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1 MBH is a business organisation in the public sector. It controls 5 hospitals and has 5600 employees
including
440 doctors. External recruitment is used when recruiting skilled employees. The Human Resources
Director
uses ideas from Herzberg’s theory to improve employee motivation. He is worried about communication
barriers within MBH. The business has a tall organisational structure and a long chain of command. Most
of
MBH’s internal communication is by email and phone calls.

Explain how MBH might reduce or remove each of the following communication barriers:

Message lost:

Ans: By asking for feedback / delayering

Explanation:

Asking for feedback is a great way to know whether the message has been received and if needed acted upon.
Another way is by delayering the 5 hospitals and 5600 employees as it's a long chain of command and message will
reach quicker and more effectively.

Use of jargon:

Using simple language/easy language

Explanation:

● Using simple language on the phone calls or emails can lead to better understanding of the task and better results
as it is acted upon as everyone can understand the message. MBH should make sure they use proper and
appropriate language so the message is received clearly.

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2 BGR is a private limited company. It operates 6 cinemas in different towns. Effective internal
communication
is important for BGR. The Finance Director has been analysing BGR’s accounts and an extract is shown
in
the table below. BGR plans to open another cinema and will need to recruit 10 new employees. The new
cinema will cost $8m. The Finance Director has to decide whether BGR should issue new shares or use a
bank loan to finance the expansion.

Extract from BGR’s Income statement for year ending 2020 ($000’s)

Revenue X

Cost of sales 180

Gross profit 720

Expenses Y

Profit 400

Explain two reasons why effective communication might be important to BGR.

Reason 1:

Work efficiency

Explanation:

By using effective communication employees can understand their tasks better and carry out their instructions more
effectively and understand what is the right thing to do and thus reduce wastage improving efficiency of BGR

Reason 2:

Customer satisfaction

Explanation:

Effective communication improves speed at which message is delivered to the receiver resulting in faster acting on
the instructions provided this quickly reacting to customer's changing taste improving customer loyalty.

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3 BGN sells furniture such as beds and tables. It started as a partnership but is now a private limited
company.
BGN has expanded quickly and has 10 shops located in different cities. Each shop manager is
responsible
for recruitment and decisions about inventory levels. They send the Board a monthly report. The
Managing
Director has a laissez-faire leadership style. There has been an increase in customer complaints and
employees
think internal communications need to be improved.

Explain two ways BGN could try to improve internal communication. Recommend which way BGN should
choose. Justify your answer.

Answer:-
BGN could try and improve internal communication by various ways. As the company has expanded quickly and
spread over a wide area,this means communication is getting more difficult due to long chains of command. One way
would be to reduce the chain of command or delegate daily tasks so everyone has shared responsibility towards
completing the task and this would also increase employee morale, motivation and loyalty towards BGN. Other way
could be my using different methods of communication or using a different style of leadership. I recommend the
second way as by using methods of communication like emails there is a hard evidence of the record and can be
referred to when there is need,it can also be copied and sent to all 10 shops rather than using written methods like
letters which would increase costs. BGN could also conduct frequent meeting discussing recent issues and
complaints faced by the company. Changing leadershop style to autocratic would greatly improve communication in
BGN as the manager has control as well as employees has freedom to speak and give feedback which would help in
reducing the issues faced by the customers and employees and providing better conditions for them.

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4 Gino owns a fast-food restaurant selling fried chicken and potato fries. He employs 5 full-time chefs and
12
part-time workers to serve the food. Communication is important and Gino has regular meetings with his
part-time employees to keep them informed about any changes in the menu. It took 3 years before
Gino’s
business was able to break-even. He aims to achieve a Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) of 10%.
Gino
is always looking for ways to increase the number of customers. Inflation may be a problem for Gino’s
business.

Do you think having regular meetings is a better way for a business to communicate with part-time employees
than using text messages? Justify your answer.

Answer:-

MEETINGS:

Meetings allow two way communication between employees and managers which means immediate feedback can be
expected, that can allow ideas to be discussed and information that is not understood by employees can be explained
more clearly,quickly and in a more detailed format. Meetings can also help to see the non verbal gestures of
attendees like their body language etc.

