Ineffective writing skills have caused considerable confusion over new policies and procedures, and caused considerable consternation amongst employees. Effective communication, particularly effective writing skills, could have alleviated the conflicts between the company and employees. Training in effective communication, both in form and method, will help the company avoid future employee misunderstandings and the resulting negative impact on the company's ability to do business. Training workshops in effective business communication are essential to continued favorable employee relations as well as the company's morale and healthy bottom line. The need for such workshops has been amply demonstrated both by negative employee response to the current policy memo, and similar reception of memos and policy statements preceding it. The company's management has apparently failed to communicate with the employees in a manner, which would make employees more understanding of the policy change. Many in the business community experiencing in this communication problem: "People in organizations typically spend over 75% of their time in an interpersonal situation; thus it is no surprise to find that at the root of a large number of organizational problems is poor communications. Effective communication is an essential component of organizational success whether it is at the interpersonal, inter-group, intra-group, organizational, or external levels" (NEU, 2004, p.2).
I believe this poor communication is the case with the current policy memo and the negative reactions it has caused. It is the company's job to communicate policy to employees, and the better we in management communicate, the better the policy will be received. Had the company used proven business communication skills to inform the employees of our new policy, we might have at least mitigated much of the negative employee reaction.
