RIM Communication Plan MGT-550 Andrea Taylor Southern New Hampshire University This presentation is about RIM, a wireless solutions and mobile device company falling under scrutiny for a toxic organizational culture. After an open letter was published on the tech website BGR, RIM’s negative workplace culture was exposed including oppressed communications at all levels. The CEOs found themselves at the center of the scrutiny and this presentation is meant to demonstrate effective strategies for RIM to apply to this severe situation that could dismantle RIM within their industry and public relations. Goals Rebuild internal trust and civility at RIM. Create a new open communication plan that reinstates the mission and vision of the organizational culture at RIM. Dismantle the previous toxic attributes to the organizational culture. Rebuild the external trust at RIM within the tech industry and with customers. Create platforms for open communication to allow for more innovation and bring RIM back into the competition in the tech industry. As RIM was already facing internal issues “from a dwindling market share, failed product attempts, and a sinking stock price”(Bigus, 2012, p. 6). An RIM senior executive made the decision to make the letter public due to the “culture at RIM does not allow us to speak openly without having to worry about the career-limiting effects”(Bigus, 2012, p. 5). At RIM it is more critical than ever to focus on employee engagement as the organization should be “speaking to the employee as the consumer”(Breman, 2017). Best efforts to ensure that stakeholder contributions, efforts, and overall happiness are meeting business goals and while completing their mission is a major focal point for Balsillie and Lazaridis to achieve through effective communication at all levels with all employees. To better the relationship management at RIM, more frequent face to face interaction must occur as well as more open communication throughout the workplace and through various channels such as email, surveys, anonymous feedback, and meetings to foster the relationship management on a professional and personal matter. To eliminate the limitations in relation to product development, more openness toward idea exchanges to foster the innovation and creation that RIM desperately needs to rebuild their brand. To dissolve the unenjoyable workplace issue, maintaining civility as professionals must occur and all employees must be held accountable for their performances, contributing to a positive workplace culture, and professionalism meanwhile utilizing filtering to aid responses that exhibit empathy, understanding, and informational exchanges. Target Audience Employees at all levels will be the main focus of internal communication. Industry critics, publication sights/media, as well as customers will be the main focus of external communications. The entire organization at RIM will be the focal, target audience, considering the .

1. RIM Communication Plan
MGT-550
Andrea Taylor
Southern New Hampshire University
This presentation is about RIM, a wireless solutions and mobile
device company falling under scrutiny for a toxic organizational
culture. After an open letter was published on the tech website
BGR, RIM’s negative workplace culture was exposed including
oppressed communications at all levels. The CEOs found
themselves at the center of the scrutiny and this presentation is
meant to demonstrate effective strategies for RIM to apply to
this severe situation that could dismantle RIM within their
industry and public relations.
Goals
Rebuild internal trust and civility at RIM.
Create a new open communication plan that reinstates the
mission and vision of the organizational culture at RIM.
Dismantle the previous toxic attributes to the organizational
culture.
Rebuild the external trust at RIM within the tech industry and
with customers.
Create platforms for open communication to allow for more
innovation and bring RIM back into the competition in the tech
industry.
As RIM was already facing internal issues “from a dwindling
market share, failed product attempts, and a sinking stock
price”(Bigus, 2012, p. 6). An RIM senior executive made the

2. decision to make the letter public due to the “culture at RIM
does not allow us to speak openly without having to worry
about the career-limiting effects”(Bigus, 2012, p. 5). At RIM it
is more critical than ever to focus on employee engagement as
the organization should be “speaking to the employee as the
consumer”(Breman, 2017). Best efforts to ensure that
stakeholder contributions, efforts, and overall happiness are
meeting business goals and while completing their mission is a
major focal point for Balsillie and Lazaridis to achieve through
effective communication at all levels with all employees. To
better the relationship management at RIM, more frequent face
to face interaction must occur as well as more open
communication throughout the workplace and through various
channels such as email, surveys, anonymous feedback, and
meetings to foster the relationship management on a
professional and personal matter. To eliminate the limitations in
relation to product development, more openness toward idea
exchanges to foster the innovation and creation that RIM
desperately needs to rebuild their brand. To dissolve the
unenjoyable workplace issue, maintaining civility as
professionals must occur and all employees must be held
accountable for their performances, contributing to a positive
workplace culture, and professionalism meanwhile utilizing
filtering to aid responses that exhibit empathy, understanding,
and informational exchanges.
Target Audience
Employees at all levels will be the main focus of internal
communication.
Industry critics, publication sights/media, as well as customers
will be the main focus of external communications.

