Case Studies

• Analytical Skill
• Feedback
• Written Communication

FORE School of Management, New Delhi (India) started offering courses on written communication and analysis for first year MBA students. Students were taught how to develop and express ideas in writing, to communicate with others in any kind of setting, whether academic or community, and to convey their ideas and convictions clearly. They practiced their written skills, and how to convey effectively with direct and confident language to build trust with the recipient.

But written communication skills depend on the feedback they receive. The study evaluates the role of the WAC reader, a new assistant for teachers of communication classes that will assess students’ written work, reports and case analyses by providing them with constructive critical evaluation.

After asking 60 students in one of the classes, 56.8% of the students have found this new position very satisfying for their school learning; and 63% of the participants indicated that they agreed that the WAC feedback helped them to understand their weaknesses in communication, and to focus on the best solutions.

Source: RAINA, R. (2020). Assessing Students’ Perception of the Importance and Relevance of Feedback in Written Communication by the Written Analysis of Communication (WAC) Reader. Abhigyan, 37(4), 30-38. https://www-proquest-com.bibliotecauned.idm.oclc.org/scholarly-journals/assessing-students-perception-importance/docview/2633912372/se-2?accountid=14609

• Formal communication
• Descendent communication
• Verbal communication

Here are the results and conclusions of the study.

Regarding the type of communication to use. Being a small organisation, they all concluded that formal communication was done orally. And when asked how they perceived the use of verbal communication, the majority concluded that the greatest presence of means of communication was top-down (from managers to workers) as opposed to bottom-up and horizontal.

On the other hand, the most used media were:

– Noticeboard. Although the management maintains that there is total freedom to raise complaints about its functioning, the perception of the levels is that these proposals are not taken into account. As a recommendation, the study proposes the use of more means with a response option such as e-mail or meetings in order to know what has been received, and to know the feedback (positive or negative).

– Suggestion box. Being a mean of upward communication (from workers to superiors), it was curious how managers did not know of its existence. The study recommends raising awareness at all levels that they have at their disposal a resource for communicating with their superiors, and placing it in a visible location.

– Meetings. The manager indicated that they had to be limited in time. Production workers did not mention them as a means of communication, and managers stated that meetings were only proposed by management and were not held at lower levels, despite the general perception of their necessity. As a recommendation, the company should try to encourage bottom-up and horizontal communication, rather than top-down.

– Telephone calls. Their main use was to resolve doubts that needed an immediate response. As problems, the manager proposes that its use should be restricted to what is really important to be effective, and the middle manager indicates that barriers such as coverage or environmental noise should be taken care of.

– E-mail. Everyone says that it is the most important means of communication, due to its immediacy and the advantage of putting everything in writing. However, workers point out that they have not been trained to use it correctly.

In general, the study concludes that the company should establish common standards for communication and, in addition, support communication in a way that leaves important issues in writing and that lasts over time.

SANCHIS, P. I., & BONAVIA, T. (2017). Internal Communication System Analysis in a Small Company. Working Papers on Operations Management, 8(1), 9-21. https://doi.org/10.4995/wpom.v8i1.7390.