Case Study on Business Communication

PSG Institute of Management Effective Communication should be developed through trust

B E N C H M A R K 2 0 1 1 P S G I n s t i t u t e o f M a n a g e m e n t , C o i m b a t o r e

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A Case study on

Effective Communication should be developed

through Trust

Prepared by

KIRAN VARGHESE JACOB

PGPM student of Marketing Specialization,

Alliance University School of Business

Official Address

Kiran Varghese Jacob

Room number BS-202,

Faculty Quarters (Boys),

Alliance University School of Business,

Central Campus,

Chikkahagade Cross,

Chandapura - Anekal Main Road,

Anekal, Bangalore - 562106

Karnataka, India

Contact Number: +91 9886401773

Email-Id:

[email protected]

SUNAM PAL

PGPM student of Marketing Specialization,

Alliance University School of Business

Official Address

Sunam Pal,

Room number MS-324,

Boys Hostel,

Alliance University School of Business,

Central Campus,

Chikkahagade Cross,

Chandapura - Anekal Main Road,

Anekal, Bangalore - 562106

Karnataka, India

Contact Number: +91 9620368402

Email-Id:

[email protected]



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Effective Communication should be

developed through Trust

Transparency, credibility and sticking to the commitments are very important while

communicating. Effective communication is driven through loyalty and trust of the

people.

Purpose is of this case is to know:

Importance of communication in business

Understanding unethical practices in business

Transparency, Credibility & accountability are a major concern for managers.

Trust is must in an employee driven company.

Commitment is a worth of company’s values

Effective management is won through loyalty

This case is based on a real incidence that happened last year in one of the top fortune 100

company.

NOTE:

Names of all character, company & events in this case has been kept confidential with the

intension not to reveal the identity of those who had an impact or were responsible for this

incidence.

Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 'Gift From the Sea'

Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.

William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)

Let us make a special effort to stop communicating with each other, so we can have

some conversation.

Judith Martin, (Miss Manners)

Source: http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/communication/

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Anne_Morrow_Lindbergh/

http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/2396.html

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/William_Butler_Yeats/



http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Judith_Martin/



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Case Overview

Mr. Shantanu Bannerjee was having his cup of coffee near the balcony of cafeteria after he had

completed his task for the day. It was dusk all around. He was sitting alone & thinking upon few

important issues. He couldn’t digest few things about the day & was regretting that why he didn’t

act upon it before. He was also disturbed that why did he trust his manager & also why was he not

made aware of it before hand. Any how Shantanu had no other choice as he knew that it was too

late & only what he could think ahead was for a better future & learn a good lesson out of what

had happened.

Mr.Shantanu recently passed his B.Tech from Punjab Engineering College in computer

science. Just as a part of his internship training he joined this company. Although he was

technically sound, on his part he could make the best of what he could do for the company. He

was selected for the position of project trainee in a domain meant for hardware testing.

During the entire tenure of 6 months of his internship technically he learned a lot. Initially he

was being appointed to simulate the circuit diagrams & review the wires, cables in case of any

disorder. He was very good at performing tasks. Though he was a fresher he could mend

circuits and verify it better than any other person in his team. Soon within span of 2 months he

was given the in charge of the project that dealt with procurement & reviewing the electronic

items. Being a fresher it was like a prestigious reward for him to be given a responsible task

that was just new to his field of work. It gave him much courage & also motivated him to

perform his tasks in a more productive way.

As per one of his team member Satyajit Khurana, “Shantanu was very talented & technically

expert. Once you provide him with the objective, he does that task before the stipulated time

with perfection. There is no need of any mentor or supervisor to guide him all the time. He

knew his work, deadlines & how to make things done”

While he was undergoing his new project he could found some flaws in the inventory

management system for procurement. He worked for about a fortnight and could come up with

a solution to optimize the inventory management system using software’s which reduced the

whole procurement project life cycle time by 23%. It was a huge achievement and an abnormal

gain that no one can ever estimate.

Soon his model of inventory system was being adopted by other teams & implemented. His

manager rewarded him for his extreme innovation at his work.

Shantanu got more priority over other trainees. He also got opportunity to interact with

clients overseas. Shantanu’s instant innovation made him to be a lime light in his team.

