Communication Management Plan Issues - Essay Example

Communication Management Plan Course Tutor Date Introduction Corporate communication for conflict management needs a tailored approach that entails strategic management of situations at hand. This is usually meant to offer effective workplace environment to employees in a bid to increase returns. Conflict resolution has always been observed to emerge from dialectic differences, discrimination issues, power issues and diversity among others. These however can be dealt with by designing strong structural mechanisms that are meant to disseminate information to all levels without discrimination of any sort, carrying out radical surgery on organisational culture, engaging in interpersonal activities that may lead to strong bonds amongst employees within a corporate setup and calling for legal action in case of difficulties. For the sake of this study, the case of Queensland Audit Firm that faces problems of this nature when it comes to its audit standards and personality stances shall be applied. This organisation has a staff of more than 20 employees including the top management that is constantly involved in power struggles. An organisation of this nature has an established culture that determines the work environment due to high interaction levels. It is notable that the crisis cannot be allowed to continue for long since this shall ruin the organisation's public standing in terms of integrity. This prompts an investigation on the communication strategy that shall be well applied in proactive involvement of the entire team towards conflict resolution. The purpose shall be clearly stated herein with a succinct description of the entire organisational objectives and the ethos that govern the audit industry. Of major concern is that the company stands to lose its hardworking team of employees due to the dirty dealings that have taken place during the first quarter of 2013. This article shall also look into the style of management with effect to this organisation in order to aid in the establishment of a proper communication strategy for the purpose of employee integrity and renewed confidence. Situational Analysis The situations at hand are described as dialect, diversity, discrimination and power related. It is very important to note that interactions within an organisation can majorly affect the way that the employees associate with each other in carrying out activities of corporate importance. Therefore the definition of the contradiction and social hierarchy within an organisation matter a lot in changing the managerial ideology and social theory. According to Kolb and Bartunek (1992), the management theorists define organisational conflicts as a hierarchical difference that brings a background to differences that can be traced to personal interests. Conflict is defined as a problem that can be solved by sole intervention of a top management which is well versed with the organisational members and the pervasive interaction that exists. Dialectic conflicts have been observed as dispute behaviours that have subjected private parties to public jeopardy as much as self-help or avoidance has been sort within the management. Dialectic approach towards organisational matters aids in explaining the duality that the Queensland Audit firm is facing at the moment when bipolar opposites have always been ignored by the top management. Harmonic interactions are marked by conflicts within a social society. Diversity has also brought about conflicts to the Queensland Audit Firm owing to various social orientations to which the employees subscribe to. Diversity is not only observed as a matter of race as was the case in the recent years. In an analysis carried out by Golembiewski (1995), other forms of diversity have been observed with the leading form being that of cultural diversity. Each of the employees of the audit firm hail from a different background that is defined by its own behavioural culture. In order to adopt successful diversity, the organisation is required to communicate positively on the positive effects of this factor in order to help their employees into incorporating this competitive advantage factor within the setup. While the individuals employed within this organisation hail from different parts of Australia, the tension that might arise from the interaction of this groups might dramatically raise the tension especially when one party expects the other to observe certain laws or behave in a certain manner. The most affected parties are the general management which usually finds itself in the middle of the squabble while trying to solve these problems. Workplace discrimination has been noted as a common issue related to prejudice and stereotyping in relation to social, cultural and cognitive backgrounds. The unfair bias towards individuals who work at the Queensland audit firm has often been related to the cognitive levels of individuals. This bias is also associated with performance with a certain cliché of employees branded as top performers engaging in this kind of characteristics. The potential to perform well when it comes to assignments usually leads to formation of groupings that exhibit this kind of behaviour. It is also similar for low performance employees who discriminate against hard workers as a stereotype for sabotage within their own means. The irrelevance of this behaviour is well depicted by Dipboye and Colella (2013) who raise concerns over legitimate issues such as disability. It is observed that as much as Queensland Audit Company does not have employees with disabilities, the appraisal and training conditions are deplorable hence stand to be changed as soon as possible. The malicious nature of discriminatory treatment within an organisation is an issue that stands to demoralize the employees hence has to be approached painstakingly to avoid extended social exclusion. Power struggles have also been observed in this audit organisation within the top and middle management inasmuch as the employee base is low. The matter is conspicuous to an extent that subordinate employees have realized in the seriousness. The Centre for Human Systems (2013) points out the perspectives of power struggles within an organisation as a strange desire to seek power. This situation leads to survival to the fittest kind of relationship at work; a factor that considerably affects production when it comes to the bottom line. An organisation must work as a team in order to outdo the competition and not the internal sideshows as observed lately within this organisation. Therefore the strategy must be able to give a recovery roadmap towards the confidence restoration and clear definition of mandates within an organisational setup. Power struggles has often been associated with such behaviours as self-seeking, avoidance of mandates, lawsuits, blame games, favouritism, ego trips and problem concealment. Communication Strategy The communication strategies to be applied in order to resolve the situations noted herein are covered in this section. Majorly the analysis applied to these issues include the mechanistic organisational structure, the cultural ethos that bind the Queensland Audit Firm, the prevailing work culture work relations, ethical and best legal practice. Conflicting dialects are well understood in the situational analysis section as an issue that may lead to division. The management is urged to understand that the overriding factors such as the political, social, economic, cultural and psychological environments are important in creation of a workable communication strategy. The organisational strategies are pointed out as staff training in order