Thursday 16 February 2017

Communication Problem in Workplace

Building and maintaining good work relations with colleagues and business partners is an important competency in the hospitality business workplace. In a globalised world, career success requires the ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds.

Before I enrolled into university, I was working at a travel agency in charge of selling group tour packages and Free Independent Tours (FIT). In group tour packages, there may be some changes to the tour itinerary from various factors such as changes in suppliers and itinerary routes which may ultimately change the cost in price. Additionally, there are different itineraries for different seasons of the year.

The communication process normally starts from the respective suppliers such as hotels or attraction sites, who will convey the changes to the tour operator. The tour operator would update the itinerary, then convey the new information to the tour consultant teams. With the new changes in tour itineraries, there would be a product briefing for all the tour consultants to allow them to understand the updated changes in the itineraries and the upcoming promotions. Thereafter, the tour consultants would then be able to sell the tour packages to the customers.

Due to the long communication line, a communication break-down is inevitable. I remember a specific incident where it was during one of the school holiday period where the travel agency decided to have a variety of promotional packages to attract more customers to travel during that time. Information regarding the new promotional price of an Australia package was made known to the consultant teams and we sold according to the information received. 

Finally, a family of four decided to make a booking to Australia. I proceeded with the booking via the online system. It was then that I realised that the promotional price which my tour operator mentioned was only for a specific date during the June holidays, and not the date that the family intended to book. 

Through the process, I had to check with my tour operator to and fro and get back the updated information to the family. The mother of the family was very upset with the information and she mentioned to me how the brochure was a misrepresentation of the price and the tour itinerary, as it was only on that date where it had the exclusive price and tour activities.

After that incident, it made me further realise how communication is so vital in an organisation. It is crucial in ensuring teamwork, which would impact on the success in achieving the organisational vision and goals. 

What could have been done to prevent this scenario from occurring?

10 comments:

  1. Thank you, Chantel, for this detailed explanation of the work context for your problematic scenario. It's so informative that I really feel I learn something about your former job and the industry.

    What seems to be missing though is the **interpersonal** scenario, the incident that took place between you and the family.

    You were supposed to describe that happening/miscommunication, then seek advice from classmates by asking a question.

    Can you tweak this?

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  2. Hi Brad,

    Thank you for your advice!
    I have done the respective amendments where I have described the incident with further detail.

    Chantel

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  3. Your blogging groups seems to be AWOL. What's happening?

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    1. Hi Brad,

      Apologies for the late comments on each other's blogs, we were discussing the storyboard during the week. Yes our blogging group has already commented on all of our blogs.

      Chantel

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  4. Dear Chantel,

    Thank you for sharing with us such as a detail and concise post on your work scenario and interpersonal communication skills. However, I thought it will be clearer for the readers if you could end off the post by posting a question to your reader, seeking advice for the mentioned scenario.

    Pertaining to your situation, it will be beneficial to check and double check the information from your suppliers before meeting your clients. Also, the complains should be feedback to the tour consultants team to prevent the same mistakes from occurring. Overall great post and keep up the good work!

    Cheers,
    Karine

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    1. Dear Karine,

      Yes I have added an ending question for the readers, like you! (haha)
      Yes I agree with you that I could have taken more initiative to double check the information and also giving feedback to the team.

      Thank you!


      Cheers,
      Chantel

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  5. Hi Chantel,

    I think your blog is great, but just wondering were there any form of compensation for the affected family? From my understanding, in any industry whereby guests feel frustrations for not able to get what they purchased, usually companies will have certain practices to win back angry customers. Maybe your company can offer future discounts to appease them. Good job!


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    1. Dear Jo,

      That is one considerations that could be done if the family actually paid money for the tour package. Unfortunately, they did not proceed to make a booking with the travel agency, which is also why no compensation could be made.

      Thank you for reading my blog post!

      Cheers,
      Chantel

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  6. Interpersonal Communication Scenario Debrief (Reflection)


    Looking back at the whole incident, I remembered feeling annoyed and frustrated with the tour operation system. I felt maligned when the family was upset with my information, as I was merely conveying the prices and dates which was announced during the product briefing.

    Firstly, like what Karine said, on my part, I should have double checked with the tour operators to ensure the latest updated information for the prices, dates and type of inclusion in the tour package. Doing so would have allowed clarity regarding the promotional packages, and reduced the chances of giving the wrong information to customers.

    Secondly, applying what we have learnt in the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, I should have used the collaborating mode. In this mode, we try to find a win-win solution that completely satisfies the concerns of both individuals involved. By doing so, both the tour operator and I could work together to solve the miscommunication issue, which would result in accurate information given to future customers. The collaborative mode would prevent similar occurrence from happening between other customers and tour consultants.

    Upon reflection, I realised that sometimes, it takes just a little bit of initiative to double check with the other party when in doubt. This would prevent a miscommunication and a potentially lost customer.

    Thank you for reading my sharing!

    Regards,
    Chantel

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