Term Paper on

Redefine communication for managers to adjust and excel the business operation in the Covid-19
pandemic era

Submitted By:
Mafizur Rahman
University Id: 2110034128
Course Title: Business Communication (E-503)
EMBA for Business Graduates Program (26th Batch)
Department of Management Studies
Rajshahi University

Submitted To:
Md Zohurul Anis
Assistant Professor Department of Management Studies
Rajshahi University

Date of Submission: 31 August 2021

 Declaration

I confirm that this Term Paper Redefine communication for managers to adjust and excel the
business operation in the Covid-19 pandemic era. is my own work and that I have not sought
or used inadmissible help of third parties to produce this work and that I have clearly
referenced all sources used in the work. I have fully referenced and used inverted commas for
all text directly or indirectly quoted from a source.

This work has not yet been submitted to another examination institution – neither in
Bangladesh nor outside Bangladesh – neither in the same nor in a similar way and has not
yet been published.

Mafizur Rahman
ID: 2110034128
1st Semester (26th Batch)
EMBA for Business Graduates Program
Department of Management Studies.
Rajshahi University.
 Letter of Transmittal

Md Zohurul Anis
Course Title: Business Communication (E-503)
Assistant Professor at Department of Management Studies
Rajshahi University.
Subject: Redefine communication for managers to adjust and excel the business operation in
the Covid-19 pandemic era.

Dear Sir,
I am very glad to submit a Term Paper, title is Redefine communication for managers to
adjust and excel the business operation in the Covid-19 pandemic era. The qualitative term
paper is submitted as a partial fulfillment as a part EMBA Course. The preparation of the
term paper has given me insightful and in-depth knowledge about the Redefine
communication for managers to adjust and excel the business operation in the Covid-19
pandemic era.

I have tried my best to gain practical experience in the Redefine communication for managers
to adjust and excel the business operation in the Covid-19 pandemic era. And also tried to
reflect the same in a term paper with my limited scope and knowledge. I have gathered about
realistic awareness throughout this reparation. I hope that I have been able to fulfill academic
necessities

I wish your hearty consideration. If there is any deviation in my term paper and also thank
you for your friendly co-operation.

Yours sincerely

Mafizur Rahman
ID: 2110034128
1st Semester (26th Batch)
EMBA for Business Graduates Program
Department of Management Studies.
Rajshahi University.
 Acknowledgement

It really was a great challenge for us to prepare the term paper. First of all, we present our due
regards to the Almighty, who has provided us the brilliant opportunity to build and complete
this Term paper successfully with good health & sound mind. My Course instructor Md
Zohurul Anis Assistant Professor at Department of Management Studies Rajshahi
University, helped us all the way through. He also gave proper guideline about this term
paper and also by not getting irritated with our unlimited questions. We really want to express
our gratitude to him for giving valuable advice and time, which helped immensely in
preparing this term paper.
 Table of Contents
SL No Contents Page No

Part-1-
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Methodologies
1.3 Materials and Methods
1.4 Discussion
1.5 Supply chain management
Part-2
2.1 Current scenario
2.2 Factors Affecting Effective Communication
2.3 Framework for effective communication during pandemic
2.4 Psychology to COVID-19 Communication
2.5 Mistakes to avoid ensuring effective communication
2.6 Role of Family physician during Info emic
3.1 COVID-19 task force and command room
3.2 Monitor communications updates from your industry’s leading
associations, as well as public health organizations
3.3 Create a communications plan
3.4 Develop an HR action plan.
3.5 Communicate with your customers (broadly defined to include
clients, patients, or students)
Part-3
4.1 Prepare for media inquiries
4.2 Efficient and Smooth Running of an Enterprise
4.3 Basis of Decision Making
4.4 Proper Planning and Coordination
4.5 For Higher Productivity at Minimum Cost
4.6 Morale Building
4.7 Binds People Together
4.8 Supply chain and production
Part-4
5.1 Cooperation
5.2 Plan for the future
5.3 The Role of Communication in Management
5.4 Small group meetings/huddles
5.5 Post communication materials at worksites
5.6 Worksite television monitors
5.7 Social media
5.8 Company text messaging programs
5.9 Community leaders/union representatives
Part-6
6.1 Conclusion 17-18
6.2 Reference List 19-19
Introduction: The Proclamation of COVID-19 as a State of National Emergency was issued
by the White House on March 13, 2020 (Trump, 2020). Since March, the country has been
doing their best to slow the spread of this deadly virus. Many states have issued stay-at-home
orders that encourage citizens to stay home and leave only when necessary. Many businesses
closed temporarily because large gatherings are no longer permitted, keeping only the
essential businesses open. Schools and places of employment had to shift all their processes
to digital platforms in order to continue educating and serving their consumers. Most states
have issued a mask-mandate, requiring everyone to use a facial covering in public spaces and
urging everyone to maintain a six-foot distance from one another. Today, seven months after
the Proclamation, the virus is still infecting many US citizens, the number of deaths is still on
the rise, and the country is still not able to find a sense of “normalcy” during these difficult
months.

