Communication Plan: Brief Program Background, Business Goals (Term Paper Sample)

Communication Plan
Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Executive Summary
This paper focuses on the creation of an efficient communication plan for A&B Company that will enable it to move from its current state as a Hierarchical Organizational Culture to an Innovative Organizational Culture. The communication plan will thus enable the company to solve the internal issues existing within it therefore enabling the management and the employees to have increased levels of innovation. This increase in innovation will then lead to an augmentation of the market share held by the company, thus making the company more competitive and profitable. The communication plan will be dictated by the various objectives of the company and its stakeholders. It will also be influenced by the knowledge and attitude needs of the various stakeholder groups associated with the company as well as the desired outcomes. The formulation of the communications plan will be objective as it will be created from the analysis of data gathered from the various stakeholders of the firm.
Brief Program Background
Currently, A&B Company is experiencing a decreased level of market share. This has been attributed to the decreased levels of innovation observed on the management and the employees. The company believes that the cause of the decreased innovation is due to unresolved internal issues within the company. This means that the five organizational concepts namely: the organizational culture, organizational climate, organizational effectiveness, organizational mission and the product outcomes are not in alignment. To change this, the company needs to move from the hierarchical organizational culture to an innovative organizational culture. This is because the innovative organizational culture is aligned to what the organization hopes to achieve in the long run which is to produce innovative goods for the clients. The implementation of this culture through an effective communication plan will enable the employees to be creative since the innovative organizational culture allows the employees to be entrepreneurial, innovative, flexible and visionary in their work. They are encouraged to take risks and collaboration exists between the management and the employees. This culture will create an enabling organizational climate for the staff members to be innovative thus producing highly innovative products and services. The current hierarchical organizational culture is stifling innovation because it requires the management to control the employees to such an extent that there is timeliness, uniformity and consistency in the production process. It ensures that there is a predictability of employee behavior. There is the practice of risk aversion, poor cooperation and collaboration as well as inefficient communication. Employees are encouraged to follow the laid procedures to ensure the stability of this culture. As a result of this, the hierarchical organizational culture does not allow the employees to behave in a manner that result into innovation and it is therefore important for the firm to change within a set period of six months.
Business Goals
Business Goal (Outcomes)

What to measure

How to measure

Increase in Profits

Amount of sales in comparison to the expenses

Measured through the Net Profit Margin Ratio which is Profit/sales*100
In comparison to the margin of the previous period

Increase in Market Share

What to measure is the number of customers who prefer to buy from the company within the market

Measured by conducting market surveys to determine the market share held by the company in comparison to the previous period and in comparison to other players within the same industry

Increase in Innovation

Ability of the company to provide the most innovative goods to customers on the market in their industrial niche

Measured by conducting surveys on a sample size of the customers.

Efficient flow of information

Employees ‘ability to be aware of what is going on in the organization

Measured through the use of qualitative data obtained through informal interviews

Improved employee morale

The capacity of employees to maintain a belief in the institution

Measured by collecting data through surveys to determine the levels of employee morale

High level of employee engagement

Commitment of the staff members to the roles allocated to them

Administer a survey to measure the level of commitment of the employees’ to the tasks allocated to them

Achieve a good level of job satisfaction amongst the staff members

Employees’ level of fulfillment in carrying out the tasks allocated to them

Measured by conducting a survey on the feelings of job satisfaction amongst the various staff members

Low stress levels

Employees’ stress levels while undertaking their work

Administering a survey to determine how stressed the employees are in their work environment so as to make the rightful changes

Readiness for change

Employees’ ability to respond positively to system changes within the firm

Measured by employees’ ability to understand and embrace changes made within the organization with a minimum amount of resistance.

The main business objectives for the firm include the increase of company profits. This increase will be informed by an increased level of innovation by the firm. In return, customers will buy more from the company thus increasing the profitability levels of the company. Additionally, the company seeks to increase the market share it holds within the industry. To attain this, the company needs to satisfy the customers better through better innovation. This way, the customers will prefer to buy the firm’s products as compared to the other brands existing within the same market. Currently, the company is having a decreased market share due to diminished innovation attributed to the restrictive nature of the hierarchical organizational culture in place. The implementation of the favorable innovative organizational culture is bound to increase the market share held by the firm.
The company also aims at achieving an efficient flow of information in the organization. This means that managers share information amongst themselves and with the employees. On the other hand, the employees share information amongst themselves and with the management of the day efficiently. This efficient communication is bound to result into more innovation due to the sharing of ideas and the fact that the employees are constantly informed on what the organization expects of them. This differs from what currently exists in the organization which is the limited flow of information in the organization as a result of the hierarchical organizational culture.
Moreover, the company also hopes to achieve an increased level of employee morale. This means that the employees are motivated to carry out their work. Motivation stems from many factors such as having an enabling organizational climate in which the staff members are given autonomy and support while carrying out the tasks allocated to them. This climate is facilitated by the implementation of the innovative organizational culture as opposed to the current hierarchical organizational culture.
In addition to this, the organization also hopes to achieve a high level of employee engagement. This is the level at which the employees are involved in the decision making processes of the firm. As such, the employees are more aware of what is going on in the organization. They feel included in the running of the firm and their output is likely to increase because decisions have not been imposed on them. Rather, they took part in the making of those decisions affecting them. The current organizational culture does not support a high level of employee engagement because it focuses on controlling the employees to achieve stability and consistency. However, the innovative organizational culture encourages employees to give their contribution regarding the running of the organization. As such, it is important to move from the hierarchical organizational culture to the innovative organizational culture to achieve the business objective of increased employee engagement.
Another business objective of the firm is to achieve a high level of job satisfaction amongst the employees. This refers to how the employees feel and think about their job. The firm aims at creating an organizational climate that enables the employees to have positive feelings when they think about their duties or when they engage in activities related to their jobs. Moreover, A&B Company aims at reducing the amount of stress levels experienced by the employees. This can be done effectively by providing the employees with the support they need to carry out their tasks. This ensures that the demands of the job do not exceed the employees’ capacities or available resources.
Stakeholder Objectives and Analysis
* Stakeholder Behavioral Objectives
* Management
Based on the data obtained from the survey, there are three key areas in which the management needs to work on for innovation to improve. The goal of the management is to increase the level of innovation within the firm. The first of these innovation drivers is the support for risk taking by management. Employees rated the favorability of this factor to be at a meager 23% while management rated it at 53% favorability. This is below par and it needs to be improved for innovation to occur. To do this, the management needs to uptake the innovative organizational culture as compared to the hierar...