INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT KOZHIKODE

IIM KOZHIKODE CAMPUS, P.O, KOZHIKODE-673570

PROGRAMMES OFFICE

Course Name: Business Communication Section: G

Roll No: PGP/25/419 Name of the Student: Shubham Singhal

ANSWER SCRIPT

1. Infra technologies was a highly decentralised organisation with high level of autonomy given
to plants along with own human resources, finance & accounting and product development
departments besides manufacturing and procurement. The very organisation structure consisting
multiple units and plants coupled with the decentralised culture was one of the reasons for the
communication issues in the organisation, stemming from the lack of coordination and
somewhat confusion in the organisation. The main communication issues as identified were:
a. Some level of non-consensus and confusion
Several plant executives attributed the lower contribution to company’s profits to external
factors while reason quoted was the increased cost of the company absorbed under fixed price
contracts.
b. Informal Communication
The plant managers started informally started sharing information on vendors, vendors being
crucial in the business context. Informal communication in such an activity would not bode well
with the organisational performance.
c. Cultural Barriers
Steve Johnes had worked in a hierarchical firm with strict chain of command while INFRA
technologies’ organisational culture was different with focus on decentralisation, innovation and
by the looks of the case, certain degree of informalisation. The cultural differences posed
communication issues, as anticipated and concerned over by Harry Williams.
d. Rigid Vision
Halford’s excessive focus on cost cutting and communicating the same to Steve showed the rigid
and narrow vision and goals of the company. The organisational welfare was highly attributed to
profitability but the quality of delivery and employees were somewhat neglected or were risked
to be neglected.
Moreover, Johnes forming opinion and taking drastic decisions on the basis of information
provided by third party i.e. Betsy on costs of materials of 14 plants showed the lack of holistic
analysis and own investigation in Johnes. It was open question on efficiency and effectiveness of
national vendors in supplying materials in time.
e. Authoritative and Top-Down Approach
Steve with the consent of top management took the decision regarding handling contracts of
$310,000 or more and did not adopt a participative style of leadership and not consulting the
below levels of hierarchy in decision making. This, in part had possibly led to resistance,
although passive through non submission of contracts to Steve.
f. Arrogance on part of Steve
Steve was newly appointed and did not properly meeting even over online platform with the
teams of the organisation. Choosing e-mail as a means to communicate such drastic measure and
 INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT KOZHIKODE
IIM KOZHIKODE CAMPUS, P.O, KOZHIKODE-673570
PROGRAMMES OFFICE
not paying heed to personally meeting with the executives even after being prompted by Betsy,
Steve’s leadership and behaviour was on the arrogant side and the same was exemplified through
the stark and authoritative language being used in the email he wrote to the plant executives. He
did not attempt to influence anyone positively and tried to be boss, controlling everyone.
g. Misinterpreted Email
The replies to Steve’s email mentioned intimation about contracts to Steve two weeks prior
while the original email mentioned three weeks’ prior notice.

2. “No contracts were submitted to Steve Johnes”. The email of Steve did not mention the time
limit of intimation of contracts which would majorly explain the no submissions. The quoted
statement showed the non-compliance of new policy by the plant procurement managers which
may be intentional or unintentional:
Arguments for Unintentional non-compliance
o Burdened with work : The case mentioned that pants were burdened with work and
employees working extra shifts. This could be attributed to backlog of orders and the
rush orders that Infra catered to for loyal customers which constituted 12% of annual
sales and not especially profitable. Amidst the busy schedules, might be possible that the
managers would have overlooked to follow the new guidelines since no window for
phased implementation (since it was effective immediately) was given.
o Misinterpretation of email : The replies to Steve’s mail hinted at possible
misinterpretation or mis reading of the original mail. The replies included intimation of
contracts within two weeks while the policy mentioned three weeks (not mentioned in
mail). They may be instances where further mis interpretation of email could have taken
place and thus the non-compliance.
Arguments for Intentional non-compliance
o Absence of Participative Decision Making : The policy decision was taken without the
inputs of plant procurement managers and feeling hurt, they would have decided to not
comply with the new policy.
o Lack of influence of Steve : Steve was the decision maker in this case and he did not
personally or even virtually with procurement managers. His lack of influence as an
effective leader and figurehead for managers might have led to non-compliance of
policy.

