Watching the video "Tactical to Strategic Communication" showed the difference in how communication is perceived in the work place at this time. At one time companies didn't put a lot of value in communication. Now companies are starting to realize how much communication influences their work place. It was suggested to do a time study to see how much time was devoted to doing certain tasks. In most cases you'll find that companies spend more time on writing and rewriting memos than people reading them. Internal communications is an essential role in today's workplace. In the video a company that was merging was able to use the internet to help with it's internal communications. They knew a lot of questions would be asked, so the company created a site to allow employees to post their questions. The questions were answered within a few days and anyone logging onto the site could read the questions and answers. This helped to keep everyone informed about the merger. It was so well received that after the merger took place the company kept the site to help with communications.
Personal Experience
The internal communication where I work is very poor. How do you change it when it starts at the top? We have three students on co-op in our company. Recently, we had a light week so in order to give these students their hours, the owner asked them to help clean the machines and the registers in the building. Needless to say, the registers were not cleaned to the owners satisfaction. Instead of taking the co-op students and showing them what he expected, he thought if you cleaned them himself in front of the students they would get the message. He was not happy with their work, but I am quite confident that seeing him clean the registers made no difference to these kids. I am positive he did not get his message across to them.
Personal Experience
The internal communication where I work is very poor. How do you change it when it starts at the top? We have three students on co-op in our company. Recently, we had a light week so in order to give these students their hours, the owner asked them to help clean the machines and the registers in the building. Needless to say, the registers were not cleaned to the owners satisfaction. Instead of taking the co-op students and showing them what he expected, he thought if you cleaned them himself in front of the students they would get the message. He was not happy with their work, but I am quite confident that seeing him clean the registers made no difference to these kids. I am positive he did not get his message across to them.
Here is another example of failed internal communication:
Months ago two employees (Joe and Bob) were put in charge of hiring another grinder. They were told not to hire from a specific tool and die company in the area. On Tuesday a fellow came in the back doors of the company. We saw him speaking to the Joe & Bob. On Thursday this person showed up again. Joe called the owner's wife to his room and told her he needed the paper work for this new employee. She was put on the spot, she had not been told that someone had been hired, the paper work that needed to be completed had to be put together. She asked if they provided the new employee with a policy manual, the answer was "No". She asked what we were going to pay this employee. They didn't know that either. She asked if the benefits were explained to the new employee. This hadn't been done either. There was a lot of missed communication between Joe & Bob, the new employee and the owners. She also asked the new employee where he had been employed. The answer was, the tool and die company that Joe and Bob were told not to hire from! Joe and Bob said the new hire quit at that company on Tuesday so therefore, he was unemployed! I know that the message not to hire from that specific company did not get communicated properly to Joe and Bob.
Months ago two employees (Joe and Bob) were put in charge of hiring another grinder. They were told not to hire from a specific tool and die company in the area. On Tuesday a fellow came in the back doors of the company. We saw him speaking to the Joe & Bob. On Thursday this person showed up again. Joe called the owner's wife to his room and told her he needed the paper work for this new employee. She was put on the spot, she had not been told that someone had been hired, the paper work that needed to be completed had to be put together. She asked if they provided the new employee with a policy manual, the answer was "No". She asked what we were going to pay this employee. They didn't know that either. She asked if the benefits were explained to the new employee. This hadn't been done either. There was a lot of missed communication between Joe & Bob, the new employee and the owners. She also asked the new employee where he had been employed. The answer was, the tool and die company that Joe and Bob were told not to hire from! Joe and Bob said the new hire quit at that company on Tuesday so therefore, he was unemployed! I know that the message not to hire from that specific company did not get communicated properly to Joe and Bob.
References
Here are some interesting links on internal communication:
No comments:
Post a Comment