Communication Strategy Assignment: Proposing Hybrid Business Model for Dubai, Abu Dhabi & UAE
Question
Task:
The Background to the Strategic Change
The majority of people in the UAE have responded positively to working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic and are now more open to remote working for both themselves and their teams. This positive transition can be linked to employers in UAE, who have been offering their workforce comprehensive support; however, companies need to make sure these changes are offered in the long term. Policymakers also need to update regulations to make sure companies feel the commercial benefits of their employees working from home.
Employees working from home in the UAE during Covid-19 have seen more benefits and adapted better to the new situation than those in other high-income economies —according to a recent EIU survey. Though pre-pandemic levels of remote working were similar to those in other high-income economies, people in the UAE reported greater gains in terms of ability to do work-related tasks from home and preferences for working from home more in the future. For example, 74% of people who had started working from home more in this period want to continue to do so once restrictions have been lifted and 90% of people feel more comfortable doing at least one of their work-related tasks remotely since the lockdown. The EIU survey also suggests that people’s attitudes to others working remotely have changed during lockdown: 76% of respondents say they would now be more comfortable with their juniors working from home at least three days a week and almost seven-in-ten people feel their team achieves just as much when they are working from home as in the office. Economist Intelligence Unit (2020).
Communication Strategy AssignmentTask:
The word length for this report is 3,500 words
As a senior member of the leadership team in a multisite global business based in sites including Dubai, Abu Dhabi and other parts of the UAE. You also have offices in London, England. You have been tasked with designing and implementing a communications strategy based on your proposed new model of hybrid working which you are now introducing across your business. You must address each of the following questions which the Senior Management Board of Directors have asked you to consider (Each question is worth 20 marks):
1) Identify for the Board the rationale for changing to a hybrid communications strategy and identify the key features of that new communications strategy
2) Discuss the potential barriers to effective communications which might impact on implementation of the strategy
3) Applying two models for communication, identify how you can minimize ‘noise’ when implementing the strategy to overcome these barriers
4) Discuss the role of managers in supporting your hybrid communications strategy
5) Review your personal approach to negotiating this strategy and identify any advantages and limitations in your approach which might impact your success in this task in work.
Answer
Executive Summary
As presented through the analysis on communication strategy assignment, the COVID-19 pandemic has completely transformed the way in which businesses conduct their operations. The lockdown measures, social distancing rules and travel restrictions undertaken during the outbreak of the pandemic in the initial months encouraged firms to introduce new ways of operating in the uncertain business environment. In this regard, they were required to focus on continuing their business operations alongside ensuring the health and safety of the employees. This encouraged many firms to resort to remote working and working from home concept where employees would not have to commute to and from office or work in the office spaces and production facilities alongside others that could spread the virus through physical contact. The purpose of the research report here is to develop an effective communications strategy for the multi global business based in different parts of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and UAE for undertaking the hybrid working business model. With this business model, the employees and managers have the options of choosing to work remotely or from office spaces based on their convenience. For this purpose, the report has provided the rationale for choosing hybrid communications strategy alongside displaying its key features and potential barriers to communication. Then, it has represented the use of two communication models for minimizing such barriers and consequently, focused on the role of managers for undertaking this communications strategy. Lastly, the personal approaches towards negotiation of the hybrid communications strategy and identifying its advantages and limitations have also been displayed in the report.
Introduction
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the working ways in the business world. Companies have adopted different ways of working instead of the traditional working from office model with the government rules and regulations related to social distancing, lockdown and travel restrictions. The case study deals with the changing working conditions in UAE and how the employees have responded to them. In this regard, it has been observed that people in UAE have been embracing the working from home model during the ongoing pandemic and have become more interested in remote working for themselves and their teams. Employers in UAE have also been providing required support to the employees for encouraging them to work from home for their own safety. In the case study, various benefits of working from home have been evident. Here, people have displayed greater ability in doing work-related tasks from home and their preferences for this new way are expected to increase in the near future as well. While managers are becoming more comfortable with their juniors working from home for some days in the week, these employees are also increasingly intended towards remote working. This is because they are confident of achieving the same results as working from office.
