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COMMUNICATION - it's much easier said than done

By Clare Gascoigne

Trust is key in an open organization

Getting staff to talk to each other ought to be the least of your problems, but internal communication can be one of the hardest nuts to crack in business.

'Communication comes up in every department. The repercussions of not communicating are vast, says Theo Theobald, coauthor of Shut up and Listen! The Truth About How to Communicate at Work.

Poor communication can be a purely practical problem. Gearbulk, a global shipping business with branches around the world, faced language and geographical difficulties, as well as a huge amount of paperwork. With up to 60 documents per cargo, it was a logistical nightmare to track and monitor jobs, while tighter «security regulat ions after 9/11 meant customs documents had to be ready before a ship was allowed to sail.

Installing an automated system means data is now entered only once but can be accessed by anyone in the company, wherever they are. 'Reporting is faster by a matter of months,' says Ramon Ferrer, Vice President of Global IT at Gearbulk. 'An operational team carrying a voyage all the way across the world doesn't always have to be talking to each other -and we don't waste time duplicating the same information.'

Given today's variety of communication tools, it seems strange that we still have a problem communicating. But the brave new world of high-tech can create barriers - senior managers hide behind their computers, staff use voice mail to screen calls, and. employees sitting next to each other will send e-mails rather than speak.

'Managers should get up, walk round the office and talk to people,' says Matt Rogan, Head of Marketing at Lane4, a leadership and communications consultancy. 'Face-to-face communication can't be beaten.' «Theobold recommends checking e-mail only three times a day, allocating a set period of time to deal with it. 'If you leave the sound on, the temptation is as great as a ringing phone. People will interrupt meetings to check their e-mails.'

Another problem is simply hitting the 'reply all' button, bombarding people with information. 'We had unstructured data coming at staff from left, right and centre, leaving it up to individuals to sort out, says Gearbulk's Ferrer. 'Our new system has reduced e- mails and changed the way people work. It will remind you about work flow'

Information overload also means people stop listening. But there may be a deeper reason why a message fails to get through, according to Alex Haslam, Professor of 'Psychology at Exeter University. 'Everyone thinks a failure to communicate is just an individual's error of judgment, but it's not about the person: it's about the group and the group dynamics,' he says. 'Just training people to be good communicators isn't the issue.'

The problem is that employees develop common loyalties that are far stronger than the need to share information. This can even extend to questions of safety.

In the mid-1990s there were a lot of light air crashes in Australia because the two government departments responsible for air safety weren't communicating,' says Haslam. 'The government was trying to save money and both groups felt threatened. The

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individuals were highly identified with their own organisation and unwilling to communicate with the other department.'

A company is particularly at risk when cost-cutting is in the air. Individuals withdraw into departmental loyalties out of fear. Sending such people on yet another 'how to communicate' course will be pointless. Instead, Haslam believes that identifying the sub-groups within an organisation and making sure each group feels valued and respected can do far more to encourage the sharing of information. The key to communication, he says, is trust.

From the Financial Times

Read the article again and answer these questions.

1.What communication problems did Gearbulk have?

2.How did Gearbulk overcome the problems?

3.What solutions does Theobald recommend for the above problems?

4.According to the author, why do staff often receive too many e-mails?

5.Why weren't the two government departments (responsible for air safety) communicating?

6.What does the author think about sending people on communication courses

LISTENING

Improving communications

1.2. Listen to the first part of an interview with Anuj Khanna, Marketing Manager of Netsize, a marketing agency for mobile media, and answer the questions.

1According to Anuj Khanna:

a)why have communications improved in recent years?

b)how can they improve in the future?

2What example does he give of banks improving communications with customers?

1.3 Listen to the second part of the interview.

1What are the consequences of the following communication breakdowns?

a)problems in air traffic control systems

b)delays in fixing communication systems

c)faults in cash machines

2 Which of the following developments in communication does Anuj Khanna expect to see in the future?

a)more privacy for customers

b)more freedom for companies to communicate with customers

c)more control by customers over the messages they receive

d)more communication between machines

How do you think business communication will change in the future?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1.Think of an occasion when you faced a miscommunication problem. What do you think caused the problem? How do you think it should have been handled better?

2.Why do people withhold information from others? In cases where sharing information is important, what can be done to overcome people's reluctance to share it?

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3.Think back to "discussions" and "dialogues" you have heard. Talk about the differences between a discussion and a dialogue. How can a discussion be turned into a constructive dialogue?

4.Share with the class some of your experiences — both good and bad — with electronic media.

5.Report examples of "mixed signals" you have received (or sent). How can you reduce the potential for misunderstanding and misperception as you communicate with others?

