Communication Between Departments example essay topic

Introduction A good relationship between internal customers from separate departments improves productivity and eliminates wastes. There are three distinct departments in the organization I work for, estimating, production and finance. The relationship between these departments and how they communicate is vital in the flow of work from one from one department to the next, and ultimately the flow of work to our external customers. To some degree each of the departments is linked to the others, relying on each other to be able to complete their separate goals. To perform efficiently, each department in an organization needs to work towards group goals and visions. "A well crafted group vision serves as an umbrella under which can be gathered an enormous variety of personal aims consistent with it".

(Whitley, 1991 pp 28). If a company is going to run effectively, each department needs to communicate in a manner where vital information can be accessed easily. A culture between departments of being part of an overall team needs to be bred into an organization. Each department needs to work towards "shared philosophies, ideologies, values, beliefs, expectations and norms" (Doraisamy, Internal Marketing slide 12). Just as important to a work culture is a culture outside of normal working hours, it is said that 'a team that plays together works together'. Discussion work for an organization that has 3 offices in the one building, one for estimating, one for finance and one for production.

Although each department communicates to a degree what they are up to, people seem to know more about their own department then the one next to them. Once a week all departments meet to converse where they are and what they are doing and what aspects of their jobs are going to affect other departments. Each department seems to have a vision of what their departments goals are but there is a need for "aligning all the organizations parts so that they work together for a desirable goal" Whitley, 1991 pp 22. In the production department I rely on estimating to provide work with a realistic budget and finance to manage and report the financial resources that I am expending.

Likewise, estimating relies on me to let them know how they are performing and how they can reform their quoting to accurately take into they level of budget I require. Finance relies on me to provide them with the information that they require to accurately keep track of expenditures and to keep them informed of job progress so they know when and how much to invoice. Communication between departments is seems to work efficiently, with lines of communication rarely getting crossed. There seems to be a fear between departments to communicate negative points, wether it be a minor request for more information or reporting a major mistake, for fear of causing company politics. Although this helps to maintain harmony, "employees must know how they are doing to perform effectively" (Doraisamy, Internal Marketing slide 18). As internal customers we tend not to give critical feedback, partially because it is not sought.

Each employee has visions of how another department could better serve them and communicating those visions is the only way that things are going to change. Every department has something to gain from better relations with other departments. Through understanding of what your internal customers require you are better able to serve them, likewise other departments are better able to serve you if you are able to communicate in an appropriate manner what your needs are. Through communicating with the estimating department at the tender stage of a job, I would be less likely to be cut short on a budget and they would be more likely to be the successful tenderer. Better lines of communication between accounts would help us understand what information is needed, when it is needed and what form it would be best presented in. Better relationships and understanding between estimating and accounting would help accounting to forecast future income, while estimating would have more of an understanding of the company's financial position.

Understanding the processes of other departments can also be a form of multi skilling, lessening the devastation of illness and replacing staff on an organization. A team that plays well together, works well together. The only social function in my workplace is the annual Christmas party. Past this, workers seem to spend their lunch break with their noses buried in a paper and don't respond well to interruptions from their routine. General chitchat does occur during work time, but seems to be only between members of the same department, so the lines of communication seem to be greatly restricted. Friendships in the workplace open the door for better communication by making people more comfortable to their workmates.

When a salesperson is trying to sell you something, he has to be your best friend leading up to the sale. In doing this, a salesperson is able to unlock a lot of information about their customer. For instance their occupation gives a view of their earning capacity, hence how much they can afford to pay. If it is a present for others, people seem to be less picky and don't care as how much they pay. Even down to relationship status that indicates that a person is less likely to have to justify their purchase to others. All of this is done in 5 minutes with simple customer service training such as ACTIVE (Dwyer, 2000 figure 9.1).

Attentive to the customer Concentrate on the issue, not the person Target the key points Investigate with questions Verify customer's needs Energise your response. These sales techniques that we use for our external customers are easily adapted to communication with our internal customers. I am constantly reminding myself of some words of wisdom from an ex employer, 'the best way to learn is not to talk but to listen". There is no point asking a question if you are not going to listen to the response.

Verbal communication can have a greater benefit then written communication. Written communication such as customer surveys can give a customer the forum to make a view known without allowing their identity to be revealed, but these surveys seldom allow for enough detail in response to solve the problem. Written communication, and is often seen as extra work and is often disregarded as people cannot see their voice being heard. Verbal communication provides a forum of for a more detailed response as questions can be asked and points can be emphasised on. With the appropriate technique, such as the ACTIVE technique, customers see a response, which leads them to believe that they are making a difference.

Recommendations The first step that needs to be taken in my organization to extend relationships in the workplace would be to create a social culture. This could be as simple as a monthly function, allowing workmates to form relationships between departments, hence breaking down the communication barrier that exists between departments. One of the biggest problems as I see it to communication in our office is the barriers that are set by having separate offices for each department, creating clear lines of separation. One possible solution to this would be to redesign the office so that department members are able to access the resources of other departments without having to walk across the building to do so. There needs to be a forum for the discussion of each department's visions not only for their department but for the other departments too. The culture of not upsetting other departments is doing nothing for improving the workplace, but the key feedback is delivery.

Department heads need to foster a culture of sending their employees to other departments to seek answers and give feedback. Along with giving feedback, we need to seek criticism and most importantly learn how to use it to improve and not to take it to heart. A series of training courses in customer relations and communication would help to equip employees with the knowledge of how they can best communicate to achieve the required outcome. Summary A good relationship between internal customers from separate departments improves productivity and eliminates wastes by widening the avenue of what we are able to communicate and to whom we are able to communicate with.

Employees are able to improve at their job by making themselves more open to the way other departments' function and by opening themselves to, and dealing with constructive criticism. Socialising helps to break down organisational lines of control.

Bibliography

Whitley, R C (1991) The customer Driven Company: Moving from talk to action, Addison -Wesley Publishing Co, USA.
Dwyer, J (2000) The Business Education Handbook, Pearson Education Australia.