Running head: The communication Problem in an organization

The communication problem in an organization

Focus on blind communicator
Ratipa Khittikote (ID. 5221030306)
English for career – Group 1

1,801 words

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 “Totally Blind”

The case study of the communication problem in Toyota Leasing (Thailand)

Company profile and Organization Structure

Toyota Leasing (Thailand) – TLT an affiliate of Toyota Financial Service

Corporation, Japan is a captive hire-purchase and financing service provider for
Toyota customers purchasing Toyota and Lexus automobiles in Thailand. Currently,
Toyota Leasing has 650 permanent associates. As a global standard company, TLT
has focused on investing and developing not only the business efficiency, but also the
human resources. At Toyota Leasing, Associate is considered the most valuable asset
of the company. To ensure that the associates will be properly developed and
groomed, Training and Development plans are sophisticatedly designed to suit with
the training needs of each individual associate. Additionally, TLT encourages team
working and empowers all associates to propose new ideas, suggestions or new
business process for improving the quality of works and services as well as promoting
the well-being of associates by providing attractive remuneration packages, e.g. group
medical insurance for employee and family, global training programs for high
potential staff and reasonable bonus. According to those mentioned practices,
Toyota Leasing is considered “Human Resources Model” (Hamilton & Parker,
1997) which focuses on enhancing the capability of employees for the highest
potential and encourage the employees to participate in routine and critical
decision making process.

Communication network in Toyota Leasing

Toyota Leasing utilizes both formal and non-formal style of the

communication. Vision, mission and corporate strategies established by the head
quarter at Japan are conveyed to employees at all levels by the president and the
executive vice president via the formal memorandum and the publication on the
intranet on a regular basis. This communicating process can visualize the downward
communication from top executive to staff level by following the organization
structure which is the pattern of formal communication (Hamilton & Parker, 1997).

Additionally, TLT has implemented “the opened door policy” (Toyota Leasing
Thailand, 2005) which allows all employees to provide feedback and make formal
complaints to Top Executive directly regarding unfair treatments and discriminations.
This process can visualize “the upward communication” (Hamilton & Parker, 1997)
in the organization. Cross-functional communication can be found on a regular
basis among associates in the important corporate projects in which many
representatives are assigned to work together. Some grapevine or non-formal
communication is another important channel of communications among employees.

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 Communication
President
President (American)
(American)

Downward
EVP
EVP (Japanese)
(Japanese)

Cross-function and
Upward communication
SVP
SVP (Thai)
(Thai)

VP
VP (Japanese)
(Japanese) VP
VP (Thai)
(Thai) VP
VP (Thai)
(Thai) VP
VP (Thai)
(Thai) VP
VP (Thai)
(Thai)
Treasury
Treasury Credit
Credit Marketing/
Marketing/ Risk
Risk IT
IT &
& GA
GA Accounting
Accounting

GM
GM (Thai)
(Thai) GM
GM (Thai)
(Thai) GM
GM (Thai)
(Thai)

The communication problem: Lacking of communication and support

Toyota Leasing has currently been faced with the problem of unsuccessful projects
due to the delay of implementation which has been caused by “lacking of
communication and support among team members of each project” (Toyota Leasing
Electronic News, 2009, para. 3)

The background of the problem:

To develop new financial products and services, many cross-function steering

committees are established to solve problems and initiate effective solutions. Each
functional committee is supervised by the relevant vice president. In October 2008,
The Credit Operational Excellence Committee (COEC) has been established. Mr. Ego
Blind the highly educated and well competent vice president of credit operations was
assigned to be the project leader. Mr. Blind is self-assertive and self-confident, and
also possesses solid knowledge in financial field. Moreover, he has a very good
command of English and being proficient in making a professional presentation.
Despite of the qualified project leader, the COEC project was delayed six months
behind the schedule. Mr. Blind found that he did not have the full support from
other vice presidents. After having been thoroughly analyzed, he realized that
lacking of trust and feedback from others relevant parties was the root cause.

Cause and Effect of Mr. Blind’s problem

How the problems occur?
• “I think my presentation is clear and you all will understand with no
questions, thank you very much” said Mr. Blind at the end of the COEC
meeting.

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 • During the meeting, all suggestions and feedback from other vice presidents
and attendees were ignored and unpleasant behavior was shown such as
raising left/right eyebrow or glancing at the watch whenever someone
asks him questions or give advice.
• “Why don’t you apply your advice to your project instead because I don’t
think it will work with mine?” asked Mr. Blind to a Marketing vice president.
• “You should increase interest rate and negotiate with the dealer harder!” or
“You need to develop your incentive scheme to attract customers” said Mr.
Blind. Many suggestions are usually disclosed and given to other managers
and staff in the meeting and at a regular basis.
• “I heard that there is something wrong with the procurement process of your
project. Why the material cost is higher than the market price?” said Mr.
Blind with a marketing vice president in the executive meeting.

