Nixor

Adeel Baghpati
Ahmed Zukhruf Rao
Rafay Tanweer
Asad Ali
Group # 4
Course: Business Communication
Professor: Miss Talat Hameed Davis
Dated: 15th November 2021

Table of Contents
No table of contents entries found.
 List of Illustrations
Nixor Student Survey

The survey was a series of questions which were asked from 50 current and former Nixor
students. It was conducted on a scale from 1-5 with 1 being the least favorable score and 5 being
the most favorable score.
1. How responsive and accommodating is the Student Affairs Program in your College

This survey was conducted on a scale of 1-5.

1=Not at all

5=Extremely accommodating

2. How responsive is the management to the student body’s requests and feedbacks?
This survey was conducted on a scale of 1-5.

1=Not at all

5=Extremely accommodating

3. If you wanted to discuss important matters with your management, do you think you

would be given a chance to have a meeting with them?

This survey was conducted on a scale of 1-5.

1=Not at all

5= Extremely accommodating

4. In your opinion, is the administrative and the student affairs body very detached from the

student body?
This survey was conducted on a scale of 1-5

1=Not at all

5=Absolutely

Nixor Administration Survey

The survey was a series of questions which were asked from 50 current Nixor employees. It was

conducted on a scale from 1-10 with 1 being the least favorable score and 10 being the most

favorable score.

1. Are your everyday responsibilities and your job description clearly communicated to

you?
This survey was conducted on a scale of 1-10

1=Strongly Disagree

10= Strongly Agree

2. On a scale of 1-10, how often do you receive a constructive performance feedback?

Please respond with keeping the consideration of it being effective or not?

This survey was conducted on a scale of 1-10

1=Strongly Disagree

10= Strongly Agree

3. Do you feel like your subordinates value your feedback?

This survey was conducted on a scale of 1-10

1=Strongly Disagree

10= Strongly Agree

4. On a scale of 1-10, how valuable is a feedback to you?

This survey was conducted on a scale of 1-10

1=Strongly Disagree

10= Strongly Agree

5. How well do you feel does the communication network works between the three sub

sections Nixor has?

This survey was conducted on a scale of 1-10

1=Strongly Disagree

10= Strongly Agree

 Cover Letter

Date: 15th November 2021

Miss Talat Hameed Davis,

IBA, Karachi,

Respected Ma’am,

Subject: Report on Communication within the Nixor Group

As requested, the report is written in the light of the course, Business Communication that was
taught to us this semester. It provides an in-depth analysis of the communication objectives and
theories adopted by one of the renowned institutions of the Karachi: Nixor. A research study
pertaining to the students, administration members, and teachers of the three sub-sections: Nixor
College, Nixor O’ Levels and Civitas was carried out to gain an insight into the ways these
colleges operate in terms of management.

Our reason for choosing Nixor College owes to our high level of familiarity with it as students in
the past. Other than that, a high magnitude of students in the IBA comes from this institute who
can impartially testify for the data and analysis of the research. With the aid of ample data and
information, the research will vividly trace out the strategies and visions adopted by these
institutes.

It must not go unnoticed that the course material was immensely helpful in understanding the
dynamics of the communication strategies adopted by various firms. Moreover, the report built
up on our knowledge and provided us with insights into the practicality of these theories. We
hope that this report proves to be as helpful and informative to you as it did to us.

Yours Sincerely,

Group 4
Business Communication Students
IBA Karachi,

ab
 Letter of Transmittal

Date: 15th November 2021

Talat Hameed Davis

Professor/Teacher
Institute of Business Administration Karachi

Dear Mrs. Davis,

Subject: Communication Survey on Nixor

We are writing this letter to elaborate on the communication process between the Nixor College,
Nixor O’ Levels and Civitas. The focus is essentially on understanding how the process works
and what barriers does the organization have to face. This report aims to help various colleges
across Pakistan by equipping them with tools to strategize their communication methods, in light
of how they were used in one of the leading institutes of Karachi.

We possessed an edge in terms of conducting interviews owing to the fact that most of us had
studied in the Nixor College in the past. This advantage led to the feasibility for us to contact the
head of the institution and request him a certain amount of time for an interview. Since we were
already aware of the operations of the institute, it was easier for us to extract relevant
conclusions out of the overall study.

