Assignment: Business Communication & Etiquette

Ans(1)

The numerous disadvantages of downward communication that Masbet Corporation

faced are listed below:

1) Downward communication is very time consuming, so when information

reaches to the lower level employees, it loses its importance and value.
2) Downward communication has a distortion problem in information. So when
the information is passed from one employee to another, the communication
becomes distorted and the important information to be conveyed is lost. Masbet
Corporation employees must have got the tendency to manipulate the important
information, due to that the authenticity of information must have lost.
3) Downward communication has got explanatory problems; due to this the
employees fail to understand the message accurately. Moreover, it contains
messages which have irrelevant explanation and meaning.
4) Downward communication lacks motivation and enthusiasm in it. The
purpose of downward communication is to send instructions and advice to the
subordinates. So, when the information to be given is delayed it adversely affects
the motivation and enthusiasm factor of the employees.
5) In downward communication the feedback given is very slow and sometimes
there is total absence of feedback given to the subordinates. It is another one of the
major drawbacks of downward communication. The top level executives of
Masbet Corporation must have placed little or no importance to the lower level
employees and they must have not taken feedback from their subordinates, due to
this subordinates also don’t send feedback to their superiors resulting in lot of
problems. Therefore, the communication becomes ineffective.
6) Downward communication deteriorates relationships and lowers morale and
creates frustration in the employees. There is no direct communication between
the managers and their subordinates. Due to this the employees of Masbet
Corporation might had got negative impact and might had deteriorated the
relationship between the managers and their subordinates. This type of
communication does not allow the subordinates to discuss any matters with their
superiors. Moreover, the subordinates are forced to follow the orders and
instructions of their managers. Such condition in Masbet Corporation must have
created frustration in the mind of the employees, due to which the employees of
Masbet Corporation must have been forced to switch to the lateral communication
instead of downward communication.
Due to numerous disadvantages of downward communication in Masbet Corporation, the
organisation switched to lateral or horizontal way of communication which has various merits
or advantages.

1) Lateral communication allowed the employees of masbet Corporation for better

understanding. Due to this switch of communication, the employees were able to
perform their jobs in more efficient way.
2) This type of communication improved the coordination between employees of
different departments. Due to this the bond between the managers and their
subordinates strengthened.
3) Lateral communication increased the productivity of Masbet Employees. The
problems among various departments were minimized, due to understanding between
employees. As a result the productivity increased among the employees.
4) Lateral communication not only increases the coordination level among employees
but also motivates the employees.
5) Due to the change from downward communication to lateral communication, it
boosted the morale of the employees of Masbet Corporation because of better
understanding and cordial environment in the organisation.
6) Lateral communication facilitated teamwork among the members of Masbet
Corporation.
7) Lateral communication acted as a factor for resolving conflicts and confusions
within various departments.
8) Another benefit of lateral communication is that it’s very time saving.
9) In lateral communication there’s a better implementation of decisions. When lower
level employees are allowed to communicate with each other through lateral
communication, it ensures better implementation of the decisions.
10) Another major advantage of lateral communication is that it increases the job
satisfaction among the employees. Due to cordial atmosphere and by encouraging
the morale of the employees, lateral communication plays a very important role in
increasing the job satisfaction.

From the above points it can be concluded that the disadvantages of downward
communication forced the employees to switch to better way of communication which is
lateral or horizontal communication.

Ans (2)

In the annual function of ‘speed cycle’, Ankit will be presenting the annual report of three
different departments. To present his report Ankit will be using Manuscript mode of public
speaking. In manuscript speech, the speaker reads every word from a pre-written speech. So
sometimes it can be boring without eye contact or movement on the stage and the audience
becomes disinterested. So to make it effective Ankit can use few methods to make the speech
more interesting:
 1) Ankit can make conversational tone of voice to make the speech more interesting
2) The speech should be written in simple words and short sentences so that it does not
bore the audience.
3) To make the manuscript speech more effective, do not recite the manuscript word for
word while delivering the speech
4) Try not to speak when you are reading the manuscript.
5) Don’t be afraid to pause between statements as it will not seem unnatural to the
audience
6) Try to make eye contact as much as possible while you are speaking. If you find
someone from the audience taking interest in your conversation, try to speak to that
person
7) Practice as much as you can to make manuscript speech interesting. The more it is
practised, the more likely it is to be presented with strong eye contact and a
conversational tone.
8) Manuscript speech should be dramatic for effective listening.

