When running an organization, it is crucial to maintain effective communication. If communication
goes wrong within the organizational settings, devastating consequences may be faced by the
business (Leje, Kasimu, & Kolawole, 2019). It can cause severe damage to the brand image with
the wrong assumption and wrong scenario. For instance, the recent news about the fast-food chain
McDonald's shows that it has miscommunicated a message with its stakeholders. For this, the
company has faced backlash after a leaked internal memo. It reveals the company's plan to reduce
the US's employee benefits. This memo represented the company would not give paid time off to
its staff who had worked for less than a year in the company. It was mentioned that the company
would only offer this benefit to those staff who have worked for more than 30 hours per week for
the company (Taylor, 2023). Additionally, the memo also states that McDonald's would not give any
paid sick leave to its staff.
This memo was circulated on social media and found that many customers, employees, and labor
have criticized the company for cutting benefits during the Covid-19 pandemic period. At that time,
many low-wage workers were giving their hard work to keep running the business by risking their
health. After this criticism, the company released a memo saying it does not reflect the policies of
the company and they would continue to provide sick leave and paid time off to all staff (Taylor,
2023).
This incident clearly shows the significance of transparent and clear communication with
stakeholders and staff. In the case of McDonald, the company failed to communicate the changes
for employee benefits before the memo was leaked, which caused anger and confusion among the
workers. This misinformation was spread because of a lack of communication that hampered the
company's credibility and reputation. Therefore, the organization is required to develop clear
communication channels with stakeholders and staff to prevent similar situations and offer regular
updates on changes and policies that may affect them (Leje, Kasimu, & Kolawole, 2019). In this
way, the organization can maintain the trust and loyalty of its customers and staff and avoid
negative publicity. Overall, effective communication is essential for organizations to maintain their
credibility, reputation, and relationship with their staff and stakeholders. In case the organization
fails to communicate transparently and clearly, then it can create more misinformation, confusion,
and damaged relationships.
Thinking about organizational communication scenarios, a lot of work experiences come flooding
to my mind from my previous employer. The most significant one that comes to mind is with
regards to annual merit raises and the backdating of pay. This situation was not so much that my
previous employer miscommunicated information, it was more the fact that they did not
communicate with the employees of the company at all. Every year, around March, my previous
employer would implement the merit raises into each employee’s annual salary--as well as process
the back-pay from the beginning of the year to reflect this increase in pay. However, the payroll
department did not communicate this process to the rest of the organization, and the employees
found out when some received back-pay from the increase in salary while others did not. The
problem in this specific situation is that the payroll department did not engage in clear
communication relaying that all employees would be receiving back-pay due to the merit increase
and advise the employees to review their pay stubs for accuracy. In result, they instead had to deal
with frustrated and disgruntled employees regarding their pay whereas they could have been
proactive using communication on the back-pay process before the next payroll cycle was issued.
As one can imagine, anything regarding an employee's pay is substantial enough to warrant clear
and proactive communication because that is, typically, the number one thing that the employee is
concerned with. When dealing with a topic like an employee's salary, it is imperative that the
organization has strong communication practices in place to properly address and explain
processes/changes that will be reflected on one's salary. It is not ideal for an employee, especially
that of an executive, to see the results of improper communication upon reviewing their pay stub.
References
Leje, M. I., Kasimu, M. A., & Kolawole, A. F. (2019). Impacts of effective communication towards
performance of construction organization. Traektoriâ Nauki= Path of Science, 5(8), 3001-3008.
Taylor, K. (n.d.). McDonald's franchisees blame hiring challenges on unemployment benefits and
say an 'inflationary time bomb' will force them to Hike Big Mac prices. Business Insider. Retrieved
April 27, 2023, from https://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-franchisees-blame-labor-
shortage-on-unemployment-benefits-2021-5
