BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

ASSIGNMENT-1

TOYOTA MOTORS

Submitted by: SAFNA SAFAR & TINA JOJI

Submitted to: CYRIAC JOSE

Date of Submission: 24/08/2019

MBA BATCH A: 2019-21

INTRODUCTION:
Business communication is the sharing of information between people within
and outside the organization that is performed for the commercial benefit of the
organization.It can also be defined as relaying of information within a business by its
people.
Effective communication in the organization enables the employees to deepen their
connection with others and improve teamwork, decision making, and problem-solving
capacity.

ABOUT THE COMPANY:

Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational automotive
manufacturer headquartered in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. Toyota is the world's market
leader in sales of hybrid electric vehicles, and one of the largest companies to
encourage the mass-market adoption of hybrid vehicles across the globe. Toyota is
also a market leader in hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.
The company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937, as a spinoff from his
father's company Toyota Industries to create automobiles. Three years earlier, in 1934,
while still a department of Toyota Industries, it created its first product, the Type A
engine, and its first passenger car in 1936, the Toyota AA. Toyota Motor Corporation
produces vehicles under five brands, including the Toyota
brand, Hino, Lexus, Ranz,and Daihatsu.

COMMUNICATION PROCESS AT TOYOTA MOTORS:

In Toyota Motors Corporation there are several communication methods by
which employees share their ideas, information, opinions and feelings. The following
are some of the methods:
 news-letter
 face to face
 notice board
 Memo
 e-mail
 Telephone
 cell phone
 text messages

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 instant messaging.

The sharing ideas, information, opinions and feelings contribute to the operations of
teams and the work of individuals within the corporation.
Thus, communication in this corporation is a two-way activity between two or more
people. There are various modes of communication, some of which are used more
commonly in this workplace than others. In the Toyota Corporation, communication
skills are very essential because the employees utilize these skills to help the company
compete with other companies like General motors, Kia, Honda, and many others.

STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION:

Toyota Motor Corporation has formulated ideas and techniques for both
front-line employees and managers. The Toyota Corporation has strategized and
defined skills that better their internal communication which make the staff more
effective, work easier, faster, and more satisfying. For example, the managers or
leaders, use internal memo, letters, face to face, mail, e-mail, telephone, cell
phone, news-letter, notice board, text messaging to make the team or department more
productive, aids in employee retention, and this makes work easier.
Toyota Motors Corporation like all the other organizations these days use electronic
media for most of their internal and external communication. The mobile
communication, email and social networking websites are some of the most common
forms of electronic communication for both internal and external communication
being used in Toyota Motor Corporation. The mobile communication is generally
considered less formal, but the organization is turning towards it more and more due
to its ease of access and wide reach. The instant messaging application and internal
communicator of the organization makes the communication between the employees
very simple and quick. The organization uses the mobile communication for
reminders, quick updates and instant communication. Email is the second most
common internal communication tool used at Toyota. Email is used for official
communication and sending detailed information to a large number of employees at
the same time. Emails are also used to document conversations and official
information exchange. Most of the courts now accept the emails in the form of a
written contract and this makes email the most preferred form of official
communication. The mailers and pamphlets have also given way to the email blasts,

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giving the people information about a new launch or a new location. This has not only
saved costs involved in the marketing and promotions, but also ensured a wider reach
of the mailers.
Another very popular medium for communication used in Toyota Motors is social
media websites and portals. Although this majorly concentrates on external
communications. The organization interacts with their customers and stakeholders via
social media platforms, giving latest information, gaining feedback and perspective
and resolving grievances and complaints. They promote their events, showrooms,
products, offers and draw attention towards the brand by conducting various engaging
activities over these platforms. The last and the most common form of promotion and
external communication is television. The organization makes use of television
adverts to promote the brand and products.
Some less common and newer forms of electronic communication are video
conferencing and internet broadcasting. Video conferencing has made it possible for
the employees to communicate seamlessly from far away locations, thus saving the
time, resources and travel costs for the organization. Internet broadcasting is also a
relatively new form of communication in which the organization directly broadcasts
the message to be delivered in text, audio or video format on the internet which can be
accessed by anyone having access to the world wide web. This again saves costs for
the organization and is a cheaper and more effortless alternative for television
broadcast.
SUGGESTIONS:
 They must devise a framework to encourage customer feedback. This will help
them in further improving their products and services.
 The cultural uniqueness and diversity found in Toyota is one of its kind and so
many cultures working together in perfect harmony is also a rare sight. Toyota
must work towards maintaining this at all costs.
 They empower the employees in the decision making process which are
appreciated, but sometimes this leads to unnecessary delay and confusion. The
management must perform their duties and they must definitely seek opinions of
the employees, but involving them in every meeting cannot be fruitful for the
organization.
 The leaders need to ensure the organizational values and instructions are properly
communicated within the organization to the employees failing which, the

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 repercussions can be immensely dreadful.
 The communication process must be lined in a way that it is able to fulfil its
purpose and no information is distorted or lost in the process.
 The organization must also work towards minimizing the cultural and linguistic
barriers by using effective tools to communicate that are able to translate and
deliver the messages.