Methodologies: In Chapter 2, a literature review is used to gather academic evidence that can
help support a proposed solution and answer the project’s three main research questions.
Chapter 3 is the collection of data from a recent consumer behavior survey and with the use
of the Business Intelligence (BI) tool, Tableau, the summary of findings is presented as data
visualization models and dashboards. These findings are then discussed to determine the
possible effectiveness of a proposed solution. Chapter 4 is the explanation of the proposed
solution, social media and social commerce. This is done by learning from a business case
study and implementing a use case scenario. Lastly, Chapter 5 concludes the study and
discusses future work on how the implementation of social media and social commerce may
bring business sustainability value to SMEs.

Materials and Methods: The aim of this study was to better understand how organizations
reacted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and to identify best management
practices. It answers the following research question: What are the impacts of the COVID-19
pandemic on organizations and what are the best practices used by organizations for the early
response to the pandemic? The objective of this study was to analyze the early COVID-19
crisis management practices implemented in organizations based on a scoping review of
relevant business articles published on this issue in newspapers and magazines between
March and May 2020. In contrast to the systematic review approach, a scoping review is
deemed more appropriate to rapidly address broader topics from articles with diverse study
designs, without assessing the quality of the included studies [81]. This approach is also
particularly well suited to studying new phenomena and informing emerging practices
[10,82,83]. This study follows the methodology developed by Arksey and O’Malley [81]
which comprises five main steps: identifying the research question; identifying relevant
articles; selecting relevant articles; charting the data; and collating, summarizing, and
reporting the results. This methodology has been adapted to be used for the study of business
articles.

Discussion: Before discussing the review results, a brief overview of the thematic categories
is provided here. As shows, research on COVID-19 and cities can be classified into four
major themes, namely, (1) environmental quality, (2) socio-economic impacts, (3)
management and governance, and (4) transportation and urban design However, these themes
are not addressed in a balanced manner, and existing knowledge is mainly related to a the
environmental quality theme that covers sub-themes such as air quality impacts,
environmental factors affecting the airborne transmission of the virus, and impacts on the
urban water cycle. Some possible explanations for the dominance of these themes will be
provided in the remainder of this paper. The dominance of these themes can also be observed
from the outputs of term (keyword) co-occurrence analysis obtained from VOS viewer that is
a software tool for text mining and bibliometric analysis of scientific papers It is obvious that
air quality and environmental factors are dominant, but there are also other key terms, such as
smart cities and density that belong to the other themes. Considering the close connections
between social and economic impacts, in this review they are presented as the theme titled
‘socio-economic impacts. Similarly, the other two major themes are consisted of sub-themes
that are closely related. Smart cities are believed to contribute to management and
governance of cities and form the third major theme titled, ‘management and governance’.
Finally, the last theme covers issues related to transportation and urban design.
supply chain management: This sudden shift in the global production system has raised
questions about the resilience of global and local value chains and has caused firms to rethink
and transform their overall approach to manufacturing and the supply chain model.
Companies should launch strategic initiatives to create more resilient supply chains. The
operation model should be adjusted to enable more flexible and decentralized manufacturing
with a consistent risk management system. Also, cross-industry collaboration models need to
be redefined, and product portfolios require thorough reviews to reduce complexity. Based on
this, we propose the.

