Communication among Managers – Bank of America

The Bank of America is one of the world’s largest financial companies. It serves large corporations, middle and small market corporations, and individual consumers with a wide range of financial, asset management, investing, and banking products and services. The company serves about 48 million consumers and small businesses with its more than 4800 retail banking branches and over 15,800 ATMs (Bank of America, 2015). It also offers its services through an online banking platform with over 31 million users and 17 million mobile users. The Bank of America is amongst the leading brands in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading globally. The company serves over 3 million owners of small businesses through a range of easy to use innovative products and services. The company has its operations available in over 40 countries worldwide (Yahoo Finance, 2015).

The company’s operations are located in countries that are mainly in the Americas and Europe. Its main operations are in the US where the company was founded in 1998. The company has divided its market into three segments namely the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe, Middle East and Africa. The country operates in 9 countries in the Americas, 32 countries in Europe, Middle East and Africa and 12 countries in Asia Pacific (Bank of America, 2015).

The company’s domestic operations differ widely with its international operations. Locally, the company is involved with both retail and corporate banking. On the international scene, the company mainly concerns itself in corporate banking. The company has mostly invested in developed and developing countries.  This has enabled the country to get access to a fast growing market. The bank is also taking advantage of the fast growth of the economies in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia Pacific regions. With the fast growth expected in there growth in these regions, the bank is expected to show a good rate of growth. The company seeks to take advantage of this growth. The company will also benefit from the spread of risk associated with a diverse market.

The communication strategies of mid-level managers differ with their location and respective culture. American managers are mainly informal in their communication. Horizontal communication is therefore more common in the American scenario. Horizontal communication is important for the growth of big companies as it enhances the relationship between different departments. It helps in the coordination and integration of different departments. According to Rodriguez (2000), modern organizations have chosen to specialize in order to increase their productivity. With specialization, departments have become largely independent and so decisions are made at departmental level. With horizontal communication, there is sharing of information which ensures that decisions made at department level are favorable to other departments.

Horizontal communication promotes competition between departments. With communication, different departments are able to share information that may be necessary to facilitate competition levels in the company (Bovée & Thill, 2000). If, for example, members in an organization share their performance, they would seek to perform better to outsmart each other. An organization may even promote this behavior if it intends to generate productivity among various departments.

The Bank of America has been on the forefront in promoting horizontal or lateral communication between departments. This is especially so in the American market where the company is based. Based on an interview with a mid-level in the US, he and other managers often communicate both formally and informally just for the sake of learning how other departments are doing. The mid-level manager which is a branch manager at one of the local braches argues that this gives that this has also helped him to stay above other departments. He is able to keep track of the progress of various departments and motivate his team to outperform them.

The branch communication also feels that horizontal communication enhances the capabilities of each level of management (Bovée & Thill, 2000). By being able to stay in touch in a warm and friendly manner, managers are able to stay above the rest of the company and therefore successfully communicate problems easily. With this capability, most teams are able to communicate easily and effectively and create solutions based on internal consultation.

The manager in North Africa showed a slightly different picture. While they communicate at a personal level, there lacked consultation regarding matters of the company. On the larger part, the manager said that there was little communication on a business level. On the contrary, communication is largely limited to matters pertaining to business. Communication is also mainly reserved to free time and outside office hours.  The manager also showed a tendency not to support this conduct. Instead, he encouraged putting all the efforts to the task at hand.

The American manager who had a high level of horizontal communication had more advantages than disadvantages. Communication is likely to improve the competition between various departments (Guffey & Loewy, 2010). It is also likely to improve the relationship between employees from various departments. The improved relationships decrease the possibility of the company being affected by bureaucracy. As employees are promoted, they strive to nurture previous relationships. By so doing, they end up maintaining warm relationships between junior employees and their bosses. As a consequence, the atmosphere in this type of a company is likely to be warm at all times.

