ORGANISATIONAL COMMUNICATION: A CASE STUDY

By Thomas A. Booth
Introduction
The organization chosen for this case study on organizational communication is a small political activists organization for which the writer of this paper once volunteered. The organizational communication problem encountered was that the volunteer supervisor did not have projects ready during the scheduled volunteer time slots, and despite a thorough interview process to determine skill-need matches and prior verbal scheduling of volunteer times, this problem persisted for months. With the lack of a communication plan, the consequence was a diminished enthusiasm for the cause and growing level of frustration causing this writer to cease volunteering for the organization despite having a true belief in its mission.

Knowledge
The major problem in this case study was that the volunteer supervisor was engaged in so many projects that she did not invest the time to communicate projects to delegate to the volunteer. Most volunteers for this organization worked on updating databases, solicitations, and mailings. This writers volunteer emphasis was on writing and doing special projects. Therefore, it was only through horizontal top down communication from this particular supervisor that these special projects could be delegated. Because the volunteer work was so different than the other volunteers, there was no real value to vertical communication. In Organizational Communication, Kathryn Baker, contends many communication theories are not so relevant in todays service world as well as todays technologically globalized world. (Baker, 2002) While many organizational communication principals would apply, this organization operates locally and nationally, and falls into Bakers description of the service organization. What the supervisor could have done was implement time saving communication systems, such as writing memos, e-mails, and other written communication methods to delegate tasks to be done within that specific time frame. If this was done, the task(s) often were so simple that they did not take all the volunteer time, and she was left scrambling to find another volunteer project.

Sensitivity
The person that appears to be most responsible for the problem was the volunteer supervisor. However, she was being asked to do more than supervise volunteers; she was an assistant to the Marketing/Communication Director and was involved in a very extensive public awareness campaign which required a lot of hands on work on her part.

Additionally, the communications department seemed at odds with other parts of the organization, and other departmental managers often were putting demands on this supervisor as well. Her lack of time resulted in her being a poor communicator, and even though this volunteer's skills could have helped ease her work load, she couldnt slow down enough to implement a concrete communications strategy.

Skills
The writer of this case study looks to Carter McNamaras Basics in Internal Organizational Communications (McNamara, 2007) who suggests a communication plan. This plan can involve verbal or written communications that would cover how to effectively manage a nontraditional volunteer. As cited earlier, this supervisor dealt mostly with people with specific tasks, not project skills, and therefore did not need a one-on-one short session with them during their volunteer time. They also had the value of communication with one another to help them out when they ran into a specific problem.

Values
The value of the frustrated volunteer was the desire to create some quality work and be included within a network of volunteers for this cause. The value of the supervisor was to impress her managers. The values of the volunteer and supervisor were not mutual. If the goals had been mutual, it might have created an environment that would have made it more conducive for the supervisor to take the time to communicate special volunteer projects of value. Its rather ironic that during the initial volunteer meeting, how the writer of this paper could assist the cause was a major point of discussion. This paper does acknowledge that as with many political activists organizations, things happen on the spot, and there is a great deal of crisis management, and not a lot of preplanning. Additionally the communication focus for this organization was external, not internal. This organizational culture spilled over into the communication methods of this writers volunteer work, and was a cause of a great deal of frustration. Alternative Solutions The volunteer supervisor should delegate another volunteer to hand out the written instructions for the volunteer time block, and because of the nature of the work, keep the volunteer time appointment in her appointment book, not just on the general volunteer log. This would have eased the frustration and allowed the writer of this paper to feel like a valuable contribution was being made to this particular cause.

Proposed Solutions
McNamaras communication plan could be written. The written communication vehicles could include hand written memos, or emails. This former volunteer believes that the supervisor did not see the benefit of investing the necessary time to guide, mentor, or retain the volunteer. A communication vehicle needed to be defined, tasks assigned, and then executed with a communication vehicle defined for feedback.

HR Problems at Jet Airways: Coping with Turbulent Times in the Indian Aviation Industry
Abstract:
The case is about the retrenchment drama that unfolded in one of India's leading aviation companies, Jet Airways (India) Limited (Jet), in late 2008. After showing the door to more than 1000 employees in a bid to streamline its operations, Jet was faced with immense criticism and opposition by various organizations and political parties. Jet's chairman Naresh Goyal (Goyal) reinstated the employees a day later saying that he was not aware of these sackings. The Indian aviation industry was going through a tough phase and experts felt that it was in the interest of the company to retrench employees to remain competitive. Experts largely felt that Goyal had capitulated under pressure from external parties while others felt that all may not be well with the organizational communication mechanisms at Jet.

Issues:
Analyze the HR problems faced by Jet Airways in 2008. Discuss various concepts related to hiring, firing, and compensation management. Understand the rationale behind Jet's decision to lay-off employees and the reason's behind its later decision to take back the sacked employees. Understand the importance of communication in an organization and analyze whether there were any loopholes in Jet's organizational communication network. Understand the rationale behind the pay cuts initiated at the company. Understand how environmental variables could affect a company's HR policies.

