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Inter-City Manufacturing

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Need guidance for the above as per attached. This is at master level and application of both theory and practical real life example in business context are both equally important. Focus should be on the case study.

Detail of the requirements, important notes and recommended readings for references are all listed as per attached. It is necessary to follow the requirements stated.

Case for critical analysis: Inter-City Manufacturing, Inc.

The president of Inter-City Manufacturing Inc., Rich Langston, wanted to facilitate upward communication. He believed an open-door policy was a good place to start. He announced that his own door was open to all employees and encouraged senior managers to do the same. He felt this would give him a way to get early warning signals that would not be filtered or redirected through the formal chain of command. Langston found that many employees who used the open-door policy had been with the company for years and were inadequate policies and procedures. Langston would raise these issues and explain any changes at the next senior managers' meeting.

The most difficult complaints to handle were those from people who were not getting along with their bosses. One employee, Leroy, complained bitterly that his manager had overcommitted the department and put everyone under too much pressure. Leroy argued that long hours and low morale were major problems. But he would not allow Rich Langston to bring the manager into the discussion nor to seek out other employees to confirm the complaint. Although Langston suspected that Leroy might be right, he could not let the matter sit and blurted out, "Have you considered leaving the company?" This made Leroy realise that a meeting with his immediate boss was unavoidable.

Before the three-party meeting, Langston contacted Leroy's manager and explained what was going on. He insisted that the manager come to the meeting willing to listen and without hostility towards Leroy. During the meeting, Leroy's manager listened actively and displayed no ill will. He learned the problem from Leroy's perspective and realised that he was over his head in his new job.

After the meeting, the manager said he was relieved. He had been promoted into the job from a technical position just a few months earlier and had no management or planning experience. He welcomed Leroy's offer to help him do a better job of planning.

Source: Daft, R.L. (2000), Management. Hartcourt College Publishers.

Case for critical analysis: Inter-City Manufacturing, Inc.

Answer the following questions based on the case:

1. What techniques increased Rich Langston's communication effectiveness? Discuss.

2. Do you think that an open-door policy was the right way to improve upward communications? What other techniques would you suggest?

3. What problems do you think an open-door policy creates? Do you think employees are reluctant to use it? Why? Use example(s) and literature to support your stand.

4. Henry Mintzberg's research indicates that diverse manager activities can be organized into ten roles. Identify two of these roles that Langston performed in carrying out his open-door policy.

5. Which style of leadership is Langston exhibiting based on Hersey & Blanchard's Situational Theory? Evaluate its effectiveness in a company like Inter-City.

Important Notes:

1. Application of theory and practical example are equally important with appropriate use of Harvard referencing method with in text citation.

2. Recommended author for this subject is Richard L. Daft and recommended reading is The New Era of Management 2006 and 2008. And all others related management theory and practice readings including online, journal and etc.

3. Plagiarism check is needed via some software so originality is important and no wholesale copying is allowed.

4. Report should be in essay format.

5. Sufficient use of references is crucial.

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The response addresses the queries posted in 4536 words with references.

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The response addresses the queries posted in 4536 words with references.

//Before writing about the techniques, which increased the communication of Rich Langston, it is essential to have knowledge about Rich Langston and communication. One shroud know about the concept of communication, which further will assist in analyzing the techniques of communication//

Techniques

Communication is known as the process through which information or data is transferred from one individual to another individual. Rich Langston is the president at Inter-City Manufacturing Corp. There are various communication techniques, which have assisted Rich Langston to improve or enhance his communication skills. Rich Langston is in the favor of the upward communication that is attained by the use of open door policy. He also favors the active participation from the side of employees, which further assisted him to enhance the communication efficiency. The techniques he used to discuss with the employees are as follow:

Adequacy: Rich Langston used this technique for the purpose of communication, which has mainly two aspects; one is adequacy in terms of coverage and adequacy in terms of quantity. Both the mentioned aspects have covered by Rich Langston to communicate with his employees in different matters or issues related to the operations of the organization. Different types of messages that are used by Rich Langston are based on quantitative measures that form the basis of assuming their approachability in terms of adequate communication.