6.What makes you want to say to someone, "You're not listening!"

7.What do you think about the practice of "open-book management"? What would you think about it if you were running your own company?

8.Discuss rumors you have heard: what they were about, how they got started, how accurate they were, and how people reacted to them. What lessons can you learn from these episodes.

CASE STUDY

CREATING A SENSE OF IDENTIFY

Background

The international construction and engineering group KMB is based in Munich, Germany and has manufacturing subsidiaries and associated companies throughout the world. Its company magazine is published five times a year and is distributed by post to staff worldwide. The following letter, sent by a member of staff in its Brazilian sales office, appeared in the magazine's latest issue.

Dear editor,

I know I'm not the only one who feels uninformed about what's going on in KMB worldwide.

When I was at our recent sales conference in Munich several other people from overseas subsidiaries said they felt a lack of involvement and wanted more information from head office about new developments within the group. For example, why has KMB bought a major civil engineering company in Australia? How does this acquisition fit into our overall strategy? Unfortunately we could only guess at the reasons.

We also think it's essential to share best practice among our subsidiaries.

We must know about ideas for improving efficiency as soon as possible. For example, if a marketing technique has been successful in one market, other areas of our business should be told.

We all agreed that the new Global Communications Director should overhaul KMB's communication system so that all members of staff are kept fully informed - both about overall strategy, and about news from overseas subsidiaries. What's the use of a worldwide network if no one knows what's going on?

Aldo Renato

Sao Paulo, Brazil

The new Global Communications Director, Dominique Lapierre, sent the following e- mail to the Chief Executive of KMB after Aldo Renato's letter had been discussed at a board meeting.

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Writing

As a member of the working group, write a memo to the heads of all of KMB's subsidiaries. This should inform them that the meeting took place and should outline the plan of action agreed. Finally, the memo should ask for their cooperation in implementing the suggestions.

INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP ACTIVITIES

1.For what reasons can communication sometimes break down in organizations (companies, businesses)?

2.Can you give examples of informal communication? In groups discuss the benefits of this.

3.What changes can you suggest to improve communication within your own organization or an organization you know well?

4.What kinds of problem can arise between companies and their suppliers? For example in delivery, payment, quality control? How can these problems be solved?

5.How well can you handle your problems?

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VOCABULARY

Study the following words and phrases
access	deny	initiate	reinforcement
accurate	desired	install	relate to
acquire	destroy	instead	relay
advantage /	destructive	insult	release
disadvantage
air	differ	intend	remind
alert	dispel	interaction	repercussion
allocate	disregard	interfere	require
alternative	draw a conclusion	interference	resentment
although	duplicate	interviewee	resolve
amazing	eliminate	interviewer	respond
ambiguity	embarrassing	irrelevant	result in/from
ambiguous	emotional	job security	revise
apply to	emphasize	lack	'ridiculous
arise	encode	lead to	rumour
assume	encourage	liberate	safely
at the very least	ensure	loop	saying
attempt	enticing	loyalty	scold
audible	enunciate	maintain	security
			regulations
authority	equally	make a difference	sender
avoid	equate	memo	setting
behavior	erroneous	misinterpretation	shirk
boredom	error	misuse	similar
break down	essence	necessarily	similarity
brevity	essential	negotiate	sincerity
briefly	evaluate	nightmare	slouch
bring about	even	non-verbal	snitch
calm down	expression	nuts to crack	soul of wit
cargo	extend	observe	spiritual
casual	extended	obviously	spontaneous
cause	face difficulties	occur	steady
challenge	facilitate	on the other hand	stiff
check	failure	orally	substitute
clarification	faith	otherwise	subtle
clarify	fatigue	outline	suggestion
clue	fear	overhead	temptation
		transparency
cluttered	formal guidelines	overlook	therefore
common	frequently	participate	threaten
complain	frustration	particularly	through
composition	fulfill	party	thus
compound	fulfillment	permanent	tight
comprehension	gather	persuasion	time-consuming
concern	get across	persuasive	track
conclusion	get lost	pick up	transaction
confidential	get out of hand	pitch	transmission

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confirm	given	pitfall	transmit
conflicting	gossip	pointless	treatment
message
confusion	grapevine	precisely	trust
consequence	hamper	prevent	unambiguous
consequently	hand out	primary	uncertainty
consideration	harm	proliferate	unless
consistent	hierarchy	prospective	unwilling
convey	however	purely	vast
cost-cutting	ill-considered	quantitative	via
costly	immediate	rather than	view
crash	implication	receiver	weigh
credence	in fact	receptive	wherever
cue	in public	recognize	whether
dash off	in response to	reduce	while
decimal	inappropriate	refer to	whisper
decode	inborn	regard	withdraw
deliver	inevitable	regret
denial	information	reinforce
	overload foster