However he could notice that some of his senior team members were not happy with his

manager’s decision. He could realize that his dynamism & progress were taken as a threat to

the position & prestige of other team members because he was just a fresher & was doing well

compared to those experienced.



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One month was left for Shantanu to complete his training. Shantanu knew that apart from his

good performance there was no vacancy for him in his domain as most of the old employees

were on bench during recession.

However on 5th

July he got a call from Miss Sheela, Project manager of CII team from other

domain. It also dealt with hardware testing which was very close to Shantanu’s work profile.

She gave an offer to him saying that they have an urgent vacancy in their team & they would

like to hire him, if he is right for the job based on two rounds of technical interview.

Shantanu before agreeing for the proposal decided to speak to his current manager so that

there are no disputes. So he asked for some time from Miss Sheela to convey his opinion.

His current manager Mr. Ravi Sharma called Shantanu to his cabin. He said that he would

ask his manager Mr. Shyam Kumar about it & let him know soon as he hopes that there is

some project about to come to his team in next 2 months and they need to hire someone. Based

on past 5 months performance of Shantanu, he & his manager were very satisfied & would like

him to work as a permanent employee for the new project.

Within two days Shantanu was informed to extend his internship by three months so that he

would be absorbed as a permanent employee based on a formal interview. However it was

clearly indicated to him that the interview was just a formality. Ravi & his manager Shyam

were ready to hire him at any cost. He also mentioned “no need to worry. You can decline your

proposal from Sheela & also from other teams if coming to you. Interview is just a formality.

You are in. Now don’t think about your interviews much & concentrate on your projects. We

have lot of expectation from you.”

The news was spread all over the team that soon Shantanu will be a part of their team. But

few members in his team were having objections but there were no other alternatives as it was

manager’s decision.

Shantanu called Sheela & said “Hi! Sheela, thanks for your offer. But today my manager

informed me that there is a vacancy for me in my team itself. So sorry for keeping you on

hold”

Sheela replied “No problem at all. Congratulations”

Shantanu was eagerly waiting for the days to pass & finally the day came when he was about

to attend the formal interview. He was assured quite a number of times before that “the

interview was formal & his performance was no way going to affect his selection. He was

already being selected by both of his immediate managers. Interview was just a step to follow

the employee recruitment guidelines of the company.Shantanu was also asked not to

concentrate much on interview & rather pay attention on his routine work.

Finally Shantanu had his interview on 30th

July, 2009 at 5:00 Pm. Interview was carried by his

team members some of whom were not always in favor of him. Shantanu was surprised to find

that none of his managers were in the interview panel as they promised that at least one of

them would be there.



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Shantanu had a tough time in the interview. He was asked with the questions that were out of

context & those that were not related to him & his work. Neither he had worked in that nor

did his profile for which he was being selected match to the questions asked.

Bust since Shantanu was technically sound & also had been resolving partly the technical

disputes of other teams, he had ideas about the out of box questions and could manage to

perform satisfactory in his interview.

Still 8 days were left. Shantanu didn’t ask about his feedback as he was assured that it’s not

going to impact anyway. Mr. Ravi gave him a call. Shantanu went to his cabin.

Shantanu was told that “he will not be hired because he couldn’t perform well in the

interview”.Shantanu argued that “Why Ravi, I performed well till date. I am having a very

good track record for last 5 months & feedbacks were very good as given by you only. I kept

to all my deadlines. You people awarded me. Because of you only I denied sheela’s offer.

You only assured me that the interview was just a formality & I need to concentrate on my

work.”

Ravi replied back “Our Company’s policy says that while recruitment it is the interviewer

who decides the final selection. The panel of your interviewer is not ready to hire you. They

have an opinion that the task to which you were going to be assigned is different from your

current profile & does not meet their expectation. So you can apply for your resignation latest

by next 5 days so that it gets updated to the database before your tenure of training ends by

default”

Shantanu was helpless. He also knew that as per company’s policy “Interns are hired

temporarily for projects & thus have no assurance about confirmation of their job after

completion of the project even if they had performed well. He also didn’t have any

documentary proof as everything was intended to him orally. There was no written evidence

or mail that could suggest that he was being assured that he will be hired.

He could have talked to HR’s, But in his company he knew that HR will only say that if the

line managers are not ready then no one can do anything as the entire decision is based on

managers.

