Assignment on Business Communication and Etiquette

Applicable for June 2018 Examination

Answer 1:

Introduction

“A manager’s top problem in today’s work life can be summed up in one word:
Communication.”
Communication, in today’s business world can take various forms. It may be upward,
downward, and lateral or even cross communication. But all sorts of communication can be
classified into either formal or informal communication. Formal communication takes place
in the form of emails, letters, notices, notes etc. It usually has concrete, clear and ideal
message to be conveyed to a particular person or a group of persons. Such communication
achieves desired objective in minimal time and leaves minimal scope for misunderstanding.
Informal communication on the other hand is complete opposite of formal communication. It
is unofficial communication within any organisation and occurs between two or more persons
in a spontaneous and out of context manner. This flow of information escapes any formal
mode of communication. This form is also known as grapevine communication in an
organisation. It finds its way through word of mouth and travels in a very fast manner without
any official barriers.

Concepts and Application

On various occasions in my career and in our industry, we experience flow of information

through grapevines. For example, in our banking industry, which mainly is consumer service
centric and is governed by service rules and conditions; unverified information about wage
revision, salary increments, meetings between banking association and unions does rounds
every quarter. There is no source to confirm these rumours or gossips. These rumours stay for
a specific period of time depending upon their relevance and then finally make way for new
rumours.

The ongoing discussions between Indian Banks’ Association and the employee unions
regarding XI Bipartite settlement is a perfect example of information flowing through a
grapevine. Every evening when the business day ends, unsolicited messages such as proposed
wage hike, minutes of meetings and comments from secretaries are forwarded through
Whatsapp or text messages. The employees without confirming the source of such
information make opinions and forward the information to another source. This hampers the
morale of the employees, breaks their motivation and makes a direct impact on the services
they offer to the clients. This leads to uncalled for strikes which hinders the complete
economic cycle for a day or two. Lately, with increased awareness and faith in organisation
employees have started to refrain from believing in such messages unless verified. Such
information although obstructs growth and lowers morale but on some instances it can also
foster individual learning for employee and growth in the organisation. It has on various
occasions helped gather large set of ideas for calling off strikes in the interest of public
service.

Another textbook example of information flowing through grapevine is promotion and

transfers related. Any formal communication in this regard is only through circulars from
HRM and Departmental Promotion Committee. In spite of this, promotion news of various
managers from word of mouth and internal gossips keeps moving around. This alters the
performance of all managers during month end due to increased stress of promotions and
transfers. One of the major reasons for this is that grapevine information bypasses all
channels and the source of information cannot be verified. But then since it is double edged,
grapevine has its benefits too. First hand information relating to promotions and transfers
helps managers boosts their performance in the last hour and averts any unfavourable
transfer. The inside news sends an additional feedback to the top executives regarding
performance of managers and ensures promotions are granted only to deserving candidates
and on merit basis only.

Conclusion

To sum up, various benefits and harms of grapevine communication have been listed,
observed and assessed. At organisation level, the use varies from level to level and
designation to designation. It spreads rapidly, provides alternate feedback and signals
growing problems within the organisation.

Since it is not trustworthy and untrue some of the times, it can hamper the growth of an
individual or any organisation.

Grapevine communication cannot be stopped at any level in any organisation even though
upper management tries to put a stop to it. At the root level, it is only for each individual
employee to make only positive use of such communication and ward off all negatives
attached along.

Answer 2:

Introduction

Cooperation in plain words means: “to act or work with another or a group of co-workers to
achieve a common goal or objective.” It does sound like a very simple task but in practice it
is not easy to achieve. Nothing is more important in any organisation than inter-departmental
cooperation.

Each department in an organisation has set number of people, defined tasks and targets to
reach. Apart from that, each department needs to communicate with one another to achieve
these set targets. Without inter-departmental cooperation it is not possible.
Individuals themselves are not to be blamed for their negative approach. It is not lack of will
to work or lack of skill set which leads to failed cooperation within organisations but some
other basic functions which need to be recognised so as to achieve common objectives.

