MM 105

COMMUNICATION FOR BUSINESS

WRITTEN TASK

MICHELLE TAN HUI LIN

961009-01-6694

220200611

JANUARY 2019
INDEX

OPTION 1 ......................................................................................................................... 3

OPTION 3 ......................................................................................................................... 5

OPTION 5 ......................................................................................................................... 7

REFERENCE.................................................................................................................. 10

Page 2 of 10
OPTION 1

To solve the problem, I would set up a cyber security team. A team is chosen instead of

a group because the individuals in the group only work for themselves, but a team is set

on achieving something together, towards a common goal. Each member of my team

can later lead a group to carry out task towards the goal of enhancing our company’s

cyber security. The collaboration of a team is also more effective. For example, I can

ask some members of my team to oversee privacy and another member to oversee the

maintenance of our security systems. After that, each member of my team can then lead

a group of people to carry out that task. I must lead a team of leaders to ensure that my

objectives and goals are met. A team is also a better option because communication is

easier and more frequent because it consists of lesser people.

The objective of my team would be to:

1. protect our company’s critical information infrastructure.

2. Respond, resolve and recover from privacy breach and cyber incidents

3. Get involved in research and development of cyber security

To improve my team’s effectiveness, I would delegate responsibilities appropriately. I

will make sure that people of the right talents will be given the right job instead of doing

everything myself. I would also make sure that communication in the team is carried out

effectively. To ensure this, communicating through emails is not enough. I would make

Page 3 of 10
sure that there is at least one fixed meeting each week. I would also use some

collaboration applications such as Trello to oversee the effectiveness of my team. Next,

I would eliminate excess and unnecessary tasks to make sure that my team only focus

on important and tasks related to its objectives. Besides, I will set myself as an example

ad clarify my principals so that my team is very clear about my goals and they will and

on the same side with me. Recognition ad incentives are also very important to

encourage my team to perform better and put in more effort in developing ways to

safeguard our clients’ privacy. I would also implement a streamline system to ensure

that productivity and processes in my team is improved greatly.

Page 4 of 10
OPTION 3

ABC COMPANY

PRIVACY BREACH ISSUE

31/1/2019

10.30am – 12.00pm

Meeting Room 3A

Type of Meeting: Problem Solving Meeting

Meeting Facilitator: Felicia Joseph

Invitees: Anna Hathaway, Jane Austen , Martin Powell, Johnny Depp, Emma Watson

Equipment required: Projector, slide pointer, marker pen, white board

Seating arrangement:

Page 5 of 10
I. 10.30am - Call to order and welcome Anna Hathaway

II. 10.35am – Roll call of previous meeting

IV. 10.45am - Open issues

a) There has been a privacy breach at your organisation resulting in client details,

including personal and financial details becoming freely available on the web for a

period of 2 weeks.

V. 11.30am – Open Question session

Page 6 of 10
OPTION 5

To: The Board of ABC Company

Report on Decision to Make A Public Apology

As we all know, our company now face a huge privacy breach issue resulting in

the leak of 5200 clients’ details including personal and financial information. After

several meetings, our board is now in a deadlock situation where half of the board agree

to make a public apology, but the other half do not. We are all aware that either decision

will have both positive and negative impacts, so it is best to make a public apology

where the negative impacts is lesser.

It is understandable that a public apology might make our company look weak.

It also puts our company’s image at great risk. It may spread the impression that our

company has bad techniques in protecting clients’ privacy and this image might take

years or even decades to recover. A worse case scenario might even be the result of a

boycott in our products. However, by making an apology, it may lessen the negative

impacts stated above.

Page 7 of 10
 Firstly, making a public apology protects our company’s image. If we make an

apology, it means that we are responsible enough to owe up. This can also make people

believe that our company demonstrates a transparent figure. For example, if we put up

our apology promptly on social media, people will think that we are taking our mistakes

seriously and our actions backing up our apology should also be fast. If we do not

apologise for such an obvious mistake, I believe we will lose many of our loyal clients’

trust because we are not even daring enough to owe up to our own mistakes.

Besides, we need to make a sincere apology to retain our clients’ relationship.

They trusted us but we failed them. If we apologise and admit our mistakes, our clients

are more likely to forgive us and give us a second chance. Everyone makes mistakes, no

one is saint. However, our clients’ will surely forgive us if we owe up, be responsible

and make up for our mistakes. Research also shows that a remorse expression can solve

most of our legal cases for less money and less time.

Furthermore, we need to gain empathy from our clients and future investors.

Apologising sincerely and telling the people the truth behind the incident can let people

understand the problem we are facing. Humans have emotions too, they will understand.

Plus, we did not commit our mistake on purpose. It is true that making a public apology

Page 8 of 10
will put our company’s image at risk, but if we just explain what happened without a

formal and proper apology, people who are sensitive will think that our explanation as

an excuse to cover up our faults. If this happens, the number of legal suits we are facing

might worsened.

Hence, a proper and formal public apology is necessary and should be done as

soon as possible.

Page 9 of 10
REFERENCE

 Kador, John. Effective Apology Mending Fences, Building Bridges, and Restoring

Trust. Berrett-Koehler, 2009.

 Tropman, John E. Effective Meetings: Improving Group Decision Making. SAGE,

2014.

 “Team Building: Issues and Alternatives.” Group & Organization Studies, vol. 2,

no. 4, 1977, pp. 515–516., doi:10.1177/105960117700200421.

 Shaw, Peter, and Hilary Douglas. The Reluctant Leader: Coming out of the

Shadows. Canterbury Press, 2016.

 Thomas, Paul. “How to Run Meetings That Make Sense of Multiple Perspectives.”

Collaborating for Health, 2017, pp. 87–93., doi:10.4324/9781315083711-11.

Page 10 of 10