We believe that a lot of students will be able to resonate with it not only because a huge
percentage of IBA students comes from Nixor, but also because they've been to a college once in
their lifetime and their experience might match a little if not completely with that of ours as
Nixor students.

Yours Sincerely,

Group 4
Business Communication Students
IBA Karachi,

ab
 Acknowledgement

We would like to begin by expressing our gratitude towards Mrs. Talat Hameed Davis for

exceptionally molding our minds to gain a better understanding of Business Communication and

its branches. The lessons learnt throughout the semester have gratefully clung to our minds and

provided us with tools to devise a systematic research report. Moreover, we would also like

acknowledge the efforts of our TA, Ms. Anum, for always keeping her doors open for counseling

and omitting all the ambiguity we possessed regarding the course.

Other than that we are also thankful to the dean of Nixor College, Mr. Nadeem Ghani, for

taking out time to meet with us and installing a myriad of information into our minds about the

operation of his organization’s communication processes. The composition of a detailed

analytical report would not have been possible without him. Moreover, another role played in

helping us prepare this report was of Mr. Qasim Naveed who is currently the head of Student

Affairs at Nixor.
 Executive Summary

The report provides a detailed analysis pertaining to the communicational methods of the three

sub-sections of one of the top institutes in Karachi: Nixor College, Nixor O’ Levels and Civitas.

Our primary focus is how the application of effective communication between administration,

students, teachers, and other stakeholders takes place in this organization. We conducted an

interviews and had Google forms filled out by the staff and the students of these respective

institutes. The following systematic research inferred that the Nixor College was better at

adapting to the new normal by modifying their policies and accelerating their pace of making

decisions. Although there are other several potential competitors in town like Alpha or

Beaconhouse, the implementation and execution of an excellent communication network has

remained phenomenal between all three sub-sections. Approaching such an organization was a

difficult task, mainly due to the pandemic, yet, their representatives, helped us by filling out

forms and giving an interview.

While, we made sure to cover everything that could facilitate our study, we yet encountered

some limitations in terms of approaching the college. These issues were mainly pandemic related

as coming back to work and that too at the same pace that it was pre-covid, wasn’t easy.

However, with our persuading skills and strategic planning, we were able to conduct the

interview thoroughly and made this research project a success.

 Introduction
In recent years, there has been some fine growth in terms of A-level colleges opening in

Pakistan, and especially in Karachi. Starting a college is considered to be very easy, not in terms

of capital, but in terms of the resources and data available. As a result, several colleges have been

inaugurated all around the city, but managing a college is not an easy task.

Here we are talking about an institution that is working as a college, as well as a school system

with 3 branches in total. Nixor College was established in 2008 as an A-levels college with a

mission to create future leaders of the country. It offers a number of subjects across natural

sciences, humanities and business.  It is recognized by the British Council as one of the best A

Level colleges in the country because of its comprehensive approach to a high quality

educational program.

Nixor College also has an O’ level section named “Nixor O’ Levels” that has classes from grade

7 -11. The school creates an experienced based learning environment with a strong emphasis on

connecting classroom to applications in the real world. It aims to prepare its students for the best

A’ level colleges whether they choose colleges across Pakistan or internationally.

Another sub-section for Nixor is its institution, Academia Civitas that has elementary and

primary classes. The educational philosophy behind Civitas is not getting confined to the

classroom only, rather work in a more open environment that enhances student experience.
Our report is based on how these three institutions operate and communicate effectively and how

the communication process takes place in implementing and passing down decisions from the

top to the lower level of hierarchy.

Findings and Analysis

We have concluded our findings after conducting in-depth interviews with the current staff

members and ex-staff members at Nixor College. The interviews were conducted via Zoom

meetings. The aim of the interviews was to understand the management methodologies at Nixor

College, Nixor O’ levels and Academia Civitas.

In our interviews, we focused on understanding how these institutions work on their

communication between their three campuses. We got insight on how their teams work together

to reach decisions and how the dean, Mr. Nadeem Ghani, divides his time efficiently in

communicating with the administration members. We identified the factors that that contribute to

the smooth and organized running of the organization.

