Communication Skills for Business

This assignment focuses on communication problems within an organization and proposes solutions. It includes tasks such as preparing a formal report, designing an oral presentation, and assessing communication skills.

Unit J/617/1149 Communication Skills for Business
Level 4 15 Credits
Sample Assignment
The Senior Management Team (SMT) of a local medium sized organisation
has become aware of communication problems within their organisation.
Customers have been complaining of poor service, the Managing Director is
appalled to see spelling errors in letters and now suppliers have refused to
deliver further goods until they receive a response to their emails and phone
calls about their outstanding invoices.
You work with a training consultancy, Training Solutions. An experienced
colleague, Asha Kumari, has established what the problems are in SHDE
Holdings and you have been asked to deliver the proposed solutions.
You receive the following email and attached report from Asha.

Email
To: xxxxx
From Asha Kumari
CC
Subject SHDE Holdings
Dear XXXXXX
I have recently visited SHDE Holdings and attached my report. Please read
this carefully.
I would like you to finish this project. The business needs a workshop on
communication with some training materials (e.g. a manual or hand-outs)
plus a report for SMT. Please carry out the following tasks:
Task 1
Prepare a formal report for the senior staff and line managers at SHDE
Holdings. (AC 5.1). You will need to use charts and graphs to present
information as appropriate to convey quantitative data (AC 5.3)
This report should include:
a) An analysis of the process of communication within organisations (AC
1.1) and the barriers that exists within organisations meaning
communication is sometimes not effective (AC1.3), giving examples
from SHDE Holdings
b) An assessment of the methods of internal communication that should
be used for different purposes (e.g. letter for formal communication
with customers, telephone call for clarification of a complex matter,
email for confirmation of detail). Please support this with an
assessment of what other organisations do and examples of that could
apply to SHDE (AC 1.2)
c) An assessment of how organisations portray themselves through their
communications. What image does SHDE Holdings currently have?
Give an assessment of other organisations and the images they portray
through their communications. (AC 2.3)
For a Merit you must:
provide guidance for SHDE, using examples of best practice from
other organisations. Make sure you:

● Analyse possible legal and ethical issues in relation to the
communication of information within organisations (AC 1M1)
● Evaluate the effectiveness of a range of communications (verbal
and non-verbal) in contributing to the success of an organisation
(3M1)
Task 2
Design an oral presentation with supporting notes for the customer facing
staff at SHDE Holdings. (AC 4.1). Please include:
a) Formal communications systems that should be used to
communicate with customers. Please evaluate different systems.
(AC 2.1)
b) An analysis of the effectiveness of social media to communicate
with customers. Please use current examples (AC 2.2)
c) An assessment of the impact of relationships found in organisations
on effective communications (AC 3.1)
d) An assessment of the impact of non-verbal communication on oral
communications (AC 3.2)
For a Distinction you must:
Adapt your presentation materials to provide a summary to the Senior
Management team – members need to know your key messages and the
implications for the business. (AC4D1)
Task 3
Using appropriate technology, please deliver your presentation to staff at
SHDE Holdings represented (AC 4.2).
For a Distinction you must:
Please deliver your adapted presentation to the Senior Management Team in
the form of a paper for their next meeting (AC5D1)

Task 4
Please attend a meeting with me. Using the written and oral communications
from the tasks you have just completed, I will need you to:
a) Assess the effectiveness of your oral presentation skills (AC 4.3)
b) Review your own written communication (AC 5.4) including the
conventions you have used bringing a paper on these subjects to the
meeting (AC 3.4)
c) Assess the impact of technology on both oral and written
communications bringing a paper to the meeting (AC 3.3)
d) Following our discussions, I wish you to produce notes of the meeting
which accurately reflect our conversation(AC 5.2)

Report on SHDE Holdings
Asha Kumari
5 July
1.0 Introduction
SHDE is an electrical supplier with regional repair centres and shops.
The organisation is currently experiencing operational problems that are
affecting customer satisfaction. Many of these are outside the scope of
this report. Training Solutions has been asked to focus on
communication issues both within the company and with suppliers and
customers.
2.0 Summary
SHDE Holding is an electrical company operating locally. It has been
established for 10 years. However it is only in the past 3 years that their
market has grown rapidly. The turnover and payroll have tripled within
the last year. It is anticipated to grow by a further 100% within 3 years.
The business is currently experiencing high levels of customer complaints
and staff turnover. The communication difficulties exist in all areas and
at all levels of the business.
Two solutions are proposed: a training session and a report to inform and
influence SMT and line managers
3.0 Research method
During the week commencing 15 June, a consultant from Training
Solutions spent 3 days at SHDE Holdings. The following research
activities were carried out
● Desk review of customer complaints
● Desk review of policies and procedures
● Interviews with 10 staff including the Managing Director,
Operations Manager, 2 shop floor staff, 2 delivery staff, the HR
Manager, one payroll assistant, the receptionist and the Premises
Manager
4.0 Findings

SHDE Holdings has expanded rapidly in the past 3 years. There has been
a huge increase in complaints from both customers and suppliers. Staff
morale is low and staff turnover high.
It is clear that this company values their customers and has a record of
excellent internal and external customer relations. The SMT are shocked
to find that complaints have increased by 50% and staff turnover has
increased to levels which are damaging to the business. Members of
SMT acknowledge that there is a communications issue within the
company
The causes for complaints vary. Only 3 % concern the product itself.
Over 55% of complaints concern delivery. (Over 75% of these are about
late delivery. The remainder are about delivery to an incorrect address).
The delivery staff acknowledge these problems. They are sent notes in
the internal post about changes to delivery details – and by the time they
receive them the package has often been dispatched. Sometimes they are
told about changes (verbally) and fail to write the information down.
There appears to be no formal system for communicating changes to
orders.
25% of complaints concern poor face to face communication during the
delivery of customer service on the shop floor. Some complaints referred
to rudeness. One complaint made it clear that there was clearly conflict
between staff on the shop floor. Other issues include misunderstandings,
the fact that the store only sends texts to advise of delivery times and
many of the older customers do not use texting. There is also poor
English in written communications, appearance of staff and the tone of
some of the communications received are inappropriate.
There are no formal communication policies and procedures. As a result:
● there is no protocol for answering the phone
● complaints are often not acknowledged (and it may take some
weeks for a formal response)
● there is no standard protocol for internal communication – some
use internal post, others use email or word of mouth
● the company Facebook page was recently used to inform customers
of product changes

● suppliers are not dealt with consistently
● there is no monitoring processes for external communications
● communication between line managers and their staff is random.
There appear to be no regular meetings to disseminate and gather
information.
● The SMT do not meet regularly
5.0 Conclusions
The communication problems at SHDE Holdings affect all areas of the
business. All levels of staff are hindered by poor communications within
the company and the customers are not served to the appropriate
standards. There is huge potential for the growth of this company but for
this to materialise these issues must be addressed.
6.0 Recommendations
6.1 A series of training workshops is required for customer facing staff.
These workshops to be delivered to all staff and cover both internal
and external communication
6.2 In order to improve performance SMT needs to be advised of best
practice in terms of organisational communication. A formal report
for the senior staff and line managers at SHDE Holdings should be
provided