According to the above situations, Mr. Blind is considered as “Blind Manager”

who demonstrates improper use of non-verbal communication and exhibit
imbalance reciprocal quality of communication with colleagues. To thoroughly
understand the problem and analyze the cause effectively, the supportive
communication theories are elaborated as follows,

Blind Manager
Hamilton and Parker (1997) state that the blind communicator seldom asks for
feedback, tends to be very confident, prefers to express their views, expectations, or
needs to others or overusing disclosure. In addition, the blind communicator considers
their ideas the best solutions or the only appropriate choice for the situations and
problems.

Analysis: Mr. Blind usually ignores feedback and excessively discloses his ideas and
expectations to others. Therefore, it is clearly seen that he is the blind communicator
as well as being the poor listener.

Improper use of non-verbal communication

Non-verbal communication is intentional and unintentional messages of facial
expressions, eye contacts, body movements and gestures, appearances of clothes, or
any other paralinguistic i.e. tone of voice and pitch. Generally, non-verbal
communication especially facial expressions and body movements plays the
important roles in sending the specific messages to the listener. Non-verbal
communication is utilized much more frequent than verbal-communication. The body
movements and gestures are categorized into four types, namely Emblem, Illustrator,
Adaptor, Affect Display and Regulator.
• Emblem is the intentional gestures or body movement that is used to convey
the specific messages or meaning with or without words – verbal
communication
• Illustrator is intentional movements and gestures which are additionally
utilized with verbal communications to clarify and improve the meaning or
messages
• Adaptor is unintentional movements and gestures which are expressed in
stressful situation

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 • Affect display is intentional and unintentional facial expressions to express
feeling and thought
• Regulator is intentional gesture or paralinguistic utilized by the listener to
provide the feedback to the speaker or manage the communication or
conversation.

Analysis: Mr. Blind who usually raises his eyebrow and glances his watch whenever
someone gives him feedback and asks him questions is the evidence of improper use
of “Affect Display”. This inappropriate action exhibits his disapprove towards others
opinions and it seems to imply his overly self confidence.

The reciprocal quality of interpersonal relationships

Hamilton and Parker (1997) suggest that the reciprocal quality of interpersonal
relationships occur when people communicate with others in accord with the way they
perceive these others communicating with them. In other words, the imbalance
reciprocal quality of relationships tends to occur if our expectation of another person
is not met as intended or we receive the different treatments which are not in
accordance with the way we behave with that person. Distrust seems to occur in this
circumstance and it may impact the interpersonal relationships. As a result, if distrust
is built among team members or between supervisor and staff, this situation may
contribute to low performances and lacking of support.

Analysis: “Why the material cost is higher than the market price?” Mr. Blind is
building the suspicious to others through verbal communications. His statement may
cause distrust to other team members and colleagues. His behavior and statement can
visualize the imbalance reciprocal quality of communication.

What are the effects of this problem?

• Mr. Blind cannot gain trust and support from other vice presidents and
team members as he performs the imbalance reciprocal quality of
communication which renders distrust and make others feel uncomfortable to
communicate with him.
• He cannot have the consensus and commitments from others regarding the
project implementation because he ignores feedback, ideas, and suggestions
from his team and colleagues. Moreover, he fails in building the sense of
ownership of this project with others as only his ideas are utilized in the
project. It is clearly seen that other members and vice presidents cannot
participate in the crucial decision making.
• Significant suggestions and ideas from others are not employed to make the
project succeed as intended.

The solution for Mr. Blind’s problems:

1. Open-minded to feedback and suggestions from other to improve the

communication and build trust.
• Mr. Blind should be open-minded to feedback and suggestions from other.

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 Feedback is verbal communication which responds to the message in order to
allow the speaker to understand that whether the listener can decode the
message as intended or not.
• Feedback is useful information to create the participation and the sense of
ownerships among team members.
• Listening other feedback and opinion is the effective way to build trust.

2. Decrease the disclosure of his ideas or comment

• He should allow others to propose new ideas and suggestions by decreasing
his disclosure while attending the meeting. This method will assist him to
learn to be “good listening” which will improve his communication.

3. Adjust non-verbal communication - the facial expression

• He should avoid using improper facial expression – raising his eyebrow and
glancing his watch when communicating with others as. Importantly, he
should smile to others and use some regulator non-verbal communication to
control the flow of his conversation such as nodding his head to show his
intention in listening.

The solution for how to deal with the blind communicator:

1. Take and adapt his criticism and extensive experiences to improve the
performances.
2. Ask him questions to see what information has been left out. This method
can show the respect to his comment as well as simulating his trust and
support.

Conclusion
The communication problem in an organization can impact the performances
of staff and the overall benefits of the corporate. Non-verbal communication and
communication style of managers significantly plays its roles in the organization. To
sum up, the delay of Mr. Blind’s project for six months behind the schedule occurs
from lacking support from other colleagues as he performs the role of blind manager
who uses improper non-verbal communication – affect display and creates distrust by
the imbalance reciprocal quality of communication. The solutions for this problem is
being open-minded to feedback while decreasing the disclosure to others as well as
avoiding using the improper facial expression and non-verbal communication.
Utilizing these suggested solutions, this problem should be reduced and the quality of
performances should be improved and increased.