Current scenario: The most important factor in preventing the spread of the COVID-19 is to
empower the people with the right information. Today in the era of COVID-19 pandemic
there is an overabundance of information leading to 'info emic'. During a pandemic there is a
lot of false information around therefore it is vital to have a dedicated COVID-19 information
portal. India owns its dedicated integrated COVID-19 web portal, national and state wise
helpline number, authentic email ID, government social hub on WhatsApp, Twitter,
Facebook, New Desk Telegram, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Government of
India developed Aarogya Satu mobile application aimed in proactively reaching out to and
informing the users regarding risks, best practices and relevant advisories related to COVID-
19. the government changed the default telephone caller tune in India from “strong-arming”
to “cough-cough” followed by a message about Coronavirus. This is a multilingual and
understandable 30-second audio clip to create awareness among masses This a practical
application of information and education communication (IEC) strategies. Paintings with
awareness messages on walls, roads and other common places, images on social media,
memes, newspaper clips are other examples of IEC.

The primary modes of prevention are covering the mouth while coughing and sneezing, hand
washing, social distancing, and seeking health care advised if unwell. Targeting behavior
change communication (BCC) during a pandemic is an interactive dialogue by a popular
figure. Actor Amitabh Bachchan has been roped in by the government to promote positive
behaviors about COVID-19. A campaign on television that imparts education of home
quarantine for a COVID-19 suspect is also a BCC strategy

Worldwide social marketing is used in breastfeeding, personal hygiene, immunization,

Tobacco control and others Currently in India social marketing is used by multiple
multinational companies and brands to spread messages for handwashing, social distancing
and restricted movement during COVID-19. For example, “Serf lifebuoy nashi bulky Kisi phi
Sabon se hat doyen”. In this video, a branded soap is advocating to wash hands with their
soap or any soap available. Surf Excel “Abhin key life! Dag Gohar Pe Rehinge”. In this
video, a branded washing powder is advocating social distancing and restricted movement.
The video is acted by kids to give simple and clear messages to the children audience.
Another example is “Gohar bait he bait he Kya hi car skate Hai? Bahut much! Ab Tata Sky
key swath, Sekiya aur Sikh aye much.” This is motivating people to be active and engaged in
their homes during the restricted movement period of COVID-19.

Webinar links pertaining to coronavirus are floating across all social media. It is difficult for
a common man to choose the link for standardized knowledge acquisition. Integrated
Government of India Online training, ingot Corona is a portal to achieve access, equity and
quality coronavirus literature.

Factors Affecting Effective Communication: Effective communication is proactive, polite,

imaginative, innovative, creative, constructive, professional, progressive, energetic, enabling,
transparent and technology friendly. However, there are multiple factors playing a key role in
accepting information, like social and cultural characteristics. Gender, generational contrasts,
language inclinations, strict convictions, religious beliefs, and varying literacy influence the
action of masses. Difficulty and attitudes towards initiatives in public health communication
is crucial to improving awareness and eventually acceptability or unacceptability of
government advisories. Presence of treatment, and vaccines have significant consequences
for vulnerable people as it would allow individuals and organizations to take decisions and
acts that may be incompatible with their health beliefs and values during a pandemic.
Individuals with minimal financial resources needing to work on a daily basis may have
trouble following advice to stay at home. Reliability, affordability, accessibility, availability,
and appropriate use of personal protective equipment are key concerns from health care
workers to common man.

Framework for effective communication during pandemic: Effective communication

system during a pandemic includes content, method, people and partners. Content is phased
and situation specific ensuring communication precedes and monitors the operational and
community response during the various pandemic stages. Process includes various platforms
such as blogs, call centers, webinars, conference calls, online health group videos, digital
news media are the means to ensure communication.[6] People are community participation
approach from message conception to delivery. Fear, distrust, and resistance are common
reactions during pandemic, trusted and credible information sources are critical for moving
people from awareness to action. Communications before, during and after a pandemic are
directed to partners, places and networks viewed by vulnerable populations as accurate,
trustworthy and accessible.