With the rapid growth in information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the greater availability of internet, remote working concept has become more popular in the recent years. It is a flexible work arrangement that enables workers to work in different locations remote from the production facilities or offices without having any personal contact with the co-workers but communicate with technology (Wang, et al., 2021). In this regard, working from home is one of the new ways of working that employers and employees have adopted with the outbreak of the pandemic across the entire world. It enables them to work at their homes and remain connected with each other through technology without having to commute to and from office. This has helped in curbing the spread of the virus as people do not come in contact with each other as they would have done while working in offices. The multi global business based in different locations of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and parts of UAE have decided to adopt the new way of working from home and few employees working from office with the ongoing pandemic. The purpose of the report is to propose the new model of hybrid working through an effective communications strategy.
Rationale and Key Features of New Communication Strategy
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic across the entire world has made it essential for companies to undertake the hybrid working and communications strategy as their new business model for the people’s safety. Hybrid working can be referred to as a flexible form of working where workers have the opportunity of spending their time working remotely either from home or any other convenient location (CIPD, 2021a). This working form can be adopted alongside other forms of flexible working through time flexibility. Hybrid communications strategy has become popular amongst employees because of the increased benefits and opportunities that it provides. It also offers other opportunities to the organizations as well, thereby making it beneficial for firms to adopt this new working model(CIPD, 2021b). It provides a better work-life balance, more time for friends and family, saved commuting time and costs, fewer distractions from offices upskilling of IT skills and enhanced motivation of employees. On the other hand, the benefits that firms enjoy through this flexible working include higher levels of employee engagement, increased job satisfaction, savings on office infrastructure and reduced absenteeism and turnover rates(CIPD, 2021b).Besides, working from home is also expected to become more preferable after the pandemic with online communication, processes and operations being part of the professional lives. The shift towards hybrid or flexible working is expected to enhance employee productivity and efficiency for employees who might have left the workforce (EIU, 2020). Thus, it is evident that hybrid communications strategy provides benefits to both employers and employees.
There are various features and requirements for undertaking a hybrid communication strategy and flexible working at the workplace. Companies are required to manage the digital transition to gain the maximum output from their workforce by providing support and help to the employees working from home (EIU, 2020). This support is supposed to be provided at every operation level with effective leadership behaviours, flexible policies and digital tools for supporting systems in the online environment. Departments need to engage different people for partnership and collaboration amongst them and with the executive boards. There should also be clear communication flow between individuals or groups and the departments, suppliers and customers (Qatawneh, 2018). The firms should also ensure an appropriate mix of face-to-face, online and hard instruments for communicating and sharing information across all management levels and employees. Thus, this would ensure the implementation of hybrid communications strategy.
Potential Barriers to Effective Communication
There can be different potential barriers to effective communication in hybrid working. These barriers are either interpersonal or organizational. Such interpersonal barriers are personal or physiological while organizational barriers are related to the organizations’ structures, processes and systems(Qatawneh, 2018). Lack of communication channels can also make it difficult for the firms in generating or disseminating information from employees to managers, managers to employees, within departments and customers to suppliers. Furthermore, information can also get distorted because of physical barriers including outdated equipment that make it difficult to send or receive messages (Altunand Anwar, 2021). Poor system designs also hinder the sharing of information amongst employees in the hybrid working model. Personal attitudes of managers and employees make it difficult for them to collaborate and maintain a healthy relationship in this new working model. Self-inflicting barriers can also be harmful for effective communication, which include ambiguity of message sent or confusing words or phrases(Altun and Anwar, 2021). Gender barriers, physiological barriers and fear of being criticized are other challenges for effective communication in hybrid working. Personal barriers consist of various preconceived notions and internal beliefs of the employees and managers coming from their culture and values that hinder effective communication. Different cultures have different approaches towards communication, which often create miscommunication amongst the organizational members (Yusofand Rahmat, 2020). These also include different languages, accent, social diversities, different perspectives or expectations and others.Fear of criticism, fear of giving up authority, job insecurity, exploitation, personal feedback, fear of losing face and misleading members are amongst other individual factors acting as barriers to effective communication (Razmerita, Kirchnerand Nielsen, 2016). There also exist various technological barriers that can hamper effective communication in the hybrid working model. Workers’ home infrastructure is often not under their control that often leads to communication issues such as poor communication quality, absence of visual contact or connectivity problems (Ferreira, Ret al., 2021). Moreover, electricity infrastructure or Internet provider services are not under the control of the firms, which might affect the communication process with employees in a negative manner. Organizational factors such as workplace culture also affect the communication and knowledge sharing process in the firms. Lack of clarified business objectives or unclear strategy or absence of perceived benefits can further act as barriers to effective communication(Razmerita, Kirchner and Nielsen, 2016). Apart from these factors, differences in national cultures of the employees also act as potential barriers to the hybrid communication. Additionally, employees also face difficulties in collaborating or communicating while working remotely and sharing information to their team members (Flores, 2019).
