Case Analysis of

SMITH FINANCIAL CORPORATION

 Analysis

First Impression
YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT I KNOW
 Analysis

UNDERSTANDING THE AUDIENCE

HEARING OR LISTENING
COMMUNICATION &
ETHICS
Perception
Self in Communication
Meanings & Message Barriers
 PERCEPTION
• The process by which you become
aware of many stimuli impinging
on your senses.
– Self Fulfilling Prophecy: When you
make a prediction or formulate a
belief that comes true because you
made the prediction and acted on it
as if were ture.
 SELF in Communication
• Who you are and how you percieve your self
– Open Self
– Blind Self
– Unknown Self
– Hidden Self
– Self Esteem
 Meanings & Message Barriers
• Polarization- refers to the tendency to look at the world in terms of
opposites and to describe it in extremes.

• Intensional orientation- Refers to the tendency to view people, objects

and events in the way they are talked about and the way they are labeled.

• Bypassing- a pattern of misevaluation in which people fail to

communicate their intended meanings.

• Allness-Refers to the tendency to assume that one knows all that there is
to know, or that what has been said is all that there is to say.

• Indiscrimination occurs when you group unlike things together and

assume that because they have the same label, they are all alike.
HOW WE SHOULD GO ABOUT IT
HOW WE SHOULD GO ABOUT IT
 BEWARE OF TRAPS
• Optimism Trap - Not be aware of complexity & high failure rate thinking that
the necessity to change and the quality of the selected “solution” will remove
barriers.
• Illusion of Control Trap- Forget that change has both intended/predictable
and unintended/unpredictable consequences.
• Solution Vs People Orientation Trap- Underestimate the impact of ‘soft’
consequences.
• Single Perspective Trap- Not take into consideration the 3 different
perspectives: ‘Change Strategists’ – ‘Change Agents’ and ‘Change Recipients’.
• Quick Win Trap- Forget that change initiatives are only successful if they are
• sustainable too.
• Individual Progress Blindness Trap- Not acknowledge that people need to
move through different Stages and will do it at a different pace.
 CASE QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
• How well does Miller’s style and tone serve him in his Email
explanations of why Lotus Notes aren’t serving the company well?
How would do it differently?
• How well does Miller communicate his goals for the future of data
management at Smith Financial Corporation?
• How sensitive is Miller to the knowledge levels and concerns of his
various audiences?
• Could you suggest a communication strategy that would have
served Miller better?
• What does the case suggest about the problems that can arise in
clashes between various corporate cultures?
• What role does personality play in communication? How can you, as
Socrates recommended learn to “Know yourself” better?
Questions From the
Audience