"We have created high morale for our people. Our employees believe in the company. They believe it's their company. There's a feeling among employees that if the company makes money, it's their money and if the company loses money, that's their loss." 1 Naresh Goyal, Chairman, Jet Airways (India) Limited, in July 2007.

"While the mishandling of the Jet Airways sacking and reinstatement of 1,900 employees was an HR and PR disaster, the larger implications of what happened are also worth considering. It is not just that the chairman of India's most successful airline became the butt of jokes, it is also a question of what he knew, when he knew it, and who did the bungling."2 - Anjuli Bargava, Columnist, Business Standard, October, 2008. "The sackings were completely illegal. There was no notice nor was government's permission taken to sack 800 employees. Perhaps they realized their folly and decided to take these employees back. The matter would have landed in the court otherwise."3 Anand Pujari, Labour lawyer, SI Joshi & Co.4, in October 2008. -

Introduction
In October 2008, Jet Airways (India) Limited (Jet), one of India's leading domestic airlines, decided to lay off more than 1,000 employees to streamline its operations.5 The retrenchment was the second phase of its trimming operations. The first phase, which took place a day earlier, saw the airline showing the door to 850 cabin crew members6. The second phase of retrenchment included employees from all operations - cabin crew, pilots, ground staff, airport services staff, and employees from management departments.

The sudden decision not only took the employees by surprise but also caused alarm in the Indian aviation sector. Amidst great furor and opposition by various organizations and political parties, Naresh Goyal (Goyal), chairman of Jet, reinstated the employees a day later amidst great emotional drama. He was quoted as saying he had been appalled by the retrenchments of his employees, which he claimed, he had come to know only through media reports. He added that he would "not be able to live as long as he lives" with the tough decision his management had taken and clarified that he was taking back the employees as they were "family to him and as head of the family he would take care of them."7 A month later - in November 2008, Jet announced that it would consider serious salary cuts for its staff to handle the aviation crisis.

While many industry analysts were surprised by the turn of events that had led to the reinstatement of the sacked employees, they opined that Jet had been forced to take drastic decisions such as laying off employees or initiating pay cuts because of the turbulent phase through which the aviation industry was passing. In September 2008, the International Air Transport Association8 (IATA) had predicted that world over the aviation industry would lose about US$5.2 billion based on an average jet fuel price of US$140 . The rise in fuel prices had pushed the fuel bills of the aviation industry to US$186 billion by the end of the year 2008.9...

Excerpts

Background Note
Jet, with its headquarters in Mumbai, India, began as an air taxi operator in April 1992 and started its commercial operations a year later, in 1993. It operated with just 24 flights across 12 destinations initially, but showed exceptional growth with more than 357 daily flights to about 62 domestic and international destinations in 2008. It was first listed in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in the year 2005. As of June 2008, it operated over 370 daily flights to about 68 destinations both in India and abroad including San Francisco, New York,Toronto, Singapore, Brussels, London (Heathrow), Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, Bangkok, Kathmandu, Dhaka, Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, etc...

HR Issues, Management and Decision Making at Jet

According to the company, Jet paid the utmost importance to the composition of its senior management and its human resources with emphasis on teamwork as a key success factor. Being in the service-based industry, Jet gave priority to high quality, professional service to its customers...

The Retrenchment Drama Unfolds

The retrenchment drama unfolded on October 16, 2008, when Jet announced that it would lay off nearly 1,100 of its staff a day after it had already laid off around 800 of its cabin crew members. The second phase of 1,100 employees included those from departments like management, flight attendants, and the cockpit crew. The company decided to lay off these employees with no prior notice but offered them a month's remuneration...

Reasons for Retrenchment

The growing challenges in the Indian aviation industry were the main reason for the lay offs at Jet, according to the company and other industry analysts. Turbulent Times for the Indian Aviation Industry The Indian aviation industry was one of the fastest growing aviation industries in the world. The Air Corporations (Transfer of Undertakings and Repeal) Act 1994 opened the Indian skies up to private operators. Apart from government-owned airlines, the aviation industry was flooded with private operators and low cost carriers...

The Debate Leading to the Reinstatement of Employees

Jet received criticism from several quarters for retrenching its employees. Many of its employees protested against the decision to oust them without prior notice. Most of them had paid substantial amounts to receive training at major Aviation Training institutes...

Massive Salary Cuts Follow

In the last week of November 2008, Jet decided on a 20% cut in the salaries of its pilots, engineers, and some other staff. The company planned a 5 percent to 10 percent cut in the salary of top officials who drew a salary above Rs. 75,000...

Exhibits
Exhibit I: A Snap-shot of Kingfisher Airlines Exhibit II (a): Financial Snapshot of Jet Airways for the year 2007-2008 Exhibit II (b): Comparison of Financials of Jet Airways in the quarters from June 2008June 2007 Exhibit III: Growth in Passenger Traffic in the Aviation Sector