BSBWRT401 - Real Logistics: Report on Cell Phone Usage in Meetings

This report addresses the issue of disruptive cell phone usage during staff meetings at Real Logistics. It begins with an executive summary, followed by an introduction outlining the problem. The methods section describes a survey conducted to gather employee opinions on the matter, using Likert s...Read More

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................2
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Methods......................................................................................................................................4
Results........................................................................................................................................5
Interpretation..............................................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
Recommendations......................................................................................................................7

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Executive Summary
The purpose of this report is to come up with a recommendation for the issue of cell phone
usage during staff meetings, which many employees have complained of being disruptive.
For this purpose, an extensive survey was conducted to gather the information pertaining to
what the majority of the workforce had to say on this issue. The survey finds that way more
than the majority of the respondents are against the idea of cell phone usage during staff
meetings. However, a majority also believe that this can only be permitted if the phone calls
pertain to any sort of emergency. The recommendation in this report involves laying out a
corporate policy that would prohibit the use of mobile phones during staff meetings, violating
which would result in a deduction of a half day’s salary. The policy would be applicable to all
employees, across all levels and departments.

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Introduction
Real Logistics have been faced with a problem that involves mobile phones usage
during the times of staff meetings. This has been of increasing concern since more employees
have been complaining about this issue at the present than ever before. Whether mobile
phone usage should be barred during these times altogether, or whether they should limited to
a certain extent, is a decision that could be controversial in nature. It is for this reason that
employees’ opinions have been considered and a comprehensive questionnaire had been sent
out to them for the purpose of gathering their views on mobile phone usage at work. Based on
that, the recommendations have been made, which is discussed in the later part of the report.
Methods
The first thing which had been done was to prepare a questionnaire, which would be
able to record employee attitudes towards the usage of mobile phones during staff and team
meetings, incorporating Likert scales. There was only question to be answered in the
questionnaire, and that was to find out what attitude employees have towards the issue. The
options of attitudes available to them, were strongly agree, agree, disagree and strongly
disagree, which they had to place as ratings against the following opinions:
 Not a problem
 An issue
 Disruptive
 Phones should be permissible
 Phones should be turned off
 Allowed in some circumstances.
Besides this, the survey also asked open ended questions to the employees, in an attempt
to find out whether they thought that receiving phone calls during staff meetings could be

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permissible under certain circumstances. The survey was ought to be voluntary and
anonymous.
Finally, the questionnaire was distributed to the employees with their fortnightly payslips.
Results
The results showed that there was a highly negative attitude recorded in the
questionnaires, regarding mobile phone usage in staff or team meetings. 350 people of the
412 staffs of the company responded in the questionnaire, of which, a majority of 228 people
disagreed with the opinion that cell phone usage is not a problem in staff meetings. A
majority of 158 people agreed that it indeed is an issue, followed by 140 respondents strongly
agreeing to it. A whooping number of 280 respondents strongly agreed that cell phone usage
during staff meetings is rather disruptive. A majority of 196 respondents disagreed with the
idea that cell phones should still be permissible during these meetings, while 298 people
strongly agreed that they should be turned off during these meetings, even if they are
permissible. Lastly, a majority of 182 people agreed that it can be permitted under certain
circumstances.
Opinion Majority of attitude
Not a problem Disagree
An issue Agree
Disruptive Strongly agree
Phones should be permissible Disagree
Phones should be turned off Strongly agree
Allowed in some circumstances Agree
Brief summary of survey results1
1 Table as created by author

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To follow that up, in the open ended questions, the general response of the employees
were that receiving personal calls during meetings is an unnecessary act, and that it disrupts
the focus of the meeting. However, the responses, when generalized, also suggest that phone
receiving phone calls could be permitted under certain circumstances like medical
emergencies and other emergencies.
From an internet research, it is further deducted that usage of mobile phones have
boomed in the last few years, with the current trends being indicative of further increase in
usage in the coming years. Usage of mobiles have surpassed the usage of desktops.
Mobile phone usage trends2
2 Wang, Yuan. 2019. "2016 Australian Mobile Statistics: How Digital Is Increasingly A
Mobile-First Experience". Yump.Com.Au. https://yump.com.au/2016-australian-mobile-
statistics-how-digital-is-increasingly-a-mobile-first-experience/.

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Interpretation
From the results explained in the earlier section, it can be deducted that employees
find the usage of mobile phones highly offensive during staff meetings. This is because
according to the responses recorded in the questionnaire, every attitude is negative in
majority towards the idea of mobile phone usage during staff meetings. On an average, 193
people have majorly expressed negative attitudes towards all of the ideas regarding the usage
of mobile phones during staff meetings, which alone accounts for roughly 55% of the total
number of respondents. This suggests that the majority of employees are highly reluctant to
let people receive calls during staff meetings.
On the other hand, 217 people were in support of the idea of letting employees receive
calls during staff meetings only under certain circumstances, which accounts for 62% of the
total number of respondents. This data coincides with the general response that was gathered
from the open ended question, which suggested that employees did not have much of a
problem if staffs received phone calls that directly pertained to medical or other emergencies.
Therefore, it can be inferred that employees do recognize the urgency of certain phone calls,
and do not mind if someone receives those calls during meetings, provided that the call is
genuinely urgent.
Furthermore, the internet research itself suggests that mobile phone usage is growing
at an unprecedented rate and is continuing to do so, which indicates that it is highly difficult
to contain the usage of it at any given time, without a proper corporate policy, which the
company does not have regarding the issue, at present.
Conclusion
From the above discussion in the report, it can be deducted that mobile phone usage is
perceived as being highly annoying during times of team meetings. It has been of increasing

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concern for the company in the recent times, with more employees complaining about the
issue than ever before. Since deciding on the fate of mobile phone usage during team
meetings could be controversial if it did not abide by the interests of the majority of the
employees, a survey was conducted with an attempt to find out the attitudes, which all of the
employees themselves had about the idea of using mobile phones during meetings.
Unsurprisingly, far more than just half of the respondents were vehemently against the idea
of using mobile phones during meetings. However, 62% of the respondents suggested that
calls can be received if they are of medical emergencies or other emergencies, which
perfectly coincides with the general response recorded from an open ended question. Since
mobile phone usage has been highly increasing and is continuing to do so, it would be greatly
difficult to fully contain its usage without a proper corporate policy.
Recommendations
For the situation which the company is currently facing regarding the issue of mobile
phone usage during staff meetings, it can be recommended that a proper corporate policy
should be laid out which strictly prohibits random usage of cell phones during staff meetings.
At times when the call is genuinely urgent, the person must ask for the permission of the staff
presiding over the meeting. If any call is proven not to be genuine later on, a half day’s salary
will be deducted from the employee’s pay. This would apply to employees across all levels
and departments, and even those who preside over the meeting. For them, they would have to
report to the manager of operations to prove the authenticity of a call received during a staff
meeting, if any.

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References
Wang, Yuan. 2019. "2016 Australian Mobile Statistics: How Digital Is Increasingly A
Mobile-First Experience". Yump.Com.Au. https://yump.com.au/2016-australian-mobile-
statistics-how-digital-is-increasingly-a-mobile-first-experience/.