Improve Communication for the Fire Services - Case Study Example

CASE How can communication be improved in the UAE Fire Services? CASE OUTLINE NAFFCO (National Fire Fighting Manufacturing FZCO) an ISO 9001:2000 certified company with its World Headquarters at Dubai, is the largest fire fighting equipment manufacturing company in the Middle East. It was established in 1991 with the state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for a wide range of fire fighting equipments including all type of fire extinguishers, fire cabinets, fire hoses, pumps, mobile and advanced fire fighting systems and fire trucks. The Company has diversified its product range to Passive Fire Protection and Automation & Control Division for all types of security and Fire alarm systems. The System engineering division of NAFFCO is one among the best in the world for its immaculate designing, supplying and supervising installations of superior fire fighting systems and equipment. The company's ability to back up with comprehensive training, efficient maintenance and thorough system know-how has greatly reduced fire risks in Middle East. As the company grew in size and established its units all over the world, there was a severe lack of communication among the SBU’s. How can communication be improved in NAFFCO? - http://www.naffco.com/aboutus.html CASE SUMMARY The case is about NAFFCO, a world leader in manufacturing fire fighting equipments. The system engineering division is one of the best but as the company expands around the world, it faces with a problem of communication. This case study will identify the major problems involved in communication and suggest measures to improve the communication system at NAFFCO. PROBLEM Lack in communication is the major problem facing the organization. The general barriers of communication include: a. Organization barrier. Organization barrier arise due to inadequate or improper policies rules and facilities regarding communication. Organization policies rank and procedures lay down the communication channels and the subject matter of communication. When these policies and rules are not clear, flow of communication is not smooth. Too rigid rules and regulations may cause delays in communication. In a complex organization structure, there are several levels of authority. Formal communication has to pass through this chain. As a result there are delays and distortion in communication. Lack of meetings, conferences, suggestion schemes, grievances procedures, social and culture guttering and open door system hampers effective communication. b. Mechanical barrier Mechanical barrier arise due to problems in communication channels. When the number of messages is greater then the capacity of communication, channel, there is overloading. This causes delays and breakdowns in communication. Words used to convey messages have several meanings. Sometimes of message is not expressed in clear and precise language. The noise problem can be overcome by reorganization of the communication system, and by repairing the mechanical defects. c. Personal barrier Most of the failures in communication arise due to faults on the part of the sender or receiver of the message. When the receiver is not attentive to the message, he fails to grasp its meaning. Sometimes subordinates do not want to communicate upward due to the fear that it may displease the superior. Lack of proper attention or interest may arise due to general reasons. The receiver may be busy is his own thoughts, he may face difficulty in understanding the message, he may believe that the average is not worthy of attention or there may be lack of incentive to communicate. A manger may fail to communicate effectively on account of various reasons. The may have the fear that sharing information with subordinates may reduce his prestige and power. In the case study, the major barrier of communication is mechanical where in semantics take the lead role. The engineers in the system division at NAFFCO are good in their native language and poor in English. This prevents them from proper communication and as a result, the communication becomes ineffective. The other major barrier here is that of the organization structure. The organization structure is complex with Eng. Khalid Al Khatib, CEO of NAFFCO leading from the front. The CEO is highly popular by receiving awards from the excellency, King Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and other prestigious awards. This organization structure also hampers the smooth flow of communication as bureaucracy and autocracy with strict rigid rules prevail in the organization. As a result of the above two barriers, the employees lose interest and they never pay attention to their superiors resulting in personal barrier. SOLUTION Sound Organization Structure The organization structure should be with a few levels of authority. The organization policy, Rules and procedures must be clean and explicit. These should encourage free flow of communication in the organization. Considering the case, there is one major brand and so a line structure would be appropriate to NAFFCO. This structure can be adopted in the initial stages when migrating from a single man organization to a management based concern. Line Organization The line organization represents structure in a direct, vertical, relationship through which authority flows. It is the simple form of organization structure and is also know as scalar or military organization. Under this, the line of authority flows vertically downward from top to bottom throughout the organization. The chief characteristics of the line organization include It consists of direct vertical relationship, Authority flows directly from the top of the organization down to the lowest positions and whereas authority flows downward, response flows upward. Line Organization Production Manager Chief engineer Mechanical engineer Electrical Engineer Workshop Design Engineer Power house Superintendent Production Engineer Superintendent Manufacturing plant Senior Supervisor Foremen Workers The chief characteristic of the type of organization is the flow of authority from top to bottom through various levels. The general manager issues instructions to various departmental heads, who passes it on to supervisors. The supervisors pass on the institution to the workers. Here each member knows from whom he has to receive orders and to whom he can give orders. In the chart for instance, the order flow from production manager to workers thorugh line authorities viz, the Chief Engineer, Production Engineer, Superintendent of the Manufacturing Plant, Senior Supervisors and Foreman. This improves communication to a great extent and the problem of organizational barrier is solved. Personal barrier can be solved in the following ways: Clean Message: The beginning of all communication is some message. The message can be concerned conveyed properly only when it is clearly formatted in the mind of the communicator. Two-way Communication: Two way communication required continuous dialogue between the sender and the receiver. Exclusively reliance on official channel or chains of command creates delays and distraction in communication. All possible channels should be used to speed up