TEXT MESSAGES:

Text messages is also a very good way to communicate with part time employees but have many problems. Firstly
there is no guarantee that the receiver(employee) will read the message or in another case they might not have a
phone which will lead to the information not being received properly or late which will result in mistakes or wastage
of resources. On the other hand there is a hard evidence of the message and can be used in the future. Sending text
messages are very flexible as they can be sent at any time allowing the employee to read it whenever it's convenient
for them.

JUSTIFICATION:

Meetings allow two way communication which helps speed up the process of decision making. A text message is
also good as it can be sent and received at any time ensuring that all the part time employees receive the messages at
the same time. However you can't rely that the part time staff will respond immediately to the message sent. So while
a meeting can be difficult to arrange it is still the best way to communicate with a part time employee as slow
decision making could result in missed opportunities and leading to fewer sales.

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5 DCN is a large chemical company. It has 8 000 employees across its 3 factories. DCN has agreed to set
up
a joint venture with a glass making business to develop a new type of environmentally friendly
packaging.
DCNs Managing Director said: There are disadvantages to a joint venture. The companies have different
leadership styles and business objectives. We will need to look at ways to overcome possible
communication
barriers.

Identify four examples of communication barriers.

Example 1:

PROBLEM WITH SENDER-

Examples include: wrong message sent or incorrect language used / use of technical language.

Example 2:

PROBLEMS WITH RECEIVER-

Examples include: Doesn't pay attention when instructions are provided and doesn't check message hence feedback
not given.

Example 3:

PROBLEMS WITH MEDIUM:

Examples include: Message is disrupted in between due to technical faults and internet break down due to use of
wrong channels.

Example 4:

CHAIN OF COMMAND:

Examples include: longer chain of command/wider span of control leads to message being lost by the time it reaches
to the subordinates.

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6 TKF makes furniture such as beds and tables using job production. TKF has 3 part-time office
employees,
8 production workers and 1 manager who is expected to carry out quality control. As the factory is busy,
most communication is by email. After a number of customer complaints, the manager thinks TKF has
some
communication barriers. He believes good internal communication can help TKF be more efficient.

Identify and explain two possible communication barriers for TKF.

Barrier 1:

Problems with sender/medium

Problems with sender include language problems or the person speaks too fast or uses jagron so workers don't
understand terms used by the managers and misinterpret instructions leading to waste of time and resoucess.
Problems with medium include inappropriate medium of communication as workers might not always have access to
emails.

Barrier 2:

Overload of information on receiver end

Explanation:

Overload of information on receiver end/problem with receiver confuses the production workers and sometimes
workers do not read the messages for example part time workers or customers don't read the letters received so don't
know what furniture is best suitable for them.

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7 BEF is a large business based in country X. It uses flow production to manufacture a wide range of
products
including toothpaste and shampoo. All BEF’s products are currently sold in country X. BEF knows that
having effective methods of internal communication are important. The Operations Director is analysing
production data. An extract is shown in the table below. BEF is considering exporting its products to
country
Y.

Extract of BEF’s production data for one of its products

2019 2020

Average number of production workers 240 250

Total output per week 300 000 310 000

State four factors a business should consider when selecting an appropriate method of internal communication.

Factor 1:

Location of sender/receiver

Factor 2:

How important is the message(When the message needs to be sent and received)

Factor 3:

Feedback is required / it's a single way instruction

Factor 4:

Written records required / very confidential and sensitive information.

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 8 TKF makes furniture such as beds and tables using job production. TKF has 3 part-time office
employees,
8 production workers and 1 manager who is expected to carry out quality control. As the factory is busy,
most communication is by email. After a number of customer complaints, the manager thinks TKF has
some
communication barriers. He believes good internal communication can help TKF be more efficient.

Identify and explain two possible communication barriers for TKF.

ANSWER:

Barrier 1:

Problems with sender/medium

Explanation:

Problems with sender include language problems or the person speaks too fast or uses jagron so workers don't understand
terms used by the managers and misinterpret instructions leading to waste of time and resoucess. Problems with medium
include inappropriate medium of communication as workers might not always have access to emails.

Barrier 2:

Overload of information on receiver end

Explanation:

Overload of information on receiver end/problem with receiver confuses the production workers and sometimes workers
do not read the messages for example part time workers or customers don't read the letters received so don't know what
furniture is best suitable for them.

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