BARRIERS OF COMMUNICATION:

Lack of Communication skills:

A receiver is least likely to get the meaning of the message if the sender is not able to
select the right words. Usage of the wrong and difficult words might send the wrong
impression in the eyes of the customers.

Lack of sufficient knowledge:

If we start communicating about something without knowledge of the subject the
barriers of communication are bound to occur.

Emotional turbulence:
Your emotional aggression in any form be it anger,hostility,fear,resentment etc can be
miscontrued and misinterpreted. You will not be able to convey your thoughts well as
you feel severely engrossed in emotional turmoil.

Impolite language:
Usage of rude or slang language can impede all the efforts of communication whether
in written or verbal. No one can bear the rude or abusive language.

Instructional barriers:
The wrong presentation of symbols without knowing the purpose and nature of the
audience can hurt their feeling. Misleading symbols can distort the whole impact of
the presentation. This can hurt the ego and self esteem of the listeners which can
create barriers of communication.

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Overloaded knowledge:
Conveying too much information is a great setback to communication as firstly people
might not be able to grasp too much information. Secondly, the information might be
coming too fast that interpreting it becomes difficult.
No feedback:
Some people tend to speak a lot without giving chance for the reciever to speak,that
the reciever might pretend to listen but that won’t give any result as the reciever is not
able to understand anything that sender is conveying.

STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME BARRIERS OF COMMUNICATION:

 Have clarity in thoughts

 Understand the needs of your audience
 Seek the advice of others before communicating
 Take adequate care of your tone, language and the way you are speaking
 Have a feedback from the receiver
 Retain consistency about the message
 Make use of the body language
 Avoid overloading too much information
 Reduce the level of noise as far as possible
 Communication chain should be short
 Keep your anger in control

CASE OF MNC’s WHICH FACED SERIOUS PROBLEMS DUE TO HUGE

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE COUNTRIES THAT THE
COMPANY SELLS ITS PRODUCTS TO:

Communication problems often derive from basic differences in values between

cultures. For example, Latin American, Asian and Mediterranean cultures often
communicate as much through facial expression and tone of voice as through words.
On the other hand, English-speaking and Germanic cultures normally state the
intended meaning explicitly. Another difference among cultures is the importance of
emotion.
For example, in Japan and the U.K. people tend to avoid the outward show of feelings,

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while the United States, France and Italy accept a stronger show of emotions, even in
business.
Some of those cases are:

NIVEA:

“Now I have visibly fairer skin, making me feel younger.”

In Africa, this is a divisive tagline, and yet global skincare brand Nivea created a
whole advertising campaign around attaining fairer skin. In parts of Africa and Asia,
Nivea has created “Natural Fairness”, a body care line promising to restore and
enhance fair skin.
The West African television advertisement features Nigerian beauty queen
Omowunmi Akinnifesi, who applies the lotion to “visibly lighten” and “care” for her
skin as if a lighter skin were a mark of health, youth and prosperity. In the ad, graphic
effects show the model’s skin lightens as the lotion passes over it.
The advert is just the latest in decades of mass-media messaging to people of color
that their darker skin tones are unacceptable, and what they should be aspiring to is a
superior white skin. This form of racism has so been internalized that even when most
big brands have tried to embrace ethnic diversity, consumers in Africa and Asia
spend billions of dollars on harmful skin bleaching products.It was dragged into the
harsh spotlight after few months of releasing ad, following the racism controversy
over competitor Dove’s tone-deaf advertisement. Social media users were scathing,
especially in Ghana where twitter users called for a boycott of all Nivea products and
a removal of the campaign with the hashtag #pullitdownnow.
Nivea issued a statement on Facebook on Oct. 18 saying the “campaign is in no way
meant to demean or glorify any person’s needs or preferences in skin care.” The
Natural Fairness line’s “natural ingredients and UV filters” were aimed at “reducing
the sun-induced production of melanin,” they went on to say. While reminding
consumers that their product ranges embrace diversity, the Facebook post showed no
real acknowledgement of the racial insensitivity of the ad.
This isn’t the first time Nivea’s ad campaigns have offended people of color. In 2011,
Nivea was forced to apologize for advertisement that saw a black man discarding an
Afro, with the tagline “re-civilize yourself.” The embarrassment from that incident
seemed short lived as Nivea once again released a racially insensitive advertisement.

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After that, Nivea directed a deodorant ad to its Middle East customers with the
tagline “White is purity.”

SUGGESTIONS:
Nivea could have advertised for clearer skin, or an even skin tone, or just plain
healthier skin, which would all be less racially charged. It appears that Nivea is
cynically tapping into the same insecurity that boosts skin-bleaching sales in
emerging markets.