communication and to avoid communication over loads. Informal communication channels should be used to support formal channels and to overcome gaps in formed communication systems. Good listening: A communicator should be a good listener, so that he can collect-reaction or response to his message. Effective control: These should be continuous programme of evaluating the flow of communication in all directions. This would high light the problems, identify their cause and suggest corrective measures to make communication effective. Modern Instruments: Use of sophisticated instruments of mechanical services helps to improve speed and accuracy in communication. Electronic computers, intercom, telex, Dictaphone etc permit faster and move accurate transmission and processing of information in the organization. Human relations attitude: Cordial interpersonal relations based on mutual trust and confidence must be developed. As a result, the problems of status quo and differences in perceptions can be over come. The major barrier of communication in the case study is Mechanical barrier. This could be solved in the following ways: In the initial stages, the engineers could use non verbal communication to convey the messages using a pocket diary through illustrations and drawings. This is the most effective way of solving the mechanical barrier. Another solution is to recruit local employees at its subsidiaries and adopt an ethnocentric approach towards staffing. This will improve the communication effectively. The last solution is to convey everything in black and white. All the engineers are educated in English and can write in English. Regarding speaking English fluently, some training classes would come in handy to avoid the problem related to semantics. The Website can be a major source of conveying the communication. To improve the internal communication, ERP could be established at each of NAFFCO’s location all around the world. ERP will enhance the communication to a great extent. NAFFCO does its ERP system through advanced ORACLE E-Business Suite for efficient integrated management system and customer relationship management. They use latest web development tools and programming languages to take their website to next generation. The Company has a team of professionals to research, identify and achieve the possible product innovations and value addition for meeting the changing needs of customers and thereby ensuring upper hand in the market. Managing Change The most difficult part in organizational development is changing the culture of an organization. There will be a lot of resistance both from the existing and experienced employees and also from the organization. Human beings are creatures of habit and heavily rely on habits or programmed responses for decision making. When a change occurs, the habit has to be changed which will act as a source of resistance. Habits are very hard to change. People resist change because it threatens their feeling of safety. When a new automatic machine enters the company, employees tend to lose their jobs and resist the change. Changes in job tasks or established work routines also can arouse economic fears if people are concerned that they won’t be able to perform the new tasks or routines to their previous standards. Changes bring certainty in decision making within the organization. For example, the introduction of quality management makes it mandatory for every employee to learn statistical procedures. This will cause resistance as most employees think they will be not able to do so. Individuals shape their world through perceptions. Once they have created this world, it resists change. So individuals are guilty of selectively processing information in order to keep their perceptions intact. They ignore information that challenges the world they have created. The following are the famous interventions adopted to bring a culture change. In our case, the resistance to change will be more as the employees are exposed to new environments. Approaches to manage organizational change Lewin’s three step model Kurt Lewin argued that successful change in organizations must follow three steps: Unfreezing Movement Refreezing Unfreezing is the stage wherein a new concept is introduced and the employees are confronted with the change situation for the first time. This stage creates motivation and readiness to change through disconfirmation, anxiety and provision of psychological society. Movement is the stage helping the individual to see, judge, feel and react differently based on a new point of view. This is the stage where employees start accepting the change. In this stage restraining and driving forces are identified. Refreezing is the stage where the change is stabilized by balancing driving and restraining forces. Here change has been implemented successfully. Designing the Intervention strategy This involves three stages: 1. Diagnose the Environment 2. Develop an action plan 3. Evaluate the results of the Intervention Diagnose the Environment Diagnosing the environment is an assessment process that focuses on determining the readiness of the target group to accept change. One way to identify whether the employees would accept change is by conducting the force field analysis. Lewin developed Force Field Analysis to identify the factors for change and factors against change. Forces for Change Forces against Change Increased Competition Labor Contract Supervisory Support Cost of Implementation Top Management Fear of Job loss Force Field Analysis The value of a force field analysis is that it allows the intervention strategists to pinpoint specific resistance and support to a proposed change program. Develop an action plan This involves identifying the specific target variables and determining the techniques that will be used to bring a change. The action plan must address the various resistance forces identified in the force field analysis and develop a solution for eliminating the resistance. The following techniques can be considered in developing an action plan: 1. Schedule a meeting to communicate the critical need for changing the standards and impress key employees with the need to actively support the change. 2. Conduct meetings with union officials to determine their interpretation of the labor contract. 3. Conduct an awareness training session for production level employees to set forth the changes in standards. The action plan specifies the intervention strategy. Evaluate the results of the Intervention The results of the OD intervention must be evaluated to determine whether the behavior has changed and whether problems have emerged. Evaluation results must be provided to demonstrate the degree of effectiveness of organization. REFERENCE Garry Dessler, Human Resource Management, 2004, 10th edition, Eastern Economy edition. Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behavior, 2002, Prentice Hall of India. Randy L. Desimone, Jon M. Werner and David M. Harris, Human Resource Development, Pearson education. Pg. 565 – 610. T.N Chhabra, Principles and Practice of Management, Himalaya publishing, 2004 Dinkar Pagare, Principles of Management, S & Chand Publications, 2006 C.B Gupta, Business Management, Sultan Chand Publications, 2007 Read More