business communication failure case study

5 Business Communication Failure Examples and How to Avoid Them

If you watched Kerry Washington as crisis management expert Olivia Pope on Scandal , then you know that a public relations crisis can be a messy affair for a company. One misstep can quickly spiral into a PR disaster that wreaks havoc on a brand’s reputation. A business communication failure example can be found in every industry, but following internal communication best practices can help your company avoid them. 

Learn how the right software can help your company avoid common business communication pitfalls.

What Are Business Communication Failures?

When an organization’s internal stakeholders are aligned on their mission and clearly understand objectives and strategy, it results in positive business outcomes. 

Successful business communication relies on several key factors:

• Transparent communication
• Authentic leadership
• The inclusion of every employee in communication for a bottom-up leadership style
• Silo-free platforms for seamless information exchange and workflows

The two must-haves of effective crisis management are a plan and a team . But even the best-laid plans can fail. Business communication breakdowns can happen within any organization that stray from internal communication best practices. 

The results might just create a small glitch in operations, but sometimes they can have more serious repercussions, such as:

• Disrupted workflows
• Negatively impacted brand reputation
• Drive down value proposition

Whether it’s a product recall, a data breach, or a customer interaction that went viral (think of the infamous video of a man getting dragged off a United flight when they overbooked the plane), companies big and small alike are vulnerable to a controversial communication crisis. As Warren Buffet said, “It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.”

Here are five examples of business communication gone wrong and how the companies involved responded.

1) Nike: Business Communication Failure at the Top

Since 1971, when the Swoosh logo was officially unveiled, Nike has been one of the biggest names in the sneaker world. With endorsement deals with some of the most famous names in sports, Nike solidified its place as the leader of the pack in the footwear industry and has an annual profit of $36 billion .

But despite its spot as one of the world’s most profitable apparel brands, Nike has had a few PR crises that required major repair.

In 2018, female employees spoke out about the male-dominated culture that fostered harassment and discrimination in the workplace. It started as an anonymous survey by a group of women at the company’s Beaverton, Oregon headquarters about their experiences. The disturbing results were delivered to CEO Mark Parker.

Some examples of internal communication problems that went wrong here include:

• It took a renegade survey by a group of employees to reveal this toxic culture 
• Lack of trust in HR
• A leader who says he was unaware of the problems
• Inefficient methods of bottom-up communication

Nike took dramatic steps to fix these issues by firing C-Suite executives, including the head of diversity and inclusion, implementing mandatory management training, a commitment to a more inclusive culture, and an overhaul of their HR procedures and internal reporting processes. 

Pro tip: Be proactive and get ahead of the narrative through authentic, transparent communication.

2) Wells Fargo: Learn to Accept Responsibility 

In any business, it’s always good to be agile and ready to pivot to a crisis communication plan when the time comes. When it happened to Wells Fargo, the second-largest bank in the United States, they only seemed to dig themselves into a deeper hole that made it harder to bounce back. 

It started in 2016 when authorities, like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, were alerted to potential fraud. Responding to a top-down demand for aggressive customer quotas, employees at local branches created upwards of two million fake bank accounts in customers’ names but without their consent. The bank was fined $185 million.

Wells Fargo’s leadership response potentially hurt the banks’ image as much as the initial scandal.

• The company’s early public statements neglected to accept any responsibility, nor did they contain apologies. Instead, they downplayed the fraud. An apology only came from the CEO when he was brought to testify before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee.
• Leadership blamed, then fired, 5,300 low-level employees.
• The CEO sold $61 million of his Wells Fargo stock the month before the investigation began.

How to handle a situation like this? An immediate, proactive response.

• Thoughtful, authentic, direct communication to both internal stakeholders to rebuild trust and establish an open culture
• Apologies to the public for what happened
• Accept responsibility
• Take high-profile actions that change policies and procedures to ensure this will never happen again

Wells Fargo is still in business, but their reputation remains scarred.  

3) Starbucks: Align Every Employee to Core Values

In April 2018, two men went to a Philadelphia Starbucks to meet a friend. They sat at a table waiting to order and asked to use the restroom. The result? The manager on duty called the police and the two African American men were—wrongfully—arrested for trespassing. 

The video of the arrest went viral and by the next day, #boycottStarbucks was trending on social media. What might have started as a store manager attempting to follow a company policy turned into a racially-biased encounter that even the Starbucks CEO called a “reprehensible outcome.”

That CEO, Kevin Johnson, instantly released a statement that included a direct apology to the two men. To employees and customers, he said, “You can and should expect more from us.  We will learn from this and be better.”

He also outlined a list of internal actions the company would take. A month later, Starbucks closed 8,000 stores to train 175,000 employees on racial bias and how to make every customer feel like they belong. 

• Realign the entire organization to the company’s core values and mission.
• Encourage bottom-up feedback from partners on how the company was doing from their perspective.
• Adopt best practices and review policies that create a culture of inclusion and equality. 

Recognizing the major failure in their internal communication procedures and how their “practices and training led to a bad outcome”, Starbucks did an internal investigation into their policies. It was widely seen as a transparent, authentic response. 

Pro tip: Don’t just pay lip service to your employees and your customers. Learn from your mistakes and take action to revise your policies. 

4) Yahoo: A Deafening Silence Amplifies a Crisis

In September 2016, Yahoo leadership acknowledged a 2014 data breach that exposed the accounts of 500 million users to hackers. Three months later in December, the company then announced that there was another breach from 2013 that affected one billion accounts. Nearly a year later, in October 2017, Yahoo announced that, in fact, the data breach affected all 3 billion of its customers.

Yahoo’s business communication failure? Not communicating. It turned out that company insiders actually knew about the breach when it happened years earlier but kept it under wraps. 

Not only was this extremely poor business communication, but poor risk management. Running a company means running a gauntlet of risks. Companies need to have a risk management framework in place to prepare for any number of threats. Data breaches happen every 39 seconds . They are a risk a tech company like Yahoo was aware of and should have been prepared for. 

An internal investigation found that “failures in communication, management, inquiry, and internal reporting contributed to the lack of proper comprehension and handling of the 2014 Security Incident.” By not addressing a crisis with internal stakeholders and customers, companies with communication issues face:

• Decrease in valuation: In this case, Yahoo was in the process of selling a piece of their company to Verizon who shaved $350 million off the asking price due to this mistake.
• Damaged brand reputation: People are less willing to trust a company who not only mishandles their personal information, but doesn’t let them know their names, phone numbers, and passwords were stolen. With plenty of alternative search engines and email providers, Yahoo’s failure to communicate most likely resulted in a loss of users.
• Loss of employee trust: Trust is a big-ticket item that delivers high employee confidence and engagement. A moment like this makes employees question the cultures and values of the organization they work for. 

5) IHOP: A Communication Failure Turns Into a Feeding Frenzy

Not every business communication failure turns into a scandal. Sometimes they turn into great PR opportunities. 

When IHOP announced it was changing its name to IHOB, the social media stunt to plug its new menu item (burgers) turned into an unlikely crisis. Its loyal customers were thrown into a frenzy, upset that their favorite pancake place was changing.

IHOP took the communication failure and ran with it, using humor to address the ensuing chaos. What could have put the company in the spotlight for the first time in decades, attracted new customers, and quadrupled burger sales? IHOP took hold of the communication and flipped the narrative, made it fun, and, most importantly, reassured customers that it was still the same brand they had grown to love. 

Business communication failures can lead to a serious PR crisis for any company. But business communication done right can also save a company’s reputation without any need to call Olivia Pope.

Get the ultimate toolkit our customers are using every day to connect with their entire workforce. Free templates included!

Most frequently asked questions.

Miscommunication occurs when communication is not effective. This is the case when the intent of a message conveyed to someone is misunderstood.

This blog post covers miscommunication examples from Nike, Wells Fargo, Starbucks, Yahoo, and IHOP.

Related Article

Don’t miss out on the latest from Beekeeper. Get our newsletter.