3. The entire organization at RIM will be the focal, target
audience, considering the content letter stated the negative
organizational culture “reflects the feelings across a huge
percentage of your employee base” (Bigus, 2012, p. 5), and
“sentiment is widespread and including members of your own
team”(Bigus, 2012, p. 11). Since author of the letter established
that the issues are spread across the organization, all levels
must be addressed as the audience through written and verbal
channels, as to “fully realize the vision, the communication
needs to reach everyone in the organization who will play a role
in making it a reality”(Cohen, 2005, p. 91).
The target audiences of the external communications from RIM
would be the public, critics, and the media associated with the
tech industry who frequent reviews on products, organizations,
and who report corporate social responsibility. Critics and the
public are specific targets since they are externally involved in
the organization through forms of engagement such as rapport
and trust.
Alignment for mission, vision,and goals.
The most important aspect of this plan alignment begins with
leadership acknowledging their accountability in this toxic
environment, expressing empathy & understanding as to why it
was so detrimental and how they will act to fix it.
Change the organizational culture to an open communication
plan.
Actively listen to internal and external input.
Adhere to methods and techniques that will be implemented.
Become transparent in all communication efforts.
The mission, vision and goals of the organization will be met

4. though the messages as the messages implement strategic,
effective communication practices that: “Safeguard credibility
to establish loyalty and build trust; Maintain consistency to
establish a strong employment brand; Listen to employees and
to members of the leadership team ;Seek input from all
constituencies ;Provide feedback; and prepare managers in their
roles as organizational leaders”(SHRM, 2018). It is extremely
important that leadership include employees’ at all levels within
the processes of meeting the goals through active listening and
transparent communication, as “If buy-in is critical for your
success, you must involve them in the process. People support
what they help create” (Pennington, n.d.). This alignment will
coincide with the external communications to rebuild the trust
and reputation of RIM as they are transparent on the inside and
outside from here on out.
Internal Communications
Face-to-face, frequent,departmental meetings
Written emails & MEMOs, Anonymous feedback forums.
Frequent employee surveys regarding those in leadership
positions, their effectiveness, and changes you believe would
have a positive impact on RIM.
Open door policies for all leadership positions.
Broadcasted webinars of departmental and company wide
meetings.
Published email to BGR to acknowledge the situation.
External Communications
The internal communications will begin the overhaul of
transparent, open communication dialogue that will be
institutionalized at RIM. All departments will be involved in
this process to do an organizational overload of the new

5. program. The idea is to promote the new program with no
consequences, and the anonymous feedback would be a helpful
alternative if employees still do not trust that they can speak
freely. Frequent surveys and discussion regarding the
transitions of all involved will be extremely important to
understand the progress that is happening. This will also allow
employees to begin to trust that they can speak freely-it must be
encouraged even if it takes a long time. The external
communication technique of webinars to be broadcasted and
accessed at any time will allow for media/customers/critics to
firsthand experience the new organizational culture at RIM. It
will allow for transparency on the external front to rebuild the
trust and reputation at RIM. The published email will address
the issues, allow for accountability to be taken, and for
leadership to extend the external access and involvement to how
their organization will be changing.
Potential Sources of Conflict
Continuance of mistrust internally and externally.
Fears.
Refusal of participation.
Naysayers
On the internal and external levels, a continuance of mistrust
could continue to occur. Internally and externally, it may be
said that RIM is trying to save face and if the letter was never
published at all-nothing would be changing. Fears could still
reside in this organization. Refusal of participation could also
occur creating a barrier in progress. Naysayers could reside
internally and externally creating a chain reaction of dismay and
negative attitudes.

6. Internal Measurements
Data analysis of employee feedback from surveys, anonymous
forums, and open communication.
Completion by every employee of a Communications Change
Impact Survey.
Data and analysis serve as a strategic function in determining if
employee engagement strategies are working or if they are not.
Surveys, anonymous feedback, and open communications all
serve to determine the success of employee engagement by
utilizing data and analyzing that data for feedback at RIM. The
data would relate to communications, workforce tactics,
programs, protocol, and supervisors and managers, and how the
employee feels about the overall effectiveness of their
contributions to the work and culture of a company. “An
effective and sensitive communications plan can provide you
with insight on exactly what’s driving your employee moral and
how your staff members feel about your company”(Riani 2005).
A Communications Mediator and Data Analyst should be hired
to frequently collect and analyze the various forms of data and
present the effectiveness of the methods to leadership every
other month. Every month, employees should be completing a
Communications Change Impact Survey that provides baseline
starting points and will help track the progress of the
communication initiatives.
External Measurements
Traffic, clicks, likes, feedback,and surveys.
Algorithms of external access and traffic will measure the
quantitative access number of participants viewing the webinars
and published email.

