1.

INTRODUCTION ON COMMUNICATION
Communication is a two-way process of reaching mutual understanding, in
which participants not only exchange (encode-decode) information, news,
ideas and feelings but also create and share meaning. In general,
communication is a means of connecting people or places. In business, it is a
key function of management--an organization cannot operate without
communication between levels, departments and employees.
Organisational communication is difficult to define. Richmond and McCroskey
(2009) describe it as the process by which individuals stimulate meaning in
the minds of other individuals, by means of verbal and nonverbal messages
in the context of a formal organization. Pace and Faules (1994, p. 20) suggest
it is the display and interpretation of messages among communication units
who are part of a particular organization. An organization is comprised of
communication units in hierarchical relations to each other and functioning in
an environment.
In an organization like Winners, basic functions of management
(Planning, Leading, Organizing, and Controlling) cannot be performed without
effective communication. Since 1994 up to 2015, the company has
expanded, attaining about 1200 employees, inclusive of Winners Head office
and Winners Supermarkets.
With this expansion, means communication has developed drastically. In the
past where only fax and telephone was the most widely used means of
communication; it has now evolved whereby mobile phones, e-mail,
scanners, PABX and UPS are the most widely used means of communicating
with the outlets along with fax and telephones.
To understand more on how Winners communicate among themselves, we
have to first analyze the components of communication process through
which message travels, to how it is interpreted by the received and sent
back to the sender.

2. COMPONENTS OF COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Communication is the process of exchanging verbal and non-verbal
messages. It is a continuous process. The basic of communication is a
message. This message must be conveyed through some medium to the
recipient. It is essential that this message must be understood by the
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recipient in the same terms as intended by the sender. The efficacy of

communication is impacted by how much noise there is in the
communication channel. Thus, communication is a two way process and is
incomplete without a feedback from the recipient to the sender on how well
the message is understood by him/her. (see Figure 1)

Figure 1
:

3. COMMUNICATION FLOW IN WINNERS

Winners, like most of the organizations nowadays, have communication flows
in 4 main directions:
1. Downward
Downward flow of communication is one that flows from higher level in
an organization to a lower level. In other words, communication from
superiors to subordinates in a chain of command is a download
communication. This communication flow is used by Sales managers to
transmit work-related information to the Winners outlets. Information is
received mostly by email whereby it is shared to employees by the
Manager/Sales Supervisor/Office clerks and provides the latter with
information about what to do.
Although this type of communication provides organizational discipline,
efficiency, effective communication of goals from upper management
and eases delegation; it also has its downside like slow feedback,
interpretative problems and especially distortion (like grapevine
whereby communication become distorted as it proceeds through
multiple level in the hierarchy to the lower level).
2. Upward
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Communication that flows to a higher level in an organization is called

upward communication. It provides feedback on how well the
organization is functioning. Managers in Winners Outlets use upward
communication to convey their problems and performances to their
superiors. The latter also use upward communication to tell how well
they have understood the downward communication and it helps to
share views and ideas. Employees are given the chance to express
themselves via the Managers who will in turn voice the issues to the
higher levels. This is also done through email and via telephone.
However in Winners, not all employees issues are sent directly to
higher level management since they have to follow a hierarchy and
pass through their supervisors and Managers, which in turn might not
convey the original message clearly to upper management level.
Appropriate channels can be provided like, written letter which can be
faxed or emailed; where it can be assured that the recipient gets the
message exactly without any barrier affecting the original information.
3. Lateral/Horizontal
This type of communication takes place at same levels of hierarchy in
an organization. That is, communication between Manager/Assistant
Managers/Supervisors and another person with equivalent status in
another Winners outlet.
The advantages of horizontal communication are as follows:
(a) Time saving since they both know their work duties and
communicate in the same jargon.
(b)Facilitates co-ordination of the task.
(c) Facilitates co-operation among team members
(d)Provides emotional and social assistance to the organizational
members.
(e) Means of information sharing
(f) It can also be used for resolving conflicts of a department with other
departments or conflicts within a department itself. For example,
Epicerie* and Frozen* section not collaborating with each other.
Lateral/Horizontal
communication
does
come
with
some
disadvantages. Management may have a greater problem maintaining
control as horizontal communication increases. This is, in part, because
management can derive much control and power if it controls the flow
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of information. Horizontal communication can also create conflict

between employees exposed to each other through the communication
process. It is also more time-consuming if vertical communication is
required to ratify decisions made during horizontal communication or
to confirm information received through horizontal communication.
Finally, it may create a lack of discipline if strict procedural rules of
communications are not imposed and followed.
Epicerie* Where all dry consumable items are sold
Frozen* Where all Frozen items are sold

4. External
It is the communication which takes place between a
Manager/Supervisor/CDRs and external groups such as suppliers,
vendors, financial institutions. For example Managers have to deal
with Banks so as to get Coins and Notes for cahiers to work with.
Another typical example with pros and cons, would be where CDRs
order items via phone with a supplier and asked for the latter to
deliver the items in two times due to lack of space in store. The
supplier delivers all the items in one go; and no proof is obtained as to
the delivery should be done in two times.
The Pros is that the CDR can directly deal with the supplier and
facilitates the transaction without involving much people and paper
work in it, but the Cons is that no proof is obtained as to instructions
given over by phone.
The remedy to that would have been to fax the order forms where 2
times delivery is written clearly on the latter which would favor the
CDR as per the instructions given, in case delivery in done wrongly by
supplier.

