Communication Issues in PAK'nSAVE Supermarket: A Qualitative Analysis

This research is based on finding the barriers that lead to communication issues within a firm. The research takes the help of qualitative analysis and is beneficial to provide various strategies that may help the PAK’nSAVE supermarket.

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Running Head: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

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Executive summary
Business communication issues are a common problem in the supermarkets especially when
there are employees from various backgrounds. The communication problems inside a firm
may result in decreasing the productivity of the firm. This research is based on finding the
barriers that lead to communication issues within a firm. The research takes the help of
qualitative analysis and is beneficial to provide various strategies that may help the
PAK’nSAVE supermarket.

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Table of contents
Background................................................................................................................................3
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Difficulties faced while conducting the research.......................................................................3
Scope of the research..................................................................................................................4
Methodology..............................................................................................................................4
Findings and results....................................................................................................................5
Recommendations and conclusions...........................................................................................8
Letter of transmittal....................................................................................................................7
Reference list..............................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Effective communication is indispensable in the workplace because this is what helps to
increase the productivity of the firm. Many companies face numerous challenges in the
workplace because of the communication gap among the employees. Although there are
many strategies developed by the companies to promote effective communication in the
workplace yet there are communication breakdowns and disconnects. This study highlights
the communication issue and its drawbacks in one of the most popular supermarkets of New
Zealand named PAK’nSAVE. PAK’n SAVE is one of the famous supermarkets of New
Zealand that provided food in the lowest prices. This research was mainly conducted because
of the different communication issues like language barriers, failure to listen to the various
orders and advice, authority and hierarchy problems and gender biases.
Background
The organization taken for the report is the PAK’n SAVE supermarket that is a food
warehouse that was established in the year 1985 (paknsave.co.nz, 2019). The company is one
of the largest retailers of New Zealand and has two cooperative companies with one existing
in the North Island and the other in the South Island. In PAK’n SAVE the employees play a
vital role in contributing to the success of the organization. I worked in the PAK’nSAVE as a
Department manager and I have been maintaining the day-to-day tasks in the organization.
The job role that was I was assigned to, needed proper communication skills that would help
in increasing customer interaction and will help in the better understanding of the sales trends
and the needs and likes of the customers. The Department manager of the PAK’n SAVE was
required to identify the problems that arose in the organization and was responsible to
manage those problems. As a Department manager, I often felt that there was a certain
communication gap within the organization that resulted in problems and chaos within the
organization. There were several employees in the organization that came from different
backgrounds and some were not able to properly express. There were language barriers that
also resulted in the creation of gaps within the organization (paknsave.co.nz, 2019).
Difficulties faced while conducting the research
The difficulties I faced while conducting the research were the lack of time for conducting
the research, there were also certain behavioural issues in the company and there were also

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certain weather constraints that did not help me to conduct the research on a regular basis
Rimando et al. (2015). I tried my best to cope up with the problems by developing proper
patience that will help me to deal with the employees of the company to conduct the research
in a better way. As influenced by Penrod et al. (2017), I have tried to conduct the research in
such a way that will consume less amount of time and try to deliver the results in a given
time.
Scope of the research
This report aims to discuss the communication issues faced in PAK’nSAVE supermarket and
its impacts on the retail firm. The research will also help in the proper evaluation of the
factors that causes the barriers in communication. After conducting this research the
companies will be able to take proper measures that will improve the communication among
the various employees within the organizations.
Methodology
The research method uses secondary resources that help in the proper analysis of the
communication issues within the workplace. The secondary sources that were used for this
research include the online journal and articles that helped in the analysis of the behaviour
patterns in the workforce (Brink & Costigan, 2015). The newspapers and magazine articles
also sometimes provide valuable information regarding communication issues in the
workplace. The research that I have undertaken was assisted by the help of the journal that
helped me to develop a proper approach towards the work. The name of the journal is “In the
interest of food safety: a qualitative study investigating communication and trust between
food regulators and food industry in the UK, Australia and New Zealand” and the author of
this journal is Meyer et al. (2017). This journal was written in the year 2017. The material
was accessed from the internet and the material had lots of information regarding the effect of
lack of communication within an organization. It also helped in providing the facilitators of
effective communication. The information gathered from this journal helped me to carry out
the research in a more systematic and planned way.
The writer's purpose was to create a research material that would help in the proper analysis
of the communication issues of the people in the workplace generally in the supermarkets.
According to the words of Meyer et al. (2017), it is seen that in spite of having proper
communication there are several conflicts arising in the firm. According to Ulandari (2018),

