Introduction-
Communication is the method by which facilitate the exchange of thoughts, information or messages, through visual signal, speech, behavior and writing. Through communication, the organizations can reach their objectives at a stipulated time. In any organization, there are two ways by which the communication is done i.e. nonverbal and verbal communication. The verbal communication is done through the use of any word and language. Using language is an excellent tool as if it gets used correctly; it will undoubtedly help in conveying the information, knowledge and this establish a proper connection between the space and time. The nonverbal communication is a broader term that covers the way by which message can be sent without using any words. There is extreme importance of communication in case of an organization that provides customer services. The lack of communication generally leads to a buildup of misunderstanding between employee-employee, employer-employee and employee-customers and hence creates complication associated with it.
About the company-
AXA UK is the group of companies, which is known for their finances services worldwide. They are currently operating in more than 64 countries with more than 166000 employees and more than 100 million customers. The companies present in the UK are giving services on Insurance by protecting the businesses and people through their full range of products. They also provide healthcare services at an affordable price offering peace of mind to the people. Currently, it was reported that the company was facing a significant drop in the employee engagement after there was a sudden change in the management and business structure. There was a division in the management and staffs that tend to lose the integrity of the employee. It was quite difficult to engage because there was a specific communication barrier between the employee and the new manager. Because of a lack of communication, the overall sales were getting a significant drop (Saha, Perera & Murphy 2018). Every organization faces the communication issue and it becomes quite vital to overcoming the issue to achieve the organizational goals. The scope of this paper is to discuss the communication issue in the organization, its impact and analyzing the communication problem using SWOT and FISHBONE concept and finally propose a possible solution to the issues.
Communication issues in AXA UK-
Workplace communication is important entities that facilitate teamwork. It does not just maintain and build the relationship but it also facilitates a scope of innovation in the organization. The employees feeling comfortable during communication will generate certain new idea with an exceptional rate. The AXA company was facing a similar issue as an employee were not able top communicate properly with the new manager and their previous fellow employees were shifted to another department that created a communication gap. There are several communication issues occurs in AXA as follows-
Fail to communicate properly-
In the workplace where quick and swift replies are dominated through emails and texts, certain details can be overlooked or lost or misunderstood. Just answering with a yes to every question will not make things clear for the customer or fellow employee. By just responding OK when asked for reviewing a document will not address the issue and will not show the real problems that are required to be relooked.
Wrong assumptions about a task-
When the employee is a part of a brainstorming session in a group, or in a group project or email, there are chances that the people may assume that someone else will be doing the task on behalf of the group. When each member thinks that the other person will do the task, then there are high chances that the task remains undone and thus may lead to internal conflicts, missed deadline, blame and finger-pointing.
Unprepared-
When the deadline is approaching or one is late for a meeting and still unprepared, there is a temptation to wing it. According to Lainer (2018), being unprepared on a specific task will lead to misunderstanding, miscommunication, and misdirection of the project (Lainer 2018).
Use of the wrong tool for communication-
There are times when there is an inappropriateness email or phone calls are done to a person. The situation misjudgement or picking up the wrong communication tool can be another issue that breakdowns communication and create a sense of misunderstanding, confusion and feeling hurt (Anderson et al. 2015).
The scope of a communication problem in AXA UK-
Once the structure and the management team of the company changes, it is very difficult for the people in a leadership position to bring everyone on the same page. The same happened with AXA as the sales of the company started going down because of some communication issues within the team. The scopes of the communication issues are quite wider and it can affect the overall function of the company. Outside the messaging or email system, there is a verbal communication goes on among the co-workers through casual interaction and meeting. If there is a positive professional interaction among the co-workers, it will be quite effective at a workplace. The people in a leadership role in the company must be able to have effective communication among the group through panel discussion and presentations. In an ideal scenario, the interaction would lead to progress, however there are several issues that have poor communication that hinders the productivity and business profits. Passive aggression, sexual harassment, bullying are some of the issues that occur in the workplaces. Controlled scripts are not the only option because it limits the knowledge of the employee while communicating with the customers and fails in providing information to the customer regarding the service they need. Failing in such aspect can have a negative impact on the company.