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

1. WHAT IS TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION?

1.4 Case Study: The Cost of Poor Communication

No one knows exactly how much poor communication costs business, industry and government each year, but estimates suggest billions.  In fact, a recent estimate claims that the cost in the U.S. alone are close to $4 billion annually! [1] Poorly-worded or inefficient emails, careless reading or listening to instructions, documents that go unread due to poor design, hastily presenting inaccurate information, sloppy proofreading — all of these examples result in inevitable costs. The problem is that these costs aren’t usually included on the corporate balance sheet at the end of each year; if they are not properly or clearly defined, the problems remain unsolved.

You may have seen the Project Management Tree Cartoon before ( Figure 1.4.1 ); it has been used and adapted widely to illustrate the perils of poor communication during a project.

The waste caused by imprecisely worded regulations or instructions, confusing emails, long-winded memos, ambiguously written contracts, and other examples of poor communication is not as easily identified as the losses caused by a bridge collapse or a flood. But the losses are just as real—in reduced productivity, inefficiency, and lost business. In more personal terms, the losses are measured in wasted time, work, money, and ultimately, professional recognition. In extreme cases, losses can be measured in property damage, injuries, and even deaths.

The following “case studies” show how poor communications can have real world costs and consequences. For example, consider the “ Comma Quirk ” in the Rogers Contract that cost $2 million. [3]   A small error in spelling a company name cost £8.8 million. [4]   Examine Edward Tufte’s discussion of the failed PowerPoint presentation that attempted to prevent the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster. [5] The failure of project managers and engineers to communicate effectively resulted in the deadly Hyatt Regency walkway collapse. [6]   The case studies below offer a few more examples that might be less extreme, but much more common.

In small groups, examine each “case” and determine the following:

• Define the rhetorical situation : Who is communicating to whom about what, how, and why? What was the goal of the communication in each case?
• Identify the communication error (poor task or audience analysis? Use of inappropriate language or style? Poor organization or formatting of information? Other?)
• Explain what costs/losses were incurred by this problem.
• Identify possible solution s or strategies that would have prevented the problem, and what benefits would be derived from implementing solutions or preventing the problem.

Present your findings in a brief, informal presentation to the class.

Exercises adapted from T.M Georges’ Analytical Writing for Science and Technology. [7]

CASE 1: The promising chemist who buried his results

Bruce, a research chemist for a major petro-chemical company, wrote a dense report about some new compounds he had synthesized in the laboratory from oil-refining by-products. The bulk of the report consisted of tables listing their chemical and physical properties, diagrams of their molecular structure, chemical formulas and data from toxicity tests. Buried at the end of the report was a casual speculation that one of the compounds might be a particularly safe and effective insecticide.

Seven years later, the same oil company launched a major research program to find more effective but environmentally safe insecticides. After six months of research, someone uncovered Bruce’s report and his toxicity tests. A few hours of further testing confirmed that one of Bruce’s compounds was the safe, economical insecticide they had been looking for.

Bruce had since left the company, because he felt that the importance of his research was not being appreciated.

CASE 2: The rejected current regulator proposal

The Acme Electric Company worked day and night to develop a new current regulator designed to cut the electric power consumption in aluminum plants by 35%. They knew that, although the competition was fierce, their regulator could be produced more affordably, was more reliable, and worked more efficiently than the competitors’ products.

The owner, eager to capture the market, personally but somewhat hastily put together a 120-page proposal to the three major aluminum manufacturers, recommending that the new Acme regulators be installed at all company plants.

She devoted the first 87 pages of the proposal to the mathematical theory and engineering design behind his new regulator, and the next 32 to descriptions of the new assembly line she planned to set up to produce regulators quickly. Buried in an appendix were the test results that compared her regulator’s performance with present models, and a poorly drawn graph showed the potential cost savings over 3 years.

The proposals did not receive any response. Acme Electric didn’t get the contracts, despite having the best product. Six months later, the company filed for bankruptcy.

CASE 3: The instruction manual the scared customers away

As one of the first to enter the field of office automation, Sagatec Software, Inc. had built a reputation for designing high-quality and user-friendly database and accounting programs for business and industry. When they decided to enter the word-processing market, their engineers designed an effective, versatile, and powerful program that Sagatec felt sure would outperform any competitor.

To be sure that their new word-processing program was accurately documented, Sagatec asked the senior program designer to supervise writing the instruction manual. The result was a thorough, accurate and precise description of every detail of the program’s operation.

When Sagatec began marketing its new word processor, cries for help flooded in from office workers who were so confused by the massive manual that they couldn’t even find out how to get started. Then several business journals reviewed the program and judged it “too complicated” and “difficult to learn.” After an impressive start, sales of the new word processing program plummeted.

Sagatec eventually put out a new, clearly written training guide that led new users step by step through introductory exercises and told them how to find commands quickly. But the rewrite cost Sagatec $350,000, a year’s lead in the market, and its reputation for producing easy-to-use business software.

CASE 4: One garbled memo – 26 baffled phone calls

Joanne supervised 36 professionals in 6 city libraries. To cut the costs of unnecessary overtime, she issued this one-sentence memo to her staff:

After the 36 copies were sent out, Joanne’s office received 26 phone calls asking what the memo meant. What the 10 people who didn’t call about the memo thought is uncertain. It took a week to clarify the new policy.

CASE 5: Big science — Little rhetoric

The following excerpt is from Carl Sagan’s book, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, [8] itself both a plea for and an excellent example of clear scientific communication:

The Superconducting Supercollider (SSC) would have been the preeminent instrument on the planet for probing the fine structure of matter and the nature of the early Universe. Its price tag was $10 to $15 billion. It was cancelled by Congress in 1993 after about $2 billion had been spent — a worst of both worlds outcome. But this debate was not, I think, mainly about declining interest in the support of science. Few in Congress understood what modern high-energy accelerators are for. They are not for weapons. They have no practical applications. They are for something that is, worrisomely from the point of view of many, called “the theory of everything.” Explanations that involve entities called quarks, charm, flavor, color, etc., sound as if physicists are being cute. The whole thing has an aura, in the view of at least some Congresspeople I’ve talked to, of “nerds gone wild” — which I suppose is an uncharitable way of describing curiosity-based science. No one asked to pay for this had the foggiest idea of what a Higgs boson is. I’ve read some of the material intended to justify the SSC. At the very end, some of it wasn’t too bad, but there was nothing that really addressed what the project was about on a level accessible to bright but skeptical non-physicists. If physicists are asking for 10 or 15 billion dollars to build a machine that has no practical value, at the very least they should make an extremely serious effort, with dazzling graphics, metaphors, and capable use of the English language, to justify their proposal. More than financial mismanagement, budgetary constraints, and political incompetence, I think this is the key to the failure of the SSC.

CASE 6: The co-op student who mixed up genres

Chris was simultaneously enrolled in a university writing course and working as a co-op student at the Widget Manufacturing plant. As part of his co-op work experience, Chris shadowed his supervisor/mentor on a safety inspection of the plant, and was asked to write up the results of the inspection in a compliance memo . In the same week, Chris’s writing instructor assigned the class to write a narrative essay based on some personal experience. Chris, trying to be efficient, thought that the plant visit experience could provide the basis for his essay assignment as well.

He wrote the essay first, because he was used to writing essays and was pretty good at it. He had never even seen a compliance memo, much less written one, so was not as confident about that task. He began the essay like this:

On June 1, 2018, I conducted a safety audit of the Widget Manufacturing plant in New City. The purpose of the audit was to ensure that all processes and activities in the plant adhere to safety and handling rules and policies outlined in the Workplace Safety Handbook and relevant government regulations. I was escorted on a 3-hour tour of the facility by…

Chris finished the essay and submitted it to his writing instructor. He then revised the essay slightly, keeping the introduction the same, and submitted it to his co-op supervisor. He “aced” the essay, getting an A grade, but his supervisor told him that the report was unacceptable and would have to be rewritten – especially the beginning, which should have clearly indicated whether or not the plant was in compliance with safety regulations. Chris was aghast! He had never heard of putting the “conclusion” at the beginning . He missed the company softball game that Saturday so he could rewrite the report to the satisfaction of his supervisor.

