Communication Strategy Development Project

Subject: to develop the communication process Amicus and to improve system relating to information and knowledge.

• Faysal Mahmud
• Shafayet zaman

Executive summary

As we have been assigned to create a formal report on Managing Communication, were our objective is develop communication process and be able to improve systems relating to information and knowledge. For this we have collected our data thoroughly through the primary methods, which is through questionnaires and through face to face meeting

Task one

Communication is basically interaction, which can be oral, visual, written or any other channels to express ones feeling. Hence we can take it granted that it’s the most vital element of an organization and if it’s not proper it will possibly influence the organization in it’s down fall, vice-versa.

As I was assigned to assess the business communication process of Amicus, while assessing I found out the communication process the organization in terms of their suppliers, consumers as well as their own.

Communication process of Amicus:

• Top to lower level management: When a policy or a guide line for the organization is implemented or when taking a new strategic decision the approach that Amicus utilize is the formal top-down approach, for example when taking a strategic decision the directors call a formal meeting where they inform the manager about the strategic decisions. Afterwards the manager calls a formal meeting for the lower level management to brief them about the strategic changes.

• Same level management: When making an agreement or facing an unexpected scenario the approach Amicus follows is the formal horizontal method, for example when information needs to be passed within the same level management they call a formal meeting which is notified by phone or a formal letter ( as it is within the organization ).

• Lower to top level management: This occurs when a report regarding a project (construction) or feedback is received, for this kind of situation the communication approach Amicus apply is the formal upward vertical communication, such as when a lower level employee wants to present his feed back of the task he was assigned, he takes an appointment and formally presents the feedback face to face. Then the manager via appointment meets the directors and presents them the feedback.

• Networking system: Sharing data’s between different departments can be time consuming, to avoid this Amicus uses LAN as their networking system.
• Dissemination of data for consumer as well as organization purpose: Amicus disseminates their data via ad on paper, billboards, brochures and their own web page.

• Organization meeting for all level management: As Amicus is a developing organization, for which meetings are held monthly as this industries scenario fluctuates a lot.

Communication process of Amicus regarding consumer and suppliers

• In terms of agreement: Basically in terms of agreement the communication approach Amicus always prefers is the formal face to face communication and the approach of the agreement is always written.

• Dissemination of data for consumer as well as suppliers: Amicus disseminates their data mostly through ad on newspaper; billboard or brochures were there can be an ad about both product/service and recruitment for supplier.

• Feedback process of Amicus for their consumers: there are four channel through which feedback can be received and they are via letter, face to face, telephone call and e-mail. Most of the feedbacks are received through the phone.

Overall what our team found out that, in the present state Amicus is formal in its communication process and desires to follow formal communication process in the future but will allow change in circumstances.

In the present scenario Amicus has finished a luxurious project in Mirpur DOHS, for which a communication process is made for notifying the potential customers. Where the director being the sender sends a message, where the message is to promote the new project via ad on news paper, this message is transmitted through formal meeting. Then the recipient is the marketing manager and in the receiver stage the message is interpreted so that the recipient who is the marketing managers can understand the actual meaning of the message. But in the feed back stage it shows they didn’t get positive feedback as the interaction with customer was not up to the organizations estimation. A communication process diagram of the marketing department is given below. Communication process diagram of the marketing department of Amicus regarding the new projects promotion:

Task two

After conducting research on the overall communication process of Amicus we found some lacking in the communication process, regarding the regarding. As we have found out that the customer’s interaction is not up to the mark in organizations view point.

Judging from the previous communication process we can see that they have done there promotion through only one media which was ad on newspaper.

In the improvised communication process the director of Amicus being the sender sends a message which is to promote the new project by variety of media and to promote it in the right place for example giving add on billboards in places like Gulshan, Bonani and baridhara and also selecting a targeted segment and handing out brochures to them. This message is transmitted by a formal meeting and is indicated to the marketing manager of Amicus, who is the recipient. In the receiver stage the message is explained so that the recipient can understand the actual meaning.

Hence an ImprovisedCommunication process diagram of the marketing department of Amicus regarding the new projects promotion is made.

Task Three

As we have seen in the first communication process, here the director being the sender sends a message, where the message is to promote the new project via ad on news paper, this message is transmitted through formal meeting. Then in the recipient is the marketing manager and in the receiver stage the message is interpreted so that the recipient who is the marketing managers can understand the actual meaning of the message. But in the feed back stage it shows they didn’t get positive feedback as the interaction with customer was not up to the organizations estimation.

Due to its feedback a new improvised communication process is made, where the director of Amicus being the sender sends a message which is to promote the new project by variety of media and to promote it in the right place for example giving add on billboards in places like Gulshan, Bonani and baridhara and also selecting a targeted segment and handing out brochures to them. This message is transmitted by a formal meeting and is indicated to the marketing manager of Amicus, who is the recipient. In the receiver stage the message is explained so that the recipient can understand the actual meaning.

In the first scenario we can see that they have done their promotion through only one media which was ad on newspaper for their upcoming luxuries project in Mirpur DOHS but this promoting strategy had some drawbacks such as, not all people read newspapers, everyone does not read the same newspaper and it is also received by a lot of un potential customers as it is luxurious project in a luxurious place and every social class people reads the newspaper.

