IT - 520

FINAL PROJECT COMMUNICATION FRAMEWORK AND TRAINING

REPORT ON THE COMMUNICATION ENVIRONMENT

OF
BOLDFlash CORPORATION

SUBMITTED BY: ADESHINA SEGUN ABEFE

SUBMITTED TO: DMITRY BELOUS

DATE: MAY 7th 2016

BACKGROUND AND AREA OF FOCUS

BOLDFlash Corporation is a business organization that manufactures technical products
including Flash drive and Disk drive. It has different departments and units through which it
drives its business operations and processes including Product development, Marketing, Sales
and Technical support.
Technical Service Communication
Whenever a new product is developed, Director of product development advises
departmental heads with the product description, this document will be sent to every other units
including Marketing and Technical support team. The concern is that there is no collaboration
and team work in the development and design of this Technical communication. For example
Product development changed the format of product description without any input from all
stakeholders; a product document was produced that is designed only for highly technical
audience.
Product Documentation
BOLDFlash product document is developed by R&D unit which is a technical
department, thereafter it is reproduced and updated by the Manufacturing unit and then it is
included in the product packaging and then the document find itself in the hands of the
consumers. There is no input or contribution from the Sales department, Marketing department
and Technical support unit.
The concern is that it will be difficult if not impossible for the Technical support team to
provide user support when they are not aware of or do not have input in the preparation of the
2

information the consumers will be calling in to make enquiries. Also it will be difficult for Sales
and Marketing department to work effectively with highly technical document because of their
level of expertise.
Internal Business Process
BOLDFlash internal communication process is through the use of internal memo. Each
department use internal memo to inform other departments and units of their plans, actions,
expectation and deadlines. Each department also uses internal memo to communicate their
internal business processes.
This is an area of concern over and above all issues and should be fixed first. This is
because organizations achieve its goals and execute its strategies through business processes.
BOLDFlash must recognize that internal business process is not a silo process or a singledepartment activity rather business process is an interrelated and interdependent series of
activities within an enterprise which must work together to accomplish organizational objectives
and goals. Internal business processes will establish the structure and framework for the
development of product documentation and technical service communication that meets
stakeholders requirements. Internal business process has several and varied audience and thus it
must speak the language understood by all the audiences of the processes.

KEY STAKEHOLDERS
Stakeholders for the communication framework are the Directors and Heads of
department who are the decision makers, they are the process and communication owners for the
3

company and they will set the tone for the organization and their respective departments for
compliance with the business process. These stakeholders consist of people with different
personalities, perspectives and levels of expertise. Therefore organizations business process
must be developed with inputs from every stakeholder within the organization.

ESTABLISHED PRACTICE
Currently BOLDFlash uses internal memo to communicate new or revised business
process. For example Karl Melzer, Director of Product Development sent internal memo to all
department heads informing them of revised product release process. This existing
communication practice of using internal memo will be adopted to advise all staff of the newly
develop internal business process. Specifically the memo will provide the following details to all
staff for every new and revised business process:

Process description
Process number
Process location
Feedback

FRAMEWORK FOR COMMUNICATION

Communication with the stakeholders must be very effective to achieve its objective. In
developing communication framework, audience must be identified and analyzed and what fit
their personalities, status and orientation must be communicated.

Communication to the Directors, as a group of audience, will be made through a short

Microsoft power point presentation. This presentation will discuss the importance of
management buy-in for the process reengineering, tangible and intangible cost and impact of the
existing and inadequate business processes and the tangible and intangible benefits of the
business process reengineering to the company.
Communication to the Heads of department, as a group of audience, will be much
detailed. Microsoft power point presentation and Microsoft word document distribution will be
made to the Heads of Units. The presentation and the document will discuss the operational and
performance benefits, and the structure, content and format of the outcome of the business
process reengineering. The following will be emphasized in the business process reengineering
output for adoption going forward for each process:

Name and description of the process

Objective of the process
Input to the process and output from the process
Flow of the process
Action points and tasks e.g. approval, review and control
Responsibility and accountability for action points
Timeline for action points
External dependencies in the process flow
Acceptance and compliance statement
Sign-off by all stakeholders

TRAINING PLAN: COMMUNICATION

Communication Strategy

In developing communication framework the following area of focus will be incorporated

in the communication strategy.
The goal of the communication
The goals of the communication will be defined and established. The goals will be in
several levels according to classification and definition of the audience of the communication.
Some of the goals that will be identified are

