1. 1 Benefits and qualifications of research
This research is dependant on this issue "The way the channels of communication with employees might be upgraded in a multinational organization".
Unilever PLC is a respected multinational in Fast Moving Consumer Goods sector and it manages over hundred of countries worldwide. Unilever preserves its leading edge by building superior criteria, latest managerial systems and talk about of fine art technology. Most of all the main concentrate of Unilever business is to run in profitable manner while complying with statutory and legal requirements into the maximum degree, in each and every place it performs. Unilever is therefore highly concerns about execution of latest and successful managerial systems in its creation plants in very first time it is possible. Additionally Unilever contributes for growing these systems to match with company requirements and therefore most of managerial systems that Unilever executed are quite more advanced than others and may easily be differentiated from managerial systems of its competition.
Product Range of Unilever PLC is Home and personnel care, Margarines, fats spreads, Tea and supplementary food products.
There are 400 brands and 14 types of home, personal treatment and foods products, no other company details so many people's lives in a wide variety of ways. Unilever's brand stock portfolio has made them market leaders atlanta divorce attorneys field where they work. Knorr, Lipton, Dove Omo are a few examples for dependable brands.
In the Sri Lankan framework Unilever could go by all its rivals and to make its all brands to be the flag boats. At the moment Unilever Sri Lanka Limited owns twenty-two global brands which are extremely much familiar to Sri Lankans as things touching their hearts. Lux, Sunsilk, Transmission, Astra and Lifebuoy are some of those popular makes.
Brand communication can be considered a powerful power for action change. They have got the possibility to promote healthy life styles among our millions of consumers. At the same time they have a obligation to market their products responsibly and offer their consumers with clear and simple information about the merchandise they make and how they can match a wholesome and well-balanced diet. This depends on effective communication.
As a multinational company that is created a very good brand loyalty in consumers' head they will have to satisfy their customer requirements to the utmost level. To carry out this Unilever must adopt based on the changes in customer requirements. As the market grows rapidly services from opponents are approaching to the market frequently. Because of their survival they will have to create new amounts of products and do modifications because of their existing products as customer requirements are changing speedily. To accomplish these types of Changes Company's communication process and communication stations should be of high quality. Quick decisions should be made; for this employees will have to send their emails and information faster and get feedback very quickly. For this purpose the business uses many methods (channels). Since this is a global company their companies are spread all over the world. Therefore there must be a strong communication network within each and every company.
Unilever PLC uses strategies and recommendations to give guidelines for employees. Because of this the employees would have a clear notion of what the business is expected from them; they might really know what their tasks and obligations are. They will be determined as their responsibilities are being simplified and given. This will create useful employees and would be resulted in efficiency increase. Through strategies and recommendations more descriptive information can be provided to employees. More and specific information offers subordinates a feeling of self confidence and security; lack of information promotes insecurity and a sense of not being trusted. Using this method they are able to get maximum out of employees. This corporation gets ideas and views of employees about the policies and methods being applied by the company. It could help the top management to identify their weaknesses and take necessary actions to revise their policies and types of procedures.
Unilever has put a great effort to activate wit employees to discover whether they understand the business's eyesight and role that has been expected from them. The company gets ideas from employees to know what their notion on the changes the company has to do to achieve their ambitions. In 2009 2009 Unilever commenced an employee proposal program that will ensure employees get excited about Unilever's eyesight and plans for future years. Uniliver gather responses from employees through regular worker engagement surveys. A WORLDWIDE People Study (GPS) of all Unilever employees is conducted every 2-3 years. Unilever's management people is also invited to take part in a processed version of the study - 'GPS-Pulse', which is conducted at six-monthly intervals in the years when GPS is not occurring. The GPS-Pulse conducted in Sept 200 highlighted that people are happy to help Unilever and feel good about the culture and business. Results also demonstrated increased self confidence in control and the way that the company is taking. Opinions also has directed to areas where the company needed to do better and they were actioned by the Unilever Exec and their older market leaders. Through these kinds of strategies employees will feel that they're being respected and acknowledged by the company and they will be encouraged to work hard to accomplish objectives of the business.