• J. Bernoff, "Bad writing costs business billions," Daily Beast , Oct. 16, 2016 [Online]. Available:  https://www.thedailybeast.com/bad-writing-costs-businesses-billions?ref=scroll ↵
• J. Reiter, "The 'Project Cartoon' root cause," Medium, 2 July 2019. Available: https://medium.com/@thx2001r/the-project-cartoon-root-cause-5e82e404ec8a ↵
• G. Robertson, “Comma quirk irks Rogers,” Globe and Mail , Aug. 6, 2006 [Online]. Available: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/comma-quirk-irks-rogers/article1101686/ ↵
• “The £8.8m typo: How one mistake killed a family business,” (28 Jan. 2015). The Guardian [online]. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/law/shortcuts/2015/jan/28/typo-how-one-mistake-killed-a-family-business-taylor-and-sons ↵
• E. Tufte, The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint , 2001 [Online]. Available: https://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/pi/2016_2017/phil/tufte-powerpoint.pdf ↵
• C. McFadden, "Understanding the tragic Hyatt Regency walkway collapse," Interesting Engineering , July 4, 2017 [Online]: https://interestingengineering.com/understanding-hyatt-regency-walkway-collapse ↵
• T.M. Goerges (1996), Analytical Writing for Science and Technology [Online], Available: https://www.scribd.com/document/96822930/Analytical-Writing ↵
• C. Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, New York, NY: Random House, 1995. ↵

Technical Writing Essentials Copyright © 2019 by Suzan Last is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

Managing Organizational Change

Communication failure in the workplace: case study.

What happens when communication fails in the workplace?

What are the common problems in communication and what can we do to fix communication issues at work?

In this case study we will try to understand how things can go wrong and what should be done to avoid the catastrophic consequences of bad communication .

Let’s take a look at small projects that you have to work on daily. Projects or activities that somehow you were expecting would improve your job, increase efficiency, productivity or improve relationships.

In this post, I want to analyse what brings people to fail in communicating .

I want to analyse a real event happened in the company I work for when a new project had to be planned and executed to improve scheduling of the machining and tooling department.

Creation of a new project

Our Head of quality (that we will call Mr L.) suggested that the company needed to improve the planning and scheduling of the machining and tooling department.

All companies that have machine production do this, and we already had someone scheduling this department (Mr M.), but we needed someone that could do it much more in detail and ahead of time.

• Eventually, the supervisor of the machining department (Mr S.) was elected to be the best person for this job, so the CEO of the company decided that Mr M. had to train Mr S. and explain the method he followed for the planning.
• Mr M. is known to be someone that likes to work the way he wants to work! In other words, he is not known for being someone that listens to other people’s opinion, so Mr S. (much younger) had some difficulty getting information out of Mr M.
• This problem had been planned. In fact, before this project started there had been at least two separate meetings, one together with Mr M. in which the steps of the projects were planned and agreed upon, and one meeting without Mr M. where the relationship issue was discussed with the CEO.

Starting the project

Mr S. was not satisfied with the training received by Mr M. and more than once explained that he could not start scheduling the machines if he had not received more information from Mr M.

After he explained this simple point to the CEO, he almost lost his job and was told that “there are other people out there that can do your job!”.

Mr S. almost left the company, but eventually decided to continue and asked help to other members of the company and understood that there were important elements missing.

He had very poor tools that could not help him understand what had to be scheduled, there was no method and the MRP (Material Requirement Planning) was missing most BOMs.

Without this basic information there was no way that he could receive the correct data from the MRP and start planning.

Where is the communication issue?

Mr. M. was cut out without notice.

The first and maybe the most important mistake was performed by the CEO. He did not understand why there was a need to increase efficiency in the planning and did not communicate properly this need to Mr M. which had been doing it for over 10 years.

How to communicate with Mr M?

The communication issue with Mr M. was not sufficiently taken into consideration by the CEO nor by the head of quality. Given the younger age of Mr S. it was given for granted that there would have been communication differences between the two, but clearly, this cannot be a reason for not facilitating communication.

Age difference in today’s companies is a very important topic that has been studied for decades and needs to be understood deeply by HR managers, CEO’s and middle management in organizations.

What should have been done?

First, the communication problem with Mr M. should have risen at the beginning , in the very first meeting, and should have been faced directly explaining what everyone expected from him .

Second, there had to be a better role definition and goal setting . Who does what and when!

If everyone had a clear idea of the steps required before Mr S. could take ownership of his new task, probably they would have learned from the very beginning that there were important information missing.

They would have saved a lot of time and probably Mr S. wouldn’t have almost lost his job for no reason.

What everyone did was concentrate on the relationship with Mr M. and believed that the project could not continue because of him and not because of the lack of tools to properly schedule the machines.

How did things go?

It ended with Mr S. losing almost 3 months without planning.

The company lost a lot of time and money on something that would have taken a few days to figure out.

Mr M. and Mr S. did not improve their communication skills.

The head of quality stopped following the project and did not facilitate the cooperation between the two.

Communication continued to fail and other projects did not meet the results expected.

The CEO believed that Mr S. was not right for the job and probably never changed idea.

Production efficiency decreased.

All of these “catastrophic” consequences were caused by a simple communication issue.

Common communication issues

These are some common communication difficulties :

• Not explaining goals and priorities properly
• Not asking questions
• Preconceived ideas
• Not understand the actual problem and where the project is aiming to
• Jumping to conclusions
• Not exploring alternatives

Related Posts

Roles in an organization: importance of role definition, 5 reasons to improve hr training and development, about the author.

MOC is a Blog in which you will learn the importance of changing organization environments and culture to increase people work-life satisfaction and improve performance efficiency.

Internal Communication Case Studies: The Terrible & The Terrific

It’s a question that often comes up: ‘How do other businesses do this?’. Whether you’re implementing a new sales structure or updating your software systems, it’s always helpful to consider how similar companies approached the issue. This is particularly relevant for internal communications , where there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each organisation has its own unique set of challenges and needs to tailor its internal communication strategy accordingly. Internal communication case studies can help you evaluate your approach, by exploring comparable situations and their outcomes.

In this blog, we’ve selected some of the best internal communication examples from the world of business. Not all were successful. In fact, some were complete disasters. But these failures, along with the success stories, are great examples of internal communication in action. When you’re looking for the answers to effective internal communication , nothing speaks more clearly than real-life examples.

We have grouped the following internal communication case study examples under the ‘seven golden rules’. These rules were proposed by Fitzpatrick in his ground-breaking  publication  Internal Communications: A Manual for Practitioners. These fundamental rules of internal communication best practices help us to categorise the relative successes and failures of these examples.

Rule 1: Activity means nothing without results

The starting point for every IC has to be: “What do we want people to do?” Being busy and generating a constant stream of campaigns, videos and newsletters is a waste of time if nothing changes as a result. When you’re looking at improving internal communications , always keep track of the outcome as well as the action. This is where the true significance lies.

Case Study 1 - Nationwide Building Society

Background: Nationwide Building Society ran an award-winning five-week BIG Conversation, gathering ideas from all its 18,000 employees in a company-wide collaboration. The aim was directed to reinvigorating Nationwide’s sense of purpose.

Approach: The activity included TalkBack events, online surveys and a huge listening exercise to give staff and members the chance to contribute to its future. By implementing a company-wide internal communications survey , Nationwide opened up a free-flowing conversation with its workforce.

Outcome: The result has been a refreshed strategy and a marketing campaign based on the new concept of ‘building society, nationwide’ – helping people improve the quality of their lives. This business communication case study demonstrates the power of actively listening and acting on employee’s suggestions. 

Verdict: Success

Rule 2: Value benefits the business

You will only be adding real value if your employee communication links directly to the business needs of your organisation and helps to achieve a defined strategy or a specific project. The benefits of good internal communication only become apparent when you define your desired outcomes and set actual targets.

