LASA 2: COMMUNICATIONS PLAN AND PRESENTATION

Introduction

The communication policy that is going to be developed is of Basic Company. The company deals with the manufacture and distribution of household goods such as furniture and carpets. It is located in the Washington DC. It, however, has a presence in different parts of the world where different associate companies sell all the goods that are manufactured by the company.

It has approximately 23,000 employees working in the main firm. There is a need for the communication policy so as to regulate and streamline how communication takes place in the different sectors. That is at the departmental levels in and outside the work environment too. There are different communication policies that are likely to be addressed with the aim of streamlining communication in the sector.

The Basic Company provides all the communications facilities used by the employees. They are usually made available to all the employees for only business purposes. The facilities can at times be used for personal use. This use is, however, limited. The use of all the communication facilities of the company is governed by all the terms and conditions that are in this policy.

In any event that the rules and regulations governing the use of the facilities are not adhered to, the company stands the right to withdraw and curtail them. What follows will be a disciplinary measure (Bush 2006). In the event that the breaches committed are serious, there a summary dismissal is likely to be issued.

At the Basic Company, communication is an important aspect in our endeavor since it plays a major role in the manner by which businesses are conducted in the company. How a person communicates with other individuals gives out the picture of an organization in general. That is to say that all the workers are the ambassadors of the organization.

The company takes a great deal of the ability of the workers to communicate with the customers and their fellow colleagues together with other business contacts. This is the sole reason why the company invests much in the information technology and also the communication systems, which enable all the workers to work effectively and efficiently (Bush 2006).

The company, therefore, trusts all the workers to use all the facilities that are at their disposal in a responsible manner. This developed policy will apply to all persons working for the Basic Company and is actively involved in the use of the facilities that are for communication. It applies to all the partners, consultants, directors and the heads of the departments who work for the company either in full-time, or part-time, or even the fixed term employees, contract staff, trainees, agency, temporary staff and the home workers.

Even though the policy will dwell much in the use of the Internet facilities and the emails, all the principles that are general apply to all the other form of communication including the telephone and the use of letters. All the workers are encouraged to carefully read all the policies and abide by them.

The general principles

All the employees of the company must at all time in the use of information technology and communication facilities, maintain a high level of professionalism, they must be sensible, abide by the requirements of the law and the consistency of the requirements of their duties. They must also ensure that they do not use the communication facilities in any manner that might be disrespectful to the other employees, clients, and in accordance with the rules and procedures that are contained in this policy (Bush 2006).

All the information about the clients and customers who are served by the company are strictly private and confidential. All the paper-based and information found in electrical form must be treated with a lot of care.

There are several aspects of the communication that are protected under the rights of intellectual property. It is hence a gross violation of such policy in the event of any kind of copying. Actions such as posting, uploading, copying, processing, copying and distribution of materials from and to the internet can be an act of infringement of the copyrights and the rights to intellectual property.

A lot of care must be taken in the event of the use of the company's mail, internal message board, and blogs when communicating since all the expressions of the facts, Opinions and intentions in any of the mentioned sources are likely to bind Basic Company and can subsequently be produced in the courts of law just like any other kinds of the statements that have been written by a witness.

There are several advantages that are pegged on the use of the Internet and emails. Among them include the ability to get access easily to and disseminate information in an informal manner. This makes it also very easy for an employee to receive or even send some statements that are ill-considered.

All the messages that are sent using emails or through the internet must at all times demonstrate a high level of professionalism just as the ones that are handwritten and sent, or just those that are sent through the use of the fax.

No employee is allowed to use the media, in any manner that could make them be subjected to legal or disciplinary actions in any way or context. Some of the things include sending of any messages that are discriminatory. They include those messages that discriminate a person by their race, sex, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation or even belief.

The avenues should also not be used in sending of unlawful materials or defamatory materials. A good example dates materials that are sent with the motive of bullying the recipient. If an employee has any doubt on using the Medias, they should consult with their partners or even the heads of their departments so that they avoid committing offenses.

The use of the electronic mail

In general

All the employees are expected to use the official email template that contains the disclaimer notice that is appropriate from the Basic Company. There is no amendment that should be done to the template in any manner.

No employee is allowed to do any amendment to the received messages. They can only do this when they have been authorized to do so. Nobody is allowed to have access the inbox of other employees or even their email folders. It is also a great offense to send an email while purporting to someone else (Braman 2003).

All employees must ensure that before sending any email, they reread them to rectify any issues that can arise from sending them.

It is regarded as a breach of the act that protects data protection if one reveals the email addresses of the recipients. It can also be regarded as a clear breach of confidentiality an example if the cases of the emails that are internal to the members of the staff are used to benefit a scheme. It is very appropriate to use the blind carbon copy field (BCC) instead of the carbon copy field (cc) when they are addressing the emails to many recipients. In case of any doubt, an employee should seek advice from their superiors or colleagues.

The business uses of emails

All emails should have the necessary Basic company reference.

If an employee sends a document or email that is very urgent, they should make calls to inform the recipient of the email that they have sent. All the hard copies of all emails received from the clients that include the attachments must be filed first before the emails are deleted. The same should be done if there are internal communications within the company. In the event that the email messages or even the attachments are contained some information that needs urgent attention, they should be given first priorities, and the needed reference be made to the responsive individuals.

Due to the security risks that are based on the email accounts that are web based, no employee is allowed to email any business emails to their personal mail accounts. It is however allowed that the employees can send emails to the clients' web-based accounts in case the client gives a written authorization for the employee to do so. The employees are however warned that they should never in any circumstance send documents that are highly confident or price sensitive to the clients' web-based accounts. This should not be done even if they request the employee to do so.

The use of the Internet

The organization trusts all employees to sensibly use the Internet. They must, however, know that at any time when they are visiting the websites, the information that identifies their PC is likely to be logged. That means that all the activities that they are involved in may affect the company in one way or the other.

There is a clear recognition that workers can want to do some personal tasks during their long working hours. Some of the activities include the online shopping, Internet banking. Such activities are allowed, but their allowance is subjected to the rules that control the use emails for personal purposes.

In the event that the activities dictate that new and different software need to be installed, the employee should make a written submission and obtain a response from the IT support team who need to ensure that arrangements are made for the same purpose (Braman 2003). This policy must be followed in any event that a person needs to obtain the software from the Internet.

Finally, the company recognizes that they have different social media platforms such as the Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. The employees are strictly advised to contribute in a professional manner and ensure that they use the platforms in a manner that portrays the company in a positive manner. These sites need to be used in activities of the business only and hence there is no employee who is allowed to use them for their individual benefits.

Reference

Busch R (2006) Marketing Communication Policies Springer Science & Business Media.

Braman S (2003) Communication Researchers and Policy-making MIT Press.

Developing a communications strategy. (n.d.). Retrieved July 09, 2016, from https://knowhownonprofit.org/campaigns/communications/communications-strategy