Professional Business Communications - Tangle Corp - Case Study Example

Analyzing a Business Proposal Name: Course: Instructor: Question one Ober (2009) defines business communication as the sharing of information between individuals in the same firm; this type of communication is done mainly for the commercial organizations. Business communication ensures that the organization is efficient in doing its functions and meeting the demand of its customers. Guffey and Loewy (2012) list the following as being the primary essentials of business communication; structure, clarity of the message, consistency, medium of passing the message and relevancy. A business proposal as a plan that persuades its readers to accept the writer’s ideas; in other word it is an action-oriented report. The line management teams of the Tangle Corp have decided to use the business proposal to highlight the problems that face the current CRM system and propose a solution to the problems. This paper will major in these elements by examining if the junior employees of Tangle Corp have used them correctly in their business proposal to the senior management. The paper will go further and make recommendations for any changes to be mad on the proposal to make it more efficient in its purpose. It will analyze whether the proposal has followed the required structure of a business proposal, how relevant is the issue the employees are raising to the company’s primary mandate? Moreover, the company will analyze the consistency of the message being passed across by the employees, the clarity of the message the workers are giving or whether they used the proper channel to give their message. Although the proposal has tried to stick to business proposal structure, it does not meet the required standards of a business proposal and for that reason refinements have to made to make it bettter. The structure of a business proposal affects how it will be absorbed and understood by the senior managers of Tangle Corp since they are the target of the proposal. The plan should be in a manner such that the objective audience can quickly locate the opening statement, the body, and the closing statements. The opening statements of a business proposal are the executive summary and an introduction. The executive summary gives the reader a synopsis of what the business proposal contains while the introduction part gives the reader information about the problem being solved. The junior employees of Tangle Corp have the executive summary but there is no introduction to the business proposal. The adjustment that should be made to is the introduction part that came before the executive summary should be blended with the executive summary, this way the managers will be able to find information they require easily. The writers of the proposal should furthermore include an introduction to the business proposal. According to Kuiper (2009), the role of a business proposal is to encourage someone else to act on something that will be of useful to the organization. This is why the introduction part is crucial in any business proposal; the junior employees should have included this part to bring in the attention of the managers that there is a problem with the CRM system. Instead, the proposal skips this part and goes direct identify the problem. The writers of the business proposal should first explain what the CRM does; this explanation comes at the end of the proposal instead of the introduction part of the message. For any business proposal to be a success, the structure should be followed to the latter as Zavala (2012) suggests. The second part on the structure of a business proposal is the identification of the problem the business proposal is offering to solve. This is the utmost significant part of a business proposal; this is because of the simple reason that its form the central part of the body of a business proposal. The writers of the Tangle Corp business proposal have focused on this section very much. In fact, they have subdivided to into various parts to help the managers easily identify the problem they are trying to address. The different sub-sections are the manufacturing department, sale, and the administration department. The essence of this section is to help the managers identify the problem; since the problem analysis part of the proposal is subdivided carefully, the senior managers can clearly identify the message the writers are addressing. The problems the current CRM system faces have been determined in the various departments this way the message can be passed across with clarity. The weakness of this part of the proposal is that the problems in the department are so detailed; the writers should focus only on the major problem and discuss it broadly. This will help in ensuring that the senior managers read the proposal and implement it. The proposed solution is the second last part of a business proposal structure. The function of this part is to bring the suggestion on how a problem that has been identified can be solved. The proposal has proposed the adoption of a modern CRM system since it rectifies the problems identified in the team. Furthermore the proposal has suggested that the CRM system to be adopted has various benefits but the benefits are not listed. The senior managers of Tangle Corp should read about the benefits of the system in the proposal so as to decide whter to adopt it or not. The solution part of the proposal should list the benefits of the modern CRM system, this way the senior managers will have a reason to adopt the system. This because they have read about its benefits hence the proposal should be adjusted to include this benefits. The last part of a business proposal is the appendices part, Guffey and Loewy (2012) suggests that this part of a proposal is very important. This is for the reason that it convinces the