and her staff doesn't have the opportunity to meet
people from other departments anymore.
3 is : Middle managers confused about who to report to
4 is : Planned reorganisation hasn't happened yet so no one
knows what's going on.
5 is : No one will take responsibility for authoring financial payments, the departments heads
unhappy that they can't get a quick answer when they need to spend money

3
Possible answers
1. Staff should check e-mails at fixed times throughout the day, e.g. early morning and late
afternoon only.
2. „Get together‟ meetings and social events should be held so that staff from the two side of
the organisation (HCP and Sanicorp) can get to know each other better.
3. the management should consider giving more authority and decision-making power to
middle managers, i.e. decentralise the management route.
4. HCPS could produce a new, revised organigram /organisation chart so that reporting
producers are clear.
5. the management could consider setting up a staff or consider other ways of developing
informal communication, e.g. staff outing, encouraging managers to meet staff after work,
etc.
6. the management could review their policy concerning flexitime, following a survey of staff
attitudes.