UNIT 5

RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION. HEADHUNTING

LEAD-IN

1 Filling a vacancy

1a Vocabulary

Insert the following words in the gaps in the text below.

applicant	application application form		apply candidate
curriculum vitae or CV (GB) or resume (US)			employment agencies
interview	job description	job vacancies	references	short-listed

Many people looking for work read the (1)...............................		advertised by
companies and (2)	.................................... in newspapers or on the internet. To
reply to an advertisement is to (3).................................		for a job. (You become
a (4) ....................................		) You write an
(6) ...................................	, or fill in the company's (7)	............................... ,
and send it, along with ..................................your (8)	and a covering letter.
You often have to give the names of two people who are prepared to write
(9) ......................................	for you. If your qualifications and abilities match
the (10) ....................................	................................	,
i.e. selected to attend ...................................an (12)	.

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1b Discussion

When employees 'give notice', i.e. inform their employer that they will be leaving the company (as soon as their contract allows), in what order should the company carry out the following steps?

A.either hire a job agency (or for a senior post, a firm of headhunters), or advertise the vacancy

B.establish whether there is an internal candidate who could be promoted (or moved sideways) to the job

C.examine the job description for the post, to see whether it needs to be changed (or indeed, whether the post needs to be filled)

D.follow up the references of candidates who seem interesting

E.invite the short-listed candidates for an interview

F.make a final selection

G.receive applications, curricula vitae and covering letters, and make a preliminary selection (a short-list)

H.try to discover why the person has resigned

I.write to all the other candidates to inform them that they have been unsuccessful

TEXT 1

Before you read

Discuss these questions.

1.What are the most popular subjects to study at universities and colleges in your country? Why?

2.If you wanted to find out about job opportunities or vacancies at a large company or international organisation, how would you do it?

Reading task

A Understanding main points

1.Which of these statements gives the best summary of the text on the opposite page?

b)A global company needs to recruit globally.

c)The internet will revolutionise the way new employees are recruited.

d)Engineering is the discipline of the future.

2 Mark these statements T (true) or F (false) according to the information in the text Find the part of the text that gives the correct information.

a)DaimlerChrysler is the largest employer in Baden-Wurttemburg.

b)Daimler Chrysler employs more people in Baden-Wurttemburg than in other parts of Germany.

c)The company plans to increase its investment in research and development.

d)DaimlerChryslers' policy is to recruit engineers in Germany whenever possible.

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e)DaimlerChrysler uses the Internet in its recruitment campaigns.

f)BMW is a more attractive company to work for.

g)Not enough students study engineering in Germany.

h)DaimlerChrysler is planning to set up its own technical university.

B. How the text is organized

These phrases summarise the main idea of each paragraph. Match each phrase with the correct paragraph.

a)the need to recruit engineers globally to meet its business targets

b)the lack of engineering graduates generally

c)DaimlerChrysler's position in the state of Baden-Wurttemburg

d)the need to compete with other companies to attract new recruits

e)DaimlerChrysler's business targets

f)use of the Internet for recruitment

g)DaimlerChrysler's plans to support private universities

h)another recruitment approach

DAIMLERCHRYSLER: Star is reminder of proud auto heritage by JEREMY GRANT

Where have all the engineers gone?

For the past year Daimler has been part of the grouping with American manufacturer Chrysler. The German company's roots go back to the very first days of motoring.

If Germans associate one company with the state of Baden-Wurttemberg it is the automotive group DaimlerChrysler. The group was formed in 1998 through the merger of Daimler-Benz and Chrysler of the US. But the local association dates back to the late 1890s, when Daimler and Bern began the automotive age by producing the world's first motor cars. DaimlerChrysler is one of the mainstays of the Baden-Wurttemberg economy, sustaining 242,000 people in employment across Germany - the bulk of them in the state.

To extend its global reach, the company has ambitious plans to grow in the automotive business, and will invest €46bn developing sixty-four new cars and truck models in the next few years. Research and development spending is set to soar to what a spokesman says is 'a market leading position'. This year the company aims for sales of

€146bn, compared with previous forecasts of €l39.9bn.

