Plan and Present Workplace Communication Systems for JKL Industries

In this assessment task, you will utilize simulated business information from JKL Industries to develop a detailed communications strategy. The scenario provided outlines the background of the organization, current changes, and communication requirements. Your role as Communications Consultant involves reviewing strategic and operational plans, identifying stakeholders, and formulating strategies that address consultation needs. Additionally, prepare a presentation for senior management detailing your plans to manage communications effectively.

Running head: BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Business Management
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

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Table of Contents
Assessment Task 1...........................................................................................................................2
Part A...........................................................................................................................................2
Assessment Task 2...........................................................................................................................5
Question 1....................................................................................................................................5
Question 2....................................................................................................................................6
Question 3....................................................................................................................................7
Question 4....................................................................................................................................8
Assessment Task 3.........................................................................................................................10

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Assessment Task 1
Part A
1. JKL Industries is based in Australia and excels in selling small trucks, forklifts and spare
parts. Their headquarters are situated in Sydney with branches spread in Canberra,
Brisbane, etc. They have negotiated to a range of medium and large trucks from an
overseas supplier which will keep them in an advantageous position as compared to the
competitors. By taking the sales rights opportunity, they will experience major changes.
But they lack in approach to communication for common understanding. As a
communication consultant, it is necessary to upgrade the communication strategies and
procedures. It must be ensured that the strategies are beneficial for the organizational
issues1.
2. JKL industries will shift their focus only on the retail sales and service and go out from
the market as consumer choice and competitors decrease the profitability. They have
made a choice of honing the skills of the existing employees for recruiting within the
organization. They have also recognized poor communication inside the organization
which resulted in internal conflict. The challenges faced in communication include slow
response towards customer needs and poor employee engagement due to ineffectiveness
of modern communication techniques2.
3. The draft communication strategy is as follows-
Communication Audiences Methods of Bottom- up
1 Ebert, Ronald J., Ricky W. Griffin, Frederick A. Starke, and George Dracopoulos. Business essentials. Pearson
Education Canada, 2014.
2 Schaper, Michael T., Thierry Volery, Paull C. Weber, and Brian Gibson. Entrepreneurship and small business.
2014.

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Objectives communication consultation
Creating Awareness
Effecting a sale
Projecting an image
Individual
employees
Senior management
and authorities
The working teams
Oral communication
by holding meetings
and conferences
Written
communication
through mails,
memo and notice3
Communicating to
the top management
will help in
awareness building,
training,
participation of the
employees and
mobilization.
This will set up a
clear criterion for
selection at the
employee level of
proper actions to
offer the strategy4.
4. JKL industries have a history of grievance of the employees over pay and conditions
which made them decide for a restructure. To reduce the risk of organizational conflict as
a result of poor communication, a letter can be written to the management by addressing
the details of the grievance. The management can try to resolve the issue by arranging
meeting with the employees and the employees in turn should possess the ability to
3 Vlăduţescu, Ştefan. "Convictive Communication and Persuasive Communication." International Letters of Social
and Humanistic Sciences 15, no. 2 (2014): 164-170.
4 Vlăduțescu, Ștefan. "Communication Environment: Context/Situation/Framework." Journal of Sustainable
Development Studies6, no. 1 (2014).

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appeal to the decision made by the management. The purpose of the grievance procedure
is to agree to a mutually acceptable solution of the grievance which should result in a
meeting at a convenient date for the employers as well as the employees.
5.
Communication strategy Grievance procedure
Statement of purpose- it refers to the purpose for
developing the communication strategy, for
instance JKL industries have poor
communication strategies which lead to internal
conflict in the organization5.
Current situation- over the past five years, JKL
have showcased growth in their sales at a rate of
10% per annum. They are planning for an
organizational change for attaining the goals by
developing effective policy framework and
communicating ideas both ways for
improvement6.
Organizational objectives- JKL intend to
communicate and build support for managing
informational flow and facilitate feedback from
both ends.
The grievance procedure for JKL industries will
include a letter to the management. The structure
of the letter will be as follows-
Thomas Williams
24a Brian Road
Melbourne
20 September 2017
Gerry Hall
10 Brian Road
Melbourne
Dear Gerry Hall,
I am writing this letter to bring to your notice the
issue about pay in the organization that has led to
internal conflict. It would be very kind if you can
5 Kasper, Gabriele, and Eric Kellerman. Communication strategies: Psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic
perspectives. Routledge, 2014.
6 Colleoni, Elanor. "CSR communication strategies for organizational legitimacy in social media." Corporate
Communications: an international journal 18, no. 2 (2013): 228-248.

