Report on Effectiveness of Internal Communication (Part-3)

4.0 Survey Findings And Analysis

4.1 Performance of the tools:

4.1.1 Focus:

Every year, 4 issues of the magazine are published; that means the magazine is published once in every 3 months until the time of conducing this project, the total number of issues published was 3. From the survey, it came out that people are satisfied with the current frequency, 38%  of the management employees think once in every 3 month is the right frequently as almost 50% of them wanted it to be published in every two months and 42% of them seemed satisfied with the current frequency.

The most preferred section in the magazine is “personal experience” followed by project update. People are very much satisfied with the availability & appearance of the magazine and it is apparent from the survey. (For availability the mean was 4, which was the highest) So, overall, people are happy with the magazine and a few suggestions accumulated from the survey are like the following:

• Use a professional agency

• Should include more items from outside Dhaka

• Before publishing, consult the relevant person or department

The excel files are shown in the appendix section, the main and analyzed part is presented below:

■ Frequency:

■ Preference by section: (For Mgt)

■ Number of issues read:

■ Features of focus:

4.1.2 BATB News:

The frequency of this tool is once in every 2 months, and until this project, 5 editions have been published. On an average, most of the people have seen 3 out of the 5 episodes (24%-Management, – 28% Non management.) According to majority, the frequency should be once in every 3 months with more content. (Management –44% Non management-56%). People are satisfied with the content and style and they like the current style.

■ Few of the suggestions were:

• participation of employees should be encouraged
• Could use a newsreader
• News should be more project, initiative based

■ Frequency of BATB news:

■ Management:

■ Non-Management

■ No. of news seen by the BATB employees:

■ Features of BATB news:

4.1.3 Skip level meeting:

Skip level meeting seems to be liked by the management employees than the non-management people; from the survey it was apparent as 97% of the management people said that they like the concept whereas 88% of the non management people said they like it. 69% of the management employees have attended at least one meeting where only 53% of the non management people ever attended it. Management people like it so much as they admire the confidentiality factor of this concept. Most of the people said they would like the current frequency of the meeting that is every month (35% management, 41% non management).

■ The only suggestion was:

▪ The outcomes of the meeting should be followed up

■ Participation in Skip Level Meeting:

■ Popularity of Skip Level Meeting:

■ Frequency of Skip Level Meeting:

■ Features of Skip Level Meeting:

4.1.4 Baithak:

It is a tool for the management employees and almost 39% of them visit the site regularly that is everyday. . Among all the sections, bulletin board, which notifies the employees about the day to day activities in BAT, is the most popular section. People think that the site is easily accessible and user friendly but the information should be update on a more regular basis.

▪ The suggestions are:

• The music section should be updated regularly
• Bangla interface can be used
• Speed should be faster

■ Frequency:

■ Preferred sections of Baithak:

■ Features of Baithak:

4.1.5 Road show:

Majority of the people have attended at least one road show (46% Management, 44% non management). People like the content and the presentation style of road show.

■ The suggestions are:

¨  Road show should be more action oriented

¨  Q & A session should be more strong

■ Attendance

Participation in Skip Level Meeting:

■ Features of Road show:

4.1.6 Alaap:

Alaap (monthly presentation on factory floor) is a tool that has been recently introduced and it has highly successful. Most of the non management employees look towards their monthly Alaap to receive feedback on performance and business updates. Attendance has been very high and almost 31% of the people have at least attended 9 Alaap sessions this year.

■ Feature of Alaap:

4.1.7 Open forum:

Open Forum has been introduced recently and it is held every month. 84% of the people have heard about it 70% never attended any session. Of the people who know about it, 94% liked the concept. 91% think it is a very effective tool. 47% think it should be held once in every 2 months.

■ Participation:

■ Popularity:

■ Frequency:

■ Effectiveness:

4.2 Overall Performance:

4.2.1 Favorite Tools:

For the management employees, the internet site or Baithak is the most popular tool and for the non management people, Alaap is the most popular one.

