Hunter Worth Case Study free essay sample

The purpose of performing a case study is to apply the knowledge from previous lessons learned in the area of managing proper communication. After taking the personal assessment of communication apprehension exercise, I learned that I like to speak in group or groups of people. Some of my weaker areas involve public speaking and meetings. These two areas are important to work on since management speaks inside and outside the organization. It is important learn to communicate effectively since it concerns the organization as a whole for whom we work for. Communication is the process of sharing information between two or more people, with intentions to motivate and influence behavior. Communication is not just about sending information; it is about how one receives it and how it is interpreted. In Business Management it is the purpose of management to be able to communicate effectively to direct everyone’s attention towards the organizations goals, values, vision, and to ensure that they are influenced to act and achieve theses goals. (Daft, 2012). To communicate effectively it is important understand the role of the sender/receiver and the channels that are being utilized. In management, managers have many choices in which they communicate and is important to utilize them all in the most effective manner. Effective communication may seem simple, but there are barriers such as language in high-low context cultures that managers need to pay special attention to. According to the Daft textbook, when communicating in cross-cultural environments one should keep their messages simple, select words with care, pay careful attention to nonverbal messages, speak slowly, and avoid shouting, since this may seem intimidating to the listener. The way we communicate today is derived from downward communication, so it is important that we learn how to interpret the messes being sent and develop good written and verbal skills. Summary of the Case Hunter-Worth, a New York-based multinational toy manufacturer developed a new interactive plush toy that was cuddly and high-tech that they planned to unveil at a toy expo in New York. Being confident the toy would generate good revenues since it was based off a major holiday motion picture that was expected to have great reviews, seemed to create a high level of interest from buyers at the expo. (Daft, 2012) Chuck Moore, national sales manager for Hunter-Worth, seemed excited, but had a sense of fear looming from the pre-order volume and could not shake off the sense of impending doom. (Daft, 2012) The problem Chuck was facing was from the Mexican subsidiary that manufactured the toy for Hunter-Worth could not seem to make the deadlines. The shipments were late, and the quantities ordered fell short and the demand for the toy during the Christmas season was creating more turmoil for Chuck since he was unable to get his hands on them. Chuck decided that he needed to send an e-mail to Vincent Ruiz, the plant manager about the situation to find out why the shipments were late, the status of their latest order, and a copy of their production schedule. Although, the response was received within the hour Chuck was irritated with the response that was delivered by Vincent’s secretary, stating that the, â€Å"Mexican plant would be shipping the order† that was already a week late and also said it would be there within ten days. This was not the response Chuck expected and was angered, and decided to compose an e-mail to Michael Sato, executive vice president for sales and marketing that expressed his concern over the availability of the toy that was on the verge of being a best selling toy during the season. Chuck then forwarded the message to his supervisor and Sato. As to his surprise he received a phone call from Vincent whom was angered by the message Chuck forwarded, asking why he had went over his head and said such things to his boss. It seemed that Michael forwarded the message to Hunter-Worth’s vice president of operations, which was then forwarded to the Mexican subsidiary’s president. (Daft, 2012) Even though Chuck was not apologetic, this all could have been avoided if Vincent would have responded to his e-mail instead of his secretary whom Vincent stated answers all his e-mail and figured if the was any urgency he would have called instead. Vincent assumed Chuck was not interested in hearing the problems that they were having with suppliers and that they did not take deadlines seriously north of the border he hung up without a response. Recommendations Even though Chuck seems disheartened and confused about things getting worse, he could have avoided this all in the first place by developing an effective form of communication channel. It is Chuck’s responsibility to gather all the information from within the organization and distribute that information to the ones that need it. The first thing Chuck should have done was set up a meeting either in person or a virtual meeting with the Mexican subsidiary and their management team to ensure that production demand and deadlines could be met. One good way of establishing a communication channel is by developing a virtual team, according to Derosa/Lepsinger, â€Å"the use of virtual teams better enables organizations the ability to leverage their employees’ without having to bring them together face-to-face. † (Derosa, 1970) (Lepsinger, 1970) By developing a team it would have enabled communication channels to be open between Chuck, Vincent, and Moore and any problems like the supply problems could have been discussed. Another suggestion would have saved Chuck all the confusion from the form of communication of e-mail being used was just call Vincent directly. E-mail may be a good form of communicating but there could be typos which may send the wrong message and confuse what is being said. Also if it is be delivered to one individual one must make sure that it is done on a personal network so it does not have the grapevine effect and everyone gets the message being conveyed. When Chuck composed his e-mail to Vincent he assumed it was going to be answered by Vincent and not his secretary who should have contacted Vincent directly about the message that was sent to him. Chuck assumed that Vincent was not replying in a manner that was expected from a manger and was angered and composed an e-mail that should have been done in a manner that was respectful and conveyed the direct concern of the situation. Instead the message went the wrong way and created confusion from miscommunication or was interpreted wrong due to cultural communication differences. Chuck should have reread his e-mail and ensured that his concerns were able to interpret the message by Mexican subsidiary by using a text translator and that it only addressed his concerns of why production demands were not being met. Conclusion By performing this case study it given me a better insight on communicating in multi-culture environment. After reading the article by De Forest, Thinking of a Plant in Mexico, it made me realize the communication barriers that create confusion among workers in Mexico. Their managers are not hands on so they communicate through other channels, their work environments are more of family environment not based on comfort where everyone works together as a whole. Communication channels there differ from here in America in Mexico they do not have the technologies we utilize to communicate effectively. I did not realize that there are so many things that we as managers need to address whether working in a multi-culture environment or in a global context. The ability to communicate, listen, and write effectively is an important concept of learning as we develop our selves into good leaders within any organization. We must be able to motivate employees through proper communication channels, and be able to communicate honestly and develop and use formal communication channels. According to the Daft textbook, we should utilize teams, task forces, project managers, and facilitate a plan for crisis communication, this way we can avoid problems that surfaced in the Hunter-Worth case study. (Daft,2012) References