Communication at Diageo Company - Case Study Example

1. Diageo is a huge company with over 25,000 employees worldwide. It is working successfully to deal with its communication problems in its post-merger environment. From the detailed overview discussed in the case study, it shows that Diageo has a very effective communications strategy. Since Diageo is a merger of two different alcoholic beverages companies, Guinness and Grand Met. Therefore it was necessary for the company to make a detailed employ communication program that makes sure that all the employees from the two different companies can come together under the brand name of Diageo. The details of the internal communication strategies by Diageo, as discussed in the case study, show that the all the different strategies implemented were mostly focused on the change management issues after the merger. One of the reasons for Diageo's internal communication to be successful is because both the upward and downward communication within the company is made easily possible (Ramgopal, 2008). The company's communication activities are in direct contact with strategies and plans; therefore Diageo sees every communication that is done is to achieve its business objectives. This is because even if all the top level management makes Diageo's business goals and objectives, it is the internal communication process that enables these goals to circulate within the organization (Armstrong, 2006). According to the case study, all the leaders in the company are encouraged to think of communication as a tool, which can play a role in achieving the company's goals. Another initiative in the communication process by Diageo, according to the case study, is the amount of information delivered to the employees. Employees at Diageo are informed about their role at the wider sense of the business. This helps in motivating the employee and once again implementing the concept of unification under the brand name. Another initiative in the internal communication process is the introduction of leadership community concept. This strategy is based on the highlighting leaders in the organization who take initiative in the downward communication at Diageo, but more importantly so to facilitate upward communication through the leadership community. According to the given case study, the leadership and culture executive work group was formed in the year 2000. It has quarterly meetings through teleconferences and short period conferences. 12 top executives of Diageo participate in these meetings. In these meetings leadership community is the object of discussion and reform (Duncan, 2007). There are over 800 managers who are part of the leadership community at Diageo. At the leadership community they have introduced many new innovative ideas that can enhance the internal communication process at Diageo. These ideas include use of a new and imaginative buddy system - where all the top level managers and executives are teamed up with communications team. Each of them are assigned a ''buddy''; a communication guy. This can help in improving the communications skills of all those managers and executives. Then there is also the fortnightly update that is sent to the whole community (Robbins, 2009). That update is about all business developments and achievements, and is sent to the whole group by email, according to the case study. This helps in keeping all the leaders in the loop and once again imposing the brand building of the Diageo. This fortnightly update can also play a great role in the motivation of all the leadership community. Another tool to support the leadership community is through the company's own intranet. This is perhaps the most cost effective and simple way to keep the leadership community with over 800 members together and effectively in touch. According to the case study the intra net is password protected. Each member of the community have access to the information according to his or hers respective designation at Diageo (Clark, 2008). There are also many different activities at the leadership community; different innovative pamphlets are distributed among the leaders that are designed to strengthen the brand image of Diageo and to convey the business goals and objectives (Solutions for common client communication mistakes, 2003). Then there are the PowerPoint presentations that are designed by the communications team at Diageo that are uploaded at the company's intranet. According to the case study these presentations are aimed to cover all the issues that are faced by the leaders and here all the aims and objectives of the leadership community are presented in an innovative way. Then there are various types of interactive meetings that are held to discuss the business strategies among the managers. At these meetings there are many managers from different part of the world are present so it is creatively necessary for Diageo to hold these meetings. Then there are orientation conferences held for the new employees. According to the case study these orientations are focused mainly internal marketing and selling the brand of Diageo to its new employees. Different daily use items and casual ware with Diageo's brand logos are given to these employees to strengthen this message (Czerwonka, 2008). A number of web-accessible documents that support communications objectives at Diageo are also available for the leaders. These documents are placed there to ensure the following of rules and regulations of business communication - so that the communication taking place is effective. According to the case study these documents include all the tips and guidelines necessary for the communicator to consider when making a communication. There is also a detailed planning process discussed for the guidance of the communicator when he or she is planning to make a business communication. With all these effective leadership activities and forums, Diageo goes one step ahead to create another forum for