Foundations of Management - Case Study Example

Running Headers: ukVoyant Technologies Company: Communication Blunder Name: Course: Institution Instructor: Date: Introduction Voyant Technologies develops and sells voice products for internet and switched protocol networks that are collaboratively enhanced. Its headquarters are in Westminster, Colorado in the United States. The company provides toolbox and platform for quick voice applications. Its open Innovox platform facilitates web-based applications including multipoint internet conferencing, enterprise resource planning for service providers, customer relationship management, and online education. Initially, the company was known as Confertech Systems, Inc. but changed its name in August 1999, to Voyant Technologies, Inc. Today, the company operates as a subsidiary of Polycom, Inc. which is the world’s leading company in voice and video conferencing, integrated web collaboration resolutions and conference bridges. Communication plays a central role in organizations. Although effective communication is not an assurance of the success of a business or company, its absence is often accompanied by numerous shortcomings. For example, considering our case study, Voyant Technologies, communication blunder caused the company about two hundred thousand dollars and four months of unnecessary effort, which would have not been incurred if the company had employed effective communication. This essay seeks to explore the importance of having effective communication at work. Voyant Technologies is used as a case study. Barriers to communication at Voyant Technologies Communication is defined as the method by which a person conveys some information to the other. If this information is clearly conveyed without any ambiguity, then the information is said to be conveyed effectively. On the other hand, if there is any distortion, then the factors behind the distortion are referred to as communication barriers. The first step to improving communication skills therefore, is identifying barriers to effective communication. Barriers to effective communication often hamper our interactions with other people. These barriers get in the channel of our communicating to others effectively. To most of us, our main desire is to communicate effectively, but we are not keen to consider what barriers exist that can hinder effective communication. Therefore, there is a high probability for something to go wrong, especially regarding our decisions. These often take different forms; they can be psychological, physical or emotional. In the organizational setting, communication affects the relationship between the top management and the employees. It influences the hiring and the training of employees, performance evaluations, provision of daily instructions and can also affect the compliance of the employees to give useful suggestions concerning the organization’s decisions. For an employee to feel as part of the organization requires effective communication. Therefore one major means to achieve effective communication is to eliminate barriers to effective communication. In Voyant Technologies, one evident barrier to effective communication was the channel barrier. The company’s top engineers were not listening to the product managers while the product mangers on the other hand were also not considering the ideas of the top engineers. The company Chief Executive Officer failed to use the right channel of communication required before making a decision. It is quite evident from the story about this company, that before coming to a decision of adding streaming to the company’s flagship product, the CEO only consulted his chief engineer. Therefore, this decision was made by two people, who happen to be top managers only. It is always recommended that before coming up with a decision in the organization, all the stakeholders have to be full involved at all stages, starting from generation of ideas to the implementation of the mutually agreed decision. In that case, the company CEO ought to have consulted all the stakeholders before resorting to making changes in the company’s product flagship. The story describes that the product manager had already carried out some preliminary studies regarding the conversion and revealed that most of their customers were against the conversion bur due to the barrier that already existed, whereby decisions had to be made independently and were applicable to the makers alone, the product manager’s marketing report was disregarded. Another evident barrier to effective communication at Voyage Technologies is the attitudinal barrier. This is mainly generated form staff relationships. There is a tendency of some employees feeling superior to others or may also be as a result of some pre-conceived notions. Considering our case study, there was a pre-conceived notion that had been ignored for long. The top engineers were not listening to the product managers while the product managers on the other hand were not listening to the top engineers. This affected communication because we can see from the story that one of the product managers had already conducted a study concerning the conversion and in the findings, highlighted that most customers were against the conversion. But because top engineers could not listen to product manager’s ideas, the market report was disregarded and thee top engineers went on to introduce the changes to the company’s product flagship. Such behaviour therefore impedes effective communication. Voyant Technologies, like any other high tech organization, also experiences cultural barriers between the computer geeks and the more market oriented colleagues. For instance, the company’s top engineers are always after devising new technologies that can make work easier or even improve the value of a product. The product managers on the other hand, are after satisfying their customers with the most preferred commodities in the market. Due to lack of effective communication, the top engineers end up producing elegant technologies, which may even lack market, because customers’ expectations is not satisfied, and again, it takes quite some time for some people to embrace changes. This is the reason why we see Voyant Technologies had to incur four months of unnecessary efforts. The company also had some language barrier between the two groups, the top engineers and the product managers. Words are not realism and are combined with perceptions of the receiver to make meaning. Therefore, trying to comprehend some foreign language depicts words, but not the reality and in this case being foreign does not necessarily rfer to language of another person or country, but it can be the language of another group. The top engineers have their own language which is not understood by the product managers and thus, until the company’s language is learned, this can be a major communication barrier. Suggestions Voyant’s employees may apply to overcome communication barriers As a vital element of the organization, effective communication should be embraced to ensure success in achieving the organizational targets and goals. As noted in the case study, Voyant Technologies, lack of effective communication had adverse effects to the company especially when it comes to decision making. In order to overcome these barriers, some of the measures should be applied so as to achieve effective communication. One of the measures includes the integration of the bottom-up approach into the company’s management system. This is an approach that ensures all the company stakeholders are involved at very stage of the decision making process. In this case, the company’s CEO ought to have involved both the top engineers, product managers and their customers in deciding to add streaming media to the company’s flagship product. This would have helped to promote the idea among the customers and they could have embraced the new ideas readily. Some of the product managers might have also had some ideas that could help the company sell the new technology faster. Enhancing a mutual understanding would help solve attitudinal barriers to effective communication. All employees have to feel as part of the company and have the right to equally share ideas. Therefore the pre-conceived notion of top engineers not listening to the product managers should be solved and all