Advantages on implementing improvements

when implementing the improvised communication process, the director being the sender sends a message which is to properly promote the upcoming project by the proper use of media and by promoting it in the right place such as giving add on billboards in places like Gulshan, Bonani and baridhara and also selecting a targeted segment and handing out brochures to them. Through promoting like this by using proper media and promoting in the right place, Amicus will be able to find the potential customers better than before and attract them according, which will lead to the estimated interaction of Amicus between the Amicus and potential customers. This was not possible following the old communication process.

Task Four

How to improve own or individual communication skills.

After being enlightened in managing communication we have found out some effective steps that can help someone to improve their communication skills and they are:

• Providing a precise verbal speech about the task so that it will clear to the recipient.
• Also providing a clear written document about the task, this will help them if they don’t understand speech.
• When an individual has problem understanding the task you can use open conversation and non verbal communication, so that he can understand
• When giving a speech about the task it is a necessity that receiving end listens carefully
• When the individual faces confusion in the speech of task they should ask the manager and clear his confusion at that time
• When a group work is given by the manager, the group’s individuals to be selected should have the communication skill to understand where each individual stands and how much work they can do.
• If a problem arises after the task is given it is better to do informal communication at that stage , as through informal communication they can get rid of their confusion in a time consuming manner

Task Five

Existing approaches of data collection, formatting, storage and dissemination of Amicus

After gathering information from their managers and directors we have found how Amicus collect their data, how they format it and how they store it. The approaches of these stages are given below:

Approaches of data collection:

• There are two sources that Amicus uses for collecting data and they are the primary sources such as field visit, face to face meeting, via telephone, e-mail and etc. the other source they use is secondary sources for example newspaper, brochures, annual report, government data and etc.

Approaches for data formatting, storage, security and back up:

• After the collection of data from primary and secondary sources they format their data in a few ways. If they get a written data they have to scan it first in order to format it into word file and after that the word file’s soft copy is kept in their computers such as desktops and laptops. When they receive the data’s soft copy they collect it via pen drive or memory stick and save it in the office computer for further use. If they need to edit any sort of data they edit through the help of MS word or Adobe. When formatting quantative data Amicus uses MS excel and make a spread sheet. After formatting all the data they store it in the files of their computers as well as in log books and for their data security of confidential data’s they use password so that only classified person can take a look but for their backup they just store it in their computer.

All these formatted data are shared internally in the organization through the help of local area network (LAN).

Task Six

What our team has found out that the process Amicus follows for the collection of data, formatting and storing is good compared to their industry but their back up and security is very poor ,so here is an improvised process for back up and security given below.

Approaches of data collection:

There are two sources that Amicus uses for collecting data and they are the primary sources such as field visit, face to face meeting, via telephone, e-mail and etc. the other source they use is secondary sources for example newspaper, brochures, annual report, government data and etc

Approaches of data formatting and data storage:

After the collection of data from primary and secondary sources they format their data in a few ways. If they get a written data they have to scan it first in order to format it into word file and after that the word file’s soft copy is kept in their computers such as desktops and laptops. When they receive the data’s soft copy they collect it via pen drive or memory stick and save it in the office computer for further use. If they need to edit any sort of data they edit through the help of MS word or Adobe. When formatting quantative data Amicus uses MS excel and make a spread sheet. After formatting all the data they store it in the files of their computers as well as in log books and for their data security of confidential data’s they use password so that only classified person can take a look and for their back up and security they can use the virtual networking system such as Cloud Computing Service by IBM.

Task Seven

As we can see from the first existing process of data collection, formatting, storage, security and back up that their security and back up was poor for which an improvised process was made which was quite similar but was appropriately improvised in the security and back up stages.

Existing process:

After the collection of data from primary and secondary sources, such as field visit, face to face, brochures and newspaper they format their data in a few ways. If they get a written data they have to scan it first in order to format it into word file and after that the word file’s soft copy is kept in their computers such as desktops and laptops. When they receive the data’s soft copy they collect it via pen drive or memory stick and save it in the office computer for further use. If they need to edit any sort of data they edit through the help of MS word or Adobe. When formatting quantative data Amicus uses MS excel and make a spread sheet. After formatting all the data they store it in the files of their computers as well as in log books and for their data security of confidential data’s they use password so that only classified person can take a look but for their backup they just store it in their computer.

Improvised process:

After the collection of data from primary and secondary sources, such as field visit, face to face, brochures and newspaper they format their data in a few ways. If they get a written data they have to scan it first in order to format it into word file and after that the word file’s soft copy is kept in their computers such as desktops and laptops. When they receive the data’s soft copy they collect it via pen drive or memory stick and save it in the office computer for further use. If they need to edit any sort of data they edit through the help of MS word or Adobe. When formatting quantative data Amicus uses MS excel and make a spread sheet. After formatting all the data they store it in the files of their computers as well as in log books and for their data security of confidential data’s they use password so that only classified person can take a look and for their back up and security they can use the virtual networking system such as Cloud Computing Service by IBM.

As we can see that both process is quite similar but in the improvised process for back up and security Amicus uses the virtual networking system such as Cloud Computing Service by IBM for they will get high security and back up for example that computer through which Amicus shares their data with the help of LAN has the possibility to crash which will make them loose all their data but if they use the virtual networking system such as Cloud Computing Service by IBM their data will remain safe in the virtual data base of IBM which can only accessed by the authority of Amicus. To keep confidential data’s classified they also use it as it is highly secured.

Evidence

Reference

1. Amicus Properties (2013). About Us. Available: http://www.amicus.com.bd/amicus/index.php Last accessed 09^th March 2014.
2.