How Yahoo’s Poorly Constructed Memo Affected Communication And Productivity

Section 1

Case study: Yahoo’s unprofessional memo

The HR of the organization, Yahoo, circulated a poorly constructed memo among the workforce in order to stop telecommuting or working from home activities. On the other hand, the management took the decision of implementing the system without properly communicating the same to the employees, which has created a major gap in the production process. The CEO of the organization, Marissa Mayer, initially stated that the non- disclosure policy of the organization has restricted the organization to undertake the proper communication of the different changes with the employees (Trautman and Ormerod2016). However, a huge resistance was faced by the organization due to the imposition of the policy without making the stakeholders aware of the accountability.

Yahoo has developed a positive culture in the organization, apart from the lack of transparency that withholds the management of the organization to transmit information of the processes and the changes that are being planned by the organization. It has affected the productivity of the organization and maximized the staff turnover rates of the business firm. The changes that were undertaken by the organization have affected the interests of most of the employees of the organization (Vogelgesang,  Leroy and Avolio 2013). On the other hand, factors like distance issues and inconvenience of the employees relating to the sudden change in the policies of the organization is supported through miscommunication that was undertaken by the organization without taking the consent of workforce.

Communication could have helped the organization in forging a strategic edge to the policy, which was compromised through the misinterpretation of the poorly constructed memo.  The memo could not state the objectives of the organization and thereby state the rationale for undertaking the change in the systems of the business operations. It has enhanced the staff turnover rates of the organization, as most of the employees could not adapt themselves to the change in the policy of the business (Falkheimer 2014). On the other end, the organization also lost many forceful and skilled workforces, which was considered to be a resource for the profitability and the growth of the business. It has affected the proper functioning of the systems of the business while affecting the productivity of the same. Lastly, the CEO acknowledged that most of the best innovations are made by the organizations through consultation of the business changes with the employees of the organization (Eid 2012). The organization has failed to involve the employees to the management’s decision, which is the resultant of the improper communication that was undertaken by the business firm.  

Section 2

2a. Failure of the principle communicator

The objective for undertaking the communication was to make the employees aware of the subtle change in the policies that the organization is undertaking in the structural basis. However, the lack of professional approach has affected the manner in which the communication was established by the HR departments of the business. The major objective of undertaking communication is to impart the required knowledge among the people for the proper functioning of the systems. However, lack of transparency in the message affects the different aspects of undertaking effective communication. The chief objective of undertaking the communication was simply to make the employees aware of the change ion the policy without involving them through asking their consent to the change.

The KTFD model helps in undertaking proper communication mediums in order to make the employees award of the desired change through providing a rationale for the modification. Carmeli, Tishler and Edmondson (2012) stated that the rationale helps in convincing the employees of the different change need of the organization. On the other hand, it helps in balancing the platform in which the management of the organization and the employees dwell. However, the HR of the organization failed to follow the KTFD model as there are no emotions that connect the management of the organization with the issues that might be faced by the employees through the implementation of the change.  On the other hand, the provisions of making the people aware of the reason for undertaking the change was not adhered in the ill- constructed memo. The memo simply made the people aware of the change in the policy of the organization without any provision for negotiation on their issues that they might face through the application of the alteration. The WIIFT includes the objective of the organization to facilitate the smooth functioning of the processes, disregarding the interests of the employees at large. The knowledge of the change was not imparted to the workforce from beforehand, which would have helped the employees in undertaking mental preparations (Xu et al. 2013). On the other hand, the sudden change that was implemented by the organization could provide very less time for the employees to identify and think of the value creation of the change. The lack of collaboration and integration of the management and the workforce has caused serious upheavals against the change that was implemented by the organization. The lack of adherence to the KTFD model has affected the communication system that was undertaken by the organization, which accelerated the staff turnover rates and the productivity of the business.

HR, being the principle communicator of the organization has undertaken steps to make the employees aware of the changed policy of the business firm through a poorly constructed memo. The memo did not discuss the rationale of the change that is being implemented by the organization ion the structure of the business. On the other hand, the sudden implementation of the change in the organizational policies without any prior notice has resulted to the lack of involvement of the employees in the processes of the business firm. The key reason for the failure of the policy that the organization aimed at implementing is due to the lack of proper communication. On the other hand, the lack of involving the employees in the policies of the organization and the decision making process of the same has affected the proper functioning of the workforce as per the objectives of the business (Pearson2016). The secrecy in the representation of the managerial information has resulted to the firm creating a barrier between the management and the employees. Amankwah-Amoah (2015) stated that the transparency of the organizational systems is compromised through the secrecy policy of the same.