Case Study 2 – XPO Transport and Logistics

Background: XPO wanted to leverage great ideas from its colleagues across its 104 UK sites to help its customers improve productivity and reduce costs. Its large, flexible and hard-to-reach workforce (from drivers for Asda to B&Q warehouse contractors) don’t usually have a company phone or laptop. Of all the case studies on communication in the workplace, this large-scale exercise is remarkable in its scope.

Approach: To spark engagement, Talkfreely developed the Ideas Matter App, which every employee was able to download to their personal phone. An internal communications app is the ideal way to connect with remote workers and hard-to-reach employees.

Outcome: Linked directly to business needs, the internal communications platform proved to be exceptional value. The generation of ideas has been significant; 1 in 4 of all ideas submitted are being put into practice. In addition, it showed a remarkable return on investment of 6.5:1 with £156,000 of savings in the first year alone.

Rule 3: In the thick of it

When you’re looking for new ideas, trying to work out what your employees are really thinking or wondering why a previous internal communications plan went wrong, don't sit pondering at your desk or researching online. Leave your office and start talking. Once you talk and listen to your employees, you will begin to understand what motivates them, what concerns them and how they feel about the company. Of all the internal communication ideas , this one is key if you want to keep track of engagement levels.

Case Study 3 – AOL

Background: AOL announced it was slashing its Patch local news network by a third. This was a large-scale change affecting many employees across the company and required careful handling in its communication.

Approach: CEO Tim Armstrong set up a conference call with 1,000 employees with the aim of boosting morale across the workforce. As Armstrong talked, Patch Creative Director Abel Lenz began taking pictures of him. He was immediately sacked, in front of the 1,000 staff on the conference call.

Outcome: Perhaps Armstrong did not know that Lenz’s job included photographing meetings with key leaders for the Patch intranet, for the benefit of remote workers. But he should have. If he had been in touch with his workforce, he would have been fully aware of the roles of individual employees. This employee communication case study gives a clear indication of the importance of understanding your employee’s job roles.

Verdict: Failure

Rule 4: Shut up and listen

Communicating with employees should be a two-way street. The megaphone approach is never going to work best because people only feel connected and motivated if they are part of a conversation. It’s vital to put internal communication channels in place that allow employees to comment on the messages coming down from the top. Listen to what they have to say … and learn.

Case Study 4 – PayPal

Background: The digital payment company needed to address an internal report that revealed not all their employees were not using the PayPal app. The President, David Marcus, wrote a company-wide memo to all staff regarding the problem.

Approach: David Marcus took a heavy-handed approach to the matter. He told his staff to use the product or quit: “If you are one of the folks who refused to install the PayPal app or if you can’t remember your PayPal password, do yourself a favor, go find something that will connect with your heart and mind elsewhere”.

A better policy would have been to find out why his employees weren’t using the payment app, whether they felt competitor products had better features and ask for their suggestions.

Outcome: The memo was leaked to the press. It generated widespread coverage across the media and left customers wondering what was wrong with an app that PayPal’s own staff wouldn't use. Internal communications best practice case studies demonstrate that opening a two-way channel for feedback will improve both internal and external communication .

Rule 5 – I did it their way

Understand the working methods of those you need to convince. If leaders seem bound up in stats and spreadsheets, give them what they want. Gather data to prove your ideas work, show them a process, outline a clear outcome and they’ll soon be on your side. Measuring internal communications will help to provide the rationale behind your ideas. Equally, if the types of internal communication you are using don’t seem to be connecting with your employees, don’t be afraid to try a different approach.

Case Study 5 – Seymour House

Background: Seymour House runs ten outstanding childcare nurseries and wanted to get staff across the group engaging better with each other to share great practice. They needed to identify the best methods of internal communication that would resonate with their unique team-based workforce.

Approach: Talkfreely innovated with an internal communications app called Community. Community replaces static web pages and posts with highly personalised, bite-sized chunks of information presented on boards displaying relevant cards. These communicate quick stories and are far better at connecting people across teams. 

Outcome: The Seymour House teams instantly connected with the Community app. Engagement levels took an immediate uplift as the communication and understanding between teams and individuals improved. This internal communications case study shows how crucial it is to connect with employees in a way that suits their style of interaction.

Rule 6: Make the most of managers

Your leadership team are crucial to the success of your strategy. However big or small your organisation, line managers and local leaders are your allies. They are essential to motivating employees and getting them on board: through discussion, allaying fears and leading by example. When you’re pulling together your internal communication definition , make sure leadership is one of the key points.

Case Study 6 – Yahoo

Background: The tech pioneer defined a need for remote workers return to the office environment. There was no longer a role for staff working from home and all employees needed to be office-based moving forward. The job of communicating this message was handed to the HR department.

Approach: Yahoo’s Head of HR sent out a motivational memo full of praise for the company’s “positive momentum”, “the buzz and energy in our offices”, “remarkable progress” and promising “the best is yet to come”. At the end of this message was the directive that all staff working from home must move back into the office or quit.

Outcome: A communication of this importance should have come from the head of the business. By trying to hide the order as a motivational HR message, it failed to provide a strategic business rationale. This is where the CEO needed to be a visible presence, sharing the reasoning behind this unpopular decision. Internal communication case study examples show time after time that leadership visibility is an essential element, especially when communicating change .

Rule 7: There is no silver bullet

We’d love to be able to reveal the secret to implementing that perfect internal communication strategy. Social media, the employee intranet , digital screens, email – they have all at some stage promised to revolutionise internal communications and make everything else redundant. But it hasn’t happened, which means the role of the internal communicator remains absolutely pivotal. Cut yourself slack in how you judge success, because every organisation has a different set of challenges and issues to overcome.

Case Study 7 – West Sussex County Council

Background: West Sussex Country Council has a workforce of over 6,000 staff spread across a wide geographic area in a variety of locations. In addition, around 25% of staff members have limited access to IT equipment and/or limited IT knowledge. The channels of internal communication in operation were outmoded and ineffective, leading to misinterpretation and inconsistencies.

Approach: Talkfreely developed a bespoke internal communications app designed to connect the disparate council workforce. Called ‘The Big Exchange’, the app allowed for real-time communication over a variety of digital platforms. Available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, it allowed for flexibility in work patterns, increasing its appeal for all employees.

Outcome: By the end of the first quarter, a third of the employee base were actively using the app. In some sectors, 33% would be a pretty modest engagement score. For West Sussex Country Council however, it has connected with those hard-to-reach employees for the very first time. In addition, it proved that there is a real council workforce appetite to get involved. For example - there were 25,200 page views in the first month which means on average, each active user visited over 25 pages of content per month. Read the full case study .

“The TalkFreely app has helped improve, beyond recognition, the way we communicate with our 6000 strong workforce, many of whom are hard to reach. This has become even more evident over the last few weeks in our local response to the coronavirus crisis, helping us to get critical, time-sensitive information out to staff quickly and easily wherever they are across the county.” William Hackett, Communications & Engagement Lead, West Sussex County Council

Final thoughts

It’s clear, when looking at this selection of communication case studies, that not every internal communication is destined for success. And, if handled incorrectly, a poorly targeted message can actually do more harm than good. Internal communication mistakes are very costly, to both morale and the bottom line. However, if you take the time to plan carefully, the positive impact of a good internal communication exchange can be considerable. When assessing internal communications case studies, it’s also vital to consider the arena in which the company is operating before judging the relative success of the campaign. Ultimately, every organisation will need to take a different approach, tailored to suit their unique set of circumstances.

Engage every employee with your own branded Internal Comms App

Featured Resources

The big book of employee engagement ideas

If you are looking to improve employee engagement, this guide is a great place to start. Packed with 44 pages of ideas, insights and inspiration to help you engage your workforce.

How to choose the right employee engagement solution

Navigating the world of employee engagement solutions can be overwhelming. Download our guide to help you choose the best option for you, your employees and your business.

Try Talkfreely for FREE

Explore Talkfreely FREE for 14 days.

Get access to all our employee engagement tools plus support to help you get the most from your trial.