Being a multinational firm Unilever PLC uses telephones to communicate with their peers. They have the ability to exchange their ideas over the telephone and to have the reviews of the other get together. Exchanging information over the telephone would fasten your choice making process and it will affect their soft operation positively.
Letters, memos and e-mails are anther methods of communication used by Unilever PLC. Since they are written communication stations they will help employees to get clear idea by reading them. If there is a long set of directions to get to employees these channels would be more effective because they are on paper. Since everything is on paper it will be easy for them to comply with these requirements.
Research Goals and Hypothesis
The completion of the research intends to achieve the following objectives with regards to Unilever PLC.
To identify the channels of communication used by the Organization
To study how to increase the channels of communication with employees of the organization.
To find possible advantages and weaknesses in communication stations currently being employed by the business.
To suggest solutions to avoid current weaknesses in communication programs.
Hypothesis
Finding the way the programs of communication with employees might be improved upon in a multinational company is the objective of this research. Consequently, hypothesis of the research is defined as below,
H0: The stations of communication with employees in existence within the organization are satisfactory.
H1: The channels of communication with employees in existence within the business are not satisfactory.
Research Scope
For this research qualitative research techniques need to be used. Since this is a qualitative one it is difficult to create standard guidelines to identify if the organization's current communication stations are appropriate or not. This should be done compared to another organization. It would be difficult to choose a suitable benchmark.
When following a research reviews should be taken from employees at different levels such as professionals and lower level employees in a way that covers the complete corporation. Since their ideas are different the results cannot be generalized.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction to Books Review
The research literature review is based the theories and researches recently done by scholars. These should be employed in the study. Clearly defined research problem and research methods need to be included.
Review of Relevant Theories and Literature
A typical day for a supervisor includes doing desk work attending scheduled meetings, placing and receiving telephone calls, reading and answering correspondence, attending unscheduled conferences and tours. Most of these activities requires communication. Actually, professionals usually spend more than half of their time communicating for some reason. Communication always entails two or more individuals, so other behavioral process such as drive, management and group and team processes all come into play. Top executives must handle communication effectively if they are to be true innovator.
Communication is concerned with the making of so this means and the exchange of understanding. One style of communication considers it from the perspective of transmitting information from one person to some other.
Communication is vital for all kinds of business organization. Relating to researches completed by many creators, communication and communication programs play a very important role in any business organization. Different people have carried out researches relating to communication and efficiency of communication stations. Few examples are the following;
A web article defines a communication route as, "Medium through which a message is transmitted to its supposed audience, such as printing marketing or broadcast (electronic) press".
As per Quincy Wright, "Communication programs can be comprehended simply as the modes or pathways by which two functions might converse. As population increases and technology evolves consequently, these programs of communication change as well. (A REPORT of Warfare, 1967)
According to an online article, "In the basic communication process, a sender sets a message in words and transmits it to a receiver who interprets the subject matter. The medium the sender selects to transmit the message is called the communication channel. "
There a wide range of communication programs being employed by different organizations. Some of these are universally familiar methods where as a few of them are specific to certain organizations. Listed below are few methods among them.
Letters/ memos/ reports
Although there is an upsurge in the consumption of electric communication, most people seem to receive their messages in some recoverable format. This can be because there is no e-mail link between the parties, just because a hard copy is required to meet audit or legal requirements or because the recipient feels more comfortable to read from paper than from a screen.
Manuals
This is also a paper document and the main purpose of this is guide.
Fax
This method uses general population telephones to deliver documents from one destination to another. In this method original hard backup is not sent to the recipient.
This is an extremely efficient method of communicating where complete documents can be directed through internet. This gives many cost advantages when compared to telephones and other paper based mostly communication methods.
Intranet
This method is also identical to the internet method, but this used to deliver documents, images and so forth within an group. In this method also information is a lot less costly to distribute and keep maintaining when compared to paper established communication methods.
Meetings
Two or more people get together and carryout discussions related to different areas to have decisions or to solve problems. That is a verbal communication method where the feedback will be received at exactly the same time.
Telephone
This is a two way communication method. It is now possible to attain people basically anytime, anywhere over the phone.
Video conferencing
Under video recording conferencing system cellphone lines are used to transmit video recording and sound between two or more parties. Real-time video conferences can be conducted when functions participated to the appointment are in distant locations.