On the other hand, the American manager is likely to cause wastage of time. As employees create relationships, they may spend work hours socializing rather than putting more focus on the important aspects of the company. Moreover, lack of horizontal communication may lead to an information overload. Horizontal communication is mostly associated with poor filtering of information (Servaes, 2008). This may lead to a high amount of information for which members of a certain department may not be able to perform.  Moreover, horizontal communication may injure the respect certain senior employees are granted. As employees interact, the rules may seem not to matter hence causing a violation of the organization’s rules and procedures.

The North African strategy is also advantageous in certain ways. First, the lack of horizontal communication depicted by the employee would help save time that would otherwise be wasted interacting. As employees put less time into interacting, they may become more productive in the long-run. Moreover, the company’s employees are likely to keep a respectable distance with their leaders. Consequently, the employees are to be more respectful. The problem of bureaucracy is therefore eliminated.

The lack of horizontal communication however also results in difficulties in terms of the company’s productivity.  Managers are likely to depict a tendency to be poor team players. With limited communication with same level employees, employees are likely to be poor team players. Team work requires that managers communicate frequently to ensure that each of them understands the situation and that the perspectives are harmonized (Guffey & Loewy, 2010). This way, communication will lead to better understanding and a unity of purpose. Without it, things are different. The company may also feel difficulty in terms of expertise. With limited communication, tasks may not be allocated to the most qualified individuals. This may further lead to poorly done work and a waste of time.

In a situation where the two are expected to interact, there may be difficulties arising. They are likely to find the sharing of information difficult. Working together would require a sense of formal requirement to share information. The two managers should also be required to work on multiple projects together. This will encourage communication at a personal level and consequent increase in the level of trust among them. Consequently, they may be able to share business information in a better way and foster growth.

Communication between two managers may be affected by language. While English is the first language in the US, it may be difficult to communicate in English for individuals in North Africa. As a consequence, it would be important to resolve this issue by employing translators and training one party in the second person’s language. English is the better language to learn as it has a wider following that Arabic which is the language in most North African countries. At least the basic level of English would be required. Technical terms would also need to be understood as they are to be frequented by the two individuals.

Regular staff meetings should also be held. These will certify sharing of information among managers. As the managers get to share bits of information with other managers in their level of leadership, they will understand the importance of information sharing and put it in their priorities (Guffey & Loewy, 2010). Such meetings should be short so that managers require pushing for the more information from their colleagues. The meetings would therefore only serve to show where information is and then the managers would need to seek from their colleagues.

Variance in the level of decision making abilities

Managers require diverse perspectives before making important decisions. Horizontal communication enables managers to get access to information from various departments. As a consequence, their decisions would be better informed. The US based manager would be better placed to make informed decisions. The manager in North Africa has a negative perspective on horizontal communication. As a result, the manager may have access to information that is available to other managers in his own level.

The speed at which decisions are made is also likely to differ. Horizontal communication promotes consultation. Sometimes consultation may take days hence inhibiting the decision making process. Managers who are not good with horizontal communication are likely to make their decisions promptly (Guffey & Loewy, 2010). They are the only person involved in the decision making process. The formalities of the decision making process are largely reduced hence making the process faster.

Horizontal communication exercised by the American based manager is likely to improve the quality of the decisions made. As noted earlier, there is consultation. Consultation introduces a variety of perspectives and pokes holes in decisions that would otherwise affect the running of the various departments and the organization as a whole (Paul, 2003). Consultation therefore improves the quality of the decisions made. For better decisions that will be inclusive and beneficial to the overall organization, it is important to promote horizontal communication within the organization. The Bank of America’s American based branch is therefore likely to be characterized by high quality decisions that are advantageous for the branch and the organization as a whole.

Ethical differences in relationships

            Lack of communication may lead to unethical differences. When individuals are not consulted in matters that concern their departments, they may feel violated. It would be appropriate to consult widely when making consultations that affect multiple departments are concerned. With consultation, managers would make decisions that are more accommodating to other departments. It is however not likely to happen in organizations where horizontal communication is discouraged (Rubin, Rubin & Piele, 1986). There is a higher likelihood that people will act to their best interests rather than those of the company.

