Communication – it’s much easier said that done

By Glare Gascoigne

Trust is key in an open organization.

Getting staff to talk to each other ought to be the least of your problems, but internal communication can be one of the hardest nuts to crack in business. “Communication comes up in every department. The repercussions of not communicating are vast,” says Theo Theobald, co-author of “Shut up and Listen!

The Truth About How to Communicate at Work.”

Poor communication can be a purely practical problem. Gearbulk, a global shipping business with branches around the world, faced language and geographical difficulties, as well as a huge amount of paperwork.

Installing an automated system means data is now entered only once but can be accessed by anyone in the company, whenever they are.

Given today’s variety of communication tools, it seems strange that we still have a problem communicating. But the brave new world of high-tech can create barriers – senior managers hide behind their computers, staff use voice mails to screen calls, and employees sitting next to each other will send e-mails rather than

speak. “Managers should get up, walk round the office and talk to people,” says Matt Rogan, Head of Marketing at Lane4, a leadership and communications consultancy. “Face-to-face communication can’t be beaten.

Another problem is simply hitting the “reply all” button, bombarding people with information. “We had unstructured data coming at staff from left, right and centre, leaving it up to individuals to sort out,” says Ramon Ferrer, Vice President

of Global IT AT Gearbulk. “Our new system has reduced e-mails and changed the way people work.”

Information overload also means people stop listening. But there may be a deeper reason why a message fails to get through, according to Alex Haslam, Professor of Psychology at Exeter University.

“Everyone thinks a failure to communicate is just an individual’s error of judgment, but it’s not about the person; it’s about the group a group dynamics,” he says. “Just training people to be good communicators isn’t the issue.”

The problem is that employees develop common loyalties that are far stronger that the need to share information. This can even extend to questions of safety.

In the mid-1990s there were a lot of light air crashes in Australia because the two government departments responsible for air safety weren’t communicating. The government was trying to save money and both groups felt threatened .The individuals were highly identified with their own organization and unwilling to communicate with other department,” says Haslam.

A company is particularly at risk when cost-cutting is in the air. Individuals withdraw into departmental loyalties out of fear. Sending such people on yet another “how to communicate” course will be pointless. Instead, Haslam believes that identifying the subgroups within an organization and making sure each group feels valued and respected can do far more to encourage the sharing of information. The key to communication is trust’ he says.

Task 1. Complete the chart below.

Communication problems.

A. High Tech B. Information overload C. Common loyalties

consequences consequence consequence

1…………………. 4……………………. 5……………………

2………………….

3…………………..

Task 2. Read the article again and answer these questions.

1. What communication problems did Gearbulk have?

2. How did Gearbulk overcome the problems?

3. What solutions does Theobald recommend for the above problems?

4. According to the author, why does staff often receive too many e-mails?

5. Why weren’t the two government departments (responsible for air safety) communicating?

6. What does the author think about sending people on communication

courses?

Task 3. Which word in each group does not form a word partnership with the word in

bold?

1 waste time resources information

2 face trouble problem difficulties

3 duplicate information time work

4 install systems factories equipment

5 save money time experience

6 develop truth loyalty motivation

7 share support information ideas

8 allocate time ideas resources

9 interrupt e-mails conversations meetings

Task 4. Discuss the questions.

1.’Face-to-face communication can’t be beaten.’ Do you agree?

2. How could communication be improved in your organization?

3. How will communication change in the office of the future?

Text 4

Read the interview with Anuj Khanna, Marketing Manager of Netsize,

a marketing agency for mobile media and answer the following questions:

1.What are the consequences of the following communication breakdowns?

a) problems in air traffic control systems

b) delays in fixing communication systems

c) faults in cash machines

2. Which of the following developments in communication does he expect

to see in the future?

a) more privacy for customers

b) more freedom for companies to communicate with customers

c) more control by customers over the messages they receive

d) more communication between machines

Question: Can you think of examples where a breakdown in communication

seriously affected a business?

AK Breakdown in communication can bring the world to a halt today. We’re living

in an information society whose foundation is based on efficient communication.

For example, recent breakdown in communication of our country’s A-traffic

system led to a twenty-hour closure of all airports in the country and a resulting

delay in flights globally. Nowadays, companies and their suppliers are tired up

with agreements where they pay huge fines, by the hour, for delay in fixing

communication systems. This is more prevalent in the banking industry, where,

for example, if a cash machine, there is a fine which is paid by the engineering

company. And the reason for that is every hour when there is a delay, the bank

loses money. This requires good communication between the bank and the

engineering company, or it results in loss of money for both parties.

Question: How do you see business communication in the future?

AK Business communication is under pressure to be more accurate, targeted and

timely. There are stricter privacy regulations worldwide, which require explicit

permission from customers if businesses want to communicate with them. We

have all faced the problem of e-mail spam – messages which never requested

from companies who we have had no relationship with. Businesses in the future

will give more control over two-way communication to the customers.

Nowadays, apart from people communicating with each other, we have

machine-to-machine communications. What I mean is where machines are

imbedded with communication devices transferring information to information

systems and computers worldwide. And this is primarily to improve business

efficiency. For example, we have increasing number of cars, vending machines

and equipment which is fixed with mobile devices which communicate with

head offices of companies and service centres.

Writing

As a member of the Human Resources Department, write a set of guidelines on

the problems in internal communication at work and how business communication

will change in the future for discussion at the next board meeting.