Communication is the process of transmitting information in one person to some other. Effective communication is the procedure of sending a message in such a way that the communication received is really as close in interpretation as you possibly can to the subject matter meant. Effective communication is based on the ideas of interpretation and uniformity of meaning. Meaning is the idea that the average person who initiates the communication exchange wishes to mention. Communication also relates right to the basic management functions of planning, arranging, leading, and handling. Environmental scanning, integrating planning-time horizons, and decision making for example, all necessitate communication. Delegation, coordination, and organization change and development also entail communication. Communication is essential to establishing expectations, monitoring performance and taking corrective activities as part of control. Obviously, then, communication is a pervasive part of almost all managerial activities.
The Communication Process
As physique shows, noises can disrupt the communication process at any step. Professionals must therefore recognize that a conversation within the next office, a fax machine out of newspaper and the receivers problems may all thwart the professionals best endeavors to converse.
Sender - Firm that sends the communication.
Message - What's being sent from sender to receiver.
Encoding - Concept translated into appropriate meaning. This is actually the process by which the subject matter is symbolized.
Channel - The medium by which the message is being sent.
Decoding - Process that translate the note and creating the meaning from it.
Receiver - Organization that will get the subject matter.
Feedback - Process by which the receiver transmits his responds to the sender.
Interpersonal communication targets communication among people at work. Two important forms of interpersonal communication, dental and written, both offer unique benefits and drawbacks. Thus the director should weigh the professionals and cons of each when choosing a medium for communication.
Communication channels play a vital role in communication. Messages are conveyed through programs. Mobile phone, videoconferencing, face-to-face meetings are some examples for verbal communication, while letters, memos, e-mails, information are some examples for written communication. Channel should be decided on based on the type of the note or the information that is being transmitted or exchanged. Different channels have their particular strengths and weaknesses. For instance, it might be ineffective to provide a long set of directions verbally.
There are a number of varieties of organizational communication. Vertical communication between superiors and subordinates may move up-wards or downwards. Horizontal communication will involve peers and co-workers at the same level in the organization. Organizations also use information systems to manage communication. Electric communication is likely to have a profound effect on managerial and organizational communicational in the years to come.
A lot of casual communication also occurs in organizations. Communication networks are recurring habits of communication among users of an organization. The grapevine is the casual communication network among people within an business. Management by wandering around is also a popular informal method of communication. Nonverbal communication includes cosmetic expressions, body motions, physical contact, gestures and inflection and tone.
Managing the communication process necessitates spotting the barriers to effective communication and understanding how to overcome them. Barriers can be recognized at both the person and organizational levels. Likewise, both individual and organizational skills can be developed to conquer these obstacles.
Barriers to effective Communication,
Individual barriers
Conflicting or inconsistent cues
Credibility about the subject
Reluctance to communicate
Poor tuning in skills
Predispositions about the subject
Organizational Barriers
Semantics
Status or vitality differences
Different perceptions
Noise
Overload
Overcoming barriers to communication
Individual skills
Develop good being attentive skill
Encourage two way communication
Be alert to words and meaning
Maintain creditability
Be very sensitive to receivers perspective
Be hypersensitive to senders perspective
Organizational skills
Follow up
Regulate information flows
Understand the richness of media
(R. W. Griffin, 1997)
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
Research Methods
Servey reserch solutions to collectting data as investigate the employees and business need.
Research Approach
There are few steps to be adopted. They are the following;
Problem Id /Hypothesis
Identify the prevailing channels and stations to be launched.
Research Design and planning
This is a Prepare Questions, Prepare the task plan, Prepare the study team work plan, Prepare the Physical tool and conduct with the companies in communication channel providers sensible.
Data collection and Data Review and evaluation theory
After having determined the parameters to be researched and operationally defined them a researcher is expected to adopt the right approach to data collection to measure the factors and their human relationships.
Following will be the methodologies that are used to the research,
Questionnaire survey
Observation
Case study
In the truth of the questionnaire based study or interviews, the unit of evaluation is the individual as the individuals included in a sample are expected to provide information by responding to the survey questionnaire or the questions posed to them at the interview. Inside the observation method there is no single device of evaluation as the researcher is likely to observe true to life situations, an activity, an event or a series of event over a period.