*Trial limited to one trial per person. Each trial will provide unlimited access to all features for 14 days.

Internal communication: everything you need to know.

With so many potential benefits to both employer and employee, this eBook details everything decision-makers and business leaders need to know about internal communication.

Tasked with improving employee engagement

Find out how an employee engagement app can play a pivotal role in delivering an employee engagement strategy.

You might also like...

The Role of Internal Communication in the Modern Workplace

The Seven Key Internal Communication Trends for 2024

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

1.10 Case Studies: The Cost of Poor Communication

This chapter is adapted from Technical Writing Essentials – H5P Edition by Suzan Last licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Learning Objectives

• Apply your understanding of context, purpose, audience, and channel in case studies.

No one knows exactly how much poor communication costs business, industry and government each year, but estimates suggest billions.  In 2017, Josh Bernoff claimed that the cost of poor communication was nearly $4 billion per year: “American workers spend 22 percent of their work time reading; higher compensated workers read more… America is spending 6 percent of total wages on time wasted attempting to get meaning out of poorly written material. Every company, every manager, every professional pays this tax, which consumes $396 billion of our national income” (Meier, 2017).

Poorly-worded or inefficient emails, careless reading or listening to instructions, documents that go unread due to poor design, hastily presenting inaccurate information, sloppy proofreading — all of these examples result in inevitable costs. In one tragic case, a lack of communication between contractors and engineers resulted in a walkway collapse that killed 114 people at the Hyatt Regency .

The waste caused by imprecisely worded regulations or instructions, confusing emails, long-winded memos, ambiguously written contracts, and other examples of poor communication is not as easily identified as the losses caused by a bridge collapse. But the losses are just as real—in reduced productivity, inefficiency, and lost business. In more personal terms, the losses are measured in wasted time, work, money, and ultimately, professional recognition. In extreme cases, losses can be measured in property damage, injuries, and even deaths.

The following cases show how poor communications can have real world costs and consequences.

A .  Read “Case 1: The Unaccepted Current Regulator Proposal”. Then, answer the 5 questions in the quiz set.

CASE 1:  Acme Electric Company

The Acme Electric Company worked day and night to develop a new current regulator designed to cut the electric power consumption in aluminum plants by 35%. They knew that, although the competition was fierce, their regulator could be produced more cheaply, was more reliable, and worked more efficiently than the competitors’ products.

The owner, eager to capture the market, personally but somewhat hastily put together a 120-page proposal to the three major aluminum manufacturers, recommending that their regulators be installed at all company plants.

The first 87 pages of the proposal were devoted to the mathematical theory and engineering design behind the new regulator, and the next 32 pages to descriptions of a new assembly line to produce regulators quickly. Buried in an appendix were the test results that compared her regulator’s performance with present models and a poorly drawn graph showed how much the dollar savings would be.

Acme Electric didn’t get the contracts, despite having the best product. Six months later, the company filed for bankruptcy.

B .  In small groups, examine one of the following cases and complete the following :

• Define the rhetorical situation : Who is communicating to whom about what, how, and why? What was the goal of the communication in each case?
• Identify the communication error (poor task or audience analysis? Use of inappropriate language or style? Poor organization or formatting of information? Other?)
• Explain what costs/losses were incurred by this problem.
• Identify possible solution s or strategies that would have prevented the problem, and what benefits would be derived from implementing solutions or preventing the problem.

Present your findings in a brief, informal presentation to the class.

CASE 2: Petro-chemical company report

Cameron (he/him), a research chemist for a major petro-chemical company, wrote a dense report about some new compounds he had synthesized in the laboratory from oil-refining by-products. The bulk of the report consisted of tables listing their chemical and physical properties, diagrams of their molecular structure, chemical formulas and computer printouts of toxicity tests. Buried at the end of the report was a casual speculation that one of the compounds might be a particularly effective insecticide.

Seven years later, the same oil company launched a major research program to find more effective but environmentally safe insecticides. After six months of research, someone uncovered Cameron’s report and his toxicity tests. A few hours of further testing confirmed that one of Cameron’s compounds was the safe, economical insecticide they had been looking for.

Cameron had since left the company because he felt that the importance of his research was not being appreciated.

CASE 3: Novaware instruction manual

As one of the first to enter the field of office automation, Novaware, Inc. had built a reputation for designing high-quality and user-friendly database and accounting programs for business and industry. When they decided to enter the word-processing market, their engineers designed an effective, versatile, and powerful program that Novaware felt sure would outperform any competitor.

To be sure that their new word-processing program was accurately documented, Novaware asked the senior program designer to supervise writing the instruction manual. The result was a thorough, accurate and precise description of every detail of the program’s operation.

When Novaware began marketing its new word processor, cries for help flooded in from office workers who were so confused by the massive manual that they couldn’t even find out how to get started. Then several business journals reviewed the program and judged it “too complicated” and “difficult to learn.” After an impressive start, sales of the new word processing program plummeted.

Novaware eventually put out a new, clearly written training guide that led new users step by step through introductory exercises and told them how to find commands quickly. But the rewrite cost Novaware $350,000, a year’s lead in the market, and its reputation for producing easy-to-use business software.

CASE 4: Policy memo

Nhi (they/them) supervised 36 professionals in 6 city libraries. To cut the costs of unnecessary overtime, they issued this one-sentence memo to their staff:

After the 36 copies were sent out, Nhi’s office received 26 phone calls asking what the memo meant. What the 10 people who didn’t call about the memo thought is uncertain. It took a week to clarify the new policy.

CASE 5: “Nerds gone wild”

The following excerpt is from Carl Sagan’s book, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, itself both a plea for and an excellent example of clear scientific communication:

The Superconducting Supercollider (SSC) would have been the preeminent instrument on the planet for probing the fine structure of matter and the nature of the early Universe. Its price tag was $10 to $15 billion. It was cancelled by Congress in 1993 after about $2 billion had been spent — a worst of both worlds outcome. But this debate was not, I think, mainly about declining interest in the support of science. Few in Congress understood what modern high-energy accelerators are for. They are not for weapons. They have no practical applications. They are for something that is, worrisomely from the point of view of many, called “the theory of everything.” Explanations that involve entities called quarks, charm, flavor, color, etc., sound as if physicists are being cute. The whole thing has an aura, in the view of at least some Congresspeople I’ve talked to, of “nerds gone wild” — which I suppose is an uncharitable way of describing curiosity-based science. No one asked to pay for this had the foggiest idea of what a Higgs boson is. I’ve read some of the material intended to justify the SSC. At the very end, some of it wasn’t too bad, but there was nothing that really addressed what the project was about on a level accessible to bright but skeptical non-physicists. If physicists are asking for 10 or 15 billion dollars to build a machine that has no practical value, at the very least they should make an extremely serious effort, with dazzling graphics, metaphors, and capable use of the English language, to justify their proposal. More than financial mismanagement, budgetary constraints, and political incompetence, I think this is the key to the failure of the SSC.

CASE 6: Same topic, different genres

Rowan (she/her) was simultaneously enrolled in a university writing course and working as a co-op student at the New Minas Boat Manufacturing plant. As part of her co-op work experience, Rowan shadowed her supervisor/mentor on a safety inspection of the plant, and was asked to write up the results of the inspection in a compliance memo . In the same week, Rowan’s writing instructor assigned the class to write a narrative essay based on some personal experience. Rowan, trying to be efficient, thought that the plant visit experience could provide the basis for her essay assignment as well.

She wrote the essay first because she was used to writing essays and was pretty good at it. She had never even seen a compliance memo, much less written one, so was not as confident about that task. She began the essay like this:

On June 1, 2018, I conducted a safety audit of the New Minas Boat Manufacturing plant. The purpose of the audit was to ensure that all processes and activities in the plant adhere to safety and handling rules and policies outlined in the Workplace Safety Handbook and relevant government regulations. I was escorted on a 3-hour tour of the facility by…

Rowan finished the essay and submitted it to her writing instructor. She then revised the essay slightly, keeping the introduction the same, and submitted it to her co-op supervisor. She “aced” the essay, getting an A grade, but her co-op supervisor told her that the report was unacceptable and would have to be rewritten – especially the beginning, which should have clearly indicated whether or not the plant was in compliance with safety regulations. Rowan was aghast! She had never heard of putting the “conclusion” at the beginning . She missed the company softball game that Saturday so she could rewrite the report to the satisfaction of her supervisor.