To give instruction on a particular issue of concern, for example instruction on how to

carry out a task or a job function

To seek approval for a particular cause of action, for example to seek for management
approval for execution of a project or procurement

The audience of the communication

The audience will be adequately identified, defined and documented. The audience
documentation will be updated as new audiences are recognized or when the status of some
audiences changed.
The content of the communication
The content or the communication message will be developed with the needs of the
audience group in mind. The destination of the message will guide the content of the message.
The content of the message will be constructed according to the orientation of the audience.
Specifically the following audience orientation will be used to develop the content:

High technical expertise

Moderate technical expertise
Low technical expertise
Zero technical expertise
6

The delivery channel

The message of the communication must be sent out using the appropriate channel or
channels. The destination of the message will dictate the appropriate channel to use. Delivery
channel for internal audience will be designed differently from that of the external audience.
Audience flair for a particular communication channel will be identified and utilized. For
example management has flair for graphs and executive summary while customers generally
have flair for manual with graphics or video instruction. Available communication channel will
be documented and mapped with relevant audience group.
The following delivery channels will be included in the framework

Manual
Video
Newsletter
Memo
Intranet
Website
Oral

Duration of communication
The length of period the communication will take will be defined for each audience and
the delivery channel to be used. For example manual instruction with graphics will be designed
to last for a very long time while an advert on public media will generally be used for a limited
period of time due to the cost it will incur if use for a long period. However duration of the
communication must be adequately defined so as to meet the set goals and objectives.
Feedback mechanism

Feedback mechanism helps to evaluate the effectiveness of the communication.

Audiences feedback can be positive in form of commendation or it could be negative in form of
complaint. Feedback mechanism will also help to identify more audience group or identify
wrong audience classification.
The above communication strategy is appropriate for the focus areas of management and
customers. For the management it is appropriate because

Management do not want to waste their precious time if the goals and objective of their

engagement are not properly defined

Management want their audience group to be properly recognized and addressed
Management appreciates feedback system for evaluation of effectiveness

TRAINING PLAN: COLLABORATION

Collaboration Structure and Strategies
The objective of the collaboration
Collaboration is an important facet of the communication strategies. The objective of
collaboration strategy must be for the sharing of knowledge and information among identified
audience. It can also be an avenue to store organization knowledge base for future reference.
The participant of the collaboration
The participant in the collaboration must be identified and defined. Collaboration can be
classified according to work structure or line of authority. The following are example of
classification
8

Software developer collaboration site

Software developer share opinions and knowledge on software development issues, they
can quickly get an advice or assistance on line of codes. They can also use it to store

information that can be useful in future

Head of department collaboration site.
Heads of department are organizations middle management. They share ideas and
opinions tactical plan and departmental goals. They also do peer review on organizations
activities such project or process development.

Tool for collaboration

The participant identified for collaboration will have to use a tool to collaborate. The tool
for collaboration must meet the objective and the type of participant for the collaboration. High
tech collaboration tool will be ineffective for zero tech audience. However the following must be
considered in selecting the collaboration tools

The total cost of ownership of the tool including service contract

The type of collaboration
Orientation of the participant

Some examples of tools that can be used for collaboration are

SharePoint
Wiki

To make the collaboration strategy effective participant will be trained on the use of the tool
for optimum usage.

TRAINING PLAN: TRAINING METHODS

9

Method(s)
A chosen area of focus is training method for senior management. Training is an avenue
to increase or sharpen employee skills and knowledge.
Training must be designed for the identified audience. Training senior management
require adequate planning because management do not have much time to sit for a lengthy
training session. Therefore training program for management must be very brief but it must be
informative for their needs. Training for management will emphasize strategic management and
organizational behavior. The training method for management must incorporate the following:

It must have graphical presentation

It must emphasize strategic planning
It must emphasize shareholder interest
It must emphasize business development and negotiation
It must emphasize leadership development
It must provide scenario analysis
For example the caption below was culled from the website of the University of

Pennsylvania Wharton Business School management training program:

Wharton AMP becomes a defining moment in one's career, our AMP alumni call it life
changing. Senior leaders who attend AMP should expect to sharpen their critical thinking skills
and hone their leadership capabilities for immediate impact to their businesses upon their return.
Upon completion of AMP, participants are better prepared to:

Authentically lead their organization and inspire a higher level of performance

10

Align resources with strategy to create a more resilient and agile organization

Formulate a corporate vision and set a new direction for the organization

Create greater shareholder value

Replace binary thinking with more critically-integrated design thinking

Persuade, influence, and negotiate expertly

Training for management is a special undertaking which require careful planning and
presentation. After the presentation of the training to senior management with due approval the
training material can be made available to other management staff either published on the
collaboration platform or email to intended audience. This presentation can be a preparation
guide for the upcoming managers to develop their skills and knowledge.
Therefore an interactive and engaging training method will be used for senior
management and Microsoft PowerPoint will be a great tool for the training. The slides
presentation will

Be tested for usability

Be few
Incorporate bullet points
Embedded with supporting items like short video clips, graphs, and tables.

11

SPECIFIED GUIDELINES
Specific guidelines
The specific guidelines for communication, collaboration and training strategies are as
stated below

Define objectives of the communication, collaboration and training

Identify and defined audience
Identify the audience needs and orientation
Classify audience
Develop the message for the communication, collaboration and training
Define and design the tools for communication, collaboration and training
Design the feedback mechanism for evaluation after the communication, collaboration
and training

THE TRAINING: TARGET AUDIENCE

Target audience of the communication
The target audiences for this communication program are management and staff of
Marketing and Sales department.
Characteristics of the target audience
Management and staff of Marketing and Sales department do not have any technical
expertise, their orientation and skills are in business negotiation, products pricing and sales, and
customer management.
Audience perspectives

12

Marketing and sales department perspectives of the product are the features and benefit
of the products which the customer buys before making the actual purchase. They perceive the
products from the point of view of the customers needs which the product fulfills.
Audience backgrounds
The following are the basic background of management and staff of marketing and sales
department:

Educational background
The target audiences have college education in business and management
Professional background
The target audiences are all certified marketing and sales professionals
Knowledge and experience
The target audiences have between 3 and 10 years of working experience in product

marketing and sales. Their knowledge and skills includes negotiation, business analysis,
relationship management, listening and speaking, persuasion and business management.
Organizational agenda
Organizational agenda for marketing and sales department are objectives and goals of the
department and which they focus their strength and energy to achieve, these are:

Selling product features to existing and prospective customers

Increase customer baselines
Increase number of orders by customer
Product penetration in the existing markets
Product introduction to new markets

THE TRAINING: MESSAGE

13

Message to be delivered
Message to be delivered to marketing and sales department are (1) what products are we
selling, (2) what are the features of these products, (3) what consumer needs the product fulfills
and (4) why should customer buy these product instead of the competitor products.
Message pertinence for the audience
The message is pertinent to the audience because it aligns with the departmental goals
and objectives. Their goals and objectives are to increase sales and profit by selling the company
products, therefore any message about the products will go a long way to assist them achieve
their goals and objectives.
Does the message matter for the target audience?
The message matters to the target audience because the message is a requirements and
inputs for their marketing and sales plans and strategy. The message defines the direction of their
planning and control efforts for profit generation.

THE TRAINING: CRITIQUE

Message critical success factors
The technical communication process will not successfully deliver the intended message
if the following factors exist in the organization:

Goals and objectives are not clearly defined

Lack of support from top management
Staff are afraid to express themselves
14

Poor leadership
Low staff morale
When everyone in the organization works in silo

Will the necessary information reach the target audience?

It will be difficult, if not impossible, for the necessary information to reach the intended
audience if the factors mentioned above are not adequately addressed upfront before the
implementation of the technical communication program; Technical communication is about
developing and exchanging knowledge and ideas in the language of the audience, however the
factors mentioned above scuttles development and exchange of knowledge and ideas Anything
that bring about a disconnection between the audience and the message leads to total failure in
communication.
How can you tell?
It will be obvious that there is a failure in the technical communication process if there is
a disconnection between the audience and the message when the objectives and the goals of the
communication are not achieved and ultimately the organization strategic goals are not met.

ADAPTATION EXAMPLE: NEW COMMUNICATION ARTIFACT

Existing communication practice
The existing practice provides that product document is developed by R&D unit which is
a technical department, thereafter it is reproduced and updated by the Manufacturing unit and
then it is included in the product packaging and then in the hand of the consumers. Marketing
15

and sales department are not involved in the development of the product manual. The existing
practice makes it difficult to develop and design the marketing materials to sell the product.
Training for effective communication
The training program that will be designed will have the objectives of identifying
customer needs, developing the message about the product for the customers through marketing
and how and when to influence the customers to make the buying decision through sales.
A workshop model will be used for the training and will include lecture sessions, video
presentations and live demonstrations which will showcase practical application of the lecture
session and several hands-on case study analysis will be administered to deepen the knowledge
and skill of the participants.

