Business Memo on Data Solutions: Resolving The Problems Of The Organisational Internal Communication

Question

Task: In this task, you will write a memo in response to the case study provided below. The memo must be logically structured, free of grammatical errors, professionally styled; in addition, follow the writing conventions for memos as discussed in the lecture and supporting material.

Case study: You are the CEO of Data Solutions, which is a medium sized company that sells data management software. The company is based in Brisbane and has offices in both Melbourne and Sydney. You have become aware that although the external marketing and promotions communications are effective there is a problem with the internal communication. There are three primary general problems: Problems: 1. Decisions made at the executive level are not being communicated clearly and in a timely manner to the employees. 2. For the most part supervisors and employees do not work in the same offices. Due to this situation, the supervisor to employee communication is ineffective. 3. Emails are being sent out that are unprofessional.

With these problems in mind, you undertake research in order to understand these problems more specifically and come up with logical and practical recommendations to solve these problems. As you refine your knowledge of these problems you narrow each one down to one specific issue. So for example for problem one, the issue could be that the employees do not understand why decisions are being made. For problem two, the issue could be that employees do not feel comfortable seeking work-related feedback from their supervisors. As you develop your recommendations you make sure that you clearly link the problems to the solutions (as articulated within the recommendations).

Answer

To: The Members,
Data Solutions
From: ABC,
CEO- Data Solutions
Date: August 09, 2018
Subject: Regarding the issues in the organization’s international communication
Objectives and background

a. Specific purpose
The primary purpose of this business memo is to analyze the several problems that are occurring in the organisational internal communication.

b. General purpose
The organisational growth and success is firmly based on various external and internal factors. The organisation is facing various downfall and decline in the growth in spite of having sound external marketing and effective promotions. And the major reason is the problems in the internal communication of the organisation.

c. Context
In the organisational internal communication, a series of issues are taking place. And the major cause of these problems is the ineffective and disorganized communication process which exists amid the organisational channels and between the members of the company. There is occurrence of number of issues due to the weak organisational internal communication and it is very much essential to resolve these issues. This memo will support in stressing the various issues and their probable solutions.

Problems
a. Problem one: The employees are failed to understand the reason behind the organisational decisions
The most primary issue that exists in the organisational internal communication is that there is disorganized and break communication when it comes to flow of information to the employees (Heide&Simonsson, 2014). It represents that there is an ineffective chain of command present in the company which is resulting in development of authoritative management. The employees are not involved in the organisational decision making process (Desmidt& George, 2016).And thus, the employees failed to understand the reason behind the organisational decisions which are taken at executive level and do not involve the employees. Hence, it also resulted in resistance towards organisational change. Such resistance results in the obstructive organisational success, increased rate of employee turnover and demotivated staff (Mazzei&Ravazzani, 2015).

b. The organisational employees feel uncomfortable in asking work-related feedback
The second big issue in the organisational internal communication is that there are different workplaces of the supervisors and the organisational employees. Both of them works at different offices, therefore, there exists ineffective communication amid the organisational employees and the supervisors (Heide&Simonsson, 2014). Because of this issue, there are numerous other problems which have been encountered within the organisational internal communication. The first key problem related to this issue is that seeking feedback from the supervisors is a difficult task as at the time when employees need assistance, the supervisors are not present (Mazzei&Ravazzani, 2015). Therefore, if the employees are unable to get the correct feedback at the right time then the problems encountered are not resolved and though if affects the performance of the employees in a negative manner. Hence, if negatively affects the organisational and employee efficiency.

c. Mailing is regarded as an ineffective communication channel
The third big issue in the organisational internal communication is that the people are taking incorrect use of the organisational mails such as unprofessional mails are being sent to the employees. Email is one of the most significant communication channels in the businessorganisations (Desmidt& George, 2016).But in the organisation, employees are sending unprofessional mails due to which the important information is also being ignored. The emails are helpful in sharing organisational issues, passing adequate information and sharing feedbacks (Mazzei&Ravazzani, 2015). But due to incorrect use of the emails, the executives, supervisors and many other employees do not take a constructive use of the emails. Therefore, it results in several organisational internal communication issues (Singh& Hess, 2017).