Psychology to COVID-19 Communication: In the COVID-19 pandemic, people are marked,

stereotyped, discriminated against, viewed negatively, and suffered status loss due to a
perceived contact with a disease.[6] In addition, high levels of stress and anxiety is
experienced by adults due to significant changes in their day-to-day life and social structures
and movements. Messages must be sensitive to and relevant for the audience.[11] Viewing,
reading or listening to COVID-19 news may cause nervousness. The sudden and near-
constant flood of news stories can cause one to feel worried. At the workplace, feeling under
pressure is a probable experience. Seeking effective coping mechanisms is imperative.
Unfortunately, some healthcare workers face rejection because of stigma or fear by their
families or friends. Help kids find positive ways to express feelings such as fear and sadness.
Participating in a creative activity like playing or drawing may often promote the process.
Self-care for parents is central to helping the children. Older adults may become more
anxious, angry, depressed, irritated and withdrawn during the pandemic. Engage in the safe
things that people love, relax, daily exercise, normal sleep schedules and eating nutritious
food is all important. Effective communication about COVID-19 has important benefits for
workers, children, elderly, and the long-term psychological well-being of their families.

Mistakes to avoid ensuring effective communication: Everything in pandemic revolves

around effective communication, both internal with employees, co-workers or team members
and external with people, communities and nations. It is utmost important to avoid mistakes
during communication. Some of them are mixed or late messages, paternalism, ignoring
rumors or myths, power struggles between governments, unrealistic expectations, scientific
terms and acronyms, negative allegations, unclear, abstract, blame and others.

Role of Family physician during Info emic: One of the important strategies during this
fearful COVID-19 pandemic is deep engagement of family physicians with sick, sometimes
dying, patients and their families. Core guiding principle for this is patient and families must
trust the doctor. Pandemic is affecting both the physical and psychological health of a
community. Stress and fear arising from pandemic is controlled by guidance and counselling
from trusted family physicians. Physician-patient relationships have significant positive and
negative implications on treatment outcome. Family physicians must be competent for
effective consultation techniques depending on the scenario. Owing to the rapid advancement
of technologies, patients are exposed today to bulk of information. Family physicians are
gatekeepers as “First in, Last out” in the fight against COVID-19.[15] As respected members
of communities, family physicians may enhance awareness and perception of COVID-19
risk. Family physician's effective communication helps to mitigate families of COVID-19
information in a clear and honest way. Family physician support reduces risks by advising
and educating patients regarding the ways and modes to access authentic information from
government or non-governmental organizations. Ultimately, the overarching goal of effective
communication is to provide clear thoughts and true facts to improve patients and their
family's health.

COVID-19 task force and command room: Establish a team from different functions to
assess your organization’s coronavirus needs and risks. The team should include
representatives from your key functions, including supply chain, human resources,
communications, operations, sales, legal, health, safety and environment (HSE), and more.
Determine the task force’s command and decision-making structure. For key decisions, who
is the ultimate authority and who needs to be informed? See the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control (U.S. CDC): Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to
Coronavirus Disease. Only specific, appointed people from your organization’s COVID-19
task force should be communicating about the company’s situation with employees and
external audiences (media, investors, customers, suppliers, local government, etc.). It’s
important to agree internally about what will be communicated before any announcements
are made to assure that messaging will be consistent across different audiences. Develop
message development protocols that will enable prompt drafting and approval of statements
so that communications can be completed in a timely way and not bogged down by endless
edits. Consider when legal approval of statements may be necessary. Spokespeople should
only answer questions they know the answers to. It’s a bad practice to give a “best guess”
answer. Instead, questioners should be told, “We’ll look into this and get back to you as soon
as possible.” Be prepared to provide timely updates as necessary and inform stakeholders
where they can go for additional information or questions. Regarding corporate travel, see the
World Health Organization’s (WHO) written travel guidelines for COVID-19. Do a SWOT
(Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threat) analysis. What protocols for cleanliness does
your organization have or need? Is your custodial staff increasing its cleaning and
disinfection of touch surfaces (restrooms, door knobs, kitchen and dining areas)? Do they
have the correct personal protective equipment? They should avoid cleaning methods that
might aerosolize pathogens (pressure washing, steam cleaning). What emergencies should
you plan for?

Monitor communications updates from your industry’s leading associations, as well as

public health organizations: Develop a protocol system for monitoring daily, hourly and
emergency information.

Keep in mind that disinformation travels as fast or faster than accurate information. “Fake
news” about COVID-19 is being spread rapidly around the world, including by some
government officials with no background in public health. Your organization should seek
advice from scientific and medical officials with experience in epidemiology, such as those in
the WHO, the U.S. CDC, or similar national government health organizations in other
countries (see list below). The WHO is publishing daily bulletins on the status of the virus,
has developed instructions for dealing with the virus, and has produced a document on
COVID-19 myths. The organization’s Q&A on COVID-19 is also very helpful.