Impact of a communication issue at AXA-
Stress in the workplace-
Anderson et. al. (2015) says that, if there is a high level of stress in the organization than it is a big sign that shows communication issues. Poor communication may create a feeling that implies everything present on the to-do list are to be delivered in urgency and it causes a feeling of tension, hurry and overworked. Poor communication lacks the sense of predictability and stability of a situation and introduces a fear sense that increases tension and inefficient work
Expectations remain unmet-
With a lack of communication, the expectation may remain unmet. The client may miss appointments, teams may miss the deadline and the people involved in a team project not understand their roles in the team. When the employees find it difficult to set the priorities, they often end up choosing the wrong thing and thus disappoint the employer. With improper communication, it becomes quite difficult to know from where to start and how to finish.
Overall according to Hass and Yorio (2018), there will be a significant impact on the business, marketing, finance and overall revenue of the company if there is a lack of or poor communication going on in the business. Therefore it is important to have a clear analysis of the communication before moving ahead to get a possible solution (Hass and Yorio 2018).
Analysis of the problem-
A SWOT analysis of communication issues-
Strength-
Strength is something which means the organization is quite good at and the company relies on it quite highly. The communication strength must be used highly, played with it and may be used for gaining a competitive advantage using it for the company. For instance, the company is having a good source of product information to be passed on to the customers when they ask for it.
Weakness-
These are the communication factors that are not quite good for the company and may lead to certain type of losses for the company. It is important for the company to avoid it with the best possible way and get rid of it completely. AXA is famous for their insurance, however, during a structural change, the employee who is an expert in insurance sales got shifted to the healthcare domain. It will eventually affect the output.
Opportunities-
These are the things that may be beneficial for the company if it is recognized properly shortly. For instance, if there is a lack of communication between the leaders and the staff following them, the head of the company may intervene and start solving the conflict and assign them with a task that will need equal involvement of both employees and the leaders (Holmes and Strubbe 2015).
Threat-
These are the entities that might result in causing loss to the company and needed to be kept separate as much as possible. For instance, In AXA, a new sales executive in either of the domain (insurance or healthcare) with inadequate knowledge about the range of products and services may not be assigned a position without proper training as it may pose losing a good client or customer.
FISHBONE analysis-
Fishbone Diagram
Through Fishbone analysis, it was understood that there was an important link of the changes in the structure of the company along with the management team and the communication breakdown of the company. The employees were unable to communicate with their new colleagues because some of them were new to the insurance field and some were new to the healthcare domain (Haas & Yorio 2018). It was quite uncomfortable for them to give a start. Even the leadership positions were changed and it was difficult for them to initiate a healthy communication with the new team until the leaders initiate something. As per Lanier (2018), there might be issues like lack of uniformity, unwanted stress, lack of faith in the new employee, high expectation and low output etc., were affecting the overall outcome of the company. There may be financial loses, the customer loses and reputation loses of the company.
Solutions to communication issues-
Recently, it was reported that the new managers of AXA send a greeting to their employees on Valentine’s Day to show the importance they carry being the part of the company. Such gestures increase the bonding and reduce the communication gap.
The attention of the leader must be undivided- Whenever a group meeting or panel meeting is conducted, a full focus must be offered to each employee as it will help in attaining a greater communication. With full focus, one can easily make out the differences in the communication pattern of the person and provide feedback accordingly.
The AXA Company also threw a party for the employees with an informal session where the employees of various divisions can interact and get well around each other. It will help in increasing collaborations and learning process.
Conclusion-
The communication barriers are associated with a lot of issues such as physical, technical, psychological and physiological barriers. With some effective communication, it will help the organization to grow in profits and it will allow having a clear understanding between the sender and the receiver of the message. Every organization faces the communication issue and it becomes quite vital to overcoming the issue to achieve the organizational goals.
References
Haas, E.J. and Yorio, P.L., 2018. Using Sensemaking Theory to Improve Risk Management and Risk Communication: What Can We Learn?. In Selected Issues in Global Health Communications. IntechOpen.
Anderson, J., Kuehl, R.A., Drury, S.A.M., Tschetter, L., Schwaegerl, M., Hildreth, M., Bachman, C., Gullickson, H., Yoder, J. and Lamp, J., 2015. Policies aren’t enough: The importance of interpersonal communication about workplace breastfeeding support. Journal of Human Lactation, 31(2), pp.260-266.