He called Sheela in case vacancy was still there. She replied that the vacancies were filled

and there were no other vacancies in her team and in the entire domain for coming 6 months.

Finally he had no other alternative, sat in front of his system. He applied for resignation,

filled the form, clicked on the final button & his resignation got accepted.

Then he went for a cup of coffee to the cafeteria.He could realize that he made some

mistakes and could have rectified it earlier by being alert rather than taking the situation very

casual.



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Teaching Notes

Prior action to overcome the situation

Shantanu’s intuition should have predicted beforehand that something is wrong with the

point of not giving a feedback immediately after his interview was over that he wasn’t selected.

He was conveyed the same just 8 days before his internship last date. Shantanu was not clarified

properly about the reason for not hiring him and thus Shantanu had no faith in what managers

were saying. His manager’s statement was ambiguous and didn’t match to his action. Shantanu’s

next project manager was out of the scene.

Shantanu could have overcome the situation by being alert for his interview without taking it

casually and preparing well for it.He should have not only questioned his manager Ravi but also

to his further higher manager Mr.Shyam about his doubts & to justify the reason to not hire

him.He should have given a trial, to freely convey the same to his domain HR.He should have

intelligently managed to use the written documents like mail about the assurance given by the

manager , so that he could have at least conveyed to HR about his circumstances. He should have

talked to HR regarding other vacancies in other teams or domains.

Major Communication Barrier

The major communication barriers were the lack of transparency in communication, non-

fulfilment of commitment by the manager which indeed lead to lack of trust, improper

Organizational structure because he couldn’t convey his problems to his domain HRs.

He had a prior perception as he believed that the HR’s cannot solve his problem in any way.

Lack of autonomy & privileges given to bottom employees to discuss & resolve their personal

issues with higher officials were lacking. Shantanu’s expectation was not high. The strength of

an ethical company lies in its commitment. So when an organization assures him that he is being

selected, it is quite genuine for anyone to think & stick to what organization has committed. Also

Shantanu’s expectation was quite genuine from his team as he was being awarded for his work &

could meet all deadlines within time. He could also fix many technical issues in his entire tenure

of work.

Mistakes committed by the management

Shantanu’s project manager did the mistake by giving assurance. He should have kept control

on his emotions & could have patiently watched the outcome till the interview was over. He

shouldn’t have assured him, rather should have told him to prepare well without giving any

guarantee beforehand. He should have justified Shantanu at the end, stating him the actual

reasons for not hiring & should have clarified all his doubts.



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He should have conveyed the message with the motive to convince him, till he found that

Shantanu was with his statement & was in a position to agree to what he was saying. Shantanu

should have been given with adequate time to make necessary arrangement in the meantime & to

make up himself for the cause.

Conflicting statements

His earlier statement was “No need to worry. You can decline your proposal from Sheela & also

from other teams if coming to you. Interview is just a formality. You are in. Now don’t think

about your interviews much & concentrate on your projects. We have lot of expectation from

you.”

But his later Statement statement was “Our Company’s policy says that while recruitment it is

the interviewer who decides the final selection. The panel of your interviewers is not ready to

hire you. They have an opinion that the task to which you were going to be assigned is different

from your current profile & does not meet their expectation. So you can apply for your

resignation latest by next 5 days so that it gets updated to the database before your tenure of

training ends by default”

Role of HR & their policy

There should be an open door policy where employee can approach them with any sort of

problem they have. There should be a well expertise team to carry out employee counselling &

manage stress.

HR department should train those Managers without a Management Degree about

communication barriers. How to tackle them. How to frame sentences so that they don’t deviate

from their statements. Also they should be made learnt about the importance of maintaining

transparency, accountability, credibility & autonomy within employees. They should know how

to build trust & be loyal to its subordinates.

There should be a feedback form to be filled by every employee while leaving their

organization. From survey in various Indian software company it is being concluded that

majority of the employees don’t leave their company but leave their managers”

All employees who are undergoing resignation process should be examined well. They should

track their details & come up with report to analyze different types of circumstances to encounter

such problems before hand & optimize them.



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Conclusion

To maintain effective communication, maintaining transparency within the company and

sticking to its commitment plays a very important role. The doubts among the bottom line

employees should be clarified and HR should take care to resolve such issues. Enough of

clarification should be given so that the person is convinced with manager’s decision and should

have faith in the organization. Organizational structure should be designed in such a way that it

is easy for employees to sort out their problems with HR and is genuinely clarified with the

cause behind such decisions.