reader that the information contained in the proposal is factual. The documents in the appendices part do not provide any new information on the proposal rather they serve as supporting documents for the facts stated in the proposal. The proposal by the Tangle team to the organizations senior managers do not have any appendices, the appendices would have shown information from the three departments on how the current CRM system has failed. This section should be included to serve as a point of reference for the senior managers when they are reading the proposal. The second essential of business communication that this paper will look at is the clarity of the message. Hopkins (2014) suggests that any business communication should be clear to the point if the writers want their audience to understand. He goes further and suggests that if a business communication message is not clear, the intended purpose of the communication might not be achieved. On this element, the writers of the business proposal have applied it very well. The proposal is subdivided into several parts that signify the departments in the organizations. The proposal goes ahead to state the various problems that are associated with the current CRM system in Tangle Corp department. Consistency of the message being passed across by business proposal is very essential if the proposal has any chance of success. The message should be very reliable by the writer sticking to the initial argument that they had made; they should not change their message now and then. This will end up confusing the reader whom the message is intended for. The writers of the Tangle Corp proposal are very consistent in conveying their message; they hold that the current CRM system has failed throughout their problem analysis. When they are proposing a solution, they propose the solution that they deem will help in solving the current problems, they do not propose different solutions hence the senior managers can choose the solution. However, the employees could have given various solutions and let the senior managers they choose the best solution. The medium and relevancy of a business communication message are very significant when passing a message. The writer is of the report should choose a medium that is not costly and is time effective. The employees of Tangle Corp want to use the business proposal to address the senior managers; this is superb since it is beneficial unlike telling the managers through word of mouth. The message of this proposal is very relevant since it aims to make the organization more profitable by proposing that it take up the modern CRM system. Question Two There are two types of aspects of business written communication; how the business communicates with its external environment and how it communicates within itself (Hartley & Bruckmann, 2008). The type of aspect of business communication that has been used in the proposal is how the organizations communicate within itself. Employees write the proposal to the senior managers of Tangle Corp; it is meant to bring to the attention of the managers that the current CRM system is not working to the organizations advantage. The employees might have chosen to distribute the document to the public, but it is only meant for the organizations management. Style is very essential when it comes to writing within an organization. The management might have very strict rules on how communication should be done within the organization.However, it’s up to a writer to choose what word to use, phrases and how they will organize their work. This way the document will not only be appropriate but also pass the intended message. The business proposal by the Tangle Corp employees does not stick to the rules of coming up with a business proposal. However, the employees have chosen a style that best suits them and their organization. For example in the problem analysis part, not all the questions are put together in one paragraph. They are prearranged in such a way that each department in the organization has its problems listed in a different section; that is, manufacturing, sales and administration. The issues of the current CRM system used by the organization have been listed according to the departments. This is very ctitical since the readers of the proposal will not find it hard when reading the proposal. The other strength of the document on the use of style is that the costs have been broken down in to monthly costs. This will help the managers in determining if the proposed system is viable under their current budget. If the funds available are not enough, how will the business source for the funds? Hartley and Bruckmann (2008) go further and list the various criteria used to assess a business communication document. These criteria are accuracy, brevity, clarity, and emphasis. Accuracy is the most vital criteria used to evaluate any business document; erroneous information can be very damaging to the organization. For example in the Tangle Corp business proposal, one can single out various errors in the document. For instance, when it comes to monthly cost the proposal has estimated that if the users of the system will be a maximum of forty users then the cost per individual will be $47.50. Pricess are bound to fluctuate in various economic times, they best way to estimate this cost is to round it off to a whole number, that is $48 or $47 as Hartley and Bruckmann (2008) suggest. Brevity in business communication is very essential; one should only provide information that is only necessary. However, this does not mean that one should provide substandard information; moreover, brevity should not be achieved at the expense of clarity and not using proper language (Chaturvedi et al., 2011). This statement means that the information being passed across should be clear at the same time brief and straight