KAZIAN GLOBAL SCHOOL OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT MARKS: 80 COURSE: DBM SUBJECT: Business communication Name: Rahiman Hasif Reference Number: KM-00113-31273 Note:- 1) Kindly write case study number question number properly 2) Attached question papers with answer sheets ____________________________________________________________________________________ Section A (Marks-15) Barry and Communication Barriers One common complaint employee’s voice about supervisors is inconsistent messages – meaning one supervisor tells them one thing and another tells them something different. Imagine you are the supervisor/manager for each of the employees described below. As you read their case, give consideration to how you might help communicate with the employee to remedy the conflict. Answer the critical thinking questions at the end of the case then compare your answers to the Notes to Supplement Answers section. Barry is a 27-year old who is a foodservice manager at a casual dining restaurant. Barry is responsible for supervising and managing all employees in the back of the house. Employees working in the back of the house range in age from 16 years old to 55 years old. In addition, the employees come from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. For many, English is not their primary language. Barry is ServSafe® certified and tries his best to keep up with food safety issues in the kitchen but he admits it’s not easy. Employees receive “on the job training” about food safety basics (for example, appropriate hygiene and handwashing, time/temperature, and cleaning and sanitizing). But with high turnover of employees, training is often rushed and some new employees are put right into the job without training if it is a busy day. Eventually, most employees get some kind of food safety training. The owners of the restaurant are supportive of Barry in his food safety efforts because they know if a food safety outbreak were ever linked to their restaurant; it would likely put them out of business. Still, the owners note there are additional costs for training and making sure food is handled safely. One day Barry comes to work and is rather upset even before he steps into the restaurant. Things haven’t been going well at home and he was lucky to rummage through some of the dirty laundry and find a relatively clean outfit to wear for work. He admits he needs a haircut and a good hand scrubbing, especially after working on his car last evening. When he walks into the kitchen he notices several trays of uncooked meat sitting out in the kitchen area. It appears these have been sitting at room temperature for quite some time. Barry is frustrated and doesn’t know what to do. He feels like he is beating his head against a brick wall when it comes to getting employees to practice food safety. Barry has taken many efforts to get employees to be safe in how they handle food. He has huge signs posted all over the kitchen with these words: KEEP HOT FOOD HOT AND COLD FOOD COLD and WASH YOUR HANDS ALWAYS AND OFTEN. All employees are given a thermometer when they start so that they can temp food. Hand sinks, soap, and paper towels are available for employees so that they are encouraged to wash their hands frequently.

Questions: 1. What are the communication challenges and barriers Barry faces? 2. What are some ways Barry might use effective communication as a motivator for employees to follow safe food handling practices? 3. What Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) would be helpful for Barry to implement and enforce?

Case -2 Outsourcing Backlash Gets Abusive, Ugly Marks-15

“I don’t want to talk to you. Connect me to your boss in the US,” hissed the American on the phone. The young girl at the Bangalore call center tried to be as polite as she could.

At another call center, another day, another young girl had a Londoner unleashing himself on her. “Young lady do you know that because of you Indians we are losing jobs.”

The outsourcing backlash is getting ugly. Handling irate callers is the new brief for the young men and women taking calls at these outsourced job centers. Supervisors tell them to be “cool”.

Avinash Vashistha, managing partner of NEOIT, a leading US-based consultancy firm says,

“Companies involved in outsourcing both in the US and India are already getting lot of hate mail against outsourcing and it is hardly surprising that some people should behave like this on the telephone.” Vashistha says Indian call centers should train their operators hoe to handle such calls.

Indeed, the furore raised by the Western media over job losses because of outsourcing has made ordinary citizens there sensitive to the fact that their calls are being taken not from their midst but in countries, such as India and the Philippines.

The angry outbursts the operators face border on the racist and sexist, says the manager of call center in Hyderabad. But operators and senior executives of call centers refused to go on record for fear of kicking up a controversy that might result in their companies’ losing clients overseas.

“It’s happening often enough and so let’s faces it,” says a senior executive of a Gurgaon call center, adding, “This doesn’t have any impact on business.” [Source-Hindustan Times, December 21, 2003, New Delhi] Question:-

1. Assume you are working as an operator at a call center in India and are receiving irate calls from Americans and Londoners. How would you handle such calls? Imagine a situation and state you response.

2. “Keep your cool.” What does it mean in terms of conversation control? 3. Do you agree with the view that such abusive happenings on telephone do not have any impact on

business? Give reason for your answer.

Case – 3 A reply sent to an erring Customer Marks-15 ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS ALL AROUND THE WORLD “He wouldn’t look me in the eye. I found it disconcerting that he kept looking all over the room but rarely at me,” said Barbara Walters after her interview with Libya’s Colonel Muammar al-Qadhafi. Like many people in the United States, Walters was associating eye contact with trustworthiness, so when Qadhafi withheld eye contact, she felt uncomfortable. In fact Qadhafi was paying Walters a compliment. In Libya, not looking conveys respect, and looking straight at a woman is considered nearly as serious as physical assault. Nonverbal communication varies widely between cultures, even between subcultures, and the differences strongly affect communication in the workplace. Whether you’re trying to communicate with your new Asian American assistant, the Swedish managers who recently bought out your company, the African American college student who won a summer internship with your firm, or representatives from the French company you hope will buy your firm’s new designs, your efforts will depend as much on physical cues as on verbal ones. Most Americans aren’t usually aware of their own nonverbal behavior, so they have trouble understanding the body language of people from other cultures. The list of differences is endless. * In Thailand it’s rude to place your arm over the back of a chair in which another person is sitting. * Finnish female students are horrified by Arab girls who want to walk hand in hand with them. * Canadian listeners nod to signal agreement. * Japanese listeners nod to indicate only that they have understood. * British listeners stare at the speaker, blinking their eyes to indicate understanding. * People in the United States are taught that it’s impolite to stare. * Saudis accept foreigners in Western business attire but are offended by tight – fitting clothing and by short sleeves. * Spaniards indicate a receptive friendly handshake by clasping the other person’s forearm to form a double handshake. * Canadians consider touching any part of the arm above the hand intrusive, except in intimate relationships. It may take years to adjust your nonverbal communication to other cultures, but you can choose from many options to help you prepare. Books and seminars on cultural differences are readily available, as are motion pictures showing a wide range of cultures. You can always rent videos of films and TV shows from other countries. Examining the illustrations in news and business magazines can give you an idea of expected business dress and personal space. Finally, remaining flexible and interacting with people from other cultures who are visiting or living in your country will go a long way toward lowering the barriers presented by nonverbal communication. Career Applications : 1. Explain how watching a movie from another country might help you prepare to interpret nonverbal behavior from that culture correctly. 2. One of your co-workers is originally from Saudi Arabia. You like him, and the two of you work well together. However, he stands so close when you speak with him that it makes you very uncomfortable. Do you tell him of your discomfort, or do you try to cover it up ? .

Section B Marks-35 Attempt all the question:- (Each question carried 5 Marks) 1) Discuss the question of how much personal communication should be permitted in a business organization. Defend your view. 2) Define and give examples of active and passive voice. Explain when each should be used. 3) Explain the logic of using negative words in email and memorandums to fellow employees that you would not use in letters carrying similar messages. 4) What is meant by parallelism of headings? 5) Explain the differences between the present-time viewpoint and the past-time viewpoint. 6) What types of problems are written up as letter reports? As email reports? Explain the differences. 7) How do the elements of talking help us communicate better?