The above shows how communication flow and channels are important in
Winners; and if wrongly used, it might lead to wrong feedback.
Furthermore, there is the factor of communication barriers which should also
be taken into consideration since it can have disastrous effect in a company.

4. COMMUNICATION BARRIERS
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Communication is only successful when the message sent by the sender who
encodes the message and passes it through some channel, is interpreted
with the same meaning by the receiver. If any kind of disturbance/noise
blocks any step of communication, the message will be destroyed. Due to
such noise, Managers in an organization face severe problems. Thus they
must locate such barriers and take steps to get rid of them.
Examples of Barriers of Communication occurring usually in Winners are as
follows:
(1)Information Overload In Winners outlets, Managers / Assistant
Managers are surrounded with a pool of information such as Finance
issues, HR Issues, Marketing issues, etc. If those information are not
properly controlled, some information is likely to be forgotten or
overlooked. As a result, communication is less effective.
Therefore good planning needs to be done on paper and
responsibilities shared among the Manager and Assistant Manager with
constant follow up of pending issues so that nothing get escaped from
their mind.
(2)Inattention At times we just do not listen, but only hear. For
instance, if an employee talks about his problems with the Supervisor
when the latter is busy preparing for an important meeting with the
Manager, the Supervisor pays minimal attention and may disappoint
the employee.
However, asking questions to the employee will make the latter
perceive that he is being listened and not only heard, and somehow,
by asking questions, he might surely remember what has been told by
the employee.
(3)Time Pressures When targets have to be achieved within a short
time period.
For example: To organize the store within 30mins since we shall receive
a big delivery.
In that case, we shall see that channels of communication are
shortened or messages are partially given, that is, not completely
transferred under pressure to meet deadlines, resulting in work left
uncompleted at the end of the 30mins; which should have been
sufficient enough to be organized.

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Even within a short time period, if a proper delegation of work is done

through effective communication to the employees under constant
follow-up of the Sales Supervisor, the work would have been equally
divided and target would have been achieved within time frame; and
furthermore, flexibility should be given in meeting the targets.
(4)
Poor retention Human memory cannot function beyond a
limit. Once cannot always retain what is being told specially if he is not
interested, leading to communication breakdown.
This can be solved easily if employees write everything clearly in a
diary/notebook so that he can remind himself of what has been told to
him.
(5)
Distraction/Noise Communication is also affected by noise
and distractions. Physical distractions which can be noticed in some
Winners supermarkets are poor lightning, and use of loud speakers (at
too high pitch) which interferes with communication.

5. SEVEN CS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

To improve the communication processes, especially in the Retail sector, like
Winners; the 7 Cs would prove to be very effective.
(1)Completeness Communication must be complete when addressing
to employees. It should convey all facts needed which would be
relevant for the latter and it should leave him/her with no questions in
mind.
(2)Conciseness It means communicating what you want to convey in
the least possible words without forgoing the other Cs of
communication. The features of conciseness are that its underlines and
highlight the main message as it avoids using excessive and redundant
words. It provides short and essential message in limited words to the
people.
(3)Consideration It implies stepping into the shoes of others. Their
requirements, emotions as well as problems should be taken into
consideration. Empathizing with the people and exhibiting interest in
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them will stimulate a positive reaction so that workers will give the
best of themselves and become good performers.
(4)Clarity Emphasizing on a specific message or goal at a time is much
more important than trying to achieve too much at once. A clear
message makes use of exact, appropriate and concrete words which
would make the receiver understand easily.
Example: Asking an employee to check expiry dates in Frozen section
(without precising what items to check), to place order for Ice cream,
chicken burgers, and fish (without precising which company to
contact). The employee will surely lose track, unless message has been
expressed clearly by the supervisor.
(5)Concreteness When message is being transmitted upwards or
downwards, it should be clear rather than blurry and general.
Concreteness strengthens the confidence and is supported with
specific facts and figures.
Example of concreteness: I shall be obliged if you can kindly, we
acknowledge the receipt of, as per your advice.
Example of a non-concrete message: I am slightly unwell. (You can be
unwell or not. How can any sickness be slight?)
(6)Courtesy It implies taking into consideration both the viewpoints as
well as the feelings of the receiver of the message.
(7)Correctness Correctness in communication implies that there are no
grammatical errors. The message is must be exact, correct and welltimed.
If correct information is given to an employee, it can be assured that
correct feedback will flow up to the sender giving the information.

6. CONCLUSION
We have reviewed why effective communication matters in Winners and to
how communication may break down as a result of many communication
barriers that may be attributed to the sender or receiver. Therefore, effective
communication requires familiarity with the barriers. Choosing the right
channel for communication is also important, because choosing the wrong
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medium undermines the message. By being sensitive to the errors outlined

and improving it, this shall enhance communication effectiveness in the
organization.

REFERENCES
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/communication.html
http://www.academia.edu/6520317/7_C_s_of_effective_communication

LIST OF ACRONYMS
CDR Chef De Rayons
PABX - private automatic branch exchange
UPS United Parcel Service

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