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Identifying stakeholders- JKL industries excel in
manufacturing and selling forklifts and small
trucks so their stakeholders include all the
internal and external members of the organization
such as, the management, employees, and
suppliers of the machine parts, dealers and
retailers.
Messages- the employees will be identified with
the messages by individual mail about the
organizational objectives7.
Methods- the proper methods of communication
include bulletin for the external stakeholders and
meetings for the internal members.
Work plan- JKL industries will make an action
plan mentioning the activities, budget and
allocated resources for implementing the
strategy. There will be a proposed time period to
measure steps towards the proposed goals8.
Evaluating success- the strategy will be summed
up with the evaluation process which will look
into the effectiveness of the strategies for
attaining the intended goals. The tools used for
evaluation will also be mentioned here.
address the issue in a meeting at a convenient
time and place.
Thank You
Yours sincerely
Thomas Williams
7 Mazzei, Alessandra. "Internal communication for employee enablement: Strategies in American and Italian
companies." Corporate Communications: An International Journal 19, no. 1 (2014): 82-95.
8 Patt, Anthony G., and Elke U. Weber. "Perceptions and communication strategies for the many uncertainties
relevant for climate policy." Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 5, no. 2 (2014): 219-232.

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Assessment Task 2
Question 1
JKL industries’ internal management has failed to address the issues which led to the
given situation of discrimination. There had been a lack of interpersonal skills and cultural
sensitivity among the employers and employees which resulted in the given situation. The
members of the organization were not aware of the relevant policy and legislative requirements
such as code of ethics and anti- discrimination policy which are a part of diversity and business
ethics. For the given case, anti- discrimination is relevant and applicable in JKL industries. As
the new branch manager, it is essential to resolve the cultural conflict by addressing the
characteristics which are resistant to change, hostile environment, passive aggression, avoiding
conflict while leaving the issues unresolved and such issues which are apparently solved but
agreed to flashing up time and again9.
Cultural diversity, ethical values and relationships can be built up by enhancing open-
minded and global company culture. To include the non- Christian employee in the celebration
of Christmas the manager can make other employees understand the value of ethnicity and make
the work environment better. He should teach the employees about the commitment of boosting
cultural competency in the organization. It is important to learn about the tradition of several
other cultures and their approach to work. This will help them in seeking for new ideas and
perspectives10. If an atmosphere is created in JKL where different cultural perspectives are
9 Teng, Joe KL, Jiayu Hu, Dazhong Wu, Phillip A. Mixon, and Chaojie CJ Duan. "Determinants of Research and
Development Intensity from a Network Perspective." Studies in Business and Economics 11, no. 3 (2016): 129-139.
10 Hays, Pamela A. "Addressing cultural complexities in practice: Assessment, diagnosis, and therapy." (2016):
14801-000.

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valued then the organization will be able to go further in improving business relationships. The
Christian members in the organization should be made to realize that it is a good approach to
involve all the colleagues and find proper ways to celebrate different religious celebrations.
Question 2
The potential problems that can be faced is that the members of the culture which are
more in number will outcaste the minorities by not letting them speak out. If one member has
any kind of negative stereotypes about other culture, it can lead to a drastic outcome which can
end up in a brawl. There might be some members who have got pre- conceived notions in their
mind about another culture which will make them ignore the manager’s words.
It will neither be an easy nor a difficult task to confront a group of members who have
held grudges are not ready to shift from their decision. There are few things that the manager
must keep in mind that is, he should be clear in thinking and speak out exactly what he expects
from the team members11. He needs to make them understand that they are not behaving properly
by ignoring a non- Christian member from celebrating Christmas. This is a crucial situation
because a majority of members are on the opposite side of the manager which can lead to the risk
of losing his job. But it is the duty and responsibility of the manager to find out the reason of the
complaint from a specific member and the underlying issues associated with it.
First and foremost, the manager must use an assertive style of communication while
addressing the issue of discrimination in the organization12. If that style fails to reach the target
group then he must use his power for an aggressive style of communication. But there should be
11 Gay, Geneva. "Teaching to and through cultural diversity." Curriculum Inquiry43, no. 1 (2013): 48-70.
12 Pieterse, Anne Nederveen, Daan Van Knippenberg, and Dirk Van Dierendonck. "Cultural diversity and team
performance: The role of team member goal orientation." Academy of Management Journal 56, no. 3 (2013): 782-
804.

