Case: Communication at Navistar International The decision to dedicate the resou
ID: 325402 • Letter: C
Question
Case: Communication at Navistar International The decision to dedicate the resources needed to fund and support the Department of Communications within Navistar International sends a signal that corporate communications is seen as vital to the health of this $12 billion truck and engine manufacturing and financial services corporation. The Department of Communications functions as a business partner with the three major business units. Each plant has a communications manager or communicator who provides reports to the plant manager and the corporate director of the Department of Communications. The role of the communications manager is to drive the message to the target audience. They use different approaches depending on the audience and the message, whether it is going up or down the corporate ladder, or across business units Typically, in any successful business organization, skilled and talented people within each business unit develop and execute planning, production, and measurement with precision. Skill and talent within the business unit does not always translate into skill and talent for communicating outside the business unit, across business units, or up and down the corporate ladder. In a business organization, lack of communication, poor communication, or miscommunication can be deadly and costly This is where skilled and talented communications professionals can add value to the organization. High quality corporate communication needs to be clearly and accurately delivered. Choosing and using the right combination of channels and media to create the best climate for reception and response is the province of communications professionals. Some channels of communication require multiple senses to receive the message Face-to-face communication is one channel of communication that uses several senses, but it may not ensure accurate recall, and a conversation cannot be mass distributed without some kind of recording. Other channels of communication such as telephone, TV, radio, e-mail, memos, letters, formal reports, and bulletins enable effective recall and mass distribution, but involve fewer senses and learning stylesExplanation / Answer
1. The communication techniques and skills with in the department will be of the people of same skill and frequency. The communication send to the higher level of the organisation has to be clear aand precise. The message conveyed to the other departments or the lower level of the organisation depends on the audience and their level of inderstanding. How ever skilled the employees be with in the department the flow of communication may not be the same while communicating to other departments. The understanding capacity of the people varies from department to department.
2. Conflit resolution communication is required only if there is any issues or conflits. The communication system of the organisation is designed such that there is no miscommunication with in the organization that my lead to conflit. This is where the need of skilled and talented employees are needed in the field of communication. They would send messages or communicate as per the perception capacity of the audience. The message conveyed has to be clear and understandable to all the grades of the employees to avoid conflit due to miscommunication. Any improper communication create conflit and can end up deadly. Skilled and talentes persons are defenitely a boon to the organisation.
3. Whether it be a situation of crisis or conflit there has to be a proper plan before the communicaion is done. The skilled employees would plan what has to be communicated, as it is a case of crisis of work place the moral ethics of the employee has to be protected, no harm should happen to the reputation of the company. The communication should not be the exagaration of the real fact. In the due course the culprit has to be handed to the law. If there is no proper planning in what has to be communicated and what should not be, it would be a breach in safe gaurding the morale of the affected employee. The real talent of the skilled employee is in designing the comunication plan such that no one is hurt and the real fact is communicated effectively and precisely.