One of main areas that we projected our focus on was the impact of Covid on the communication

between the the administration members, the teachers and the students. It was the prime reason

why it was a hassle persuading the heads of the Institutes to let us borrow some of their time. The

conclusions that were extracted entailed a constellation of ways that were implemented to cope

up with the inconveniences that had accompanied the virus. All three institutions exceptionally

managed to overcome the changes and surprisingly adapted to the situation even when they were
short of time. However, there were still some difficulties arisen while working on how to

effectively reach out to teachers or having a zoom meeting rather than an in person meeting.

Organizational Communication
In order for an organization to be successful, it is imperative that they have a structured

communication process taking place. When it comes to schools, good management is as essential

as academics. In the competitive city of Karachi, many A-level colleges, schools, and elementary

institutions are already established and most of them are running independently, however, there

are a few, such as Nixor College that have a group running all three sections. Nixor’s success is

not only attributed to its stellar records, but also their management systems. The interviewees

revealed the following attributes when it came to effective communication.

Communication Systems
As we already know that Nixor has three branches, so it is important for the institutions success

that they have a robust and effective communication model in place. We can categorize the

communication system into two different settings.

Firstly we analyze the communication within a certain branch. In order for the branch to keep

working in coordination, the communication process needs to be on point. The documentation

and paperwork plays an important role in this as well as digital media such as Emails and Memos

etc. Understanding between the staff is of the highest level i.e. everyone understands their roles

as well as the role of others and hence communication takes place in an uninterrupted flow.
Intercultural communication matters a lot here and therefore each and every staff member

respects and knows how to deal with other staff members so that there is no breakdown in

communication. In order to bring in a broader range of views and ideas, workforces are diverse

in nature which also integrates a wide pool of talents and skill.

Secondly we analyze the communication between branches of the institution. In order for the

whole structure of the institution to keep working, inter branch communication is very important

otherwise it’s possible for the branches to stray away from the mainframe. Here again digital

media plays and important role for communication in general. Physical and online meetings take

place frequently to discuss certain matters also there is a dedicated communication channel that

caters to quick flow of information. Perhaps the most important factor that helps harmonize the

branches is the existence of a bridge team/workforce which consists of individuals that focus

solely on the smooth communication between the branches.

Apart from the above mentioned factors that contribute to the communication model, another

measure taken by Nixor is the existence of backup communication modes. In case of any system

breakdown, backups are in place to make sure communication isn’t interrupted. This shows how

well the communication system has been laid out as well as how important communication is for

this institution.

Hierarchy
The organizational structure of the institution helps in establishing a communication hierarchy as

well as everyone’s position within that hierarchy. The different levels within the communication

hierarchy of this institution are shown below.

• Board of Directors

• Deans of the different branches

• Senior operators of the different branches

• Staff

The flow of communication between the different levels of the institution maybe upward,

downward or across the same level depending on the different types situations that arise as well

as where and what type of information needs to be communicated. The aim of this hierarchy is to

make sure that any organizational level of the institution is not left out or omitted from the

communication process and that information reaches everyone.

Role of Individuals

Defining roles and responsibilities enables not only finding the right person for the job but

improving the employee’s experience and job satisfaction. Ultimately it supports the efficiency

and effectiveness of your organization.

“At Nixor with every position there are some assigned objectives” – Zara

Zara further explained that every employee has been assigned objectives on a quarterly basis.

Besides that, it is a common practice amongst employees to list down their daily tasks. It is

important to know what issues are most important to address and what type of person is most

needed. Of course, the issues may change every six months, but the effort to define

responsibilities will help set expectations and improve the likelihood of success. 
 Team Management

Collaboration is working together to solve complex problems often deemed as essential for

nearly every profession. Team members have a shared mission and are then collectively

responsible for their work. We asked various employees on different levels of the employee

hierarchy to get their opinion on the effectiveness of working in a team.

Nixor’s organizational structure is such that some teams are formed automatically. Teams from

different departments are therefore formed to ensure harmonious performance. It becomes vital

that every department is on the same page. Every department should know about the potential

opportunities and threats their company might be facing at any given time and therefore work

accordingly. These teams are often 17 problem solving teams and task forces that have been

assembled to resolve specific issues and will be disbanded once the goal has been accomplished.

