The Hindu Business Line : It's an open house, folks!

Imagine an organisation where all its employees are excellent listeners, have developed a transparent and open relationship with co-workers, subordinates and bosses. They have expressed themselves professionally on all issues, including matters where there is little assent. Now imagine an organisation where exactly the opposite is happening. Obviously the cost of having the first kind of environment is much less than the cost of having the second one.

With the exception of a few archaic-minded ones, most organisations are realising the benefits of investing in intra and extra communication systems: first psychologically and then financially.

For instance, the health of people depends on what happens in organisations and what they do. Besides, organisations only function with the co-operation of their members. We all know that ineffective organisations can be very frustrating. We also know that highly effective organisations can demand so much from their employees, that sometimes people have nothing of themselves left for life beyond the work place. This is very common in the new age corporate world where every job is a total commitment, both in terms of time and effort. Either of these scenarios can result in personal and relationship stress or breakdown.

In such a situation, not having a good communication system in place results in conditions not conducive to the growth of the organisation. Some common mistakes that employees and organisations commit are in failing to take the time to build working relationships, not being open minded about dealing with resulting conflicts, people not informing each other of important issues and not clarifying when misunderstandings occur.

Communication is an intricate skill, and in complex business environments where the stakes are high, communicating becomes fraught with risk. But the corporate world has discovered that communication skills can improve with training and practice and most of them have experts advising them on how to go about it.

In the 1980s, the business sector discovered the joys of having a separate corporate communications department and the results are here for all of us to see. But, warns Sampath J.M., Managing Director, Arpitha Assoiciates, an HR and training organisation, "Corporate communication should build a bridge between people and the corporation. And also ensure that there is no discord between words spoken by the company and the actions it takes." Actions always speak louder than words and no amount of loud speaking will get you the results that actions doSays Vasantha Kalbagal, Director, Corporate Affairs, Phoenix Global Solutions, a Bangalore-based software firm, "All communication at Phoenix is managed by the Corporate Affairs Department." In almost all organisations, this department, apart from external communication to customers, suppliers and the media also manage internal communication: among employees, between boss and subordinate, between management and employees, and the like. These are both informal and formal sessions.

According to Ashok Kumar, DGM, HR and MS, LG Electronics India Ltd., "At LG, there is a totally informal environment with hierarchy having very little role in it. Even the physical setting is such that it promotes the concept of free flow of communication at all levels." He explains that all LG employees, except for the VPs, sit in an open hall. And employees are free to discuss any issue with any one in the hierarchy, right up to the level of the managing director.

Most companies these days follow a practice of pizza-coke session where the bosses and the subordinates thrash out sensitive issues.

But are companies really as transparent and open-minded about issues as they project themselves to be? Not really.

Says Sampath, "Transparency is a myth. In a competitive business environment you have to protect your interest. Most of the times there is a wide gap between what companies project themselves to be and what they actually are."

Even within the company, during the heydays of the IT boom, job aspirants found that what companies promised them (not financially, but emotionally) was not what they actually got after joining. Consequently, when the time for dissonance and grievance handling came, most tech companies showed a level of maturity that you would associate with a teenager. Cases of employees being shown the exit door with half a day's notice are not rare. But there are still a few companies that are discovering the joys of communication. TNT India, the express company, has formed a variety of platforms for employees to interact at different levels effectively. These platforms provide opportunity for employees to share views and suggestions, both formally and informally.

Says Kumar of LG, "We have a concept of e-pizza meeting where the MD has an informal meeting with all members of a particular team every week to get a first-hand feel of their issues and concerns. Apart from this we have review meetings every week at all levels which is the best course of communication across levels. We also have daily morning meetings, another channel of communication at the team level."

At Phoenix Global Solutions, the Corporate Affairs department has come up with various communication vehicles that are aimed at bringing in openness and transparency into the work environment. Between Us is a management quarterly news update from the MD to all its employees. At the `Open House' session, the senior management interacts with the employees at Phoenix's rooftop cafeteria.

Phoenix Express is an online monthly news bulletin of the events at the company. Similarly at TNT, besides the formal meetings informal interactions are also there. For example on Saturdays, the managing director calls for a `Saturday Tea Meeting' where the MD and all functional managers meet up. This is an informal gathering and gives an opportunity for the top management to chat on anything other than business, and develop an effective team spirit.