its entire staff. According to the case study this forum meets quarterly and it continue for a few days. In these forums all the important business updates are discussed with all the different projects that are taking place at Diageo. These forums are held as open discussions with here and there a presentation is given. These forums are in accordance with the company's policies to keep its employees informed about the ongoing activities at Diageo to increase their sense of involvement in the company and hence increasing their motivation. This also helps the employees to see beyond their local branch offices and their own national branches and to realize that they are part of a strong global community. This will also help to enhance the effect of internal marketing at Diageo, and the development of the brand image to its employees (O'Loughlin, 2009). Diageo also has a strong feedback and evaluation mechanism to ensure the effectiveness of its communication strategies. According to the case study each and every communication plan at Diageo has a built in evaluation and feed back mechanism to check the success of the communication and to see if the desired outcome has been achieved or not. The most common tool of evaluation at Diageo is the feed back form. They can be electronic or on paper. They are easy to create and are less time consuming for the respondent. This also has a slight weakness since it is a type of one way communication therefore they must be very delicately designed so as to allow the one filling it to express his or her desired feed back. For a more detailed feed back telephone surveys are used at Diageo. They are more focused on one to one interaction and to see if the employee has reached the same outcome from a message that was intended or not, and if not then what is the outcome received by the employee. These telephone surveys are not at all cost effective that's why they are done on sample basis. A sample from an entire group of audience is selected and then they are subjected to these surveys (Czerwonka, 2008). For a more detailed insight then the telephone surveys, Diageo also has face-to-face meetings between the audiences and the communications teams (Thinking made easy, 2009). These meetings are mostly held on one to one basis, which is very time-consuming and more expensive than the telephone surveys, which allows the communication expert to gain an in-depth knowledge of the effectiveness of the communication on the audience member in question (Daft, 2001). This allows the company to evaluate its communication procedures in amore detailed way, even though it can be very expansive. All of this shows the importance that is given to the communications at the Diageo (Robbins & Judge, 2004). So after discussing the different communications strategies at Diageo I have come to the conclusion that they are fairly successful and effective. The effort put in by the company in this field of internal communication shows its importance, especially in the post merger environment in which Diageo introduced these strategies. And I believe that their main aim of creating the brand of Diageo among its employees and to see the communication as a tool to meet its business objectives is fairly successful (Dessler, Griffiths & Lloyd-Walker, 2004). 2. Different channels of communications are used in different situations. All depends on the target Audiences and desired result, for different outcomes to be achieved different communication processes are used by the source. So in a communication plan there are multiple number of media of communication that are available to the source to choose according to the desired outcome (Townley, 1994). Here are few of the examples of the usage of communication media according to different situations: 1. When the objective of the sender is just to inform the receiver about any thing, and there is no need for the receiver to reply, then the type of media that can be used are e-mails, memos, faxes, text messages, notice boards, intranet bulletin boards, videos, CD-ROMs, internal advertising campaigns, direct mail or employee annual reports (Rose, 2006). For example a branch manager wants to inform his staff members about a successful project that is completed, then he will put that in the annual report. He can also share this information with his branch by pasting it on the notice board Or the intranet bulletin board. Another example can be the use of memos by the manager to ensure the arrival of his or her employees on time and to make sure that they are not late. If there is an employee who is getting late consistently then a more individual approach can be used like the use of email (Donna, Prestwood & Schumann, 2003). But in most cases the above-discussed media of communication are not used for an individualistic approach, they are mainly used for a broader audience in case of the one-way communication (Robbins, 2009). 2. When the objective is to motivate the receiver audience through any message then the media that is used should be interactive from both ways (Downsizing with dignity, 2009). The media used should allow the participation of the receiver to ensure his motivation. The media of communications that can be used in these situations are workshops, training events, discussion groups, business forums and face-to-face meetings. In these situations the main focus of the managers is to build a relationship with his employee/receiver. This will enable them to motivate their employees on a more personal level. The types of communications used in these situations are mostly informal with focus on two-way interaction. For example if a manager wants to communicate the importance of friendly work environment then he can arrange a workshop for his or her staff (Ramgopal, 2008). The workshop will allow the speaker to present his work on the importance of the given topic then the audience will be allowed to express their opinions and to raise any questions they have in a question and answer session or an open discussion. Another example can be the use of discussion groups held to maximize the efficiency of any branch (Nkomo, Fottler & McAfee, 2004). These groups can include all the staff and the manager. The staff can give their inputs on the maximization of the efficiency and what factors can motivate them to do so. The manager can then list these factors and work on them to motivate his or her employees to ensure higher number of efficiency from them (Nohria, Groysberg & Lee, 2008). 