Meier, C. (2017, January 14). The Exorbitant Cost of Poor Writing (About $400 Billion). Medium . https://medium.com/@MeierMarketing/the-exorbitant-cost-of-poor-writing-about-400-billion-973b5a4f0096

Sagan, C. (1995). The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. Random House.

Exercises adapted from T.M Georges’ Analytical Writing for Science and Technology. T.M. Goerges (1996), Analytical Writing for Science and Technology [Online], Available: https://www.scribd.com/document/96822930/Analytical-Writing

1.10 Case Studies: The Cost of Poor Communication Copyright © 2021 by Suzan Last is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

30+ years in business.

• February 22, 2024

How the Toyota Recall Exemplifies Communication Failure in the Workplace

Table of contents.

You may know the expression “it’s like a car crash” to describe a fascinatingly bad situation. (You know you shouldn’t stare, but you just can’t look away.) In a somewhat grim and literal example, Toyota recently had a bad brush with a series of recalls and a blow to its reputation. The upside, however, is that this provides an excellent case study about how a communication failure  in the workplace  should be managed.

The Facts on the Toyota Recall

In 2002, Toyota began warning dealerships of an electrical issue in Camry models. Between 2007 and 2009, millions of Camrys faced recalls, but the reason given was for problems created by stuck floor mats. The company later admitted that stuck floor mats were only incidental to the problems in the vehicles. Soon the company faced widespread consumer outrage, censure from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), and a congressional hearing. Things had gone dramatically bad.

The Communication Failure

If this was an electrical issue, how was it also a  poor communication  failure in the workplace? Easy. In 2002, the marketplace didn’t have to account for the degree of consumer engagement that services such as Twitter and Facebook bring. But over the next decade, the marketplace responded to these new media by becoming a place where transparency, accountability, and clear communication had more social heft than established authority. Toyota failed these new criteria in a couple major ways:

• It changed its story from an electrical issue to stuck floor mats, failing to realize that in an era of leaks, Internet archives, and rapid spread of awareness through media such as Twitter and Facebook, inconsistencies could be widely exposed.
• When it had to admit fault, its spokespeople were evasive rather than  upfront  , even when the CEO testified before Congress.

In this marketplace, communication is king. Most consumers understand that mistakes happen, and they look for companies that can acknowledge and correct mistakes. 

To learn more about how you can communicate well and avoid catastrophic communication failures in the workplace, contact us today at  Hurley Write, Inc  .

Related Articles:

How to write better technical documents that improve business results, how client-facing technical writing affects customer relationships, how many rewrites should a document require.

• 5 Ways to Speed Up Your Document Review and Revision Process

Related Courses:

• Effective Strategies for Writing with Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Exceptional Technical Writing 
• Technical Writing for Engineers
• Better Reviewing Techniques

If you want to learn more, sign up to our newsletter.

• Proposal Writing
• Writing for Financial Professionals
• Writing for Biotech Professionals

if you want to learn more about insert article name here.

Rela ted blogs.

• May 21, 2024
• May 14, 2024

• April 26, 2024

Subscribe to our newsletter for new insights about writing.

• 1-877-249-7483
• [email protected]

Our Workshops

• For Individuals
• Communication Audits

Industries we Work With

• Pharma & Biotech
• Energy, Oil & Gas
• Finance & Accounting
• Engineering
• Manufacturing
• White Papers
• Workshop Catalog

why hurley write

• Meet Our Team
• Our Clients
• Case Studies

Contact Hurley Write, Inc.

• Grasshopper

Insights for Entrepreneurs

Browse by skill level.

• Getting Started for the beginner marketer
• Off the Ground for the intermediate marketer
• On a Roll for the advanced marketer

Browse by Type

• Miscellaneous

Browse by Topic

• A/B Testing
• Content Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Marketing Campaigns & PR Stunts
• Metrics & ROI
• Print Marketing
• Social Media
• Word of Mouth

Browse Products

• Virtual Phone System Manage your business on the go
• 800 Number for Your Business
• Toll Free Numbers
• Vanity Numbers
• Cloud Phone System

8 Epic Communication Failures

It is essential that corporations have dependable communication structures in place. The last thing a business wants is to fail to communicate its position properly. Unfortunately, many large corporations have really dropped the ball while working with their customers.

Communication Failure 101

We take communication for granted. Each day, we talk to co-workers, customers, family, and friends without thinking too much about whether our communication styles are successful. But this isn't a good business strategy. Tons of companies -- even the biggest and most profitable -- suffer when communication fails.

Communication failures happen when:

Companies don't think clearly about how their audience will perceive a marketing message or new product.

Companies refuse to be transparent and explain what went wrong, rather than owning up to things and making them right.

Companies don't plan. Sometimes, companies offer promotions without having an adequate plan in place for dealing with volume.

Companies forget about why customers love them. Sometimes, brands forget the real reason why customers keep coming back to them, and change their products without thinking clearly about the ramifications.

Here are some of the biggest communication failures brands have made:

Toyota Product Recalls. When Toyota finally decided to recall millions of cars due to faulty brakes, it was already too late. After downplaying the problem for as long as possible, their hand was forced when Consumer Reports withdrew their recommendations of 8 Toyota vehicles. Although the situation was eventually fully handled, failing to accept responsibility from the outset affected how customers perceived Toyota's brand.

Fictitious Chevrolet Nova in South America. Have you heard the story about how GM made a simple but disastrous mistake when they tried to introduce the Nova in Latin America? They thought they could use the same brand name they used in the United States. They couldn't figure out why no one wanted it until they learned it translated in Spanish to 'No-go.' Here's a tip: this story never actually happened but the urban legend is believed by millions!

BP's Oil Spill. BP caused the legendary oil spill that stretched across the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Their PR strategy included airing a number of expensive commercials and apologizing at every chance they got--something the public found disingenuous. Ultimately, they received criticism from President Obama and others, who said the money they put into the ads should have been put into cleaning up the mess. Tony Hayward of BP also made the fatal mistake of saying he wanted his life back, which showed a blatant lack of respect for those who had actually lost their lives in the explosion.

Phillips Morris Says Smoking Deaths Good. In 1999, Phillips Morris commissioned a study on the economic effects of smoking in the Czech Republic and came up with a 'surprising' conclusion. The company argued that premature deaths due to smoking were, on balance, a positive thing, because the government saved money on health care and pensions. Needless to say, millions of people were strongly offended by the crassness of their study.

Cartoon Network Causes Boston Bomb Scare. Cartoon Network once undertook a guerrilla marketing campaign that involved placing suspicious looking LED devices around Boston to promote one of their TV shows. When residents mistakenly believed the LED characters were actually bombs, any upside to their campaign was quickly lost, as was the job of then Cartoon Network boss Jim Samples.

KFC Coupon Riots. KFC worked closely with Oprah Winfrey to promote a new line of chicken. When Oprah offered free coupons on her website, KFC didn't properly estimate the overwhelming response the ' Oprah Effect ' would create. Customers were understandably angry when they didn't get their free chicken, and KFC had to reimburse them with rain checks.

Domino's Employees Disgusting YouTube Video. A couple of immature Domino's employees made a disgusting YouTube video of themselves defiling a pizza that they were supposedly going to send out to a customer. Even after firing the two employees and issuing an apology, Domino's reputation was a casualty of the prank.

Coca-Cola Releases New Coke. Coca-Cola decided to launch a campaign to keep up with Pepsi, a new rival at the time. They declared that they were launching a new Coke brand in hopes of keeping themselves looking fresh and better than ever. Unfortunately, customers didn't want a new brand of Coke and began hording existing beverages. The company quickly back peddled and brought back original Coke, but the damage to their brand was done.

