L ette tterr of T r ans ansmi mittal ttal
22April, 2015.
Wasik Ali khan Faculty Member School of Business North South University Bashundhara, Dhaka. Subject: Submitting the group project on internal communication system of Step Media Limited
Dear Sir, We, the students of BUS251 (sec11), are submitting our group project. We have given our maximum effort in this research. We are very grateful for this opportunity that you have given to us to analyze and interpret skills that will help us in our future career. Thanking You Yours Sincerely
SL
Group Name
Id
1
Ragib Rahman
1210519030
2
Tasnim Kibria Aurpa
1230206030
3
Md.Syful Islam Prince
1220418030
4
Abu Huraira Zaman
1210763030
5
Shamsul Kibria Arnob
12108350330
6
K.M.Abdullah Zahid Niloy
1111285030
Signature
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Acknowledgment This project wouldn’t have been possible without the contribution and help of numerous amounts of people. During the period of preparing the report, we have gained a lot of assistance from a number of persons including our honorable cou rse instructor Wasik ali khan
We are thankful to the respective personnel of Step media because they showed their highest degree of temperament in answering our persistent questions. Such friendly cooperation made our report a pompous outcome.
Finally, thanks to every member of this group. They put their spontaneous activities and best effort to complete the report successfully. At last but not the least, we are grateful to our everrespected parents those who always give us ment al support and well wishes.
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Table of content
Topic Introduction Organizational Overview
Page number 5 6-8
Areas of Research
9
Hypothesis
10
Research Methodology
11-12
Data Analysis
13-20
Recommendations
21
Limitations
22
Conclusions
23
Bibliography
24
Appendix
25
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Executive Summary: In this report we will talk about internal communication system of Step Media Limited. We carried out this research in order to find out a problem communication system in Step Media Limited. In order to do so, we took help from our primary and secondary research results. Having carried out our survey, we put our results in graphs and determined whether our hypothesis was confirmed or not. We also discussed about Step Media Limited in our paper; its commencement and operations. We also mentioned out limitations in our research. And last but not the least; we gave some recommendations about how some problems in the organization’s internal communications system could be resolved. The twenty respondents in our primary research were the main source of our primary data.
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Introduction The media of Bangladesh refers to the print, broadcast and online mass media. The constitution guarantees press freedom of expression within reasonable restriction, though some media outlets have been harassed. The Bangladeshi media is ranked at 120 out of 178 countries on the reporters without borders press freedom index. Step Media Limited is pioneer in print production and one of the most integrated printing, publishing, signage and display solution companies in Bangladesh. It aims to offer value added solutions that meet the most demanding of needs within the budget guideline of clients. Step Media Limited was formed in June 1998. Initially, it started as a Media Development Center, along with a market research and development wing and computerized digital image printing facility. Eventually, software development, event management and other related functions joined its flow to complement its operations. Along with computerized digital image printing facility, it provides the most innovative planning, designing and the latest tools in organizing event management programs for events held locally and internationally. Despite Step Media Limited’s growth, the service still remains customer driven with an emphasis on value for money, quality, reliability and innovation. The company consists of 12 branch offices and now employs almost 718 people as permanent workforce and many outsourcing staffs associated with the company. Communication is one of the most dominant and important activity in an organization. Fundamentally, relationships grow out of communication, and the functioning and survival of any organization is based on effective relationships among individuals and groups. Internally, employees face some problems. One is limitation of file transfer. If the file size is bigger than the internal system validates, employees cannot transfer the file, and most importantly, there are some communication restrictions in terms of different departments to transfer data.
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Organizational Overview Detailed Blueprint of the Existing Hierarchy of Internal Communication:
Step Media Limited got three directors who are the superiors of the whole company of three respective departments. Under those department middle managers direct their production level managers and they decentralize their works as per plan which is a very much conventional process. The whole company uses the same chain of command to complete their future course of action.
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The detailed hierarchy indicates the vertical span of control of internal communication which is always slide downward to upward and upward to downward. There is no way to break the chain of command.
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Existing Components of Communication:
The effectiveness of communication makes or breaks business relationships. If the key components of effective communication are missing, business productivity will decrease and its employees probably would not like each other very much. To improve the functionality of a business and the flow of information, managers of Step Media limited continually emphasize to employees the key components that affect the process of communication. 1. Listening 2. Email 3. Clarification 4. Concision 5. Feedback
Listening
Feedback
Concision
Email/Memo
Clarification
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Objectives: Reasons behind Choosing the Company Step media limited is a Media Management Company which consists of event management, market research and printing production which can provide a total solution of a national or international event. There are different projects on different companies before but finding communication problem in a company like Step Media Limited is a beginning of pointing out problems where products are a bit different in terms of Bangladesh perspective.
Area of Research: We are working on Step media. In this research field we are now going to highlight out problem according to which our report will be organized. For highlighting our problem based on 3 ways we will use infinitive phrase.
Problem (I nf in iti ve Phr ase): To measure why the productivity of the employee at step media is decreasing rapidly.
