J/617/1149 Communication Skills for Business management Assignment
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Sample Assignment
The Senior Management Team (SMT) of a local medium sized organisation has become aware of communication problems within their organisation. Customers have been complaining of poor service, the Managing Director is appalled to see spelling errors in letters and now suppliers have refused to deliver further goods until they receive a response to their emails and phone calls about their outstanding invoices.
You work with a training consultancy, Training Solutions. An experienced colleague, Asha Kumari, has established the nature of the problems in SHDE Holdings and you have been asked to work with the client to deliver the proposed solutions.
You receive the following email and attached report from Asha.
Task 1
Prepare a formal report for the senior staff and line managers at SHDE Holdings. (AC 5.1). You should include charts and graphs to present information and support the text of the report as appropriate.
This report should include:
- An explanation of the process of internal communication within organisations (AC 1) and analysing the barriers that exists within different organisations meaning communication is sometimes not effective (AC1.3), giving examples from SHDE Holdings
- An assessment of the methods of internal communication that should be used for different purposes (eg letter for formal communication with customers, telephone call for clarification of a complex matter, email for confirmation of detail). Please support this with an assessment of what other organisations do and examples of that could apply to SHDE (AC 1.2)
For a Merit you must:
provide guidance for SHDE, using examples of best practice from other organisations. Make sure you:
- Analyse possible legal and ethical issues in relation to the communication of information within organisations (AC 1M1)
- Evaluate the effectiveness of a range of communications (verbal and non-verbal) in contributing to the success of a named organisation (AC 3M1)
Task 2
As part of the staff training programme, design an oral presentation with supporting notes for the customer facing staff at SHDE Holdings. (AC 4.1). Please include:
- Formal communications systems that should be used to communicate with Please evaluate different systems. (AC 2.1)
- An analysis of the impact of relationships found in organisations on effective communications (AC 3.1)
- An assessment of the impact of non-verbal communication on oral communications (AC
- An assessment of the impact of technology on written and oral communications (AC 3.3)
For a Distinction you must:
Adapt your presentation materials to provide a summary to the Senior Management team
– members need to know your key messages and the implications for the business. (AC 4D1)
Task 3
Using appropriate technology, please deliver your presentation on the training day to staff at SHDE Holdings (AC 4.1).
For a Distinction you must:
Please deliver an adapted presentation to the Senior Management Team and produce a paper for the next meeting of the Board of Directors (AC 5D1)
Report on SHDE Holdings
1.0 Introduction
SHDE is an electrical supplier with a regional repair centres and shops. The organisation is currently experiencing operational problems that are affecting customer satisfaction. Many of these are outside the scope of this report. Training Solutions has been asked to focus on communication issues both within the company and with suppliers and customers.
2.0 Summary
SHDE Holding is an electrical company operating locally. It has been established for 10 years. However, it is only in the past 3 years that their market has grown rapidly. The turnover and payroll have tripled within the last year. The business is projected to grow by a further 100% within 3 years.
The business is currently experiencing high levels of customer complaints and staff turnover. The communication difficulties exist in all areas and at all levels of the business.
Two solutions are proposed: a training session and a report to inform and influence SMT and line managers
3.0 Research method
During week commencing 15 June, a consultant from Training Solutions spent 3 days at SHDE Holdings. The following research activities were carried out:
- Desk review of customer complaints
- Desk review of policies and procedures
- Interviews with 10 staff including the Managing Director, Operations Manager, 2 shop floor staff, 2 delivery staff, the HR Manager, one payroll assistant, the receptionist and the Premises Manager
4.0 Findings
SHDE Holdings has expanded rapidly in the past 3 years. There has been a huge increase in complaints from both customers and suppliers. Staff morale is low and staff turnover high.
It is clear that this company values their customers and had a record of excellent internal and external customer relations. The SMT are shocked to find that complaints have increased by 50% and staff turnover has increased to levels which are damaging to the business. Members of SMT acknowledge that there is a communications issue within the company
The causes for complaints vary. Only 3 % concern the product itself. Over 55% of complaints concern delivery. (Over 75% of these are about late delivery. The remainder are about delivery to an incorrect address). The delivery staff acknowledge these problems. They are sent notes in the internal post about changes to delivery details – and by the time they receive them the package has often been dispatched. Sometimes they are told about changes (verbally) and fail to write the information down. There appears to be no formal system for communicating changes to orders.
25% of complaints concern poor face to face communication during the delivery of customer service on the shop floor. Some complaints referred to rudeness. One complaint made it clear that there was clearly conflict between staff on the shop floor. Other issues include misunderstandings, the fact that the store only sends texts to advise of delivery times and many of the older customers do not use texting. There are also issues with poor English in written communications, appearance of staff and the tone of some of the communications received are inappropriate.
There are no formal communication policies and procedures. As a result:
- there is no protocol for answering the phone, so practice varies
- complaints are often not acknowledged (and it may take some weeks for a formal response)
- there is no standard protocol for internal communication – some use internal post, others use email or word of mouth
- the company’s Facebook page was recently used to inform customers of product changes
- suppliers are not dealt with consistently
- there is no monitoring processes for external communications
- communication between line managers and their staff is random. There appear to be no regular meetings to disseminate and gather information.
- The SMT do not meet regularly
5.0 Conclusions
The communication problems at SHDE Holdings affect all areas of the business. All levels of staff are hindered by poor communications within the company and the customers are not served to the appropriate standards. There is huge potential for the growth of this company but for this to materialise these issues must be addressed.
6.0 Recommendations
- A series of training workshops is required for customer facing staff. These workshops to be delivered to all staff and cover both internal and external communication
- In order to improve performance SMT need to be advised of best practice in terms of organisational communication. A formal report for the senior staff and line managers at SHDE Holdings should be provided