Effective Communication
Communication plays a significant role when it comes to downsizing employees in a company. How a firm communicates this message to its employees determines how they perceive it and their resultant reaction. The termination period is usually one of the most challenging processes for both the employer and the employee. When presenting the termination letter, the face-to-face meeting with employees, which must also contain the reason for doing so, is usually perceived as the most professional and ethical procedure of conveying such a message. The choice of words is also an essential factor to consider in such a situation. A manager must use a compassionate way while feeling the emotions of the employee. The use of harsh or inconsiderate words may cause an uproar from the employees’ side, such as lawsuits or demonstrations. The impact of ineffective communication when terminating employees is demonstrated in the 2006 case of RadioShack Cooperation when terminating its employees.
Emotional Barrier is one of the likely communication barriers experienced at RadioShack Corporation because of using mass mailing to terminate its employees. Such communication can arouse the feeling of anxiety, fear, doubt, and anger in the employees. Losing a job is one of the most challenging moments in an employee’s work, as it comes with many drastic changes that an employee must adapt to. It is therefore essential to ensure that such a vital message is delivered most amicably. A face-to-face conversation is considered the best way of conveying such directives. It allows the employee to as questions and get immediate satisfactory answers on the reason for the termination. Most people consider email a vague way of communication as most employees feel devalued when such a message is delivered using this channel. A linguistic Barrier is also a likely result of this method. The mail “Your position is one that has been eliminated” (Chapter 3, 2010) is very vague and does not convey the main reason for the termination, as well as prior notice. This communication method does not allow for personal engagement between the employees and the management due to many messages. Other barriers include linguistic barriers.
Several factors may have motivated RadioShack to use mass mailing to announce their employee termination. One of the main reasons is the ease and privacy of communication. Mail is one of the fastest ways to deliver the message to many people in different locations and get speedier responses (Chapter 3, 2010). Today, most businesses are using electronic mailing to a great extent as it the time and geographical barriers and give the respondents ample time to review and respond to the message. Mass mails also prevent the chances of biasness due to the use of similar news. Another possible reason for the benefit of mail by Radio Shark is avoiding physical contact with employees when delivering such messages. The firm may lack a human management team that can effectively handle many employees and employment termination procedures. Face-to-face discussion requires emotional intelligence as well as good ethics from the management. They may also be lacking a solid reason for laying off the employees and thus fear employee resistance.
In the future, RadioShack should consider having a well-structured procedure of terminating employees’ face-to-face communication, hiring a team of experts to handle this processor. Every firm needs to have a well-defined way of dismissing employees. Such actions may be due to incompetence or a firm’s cost reduction strategy. Prior official communication must be given which explains the reason for such activities. This helps in minimizing employee resistance. Having a face-to-face discussion with the managers is another preferred communication method as it allows discussion and clarification (Steingold, 2021). It also encourages privacy, personal attention, emotional sensitivity, and honesty. Outsourcing a team of human resource experts has also been proved to be an effective way to handle employee termination. With their diverse skills, such a team ensures that the employee’s psychological needs are met while ensuring no lousy relationship between the existing employees and the firm.
Technology acts both as an enhancer and a Barrier to effective communication. Technology has changed the way individuals communicate, think, and interact with each other on a day-to-day basis. It has allowed for more accessible and quick communication, which is more reliable than traditional methods. It eliminates the barriers across different time zones and geographical areas, thus promoting networking with elements such as electronic mails, telephones, print media, and television. It has helped create new relationships between people through social sites such as Facebook, where individuals interact socially. It is also an important marketing tool due to its ability to reach a large audience (Bulus et al., 2017). Despite these benefits, technology has also contributed to ineffective communication in some other ways. Technology has reduced interpersonal relationship-building due to the absence of face-to-face interaction between individuals. It has led to reduced power and non-verbal cues, which is an essential tool in communication. Technology has led to reduced social interactions between individuals as most people prefer solitude lives and communicating through social media. Some misuse social sites to spread malicious messages and propaganda. It has also created a gap between friends and families who are closer to their online made friends.
The increased spread of the Covid 19 pandemic has caused a shift in communication at workplaces. Interpersonal communications are one of the most affected areas of communication due to the strict measures such as maintaining social distancing and masking of faces. Social distancing hinders face-to-face conversation as it forces individuals to shout. On the other hand, the facial mask minimizes the use of facial expressions and gestures, which helps in analyzing the emotions has drastically decreased the impact of communication (Bulus et al., 2017). The mask also muffles a person’s sound making it difficult to comprehend the message. These factors have affected employee interaction forcing most organizations to turn to other non-contact modes such as teleconferencing, zooming, emailing, and phone calls. Employees have been forced to learn how to use the different digital platforms to communicate with their colleagues as customers.
Ethics is a vital consideration in every organization when it comes to downsizing employees. Reducing a large number of employees in a firm is a critical process, which must be handled with care due to its impact on morale and emotions. A lot of transparency and fairness are required during such a process. Ethically, specific criteria need to be followed when terminating employees from their jobs. This must be stipulated in the employee’s employment contract, which involves reason for termination and the compensation. It is unethical to downsize employees while increasing the salary of the top management. Employee involvement is also necessary before making such decisions as well determining the goal for downsizing. The ethical challenge comes in deciding who is to be laid off (Steingold, 2021). Managers needs to ensure that all considerations are put in place before deciding who to lay off.
Reference
Buluş, M., Atan, A., & Sarıkaya, H. E. (2017). Effective Communication Skills: A New Conceptual Framework and Scale Development Study. International Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 9(2).
Organizational Behavior, Chapter 3 ‘The case of RadioShack’, (2010). University of Minnesota Libraries
Steingold, F. S. (2021). The Employer’s Legal Handbook: How to Manage Your Employees & Workplace. No.