Clarity: This technique has also been used by Rich Langston to communicate the pertinent topics with his employees that has improved the effectiveness of his communication in an enormous manner. The communication used by him involved clarity, which is must to attain the effectiveness of communication. Communication expressed by the president of Inter-City Corp, is effectively comprehend by the employees, who foster the efficacy in communication.

Timing: Communication used by Rich Langston also involves timeliness, which marked the effectiveness of his communication technique. It is apparent that the utility of communication massage depends on the timeliness, which is seriously taken by Rich Langston to attain his upward communication. Rich keep in mind that the communication should reach to the employees when they needed it, which forms the attractiveness as well as value of the communication he used to interact with his employees.

Integrity: The communication pattern used by the president of the company also involves the integrity concept, which states that the purpose of communication should be to foster the understanding of the employees to attain the goals and objectives of the company. The communication enhances cooperation among the employees of the company, which is crucial to actualize the stated goals of the company in a timely manner. Communication used by the president of the company is based on the credible and swaying aspects.

Purpose of communication: The purpose of communication is also to clear the thoughts of Rich Langston, which are to get a behavioral reaction from the employees and which made it possible for him to improve the communication. Due to this technique, it has become easier for the president to interact with the employees in a profound manner. The purpose of communication has been cleared by him to every employee of the corporation, which further assisted him to perceive the right message in right way at right time.

Two-way communication: The fact that communication is a two-way passage, which requires the equal response from both the sides, one is sender and another is receiver was understood by Rich Langston effectively in his process of communication. It is true that with the help of two way communication, two minds come close to each other and results into innovative & promising solutions. Two way communications is very helpful to attain upward communication and this fact has truly followed by Rich Langston.

Appropriate Language- Language used by Rich Langston in communication process is also understandable by the employees, which foster proper comprehension of the inherent message. Words, gestures and symbols used by Rich are involve precise course of language that forms the communication familiar to the employees and makes them feel comfortable in comprehending.

Supporting Words with Action- Rich Langston also used actions for communicating the messages that he wants to share with the employees of the corporation, in order to realize the stated goals and objectives. The actions used by Rich in communication foster the understanding of the employees in terms of key points of the message, which increase the effectiveness of communication.

Good Listening- For effective communication, it is essential for the communicator to be a good attender. This fact has strictly followed by Rich in his communication process, which further has increased his communication effectiveness. Rich used to concentrate on the explicit and implicit meaning of the messages conveyed by the employees in response of his messages to them which is also cooperative to make the communication effective.

Credibility in Communication- For communication to be effective, it is essential for it to have credibility or reliability in its process. Rich also followed this technique for the communication process to communicate with his employees. He also involved trust and believability in his communication process, which assisted him to make his communication effective.

//Above is the discussion of techniques, which make the communication of Rich Langston effective. Now, as per the directions, here is the explanation about the techniques to improve upward communication//

Techniques to improve upward communication

Yes, an open door policy is the right way to improve the upward communication. An upward communication is essentially important or critical for the success of the business, so this should be promoted by adopting all the key techniques in the communication process by the organization. With an open door policy, it is possible for Rich Langston to invite the active participation of the employees in the decision making and problem solving methods, which are crucial for the success of the organization. Through upward communication, it is possible to encourage the information flow from the subordinate level to the superior level. These are as follow:

Consistency: By following this technique, it is possible to improve the upward communication in the organization. By accepting graciously the feedback given by the employees, it is possible to improve upward communication in an efficacious mode. If uniformity is followed in a strict style by Rich Langston in his communication process, upward communication can be easily improved within the corporation. This will foster trust among the lower level employees towards the management of the corporation (Brewster & Harris 2004).

Invite for decision making: This is also an effective and useful technique to improve the upward communication. By inviting the employees in decision making, it is ...

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