Communication Channel Business - Term Paper Example

In scenario I, together with my team, are charged to develop a strategy for introducing our beverage product in the global market. The objective of developing a strategy calls for the amalgamation of creative and strategic minds to come up with an effective strategy to penetrate the global market. To get the most of my teams’ creative and strategic output, the ideal channel for this is lateral or horizontal communication. The team should also utilize the all-channel network to facilitate active communication within the members of the team to provide an avenue where creativity can thrive without the barrier of formalities.

This mode of communication channel is ideal in the scenario because it facilitates coordination and saves time. We have to remember that our team is only given a week to develop a strategy so we have to choose a channel that can provide output quickly. In communicating the formulated strategy by my team to the Vice President of Operations, the appropriate channel for this is upward. Upward communication is appropriate in communicating the developed strategy to the Vice President of Operations because this serves the purpose of informing him or her of the progress of the responsibility that was charged to us.

It keeps him or her aware what my team has done to the task assigned to us. 2. In Scenario 2 where employees’ login name and password have expired, the ideal communication channel to be used in this situation is upward channel. Upward communication flow is appropriate in this situation because the communication issue only needs a username and password to be updated. It is a routine communication that is not subject for ambiguity for all it requires to solve the issue is for the offsite IT department to issue a new username and password.

This can be relayed to the manager through email or a simple text message. In disseminating the new username and password, downward communication can be used to relay it because this is just a routine communication that is not subject to ambiguity. Again, a simple email will resolve the issue. 3. Scenario 3 is a delicate situation because this requires letting go of employees to save the company from folding. The situation is delicate not only because people will be losing jobs and livelihood, but also the message that has to be communicated is in itself sensitive.

If the owner will make a mistake in handling the communication issue in firing employees, it may defeat the purpose of saving the company by cutting cost through downsizing. We can glean the lesson from what happened to Neal L. Patterson, CEO at medical software maker Cerner Corp., when he disseminated a seething email to his employees. While the circumstances may be different as he was balking in email with regard a work ethic issue, the lesson that can be learned is the same. Poor handling of communicating issues to the employee can back fire to the sender like what happened to Neal L.

Patterson. His seething email found its way into Yahoo! within an hour which caused the plummeting of his stocks at 22 %. In our case, we do not have a 22 % buffer to absorb the loss from a communication gaffe. The very reason why we are downsizing our employees is because we have to save the company from closing. If we make a mistake in handling this issue and will suffer that 22 % loss, the company might fold instead of saving it. To properly handle this, a careful downward communication will be appropriate.

But the proper handling of this situation is not just the typical downward communication where the affected employees will just be informed that they are fired. Rather, it has to be explained to them that the business is losing money and the only way to save it is to cut down cost on employees. By doing this, employees that are affected are twice likely to understand as study shows and will leave gracefully. The information richness of communication channel has also to be considered to avoid ambiguity and miscommunication.

In letting go of the affected employees, the respective employees have to be talked to face to face to avoid any possibility of miscommunication and ill will. Email should be avoided. It is the worst form of medium to deliver negative messages as it is subject to ambiguity not to mention that it is incapable of delivering messages that is rich in contextual information.