Q Questions based on above case study:

1) What were the major communication problems faced in this case? Were

Shantanu’s expectations his team were very high or it was quite

genuine.

2) Do you think there was lack of transparency?

3) What would Shantanu have done to overcome the situation?

4) In what better way Ravi could have handled the situation?

5) What were the conflicting statements said by Ravi in this case? How

could he have sorted it?

6) How HR within an organization can play an important role in tracking

miscommunication and resolve such issues



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Exhibit-1

Source: http://www.drbackman.com/print-communication-styles.htm

FACTORS: EXPRESSER DRIVER RELATER ANALYTICAL

How to

Recognize: They get excited.

They like their

own way; decisive

& strong

viewpoints.

They like positive

attention, to be

helpful & to be

regarded warmly.

They seek a lot of

data, ask many

questions, and

behave

methodically &

systematically.

Tends to Ask: Who? (the personal

dominant question)

What (the results

oriented

question.)

Why? (The

personal non-goal

question.)

How? (The

technical analytical

question.)

What They

Dislike:

Boring

explanations/wasting

time with too many

facts.

Someone wasting

their time trying

to decide for

them.

Rejection, treated

impersonally,

uncaring &

unfeeling

attitudes.

Making an error,

being unprepared,

spontaneity.

Reacts to

Pressure and

Tension By:

"Selling" their ideas

or argumentative.

Taking charge

taking more

control.

Becoming silent,

withdraws,

introspective.

Seeking more data

& information.

Best way to Deal

With:

Get excited with

them. Show

emotion.

Let them be in

charge.

Be supportive;

show you care.

Provide lots of

data &

information.

Likes To Be

Measured By:

Applause, feedback,

recognition.

Results, Goal-

oriented.

Friends, close

relationships.

Activity &

busyness that

leads to results.

Must Be Allowed

To:

Get ahead quickly.

Likes challenges.

Get into a

competitive

situation. Likes to

win.

Relax, feel, care,

and know you

care.

Make decisions at

own pace, not

cornered or

pressured.

Will Improve

With:

Recognition & some

structure with which

to reach the goal.

A position that

requires

cooperation with

others.

A structure of

goals & methods

for achieving each

goal.

Interpersonal and

communication

skills.

Likes to Save:

Effort they rely

heavily on hunches,

intuition, feelings.

Time. They like to

be efficient, get

things done now.

Relationships.

Friendship means

a lot to them.

Face. They hate to

make an error, be

wrong or get

caught without

enough info.

For Best

Results:

Inspire them to

bigger & better

accomplishments.

Allow them

freedom to do

things their own

way.

Care & provide

detail, specific

plans&activities to

be accomplished.

Structure a

framework or

"track" to follow.

http://www.drbackman.com/print-communication-styles.htm



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Exhibit-2

Passive Assertive Aggressive

Definition

Communication

style in which you

put the rights of

others before your

own, minimizing

your own self

worth

Communication

style in which you

stand up for your

rights while

maintaining

respect for the

rights of others

Communication

style in which you

stand up for your

rights but you

violate the rights

of others

Implications to

Others

my feelings are not

important

we are both

important

your feelings are

not important

I don't matter we both matter you don't matter

I think I'm inferior I think we are

equal I think I'm superior

Verbal Styles

apologetic I statements you statements

overly soft or

tentative voice firm voice loud voice

Non-Verbal Styles

looking down or

away looking direct

staring, narrow

eyes

stooped posture,

excessive head

nodding

relaxed posture,

smooth and

relaxed

movements

tense, clenched

fists, rigid posture,

pointing fingers

Potential

Consequences

lowered self

esteem higher self esteem guilt

anger at self self respect anger from others

false feelings of

inferiority

respect from

others

lowered self

esteem

disrespect from

others respect of others

disrespect from

others

pitied by others feared by others

Source :http://www.cedanet.com/meta/communication_styles.htm



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References

http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/communication/ [ Page-2]

http://www.drbackman.com/print-communication-styles.htm [ Page-9]

http://www.cedanet.com/meta/communication_styles.htm [ Page-10]

http://www.drbackman.com/print-communication-styles.htm

http://www.cedanet.com/meta/communication_styles.htm



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