7. The webinars should require external audiences to sign in with
an email. A survey will automatically be sent out to those that
sign in to view the meetings. These surveys should be analyzed
by a Communications Mediator for presentation at the bi-
monthly meeting to report progress. Additionally, algorithms of
external access, traffic, and responses should be frequently
monitored quantitatively to understand the level of involvement
for these external audiences.
References
Bigus, Paul. 2012. Research in Motion: Sincerely, A RIM
Employee. Richard Ivey School of Business. Retrieved from
file:///media/fuse/drivefs-
5f9f8b22d21f6176f4d1dfc2b14ec33a/root/com%20mang/RIM%2
0Case%20Study%20(2).pdf
Pennington, Randy. 2018. MANAGEMENT TOOLS Four Ways
to Lead Change. Society of Human Resource Management.
Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-
magazine/pages/0914-leading-change.aspx
References Continued
Riani, A. (2005). How to Create a Winning Employee Retention
Strategy. Retrieved from
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/76456
SHRM: Toolkits. 2018. Managing Organizational
Communication. Society for Human Resource Management.

8. 2020, February 23. Retrieved from
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-
samples/toolkits/pages/managingorganizationalcommunication.a
spx
RIM Communication Plan
MGT-550
Andrea Taylor
Southern New Hampshire University
This presentation is about RIM, a wireless solutions and mobile
device company falling under scrutiny for a toxic organizational
culture. After an open letter was published on the tech website
BGR, RIM’s negative workplace culture was exposed including
oppressed communications at all levels. The CEOs found
themselves at the center of the scrutiny and this presentation is
meant to demonstrate effective strategies for RIM to apply to
this severe situation that could dismantle RIM within their
industry and public relations.
Goals
Rebuild internal trust and civility at RIM.
Create a new open communication plan that reinstates the
mission and vision of the organizational culture at RIM.
Dismantle the previous toxic attributes to the organizational
culture.
Rebuild the external trust at RIM within the tech industry and
with customers.

9. Create platforms for open communication to allow for more
innovation and bring RIM back into the competition in the tech
industry.
As RIM was already facing internal issues “from a dwindling
market share, failed product attempts, and a sinking stock
price”(Bigus, 2012, p. 6). An RIM senior executive made the
decision to make the letter public due to the “culture at RIM
does not allow us to speak openly without having to worry
about the career-limiting effects”(Bigus, 2012, p. 5). At RIM it
is more critical than ever to focus on employee engagement as
the organization should be “speaking to the employee as the
consumer”(Breman, 2017). Best efforts to ensure that
stakeholder contributions, efforts, and overall happiness are
meeting business goals and while completing their mission is a
major focal point for Balsillie and Lazaridis to achieve through
effective communication at all levels with all employees. To
better the relationship management at RIM, more frequent face
to face interaction must occur as well as more open
communication throughout the workplace and through various
channels such as email, surveys, anonymous feedback, and
meetings to foster the relationship management on a
professional and personal matter. To eliminate the limitations in
relation to product development, more openness toward idea
exchanges to foster the innovation and creation that RIM
desperately needs to rebuild their brand. To dissolve the
unenjoyable workplace issue, maintaining civility as
professionals must occur and all employees must be held
accountable for their performances, contributing to a positive
workplace culture, and professionalism meanwhile utilizing
filtering to aid responses that exhibit empathy, understanding,
and informational exchanges.
Target Audience

10. Employees at all levels will be the main focus of internal
communication.
Industry critics, publication sights/media, as well as customers
will be the main focus of external communications.
The entire organization at RIM will be the focal, target
audience, considering the content letter stated the negative
organizational culture “reflects the feelings across a huge
percentage of your employee base” (Bigus, 2012, p. 5), and
“sentiment is widespread and including members of your own
team”(Bigus, 2012, p. 11). Since author of the letter established
that the issues are spread across the organization, all levels
must be addressed as the audience through written and verbal
channels, as to “fully realize the vision, the communication
needs to reach everyone in the organization who will play a role
in making it a reality”(Cohen, 2005, p. 91).
The target audiences of the external communications from RIM
would be the public, critics, and the media associated with the
tech industry who frequent reviews on products, organizations,
and who report corporate social responsibility. Critics and the
public are specific targets since they are externally involved in
the organization through forms of engagement such as rapport
and trust.
Alignment for mission, vision,and goals.
The most important aspect of this plan alignment begins with
leadership acknowledging their accountability in this toxic
environment, expressing empathy & understanding as to why it
was so detrimental and how they will act to fix it.
Change the organizational culture to an open communication