How to Prevent Communication Failure

Marketing and public relations are tricky things to get right. Even some of the biggest companies in the world send the wrong messages and have to pay the piper when their customers get upset.

You can do two things to prevent communication failure at your company:

Think very carefully about new products and services you're introducing and how they will effect your customers. Plan, plan, plan.

If something does go wrong, take action before things get out of control. Be transparent, clear, and put yourself in your customers shoes. Do whatever it takes to make things right.

It is best to be very careful about how you pursue customer relations and acknowledge that even small mistakes can have major consequences, and then take action before things get out of hand.

Have another epic failure of communication? Share it in the comments below!

About Author

Grasshopper Team

The Grasshopper Team loves sharing tips, tricks, advice, and how-tos with entrepreneurs around the world. We're always here to answer questions or just chat.

Most Popular stories people like

• 15 Ways to Let the World Know About Your Awesome Business
• Using Educational Content to Win Over Your Ideal Customers
• Ready to Start and Grow Your Business?

5 Internal Communication Case Studies and Best Practices To Follow

Alex Cleary

Updated: May 13, 2024

Internal Communications

From employee engagement to workplace culture to change management, businesses often face similar challenges to each other even if those businesses are radically different. While the specifics of these challenges may differ, how other businesses solve these challenges can give you new insights into addressing your own.

We’re always interested in how our customers use ContactMonkey to solve their internal communications challenges, which is why we publish customer case studies. Learn how other businesses solve their communication challenges and get inspiration on ways you can improve your business by using an internal communications tool .

Real-time analytics that get it right

Discover where your employees are clicking, the best times to engage them, and which content resonates best.

What is an Internal Communication Case Study?

An internal communication case study examines how a company addressed a specific problem facing their organization, or achieved a specific goal. Communication is crucial for every business, and communication challenges can manifest in all kinds of situations.

An effective internal communication case study will clearly outline the problem, solution, and result of the business’ efforts to reach their goal. An internal communication case study should also outline best practices that were developed in this process, and how those best practices serve the business going forward.

Why are internal communication case studies important?

A good internal communication case study should not only explain the circumstances around a specific business’ problems and solution. It should also help others develop new ways to approach their own internal communication challenges , and shed light on common communication pitfalls that face a majority of businesses.

Whenever you’re facing a particular communication problem at your workplace, we recommend searching out a relevant internal communication case study about businesses facing similar issues. Even though the particulars may be different, it’s always important to see how internal communications problems are solved .

Featured Resource: Internal Email Benchmark Report 2023

How do your internal email performance metrics compare to 20 key industries? 

5 Best Internal Communications Case Studies

We put together this list of our favourite ContactMonkey case studies that best demonstrate the many problems our internal communications software can be used to solve. If you want to learn more about any of these customers and see other case studies, check out our Customers page .

Start your 14-day free trial of ContactMonkey

Captivating employee emails without IT approvals, new software, or learning curves.

1. Mettler Toledo Saves Days on their Internal Communications with ContactMonkey

When Kate Kraley began as Mettler Toledo’s Marketing Communications Specialist, she wanted to use internal communications to increase engagement and improve communication with employees.

But Mettler Toledo —a global manufacturer of precision instruments for various industries—had a confusing and ineffective array of internal communications channels . Here’s how Kate took charge of internal communications at Mettler Toledo with ContactMonkey.

Kate came to an internal communications department tasked with reaching employees through a number of channels. Email was the main focus of their approach, but this encompassed many forms of communication based on email like employee newsletters, eNews, and quarterly email updates.

Kate wanted to improve the quality of their internal communications. She used a variety of tools to create their newsletters, including using Mailchimp and online HTML template builder. But because Mailchimp is not for internal communications , Kate and her team found themselves spending over 8 hours a week building their internal communications:

“We faced challenges with Mailchimp. Since we had to leave Outlook to use Mailchimp, we found it was double the work to maintain distribution lists in both Outlook and Mailchimp. The HTML builder in Mailchimp was also difficult to use as it didn’t work well with older versions of Outlook, compromising the layout.”

Kate also needed a way to determine whether Mettler Toledo employees were actually reading her internal communications. She used Mailchimp to track open rate, but wanted more in-depth measures of engagement. That’s when she switched to ContactMonkey.

Kate found ContactMonkey via the IABC Hub in 2018, and began testing it out. ContactMonkey’s all-in-one internal communications software removed the need to switch from tool to tool. Using our email template builder , Kate now builds visually stunning email newsletters and templates without having to navigate away from Outlook:

She also now has access to her own analytics dashboard . Kate analyzes numerous email metrics like open rate, click-through rate, read time, opens by device and location, and more to see which communications are driving the most engagement. With this new centralized approach, Kate knew she had found the right solution:

“Once I started using ContactMonkey, I realized I was able to save 4 hours of work a week, which translated to 25 days saved per year! ContactMonkey has helped us understand what employees are interested in!”

2. BASF Manages Their Remote Workforce with ContactMonkey

Mark Kaplan is the Global Communications Manager at BASF’s Agricultural Group —a department of the German chemical company BASF SE. Because BASF has offices and production sites around the world, Mark coordinates with other internal communicators across the company to drive employee engagement.

With the success of any business comes new challenges, and BASF isn’t any different. While Mark knew he had to keep others informed of the latest news from the BASF Agricultural Group, he was aware employees would be receiving news from other parts of the company as well.

With many different departments sending their own internal communications, Mark faced a difficult task: keeping employees engaged while being careful not to overwhelm them with countless emails and updates.

“We try to be very strategic with what we’re sending out because people are already getting a lot.”

Not only did Mark have to find a solution that made his email communications more engaging, but he also had to prove the value of whatever solution he chose to management. How could Mark show that he was increasing employee engagement while avoiding tuning out from oversaturation?

Mark began using ContactMonkey to create better internal communications for BASF employees. Using our drag-and-drop email template builder, he designs emails that maximized communication and minimized distractions, keeping information to just what his recipients needed to know.

Mark uses ContactMonkey’s email template library to save time on his email design process. He also uses the easy drag-and-drop format of the email template builder to add multimedia into his email communications to save space and increase their effectiveness:

Mark uses the email analytics provided by ContactMonkey to determine the best times to send internal emails . Not only does email analytics help Mark increase engagement on his employee emails, but he now has hard data he can show management to prove the value of his internal communications.

“ContactMonkey has been great in that I can download a report, attach it to an email, and send it to our top leadership and say, ‘Oh, wow. 88% of the organization opened this in the last 24 hours, I think we should do more of this.’ It’s that little extra credibility.”

Best way to build engaging employee newsletters

3. alnylam drives remote employee engagement using contactmonkey.

Employee engagement is crucial for ongoing productivity and growth, and Alnylam’s Brendon Pires wanted to leverage their internal communications to increase engagement.

Brendon is an internal communications specialist at Alnylam —the world’s leading RNAi therapeutics company—and is tasked with keeping their 2000+ employees engaged and informed. But Brendon’s existing internal communications process was leading to issues all over the place.

Like many companies, Alnylam shifted to remote work when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Brendon knew that employees would be relying on his emails to stay up-to-date on the latest company news and announcements, but their existing internal communications tool wasn’t up to the task:

• Scheduled emails were prevented from being sent out.
• Email design was a chore with a difficult-to-use email builder.
• Intranet traffic was down and Brendon’s emails weren’t driving traffic to it.
• Email tracking was limited as many internal emails were being flagged by their tracking software’s firewall.

“We were having consistent issues and it had been going on for like a couple of months. It was one issue after the other, between emails not sending because they were getting caught in our firewall, and then tracking not being consistent. So at the end of the day it was kind of like that’s really important, you know? Obviously if I can’t send that email that’s a problem. So that’s what really drove us to look at other solutions like ContactMonkey”

Brendon and Alnylam use Outlook for their employee emails, so he began looking for alternatives to his current software. That’s when Brendon found ContactMonkey.