One of the most critical issues facing the group as it attempts to achieve those targets is where it will find, in sufficient numbers, people with the right qualifications to make it all happen. Baden-Wurttemberg and Germany alone will not be able to provide enough recruits. 'DaimlerChrysler needs to hire 4,500 engineers and IT people in the next three years,' says Mark Binger of Human Resourse. 'That's a big number and it will be impossible to find enough of them in Germany, let alone in one region. You have to hire them from the top schools in the world.'

Traditionally, Daimler-Benz always recruited engineers within Germany. In 1999, however, its recruitment campaign went global. Part of the impetus was that the transatlantic merger had broadened the spectrum of job opportunities. Using the Internet, DaimlerChrysler issued a blanket invitation to college graduates around the world-with emphasis on mechanical engineering, process technology and aerospace engineering - to attend an open day at eleven DaimlerChrysler locations around the world. 800 who attended, about 55 per cent were invited for interview - a far higher proportion than in previous recruitment drives.

A few months later, the group launched a novel campaign to attaract recruits for

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its International Management Associate Program. It advertised in the international press, inviting would-be trainees to call a company hotline during a four-hour period over two days. Some 200 applicants were interviewed.

Competition for talent from other large industrial groups is bound to increase. Rivals such as BMW, in neighbouring Bavaria, have similar needs. But Mr. Binder says: 'We try to convince would-be recruits that we're the most global company and it's more interesting to work at DaimlerChrysler in this exciting period after the merger.' Recruits are also offered opportunities to work in different units, of the group.

The recruitment problem has been made worse by a steady decline in the number of students electing to study engineering since the early 1990s - when there were too many newly-qualified engineers entering the market. Large numbers of students chose to study other subjects leading to today's shortage.

DaimlerChrysler is supporting initiatives to try to ensure a steady flow of engineers and graduates from other technical disciplines. Over the course of the next few years, the group will be supporting the establishment of two private universities in BadenWurttemberg - the Stuttgart Institute of Management and Technology and the International University of Germany in Bruchsal.

FINANCIAL TIMES

World business newspaper

VOCABULARY TASKS

ASynonyms

1.The writer uses three different words to describe an institute of higher

education. What are they? Are they exact equivalents?

2.Two words are used many times with the meaning of 'to find and employ new people' What are they?

3.The word 'campaign' is used twice in the article. What other phrase is used with a similar meaning to 'campaign'?

4.about 55 per cent of graduates who attended DaimlerChrysler's open day were invited for interview.

a)What other word is used in the article with a similar meaning to 'about?

b)Think of at least three other words or phrases to give the idea of approximation.

BWord search

1.The article deals mainly with the theme of recruitment. Find at least ten words or phrases in the text connected with the idea of recruitment

2.The writer uses several phrases to express the idea of time, either as an approximate date, e.g. the late 1890s or to describe when something will or did happen, e.g. 'in the next few years. How many similar time expressions can you find in the article?

CComplete the sentence

Use an appropriate word or phrase from Exercise A or B to complete each sentence.

1. Due to rapid expansion the company had to carry out an extensive

RECRUITMENT CAMPAIGN to hire new employees.

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2.In……………………………………..very few people knew much about the Internet.

3.……………………..the next few years the use of the Internet is bound to expand even more.

4.There are literally hundreds of business ....................... around the world offering MBAs.

5.Many companies now .......................... new job vacancies on the Internet and in the press simultaneously.

6.…………………………….graduates in subjects such as information technology have a lot of opportunities for their first job.

7.Our recruitment campaign was so successful that we had over 100 .................

for each job.

8.We usually invite about 5 per cent of those who apply to come for ................ , so we can meet them in person.

9.An MBA is one of the best.........................for an international

management job.

D Expanding vocabulary

1.The article focuses on the subject of engineering. There are many different branches of engineering. Two are mentioned in the article - mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering. What other branches of engineering can you think of?

2.The article mentions that there is a 'steady decline' in the numbers of engineering students, leading to a 'shortage' of potential recruits.

a)Think of at least two other words similar in meaning to 'decline'.

b)Think of at least three words with the opposite meaning.

c)Think of at least one word equivalent in meaning to 'shortage.

d)Think of at least one word with the opposite meaning.

E Definitions

Match these terms with their definitions.

1mainstay

2global reach

3set to soar

4impetus

5broadened the spectrum of job opportunities

6blanket invitation

7a novel campaign

8would-be trainees

a)an influence that makes something happen

b)people who want to enter a training programme

c)a new and imaginative way to recruit

d)having a presence all over the world

e)an offer open to everyone

f) about to increase a lot

g)increased the range of possible jobs

h)most important part of something

OVER TO YOU

1.Imagine you work in the Human Resources department of a large international company such as DaimlerChrysler. You are attending a recruitment fair at a

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