3. The reasons for procurement managers deliberately not complying with the new policy could
be attributed to both the earlier decisions of managers and ineffective communication of Steve.
I. The arrogant and bossy tone of the email communicated, ignorance of views of the plant
procurement managers and lack of personal influence and affluence by Steve could
explain deliberate resistance of the plant procurement managers to not comply with the
new policy.
II. The top down communication and supposed formalisation must have hurt the sentiments
of managers due to cultural barriers since Steve was not accustomed to Infra
Technologies’ culture, that led to non-compliance.
 INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT KOZHIKODE
IIM KOZHIKODE CAMPUS, P.O, KOZHIKODE-673570
PROGRAMMES OFFICE
III. The missing You attitude in communication would have led to the feeling of non-
affiliation in the mangers and that the organisation was deaf ears to their views and
feelings as well as experience in the procurement function.
IV. Another stark reason could be the earlier decision taken by managers where they
informally exchanged vendor information considering cost pressures. Such actions might
not have boded well with the organisation’s top management, Steve included and out of
fear, they would have deliberately ignored the policy change.
V. Another reason could be that that they did not agree with the terms of the policy and thus
chose to not follow them. Grapevine network could have been formed and consensus to
boycott the policy could have been taken.

4. Johnes’ lack of participative style of leadership, authoritative attitude, absence of YOU

attitude and somewhat dictatorship and arrogance were partly responsible for the failure of
policy. The ineffective communication via email did not complement the implementation of
policy and could have hurt the feelings of many readers in the organisation culture where
informalisation and autonomy was given importance.
The primary step in short term that could be taken was to away with the strict chain of command
and authoritarianism. Importance needed to be emphasized on mix of top down and bottom up
approach. New mail with clear intention of hearing, listening and valuing plant executives’
views on the policy, any suggested changes and ways of implementation to be open to dialogue
and discussion could have been circulated to make the employees feel valued. Merely occupying
position of leadership was not enough, Steve had to live up to it using effective communication
and regard for the views and experience of plant executives.
Proper communication would include:
i. Planning and preparation of policy and implementation subject to extensive discussion in
the presence of volunteering plant executives and other employees directly or indirectly
involved.
ii. Setting of ground rules and intentions as to the end results desired to be achieved to give
direction and motive to discussion and communication.
iii. Clarification, decision and justification for the decision so taken after deliberation and
negotiation as to the intricacies involved involving to whom the decision would be
applicable, what alternatives were considered and why the chosen one was indeed
chosen.
iv. Closure and implementation of the decided policy with proper documentation and clear
steps on implementation.

5. The email that was sent by Steve was rather arrogant in language and authoritative in nature.
The potential issues in the email are enumerated as below:
a. Vague Subject Line
The subject line “ Prior Approval of Contracts” did not clarify clearly as to its meaning in the
organisational context. ‘Which type of contracts?’ ‘For whom?’ ‘What does approval mean?’.
Although subject line ought to be short but it should have been representative of the body of the
email.
b. Missing Salutation
 INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT KOZHIKODE
IIM KOZHIKODE CAMPUS, P.O, KOZHIKODE-673570
PROGRAMMES OFFICE
The emails should have started with greetings like ‘Respected or Dear Plant executives’.
Although the executives were under Steve, basic salutation would have showed respect for the
executives and could have had negative impact on many readers of the mail. Moreover, missing
salutation also took away the clarity as to whom the email was addressed.
c. Authoritative Email and missing You Attitude
The tone of the email was very bossy and seemed like an order being given to the plant
executives. The humbleness and you attitude was missing in the sense that the email entailed
what Steve expected with no regard to the plant executives. No reasons for such decision were
given and such drastic decision ought NOT BE EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.
Missing Information
The email missed the three weeks intimation clause as decided and open to wide interpretation.

Importance of written communication in corporate culture

Written communication act as a permanent source of information in an organisation. Culture
represents group and organisational behaviour and documenting the ways, policies and rules of
an organisation as well as communicating the same whether to outside stakeholders or internal
new or existing joiners gives the idea of corporate culture to the readers. Thus written
communication is important in corporate cultural context.
Sometimes people are uncomfortable in directly and physically communicating and sometimes it
is not feasible as in case of communicating to 1000+ employees in a short duration. In such
cases, written communication comes handy.
Care should be exercised when using written communication as everything becomes on record in
such type of communication and both sender and receiver must abide by the culture of the
organisation while using any medium of written communication be it text message, emails,
memo, etc.
Minutes of corporate meetings, new policies of companies, newspaper advertisements and
almost 50% of digital advertisements predominantly use written communication to convey
information and promotion to people.
Most important care in written communication is regarding the extensive use of 7 Cs of
communication including conciseness, clarity, correctness, courtesy, concreteness, completeness
and consideration.
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