By using all the above mentioned points Ankit can make his manuscript speech more
interesting and effective.

In the annual function of ‘speed cycle’ the next employee Rajan will be conducting an
interactive session with the audience in between various programs, so for this Rajan will be
using Impromptu mode of speech. This type of speech is spontaneous and not planned. So to
make it more effective Rajan can use different methods to make it more interesting:

1) Take a deep breath and think about your solution. It will give u time to think, will
calm you down and will make you appear more in control of the situation
2) Find a key point in your solution that you want to convey to the audience. You can
use examples to explain your point which makes it more clear to the audience and
becomes easy for them to understand the message you want to convey to the
audience.
3) Use simple means of communication to convey your message to the audience.
4) Put yourself in the audience’s situation for better understanding.
5) Another way to make impromptu speech effective is know your main point you want
to convey and your purpose of speech
6) Try to deliver a impressive and memorable conclusion.

Therefore to make impromptu speech more effective, Rajan can use the above mentioned
points.

The third employee Sharan will be making a stand up show of storytelling, so for this he
will be using Extemporaneous mode of public speaking. This type of speaking is more
formal than impromptu speaking. It is prepared in advance. To make it more effective,
Sharan can follow certain steps mentioned below:
 1) Use a keyword outline or phrase outline.
2) The more information you have on the topic, the more confident you will be to speak
on that topic.
3) Practice as much as you can. If you know all the information well on that topic and
you have practiced well, you can be successful with extemporaneous speaking.
4) Stay focused on your main point during extemporaneous speaking.
5) Pay attention to the time limit
6) Maintain eye contact all the time with the audience.
7) Don’t memorise your speech but get familiar with it
8) Rehearse many times. The more you rehearse the better your speech will be.
9) Memorise certain key elements of your topic. Pay attention to the opening, the body
and the conclusion of your topic.

So to conclude with, Sharan can make his Extemporaneous Speech more effective by
using the above mentioned key points.

Ans (3)

(a) There can be various benefits of interview techniques that marketing department
will be using for Bobble baby health products, as they are planning to introduce a face
cream for teenagers. This method acts as a very important tool for the collection of
data. The main objective of the interview technique is to collect the relevant data.
Below are the benefits of interview technique that will help the company to
understand the market in a better way:
i. A face-to-face interview method provides advantages over other data
collection methods because in face-to-face interviews the individual
who is being interviewed is unable to provide false information
ii. Face-to-face interview technique has another benefit that it captures
verbal and non –verbal cues. By using the method of non-verbal cues,
it captures the body language of the person whether he is comfortable
or uncomfortable with the question asked. It also shows the enthusiasm
level of the person which is not possible in other data collection
methods.
iii. With the help of interview technique, the interviewer has got control
over the interview and can keep the interviewee focused and on track
and can gather the relevant information.
iv. Another benefit of interview technique is that it captures emotions and
behaviour of the interviewee and it can thoroughly assess the
individual.
v. Data collected by this method is more accurate and correct as
compared to other methods of data collection
 (b) There are many limitations of focus group methods which the company should keep
in mind before using this method to understand the market.
i. A focus group discussion is interaction among one or more individuals to
gather data. In this type of group discussion, the researcher finds it difficult to
control the discussion and manage in comparison to face-to-face interview.
ii. In focus group discussion, not all the individuals take part in the discussion
and could possibly be introverts while other individuals take control of the
discussion and impact the end result and can be biased. Sometimes it becomes
dominated by few people.
iii. When so many participants are speaking at the same time, it becomes very
difficult to record the data. Also, tape recorders can record only those who are
closer.
iv. Data analysis can be very time consuming and a challenging task.
v. Focus group discussions are generally difficult to reproduce. It’s difficult to
validate the discussion and depend upon it.
vi. In focus group method people gather in a room and they might behave
differently from how they behave when they are not watched and it definitely
affects the quality of the research results.

So, from the above discussion it can be concluded that the best data collection method for
Bobble Baby Company will be face-to-face interview technique because the focus group
method of data collection has got numerous limitations as already discussed above.