On an informal level, a few TNT employees have formed the `Lunch Club'. Says Jinendra Sancheti, Managing Director, TNT India, "There are no junior/senior differences and as per the norm, no employee should talk shop during lunchtime."

The famous TGIF (Thank Good It's Friday) concept was popularised during the boom days when IT companies were recruiting in large numbers and employees had to feel `belonged'. Also the long hours of working with a machine with no human presence was beginning to send danger signals to HR managers and psychologists.

"At PGS, the weekly meet is on Monday instead of Friday as it's more important to drive away Monday morning blues than help employees enjoy weekends," says Kalbagal. Call centres and medical transcription companies have taken this fun concept further in employing a `Chief Fun Officer.'

TNT also has another unique practice to ensure the effectiveness of communication system in the organisation. Called the `Escalation Policy', this practice ensures promptness in sending replies. If an employee does not reply to a mail (specially when a customer is mailing for a revert), then it is sent to his/her immediate boss. If the response still does not come then it is escalated to the National Customer Service Manager, and in the next stage to the Country Head.

Sancheti says at TNT, the use of the intranet is growing at a very fast pace. The global vacancies are put up on the intranet. He has created the `MD's Web Page' which can be used by his first line managers to view critical data.

But there's a lot of debate about the use of electronic media to communicate with employees. Commenting on the invasion of technology in communications, Sampath advises, "Technology gives us a lot of power, but the user should exercise as much restraint as he's using the power."

Today there are a variety of tools available to communicate to large numbers of people. Kumar of LG says the company uses electronic displays all around the factory as part of its concept of a Visual Factory. "Not only this, we have put televisions at various locations where information on all aspects of the plant get communicated to employees."

All LG executives have been provided with mobile phones to facilitate better communication. "In addition to this, a PC has been provided to all executives and they are all connected thru the e-mail." The company also has a V-Sat connectivity to all its 23 branches all over the country. At PGS, employees receive Pop Up Mails, and a `You've Done It' Mail, which is a kind of peppy mail based on customer feedback and in-house achievements.

But with the advent of technology, does communication tend to become highly personal and informal? Is the formal way of communication completely outdated?

Sampath responds thus, "How many of us have made an effective transition from a formal communication system to a good personal communication system? Very few." Most companies look for a balance between the two.

Kumar responds to the query on striking a good balance by saying that at LG, the communication is both formal and informal. When it comes to achievement of targets it is more formal, and when it comes to personal level interactions it is more informal. Kalbagal says at PGS too it's a good mix of back- slapping and laughter along with serious exchange of ideas.

TNT, like all modern day organisations, has an open door policy and believes that employees are internal customers. Interaction between employees across levels is informal in nature and every body is on `first name' terms with each other.

How evolved is the communication system in India and where do Indian companies stand in the global picture?

Says M.K. Malkani, Deputy General Manager, Personnel, HDFC India, "Communication in India today is on par with global standards. Our company compares very favourably with world class communication systems." Kumar on the other hand feels the traditional Indian industry is still in living with its age-old philosophy where communication is not considered to be an important aspect.

With the advent of MNCs and the evolution of HR in the Indian industry, things have undergone a noticeable change. The employees are treated more as partners of the business, and for this to happen, `barriers of communication levels and hierarchies have to be broken'. This realisation is by and large coming and more and more organisations are shifting to this model of partnership where communication is the key to success, is Kumar's opinion.

But technology has brought with it a dehumanising element and this many feel has affected the communication process in an organisation. For instance, there are virtual teams of 20-25 people sitting in various parts of the world working on the same project, but they have never had a face-to-face meeting with one another. How many project leaders are able to handle the communication system that has to reach 20 faces unknown to each other?

Another danger is the loss of privacy that the electronic media brings with it. In all organisations employee communication, whether personal or official, is being closely watched. The Big Brother phenomenon is a reality. Says Sampath, "In our bid to be superfast and trying to reach as many people as possible at one go, we are losing certain sensitivities, which is unfortunate."

Malkani has the last word on the issue: "Electronic media if used effectively has the advantage of speed and reduction of paper work. If used indiscriminately and at the cost of human interaction, it can be detrimental in the long run."

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