Concepts and Application

To attain inter-departmental cooperation, these basic steps I believe must be recommended to

colleagues and subordinates for their guidance and help:

1. Presence of a common goal or shared mission: Each individual’s efforts and hard work
when added together ultimately helps in achieving the bigger and final goal of any
organisation. Making sure everyone is working in the same direction and is communicating
the progress of the task is necessary to ensure that the team is on the same page. This
objective helps to remove the barriers in inter-departmental cooperation.

2. Successful communication: The failure to communicate takes us far away from our goals.
The lack of communication between departments is a major contributor to our problems.
Good communication builds confidence between teammates, fosters spirit of work and
improves clarity. It helps to understand how close we are to the desired goal. With good
understanding, we will achieve the quality of acceptance and cooperation will become much
more likely.

3. Absence of defined roles: Often, cooperation loses its importance when one resource
assumes that the other is trying to fulfil its roles. It is very common that two departments
work on the same project without communicating and try to take credit for achieving the
goal. This overlapping of work creates a very combative environment and not a cooperating
one. Therefore it is necessary for every team and individual resource to be clear with its goal
and work only towards that goal.

4. Lack of amicable nature/arrogance: Most of the times we have seen that an individual
from a department does not deliberately pass on important information, facts and figures or
even support just because he/she thinks they can do a job better than the other one. They use
such information and resources for themselves. There may not be any bad motive but it is
plain thinking that they can do the job better than the one who are actually hired to do it. It is
suggested to be open to other team members and departments for smooth flow on
information. This will ensure faster work completion with minimal use of time and resources.

Summary of quick tips I would suggest:

1. Common goal. What is everyone trying to achieve?

2. Open and honest communication between co-workers.
3. Meet any confusion head on and have solution oriented approach.
4. Do not think you can do a job better than the other. Do not be critical of other’s
performance.

Barriers in communication:

Communication is a very basic requirement in a framework of any organisation. The same

way, communication is also essential in any relationship. Therefore, lack of communication
leads to slow personal and organisational growth. Effective communication acts as the engine
in a vehicle.

During our day to day working, we face various problems and obstacles the roots of which lie
in the absence of proper communication. There are many examples which we face everyday
like:

1. Lack of interest, attention and distraction:

Often, distraction and lack of interest in what the senior is discussing can beep very taxing for
the organisation. Staff in assistant cadre usually takes negligible responsibility towards their
work and therefore give minimum importance to what is being communicated from the
middle and top management. During meetings it is observed that there is no attention towards
matters of interest and unwanted gossips cause a roadblock in the flow of communication. In
such cases, we halt the meetings and ask questions from the agenda to ensure that all staff
pays attention to their meeting. This builds a fear of embarrassment and of being caught in
front of the whole staff.

2. Prejudging and having an agenda: While often interacting with superiors we have a pre
determined agenda which we take inside the cabin when we go to start the conversation. This
agenda occupies the whole mind and keeps our concentration away from the matter at hand.
This sways us from finding a solution to our current problem and also brings communication
gap. To eradicate this problem, we often make sure that agenda of each discussion is clear in
the mind of every resource and at least one input is brought forward from every resource.
Digression is strictly not allowed.

3. Minimum use of IPs, mails and notes: While working in a public sector organisation, there
is scanty culture of using mails and IPs. Most messages are verbal and therefore lose
importance by the time it travels from sender to the receiver. The intended message is lost
somewhere and it leads to plain confusion. The desired result is not achieved. Therefore, at
all levels in the branch it is strictly mandatory for all staff members to communicate for
official purpose only through IP and no message is forwarded verbally. This leads to a sense
of responsibility and staffs doubly checks their actions before communicating the final
results.

4. Physical and technical barriers: These barriers relate to basic unavailability of proper
computer systems, noisy telecommunication systems, ambiguous mails and large distance
between sender and receiver. To encounter such barriers, we ensure that all systems are
properly serviced and old messages are timely archived. In case of noisy surroundings,
subordinates do not fear asking the question again from the seniors. We ensure there is proper
trust between subordinates and superiors. Fear of being reprimanded makes the junior say yes
to whatever the senior is communicating. Such communication is futile and hampers the
growth objective.

