Perspective The role of communications in business success
The importance of effective communication
Rudyard Kipling once described words as the most powerful drug used by mankind. It is a sentiment with which staff of Levi Strauss can sympathize. Many of them have become members of Toastmasters, a nonprot organization dedicated to improving communication and public-speaking skills. Levi Stauss is one of a growing band of companies which recognize the importance of effective communication. KPMG Accountants has developed a telephone-skills course for administrative employees. It includes a humorous videotape entitled Telephone Behavior: the Power and the Perils, and role playing which allows employees to share positive experiences and frustrations. The course emphasizes the three stages in many telephone conversations the verbal handshake, imparting the message and offering help. Federal Express has improved the selling capabilities of its audit staff by having the sales staff provide them with training. General Electric has developed a three-day class to train auditors to become effective facilitators. And Motorola has a course on dealing with difcult people. It aims to help auditors to handle situations in which the people being audited do not want to hear the recommendations being made.
Abstract Research and experience show that employees are most highly motivated and make their greatest contribution to the business when there is full and open communication at the workplace. Explores how companies from Levi Strauss to Federal Express are seeking to improve their performance in this key area.
The growing importance of human resources
Communication skills have become more signicant as the importance of human resources has grown within business. The history of enterprise has focussed successively on production, marketing and distribution. A key factor today is the needs of the people making up, or being served by, the company. Two-thirds of the average rms resources are human resources that is, people. Most business problems and opportunities have a human element. A managers communication skills can have a major impact on his or her subordinates. Research and experience show that employees are most highly motivated and make their greatest contribution to the business when there is full and open communication at the workplace. Communications are often easier in small companies than in larger ones. Employees in 100
Management Development Review Volume 10 Number 1/2/3 1997 pp. 100102 MCB University Press ISSN 0962-2519
The role of communications in business success
Management Development Review Volume 10 Number 1/2/3 1997 100102
Author/s
small rms tend to see more of each other, so that information often more quickly reaches the people who need to take account of it. Decisions can be made more rapidly. Changes in a situation can be more quickly translated into changes of plan, and acted on. Good communications therefore facilitate high quality, innovative solutions to complex problems. No idea is worth anything until it is articulated so that others can respond to it.
But new technology can be a double-edged sword. The Internet opens up unparalleled opportunities for communication between workers on different sites. However, the term surng the Net conjures up more the image of a leisure pursuit than the exchange of serious information.
Guiding principles for effective communication
Among the principles which should guide effective internal communications are: (1) Dene the message before launching the program. If the message leaving the boardroom is unclear, no amount of new technology will put an end to confusion among the workforce. (2) Communicate continuously, not as a one-off event. Communication involves much more than the chief executive making an annual visit to the troops. Managers must be given a clear plan of campaign, and training in how to conduct it. Supervisors, too, must be trained in how to impart information and receive feedback. (3) Recognize that there will be costs, as well as benets. Senior executives must be seen to endorse the program. The workforce must spend some time away from the ofce or shopoor to debate the issues. Managers and supervisors must spend time tracking the progress of the communication program, and feeding back the results. Feedback should not stop at the group session. It should continue over time and be communicated up the company hierarchy until it produces a convincing response.
Good communications in a large company
However, technological developments mean that large companies which have a commitment to communicate can increasingly enjoy the same advantages as the small organization. Electronic mail, faxes and satellitedelivered business television are already commonplace in many large rms. Interactive multimedia are growing in importance. CDROM players and desktop television give rms the chance to send out programs in every medium, in formats which can be tailored to the needs of each user. Digital transmission makes it possible for moving pictures and large volumes of information to be placed at the ngertips of each user with a terminal. Studies have shown that a persons effectiveness in business is directly linked with the extent to which he or she can express personal convictions and feelings, and show consideration for the thoughts and feelings of others. The old saying, Enough about me. Now, lets talk about you. Tell me, what do you think about me? still sums up the attitude of too many bosses. Communication skills which are valuable for all employees include building relationships, listening, giving and soliciting feedback, exchanging routine information, advising and persuading.
A revolution in internal communications?
The boom in public-relations departments and agencies over the last 20 years has transformed the way in which most companies communicate with the outside world. Are we on the verge of a similar revolution in internal communications? The way in which people look at a situation and the conclusions they reach determine how they will react. Their thoughts can cause them to resist or to embrace organizational change. Frequently, people develop a negative mindset based on misinterpretation, faulty assumptions, ill-founded motives or wrong-
The power and perils of new technology
New technology can help to improve a persons communication skills. Videotaped roleplaying exercises can be used to assess strengths and weaknesses. The Communication Effectiveness Trainer (ComEt) system includes a computer-based feedback-delivery system with video display, which provides, with minimal distraction, instructional commentary during a speakers presentation.
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The role of communications in business success
Management Development Review Volume 10 Number 1/2/3 1997 100102
Author/s
headed thinking in general. The result can be a collection of myths about change. These can spell trouble. People who read things wrongly will probably react inappropriately, and fail to deal with change effectively. The result will be unnecessary problems. Good communications can prevent some myths from developing, and provide a broader, better informed,
more objective view of reality once myths have emerged.
This is a prcis of an article entitled Training in communications: a springboard to success in business careers, which was originally published in Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 28 No. 7, 1996, pp. 16-21. The author was James Poon Teng Fatt, of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
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