Business Communication - Pandora Travel Agency - Case Study Example

Business Communication By Professor Class University City Date of submission Business Communication Handouts In the contemporary business environment, the levels of competition and innovation are high. To withstand such competition, institution needs to be very alert and effective in its operations. it is critical that the company makes potential business plans and ensure its capability of conveying the strategies to the employees, stakeholders, and customers. It is from such background that an effective communication system becomes institutional backbone. An effective business communication system is paramount as it ensures proper management of internal and external issues. Communication assists organizational members to meet both personal and organizational goals; coordination on organizational internal activities; and to some extent, less effective communication leads to less effective performance (Anthonissen, 2008, 98). Organization requires orientation it its programmes to prevent inconveniencies to the customers. Business communication leaves positive impact on institutional performance. Effective communication improves efficiency and productivity level within the business. It also contributes to high level of satisfaction among the employees and potential customers. Most conducted research reveal a positive relationship between effective and properly organized communication system and job satisfaction, performance, and positive attitude of the workers (Gopal, 2009, 121). Pandora Travel Agency suffered minor disasters due to poor communication methods in place. Currently, the employees need to know what is happening around them, what their co-workers are doing, and their level of contribution to organizational success. However, the concerns of the customers lie within effective communication on the products and services that they acquire from the organization. Time factor and listening skills are important to guarantee high level of satisfaction among the customers. MEETING MINUTES PANDORA TRAVEL AGENCY Opening: The regular meeting on Pandora Travel Agency dully called and held on June 12, 2016, at the organizational social hall commencing at 12:00pm Present Members John Lukes communication manager, Chairperson Anne Bravia Company Secretary Steve Eric Board Member Brenda Ledon Board Member 1. Approval of agenda The agenda of changing the organizational communication strategy was unanimously agreed upon and discussed by the members present. 2. Approval of the minutes The secretary read the previous minutes, which majorly focused on the organizational communication challenges. Bravia and Ledon confirmed the minutes to be true. 3. Discussions From the meeting, it was clear that the major factor hindering effective and efficient delivery of services was poor communication strategy used within the organization. For the company, the members chose the application of verbal communication strategies: both written and oral communication. Agreed written methods were e-mails, texts, and chats while oral strategies are phone calls, video chats, and face-to-face communication. 4. New Business The members agreed that communication is key to ensure the achievement of organizational goals and effective mechanism of identifying and exploiting employees’ skills. Therefore, implementation of the communication strategies needs to be effected as early as June 30, 2016. 5. Agenda for next meeting The major issues that arose from the meeting were questions on the availability of adequate resources, employee engagement, and monitoring method, which would form the basis of the next meeting. 6. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 3.00pm by the chairperson. The next meeting will be at 12:00pm on September 20, 2016 at the same social hall. Minutes submitted by: Approved by: INTERNAL MEMO TO: All Staff FROM: John Lukes, The Communication Manager DATE: June 14, 2016 SUBJECT: New Communication Strategy of Sharing Information Following the meeting held by the board members on June 12, 2016, it was resolved that to improve service delivery within the organization and meet the ever-changing needs of the customers, there was need to change institutional communication strategies. Effective communication is key to meeting the needs of the customers and improving the level of performance within the market (MacLennan, 2003, 88). From such background, the embraced communication strategy was verbal mechanism, which involves both written and oral methods. The written methods that the company coined were e-mails, texts, and chats and oral mechanisms are video chats, phone calls, and face-to-face communication. The communication strategy is not only important in improving mechanisms that would ensure delivery of quality services but also improving the communication skills of the employees. In a mid of the rising technologies and its application by potential customers, the board members agreed on integrating the communication strategy with modern technology through the social platforms in a bid to improve efficiency and reliability in the delivery of services (Paul, 2003, 77). The objective of sharing information is critical in improving communication within the company. Poor communication is the major contributor of institutional losses and unnecessary minor disasters, which could