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Hypothesis A proper and effective internal communication is mandatory for any organization to establish & survive in the highly competitive business world. Proper internal communication in an organization affects the way in which employees behave and this can affect employee performance and productivity. On the other hand, any discordance in the internal communication in an organization can lead to underutilization of an organization’s resources. Research has shown that some benefits that internal communication strategy can offer are: i)increased productivity, ii)ability to approach critical situations proactively, iii) reduced day to day conflict between co-workers, iv) higher employee retention ratio, v)more effective vi)maintain a good internal environment in the work and vii)responsive customer service etc. And external communication strategy can have a significant impact in the brand image of the organization. In addition, an effective external communication is much needed to attain a good brand identity not just only among the target audiences but also in the general public.
Hypothesis:
1. Strict restrictions and ineffective communication system in the internal-departmental caused decreasing of employee productivity. 2. Not accurately delivertask information in the internal department caused decreasing of employee productivity. 3. Totally not allowing informal communication at the place caused decreasing of employee productivity.
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Research Methodology Sources of Data
Secondary data
Primary data
Direct interview
Questionnaire
Books
Journals
Websites
Fig: Data Collection sources
This methodology is conducted in a systematic way beginning from selection of the topic to end report preparation. The fundamental part was to collect and identify data; the latter part was to analyze, interpret and present in a systematic manner to find the inquired information. The overall process of methodology followed in the study is explained further.
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Data collection from Primary source: For our primary data, we have conducted an interview with Taksim Waris Khan, brand service executive of Step Media Ltd., to know about Step Media Ltd. The interview has provided us significant information of the contemporary scenario, which helped us a lot to prepare this report. We also surveyed twenty employees of the company to know in detail about their business communication process.
Data collection from the secondary sources: To conduct this research we also went through some secondary data which includes journals and articles. In this competitive business world, global markets have created a dimension of faster communication and transportation, technological advancement, and potential opportunities for multinational enterprises to expand. But today’s firms will not succeed without a coherent business communication that much. Global firms today depend on their manager’s skills to communicate and persuade, whether from corner to corner of any cultures, within the organization, or with rivals who are demanding to the company’s for its existence. Business conversationalists will be in touch with people from every region of the world who have changeable proficiency levels in terms of their language skills, their comprehension of the global business surroundings, and their communication skills within their culture.
To have a vanquishing performance of an organization, it is important to conserve transparency among the employers and employees. There are good numbers of communication barriers in an organization, but to ensure the free flow of information between the sender and the receiver, these communication barriers must be overcome and for this it is important to understand the underlying causes of business communication barriers which may include a wide range of factors. Every employee must try their level best to avoid business communication barrier in an organization for effective business communication.
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Data Analysis Question 1: Do you feel the existing internal communication system of your company is effective?
Q. Do you feel the existing internal communication system of your company is effective ?
7 No Yes 13
After conducting a survey within the employee level, above response is found within the sample size. It surely expresses the negative perception of the employee for the internal communication process. 13 respondents agree that the organization had the necessity to improve the internal communication process.
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The further research is done; it is found that the process has some serious negative issues which sometimes break the efficiency level in a worst way. When the answers of the survey were analyzed further, the personal opinion had a different scenario. In a summarized way, the most common opinions were like this- The existing internal communication process is lengthy; - File transfer processes has some issues; In a company like Step Media Limited the internal communication process is very important to make it more effective where it consists of different wings and products are interrelated to mass media and other services. To maintain the effective communication process the organization does use some tools which are effective or partially not effective. The gap between this two the most serious issue for Step Media Limited in terms of internal communication process.
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Question 2:Q. Does informal Communication affect the overall productivity?
Q. Does informal Communication affect the overall productivity?
8
Yes No 12
From the above graph, this can be easily figured out that 12 of the respondents agree that informal communication affect the overall productivity of the Step Media Limited. 8 of the other respondents do not agree with this issue. This analysis is only based on the respondent survey results. When the further research is done, the results got a mixed edge. From the different opinion of the different employees, some issues are seen regarding the informal communication. As the organizational culture, informal communication is discouraged from the top to the bottom the hierarchy.
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From the above scenario, this can be easily observed that the main factor of the positive scenario is the discouraging trend of the informal communication because the internal information is valued a lot as an event management company. On the contrary, It can be also said that informal communication sometimes help to break the barrier of the production efficiency and help to take quick decisions to implement back up plan for further production efficiency.
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Question 3: Q. There are some restrictions in the intradepartmental data transfer, do you agree?
Q. There are some restrictions in the intradepartmental data transfer, do you agree ?
4
Yes No
16
From the above graph, this can be easily figured out that 16 of the respondents agree that there are some restrictions in terms of intra-departmental data transfer of the Step Media Limited. 4 of the other respondents do not agree with this issue. This analysis is only based on the respondent survey results. When the further research is done, there are some interesting information are found. Special permissions need to be approved by the respective departmental heads in cases where specific data needed for the production purpose
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Question-4: Is informal communication in terms of internal communication allowed in the company?