            Through communication, there is a higher likelihood that ethical issues will be discovered earlier. Communication enables the people will raise issues that affect their departments. Communication will enable the American based manager to discover and pursue ethical issues in his area and thus prevent those issues from affecting the operations of the company (Massie, 1960). Issues such as discrimination and other employment issues are easier to resolve when organizations encourage communication in the organization. The Company is likely to experience more ethical issues in the North African based company.

Horizontal communication helps managers to understand the issues that affect the entire organization. Communication between managers informs the managers about the issues that have arisen in the organization (Guffey & Loewy, 2010). It is important to understand the various issues that affect the organization. With communication, managers will for example learn the cases the organization is facing in court and work to avoid similar situations as such may negatively affect the company’s standing. They also work towards attempting to make the situation better for the company to its customers.

It is also important for the company to promote ethical behavior in the company. Promoting ethical behavior requires the company to encourage communication within the organization. This will enable managers to communicate to each other about issues that arise in their areas of work. Communication will help managers to consult on issues that affect their issues so as to ensure that they do not engage in unethical behaviors (Massie, 1960). Communicating on ethics and training managers on the same platform will also enable them to react to ethical issues and learn from each other.

The company has been on the forefront of promoting horizontal communication among managers who are in the same level of leadership. To show this, the company has been on the forefront of inviting them to meetings and other events where they share issues that affect the company on different spheres. Horizontal communication is important both for the company and for each individual’s personal development (Massie, 1960). Other than just being a good way for the company to allow the sharing of important company information, the company could benefit from it by promoting ethical behaviors in the company.

Employees who engage in horizontal communication also get to understand each other better. This level of understanding would enable such individuals to refer certain information to each other as the issues arise in the company. By doing this, issues are referred to individuals who are best able to handle them. The company therefore enhances its productivity by doing this. It exhausts the resources that are available to the company.

There is a need to encourage communication between same level managers in the organization in the North African Branch. The manager is not able to take advantage of the communication strategy. Such advantages include more informed decisions at the organizational level, better quality of services and reduced ethical practices. The company should conduct training to its managerial staff on communication strategies in this area. The company should also encourage communication between these employees by conducting frequent meetings where such employees get a chance to share the situation of their areas. This will prompt such leaders to communicate in the future.

In conclusion, horizontal communication is an important factor in any business. It is however important that the company concentrates its efforts to matters that would be helpful to the organization rather than conducting personal matters during business hours. The Bank of America stands to benefit from its communication strategies. The company has shown a tendency to encourage communication between its managerial staff members. However, the communication has not been as effective in some countries. According to an interview with a manager from the North America, horizontal communication in the industry only promotes personal relationships but has not been applied in business. This shows that the horizontal communication in that culture.

References

Bank of America,. (2015). Bank of America Investor Relations. Retrieved 1 February 2015, from http://investor.bankofamerica.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=71595&p=irol-homeprofile#fbid=7zs827HfNre

Bovée, C., & Thill, J. (2000). Business communication today. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.

Guffey, M., & Loewy, D. (2010). Essentials of business communication. Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning.

Massie, J. (1960). Automatic Horizontal Communication in Management. Academy Of Management Journal, 3(2), 87-91. doi:10.2307/254564

Paul, D. (2003). Communication strategies. Australia: Thomson Learning.

Rodriques, M. (2000). Perspectives of communication and communicative competence. New Delhi: Concept Pub.

Rubin, R., Rubin, A., & Piele, L. (1986). Communication research. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Pub. Co.

Servaes, J. (2008). Communication for development and social change. New Delhi, India: Sage Publications.

Yahoo Finance,. (2015). BAC Profile | Bank of America Corporation Com Stock – Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved 1 February 2015, from http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=bac