result in loss of confidence, customer loyalty, and referrals. Through focusing on the new communication strategy, the company would be maximizing its level of exposure to the target market, increasing employee-management relations, and customer satisfaction. REPORT Abstract The aim of the report is to explore the effectiveness of the newly established communication strategy in Pandora Travel Agency. Communication is key in ensuring the achievement of the desired goals. Introduction Through the years since its establishment, the agency has been experiencing minor disasters associated with poor communication strategies that do not explore specific needs of the customers and encourages poor employee involvement. As a result, the agency through the board meeting introduced verbal communication as a means of ensuring effective communication and fulfilment of customer specific needs. Verbal communication Effective communication is important to successful implementation of change initiative within the organization. Through the institutional lifecycle, regular and clear communication on change issues is vital; therefore, the conveyed message needs to be easy to read, user-friendly, informative, and relevant to the audience in question. Verbal communication involves using sound and language in relaying information (Guffey & Loewy, 2010, 143). Therefore, it serves as the vehicle in expressing the desires, ideas, and concepts, which are vital to ensuring organizational success. Through combination with other nonverbal communication mechanisms, verbal communication is effective as it acts as the primary tool for expression between different parties. The communication strategy play many roles, but the main function is relaying information to mass of people, informing, inquiring, arguing, and topic discussions, which are important in, ensure the success of the agency. Recommendations and conclusions Communication is key to ensuring success. However, the chosen communication strategy needs to integrate properly technological mechanisms in a bid to improving efficiency and operational scope. The market is highly competitive and consumers are seeking reliability and timely delivery of the services. SELF-EVALUATION Business communication is critical to ensuring business success. From my understanding, success in business communication context means being in a position of accomplishing particular task or to achieve the desired specific objective. Business success is measurable through its practicability relationship, which is directly proportional to the quality of communication. The primary objective of communication is to convey information (Thill & Bovée, 2007, 112). Business institutions need to deal with large and varied amount of information on the daily basis to conduct different activities. Therefore, adequate information flow assists in making the right decisions. Another quality important objective of communication learnt is that it assists in persuading people to accept the view or change their attitude (Bovée, Thill, & Schatzman, 2004, 191). Such persuasion is achievable through logical arguments or emotional appeals. Essentially, all forms of communication are deliberate and intentional persuasion acts. Moreover, I learnt that in the current stage of specialization, organizations are developing different departments to undertake specific profession related activities. In the absence of an effective communication system within the business, there could be a serious problem associated coordination of such intra and inter-organizational activities. Without communication, it is difficult to understand the specific needs of the customers and the changing market trends. Communication is vital in keeping in mind the rising significance of the human relations and human resource management in the modern business. Besides, the management-employee relationship is held together by effective communication. Communication is an effective tool in the hands of the managers for the purpose of motivating and boosting the morale of the workers (Roebuck, 2012, 105). Most business crises and conflicts of interests often emerge due to failure to communicate. If the management fails to convey important information and the decisions to be executed by the employees, then there could be low morale or resentment among the subordinates. Therefore, to avoid such situations, the management could appreciate the works performed by the employees through effective communication. References Anthonissen, P. F. (2008). Crisis communication: Practical PR strategies for reputation management and company survival. London: Kogan Page. Bovée, C. L., Thill, J. V., & Schatzman, B. E. (2004). Business communication essentials. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Gopal, N. (2009). Business communication. New Delhi: New Age International. Guffey, M. E., & Loewy, D. (2010). Essentials of business communication. Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning. MacLennan, J. (2003). Effective business communication. Toronto: Prentice Hall. Paul, D. (2003). Communication strategies. Australia: Thomson Learning. Roebuck, D. (2012). Communication Strategies for Today's Managerial Leader. Business Expert Press, 4(2), 101-110. Thill, J. V., & Bovée, C. L. (2007). Excellence in business communication. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Read More