to the point. Harvey and Bruckmann (2008) suggest that in any business communication document the writer usually has more information than is needed. It is consequently up to the writer to determine what his intended audience already knows, what they need know and what they want to know. Once a writer has done this, it is very easy to determine what the contents of the document will be. In the example of the Tangle Corp business proposal, the document has too much information and makes those reading it think it is boring. The writers did not even determine what the senior managers already knew; they just wrote all the information collected in from their study in the document. The document should, therefore, be analyzed afresh to determine what the senior managers already know about the current CRM system so that is should be eliminated from the document. This will ensure that only the necessary information is provided in the document with brevity. For example in the problem analysis part, the problems written are too many; the writers should blend problems that are associated together to ensure brevity. The content of a business communication document might be excellent, but it can still fail to achieve its desired purpose this. This can be due to the tone that has been used by the writer who might at times offend the reader. Tone is very important since it is the way a message being passed across sounds to the reader (Krizan et al., 2010). Most business communication documents use a friendly, objective and business-like tone to express strength. The example of the Tangle Corp business proposal document, the writers adopt a very professional tone in some parts of the document. However, there are some parts where the writers negative in presentation of their document. An example is whereby the problems in the manufacturing department are listed, all the three problems are written in a very negative tone. This will look to the readers that the system is of no use in the department. This might discourage the reader of the system; that is, the senior managers from reading the document because the writers are totally discrediting the current CRM which has been in use for many years. This will translate into the solutions proposed by the proposal not being implemented. Business enterprises like the employees working in them are full with emotions. Emotions refer to the diverse state of mind in an environment such as happiness, depression and anxiety (Das & Satpathy, 2008). The emotion of the writer of this proposal can be said to be depressing. If one reads carefully through the document they will realize that the writers are frustrated that the current CRM system does not perform all the functions as require. For example on the problem analysis section, the writers suggest that past customer order information was not available in the CRM system. This means that the employee have to make a new entry every time they make a new order. The other thing that points out a depressing emotion is in the sale sections where the writer put forward that at least 20% of an hour is lost when using the CRM system hence the employees are not effective. It takes up to one minute to correct a single mistake and if an employee was to attend to ten clients and makes a mistake every time that will translate to a lot of time being lost. Question Three Persuasive presentation of a document is that the arrangement of a manuscript in such a way that the reader of the document is motivated and wants to act on the problem the document is addressing. This can be achieved by attaching evidence to the information being provided. The role of persuasion in business communication is to convince the management to approve the proposal or adopt ideas brought forward. Persuasive and efficient business communications are the base of any thriving organization, in spite of size and business. The capability to be convincing and successful in achieving communication objective requires unquestioning and constructive relations between the reader and a writer. In the Tangle Corp business proposal, the employees are not afraid to tell the management that the current CRM system is not working; this is because of the good relationship they have with the management and want to be more productive. In order to be persuasive in any business communication is by understanding the intended audience and choosing the right medium. The business proposal is very convincig throughout the document. Take the example of where the writers are stating the solution benefits of the proposal. The first benefit is that it will improve the productivity of the staff, especially the administration if the proposal is adopted. This is very persuasive since the senior managers will feel like the proposal will not only help the junior employees but also themselves. The other benefit is that the new CRM system will look up customer service particularly customer support. Any sensible organization usually puts its customers first, hence the reason the senior managers will feel that the organization needs the system even more. The other point that will persuade the management to adopt the system is the system will enable the perk up service for their global customers. Al l these points serve as a way to persuade the organizations senior management to take up the idea of the new CRM since it will make the most beneficial. Taking time to listen is also very essential in coming up with an effective business proposal. The writers have to find out where the problem is by thoroughly investigating. The Tangle Corp line management team divided themselves into various groups and who collected information from the users of the system. The users were from the three department in the organization, this way the writers of the proposal were not only able to collect factual information but also