employees should be considered important stakeholders of the company. Thus, if the communication between top engineers and product manages is good, the probability of communication success is high. Language barriers can be overcome by ensuring the employees are conversant with the company’s language. They should be aware of the company’s targets and goals and work towards achieving them. The language used by top engineers should be well understood by the product managers as well as the customers. It should not appear as if each group has its own language but all should speak one language so that when the company’s engineers devise a new technology, their customers should readily accept it since the product managers have explained to the customers what the new technology is all about. This will avoid loss to the company since it often takes time for customers to embrace changes they are not aware of as some of them consider the product below their expectations. Why the structural changes were important to the success of the communication changes Voyant Technologies’ CEO introduced some structural and communication changes to get the two groups collaborate. These changes involved hiring new managers to lead the company’s product lines and a chief product officer. These structural changes were important to the success of the communication changes in the company because of the following factors. The structural changes introduced to Voyant Technologies meant a change in the management. This therefore meant that communication changes had to be introduced. One of the changes introduced, which is important to the success of the communication in the company was the concept that if an employee has an idea concerning the company’s product, it is required that the employee submits a proposal through the company’s intranet, which is then assessed by a team of product managers and engineers. This change is important because it ensures that there is collaboration in the company and that all stakeholders take part in making decision, an essential factor to effective communication. The idea would also ensure that customers’ perspectives are incorporated into the product designs. This is because the product managers have a close contact with the company’s customers. Therefore, the customers, through the product managers may raise their concerns concerning their expectations, which will then be incorporated in the production process to ensure whatever the engineers produce meets the expectation of their customers. This will therefore help close the gap between the company employees as well as to their customers since they produce stuff that meets their customers’ expectations. Effective communication is thus enhanced in the company. Feedback is an important element to effective communication. Without feedback the sender of the information is not certain if the information was correctly received. Prior to the introduction of the structural changes to Voyant Technologies, there was ineffective feedback system. This is well illustrated by the fact that one of the product managers had a market report that showed that customers were against the idea of adding streaming media to the company's flagship product. But this report was disregarded, meaning there was no feedback to the customers’ perceptions but instead, they were ignored. The introduction of structural changes required that after the proposal, after being assessed, is implemented and those who meet the goals are rewarded. This change is important to the success of communication in the company since both the customers and employees are able to get feedback about their perceptions. Why the company’s customers are happier Voyant Technologies Company CEO actually believes that the company’s customers are happier than they have ever been before. Indeed they ought to be since after the structural changes were introduced, customers are able to get products that meet their expectations. The main factor behind this is effective communication. The customers are able to convey their ideas to the product managers, who will then come up with proposals, which after being assessed by a team of engineers and product managers is implemented. The implementation process will incorporate the customers’ perspectives. When it comes to the design of the products, the company will have to produce products their customers want, because they get information concerning what their customers need and as one of the engineer notes, the company is currently producing products that people use, a factor that is enough to make customers happy. In summary therefore, the company CEO believes the customers are happier because they get products that met their expectations and their concerns are well advocated for by the company. All this is attributed to one major factor; effective communication. Role of communication in the company Communication takes a central role in the organization. Actually, effective communication is an important element for business success as well as human interactions. It is impossible to have human interaction without communication. One of the major roles communication plays in the organization is enhancing management employee relations. It is impractical for the management to have work done without effective communication. Most managerial problems arise due to lack of effective communication. This is because manager may set goals h intends to b achieved but without effective communication, they may end up not being achieved. Apart from just enhancing management employee relations, communication also helps to promote relations between employees. Good employee relationships help to ensure a good human relation is maintained in the organization and that suggestions and ideas of others are looked into and are even implemented, if they are considered significant. This will in the long run promote productivity. Communication also helps in effective decision making in the organization. Effective communication ensures that all stakeholders are involved in the decision making process and that their views are incorporated in the process. This promotes organizational success since all decisions are made by all stakeholders and therefore implementation is even made easier. Effective communication in the organization also ensures customer satisfaction and therefore ensuring the products the company creates are what the customers require or consume. Thus, the success of the company is enhanced because what the company produces meets the market expectations and demand. It also helps motivate employees and boost their morale. Communication actually makes the employees to feel they are part of that business. Collectively suggested ideas can b implemented and rewards given to those who meet their targets. Without it, conflicts can occur, which may lead to low morale and even business failure. Conclusion Communication is the process of interaction between human beings. It is the process by which human beings perceive and understand information. Organizations consider communication an important factor that helps them meet their goals, thus enhancing success. If the information is clearly conveyed without any ambiguity, then the information is said to be conveyed effectively, what is often referred to as effective communication. On the other hand, if there is any distortion, then the factors behind the distortion are referred to as communication barriers. Some of the barriers to effective communication include language, cultural, lack of feedback, wrong channels and noise among other factors. The first step to improving communication skills therefore, is by identifying barriers to effective communication. Then after identifying the barriers, appropriate measures should be developed to counter the identified barriers. In the work place, effective communication provides a good human relation between the management and the employees and also promotes good relations between employees. This helps to promote organizational success since the employees feel they are part of the organization and the decisions made by the management incorporate their views and perspectives. Reference: Robbins, S, Bergman, R, Stagg, I & Coulter, M. (2009) 'Case application: Communication lesson' Foundations of management (3rd ed). French Forest: Pearson Education Australia, pp.371-72.] Read More