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the research journal helps to provide the factors that might create communication issues in the
workplace. The research journal also helps to provide information on the techniques that need
to be implemented which will help to fix the communication issues in the firm Noe et al.
(2017). This journal is effective in evaluating the barriers and the facilitators of
communication and trust. The journal provides data-driven solutions that help in the
rebuilding of the trust and effective communication between the employees and the end goal
is to provide efficient service to the customers (Cengiz, 2015).
In the journal, it has been stated that the communication gap within a supermarket can be
improved by planning the workshops that will help in improving the communication-based
communication services. The managers of the industry may also conduct the meeting in order
to understand the problems they are facing because of the communication issue. On the other
hand Atak et al. (2016), states that to improvise the communication skills in the industries
like the supermarkets it is important that there are team building events that will help the
members of the teams to cooperate with each other in case of any problem or issue.
The method used for analysing the data is the secondary qualitative data analysis because
here the help of the journals is taken to find out the final result of the research. The responses
derived from the various online forums regarding the communication issue have helped in the
identification of the barriers in the workplace. As stated by Kwiatkowski (2016), the thematic
analysis of the data helped in evaluating the data based on a particular theme. The common
theme that was searched was ‘confusion regarding the new information communication
technology.’ This theme head relevant aspects that helped to understand the communication
gaps in the PAK’nSAVE supermarket.
Findings and results
From the findings, it is understood that communication problems are very frequent in the
firms where there needs to be an interaction between the managers, employees as well as the
stakeholders. It is also seen from the data analysis that the communication gap hinders the
overall productivity of the PAK’n SAVE firm and leads to further loses of the company. Goś
(2015) states there are primarily ten communication issues that develop in the workplace and
the responsibility of a manager is to focus on the body language of the message receiver
while delivering some message. On the other hand Kamran (2015), states that communication
problems mostly take place in the specific areas where there is no understanding or ego
problem based on the gender-biases.

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There needs to be the implementation of tools that will help to build proper communication
among the team members in the supermarket (Shimizu, 2017). The managers must identify
and use the best method channel of communication that is best suited for the employees
working in the PAK’n SAVE. As per the research analysis, it is seen that being mistaken or
confusing the message that is provided by the managers is one of the common cause of
conflicts in a company Razmerita et al. (2016). When the message or information provided is
unclear then the employees face severe repercussions that are responsible for decreasing the
productivity of the firms (Killen & Dahl, 2016). Misinterpretation of the information usually
results because of the absence of clarity and proper knowledge among the employees. The
employees are often provided with no solid facts or reasons for the duties that are assigned to
them in the PAK’n SAVe, as a result, the employees often cannot carry out their assigned
tasks in a proper way.
In order to carry out proper communication in the firm, the staff members must have proper
listening skills. They must ask questions to the managers whenever they feel that they did not
understand any piece of advice or information (Ansari & Riasi, 2016).
Through the data analysis process, it is identified that in the workplace of PAK’n SAVE
favouritism often gives rise to communication problems. Favouritism can be defined as the
unfair practice of preferring one individual or group of individuals among the rest. It is stated
by Ulandari (2018), that partiality or favouritism acts as an agent of communication issue.
Favouritism results in lowering the morale of the staff members of the company. The
company may also lose the employees that have better potential.
Communication issues in PAK’nSAVE are also seen to arise from the leadership styles that
are followed by the managers of the company. The Department manager holds the power of
decision-making within an organization so, it is important that the managers consult with the
employees before opting for a decision. The leadership style used in the PAK’n SAVE must
be changed because the company must use the participative leadership that will help a great
extent in erasing the communication issues within the organization.

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Letter of transmittal
To
The Manager,
PAK’nSAVE
Sylvia Park
Respected Sir/Madam,
This is for your information that I, Olivia Taylor has served in the PAK’nSAVE supermarket
for six months and now I have conducted a research work on business communication of the
firm. The time taken to conduct the research was three months. I have taken the help of the
secondary qualitative analysis to find information about the various barriers resulting in the
communication issues resulting in the firm. The findings after this research are recorded and
it has been observed that most of the communication issues take place because of the
vagueness and obscurity with which the employees and the managers work. It is also seen
that the lack of proper leadership styles also results in the gap in communication. After the
conduct of the research, it is justified to say that the company must use various workshops to
promote business communication. The company may also use the participative leadership
style that will help to generate greater benefits.
Thanking you
Olivia Taylor
39 Marquette Avenue
North Shore

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Recommendations and Conclusions
It is recommended that management should communicate regularly with employees and
customers through feedback and complaint procedure. Management must immediately work
on it, so that problem gets solved, and customers, employees feel themselves as valued. To
fix the communication issues in the PAK’nSAVE, there must be WhatsApp groups, regular
meetings, video conferencing, through which employees can share their point of views, and
opinions. With the help of the proper data, the managers at the PAK’nSAVE can understand
how the communication is working at the various divisions and employee levels. The
researchers may also obtain data using the surveys that will help the managers identify the
different behaviours that help to get the work done at the various levels and it will also help
them to identify the behaviour that hinders the workplace.
Communication problems in a firm may lead to lack of productivity and thereby it leads to
lowering the efficiency of the firm. It can be concluded that the communication barriers will
exist in a company if there is an absence of research and also qualitative analysis of the
problems. Therefore, to provide more clarity it is important to carry out proper research and
analysis that will help companies like PAK’nSAVE to eradicate the problems of
communication. It is only through communication, management will get to know what
employees and customers want; and how they can be made satisfied.

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