Monitor travel advisories through your national health authority. The list of countries placed
under travel advisories continues to grow. If employees or their immediate family members
travel to a country under a travel advisory or have been in contact with someone who has,
you should instruct them to stay home and self-quarantine for two weeks.

Create a communications plan: Review your audiences’ needs. Who are the key
stakeholders with need for information from your organization? What information do they
need, who needs it first, and for what purpose? Consider focusing your efforts around
empowerment, practice, and compliance. It’s vital that people understand the importance of
complying with practices such as handwashing and good hygiene to keep themselves and
others safe, but you can communicate this importance in an accessible, friendly manner.
Develop messaging and communications strategies for each audience, and assign a
communications lead. What communications tools will you need? How will you
communicate with each audience should your organization need to work differently (text,
email, website, etc.)? Have you tested your emergency communications system and tools?
What should your tone be always (e.g., calm, reasoned) and never (e.g., panicked)?

Develop an HR action plan: Explore what the rules will be if your employees need to work
from home. Will pay continue as normal? What about non-salaried employees? What does
your government require? Review telecommuting policies and accountability. Beware of
bias, discrimination and exclusion at your organization, and always be protective of employee
personal privacy and confidentiality as required by law. Follow up on reports of
discrimination and respond to concerns.

Communicate with your employees: Prepare statements/intranet news for employees and
regularly pass on information to them.

Reference the aforementioned U.S. CDC section aimed at employers with guidelines on
preparing your company for an outbreak of the virus. Educate employees about the virus,
including: How it is spread and what they can do to protect themselves and others around
them. Refer to the WHO document “The Rational Use of Personal Protective Equipment for
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).” This document explains why face masks are not
appropriate for the general public except for healthcare workers and people who are ill. It also
provides information on what preventative measures do work. Communicate on a regular
basis with employees to let them know of any ongoing developments and what the company
is doing to handle COVID-19. Truthful communication will build trust, while lack of
information or disinformation will result in mistrust. If an employee tests positive for the
virus, tell the employees they have been in contact with that they have been exposed to the
virus at work. (However, respecting sick employees’ privacy is important, so don’t reveal
their names.) Do you communicate the current status via live ticker on the intranet? The U.S.
CDC has four risk categories for individuals. It may be helpful to share these with employees.
Some employees may be reassured to learn that they are not at risk. Sick employees at work
should be isolated from other employees and sent home immediately. Tell employees that if
they have symptoms of respiratory illness, they should not come to work and should stay
home until they have had no fever for 24 hours.

Communicate with your customers (broadly defined to include clients, patients, or

students): These are the lifeblood of your organization’s business and mission. Maintaining
their trust and confidence during a potential coronavirus-related disruption is critical.

Identify the concerns of your customers (clients, patients, students, hotel guests, etc.).
Develop messaging that assures customers your organization has done all it can to ensure
consistent delivery of products and services they need and expect. If there are delays in
processes, timing, substitutions, etc., make sure your customers are informed. Let your
customers know what steps your business has taken to protect them from exposure to the
virus. Provide resources for additional online information, and let customers know how they
can get answers to their questions. Consider an FAQ document with business questions your
customers will ask and/or setting up a hotline as appropriate. Stay in regular touch with your
customers with updated information, including after things return to normal.

Prepare for media inquiries: Prepare statements for the press and website news.

Keep in mind this may not be the best time to release company news. Journalists care about
how the COVID-19 outbreak affects the global economy, and what each country’s prevention
efforts are. Media outlets are devoting time and budget to covering those topics. For example,
in Korea, SK Hynix, Samsung, and Hyundai facilities have had to shut down for one to two
weeks because employees have been sick with coronavirus. This type of news is high-priority
for Korean and Japanese editors, and they are not likely to focus right now on topics like
product launches (such activities should be delayed if media coverage is considered very
important). In China, the media is trying to get back to normal, with the encouragement of the
Chinese government, even though the outbreak is still very serious there.