ADAPTATION EXAMPLE: EXPLANATION

Adapting the communication practice
Adapting the communication program requires that it should be designed as a project so
that progress can be measured. The following are the steps to take to adapt the communication
practice:

The objective of the communication will be defined. The objective of the communication
practice is to acquire the skills and knowledge that will assist in the development of

product document that meet the needs of all audiences

The resources for the implementation will be obtained. Some of the resources are

management approval, project sponsor and funding.

The project will be broken down into tasks. Some of the tasks are to define the audience
and identify audience orientation.
16

Respective tasks will be implemented accordingly. One of the tasks is to identify the
orientation of the audience. This will be implemented through questionnaire to be

distributed to the audience.

The tasks implementation process will be monitored. For example the distribution,

completion and collection of the questionnaire will be monitored.

The task implementation will be measured. For example the collected questionnaire will
be analyzed and the information it provides will form an input in the development of the

communication practice
After implementing the communication program, satisfaction and impact survey will be

administered to measure the effectiveness of the program

Based on the feedback improvement will be made on the program.

Reasoning for changes in communication practice

The reason for the change in the communication practice is because the organization
objectives are not been met. Other reasons include lack of effective communication, low staff
morale, reduction in sales, loss of market share, and loss of income and profitability.
Guidelines for implementing communication practice

Define the objectives of the communication

Obtain management approval
Define required resources
Identify existing practice
Design the project
Break down the project into manageable tasks
Implement each of the task to applicable area
Monitor the tasks
Measure the task
Request feedback
Improve based on the feedback

17

ADAPTATION EXAMPLE: ALTERNATIVE ADAPTATION

Alternative target audience of the communication
The alternative target audiences for this communication program are senior management.
Characteristics of the alternative target audience
Senior management does not have any technical expertise, their orientation and skills are
in strategy development, business negotiation and management, products pricing and sales. More
often than not, member of senior management are management and staff of Marketing and Sales
who rise through rank and file.
Perspectives of the alternative audience
Senior management perspectives of the product are the features and benefits of the
products which the customer buys before making the actual purchase which leads to revenue
generation for the organization. They have a similar perception with the Marketing and Sales
which is what customer needs the company products fulfills.
Backgrounds of the alternative audience
The following are the basic background of senior management:

Educational background
The target audiences have college education in business and management
Professional background
Senior management staffs are strategic management and business development
professionals
Knowledge and experience
18

Senior management staffs have between 15 and 30 years of working experience in

business development, product marketing and sales. Their knowledge and skills includes
business negotiation, business management, relationship management, decision making.
Organizational agenda
Organizational agenda for senior management staffs are objectives and goals of the
company as a whole and which they focus their strength and energy to achieve, these are:

Setting strategy goals for the company

Developing income generation businesses
Providing organizational leadership
Product introduction to new markets

Message to be delivered to the alternative audience

Message to be delivered to senior management staffs are (1) what products to develop,
(2) which market to enter, (3) what are the current and future needs of our customer, and (4) who
are our competitors and what are they doing.
Message pertinence for the audience
The message is pertinent to the senior management staffs because it guides them in
matching what product to which market and prepare for the competition.
Does the message matter for the alternative target audience?
The message matters to the target audience because the message is a requirements and
inputs for their strategy development.
Success of alternative adaptation
19

The alternative adaptation will be successful because it aligns vertically with the original
adaptation for Marketing and Sales. Senior management staffs goal is to develop products which
will generate revenue for the company, and they achieve this goal through the Marketing and
Sales adaptation agenda.

SUMMARY
Communication management is a strategic operation in an organization. BOLDFlash
Corporations should implement communication management system to drive its strategic and
business operations. The communication system must be designed and adapt to the business
operations and the environment. Members of staff must be trained on the communication system.
The communication management system will build BOLDFlash Corporation internal cohesion
among its global business offices and internal departments, it will improve internal
collaborations, it will create efficient information processing, and provides an atmosphere where
every members of staff work as a team towards the achievement of the organizational objectives
and goals.

20

Bibliography
Advanced-management-program. (2016, March). Retrieved March 21, 2016, from
Executive Education: http://executiveeducation.wharton.upenn.edu

21