SURF EXCEL:
Detergent brand Surf Excel, known for its heart-warming advertisements,this year
tried to do something similar with its latest Holi special (colours that bring us together)
campaign. Under this campaign, the brand released an advertisement created around
the Hindu-Muslim unity theme and instantly faced flak for the concept.
The one-minute-long ad features a young Hindu girl, dressed in a white t-shirt, who
chooses to get stained in Holi colours in order to protect her young Muslim friend
who has to go to the nearby mosque to pray.
The advertisement ends with its classic tagline: "Daag acche hain. Agar kuch achha
karne mein daag lag jaaye toh daag achhe hain. (Stains that come as a part of a good
deed are good stains)." With the advertisement, Hindustan Unilever, owner of Surf
Excel, tries promoting religious harmony and bringing people together with the power
of colours.
Released on February 27, the video has already managed to gather around 7,737,800
views on YouTube.
On Twitter, however, the campaign has faced the wrath of users who feel that the ad is
'Hindu-phobic' and wants to showcase that Namaaz is more important than Holi.
Twitter is filled with tweets criticising the ad under the hashtag boycott Surf Excel.
This is not the first time Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has faced flack for the plotline of
their advertisement. Earlier this year, HUL Kumbh Mela advertisement had irked
several Twitter users. In the ad, a son contemplates abandoning his aged father in the
crowd, but soon realises his mistake and comes back to him. Soon after the ad was
shared on the HUL Twitter handle, people objected to it by saying it hurt sentiments
of Hindus and portrayed the festival in a wrong light.

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KURL-ON MATTRESS:
Arguably India’s best creative agency going by Cannes rankings, Ogilvy & Mather
finds itself in the eye of a storm and vilified by an international outcry against a
campaign it has done. The agency has caused worldwide outrage for its poster
campaign for its client, Kurl-On, a leading mattress company, which depicts Pakistani
schoolgirl activist and global icon Malala Yousafzai being shot in the face!
O&M had released a set of three ads titled 'Bounce Back' on the online ad forum, Ads
of the World. The ad shows Malala, who was 14 when she was shot by a Taliban
extremist, falling backwards covered in blood after being shot in the head, landing on
a Kurl-On mattress where she is given a drip and then ‘bouncing back’ to receive an
award.
The other two ads in the series feature Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi and
Apple founder Steve Jobs. But it is the Malala poster ad that has drawn widespread
approbation for using a horrific tragedy to sell a product.
It is leant that O&M had also entered the 'Bounce Back' campaign for the Kyoorius
Advertising and Digital awards, but withdrew it on May 14, 2014 on the second day
of the jury session. It is not yet known whether the series was a part of the brief given
by the company or proactive work done by the agency.
Such was the global outcry that Ogilvy had to issue an apology from its US office. It
read: “The recent Kurl-On ads from our India office are contrary to the beliefs and
professional standards of Ogilvy & Mather and our clients. We deeply regret this
incident and want to personally apologise to Malala Yousafzai and her family. We are
investigating how our standards were compromised in this case and will take
whatever corrective action is necessary. In addition, we have launched a thorough
review of our approval and oversight processes across our global network to help
ensure that our standards are never compromised again.”

SUGGESTIONS:

The few most effective steps that can be taken in order to effectively solve problems
of intercultural interactions and working are as follows;
 Intercultural Communication Workshop
 Giving respect to others and their cultures

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  Being patient and not getting frustrated easily
 Asking questions to clear doubts and avoid misunderstandings
 Knowing the difference between humor and insult
 One persons humor can be the other persons insult
 Being positive and avoiding mistakes to happen again
 Intercultural Training of Culture Assimilator
This technique helps in developing the trainees by giving them exposure to the wide
range of situations in respect of a specific culture.
The method of Culture Assimilator, Intercultural Training Process helps the trainee in
the following mentioned ways;
Ability to understand and solve intercultural issues
Helps in reduction of ethnocentrism
Helps in effective interaction with people belonging to different cultures
Helps in increasing the stress tolerance capability
Helps in improving knowledge and information about different cultures
Helps in working better on international assignments in an effective and haste
free manner
Helps in experiencing expected intercultural interactions

Its very important as it helps a Multinational Corporation to identify where and how
things may be going wrong,
So cross cultural training is very vital part of the process as it helps the multinational
corporation to identify areas that needs some serious attentions or else the things
might goes miserably wrong.
Cultural differences can happen in many ways in a multi national corporations Some
of the potential problems that a MNC is likely to face operating globally are as
follows;
-Communication
-Different language
-Different communicating approach
Style – pitch, tone, accent, gestures, signs, expressions etc.
-Culture
-Private
-Public

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-Mixed
It refers to the openness of people, their ability and extent of accepting another
culture.
As the culture differs from one country to another the company is likely to face such
cultural challenges while operating globally.
With the increasing growth of the world economy caused by globalization,
advertising has reached people from different cultural environments. Although
advertisements may rapidly transit the globe, the response of those viewing and
listening within a variety of cultural contexts and practices are not uniform. Global
media does not create uniform habits and attitude for advertising, marketing and
business.
The copywriter and creative designer have to consider cultural dimensions that fit
the culture of the target audience as well as pay attention to product categories which
are tradition free and culture bound products.
Challenges are:
-communicating effectively to audiences from diverse cultures
-deciding between standardization advertising and adaptation advertising to local
culture of the audiences
-preparing advertising students to create advertisement for diverse cultures

In fact, each culture is unique with its own value system, conventions and
regulations. An advertiser must therefore regular its strategy to the sensibilities of
each specific culture.

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