to create better opportunities for the company due to accumulated competency. The other requirements that are secondary to this are that the strong relationships must be created to propel the company to new heights as one family. The expected audit standards must be communicated to the staff in order to establish what is expected of them. This shall ensure quality services to the clients and the opportunity for growth through regular feedback which is meant to form a regular information database for future improvements (DHA Communications, 2013). It is important to identify the stakeholders who are entangled in the situations that are being strategized against. This shall aid in the determination of a good communication environment that is dedicated to strategic management. Participative problem solving emanates from well strategized communication plans which possess a strong commitment towards stakeholder background. In other terms the accountability of individuals once communication has been passed creates a sense of responsibility since they become more committed towards change. In this case, the auditing staff should be vetted against information that is required to make the company succeed, the policies that determine success of the audit practice and the success that each individual has encountered. Personal interests may be passed across in terms of self-completed questionnaires that aim at bettering the person. Guidance and counselling should also set in where extreme cases are noted by the top management or the executive team. Participative problem solving should be a culture within this organisation if only the company wishes to motivate the employees. The participative approach follows the model shown in figure 1 below as a strategic means of achieving some of the goals attached to communication management. Messages should be designed to fit the purpose of communication in order of priority. The stakeholders should be motivated to develop links that are positive towards the achievement of this development. The information must be designed for each group through the available means such as notice boards, dissemination through electronic mails, workshops that are aimed at bettering interaction within the organisation, tea break brainstorming session, brochures and personal interviews (Walker, 2011). The awareness that shall be created through proper communication analysis shall address the roles if each employee within the audit organisation in order to create satisfaction levels that is required to cancel the conflicts that are being experienced. Figure 1: Participative problem approach (Hiam, 2003). Strategic communication also has to identify the level of the target audiences. The fact that the subordinate staffs views the general administration as corrupt and tyrannical should be kept in mind. Addressing this issue should not be done to a mixed audience but a well broken down audience in terms of mandates assigned to each team member to be communicated to. Apart from cultural differences, the sexual orientation also matters when communicating certain explicit matters. The administration should rethink on the move to disseminate information without considering these two factors. As a matter of fulfilling the targets, the five senior auditors should be addressed as a group, followed by the three Auditors in level II, five auditors I and then the three trainees who should not know much about the company or else risk a cultural setback. The remaining members of staff should be communicated to at a basic level since they are not affiliated to the auditing fraternity, but legal counsel and support. According to Ray (1999), this move is aimed at ensuring that the right information is disseminated to each stakeholder group. There exists a great link between strategic or effective communication and great leadership. Inducing behavioural or cultural change requires proper identification of communication channels that are quick in dissemination of information. Among those mentioned above are well streamlined with the specific industry standards for the purpose of future reference. Consideration of these channels should be done carefully in order to reach the groups of employees identified above together with the two remaining executives. Due to the nature of the company general meeting should be embraced for matters touching about performances and work promotions or any other positive issues such as security meetings. Sensitive information such as discrimination or power should be discussed on personal level for arbitration purposes. Accessibility of such information by individuals of all levels may lead to negative depiction of the company culture and even high employee turnover. Sensitive information should be guarded with utmost care if a company wants to excel in its own doings. The success of these procedures should be monitored in order to establish the workability of the laid down plan. Due to the sensitivity of the matters in discussion, employees should be approached as per the groups identified above in order to ascertain the practicability of the work plan that is finally laid down by the management team. This evaluation shall be linked to the timescales or achievable milestones with regard to the cognitive level of a certain group of individuals. Evaluation shall be done through such methods as questionnaire administration, one-on-one interviews, suggestion box notes, appraisals and individual evaluation. Achievement of the ultimate goals shall determine the power of the laid strategy for future improvement in terms of cultural advancement (Aladwani , 2001). Conclusion Strategic communication entails specific procedural approach towards human resource management for organisational objectives achievement. The procedure described by this literature identifies the situations as being discrimination, power, diversity and dialectic issues. These are successfully defined with essence such as structural, cultural, work relationship, ethical and legal in mind. Although this report does not indicate the implementation plan, it is assumed that the organisational mind-set is equipped with work procedures that guide the execution and monitoring of a process. If well implemented then this strategic communication plan can be of great benefit to Queensland Audit Firm. References Aladwani , A. M. (2001). Change management strategies for successful ERP implementation. Edailiyah: MCB UP Ltd. DHA Communications. (2013, October 1). Developing a communications strategy . Retrieved from http://knowhownonprofit.org/campaigns/communications/effective-communications-1/communications-strategy Dipboye, R. L., & Colella, A. (2013). Discrimination at Work: The Psychological and Organizational Bases. New York: Psychology Press. Golembiewski, R. T. (1995). Managing Diversity in Organizations. Alabama: University of Alabama Press. Hiam, A. (2003). Motivational Management: Inspiring Your People for Maximum Performance. New York: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Kolb, D., & Bartunek, J. (1992). Hidden Conflict In Organizations: Uncovering Behind-the-Scenes Disputes. London: SAGE. Ray, S. J. (1999). Strategic Communication in Crisis Management: Lessons from the Airline Industry. Connecticut: Greenwood publishing company. The Center for Human Systems. (2013, October 1). Two Perspectives of Power in Organizations and Their Relationship to Conflict. Retrieved from The Center for Human Systems: http://www.chumans.com/human-systems-resources/power-diversity-organizations.html Walker, R. (2011). Strategic Management Communication for Leaders: For Leaders. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Read More