Models of Communication for Minimizing Noise
HR managers of firms across the world are focused on developing positive organizational culture. Facilitation of effective communication within the organization is a part of organization’s culture (CIPD, 2010). This can be done by eradicating or minimizing noise in the workplace. Noise can be termed as unnecessary messages that are being transmitted from the sender to the receiver. Primarily, organizational members can minimize noise by practicing active listening. Furthermore, the sender of the message should also provide instructions clearly to avoid any kind of ambiguity during the process of communication.Apart from that there are several models of communication that can be implemented by the leaders of the firm that can further help in minimizing noise.
Charles Osgood’s model of communication can be marked as one of the effective communication models that can help senior leaders of the firm to minimize noise and help employees to adapt hybrid working effectively. The primary objective of this model is to portray the dynamic nature of communication. This model also discusses about the interactive relationship between the sender of the message and the receiver. Decoding, encoding and interpretation of messages are the core elements of this model. According to this model, the receivers of the message should be presented in the communication channel while the sender is sending any form of message. When the receiver of the message is present during the process of communication, chances of wrong interpretation of the message is comparatively less. This is how noise can be minimized in the process of communication by leveraging this model. In addition to this, it has been found that Charles Osgood’s model of communication focuses on making intercultural communication. Wrong interpretation of message can be marked as noise in intercultural communication (Tzeng, Landis and Tzeng, 2012). The multi-national firm that has been selected for the report not only operates in UAE but it also communicates with employees of London. This is an example of intercultural communication and it is highly recommended to all the senior leaders of the firm to focus on adopting Charles Osgood’s model for minimization of noise. Furthermore, Theodore M. Newcomb’s Model can also be applied by the senior leaders of the organization to avoid any kind of noise during the process of communication while employees are performing hybrid working. The objective of this model is to explain the role of communication in developing societal relationships. Moreover, the objective of this model is to help the sender of the message and the receiver to maintain an equilibrium within the society. Moreover, this model also explains the fact that people tend to seek actual information to support their communication and behaviour (Popescu, Pârgaru, POPESCU and Mihai, 2015). Hybrid mode of working can bring major benefits to the firm but it can also be complex in nature. It can give rise to conflicts in the workplace due to ambiguity and lack of coordination during communication. In such cases, this model can be beneficial as it helps in understanding the needs and requirements of each individual in the communication channel.
Strategic communication is helpful within a firm and it is generally undertaken by the senior leaders of firms to fulfil the mission and vision of the organization (Van Ruler, 2018). Thus, from the above discussion it can be said that implementation of model to minimize noise is one of the effective strategic decision that enhances effective communication.
Role of Managers
Managers are marked as the pillar of an organization. They are responsible for making major decisions within the firm and they also focus on effective communication in the workplace. Thus, it can be said that managers of firms are also responsible for supporting hybrid communications strategies. If the case study is taken into consideration it can be seen that due to the outbreak of the global pandemic an UAE based MNC is shifting to hybrid working. This can be marked as organizational change and effective management communication within the firm is necessary to support this change in the workplace (Nelissen and Van Selm, 2008). The primary responsibility of managers is to focus on building a digital culture. When communication among employees within the firm takes place through digital media it is known as digital culture. Digital culture is effective because it can add value to the concept of diverse working (Duffy, 2016). Managers should help workers communicate or chat with their colleagues, supervisors or team leaders not only via mails but also through various social media platforms. LinkedIn can be leveraged as one of the effective social media platforms for communication because it is curated for the professionals. Managers should communicate the goals and responsibilities of the distributed workforce of the firm with the help of these platforms. Furthermore, managers can arrange for virtual meeting through Zoom, Skype or Google meet to discuss the financial goals and other objectives of the firm.
