Inter-Departmental Communications In Organizations - Case Study Example

Inter-Departmental Communications In Organizations Table of Contents Introduction Part1: Channels of Communications to Ensure Inter-departmental efficiencies Formal Channels 1. Conduct Face to Face Meting Between Departmental Heads 2. Regular E-mail Updates 3. Use Emails and Office-wide Meetings to Share Goals and Achievements Informal Communications 1. Inter-Departmental Informal Meetings on Fridays 2. Informal Lunch Meetings with Inter-department Colleagues Part 2: Managing Communications across Self-Managed Virtual Teams a. Communication Channel(s) for the initial meeting b. Communication Channel(s) as Key Interactions for the Virtual Teams c. Challenges that Virtual Teams Face at Stages of Group/Team Develop d. Challenges due to Diversity and How to Meet Them e. Advantages and Disadvantages of Virtual Self-Managed-Teams from the Communications Point of View Introduction Communications comprise of one of the most essential aspects of any organization. The process of communication includes both the content of communication as well as the channel through which the content is communicated. In almost all organizations, the content of communication is decided based on the internal and external needs and by the business processes. While the relevance and appropriateness of the content is important, it is the selection of correct communication channels that enables the organizations to be more effective. Organizations that have well laid out communication channels and that employ appropriate technology to support their internal and external communications are able to be more responsive to their customers’ needs. Part 1: Channels of Communications to ensure the traditional departments (e.g., IT, human resources, customer service, and sales) and the work teams at SWC headquarters have the necessary, accurate and timely information. The value of effective communications becomes more important for organizations that are large and that have different departments which perform different functions. Different departments operate fairly autonomously with their own targets and operational best practices - for example, a sales department would be involved with managing sales team that goes out into the field and gets sales for the company, while the manufacturing department would be involved in producing the products in the most cost effective manner. There is a need to ensure that proper communication links are maintained so that all the departments work in tandem with each other and towards the fulfillment of the overall organizational targets (Diamond, 2000). For example, it is important that the sales team work closely with the marketing forecast department so that it can set and achieve realistic targets. Similarly, there is a need for the production department to keep in touch with the sales departments so that production facilities could be streamlined to manufacture appropriate stock and reduce wastage or avoid shortages. The human resource department has to keep abreast of the desired changes in the skills and of training needs for the employees – though the actual performance appraisal of the employees is conducted by their immediate operational managers. There is therefore a need for all the different departments to ensure direct and effective communications so that their efforts are neither replicate unnecessary nor they face hindrances due to lack of desired data and instructions. In order to ensure effective communications between different departments and work teams at SWC headquarters, there is a need to establish both formal and informal communication channels between them. The following paragraphs will elaborate upon some of the proposed channels of communications for SWC headquarters that would bring better coordination and team working. Formal Communications Organizations follow formal communication channels including electronic, written as well as inter-personal communications. Messages are exchanged though emails, fax, telephones or through the use of video-conferencing. Also, hard copy notes, circulars or memos are also shared by the employees. Interpersonal communications are conducted via face to face meetings or through telephonic or audio-video sources . Most of the above listed channels of communication are used in a formal environment in a top-down approach. Organizational policies and decisions are communicated to the employees by the top officials. Similarly, instructions on performance and other aspects of job management are given to the employees by their managers. Most of the formal communications in organizations tend to be one way – top to down. There is need to ensure that communications channels are used that are cross-departmental as well as that ensure that feedback from employees and various departments reaches the higher managerial officials. For ensuring this the following channels of formal communications are recommended. 1. Conduct Face to Face Meting Between Departmental Heads It is recommended that the various department heads and the team leaders at SWC meet once a week for at least half an hour to discuss any issues that are causing bottle necks between smooth operations. These meetings can also be used for initiating programs for better coordination between different departments that have to operate closely – like the hiring department and the operations departments or the operations and the customer relationship management teams. Such meetings would ensure that all the heads of the different departments are kept abreast of the issues and problems associated with inter-departmental communications at all levels. By taking a weekly stock of the situation, and by having a chance to interact with each other in a formal setting on a regular basis, is expected to provide a better understanding of each other’s situations. 2. Regular E-mail Updates It is recommended that all departments send in regular updates regarding any specific issues that they may be facing in their routine work. This will ensure that the other departments – that may be affected by delays in one department – are informed about the situation and are able to adjust their schedules accordingly. This update should go company wide to ensure that all the employees are kept in loop. For example, if there is an expected shortage in the stock of the product, the inventory management department should send out the email update immediately so that the procurement department goes into action to initiate the process of re-stocking. Similarly, the sales department would be alerted to not to commit product delivery and the customer relationship management department can deal with customer requests appropriately. Thus, it can be seen that a single, timely and accurate update from one department can serve to provide the relevant information across all the other departments and reduce confusion or loss of confidence between different departments. 