Barriers to Effective Communication

Background: The Accident Insurance Group was a company specializing in the pursuit of compensation claims for victims of accidents either at work or elsewhere. The company pursued claims for compensation on behalf of victims and takes a slice of the compensation award if successful. Following a fall in the success rates for personal injury claims and the withdrawal of a key financial backer, the company ceased trading in late May 2003. Approximately 2500 staff lost their jobs. Rumours about the future of the company began to circulate amongst staff when some received text messages advising them to look at their bank accounts because there were problems paying salaries; later text messages advised them that their salary had not been paid. There were then stories of the company actually notifying staff of dismissal by text message. The Chairman of the company, Mark Langford, claimed the decision to tell workers they had been made redundant through text message was not his and blamed the administrators, PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Problem Set:

Explain what communication processes were adopted in each case (there may be more than one)?

What message/information was the sender trying to send out?

How successful was that person/body in communicating that message?

What barriers to successful communication did the information experience?

Advise the sender on an alternative approach that may have had different results.