For the third time in less than a week, Wanda has received a phone call from a customer who is upset that when her order arrived, it was incorrect. Wanda refunded money to all three customers in order to keep them happy. She is not sure what’s causing these errors, but she knows it has to be remedied or she will lose customers.

When you meet for coffee, Wanda mentions these problems and wonders aloud what the issue is. Is the customer service staff is not writing things down correctly, or is production not reading the orders correctly? Alternatively, the mistake could be in shipping with the young man who comes in after school to package and prepare orders for shipment. Salty Pawz can’t afford an automated system yet, so everyone must rely on person-to-person communication to get order details correct.

For Discussion

Explain to Wanda common reasons why organizational communications can become ineffective and break down. Suggest specific things to watch for in her organization that can indicate poor communication skills.
Make at least one specific recommendation that Wanda can implement to improve communication among Salty Pawz departments and individual employees.
Now that you have improved communication at Salty Pawz, think about a time when you were on the receiving end of poor communication, such as when the message was not clear or the wrong information was conveyed. What was the consequence of this poor communication? How did you or would you keep this from happening again in the future?