The Assistant Dean, Zara, was able to shed some light on the disadvantages Nixor employees

face while working in a team. Sometimes collaborative work approach has been embraced to

such an extent that the employees feel burdened with team assignments. Team activities can take

up so much of a person’s day that individual responsibilities get pushed to nights and weekends

which can get very exhausting. There are times when individuals in a team end up feeling

frustrated or insecure because of the lack of credit given in a team. There are members who tend

to dominate the group and can generate tremendous pressure leading some members to feel

isolated or out of the limelight. Groupthink can also occur when peer pressure causes individual
team members to withhold contrary or unpopular opinions. Team meetings and aligning

everyone’s schedule can get both time consuming and costly.

Conflict in a team can arise for reasons like competition of resources, disagreement over goals or

responsibilities, poor communication, power struggle, or fundamental differences in values, and

personalities. The word conflict while deemed negative doesn't always have to be. As per Zara,

such conflicts are often constructive if it forces important issues into the open, increases

involvement of team members and generates ideas for solving a problem.

Diversity

Diversity is an important part about the workplace. Learning to communicate with others who

are far different from you and working with them is an experience of its own. We asked our

contact persons about diversity in their workplace and how it is implemented. Our focus was age,

gender, disabled people and religion and so we asked questions regarding these groups.

“At Nixor, diversity comes in a lot of ways: age, race, ethnicity, gender, religion.”- Zara

First we discussed the age bracket and it came into light that the age bracket at Nixor is very

diverse between 18-56. However, majority of the workforce is young and under the age of 30.

The primary reason for this is that it is believed by the Dean that young mind bring fresh ideas

and energetic ideas. The young generation are risky and more risk it all personalities as Zara

mentioned that during the launch of their new campus, many marketing ideas were pitched in
that were risky and more outgoing and these ideas were successfully implemented because of the

similar mindsets between colleagues

“Gender diversity varies from one department to another department.”-Zara

The second important aspect of diversity that my team and I discussed was gender. As mentioned

by Zara, the Assistant Dean is female, all counselors are female while the 2 members from the

student affairs department are male. As the department changes, the ratio changes. In the

accounts department, there is male domination with just 1-2 female employees. Faculty has an

equal ratio of males and females.

“When hiring, we are not concerned with the ethnicity or religion of the person ”- Nadeem Ghani

Our third focus was religious diversity, and we carried our questions regarding those. Zara

moved on to mention that there is no set quota for religious diversity. There is a majority of

Muslims with minorities of Hindus and Christians. Zara then mentioned that if there is a non-

Muslim, he is treated equally and given the holidays that he needs for his festivities. She also

gave us an example that when Christmas was recently celebrated, the Christian employee was

given an off and the members sent a Christmas gift.

Barriers to Communication

Communication is the process of transferring information that can take place between the various

members of the organization. It includes all forms of communication that might occur in both

collaborative and non-collaborative work settings. Interpersonal communication refers to all

forms of internal communication that might take place between peers, their bosses, and
subordinates. Effective communication is a vital tool for any business. Your success at getting

your point across can be the difference between sealing a deal and missing out on a potential

opportunity. An entity should be able to clearly explain its policies to customers and clients and

answer their questions about its products or services. It is crucial to communicate effectively in

negotiations to ensure that the organization achieves its goals. Some major barriers to

communication at Nixor College are as following:

Age Difference

Nixor College has a workforce with ages ranging from 18 to 56. Hence this causes a big

generation gap amongst the employees. Information is filtered on a personal level using one’s

experiences and beliefs. The more similar somebody is the more likely they will view things in

the same way. It's common to use examples and stories to clarify your point. However, their

impact is reduced if: the other person does not find these relatable, they don't have the same

knowledge or the same experiences as you. One of the senior employees at Nixor College

explained this problem saying “In a society of quick snippet communication, preferred to be read

on a screen, it may be difficult for younger generations to take the time to actually listen for a

few moments. Additionally, the informal, fast speech of younger generations using newer terms

and lingo can be difficult to be interpreted and well-understood by older people.”