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a standard level of aggression which will not hurt the sentiments of the employees and maintain
their trust- worthiness. This communication style had benefitted the manager in a situation when
the members had started a protest for introducing bonus twice a year. It is expected that the same
style will be helpful in pacifying the employees in the given situation too.
Question 3
As a new manager in the area it is important to build connections with the internal and
external members of the organization. This can be done by increasing the awareness about
internal and external networking opportunities. There should not be any loophole in the
understanding of the purposes of networking and the relation to an individual, team or
organization- based goals. The manager has to understand the advantage of networking for his
own benefits as well as for the organization ad act accordingly using his interpersonal skills and
emotional intelligence. He should make use of the internal communities or any social media
platform by means of which he can discuss and interact with other members about professional
issues and share knowledge and perspectives13.
There was a situation in which the manager had to increase the sale of the organization so
he used networking to deepen the connections with the market, existing contacts and get detailed
information about the market. The manager had used the supply chain network through which
the manufacturers bought the raw materials and furnished the components required for producing
finished goods. He had utilized an impressive and efficient network by which the large retailers
used to source the products that they sold14. The network became stronger when the internal and
13 Shaw, Lynn, Mary Beth Jennings, Laya Poost-Foroosh, Heather Hodgins, and Ashley Kuchar. "Innovations in
workplace accessibility and accommodation for persons with hearing loss: Using social networking and community
of practice theory to promote knowledge exchange and change." Work 46, no. 2 (2013): 221-229.
14 Arora, Ritu Gandhi. "Usage of E Networking Sites at Workplace: An Empirical Study." Asian Journal of
Management 8, no. 3 (2017): 432-438.

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external stakeholders found the supply chain beneficial for them. So they started working
efficiently which made the organization grow and develop, which in turn led to the effectiveness
of a strong networking by the manager. The employees were satisfied with this effective
networking and they improved the organizational performance.
Question 4
Sam and Alex do not feel supported by their professional goals and do not find any kind
of opportunities for improvement in the organization, which made them disengaged15. They are
not so productive and tend to miss their work which ultimately led to poor performance of the
sales team. As the manager of the organization, it is important to make them realize the benefit
of achieving career goals. They should be discussed about their career development on a regular
basis. They should be motivated by speaking about the fulfillment of their dreams. The manager
must make them understand the broader aspect of what the two of them want from life and how
certain factors will help in developing their career. By introducing stretch assignments, the
manager can gauge the extent to which Sam and Alex can work out of their comfort zone. They
can be tested by providing with other works which might be helpful in retaining their interest to
stay in the organization. These will be interesting as they will be able to learn new skills and
grow rapidly at the same time, fill the need of the company.
The manager should make it easy for the two to learn and apply for new opportunities
within the company16. They can be offered coaching for helping with the organizational goals.
They will get the advantage by means of a mentoring program or any type of discounted session
15 Ali, Rashid, Summara Ashgar, Maria Spante, Sung Won Kim, and Byung-Seo Kim. "Competence development at
workplace: a work integrated informal learning (WIIL) approach." Far East Journal of Electronics and
Communications 2 (2016): 35-42.
16 Cardon, Peter. Business communication: Developing leaders for a networked world. McGraw-Hill Higher
Education, 2015.

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with the help of an expert career coach. It is an important fact that the employees realize the
support that they get from the companies to attain the organizational goals. There will be a
change in their behavior if they feel valued and respected. They will be satisfied if they are
provided with opportunities outside their job function and they can genuinely invest in growth
and development. Giving constructive feedback and removing barriers in communication helps
in linking the professional network.
Networking activity Person Schedule Rationale for
networking activity
Meeting with suppliers
Meeting with customers
Sam 30 days
60 days
Meeting will lead to an
agreement between the
suppliers and Sam
which will provide
quality customer
service17. Increased
customer value will help
in providing increasing
revenue.
Meeting with the
experienced sales
members of the
organization
Alex 40 days
50 days
The meeting will help in
managing his
performance and he will
find a way out to deal
with the ‘fools’18. A
17 Laudon, Kenneth C., and Jane P. Laudon. Management information system. Pearson Education India, 2016.
18 Cheng, Chia-Yi. "A longitudinal study of newcomer job embeddedness and sales outcomes for life insurance
salespersons." Journal of Business Research 67, no. 7 (2014): 1430-1438.

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Forming a sales team
community of practice
sales team community
will help in creating
organizational
workforce skills and
ability by addressing
knowledge and
authority gaps.
Assessment Task 3
2. JKL industries, based in Australia, excel in manufacturing and selling small trucks and
forklifts. Their strategic plan intends to move forward by building and continuing a positive
culture in the organization, decrease the risk and attain organizational goals through creating an
effective policy framework to manage the organizational climate of conflict by proper
communication and consultation19. The actions should be strictly in adherence to the
organizational objectives, business ethics and compliance requirements. A platform should be
built in for communicating support with regard to organizational initiatives. It must be ensured
that the flow of information is managed properly so that the managers and employees are well-
equipped with information about the work responsibilities. Management of information flow will
also be able to communicate ideas for improving performance and provide feedback from both
ends20.
19 Liaw, Siaw-Teng, Christopher Pearce, Harshana Liyanage, Gladys SS Cheah-Liaw, and Simon de Lusignan. "An
integrated organisation-wide data quality management and information governance framework: theoretical
underpinnings." Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics 21, no. 4 (2014): 199-206.
20 Bourne, Lynda. Stakeholder relationship management: a maturity model for organisational implementation. CRC
Press, 2016.