Consider which messaging about your organization may clear up confusion for potential
travelers. For example, journalists covering the travel and tourism industry will want to know
if a property has changed its cancellation policies due to the virus, and whether visitors are at
financial risk if they need to cancel or postpone their trip because of a sudden outbreak of the
virus in the community the plan to visit. Most companies will probably not want to comment
on how the virus outbreak may or may not be affecting their business. We recommend that
organizations only discuss their policies relating to the outbreak, their advice to employees on
staying healthy, and their plans to keep meeting customer needs.
Efficient and Smooth Running of an Enterprise: The smooth and efficient functioning of
an enterprise entirely depends upon the effectiveness of the system of communication. It is
the very heart of the process of organizing. It provides the necessary basis of direction and
leadership. It actuates people to action in accordance with the desires of the management.
Without proper communication, performance and achievements of the goals may not be
possible. It is essential to secure cooperation between any two persons.

Basis of Decision Making: Communication is the basis of decision-making. It helps the

management to take essential decision and conduct vital operations. The quality of decisions
made in an organization entirely depends on the amount and quality of information available
to the management. The quality of information depends upon effective communication, and
the quality of communication exercises considerable influence on the quality of decision
making.

In the absence of effective communication, it may not be possible for the top management to
come in closer contacts with each other. Effective communication also helps in implementing
the decisions of the management.

Proper Planning and Coordination: Communication is very helpful in planning and

coordinating the activities of the business. If the system of communication is good, useful
suggestions will come from the subordinates to the superiors. This would be helpful in the
formation of plans. Participation of employees is now regarded as essential for getting the
task done, and this can effectively be secured only through the media of communication.

For Higher Productivity at Minimum Cost: Effective communication between employers

and employees plays a vital role in obtaining maximum production with the minimum cost.
Communication provides the necessary will to work Effective communication will make the
employee feel more secure and more interested in his work. It will increase the understanding
of the employees and secure their willing acceptance of the business plans.

It will increase the productivity on the part of workers. ‘For this, management has to sell
ideas, motivate the workers to work with a will, and build up high morale in the company.
Communication, as an influence process, plays a vital role here. It becomes thus, a part of
the education, propaganda, leadership, and guidance function of the management.

Morale Building: Communication in the industry is the basis for morale building. Under an
effective system of communication, it is quite convenient for the employees to bring their
grievances to the notice of the management and get a proper adjustment. It creates mutual
trust and faith, and that ultimately ensures job satisfaction amongst the employees, creates
confidence in the ability of managers, and promotes their loyalty towards the enterprise.

It satisfies their personal and social needs and stimulates their job interest and enthusiasm.
‘The result of good communication is increased efficiency as well as good morale. It is
possible to have good morale without efficiency; it is not possible to have efficiency without
good morale’.

Democratic Management: Effective communication is the basis for democratic

management. It ensures co-operation through understanding. The management has been
forced to recognize the maintenance of a sound system in a democracy which necessitates
understanding and support of workers. Adequacy and clarity of communication facilitate
effective leadership and maintenance of man-to-man relationships.

Binds People Together: Effective communication induces the human elements in an

organization to develop a spirit of cooperation and produces the will to do work before
actually doing it. In this way, effective communication binds the people of an organization
together.

Supply chain and production: Is production capacity guaranteed? What activities have been
initiated to prepare for large numbers of sick employees? Is a temporary shutdown of
production being considered in case of a pandemic?

Cooperation: Are you partnering with officials and other organizations (WHO, national
health authorities, etc.) to stay informed?

Are responsibilities within your company for addressing certain aspects of the virus outbreak
clear (occupational safety expert, company doctor, etc.)?

Plan for the future: According to The New York Times and other experts, COVID-19 may
come back more strongly later this year. Evaluate your practices and plan to sustain them.
Monitor the effectiveness of communication to different audiences. Immediately address fear
and prejudice against different groups of people directly and with science-based facts.
Consider the WHO/UNICEF/International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies’ Guide to Preventing and Addressing Social Stigma.

The Role of Communication in Management: The role of management is to accomplish the

goals of an organization. To do this, managers create a plan that defines what needs to be
done, when it will be done, and how it will be done. To implement the plan, managers must
convey this information to everyone in the organization. That is, they must communicate the
plan to members of the organization. However, managers need to do much more than just
inform people what they need to do to support the plan. They also must motivate people to
support the plan, build commitment to the organization, establish rapport and collaboration,
and keep everyone informed of events and actions that affect the organization. Good
communication not only informs but also helps to create a culture that makes people feel like
they belong to and want to support the organization. The opening example shows what can
result from poor communication. Following are some of the benefits of effective
communication.