11. plan.
Actively listen to internal and external input.
Adhere to methods and techniques that will be implemented.
Become transparent in all communication efforts.
The mission, vision and goals of the organization will be met
though the messages as the messages implement strategic,
effective communication practices that: “Safeguard credibility
to establish loyalty and build trust; Maintain consistency to
establish a strong employment brand; Listen to employees and
to members of the leadership team ;Seek input from all
constituencies ;Provide feedback; and prepare managers in their
roles as organizational leaders”(SHRM, 2018). It is extremely
important that leadership include employees’ at all levels within
the processes of meeting the goals through active listening and
transparent communication, as “If buy-in is critical for your
success, you must involve them in the process. People support
what they help create” (Pennington, n.d.). This alignment will
coincide with the external communications to rebuild the trust
and reputation of RIM as they are transparent on the inside and
outside from here on out.
Internal Communications
Face-to-face, frequent,departmental meetings
Written emails & MEMOs, Anonymous feedback forums.
Frequent employee surveys regarding those in leadership
positions, their effectiveness, and changes you believe would
have a positive impact on RIM.
Open door policies for all leadership positions.
Broadcasted webinars of departmental and company wide
meetings.

12. Published email to BGR to acknowledge the situation.
External Communications
The internal communications will begin the overhaul of
transparent, open communication dialogue that will be
institutionalized at RIM. All departments will be involved in
this process to do an organizational overload of the new
program. The idea is to promote the new program with no
consequences, and the anonymous feedback would be a helpful
alternative if employees still do not trust that they can speak
freely. Frequent surveys and discussion regarding the
transitions of all involved will be extremely important to
understand the progress that is happening. This will also allow
employees to begin to trust that they can speak freely-it must be
encouraged even if it takes a long time. The external
communication technique of webinars to be broadcasted and
accessed at any time will allow for media/customers/critics to
firsthand experience the new organizational culture at RIM. It
will allow for transparency on the external front to rebuild the
trust and reputation at RIM. The published email will address
the issues, allow for accountability to be taken, and for
leadership to extend the external access and involvement to how
their organization will be changing.
Potential Sources of Conflict
Continuance of mistrust internally and externally.
Fears.
Refusal of participation.
Naysayers

13. On the internal and external levels, a continuance of mistrust
could continue to occur. Internally and externally, it may be
said that RIM is trying to save face and if the letter was never
published at all-nothing would be changing. Fears could still
reside in this organization. Refusal of participation could also
occur creating a barrier in progress. Naysayers could reside
internally and externally creating a chain reaction of dismay and
negative attitudes.
Internal Measurements
Data analysis of employee feedback from surveys, anonymous
forums, and open communication.
Completion by every employee of a Communications Change
Impact Survey.
Data and analysis serve as a strategic function in determining if
employee engagement strategies are working or if they are not.
Surveys, anonymous feedback, and open communications all
serve to determine the success of employee engagement by
utilizing data and analyzing that data for feedback at RIM. The
data would relate to communications, workforce tactics,
programs, protocol, and supervisors and managers, and how the
employee feels about the overall effectiveness of their
contributions to the work and culture of a company. “An
effective and sensitive communications plan can provide you
with insight on exactly what’s driving your employee moral and
how your staff members feel about your company”(Riani 2005).
A Communications Mediator and Data Analyst should be hired
to frequently collect and analyze the various forms of data and
present the effectiveness of the methods to leadership every
other month. Every month, employees should be completing a
Communications Change Impact Survey that provides baseline

14. starting points and will help track the progress of the
communication initiatives.
External Measurements
Traffic, clicks, likes, feedback,and surveys.
Algorithms of external access and traffic will measure the
quantitative access number of participants viewing the webinars
and published email.
The webinars should require external audiences to sign in with
an email. A survey will automatically be sent out to those that
sign in to view the meetings. These surveys should be analyzed
by a Communications Mediator for presentation at the bi-
monthly meeting to report progress. Additionally, algorithms of
external access, traffic, and responses should be frequently
monitored quantitatively to understand the level of involvement
for these external audiences.
References
Bigus, Paul. 2012. Research in Motion: Sincerely, A RIM
Employee. Richard Ivey School of Business. Retrieved from
file:///media/fuse/drivefs-
5f9f8b22d21f6176f4d1dfc2b14ec33a/root/com%20mang/RIM%2
0Case%20Study%20(2).pdf
Pennington, Randy. 2018. MANAGEMENT TOOLS Four Ways
to Lead Change. Society of Human Resource Management.
Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-
magazine/pages/0914-leading-change.aspx

15. References Continued
Riani, A. (2005). How to Create a Winning Employee Retention
Strategy. Retrieved from
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/76456
SHRM: Toolkits. 2018. Managing Organizational
Communication. Society for Human Resource Management.
2020, February 23. Retrieved from
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-
samples/toolkits/pages/managingorganizationalcommunication.a
spx