identify the problem that was facing the current CRM system. This way the problems that were written in the proposal were not theirs but of the employees who were directly using the system. This helps in ensuring that the system that is proposed for adoption solves majority of the problems that were identified hence the senior managers will be encouraged to adopt the system (Richard, 2012). The document also can get support from the whole organization since all the parties that use the system were involved in its preparation in one way, or another. First are the employees from the manufacturing department, they contribute by helping the researchers identify where the problem was when using the current CRM system so were the employees in the sales and administrative departments. The document will receive overwhelming support since it makes everyone in the organization more effective in performing his or her functions. Buy-in from is a way of encouraging an organizations management to take up your idea. The document has applied this method in all parts of the proposal. First the document is meant for the senior directors who are the primary decision makers in Tangle Corp, this on its own is prove enough to the management to adopt the proposal being made. The other way this method is used in the document is where the management is informed that the new CRM system will also be of use to them and not for the other employees only. This way the proposal can put forward its arguments in the proposal and get the support of the senior managers. According to Debasis and Das (2009), SPIN is the use of profoundly biased portrayal so as to favor one’s point. The techniques of SPIN that have been use by the Line management of Tangle Corp include: selective presentation of facts, this can be seen since only the negative points of the utilization of the current CRM system are shown in the proposal. The other technique used is the careful release of the document through timing. The document was released at a time when the CRM system was having problems hence the proposal can be easily adopted. The issues that arise here are, why did not the line management team provide the benefits of the current CRM? This would have gone a long way in determining if the current CRM system is that bad. The other question is why they chose to release the document at that time, would not they have released it earlier to enable the organization saves on costs. On the compelling effectiveness of the whole document, Lehman and Dufrene (2010) suggest that for effective business communication, the message being conveyed by the document should be clear and compelling. Clear in a way that the readers of the document will understand what the writer was try to put across while at the same time compelled them to take action. The document is very effective since the problem was identified in the first place, and solutions suggested to the problem. Moreover, the costs of upgrading to the new system have also been shown in the document making it easy for the management to estimate the total cost of the upgrade. The management does not have to go back and start determining the cost themselves. Furthermore, the proposal is very compelling, and the managers will have no option but to implement it after a few adjustments have been made. For example, the document is written with a resolution, the goal of the document is to solve the underlying problems of the current CRM system. This is very compelling since it aims to make the organization serve its customers better. Moreover, the writers of the Tangle Corp business proposal have maintained a professional tone in the document, this is very essential when coming up with a compelling business document In conclusion, the business proposal has followed all the set rules of writing a business proposal although some parts have been omitted. However, after the refinements and the recommendations have been made to the proposal it can be confidently be presented to the management of Tangle Corp. This is because the writers will be sure that they have done a good job and it’s up to the management to decide whether to take up the proposal or not. On the other hand, the proposal is splendid since its goals to make the organization more beneficial that is one of the main aims of writing a business proposal. Moreover, the CRM will be of use for the organization for the long-term beneficial that will come with it. Furthermore the current system is outdated and is one of the reason why the employees have a very low morale when working; they need to record the customer information both in the machine and in paper because retrieving it in the current system is very tedious, but this is not true with the new system that the line management is proposing for the business to adopt. The new system will not only improve the morale of the employees but also increase their productivity. This in turn will also make the organization more efficient and more beneficial in delivering of its functions. References Guffey, M., & Loewy, D. (2013). Essentials of business communication (9th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Ober, S. (2009). Contemporary business communication (7th ed., instructor's annotated ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Kuiper, S. (2009). Contemporary business report writing (4th ed.). Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning. Zavala, L. (2012). How to Write a Business Proposal and Other Marketing Documents. Sudbury, MA: EBookIt.com. Hopkins, L. (2014). The 7 Essentials of Business Communication. Retrieved December 8, 2014, from http://www.businessknowhow.com/growth/bizcomm.htm Chaturvedi, P., & Chaturvedi, M. (2011). Business communication concepts, cases and applications (2nd ed., pp. 116-117). New Delhi: Pearson. 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