Business Communication Class
DATE: September 25 2010
TO: CEO of Oak Brook Medical Systems, Inc
FROM: External Communications Consultant
SUBJECT: COMMUNICATION STRATEGY MEMO
This memo will recommend a communication strategy for the CEO of Oak Brook Medical, Inc that will help the hospital’s management inform Jacqueline Harris, the Director of Strategic Planning for the Hospital Supply Division which is a segment of Oak Brook Medical, inc of her unproductive communication style and also deal with the low representation of women and people of color at their management level.
Background
In this portion of the memo, the facts of the case will be reviewed. This paragraph will contain information about Jacqueline Harris, her communication style, how her colleagues and coworkers perception of her communication style and the demographic of the company’s management. * Jackie is considered a very valuable asset of the hospital supply division and she is credited with developing the strategy that resulted in 40million business for the company. * Jackie is known for her direct communication style and sometimes has problems interacting with colleagues. * Due to the perception of her communication style by her coworkers and colleagues, they feel that she is unapproachable and tough to work with. * Jackie views difficulty in communicating with her colleagues as a way of getting the job done. * Jackie believes that she is communicating in a manner similar to successful people who have preceded her. * Jackie’s difficulty in communicating with colleagues has been a greater concern during discussions of her future in the division and this has not been brought to her attention directly. * Despite Jackie highly successful performance with the strategic plan, she is not getting any talk of promotion and she believes it is a result of subtle forms of racism. * The Hospital supply division has had very little representation of women and people of color in its management ranking. * Jackie and other senior management officials recognize the shifting demographic of customers and the positive implications of having someone in the hospital supply division that customers can identify with and who can bring a different perspective.
Discussion
According to the facts stated in the background, Jackie is a valuable asset to Oak Brook Medical, Inc., which means if Jackie leaves the company it will result to a loss for Oak Brook Medical Systems, Inc. Jackie’s direct communication style is something that has been noticed by her co-workers and colleagues. This has resulted in problems while interacting with colleagues, which can lead to slower productivity. This may be due to the fact that her co-workers and colleagues see her as tough and unapproachable. This prevents them from asking her for help or guidance on a given project and which can also lead to slow productivity. Jackie although aware of her direct communication style believes that her style is the preferred style to get the job well and that of her superiors. She is also recognizes the difficulty in communicating with her coworkers but doesn’t recognize that the cause of that difficulty is her communication style. Jackie’s communicating difficulty is an issue that comes up when talk of her future in her division arises. This implies that Jackie’s slow movement up in her division may be due to her difficulty in communication with are coworkers but no one till date has brought this issue to her notice which is the reason why Jackie hasn’t made a change to her communication style. Jackie has been very successful at this company and she believes that calls for some form of recognition and promotion in the company. She feels the absence of this is caused by the presence of racism in the company. She felt this way because presently there was very little representation by women and people of color at management level at the firm and she