Importance of Communication Channels - Assignment Example

?Assignment #2 – This assignment gives you the opportunity to read and discuss several cases that relate directly to your readings. Be sure that youranswers are supported by information you have learned from your readings. Chapter 4 Read the Case: Merck & Co. and River Blindness on page 151. Answer questions #1, #2 and #3 at the end of the case. 1. Merck should pursue investment towards curing river blindness because George W. Merck did say that medicine is for people, not for profits. Because of this, money should not really be a consideration; instead, the lives of 18 million people worldwide are much more valuable. 2. The key stakeholders would obviously be top management and the board of directors. Management would likely be in favor of researching the drug while the directors would be worried more on the financial side of things. As the company does tend to focus on the human need, then it is likely to pursue the drug. 3. If research does go ahead on the drug, then it has the potential to cure millions of people worldwide in some of the poorest areas of the globe. The cost would be that valuable research dollars would be spent on individuals who could not afford to purchase the medicine, and so the company's profits would likely be reduced. Chapter 5 Management Live 5.5 on page 181 This Management Live discusses the importance of picking the right communication channel to convey different information. Importantly, technology is not always the answer to sending messages. As evidenced at Google, where technology dominates, posters taped to doors was an effective way to draw attention. If the audience is being overloaded in one channel, presenters might want to try to send their message through another channel. Or, presenters can alter the channel in a creative way to attract attention. Read the section in the chapter about communication channels as they relate to information richness and topic complexity. Consider the following messages and discuss which communication channel would be most effective in each scenario and why. 1. Managers at a shipping facility are concerned by the number of back injuries employees are suffering due to improper lifting techniques. Workers have already been trained on proper lifting, so how can management get the message to “stick”? Management can get the message to stick by placing printed out reminders on boxes and containers so that employees are presented with the correct lifting technique just before they are about to lift something. 2. A college professor wants her students to participate in a research project in the evening. How should she send this message so students will notice it and participate? The college professor should set up a Facebook group for the research project so that students can discuss the project while socializing with their friends. The students are far more likely to participate if it is on a user-friendly medium. 3. An employee is frustrated by his job. He feels like his boss doesn’t give him enough direction about the goals and expectations of the job. How can he best communicate this message to his boss? The employee can get the attention of his boss by requesting a face-to-face meeting. Employers are constantly busy, so sending an email or paper note would likely be passed over. Talking to the boss in his or her office allows the employee to get direct to the point and not waste any unnecessary time for the boss. Chapter 6 Gina is a manager at a customer call center for an insurance company. Gina has noticed a lot of areas for improvement in the performance of her customer service agents. The following list describes the behaviors that Gina would like all customer service agents to perform. 1. Keeping customer call times short (company target is for agents to respond to 15 customer calls per hour). 2. Giving correct information about insurance policies to customers. 3. Logging detailed notes about the customer call in the online database. 4. Being a good listener and being polite and professional even when the customer is angry. 5. Ensuring that customers’ questions and complaints are resolved at the end of every call. Gina would like to use rewards to improve performance in these areas. Give Gina some advice on how she can use rewards most effectively in this situation. Gina can check the look at the phone logs for each hour of the working day and see which employees are regularly responding to 15 or more customer calls per hour. Employees that consistently respond to 15 or more customer calls on a regular basis can be offered bonuses. Gina can also check customer complaints to see which employees receive little to no negative feedback and then give out monthly awards to the employee with the best feedback record. Chapter 7 Charles Nguyen sat down at his desk with a sigh. Mid-year reviews were due in less than two weeks, and tonight he had to write up his notes on May Johnson. Johnson was a Claims manager who had been with the Allied Insurance Company for five years. Nine months ago, she was selected from a group of six claims representatives to take the management position in Nguyen's Life Insurance division. She had come with glowing recommendations - her former manager, Alice Corgie, had told Nguyen that Johnson knew more about the auto claims process at Allied than anyone else in the company. She had a knack for getting claimants to accept Allied's first offer, and her settlement rates were always the highest in her division. Her coworkers liked her, and she often stayed late to help Corgie with departmental finance reports. But Nguyen almost didn't recognize the woman he had hired with such high expectations. Johnson's department settlement rate was down, her direct reports were complaining that Johnson wasn't letting them do their jobs, and Johnson didn't seem to have time for getting her own job done, much less helping Nguyen with his job. To top it all off, Johnson just didn't seem motivated. Was there anything he could say that would turn things around? Across town, May Johnson was talking with her husband. "I just don't know, Bill. When I applied for this job, it seemed like such a great opportunity, but now, everything is falling apart." Bill nodded sympathetically, and May went on, "I knew that I didn't have any management experience when I applied for the job, but how hard could it be? I only have four employees reporting to me. But they always want something, and I can't get any of my work done. I don't really know what Mr. Nguyen is expecting, but as far as I can see, they just don't do things right, so I end up redoing all of their work. They keep telling me that things are different in Life Insurance, but I know from my years in Auto how things are supposed to work. The biggest problem is the computer system they use. I just can't get the hang of it, and since I have to deal with dissatisfied customers, I need it to work smoothly. Last Tuesday, when I was talking to Mr. Brown about his wife's three million dollar insurance policy, I couldn't even bring up the contact sheet! How was I supposed to know that he hates being called by his first name if I can't get the contact sheet? To top it all off, I have my midyear review meeting with Mr. Nguyen in a couple of weeks. I just know that's going to go badly." Answer the following questions: 1. Diagnose the cause for May Johnson's performance problems. What do you think is the primary reason for her poor performance? The primary reason for Johnson's poor performance is that she does not have any management experience. At her previous job she had a reputation for her industry knowledge and ability to get customers to accept high settlement rates; however, her new job requires a vastly different set of skills. Also, Johnson is not used to the computer system, mostly because she was not given any training as to how to work the new computer. 2. Why do you think Johnson's employees are dissatisfied with her? Is there anything that can be done to decrease their dissatisfaction? Johnson's employees are dissatisfied with her because Johnson has not adapted her work style to the new company and acts like she is still in her old job. The employees can decrease their dissatisfaction only by Johnson getting to know them better and what makes them tick. 3. Pretend that you are Charles Nguyen. Describe how you would handle your mid-year review meeting with May Johnson. What would you say? Do? If I was Charles Nguyen, I would tell Johnson that perhaps the job is too much for her to handle. It could be better for her if she was moved aside as team leader and instead given less responsibility so that she can focus on her own work more. If and when she feels comfortable, she could be moved back to leading the team, but only after she felt like she understands the company more. Read More