Subject: Business Communication - 2008 - Hanoi University, Faculty of Management and Tourism

1. Business Communication
Topic:
The ineffectiveness of internal communication
at the Korean Cultural Center
Lecturer: Ms. Hoang Thi Huong Giang
Students: Nguyen Quynh Anh -0506090004
Mai Duc Ha - 0506090022
Nguyen Thi Minh Hue - 0506090033
Tutorial: 7
May 2008
HANOI UNIVERSITY
Faculty of Management and Tourism

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Table of contents……………………………………….…………….....ii
Executive summary................................................................................iii
I. INTRODUCTION.................……………………………………..4
II. LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................4
III. PROCEDURES..............................................................................5
IV. FINDINGS & ANALYSIS.............................................................5
IV. 1. The communication among the Director and employees ..............5
....................................................................................................................
IV. 2. The communication between the center and members...................6
IV. 3. The communication among members.............................................7
V. CONCLUSION...............................................................................8
VI. RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................8
................................................................................
References.............................................................................................10
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3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Internal communication is critical to every organization. This report is
carried out with the aim of analyzing the ineffectiveness in the
communication within the organization. At first, literature review related to
this issue is discussed. Korean Cultural Center is taken as a typical
example for the purpose of discussing the ineffective internal
communication. After that, conclusions will be drawn. Recommendations
for the improvement of the Korean Cultural Center’s internal environment
are also presented at the end of the report.
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4. I. INTRODUCTION
Learning how to build an effective communication between or among
people within a business environment has become critically important
nowadays. It is impossible to deny that unsuccessful business
communication cause many unexpected problems such as
misunderstanding, barriers or even conflicts among members in an
organization.
This report aims to analyze the ineffectiveness of internal communication of
a real organization, and provides some recommendations in order to
improve the situation and build a better communication of the organization.
Korean Cultural Center (in Hanoi, Vietnam) is chosen as a typical example
of the business communication at workplace. At first, problems related to
internal communication at the Korean Cultural Centre are indicated
according to the following order:
1. The communication among the Director and employees
2. The communication between the center and members
3. The communication among members
After that, several recommendations to solve the problems will be
presented.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
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5. In order to create an effective working environment, every organization has
paid their special attention to internal communication. With regard to this
issue, there have been numerous researches and articles in recent years.
According to Basal (2003), internal communication is an increasingly
powerful tool for organizations, and it encompasses how an organization
defines itself and the value of being an employee within it. McNamara
(1996) indicated that effective communication is the foundation for
effectiveness in any type of organization. Joseph (2001) also said it was
instrumental in creating employees’ supportive attitude towards the
organization’s strategies and policies, thus also contributing to the external
corporate image.
On the other hand, the ineffectiveness of communication within
organizations is highlighted. As Febel (1996) stated, internal troubles are
among common factors in small, medium and big companies that cause
serious damages at different levels and have direct impacts on productivity
and job satisfaction. Moreover, internal communication problems are
ranked the first position among the most common reasons why companies
performed poorly, rather than poor management and poor employee
motivation or morale, as Selden (2003) mentioned. Poor internal
communication can also make people feel unfulfilled, which is very likely
to result in negative reactions of staff members.
III. PROCEDURES
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6. A survey was conducted at the very first step in the process of undertaking
the report on the internal communication of Korean Cultural Center. It was
completed with the assistance of the Korean Cultural Center’s staff and
members. The procedures are presented as follows:
1. The writers logged in the official website http://vietnam.korean-
culture.org to form the first ideas about the center.
2. A face-to-face interview was carried out at the Korean Cultural
Center with the presence of Mr. Kim Sang Ug, the Director and two
of his employees, namely Ms. Vu Thi Hong Oanh, his personal
assistant and Ms. Pham Thi Van Anh, receptionist.
3. Brief interviews were conducted with the help of the Korean Cultural
Center’s members who are joining many regular activities organized
by the center.
4. Obtained information was noted down with care and analyzed to
produce the final product of this report.
IV. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
IV. 1. The communication among the Director and employees
Languages that are used in the communication process among the staff
members are English, Korean and Vietnamese. The Korean director is
unable to speak Vietnamese, meanwhile some of his Vietnamese employees
can not speak Korean fluently and the others use English as a second
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7. language. Therefore, the director hires an interpreter to facilitate the process
of the meeting which is often held at the beginning of every week. Because
of the language barrier, sometimes the staffs may not understand
immediately what the director assigns them to perform. It is very possible
that they still have some misunderstanding during the working process.
Besides, the director is rather busy with many activities of the center and
does not have enough time to train his employees as he wishes. In other
words, the communication between the director and staffs is very limited in
a direct way.
Besides, only spoken communication tools, namely telephone and face-to-
face meeting are used as the channel to connect the director and his
employees. No written communication tools such as staff opinion survey
are applied in the working environment. In particular, when the director
wants to evaluate his staff and receive their feedbacks, he has to open a
formal meeting. The degree in which how well the feedback is managed is
difficult to measure due to their lack of faith in spoken communication to
some extent.