And overall, the most popular tool is focus whereas skip level meeting got the lowest ratings.

So, the preferences of the employees for the internal communication tools are like the following:

(In order or preference)

4.3 Effectiveness:

67% of the management people think the tools are extremely effective and there is still room for improvement 74% of the non-management employees think that the tools are very effective and they are happy with the way the company communicates with them

Overall:

• Management people prefer co-tools (like lotus notes) for internal communication
• 69% of the mgt employees think that the internal communication tools are very effective in cross functional projects (Ref: Table in Appendix)
• 65% think these are very helpful in business decision making (Ref: Table in Appendix)
• Most of the management people (53%) think the tools are effective
• 50% of the non management people think these tools are very effective

5.0 Recommendations:

–                   Focus could include some more personal experiences and can a bit more informal. The Pakistani version of Focus named “Sticks” in comparison to “Focus” seems to be more employee-oriented whereas “Focus” is more company based.

–                   Delivery of Focus could be mad personalized to ensure that everybody gets it.

–                   After skip level meeting, the issues raised should be discussed with the relevant process owner. The corrective action or explanation should be documented and written feedback send to all the participants of the skip level meeting. This will complete the communication loop and the participants will feel that topics raised are being dealt with.

–                   Online Chat in Baithak is not that popular and not of much use, hence it could be scrapped.

–                   The music section should be updated regularly at Baithak.

–                   To make BATB news more interactive a newscaster selected from the employees can be used.

–                   According to majority, the BATB news should be once in every 3 months with more content. (Management –44% Non management-56%).

• BATB News should be more projects, initiative based.
•  In BATB news participation of employees should be encouraged.
• They could use a newsreader at BATB news.
• At the Baithak, the information should be update on a more regular basis.
• Bangla interface can be used at Baithak.
• Speed should be faster for Baithak.
• Road show should be more action oriented.
• Q & A session should be stronger in road show.
• To make the open forum more successful it should be held once in every 2 months.
• The open forum concept should be communicated to every employee so that they can participate effectively in this session.
• They should take initiative to make popular the skip level meeting.

6.0 Conclusion:

British American Tobacco Bangladesh is a subsidiary of British American Tobacco p l.c world second largest tobacco group. They are a public limited company with an authorized capital of Tk. 60 corer listed on both Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchange. The UK based British American Tobacco group holds 65.91% share in the company. Government of Bangladesh agencies own 28.70% share, while 5.39% share is owned by other shareholder.

They are leading the cigarette industry in Bangladesh with a market share of more than 50%, employing more than 1,300 people directly. They provide indirect employment to more than 30,000 people as farmers, distributors and local suppliers.

They grow tobacco in four regions of the country, Kushtia, Chittagong, Manikganj and Rangpur. Currently, our only cigarette manufacturing factory alone with the head office premises is situated in Mohakali, Dhaka. We run a Green Leaf Threshing Plant (GLTP) in Kustia and a redrying plant Manikgang.British American Tobacco Bangladesh is a company with world class people, products, systems and processes and tools. They are the first company in Bangladesh to be awarded Class A status as part of the international and prestigious total business excellence programmed, MRPII, audited by internationally renowned consultants Oliver Wight. We have a total company commitment to excellence and drive for continuous improvement.

Our world class people work as a team to meet challenges in an ever-changing business environment. We have an open and transparent culture with customer service that exceeds expectations. We continuously seek to improve our manufacturing efficiency without compromising on quality. As a result our company is recognized as benchmark for quality in the region when we were the first company to be given the license to manufacture Benson & Hedges in-house, within this region of BAT Group which stretches from Pakistan to Australia. Our utilization of information technology is at the core of our business strategy and is abenchmark among other fast moving consumer goods companies in the country.

For a company like BATB, operating in a highly controversial and sensitive industry and working with more than 1300 employees, internal communication is very important to facilitate decision making and making them able to face the stakeholders. Thought challenging, BATB is doing a successful job in devising a successful portfolio of tools for internal communication and the process of continuous improvement keeps their model functional.