Business Communication – D2 D2: Evaluate the effectiveness of business information and its communication as key contributors to the success of an organisation, using examples to illustrate your points In this assignment I will be evaluating the effectiveness of business information and its communication as key contributors to the success of an organisation. Verbal Communication Tesco PLC uses verbal communication every day in its stores, offices – when communicating by phone and when meeting are being held.
Tesco PLC are so successful due to the fact that they use verbal communication to the best of their ability this means that when there are problems that need to be resolved quickly Tesco PLC will sort it out verbally as its face to face which allows any problem to be sorted out quickly as you will answer questions immediately and it’ll be easier to explain as you can use facial expressions and hand gestures to explain something.
Verbal communication is effective for Tesco PLC as in their stores customers will always have questions and queries that they want answered, by using verbal communication when dealing with customers in store it allows the organisation to deal with the questions as quickly as possible which will save time and money instead of answering questions via email or letter which will waste too much time and also waste money.
Tesco PLC relies heavily on verbal communication for most of its formal meetings with its staff as the leading manager will explain their topics/issues verbally so their staff understand what is expected of them and so answers in the meetings can be answered as quickly as possible because the manager won’t have enough time for too many meetings in a year as they will also deal with other issues in the organisation.
Tesco PLC and most of it rivals like Asda and Sainsbury’s all use the same method when using verbal communication, the method is that when there are small matters that can be dealt quickly they will use their managers to solve these problems quickly by dealing with these matters verbally to make sure the problem is resolved. At the moment Tesco PLC is the leading supermarket store in the UK, you could argue that the companies effective communication skills have made Tesco PLC the best as they have got their customers trust by using their communication skills effectively.
Asda and Sainsbury’s also have effective communication skills but they are not on Tesco PLC’s levels as their profit is not as good as Tesco PLC which means they might have to address some issues e. g. using verbal communication more often in its stores. Verbal communication does have its disadvantages though which are: – There are no records of the conversation, which means the organisation or individual won’t be able to refer to the conversation as there are no hard copies just words said by both parties. Conversation might be misunderstood e. g. in a meeting there might be foreign shareholder which might not get what is being said to them. The biggest advantage of verbal communication is that questions can be dealt immediately by Tesco PLC, as they are such a big organisation the company will do anything to deal with small matters quickly. Tesco PLC’s verbal communication has made the company successful as they are trusted by their customers for solving problems quickly and ensuring that the customer always comes first. Written Communication
Written communication contributes to Tesco PLC’s success as written communication is things like leaflets advertising Tesco PLC products, letters, emails etc. Leaflets which are part of written communication have helped Tesco PLC advertise many products over the years, Tesco PLC have made exciting leaflets which catch the reader’s attention to sell products. The leaflets that Tesco PLC have given out to the public have proved they are effective as the organisation has seen an increase on car insurance sold just by advertising it on their leaflets.
Written documents like letters and even email sent to customers or staff have proved very effective as the organisation sends out many offers this way, by sending out offers via email or letter its more likely that the customer will look at the offer even though it waste more time and money it’ll help the organisation in the long run as if the customers sees a product they like on the email/letter they might buy it. Emails are effective for Tesco PLC as they use them to interact with staff to share news e. g. n an unlikely circumstance the store might be closed due to heavy snow, the organisation will tell all staff working at that store via email that the store won’t be open on that day. Using email to share news won’t waste the organisations money as they are unusually free which is a big bonus for the company. Written communication is also effective in Tesco PLC’s online website as the way everything is advertised online is what will get better sales, as online sales gain the organisation a big profit the organisation ensures everything is advertised clearly ensuring text is the right font and clear to read.
Tesco PLC’s online website is a very important area for the organisations as it is viewed by many people all over the world which means it provides a good profit, other companies like Asda and Argos also gain a lot of revenue from their websites which means that to be an effective retailer you also need a good website to compete with your rivals.