As per the bandwagon fallacy, it can be argued that opinion of the majority is valid. In this regard, most of the Yahoo employeesprefer work from home. This policy helped the company to generate innovation and creativity by implementing a flexibility in the workplace environment. The employees agreed that the plan of virtual workplace helped them to intrigue more towards innovation. However, the Yahoo management posted a memo in course of changing the policy by installing the real workplace environment in order to yield more profit. In fact, this is against the opinion of the majority in terms of the employees who thought that virtual workplace could lead towards high innovation and creativity. On the other hand, the tuquoquefallacy is related to the hypocrisybetween argument and the action. In this context, the Yahoo management is looking for a better framework to maximize the profit by implementing workplace culture. However, in real the management tries to intervene into the flexible working environment of the employees that in return hampers the innovative ideas of the staff and increases the employee turnover rate.

The credibility of the principle communicator was lower as the incomplete communication affected the steady functioning of the workforce, which drastically affected the productivity of the business while operating on the objectives. The HR of the organization failed to provide a rationale for the change in the policies that were planned by the organization (Marshall 2013). It represented an incomplete communication, whichcaused the resistance from the side of the workforce, thereby resulting to a lag in the productivity. The message that was communicated to the employees were unclear, which affected their understanding of the change. Therefore, the credibility of the chief communicator is compromised through the lack of transparency.

2b. Change in the communication method in future

The identification of the different issues that were faced by the organization, Yahoo, due to transmission of incomplete information will be helping to identify the different steps through which the communication can be made  more effective. This section of the discussion is focused on identifying the different ways through which the communication abilities can be improved. It will be helpingto integrate and coordinate the actions of management and workforce through which the productivity and profitability of the organization could be raised.

The negative definition technique will be helping the management in undermining the effects of the fallacies. The professional approach while communicating any concern and provisions of updating the rationale for the change in the communication medium will be helping the organization to make the employees aware of the necessity for the change (Mueller  and Shepherd  2016). On the other hand, the involvement of the workforce in the processes of the business will be helping the organization inundertaking the smooth functioning of the processes.

The principle communicator could have simply aided the communication through providing the rationale for the change in the systems of the business. The chief communicator is planning to take steps in order to make the people aware of the different changes in the policies of the organization through the maintenance of transparency. The different policies of the organization restrict the proper functioning of the communication systems in order to maintain the secrecy of the work functions. However, Marcella and Illingworth (2012) stated that the knowledge of the change in the processes of the organization must be properly communicated to the employees, which will be helping the business to maximize the productivity of the same.

The principle communicator failed in the approach due to the lack of professionalism in maintaining the standards of the memo. Memo should have clearly informed the employees and the other stakeholders of the organization about the change in the systems of the business. On the other hand, the memo should have provided with a rationale for the change in the policy. However, the concerned memo did not provide any evidence of the rationale for the change in the policy, which was misinterpreted by the employees resulting to an enhancement in the staff turnover rates.

2c. Overview

The organization, Yahoo, has taken steps to bring forth sudden changes in a policy of the business, which was naturally resisted by the employees of the organization. The memo that contained the information of the change was ill- constructed.It gave a vague picture as to the rationale of the organizational change against all odds that the employees would be facing through the alteration (Dwivedi et al. 2015). The employees naturally resisted to the change that was planned by the organization. The lack of proper communication medium and the adherence to the “clarity” needs of communication affected the proper functioning of the systems of the business.

The KTFD objective of the organization should have been to involve the employees in the processes thatare planned by the business and thereby negotiate on the different terms as per the needs of both management and the workforce. However, the fallacy that was created by the organization was based on lack of transparency of the communication medium and the message that was imparted to the employees. Pearson (2017) stated that the transparency of the message is one of the ethical considerations that are required to be undertaken while communicating. However, the organization failed to adhere to the ethics of undertaking effective communication. It might be taken as a fallacy from the side of the organization in misguiding the people through providing incomplete information of the change (Doorley and Garcia 2015). Schnackenbergand Tomlinson (2016) stated that the identification of the rationale for the change and thereby forging the modification through discussions with the employees will be helping the organization in maximizing the productivity of the same. Itwill be facilitating the organization in maintaining the different changes through the cooperation of the employees. On the other hand,Paquette, Sommerfeldt and Kent (2015) stated that the proper communication systems will be enabling he organization to initiate the process of coordinative actions between the management and the workforce. It shall maximize the profitability of the organization while operating as per the objectives of the business.

2d. Recommendations

The proper functioning of the systems of the business will be initiated through the suitable communication systems.  Therefore, in order to bring in changes in the communication systems, there are certain strategies through which the effectiveness of communication might be maintained. The recommended actions that might be undertaken by the organization in order to make the communication more effective are being discussed in this section.

Face to face communication with the employees

The face to face communication with the employees will be helping the business’s management to make the people aware of the changes. On the other hand, it will be helping the organization in maintaining the transparency policy as per the ethical standards through providing the rationale for undertaking the change to the employees. The face- to –face communication helps in mitigating issues relating to misunderstandings between the organizational management and the workforce. It helps in maintaining the productivity of the business.

Maintaining the professional approach while communicating

The professional approach helps in maintaining the standards of the communication media and thereby excludes biases from the systems that are planned by the business. The induction of professional approach in the organizational policy framing and communicating with the employees will be helping the business in adhering to the ethical standards.

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