Conclusion:

The key to successful communication is being open and honest. No individual or organisation
can survive in isolation without communicating. The mantra lies in bringing a small personal
touch to every communication we have. An intermittent eye contact, being open and a smile
brings you halfway there and the message can be easily perceived.

Answer 3 (a).

Boundary spanning is defined as the formation of channels that integrate and coordinate
across organisational boundaries. It involves surpassing the boundaries set for oneself, for a
greater good or to get some work done. In business, it will mean passing the boundaries set
by your organisation, and joining with someone else to get work done. The same surpassing
is beneficial as well as essential in healthcare industry.

Boundary spanning can be applied in basically 3 different ways:

1. Within the department: As an individual, you can always contact you senior in the same
department for support. A junior nurse in healthcare can always connect with the senior nurse
in same department for support. This will benefit the patient directly and create higher level
of trust between the two levels. This will integrate human relations and human health. A ward
boy in a hospital if converses with a ward boy from a different hospital relating to work, there
will definitely be flow on information relating to latest machinery, equipment and
paraphernalia which are available in the market.

2. Within business units: The concept of boundary spanning integrates the working of two
departments directly. It coordinates patient care between healthcare system and community
based system. For ex, in case of a disease related to brain, the departments of neurology and
medicine will work closely to diagnose and treat the disease.

3.Within other businesses: The classic case of Fortis healthcare is a great example of
businesses integrating with one another. The exit of Singh brothers from the board has led to
various other players making a bid to buy Fortis healthcare. Such takeovers sometimes
benefit the healthcare industry by bringing in fresh talent from medical line. It helps improve
the quality of treatment given to the patients. At the same time, there are also chances of a
downward revision in the cost of medicine and treatment. Without boundary spanning, this is
not possible. No business can survive in isolation.

Effective boundary spanning will always bring close coordination between various verticals
and improve the quality of healthcare.

Answer 3 (b):

In healthcare industry, the damage to reputation or image can be very taxing in the long run.
First of all, it can cause huge damage to the reputation and the business. Since the industry
service is directly related to the health and life of human beings, therefore it carries a greater
responsibility than any other industry. In case of bad experience faced by the patient, it can
lead to loss of business in terms of patient reduction, attrition from staff who do not want to
be associated with badly reputed organisations and loss of referrals from recommending
physicians.

In this case where the image of the hospital has been tarnished due to insensitive patient
interaction, strict and fast measures must be taken to ensure that the reputational loss is
minimised immediately.

Following steps will be taken to ensure reputational build up and recovery of brand:

1. Immediate acknowledgement of incident: In certain cases, the hospitals simply refuse to

acknowledge that something wrong on the part of the hospital has been done. This leads to
the first loss in reputation. It is highly sensible to first acknowledge that the interaction with
the patient was incorrect and the institution is apologetic for the same. This will immediately
pacify the patient that the hospital will now look for a resolution.

2. Communication with the patient: It will be immediately communicated to the patient that
the hospital after acknowledgement of the fault on its part has now moved towards finding a
resolution. All developments will be communicated to the patient on priority and he will be
ensured of best medical consultation and diagnosis as the case may be.

3. Quick revisits and short waiting time: The patient will be provided quick revisits with the
consulting physician to ensure he is being taken care of. Additional opinion if required will
be provided free of cost. The troubled customer will be pushed up top of the priority list with
minimum wait time. This will rebuild the image that the hospital takes care of its patients.

4. Health care campaign: The hospital will organise free health care campaigns in the city
and in the vicinities which will rebuild the image of the hospital. It will reassure that the
incident of unpleasant interaction does not change the service of the hospital and it continues
to provide top class medical services.

5. Patient assistance program: The patient will be enrolled into the patient assistance
program free of cost and will be monitored for all tests from home. He will be provided with
facilities like home sample pickup, weekly visits by doctor and additional hours of
consultation.

Conclusion:
It will be the efforts which will help the hospital rebuild its goodwill. In hospital crisis
management, a personal touch to the service goes a long way in ensuring that the customers
stick to the hospital for their diagnosis and treatment. Such measures will ensure a mutual
feeling of trust and keep the brand image intact.