The product of analysis in the event study method could cover a community, an organization, a group or a chosen individuals. For instance, one can review the performance of 1 or even more organizations and arrive at important conclusions about the practice of the management. Similarly can study comprehensive the leadership style of several CEOs and reach important conclusions about organizational leaderships.
The Questionnaire Survey
In this research questionnaire based mostly review ahs become one of the very most trusted techniques of data collection for reasons such as economy, ability to attain a larger test of the populace, saving of their time, feasibility to collect data within a predetermined platform and feasibility to process the data using a coding system that might be easily used on computers. Although questionnaire method has its natural limitations this method has been used to study qualitative aspects such as behaviour and ideals as well as quantitative aspects of behaviour.
The forms of questions contained in a questionnaire depends on the kind of information required. Even though forms of the questions varies in many ways, questions are offered in two basic types;
Open ended
Structured
Open concluded questions
There are several features of open finished questions if the researcher is considering probing profound into a particular issue such as motivation, job satisfaction, etc.
There are some limitations inherent in wide open ended questions. Included in these are,
Difficulty in recording lengthy answers, particularly when the respondents interest is aroused by the researcher through probing, difficulty in asking more than two questions as the response might take both time as well as space in the questionnaire, and relatively high degree of reliance on the analysts own judgment as to what he considers is the meaning of the answers given to open ended questions. Despite these limits open finished questions are being used by researcher when the questionnaire structured interview method is followed because a skilled researcher can always exploit the advantages associated with wide open finished questions.
Structured questions
This presents the respondent with fixed response alternatives. That's question is worded in such a manner concerning cause the respondent to answer by causing an option between several alternatives. Advantage-easy to manage in the field because they are pre-coded.
Interviews
Is a way of collecting data by talking with somebody who is often not known to the researcher recently. Thus it would involve a considerable amount of interpersonal skills on the part of the researcher to determine a marriage with the person being interviewed and elicit the required information within a restricted period of time.
There are two basic types of interviews, Structured and unstructured.
Observation Method
Is a technique followed highly in qualitative research to study natural behaviour. Thus observation entails making judgments about the event of behavior, its regularity, its period or its latency. These options will be the basic data used to spell it out the naturally developing behaviour or even to assess the effects of such behaviour. Therefore the collecting the info through observation must be done carefully in order to ensure precision, reliability and objectively. You will discover two broad ways of observing behaviour: participant and non participant.
Case analysis Method
This consists of studding individual situations in their natural environment over a period of time. One who uses a research study method may choose different methods of data collection and research. These procedures may be either qualitative or quantitative or a mixture of both.
Research Strategy
Selecting the best option channels to the company. For this function number of channels should be looked into.
Sampling Techniques
Select a sample size based on the company size that covers all areas and all levels of employees.
Data Collection Tools
High quality data should be collected. .
Data Evaluation Methods
Methods such as pie graphs, tables, decision trees and shrubs, scatter diagrams etc may be used to analyze data.
Presentation of Data
Data should be shown using a record and a multimedia presentation.
Research Limitations
This research is centering only on the communication channels. Communication process and their trustworthiness is being ignored.
Ethical implications of this research
If the employees provide incorrect information the complete research is misleading.
Research Schedule
Depending on the nature and activities of the study a time timetable should to be prepared.
Conclusions
This research is dependant on this issue "The way the channels of communication with employees might be improved upon in a multinational organization". Existing programs and new programs to be released should be dealt with. For this purpose research subject matter should be described and track record to the study has to be explained. Theories relevant to the study should be employed under literature review. Finally honest conditions that can be raised through the research should be resolved and your choice is taken based on employees' perceptions.
The study protects a wide area on the communication channels and based on the analysis of how to improve the communication of the employees, new communication stations to be presented must be taken into consideration, the required channels that should be improved regarding to enhance the ways of communication in the business.
Under this research predicated on the multi nationwide company we can learn and can have more knowledge as managers, how to manage effective communication in a multi countrywide company, can feel the employees communication and exactly how to control the complete communication process in a successful and effective manner in the organization.
