Britannia:

Being excellent at communications (being clear about what we say, at a level people can understand, being upfront and honest, happy to give and receive feedback) Mutual Understanding: Mutual Understanding (MU) was a clear demonstration of Britannias commitment to the fundamentals of communication. Rather than a one-way flow of information from management normally with the bad news filtered out. Mutual Understanding involves a two-way dialogue where all staff is actively encouraged to understand the communication content and provide feedback. Its objectives from the outset were to: Have a clear and consistent understanding of both the organisations strategy and the progress being made in pursuit of that strategy Enable all staff to contribute to the wider organisation through ideas, concerns and general feedback to their own, and other, departments MU became a vital element of the change programme: 1) It ensured staffs were continually apprised of the strategic context within which they could make informed business decisions. 2) It motivated thought, debate and creative thinking on a range of issues, and allowed staff to devise, and implement, their own solutions. 3) It encouraged truth and honesty. 4) It helped break down functional barriers across the Society as teams became more aware of the impact of their actions on other parts of the organisation. 5) It provided an early warning system when things were going wrong or when communications had been misinterpreted. 6) The issues raised, and the feedback given, provided an ongoing measure of the degree of understanding achieved and the effectiveness of the communication.

Nestle:
Communication styles followed by Nestle: 1. At Nestle the working environment is very informal. 2. People are encouraged to participate and they could easily communicate with their co-workers. 3. Mostly downward communication occurs. However employee suggestions are also welcomed. They can talk to their superiors easily. 4. Employees and workers are encouraged to participate in decision making to some extent. They are asked their opinions in any new package that the company is offering. 5. But mostly at higher level, GM of all the departments interacts with each other for major decisions. And the lower level is informed about the decision. 6. No trend of memos, unless there is a major event or an unexpected holiday announcement. There is not much written communication. 7. They mostly contact through a phone call or email. In a way we see that there is an open communication channel within the company.

INTERNAL COMMUNICATION: Nestle has maintained open communication channels both downward and upward in the companys hierarchy. This is quite effective in creating a good working environment for the employees. Mostly all the conversation that is being carried on is through e-mails within departments and employees. All sorts of announcements are made through e-mails most of the time no such memos are used. Downward Communication: In Nestle message which is sent to workers by top authority is called downward communication. It is the is deliberate creation of communication channels by the top authorities on formal lines to inform, instruct, direct, suggest and evaluate employees in the process of coordinating individuals efforts towards organization goal. Downward communication takes place when managers like to inform or educate the employees. Downward communication is also utilized by the managers to send feedback to the subordinates as a response to the upward communication. Upward Communication: The message or any other data which is sent to authorities by the employees is called upward communication. Through this, top management can maintain continuous touch with the low levels. In absence of this communication top level will be isolated and in the long run managers will be totally fail to manage people and work Examples include, Complaints about working conditions or about any other negligent employee. The medium used include letters and emails.

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