Provides clarity. Confusion, uncertainty, and ambiguity make people uncomfortable and
uncooperative. Making roles, responsibilities, and relationships clear gives everyone the
information they need to do their jobs and to understand their contributions to the
organization. Effective communication reduces the cost associated with conflicts,
misunderstandings, and mistakes.
Builds Relationships. A culture that promotes open communication reduces tension between
hierarchical levels of employees, both professionally and socially. In a trusting and
collaborative culture, people are more likely to seek help with problems and to suggest
solutions and improvements. Effective communication creates a collegial culture that fosters
teamwork and encourages cooperation.
Creates commitment. Effective communication involves not only sending information but
also receiving it. By listening to employees’ concerns, allowing them to have input on their
work and their workplace, and giving consideration to their suggestions, managers can make
everyone in the organization feel like they are valued contributors. When employees feel like
they are valued in the organization, they will likely be more engaged and motivated. Effective
communication creates support and commitment.
Defines expectations. When people are uncertain about what is expected of them and how
they will be evaluated, they can’t do their jobs well. Performance reviews are difficult
because the employee does not know the performance standards they are expected to meet.
And if corrective measures are necessary, the employee may be resentful if he can’t see how
his behaviors reduced his effectiveness. When expectations and standards are clear,
employees know what they need to do to get a positive review and the benefits that come
with it.
These are just a few of the many benefits that come from effective communications.
Managers can only reach organizational goals when the people in the organization are
committed to the goals. People perform much better when they are informed and involved.

Small group meetings/huddles: Consider conducting meetings or huddles with small groups
of employees to verbally communicate messages in their preferred languages.
Group employees who speak the same language together to facilitate communication.
Consider having employees share approved safety and health messages instead of always
having supervisors or managers lead the information sharing.
Encourage employees to ask questions and share information.
Ensure employees wear cloth face coverings or disposable masks and maintain at least 6 feet
between each other during these meetings or huddles.

Post communication materials at worksites: Communication materials can be displayed in

common work areas where workers have access, visit frequently, and have enough time to
review the information.
Communication materials should be developed in the preferred languages of most employees,
written at the appropriate reading level, and expressed in plain language.
Posted materials should be large enough so images and words can be easily seen from a
distance.
Communication messages should be rotated regularly to engage employees’ interest and
attention.
Areas to post materials could include:
Cafeterias,
Locker rooms,
Restrooms,
Entries,
Screening areas,
Break rooms and outside seating/eating/smoking areas,
Transportation arrival/departure areas,
Hallways/walls,
Congregate housing and living spaces,
Onsite occupational health clinics, and
Other areas where staff frequently stop or pass by.
Printable posters and other print materials can be repurposed from existing CDC materials or
can be used as a starting point for development of employer-specific materials.
Section 3: Communication Resources provides links to materials on a variety of topics (basic
COVID-19 information, disposable facemasks and cloth face coverings, keeping well at
home, etc.), many of which are available in multiple languages.
Worksite television monitors: Employers can use existing videos on a variety of COVID-19
health topics, some of which are available in multiple languages (Section 3).
To further capture employees’ attention, employers can develop their own videos. The videos
should be in languages commonly spoken by employees and could feature employees who
speak these language(s).
Transcripts for various health topics are already developed and available (Section 3).
Content should rotate frequently to attract and maintain employees’ attention.

Social media: Employers should consider using or developing a closed/private, company-

only social media page and encourage employees to follow it online.
Routine postings that reinforce health information and infection prevention behaviors can be
shared on social media.
Employers may wish to develop their own messages, or they can use existing relevant
prevention messages tailored to social media that have already been developed by CDC
(Section 3).

Company text messaging programs: Employers with a text messaging program can send
workers brief text messages, which are automatically translated to preferred languages, to
reinforce prevention measures and remind employees about company policies and benefits.
Urgent messages can be sent rapidly using the same mechanism, as needed.