3. Use Emails and Office-wide Meetings to Share Goals and Achievements Another recommendation is to use both electronic media as well as face to face meetings between departmental heads to share goals, targets and achievements. This can be done by sending monthly or quarterly departmental plans and targets over email to all employees and by arranging monthly meetings where the achievements or failures of all the departments are shared openly with all the employees. This channel of communication on a regular basis will keep all the departments apprised of each other commitments and goals and would clear paths for better coordination as well as enable all the departments to adjust their expectations from each other in a realistic manner. It will also reduce conflict due to non-availability of statistics about each other. Informal Communications Informal communications too play a useful role in promoting better ties between groups and departments. Informal communications are linked with the office grapevine or social interactions between people from different departments or functions who are on friendly terms with each other due to various reasons. These informal communications are traditionally not regulated by the organization and simply occur due to having similar likes-dislikes, similar hobbies or even by sharing the same work space. However, informal communications lead to sharing of inter-departmental information, gossip as well as other information related to the internal operations of the teams or departments (Jarvenpaa and Leidner, 1998). Further, the interactions are conducted over channels like email, IM, or meeting each other over lunch. These informal interactions can be promoted and utilized more effectively to ensure that various departments share relevant information and operate harmoniously. This can be done by following these communication channels: Inter-Departmental Informal Meetings on Fridays SWC can encourage that people from various departments participate in a single informal party/meeting. This will ensure that employees from various departments meet each other on a regular basis in an informal and relaxed setting that would lead to better personal interaction and understanding. The informal relations developed through such informal gatherings can be used to better relations between the official working of the different departments of SWC. Informal Lunch Meetings with Inter-department Colleagues SWC can intervene to schedule and arrange lunch meetings between employees from different departments. This will lead to people from across departments meeting each other and seeing each other in a non-judgmental light. Part 2: Managing Communications Across Self-Managed Virtual Teams SWC has virtual self-managed teams with members located in different parts of the world. The members have not met each other as yet and all interactions are conducted over the telephone, video-conference or through email. These teams are each focusing on designing and delivering specific products to certain customers by designated dates. Different teams have different number of members – depending upon their tasks and goals – but each team leader is located at SWC head-office. SWC has already hired the team members from different parts of the world and is now readying for a first meeting of each team/group. a. Communication Channel(s) for the initial meeting The initial meeting is required to introduce all the members of the team to each other and to give them a sense of belonging to the same team and the organization. As the members belong to different parts of the world, the best channel of communication for a meeting of these members would be to use video-conferencing. By using this channel, all the members can see, hear and interact with each other and almost replicate the one-to-one personal meeting experience. This way, the team members can introduce themselves and ask questions to each other and the team leader in almost a similar manner that they would have done while being physically together in the same room. In addition to being an ice-breaker and making the members feel comfortable with each other and the organization, this initial meeting is also to be used for orientation and information dispersal. The members need to know about the organization and the role and expectations from their own teams. For this, online presentations with audio-visuals can be sent to all the members via emails. b. Communication Channel(s) as Key Interactions for the Virtual Teams The virtual teams have to be managed in a similar manner as the traditional teams that have members physically located in the same region. However, communicating effectively with the team members of a virtual team is made difficult by the fact that they are located in different time zones and physically separated by thousands of miles. It is important that all the members continue to work within deadlines, and are subjected to regular performance appraisal as well as are able to provide feedback and inputs from their own ends. The most effective mode of interaction in this case is recommended to be the use of online company portals and email. The members can log in their work hours online and send daily reports of work accomplished. Next, official communications and instructions from the team leader, as well as performance feedback can be sent via email to the members. For promoting quick and instantaneous interaction among the members, IMs and telephonic conversations, pagers or voice mails etc. are proposed so that members do not have to wait for email replies in case of urgent matters. c. Challenges that Virtual Teams Face at Stages of Group/Team Development The virtual teams, though meeting in the virtual space, will also undergo the various stages of group or team development (Egolf, 2001). These stages include Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Adjourning. Forming is the stage when the groups is initially founded and members come together and introduce and assess each other. Storming is the stage when the members evaluate each other’s skills and personalities. It is at this stage that informal leadership is established and the group members recognize the complementary roles of each other. Norming is the stage when the members have established themselves into relevant roles and streamlined their performance to facilitate the overall working of the team. Performing is the stage when the group starts performing in a routine manner and Adjourning is the stage when the team accomplishes its task and disbands. The challenges that a virtual team faces at these stages of development are further enhanced due to the lack of interpersonal interactions and also lack of opportunities for seeing each other in informal settings. During the Forming stage, as in the case of the initial meeting, the members do not meet each other physically, but interact via electronic media. This leads the members to miss out on some of the non-verbal communications and signals and hence restricts their understanding of each other. In order to over come this drawback, it is required that the members send each other’s profiles, personal websites links, profiles on social networking sites as well as any family or background data that helps them formulating a better understanding of each other. Next, the storming stage can be difficult for virtual teams as they do not get together in a physical setting to assess the on job performance of each other. It becomes difficult for the team members to d. Challenges due to Diversity and How to Meet Them Mujtaba, 2oo6 e. Advantages and Disadvantages of Virtual Self-Managed-Teams from the Communications Point of View Read More