Action steps to solve the problems
a. Problem one: The employees are failed to understand the reason behind the organisational decisions
Solution: For solving the issue, these are few of the significant recommendations which all the members of the company should follow:

• For checking that there is effective flow of communication and all the information has been passed at different levels, there must be a development of an online portal where there can be received all the conformations by the means of digital signature.

• It is recommended that from now onwards the company should have open forum discussions for sharing the viewpoints and opinions of the organisational employees.

• A proper notice must be passed to the employees of all the levels regarding the various organisational decisions so that the employees can be aware of the decisions, can participate in discussions and also the motivation of the employees can be increased (Heide&Simonsson, 2014).
• It is recommended that when the organisational decisions are made then there must be a prior discussion in an open forum so that it can be communicated to all the organisational employees and the decisions can be easily passed to them (Barforooshan, Østergaard&Derpich, 2017).

b. Problem two: The organisational employees feel uncomfortable in asking work-related feedback Solution: For solving the issue, these are few of the significant recommendations which all the members of the company should follow:
• It is recommended that there must be start the instant messaging system by the mean of pings. With the help of these instant messaging, the supervisors can easily call the employees and even the employees can take assistance from the supervisors. Feedback can easily be shared through this which will make the employees feel comfortable in asking for feedbacks related to work (Karanges, Johnston, Beatson& Lings, 2015)..
• There must be scheduled regular meetings for discussing all the work related issues as well as where the employees can also ask for the feedbacks from the supervisors (Heide&Simonsson, 2014).
• There must be revised seating arrangements in the organisation where proper clusters must be formed so that the employees can seek feedbacks from the supervisors. It would help them to have direct communication and eradication of the various internal communication issues (Mishra, Boynton& Mishra, 2014).

c. Problem three: Mailing is regarded as an ineffective communication channel
Solution: For solving the issue, these are few of the significant recommendations which all the members of the company should follow:

• It is recommended that there must be adequate and strict checking of the mails which are being passed so that the unprofessional mails can be traced.
• There must be implemented a technical control system by the means of which the mails would be automatically checked and blocked if there would be used any kind of unprofessional and absurd data in the mails. All those mails would be directly transferred to trash box (Singh& Hess, 2017).
• If there are found any unprofessional mails still being passed then strict penalty must be marked for the same such as termination from the services. It would help in setting up an example as well as also develop some kind of fear in the minds of the employees who were sending unprofessional mails.
• It is recommended that a strict compliance should be formed and proper checking system should also be regulated. The regular control and check would support in abstaining the practice of sending unprofessional mails (Barforooshan, Østergaard&Derpich, 2017).

Conclusions
Because of the several organisational internal communication issues, the efficiency and productivity of the company has been declined. There is a disorganized and broken communication chain in the organisation. Therefore, it is necessary that the employees of the organisation must follow and implement the recommendations suggested for resolving the problems of the organisational internal communication. It would also help the company in motivating the employees by enhancing their organisational engagement and involving their participation in decision making. By effectively taking use of the recommendations, the organisational internal communication issues can be resolved and effective flow of communicator could be attained.

References
Barforooshan, M., Østergaard, J., &Derpich, M. S. (2017). Interplay between transmission delay, average data rate, and performance in output feedback control over digital communication channels. arXiv preprint arXiv:1702.06445.
Desmidt, S., & George, B. (2016). Do we see eye to eye The relationship between internal communication and between-group strategic consensus: A case analysis. Management Communication Quarterly, 30(1), 84-102.
Heide, M., &Simonsson, C. (2014).Developing internal crisis communication: New roles and practices of communication professionals. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 19(2), 128-146.
Karanges, E., Johnston, K., Beatson, A., & Lings, I. (2015). The influence of internal communication on employee engagement: A pilot study. Public Relations Review, 41(1), 129-131.
Mazzei, A., &Ravazzani, S. (2015). Internal crisis communication strategies to protect trust relationships: A study of Italian companies. International Journal of Business Communication, 52(3), 319-337.
Mishra, K., Boynton, L., & Mishra, A. (2014).Driving employee engagement: The expanded role of internal communications. International Journal of Business Communication, 51(2), 183-202.
Singh, A., & Hess, T. (2017). How Chief Digital Officers Promote the Digital Transformation of their Companies. MIS Quarterly Executive, 16(1).