Furthermore, employees can often feel isolated or bored while continuously working at home. In such cases, managers at all levels have the ability to establish solid relationship among the employees of the organizations. This can be done by exchanging personal updates, arranging virtual programs at various occasions and many more. Finally, another responsibility of the managers is to create a sense of ownership among each and every employee in the workplace. Integrating sense of ownership among employees of the organization helps the managers to increase the level of employee loyalty and commitment of employees towards activities of the organizations also increase (Raziq and Maulabakhsh, 2015). Moreover,sense of ownership within the workplace can empower employee. In hybrid working, employees need to work alone and execute allocated tasks without other members of the team. Thus, increase in sense of ownership among employees can help them to communicate confidently with other members of the workplace and they can perform tasks by owning various projects with responsibilities.
Personal Approach of Negotiation
When two or more parties attend a meeting, discuss various aspects and reach an agreement or close a deal it is known as negotiation. Process of negotiation can be marked as an outcome of decision process that have been undertaken collectively by various members of a firm or an entity (Vetschera, 2013). Negotiation is marked as one of the important communication strategies within the workplace. There are various forms of negotiation that are often adopted by managers or other senior leaders of the organization while making any deal or collaborating with any other entity. In my opinion, among various negotiation strategies, integrative negotiation can help in enhancing effective communication within the workplace. When involved parties tend to work together to find an effective solution to any significant conflict it is known as integrative negotiation. Cognitive motivation is an integral part of integrative negotiation (Groves, Feyerherm and Gu, 2015). One of the major advantages of this integrative negotiation is that it helps in creating value within the workplace. In Hybrid mode of working conflicts among employees due to wrong communication is a common thing. In such scenario, integrative negotiation strategies can be adopted to resolve conflicts by valuing both the parties. Once, conflicts among employees are resolved significantly then it can further help the managers of the organization to create a positive work environment. Moreover, positive work environment has a positive correlation with the productivity of the organization.
On the contrary, integrative mode of communication also have several disadvantages. It is time-consuming. The organization that has been selected for the report is operating in UAE and also focuses on coordinating with employees working in London. Time management for making effective decisions in such scenario, is one of the major concerns of managers. In such scenario, integrative negotiation strategy might not bring major advantages to the organization.
In addition to this, when managers and supervisors tend to follow integrative negotiation strategies, they spend time on issues that are insignificant and this can reduce the productivity at workplace. Managers of the multi-national firm based in UAE needs to focus on development and growth strategies of the firm amidst the pandemic. If the managers only emphasize on resolving conflicts then it can have significant impact on the financial and operational performance of the firm. Therefore, it is another major disadvantage of integrative negotiation strategy that might have negative impact on the effectiveness of the organization.
Recommendations
The following part of the report focus on providing few recommendations to the senior managers of the firm based in UAE. These recommendations can further help them to initiate an effective hybrid workplace.
• It is highly recommended to the managers of the organization to choose an effective communication channel that ensures seamless communication between employees working in UAE and London.
• It is also recommended to the HR managers of the organization to arrange employee development training programs. Employees within the workplace should be trained well so that they can make effective presentations, posters and infographic because in Hybrid working scenario, these software tools can help in communicating the goals and mission of the organization more effectively.
• It is also recommended employees to avoid calling employees instead they can chat via various social media platforms. Moreover, writing formal emails and replying them with maximum data should be entertained.
• To avoid any kind of conflicts within the workplace, it is the responsibility of the managers to create a virtual grievance resolution team for the remote employees. Members of remote team hardly communicate with other members of the workplace. The objective of this team will be resolving any kind of grievances of employees who are working in remote team.
Conclusion
The main aim of this report was to focus on discussing effective communication strategies that can help the members of an UAE based MNC adopt hybrid working after the outbreak of the pandemic. From the report it can be concluded that after pandemic, employees have become comfortable to work at the comfort of their home. Thus, the organizational members of the firm have focused on adopting hybrid communication and workplace strategies. Hybrid working model is very flexible and can contribute to the productivity of the firm but lack of communication channels and attitudes of managers and employees can create disruption in the process of communication. Moreover, the report concludes that Osgood’s model of Charles and Newcomb’s model can play a major role in minimizing any form of noise in the hybrid communication strategies. From the report, it can also be concluded that managers play a vital role in initiating effective and conflict-free communication within the workplace. They have the power to engage and empower employees in the workplace.
Reference List
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