Situation Analysis Report

Organizational Communication
Author’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Communication forms the basis of all operations in an organization. Communication is also a key performance determinant in that effective communication facilitates the efficient flow of operations in and outside the organization. For instance, once workers communicate effectively, they can work as a team thus more productivity. Also, effective communication allows planned and efficient delegation of duties amongst employees. On the other hand, poor communication is a direct cause of low productivity as duties are not efficiently delegated, team members do not operate as expected, and operations in an organization do not flow as should be. It is, therefore, paramount that organizations focus on improving their communication standards to boost their performance as is the goal of any organization or institution in existence.
This situational analysis report focuses on analyzing and examining the communication system of a simulated workplace, as well as the various processes the employees engage in while at work. The main aim of the simulated workplace is revolutionizing career and technical education so as to orient students in becoming future productive and work ethics-conscious employees. In this process, my class members and I transformed the classroom to resemble the current business structures, expectations, and processes. After setting the class to emulate a real world workplace, my colleagues and I were to assume various roles whose execution would be based on timely execution and completion of tasks, work ethics and morale and punctuality to work.

Additionally, other workplace elements such as attendance, quality of work done by the various students and the level of customer service and satisfaction. To investigate and analyze these fundamental organizational elements, the simulated workplace was set to emulate a large international motor company that manufactures and sells cars, Tesla Motors in this case. The primary department of the study was the customer service sector where communication is believed to be a critical element.
As reported earlier, the primary objective of the simulated workplace exercise was analyzing how communication takes place within the customer service department of Tesla Motors. Various customer service personnel represented those of Tesla Motors. Some students would visit the setting as clients who either sought advice concerning different cars offered. Also, some customers visited the company unhappy following previous malfunctions or breakdown of their Tesla cars. Much traffic seemed to take place within the client service department of the organization. As a result, many customer service workers would be required to handle customer needs.
Customer service personnel within the organization are responsible for interacting with the organization’s customers. Customer service representatives engage either directly or indirectly with the clients in matters of advice, mediating purchases when needed, handling customer claims and needs so as to ensure utmost customer satisfaction. This helps an organization to retain its already acquired customers as well as acquiring new ones (Harvard Business Review, 2012). Customer service process involves various components and interfaces that aid ease of duty. First, customer service plan as a part entails designing a realistic and achievable goal for the organization. Developing an effective customer service plan should contain all customers both internally and externally. Second, an organization through its customer service department should examine customer needs. Every customer is unique, and thus their needs need to be well explored to ensure total satisfaction quickly and kindly. Going back to basics is also an important customer service component (Sperling, 2015). This part involves the necessary small things that customer service representatives can utilize to win their customers. For instance, customer care workers need to be cordial towards customers, and this involves smiling and helpful responses to customers, however, nagging or emotional they could be. Courtesy and humility are also essential in customer service. Making follow-ups as a component entails fulfilling the organization’s promises to its clients, tracking down questions and problems raised by the customers to ensure they are satisfactorily resolved, and making a final confirmation with the customers if they were indeed assisted well. Organizations should also focus on ensuring that they implement customer friendly policies to keep customers close. Customer service representatives should possess adequate knowledge as it regards the company’s products and services. An organization should ensure that its rules can accommodate certain circumstances. Also, rigid rules should be amended to make attending to customers as personal as possible. As we interviewed some customers, their perception of how they were treated was sufficient, although some complained of delays in response from support and lack of follow-ups and at times (Taylor, 2015).

Fig 1: A Flow chart showing the process of customer service from the initial stage to when the customer gets satisfactorily attended to and assisted.
In conclusion, as compared to the two other communication assignments, this situational analysis essay is intended to equip students with the necessary advanced communication skills from a wider perspective. Not only does the simulated workplace exercise provide students with essential workplace skills, but is also a great tool in getting away with the traditional organizational culture. Effective communication in organizations is highly influential to performance. Thus organizations should ensure adoption of the customer service components so as to make sure customers remain as positive as possible about an organization. Additionally, customer service representatives need adequate training to ensure that client needs are well attended to, regardless of whether they are right or wrong. Internally, effective communication boosts employee morale and efficiency at work hence more productivity and interpersonal relations. Externally, effective communication is essential in attending to customers, retaining them as well as acquiring new ones. On the other hand, poor communication in organizations leads to low efficiency at work, low morale amongst workers, and decreased innovation.
References
Harvard Business Review. (2012). The Silent Killer of Big Companies. Retrieved 9 October 2016, from https://hbr.org/2012/10/the-silent-killer-of-big-companies
Taylor, N. (2015). 4 Common Communication Failures (And How to Fix Them). Business News Daily. Retrieved 9 October 2016, from http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7954-business-communication-failures.html
Sperling, M. (2015). Key Components of Excellent Customer Service – The Enterprise Center. The Enterprise Center. Retrieved 9 October 2016, from http://enterprisectr.org/key-components-of-excellent-customer-service/