IV. 2. The communication between the center and members
When there is a new event, notably film showing and music performance
with the appearance of Korean and Vietnamese artists, the Korean Cultural
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8. Center contacts its members to inform the new announcements. This
process is implemented by posting an entry onto the center’s official
website http://vietnam.korean-culture.org. Besides, similar information is
sent through an email address trungtamvanhoahanquoc@yahoo.com .
However, the website is still very poor and not attractive to Vietnamese
people in general and its members in particular. In other words, although
Korean Cultural Centre is a big centre with the purpose of promoting
cultural exchanges between the two countries, there are only a few topics
and not much information about the Vietnamese and Korean culture. As a
result, the number of people who join in the website is very limited.
Moreover, the communication tools between Korean Cultural Centre and its
members are restricted. The centre conducts opinion polls and informs
updated information to its members mostly via email
trungtamvanhoahanquoc@yahoo.com. In consequence, people who do not
have conditions to access the Internet regularly might fail to notice the
important information about the incoming activities. On the other hand,
email is increasingly burdened by spam, lost email due to the function of
spam filtering. Thus, when email is overused, it becomes a source of
additional work, and many people will tend to ignore or delete emails if
they suffer from email overload.
IV. 3. The communication among members
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9. Members of the Korean Cultural Center are connected by one annual party,
one weekly film show and an online question and answer section on website
http://vietnam.korean-culture.org. Nevertheless, there is no forum for
members sharing their own ideas to one another and send their feedbacks
about activities of the center, that is to say it is found little connection
among the centre members on the website.
Moreover, there are many errors and mistakes that occur during the process
of accessing to it. Many people find fault with the accessing process
because its website is established and administered completely by Korean
partners. In the participation section, one person complained about the
inconvenience and time consuming of membership registration process, i.e.
although the center has its own website but people still have to come to the
Centre on time to complete the process of registration.
Besides, the centre has launched only two days per year in February and
June for those interested in Korean culture as well as its activities to register
its membership card. Thus, in case anyone does not update the
announcements regularly, they probably may miss the chance to become a
center member and have to wait long for the next opportunity.
V. CONCLUSION
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10. After analyzing the case of the Korean Cultural Center in terms of the
ineffective internal communication, the main conclusions are drawn as
follows.
1. Language barrier seems to be the most obvious problem among staff
members.
2. Spoken communication is not enough for the purpose of two-way
communication.
3. The center’s official website http://vietnam.korean-culture.org and
email trungtamvanhoahanquoc@yahoo.com are not effective in
informing new announcements to its members.
4. There has been lack of connection among the members.
Nevertheless, the problems which are mentioned above do not seem
complicated and can be overcome if appropriate solutions are found.
VI. RECOMMENDATIONS
In order to overcome the language barrier, it is highly recommended that the
Korean Cultural Centre should hire more Korean native speakers and
experts from Korea to train employees and help them to get accustomed to
Korean style of working more easily.
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11. In addition, staff opinion survey should be applied as this kind of
communication has been proved to be one effective way of providing
upward feedback to managers.
It had also better launch a suggestion box in front of the entrance door so
that its members can find it easy and convenient to give their
recommendations and feedbacks to the activities organized by the centre.
This suggestion box also can be placed at the reception desk and library.
Moreover, to enhance the effectiveness of questionnaire survey and opinion
polls, there should have an online version of the questionnaire so that every
member can take it easy to fill in the survey and post their comments.
Besides, the Director of Korean Cultural Centre should upgrade its official
website so that the staffs can manage it effectively. When log into the
website, every one can find information they need more easily such as the
Center Clubs activities, the online courses, textbooks, useful materials, etc.
They also obtain better understanding of what members need and satisfy
them completely. And members can have their own forum to discuss in
freedom. They can contact and exchange their ideas about a lot of common
interest such as the experience of learning Korean, joining in the Centre
clubs, knowledge about the Korean culture and people.
The center should also consider another method for registering membership
card. In stead of the only way which is visiting the Centre directly, people
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12. can log into the Center’s website and register as a standard member of the
Centre. It will make them feel more convenient and comfortable.
In short, the effectiveness of internal communications is the common goal
that every organization in general and the Korean Cultural Center in
particular want to achieve. It can help the organization gain more profit,
higher productivity and a better reputation.
(1,636 words)
REFERENCE
Basal, R., 2003, Internal Communication Strategies - The Neglected
Strategic Element
Accessed on May 16th
2008. Available at URL:
www.internalcommshub.com/open/news/business_inefficiency.shtml
Febel, G., 2007, Using internal communication strategies to help
attract,retain and engage your workforce
Accessed on May 18th
2008. Available at URL:
www.bmeglobal.co.uk/internal_event.html
Joseph D., 2001, Making employee communication more effective
Accessed on May 15th
2008. Available at URL:
www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/workforce-management/492189-
1.html
McNamara, C. 1996, Basics in Internal Organizational Communications
Accessed on May 18th
2008. Available at URL:
www.managementhelp.org/mrktng/org_cmm.htm
Selden, B., 2003, How to Design an Internal Communication Strategy
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13. Accessed on May 16th
2008. Available at URL:
www.hr-info.com/hrarticles/selden/design.html
The official website of Korean Cultural Center, Available at URL:
http://vietnam.korean-culture.org
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