Is informal communication in terms of internal communication allowed in the company?
7 No Yes 13
According To survey we can see that 13 employee agree thatinformal communication in terms of internal communication is not allowed in the company but 7 employee says that it’s allowed. When the further research is done, there are some interesting information are found.
Here
employee are s=totally not allowed to do informal communication because step media is strictly follow formal communication process. They think formal communication process will lead them to achieve success and for this reason they don’t allow informal communication process in the step media.
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Question 5: Does company accurately get the required information from the internal department?
Does company accurately get the required information from the internal department?
7 No Yes 13
According to survey we can see that 13 employee agree thatinformation received through internal communication of Step Media Limited is accurate. But 7 say that it’s not accurate. When the further research is done, there are some interesting information are found. Here employee strongly agree that they step media is accurately received information through internal communication.
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Result: st
At last according our survey and research we can say that in this report our 1 hypothesis- strict restrictions and ineffective communication system in the internal-departmental caused decreasing of employee productivity is True. nd
Our 2 hypothesis-not accurately deliver task information in the internal department caused decreasing of employee productivity is False. 3rd hypothesis - Totally not allowing informal communication at the place caused decreasing of employee productivity is also True. As among 3 hypotheses our survey proves 2 hypotheses correct and true. So based on this we can say that our area of research or problem what we discovered is absolutely correct.
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Recommendations 1. Upgrade the Intranet Email: Implementing high speed internet and cloud computing would remove the barrier of system interruption in the communication process where internet email and intranet email both are inter-connected. 2. Modify file access barrier: Using new technology it is needed to remove manual verification by sending memos and introducing indiv idual user verification. 3. Implement back up process: Always have to reserve a back-up server for uninterrupted communication. 4. Allow informal communication officially: There is a trend of scheduled meeting but need to increase motivational functions annually for the establishment of inter-departmental harmony.
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Limitation 1. The research work was time consuming and individually asking respondents to answer the
survey and recording their responses was difficult. 2. The research process was costly and there was a shortage of money and because of this reason
the research process was affected. The labo r and time costs to carry out the survey were high. 3. Many respondents missed one or two question. And because of this Potential for error, the
results could be skewed. 4. Certain respondents were hesitant to be completely truthful while speaki ng to an interviewer
because of the fear of being judged, and this could lead to biased results. 5. The whole survey process was conducted on the basis of the survey question result .that means
the respondent controlled the survey process to some extent. Sometimes the research process was slow because the respondents didn’t send survey answer timely.
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Conclusion To sum it up the consciousness of the resource features of internal communication system is not at the level that would definitely require the introduction of organizational communicational system. The function of the communicational system is mainly and systematically to provide information in an adequate and integrated way within an organization. Its implementation naturally means cost to the organization, but is needless to say that information is also a commodity and as such the informational and communicational resources require taking them into account similarly to traditional resources.
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Bibliography Armbrecht W.: Innerbetriebliche Public Relations, Opladen: Westdeutscer Verlag Arnott 1992. Bevan, R. – Bailey,J. :Lesley’s Handbook of Public Relations and Communication 1991. Bogner,Franz: Das neu PRdenken 1990. Cutlip, S.- Center, A.- Broom, G. : Effectiv Public Relations Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs 1985. D’Aprix, R. : Communicating for Change – Connecting the Workplace with the Marketplace. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers 1996.
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Appendix Research Questionnaire Internal Communication of Step Media Limited Please Circle the options given below: Age range: a. 20-30; b. 31-40; c. 41-50; d. 50 and above. Gender: a. Male; b. Female 1.
Do you feel existing internal communication system of your company is effective? a. Yes; b. No
2.
How do you find the information received through internal communication of Step Media Limited? a. Somewhat useful; b. Not useful; c. Not useful at all
3.
What are the media of data transfer in terms of internal communication currently company follows? a. Email (Intranet); b. Meetings; c. Manual; d. Notice board; e. Memo
4.
Is informal communication in terms of internal communication allowed in the com pany? a.Yes; b. No; Why? All things cannot be documented so in some cases company allows informal communication.
5.
Does informal communication affect the overall productivity? a.Yes; b. No;
6.
There are some restrictions in the interdepartmental data transfer. a.Yes; b. No; c. One department cannot access another departments data
7.
Which media of internal communication would you prefer in the company? a. Email (Internet); b. Memos; c. Meetings; d. Notice board; e. Informal communication
8.
Which options would you prefer for possible solution to increase efficiency in internal communication? a. Cloud computing; b. Organizing annual cultural events; c. High speed internet server; d. Organized data filing; e. Back-up process for internal communication in terms of noise (e. g Server downtime);
9.
Circle options as many as you like: a. I get well informed about my task through internal communication process; b. I can communicate swiftly with my available options validated by the company; c. There are opportunities available to me to express my ideas to upper management; d. Communication procedure is lengthy;
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e. Data searching process is time consuming.
10. Does company fully motivate their employees? a.Yes b. No
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