Open Communication at Cisco Inc
- 1. Running head: CISCO CASE STUDY: OPEN COMMUNICATION CULTURE 1 Cisco Case Study: Open Communication Culture Name: Institutional Affiliation: Date:
- 2. CISCO CASE STUDY: OPEN COMMUNICATION CULTURE 2 Introduction: The meaning of open communication: Communication refers to the processes through which information flows from one person/party to another. In business, communication is an essential part of business operation as it enhances information sharing between people of different employment levels. Open communication refers to act by which all parties in a company (managers, senior employees and junior employees) express their ideas freely to one another. The most common means of open communication are; organizational debate and conversations between organizational parties. Unlike in closed communication system by what information from the top management undergoes filtration as it goes down the line, in open communication system, information undergoes no filtration. As such, less or even sometimes no alteration or distortion happens to the actual and first-hand information coming from the manager (Cardon, 2014). In open communication culture such as the one of Cisco Company, the managers call for meetings in case they have any issue to address and all employees gather to receive the information. The manager tables the problem or goal and asks open expression from the employees drawn from their perception and perspective view. The discussion then takes place after which they end up attaining a general point of equity and agreement regarding what to do and the factors to consider. In such a case, it is hard for things to go wrong as a result of rush decision-making or lack of togetherness (Pride, & Ferrell, 2014). In such cases, the organization is likely to handle internal conflicts arising from different reasons more calmly and appropriately. It is because all levels of stakeholders are aware of the operations, issues,
- 3. CISCO CASE STUDY: OPEN COMMUNICATION CULTURE 3 emerging events and disagreements at hand and can set future organizational directions for organizational activities. The Benefits that Open Communication has provided on Cisco: Cisco is a best example of organizations that has open communication culture as a form of communication aimed at bettering its daily operations. At Cisco, information from the top management team does not go through steps across employment levels (Zhu, 2009). It is channeled direct to the recipient group. In addition, discussions regarding any issue/problem or goal change in the organization. The existence of open communication culture in Cisco has resulted in the increase in integrity, innovation and communications of the efforts of employee’s discretion. The information existing in one branch, department of organizational level will flow across different other departments, and branches. Openness in communication enhances informational sharing that later enhances innovation, inventions and creativity. Open communication culture also brings about trust and open exchange of information between customers and employees thus offering them the services they require. For this reason, the customers end getting to satisfaction. Satisfied organizational employees create customers that are loyal to the organization. According to D’Aprix, (2011), a five percent satisfaction increase in the loyalty of clients leads to a rise in profit in a range from 25% to 95%. A conclusion he drew from the research that Frederick Reichheld undertook regarding, “The Loyalty Effect”. In regards to Cisco’s case, the loyalty of its customers increased at a higher percentage thus multiplying its profit margins. Employee satisfaction results from one key driver that is effective communication.
- 4. CISCO CASE STUDY: OPEN COMMUNICATION CULTURE 4 The management team of Cisco under its manager shares its visions, objective strategies and intended changes of the future with its employees. It is an act that has bettered the company’s employee commitment towards the plans, strategies, goals and visions of the organization. My company has communication culture that is open. Our manager freely shares the information regarding the business’s intended changes prior in order for us to work in coordination to one another. In addition, we are never under restriction when it comes to discussions concerning operations, developmental issues and strategic plans for the goal achievement. It has been a key driver of every individual’s innovation and creativity (Cardon, 2014). An organization like ours has a dire need for a communication system that is open since there is the need to share, discuss and provide suggestion to solutions of problems the organization face. The way in which managers establish open communications: Organizational managers play an imperative role in ensuring the existence and maintenance of an open communication culture in the organization. Given that the primary source of information in an organization is from the management team (Pride, & Ferrell, 2014). Top managers come up with organizational objectives and goals and share them with the junior employees across different ranks. In open communication culture, this information is shared freely across the various levels of employment in an organization. In order for managers to facilitate the existence and well to be of the open communication culture, they should make sure they follow their words. The problem with being open in communication, the manager gives their words, and this serves as a promise to the
- 5. CISCO CASE STUDY: OPEN COMMUNICATION CULTURE 5 employees. Failure to follow their word discourages employees fully and also makes them not to be open in fear of fulfilling their word (Zhu, 2009). Open communication tends to bring about bigger implications if at all the managers end up contradicting with their word. When managers introduce open communication, they offer every employ with an equal participation in organizational success. Creating an open communication atmosphere gives allowance for the flow of creativity and energy among employees (Nordenstreng, & Schiller, 2013). Open communication further establishes working environment by what all organizational employees have a better understanding of the organizational goals and objectives. There are five key steps to creating open communication system in an organizational workplace. These are; • Step one: Make sure that all top managers of the organization are committed using open communication system for the advantage of the organization. • Step two: The managers should ensure that, the information they pass to the employees is positive and do not discourage/derail workers from engaging in their usual operations. • Step three: Let all employees in the organization be aware of what the manager is doing/planning and the reason as to why. • Step four: The manager should be aware of the diversity in the workplace. It is because some parties/departments in an organization receiving the information in a different way. • Step five: Managers should come up with a grievance system. Give employees room to be aware that their complaints will be confidential.
- 6. CISCO CASE STUDY: OPEN COMMUNICATION CULTURE 6 The fact is that employees that cannot manage to approach their next level or senior managers/supervisors are likely to vex over issues and concerns. In addition, they as well tend to incline to the organizational regulations and rules whose imposition aims at increasing their operational frustration. In the long-term cases, attitudes and reactions are likely to result in the formation of eruption causing bigger issues (Pride, & Ferrell, 2014). Conclusion and Recommendation: Open communication culture is the key to different solutions of problems that organizations across various industries face. The fact that problems persist in organizations is because managers never share problems/issues openly with their employees. They treat their employees as different entities to the business. Discussing issues/problems at hand gives room for more suggestions from different departments, branches, and levels. It creates room for making a collaboration based decision that in most cases relies on the intensity of outcome of the decision. As such, organizations should introduce open communication culture in order to better their employees’ satisfaction that then betters customers’ satisfaction that later result in an increase in profit margins. Every business problems require a solution that lies in an open communication culture. The implementation of an open communication is one step towards resolving any problem organizations face (Nordenstreng, & Schiller, 2013).
- 7. CISCO CASE STUDY: OPEN COMMUNICATION CULTURE 7 References: Cardon, P. W. (2014). Business communication: Developing leaders for a networked world. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. D’Aprix, R. (2011). Cultivating a culture of open communication. Communication World, 28(4), 28–32.Retrieved from http://vlib.excelsior.edu/login? url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=bth&AN=66703073&site=eds-live Nordenstreng, K., & Schiller, H. I. (2013). Beyond national sovereignty: International communication in the 1990s. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Pub. Co. Pride, W. M., & Ferrell, O. C. (2014). Foundations of marketing, Australia South-Western. Zhu, Y. (2009). Business communication in China. Commack, N.Y: Nova Science Publishers.