Communication Problem
For the Theory department at Relativity.com, communication from Theory to the rest of the company is a significant problem. The Theory department provides personnel services to every employee in the organization. Theory’s effectiveness is dependant on employee knowledge, understanding, and use of their provided services. Progressive communication and technology improvements over the past decade have contributed to a failing communication strategy. It is critical that this strategy be repaired then executed.
For the Theory department at Relativity.com, communication from Theory to the rest of the company is a significant problem. The Theory department provides personnel services to every employee in the organization. Theory’s effectiveness is dependant on employee knowledge, understanding, and use of their provided services. Progressive communication and technology improvements over the past decade have contributed to a failing communication strategy. It is critical that this strategy be repaired then executed.
The Theory Department
The Theory department’s function in the organization is associate development. They provide management/leadership training, new hire basic skills training, and company approach to work training. They coordinate a majority of the company’s formal training, such as safety awareness, environmental compliance, legal compliance, associate relations, and quality systems training. They are responsible for providing the company with appropriate tools and resources for individual development planning. They host and administer a talent/learning management website. The website tracks and manages training records, development planning, and skill gap activity.
There are seven employees in the department; Albert, Alfred, Heinrich, Ernst, Nathan, Bobby, and Eli. Albert, the supervisor, has been in the department for fifteen years. Heinrich and Ernst are collectively responsible for the talent/ learning management system and have been in the department four and five years respectively. Nathan is the lead coordinator for the individual development plan process and has been in the department for three years. Bobby and Eli facilitate/coordinate the basic skills training program and have been in the department for three and one year respectively. Alfred schedules, plans, and facilitates the management/leadership training. He has been in the department for one and a half years.
Current Situation
Two of the aforementioned functions of the department require a significant amount of communication to the organization, management/leadership training and individual development planning. There are several ways Alfred and Nathan, who are responsible for these functions, communicate with the organization. They send e-mails from both their individual and department accounts. Alfred sometimes posts training notices on the bulletin board at the employee entrance. Nathan does a lot of communicating over the phone and through interdepartmental mail. They both occasionally utilize “first-line central,” a weekly publication designed specifically for management in operations. For bigger announcements they post articles in the “monthly,” a company publication for all employees. Neither has communicated through the department intranet in over a year and only couple of times through the learning/talent management Internet website. On occasion they may route their communication through the Communication department’s weekly e-mail threads. Alfred prefers site visits so he can personally communicate with customers where as Nathan prefers to communicate to large groups. Each has a tendency to lean on their preference regardless if it is the best tool for desired outcome.
The problem is the absence of an effective communication strategy for the Theory department. Employees at Relativity.com are not receiving intended communication from the department. Employees are busy and often disregard e-mails from the department. There is no measure of how effective other forms of communication are or have been in the past. Employees have said there are too many channels for communication and it is difficult know where and when to find information that is pertinent to them.
Problem History
Ten years ago there were three primary ways of communicating to employees at Relativity.com. The first was through interoffice mail. This method was utilized to communicate information that was relevant to only specific individuals. The second method was to post on company wide bulletin boards. This method was utilized when information was relevant to a majority of the organization. The third method was to through the organizational structure in department staff meetings. This method was utilized when information was relevant to only specific departments. Absent was a systematic method for receiving feedback from department customers, “employees.” Feedback was only received when employees took the initiative to share their opinions.
In the past ten years business communication technology has changed significantly at Relativity.com. In addition to the aforementioned communication tools, the Theory department now has available; the Internet, the Intranet with a variety of department hosted links, a company TV network, first-line central, a monthly electronic news letter, e-mail, their own department website for learning/talent management, access to a growing communications department, telephone and video conference capability, and entrance video monitors just to name a few. Their location has added over five hundred associates in the last ten years and their company has built two new facilities in North America. This is an additional seven hundred employees that the Theory department provides service to. They do not have an effective communication strategy.
Solution Options
The Theory department is currently considering one of two options to resolve its business communication problem. The first is to develop a standard approach to communication for all Theory department communications. The second is to direct all employees to utilize the talent/learning management website for all Theory department communications.
The standard approach to communication solution would provide a systematic way of determining how and when to communicate specific events and information. Over time, the standard approach to communication would institutionalize and employees would know how and when to find pertinent information. This solution could also take full advantage of the tools available for communication at Relativity.com. One potential downfall of the solution is the length of time it would take the organization to institutionalize a standard approach. Another potential downfall would be the resources needed to maintain the standard system. Standardization requires controlled documentation and would need continuous revision as business communication tools and technology evolve.
Utilizing the Theory department’s talent/learning management website to communicate all information would provide an immediate and concise solution to the problem. Employees could be educated very quickly on how to find all pertinent, Theory Department, information. The website has a home page that provides very intuitive navigation tools. These tools make for easy links to necessary information and have the potential for personalized messages to employees. It is a website, making it accessible from any computer that has Internet access. This feature is especially valuable in maintaining communications with other the facilities in the company. Maintaining this solution would require very little resource. One downfall to this solution would be the limited use of available communication tools. The Theory department would not be taking advantage of these tools and potentially missing some opportunity for marketing. Another potential down fall would be the employee maintenance of the required user name and password for the talent/learning management website. This would be a minor employee inconvenience.
What should the Theory department of Relativity.com do?
Please help the Theory department of Relativity.com decide on a solution to their communication problem by offering an opinion as to which of the above solutions is the best. In addition, share any other ideas or combination of ideas that could improve or solve the problem.