3. The above-discussed situations mainly focus on downward communication in the organization. But when the objective is employee feed back/upward communication then the media of communication that can be used are regular meetings between managers and the employees, questionnaires, feed back forms, and a section of Diageo's intranet that is focused on this and which allows the employees to post their questions on it, which can be then answered by the respective managers (Employers' health and safety responsibilities, 2009). For example if an employee at Diageo wants to share his input with the upper management on the strategic front then he can just post his plans on the ''U Talk'' section of the intranet. His ideas will then be communicated to the concerned managers who will respond to it as they consider beneficial for the organization. Then there is the concept of these 'skip level meetings' which are held at Diageo on a regular basis and which enable the management of the company to have direct interaction with the employees and to get their feed backs and answer any relevant questions that are posed in these meetings (Murrell, Formisano & Meredith, 2000). Main focus in these meetings is given to employees who do not have a regular interaction with the manager. They are given the chance to share their input with the manager (employee involvement in practice, 2009). 3. Diageo is huge organization with over 25,000 employees worldwide (Murray, 2003). With such a huge number if human resource especially after a merger of two different companies into one it was imperative for Diageo to ensure extremely effective and detailed human resource management practices. The process of downward communication from the upper management to the employees can be handled with taking proper communication strategies and is not that difficult to implement effectively (Employer-Sponsored Health & Wellness Programs Grow, 2008). The real problem for the company of this magnitude is to ensure upward communication to enhance the involvement of employees in strategic decisions and to improve their level of motivation. Therefore it was challenging for Diageo to overcome this challenge (Mathis & Jackson, 2006). But I believe that the steps they have taken to ensure the involvement of its employees are fairly successful and will give better results. The foremost step taken by the Diageo was to make sure that each of their employees is aware of all the strategic decisions that are taken by the upper management and of all the organization goals and objective that are set. This according to the case study ensures the sense of involvement in the employees and motivates them to work harder to achieve these goals. It is the actual level of employment that motivates an employee (Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004). The employees at Diageo are ensured involvement by a number ways (Employee involvement, 2009). There is the feed back mechanism with every new strategy that is introduced. This mechanism allows employee to share their input with the top management and decision makers. The feedback and evaluation mechanism is fairly diversified according to the situation. Firstly and most commonly there are feed back forms, which enables employees to share their input in a fairly restricted way. But according to the case study the communication team at Diageo takes considerable effort in designing these forms and they ensure more accurate response from the employees (Taylor, Torrington & Hall, 1995). Then there are telephone surveys, which are more interactive for the employees, and they allow the employees to share their insight in a more detailed manner. Face to face the communications teams also hold meetings. These meetings can be fairly time consuming and can be a financial burden on the company, but they can provide even more detailed insight into the employees' minds (Townley, 1994). Diageo also arranges focus groups for its employees. These are mainly dependant on the skills and effectiveness of the facilitator, but they are also an effective tool to ensure the involvement of the employees. Therefore with all these extensive measures taken by the company to ensure the sense of involvement for its employees, the company has increased effectiveness. It is very difficult to ensure the employee voice at the company of Diageo's size, but I believe that the company is taking all the necessary steps. The company can take more steps like brainstorming sessions can be held by the management with employee involvement to ensure their input in the strategies. These sessions can be held locally in each branch of the company (Hyman, Mason & Mason, 1995). Overall, it is my belief that Diageo is using extremely effective internal communications strategies to overcome its challenge of introducing the brand name to its employees after the merger (Human Resource Management, 2009). The level of commitment shown by the company in this aspect shows that the company will keep on improving this extremely important field, and will successfully reach their communications objectives. The growth of the corporate brand '' Diageo'' will continue through its intense internal marketing and will help them in achieving their strategic goals and objectives. But the real test of the internal communication strategies implemented by the Diageo will come with the forthcoming company wide ''values survey''. 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