Community leaders/union representatives: Employers should work with community

leaders and union representatives to develop key messages and resources that can be shared
by community and union members.
As trusted sources of information, community leaders and union representatives should be
involved with message dissemination through methods they have already established.
Additional opportunities for sharing health messages with employees should be explored with
these leaders. Your state and/or local health department may be able to help facilitate these
community relationships.

Conclusion: This project’s purpose was to illustrate the benefits of social media to business
sustainability during a global pandemic and how to implement a social commerce system in
the context of a small business restaurant. Research was done to explore academic literature
on the topics of digital and social media strategies and the value they can bring to SMEs.
Data from a recent survey was extracted and analyzed to understand the changes consumers
have made to their lives because of the pandemic and how the survey results can help support
the proposed solution of a social media and social commerce strategy. Learning from a
business case and current social media and social commerce technologies, a social commerce
system was drafted to explain how such a system would function in context of a small
business restaurant. All the components of this project were compiled to bring awareness to
the small businesses that are struggling during this time and who may need some additional
guidance on how to get back on track to prevent their business from becoming another
statistic.
The year 2020 has been a turbulent one for most. Many in the United States have experienced
changes, large and small, in their lives due to the pandemic. From the way they work and live
to the way they are allowed to interact with friends and family. The global pandemic is a
period in time that is continuing to cause stress to many, especially those who have
experienced a loss because of the virus. This can be the loss of a loved one, income, a home,
or a business. Though these losses cannot be prevented by simply reading this paper, this
project’s main objective is to lessen the risk of some of these losses, such as the negative
snowball effect the loss of a business can have on one’s income, home, and overall
livelihood. Even though this outcome is a reality for many in the US, this project hopes to
empower the small business owner, especially those hurting the most during the pandemic, to
keep up the entrepreneurial spirit and know that these challenges will always lead to triumph
with the use of resilience, innovation, and grit.
Reference List:

ASQ. (2020). What is a Small Business? Retrieved from ASQ:

https://asq.org/quality-resources/small-business

Barnhart, B. (2019, August 13). Everything You Need to Know About Social Media
Algorithms. Retrieved from Sprout Social: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-
algorithms/

Bartek, A. W., Bertrand, M., Cullen, Z., Glaser, E. L., Luca, M., & Stanton, C. (2020). The
impact of COVID-19 on small business outcomes and expectations. Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, 17656-17666.

Boyle, P. (2020). The Secret to the Future Growth of Your Ecommerce Channel: Social
Commerce. Retrieved from Big commerce: https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/social-
commerce/#what-is-social-commerce

Cisco. (2017). Domino's Delivers Explosive Growth with Cisco-Driven Digital

Transformation. Retrieved from Cisco: https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en_us/about/case-
studies-customer-success-stories/dominos-case-study.pdf

dhatcreolegrill. (2020, May 20). Jambalaya Fries & Sticky Chicken. Retrieved from
Instagram: https://instagram.com/dhatcreolegrill?igshid=16p8gqz9yinn6

Fan, W., & Gordon, M. D. (2014). The power of social media analytics. Communications of
the ACM, 74-81.

Friedman, G. (2020, August 19). Big-Box Retailers' Profits Surge as Pandemic Marches On.
Retrieved from The New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/business/coronavirus-walmart-target-home-depot.html

Iftikhar, R., & Khan, M. (2020). Social media big data analytics for demand forecasting:
development and case implementation of an innovative framework. Journal of Global
Information Management, 103-120.

Li, C.-Y. (2019). How social commerce constructs influence customers' social shopping
intention? an empirical study of a social commerce website. Technological Forecasting &
Social Change, 282-294.

Office Of Advocacy. (2019, January 30). Small Businesses Generate 44 Percent of US

Economic Activity. Retrieved from US Small Business Administration:
https://advocacy.sba.gov/2019/01/30/small-businesses-generate-44-percent-of-u-s-economic-
activity/
L DKT. Challenges and responsibilities of family doctors in the new global coronavirus
outbreak. Fam Med Community Health 2020;8:e000333.

Dalton L, Rapa E, Stein A. Protecting the psychological health of children through effective
communication about COVID-19. Lancet Child Adolesc Health 2020;4:346-7
Social Stigma associated with COVID-19. Available from: https://www.who.int/docs/default-
source/coronaviruse/covid19-stigma-guide.pdf. [Last accessed on 2020 Apr 19].