Communication flow and strategies at Marketing Solutions

¶ … Communication Within an Organization

Communication at Marketing Solutions

Marketing Solutions is a national company with offices located in New York and around the country, and it offers 30 years' experience working with a variety of companies to develop marketing communications programs. These programs are designed to promote more profitable relationships with customers. The company began by providing newsletter design and content, and the business has expanded to include brochures, web campaigns, direct mail pieces and other printed marketing materials. Marketing Solutions built an early following in the financial services industry, and subsequently the company has expanded to the healthcare, travel, consumer technology and retail industries.

Organizational structure

Marketing Solutions has 200 employees, including twenty who work in regional sales positions around the country. A president presides over the company, and he has five vice presidents who report directly to him on administrative matters. The rest of the company's divisions are: editorial, marketing and production. The editorial division creates products for customers and consists of five managers who oversee the financial, healthcare, travel, consumer technology and retail industries. Within these industry designations, there are fifteen account managers who serve as liaisons to the customers, eighteen copywriters and fifteen graphic artists. In the marketing division, there are 33 employees who share a variety of roles, including product development, customer outreach, service and product evaluation, company promotions and new customer acquisition. The production division is the largest in the company, since it encompasses the in-house print operations. There are eighty-two people who work various shifts in producing printed materials, and ten production traffic managers who make sure the printing is finished on-time. The remaining employees fill a variety of clerical and janitorial positions.

Flow of communication

Depending on the nature of the message, communication at Marketing Solutions flows one of two ways. When the message is likely to be perceived as positive by employees, or if it being positioned as a positive message, communication comes directly from the president to employees at a monthly, company-wide meeting. At these meetings, awards are given out, commendations are made, and new products are unveiled.

If a message is negative, or may be perceived as such, the communication path is less direct. The president typically delivers the message to vice-presidents and division managers in closed, small-group meetings. Division managers then schedule small-group meetings with their subordinates to relay the president's message. Rarely do lower-level employees have the opportunity to discuss or debate unpopular messages with the president of the company. Any complaints are logged by division managers and are either dismissed by these managers or are passed along to the president, again in small-group meetings.

Horizontal communication of official policies is rare at Marketing Solutions; when same-level employees communicate and pass along information, it is most often through the grapevine. The grapevine is a significant communication factor in this company; employees often discover information, particularly negative messages, through the grapevine before official messages travel down from the president to the managers.

Meeting and communication in small groups is the preferred method of communication at Marketing Solutions. The large-group meetings happen on a monthly schedule and do not provide an opportunity for feedback beyond clapping. There is no question-and-answer session at the monthly large-group meetings; this type of communication is limited to small-group meetings.

Channels of communication

The three main channels of communication at Marketing Solutions are face-to-face meetings, email and telephone communication.

Since the company has a national presence with customers all over the country, most face-to-face communication happens within the company. On a daily basis, each employee attends several small-group meetings of various types and purposes. Even new employees are trained in these small-group meetings, and employees leaving the company also have small-group exit interviews.

Face-to-face communication also takes place on a more informal level, through employee discussions in the lunchroom or chance encounters throughout the building. Although these casual discussions are sometimes of a personal nature, there is also business discussed at these times.

Email is by far the most common form of communication in the company, both internally and externally. Official communication, even when presented in person, is usually followed by a confirmation email in order to create a paper trail and ensure that the message is delivered clearly. Whether communicating with customers or each other, employees at Marketing Solutions prefer email as a quick, easy communication solution that can easily be verified and saved for future use.

Telephone communication is the main way in which employees deal with customers who may only visit the headquarters once or twice a year. This type of communication can be difficult because those employees who work with customers generally feel that face-to-face communication is more effective, followed by written communication through email. Typically, an employee will compose a follow-up email after a telephone call to verify the discussion with the customer and address any remaining issues.

Feedback and problem-solving

Marketing Solutions solicits feedback on its performance from customers through annual surveys and periodic, in-depth evaluations of the customers' marketing programs. For employees, feedback is given through annual performance evaluations and salary increases, periodic division meetings with managers, and a suggestion box located in the main office. Some employees have complained that they don't have enough direct access to the president in order to air their grievances, and others say that suggestions offered are not typically implemented or even considered.

When a problem is identified, how it is solved depends on the nature of the problem. Customer problems are immediately addressed, whether or not the company agrees with the complaint, and every effort is made to keep the customer happy. Solutions are discussed and adapted during a series of small-group meetings involving the managers and subordinates, and then the managers and the president. Internally, problem-solving happens at a slower pace, with employees complaining that many problems are overlooked or ignored. Part of the problem seems to be bureaucracy, in that there are several levels of management to get through before the people with real power even hear about the problem.

Recommendations

In order to increase the efficiency and value of communications, Marketing Solutions should increase employee input into company-wide policies.

This can be accomplished by allowing lower-level employees periodic access to the president in order to present their ideas. The company should make a better effort to address employee complaints and problems, and the grapevine should be neutralized by letting employees know about unpopular decisions in a timely manner. The company should also facilitate more face-to-face communication with customers, either by bringing the customers to the main office or allowing employees to visit the customers more often. Finally, customers should be encouraged to provide feedback on company practices in order to help improve communication and efficiency. Marketing Solutions has a fairly conventional communication structure, but the company could vastly improve communications by implementing these suggestions.