Written communication does have its disadvantages though which are: – Emails and letters might be ignored by customers as they are seen as a waste of time or junk mail. – Written communication wastes money as when sending letters and leaflets you will have to pay for the distribution and paper which is an expense that the company might have to cut back on.
Written communication is very important for Tesco PLC as the letters, emails and leaflets that are sent by the organisation help the company achieve higher profits because the adverts, queries and questions answered y Tesco PLC are appreciated by the customer which makes them buy from Tesco PLC meaning that written communication is down to some of the success of the organisation. External communication External communication is published material that has been collected or taken from outside the company.
Tesco PLC uses external communication effectively on its websites and when they are doing research on products or certain markets. On Tesco PLC’s website you will find many links to other websites concerning that certain product and you will also occasionally see Tesco PLC advertising on the side of the website. Tesco PLC uses external information like this on its websites to promote the product more so people can buy them, this is an effective way of using external communication for the company as buy having links of where the product is made and information bout the product it lets the customer know about it more meaning they might be more likely to buy that product. Research is the main reason that Tesco PLC will use external communication, gathering communication externally is very beneficial for the organisation as they can get information from the internet, government, trading groups and commercially provided databases, which gives the organisation a wider knowledge on products, rivals and sales statistics.
Tesco PLC will be able to introduce new stores in another part of the world by using external research to gain a wider knowledge of the area, this means that without external communication the organisation wouldn’t be as successful as there would insufficient information to introduce new stores or products. Tesco PLC has a very effective external system as they have many stores in foreign countries which are doing well, if the organisation did not use external communication effectively they would not be successful in other countries as they would not have used external research.
Asda – Tesco PLC’s biggest rival would not be as successful today if it wasn’t for their excellent use of external communication, Asda was taken over by an American organisation called the Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Wal-Mart used a lot of research when preparing the takeover they needed to get to know the UK market better before making an actual bid, if it wasn’t for the external research they done Asda would not be as successful today because they might not have known what the UK market wanted on the stores shelves.
External communication does have its disadvantages though which are: – Gathering all the information will take a long time as you will be looking through various sources. – Some external communication requires payments in order to be accessed which might be too expensive for the organisation. External communication is very effective for the success of Tesco PLC as it is used for research purposes mainly which allow the organisation to expand their stores around the world and also reach a much wider market. Legal/Ethical/Operational
Tesco PLC uses legislations and ethics to protect itself and to maintain a code of practise in their company. Tesco PLC is a trusted organisation that uses legal/ethical/operational issues effectively to protect themselves from things like viruses or whistle blowers. Legal issues are used effectively by Tesco PLC as the organisation follows the Data Protection Act 1998, Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Computer Misuse Act 1990 all these laws are used very effectively by Tesco PLC as they have never breached any of these laws or been major victims.
For example the organisation Sony fell victim to hackers in 2011 which meant they had violated the Data Protection Act 1998 as data and personal information was leaked online, as Tesco PLC has never violated and legal issues or been a victim to them they are trusted a lot more by their customers. When an organisation is trusted by the public they will get a lot more customers as they know what they can expect from the organisation.
Tesco PLC has used its legal issues very effectively as they have kept information private and they are a secure company. Ethical issues are used by Tesco PLC effectively as the organisation has a code of practise that its staff have to follow for the use of email, internet, whistle blowing, organisational policies and information ownership, if any of the following is found to be broken by a member of staff they could get in serious trouble and also lose their job.
For example if a member of staff was to ‘whistle-blow’ (leak certain information to the public) the organisation will not take it lightly as they will sack the person immediately and seek legal action against them, by Tesco PLC showing a strict approach to ethical issues their staff will be unlikely to break these laws and the company will also be seen as more trustworthy as they are dealing well with rule breakers which shows a positive mentality.
Operational issues are used by Tesco PLC to store certain pieces of information, some information are more important than others. Tesco PLC uses operational issues effectively as some information is stored a lot more than others for example backups will be stored every day as they important for the whole system if something goes wrong whereas information to health and safety might be stored a lot less than backups as health and safety might not need a lot of updating which means it doesn’t have to be stored as much.