Right away Brendon had a much easier time creating internal emails using our email template builder. He can create stellar internal emails and email templates that drive more engagement.

Brendon also uses ContactMonkey’s embedded star ratings to let Alnylam employees rate the emails they’re receiving. This helps Brendon and his team zero-in on their most engaging email content. He also uses our email analytics to measure engagement via open rate and click-through rate. He maximizes his results on these metrics by using ContactMonkey’s scheduled email sending:

Using ContactMonkey, Brendon was able to increase email engagement and drive traffic to Alnylam’s internal intranet . He now sends emails without worry of encountering sending errors that can hinder engagement—like Outlook not rendering HTML emails .

“ContactMonkey is really easy to use and allows me to create really nice content. There’s enough customization so we can do what we really want and have some creative freedom.”

4. Travel Counsellors Ltd. Stays Connected with Remote Employees Using ContactMonkey

In an economy deeply impacted by COVID-19, countless companies had to adapt to new challenges. As Community Manager at Travel Counsellors , Dave Purcell experienced firsthand the effects on morale and engagement his over 1,900 partners experienced as result of the quarantine and resulting societal changes.

Dave wanted to regularly check-in on Travel Counsellors franchisees’ wellbeing, and measure their engagement over time. But Dave’s current method of checking-in on an audience of over 1,900 was not up to the task.

Using their existing email software, Dave encountered all sorts of problems when trying to gauge wellness and drive email engagement. He and his team were unable to create personalized internal communications , as they were told it just wasn’t possible with their existing “solution”. They also experienced numerous tracking issues, as they were receiving tracking numbers that didn’t make any sense.

“The stats we had previously were unusable and that’s the easiest way I can put it. I was getting 200% open rates, which was just impossible.”

Realizing that email tracking and personalization were must-have features for him and his team, Dave sought a new email software that could deliver what he was looking for.

With the aim of sending personalized emails and tracking wellness in his organization, Dave was immediately impressed by ContactMonkey. “I stumbled across ContactMonkey, and everything just screamed: ‘This is the right platform for us’. It’s pretty fantastic.”

Dave uses ContactMonkey’s merge tags to create personalized subject lines and body copy based on the recipient:

He also began using emoji reactions on his weekly employee newsletters , using them as a pulse check survey for his audience.

“Mindset and wellbeing have always been a big part of what we do. It’s even more so now. Our franchisees craved that personal interaction. ‘Welcome to a Brand New Week’ checks in with them on a Monday, sees how they’re feeling with emoji reactions. And we do the same on a Friday.”

In addition to customization and surveys, Dave uses our email template builder’s custom employer branding options to save time on creating his email newsletters. All of this is driven by email analytics that help Dave and his team determine which content is generating the greatest engagement.

“Our commercial team is looking at what people are engaging with in terms of link clicks and what they’re not engaging with and changing our tactic depending on that. We also send an update from our CEO and we can now track this more accurately. We’re getting a 90% open rate within two days.”

5. Exemplis Boosts Internal Communications Engagement with ContactMonkey

When Corey Kachigan arrived at Exemplis as Engagement and Communications Lead, she knew she had her work cut out for her. Exemplis—the largest volume manufacturer of office seating in North America—was experiencing rapid growth but did not have any sort of internal communications strategy . Corey knew if she wanted to properly manage Exemplis’ ongoing growth, she’d need to make internal communications an indispensable part of the business.

Before Corey arrived, Exemplis’ existing internal communications consisted only of random announcements and update emails. They had no defined approach for sending internal communications, which lead to emails that can cause employees to tune out.

“Our receptionist would email: ‘Hey, whoever left their coffee mug in the sink, please clean it and take it back to your desk.’ And it’s like, okay, that just went to 200 people.”

Corey and her team knew they had to harness their email resources better, and wanted a way to measure what employees actually wanted to see.

“We need some metrics to gauge whether this is working or not. We’re rolling out all these things, but we can’t tell if employees are even clicking these emails. Our team is inundated with hundreds of emails a day. How do we know they are reading these and how do we know they find it valuable? We have no idea.”

They also wanted to use emails to align their ever-growing employee base with Exemplis’ core values and vision. Using Mailchimp—an external marketing email tool—resulted in more problems than solutions. Corey experienced issues with importing and tracking emails within Outlook. She realized that Mailchimp is not for internal communications , and set out to find a new solution to power her employee emails.

So Corey began searching for a new email software for internal communications. Creating a definite approach to internal communications was just one priority of hers; she also wanted to prove the value of internal communications to management using hard data.

What first stood out to Corey about ContactMonkey was the crisp layout and that it worked with Exemplis’ existing Outlook system. ContactMonkey uses your company’s existing email services, and this meant Corey would no longer encounter internal email problems caused by an external tool like Mailchimp.

Corey now uses email metrics and employee feedback to inform her internal communications approach. She features pulse surveys on her internal emails, and uses the results in combination with email metrics to pinpoint what Exemplis employees want to see.

With ContactMonkey’s email analytics, Corey can point to real engagement data to back up her internal communications objectives.

“The thing I love about ContactMonkey is that it allows us to communicate more consistently with our team, but also be able to have the data to back it up. When we used to send out newsletters, we didn’t really have a way to see who did or didn’t open it, who clicked what and they couldn’t interact with the communication besides reply to me, which was super cumbersome.”

Turn emails into engaging conversations

Gauge employee satisfaction with embedded pulse surveys in your emails.

Explore engagement features

Achieve Your Internal Communications Goals with ContactMonkey

Although internal communications is a common aspect of all businesses, everyone approaches it differently. Finding out the best email practices that work for your employees is a crucial step in the quest for increased engagement.

Read even one internal communication case study and you’ll see how ContactMonkey stands out among other internal communications tools. You can create, send, and track internal emails, and collect employee feedback and email metrics to develop innovative internal communication tactics . Whether you’re a seasoned internal communicator or new to the field, ContactMonkey can turn your internal communications into a powerful driver of productivity and growth at your organization.

Whip up emails your employees want to open

Want to see ContactMonkey in action? Book a free demo to see how our internal communications software can transform your employee emails:

Revamp your workplace comms with us, right from your inbox. Get started now!

[email protected]

Email Template Builder

Outlook Sending

Email Analytics

Integrations

SMS Communications

Multi-Language Emails

Customer Stories

Free Templates

Attend Live Demo

Help Center

Partnerships

• SUGGESTED TOPICS
• The Magazine
• Newsletters
• Managing Yourself
• Managing Teams
• Work-life Balance
• The Big Idea
• Data & Visuals
• Reading Lists
• Case Selections
• HBR Learning
• Topic Feeds
• Account Settings
• Email Preferences

Business failures

• Finance and investing
• Corporate finance
• Financial analysis

How to Figure Out What Your Side Hustle Should Be

• Dorie Clark
• January 05, 2018

The Overvaluation Trap

• Roger Martin
• Alison Kemper
• From the December 2015 Issue

What Every CEO Should Know About Creating New Businesses

• David A. Garvin
• July 01, 2004

Strategies for Learning from Failure

• Amy C. Edmondson
• From the April 2011 Issue

Why Innovation Labs Fail, and How to Ensure Yours Doesn't

• Simone Bhan Ahuja
• July 22, 2019

When the CEO Dies, What Comes First: His Company or His Family? (HBR Case Study)

• C Maria Rex Sugirtha
• Charles Read
• Sarahjane Sacchetti
• September 01, 2023

IT Doesn't Matter (to CEOs)

• Robert Plant
• August 15, 2013

Sustainability's Faustian Dilemma

• Ron Ashkenas
• April 05, 2011

Stop Kissing Frogs

• Andrew Campbell
• Robert Park

Finding Your Company's Second Act

• Larry Downes
• From the January–February 2018 Issue

The Case for Investing in Underdogs

• Chengwei Liu
• Jerker Denrell
• David Maslach
• July 18, 2022

Leading Teams When Times Are Tight

• Tim Westergren
• June 03, 2013

A Tale of Two Business Models

• Harvard Business Publishing
• August 01, 2022

Fatally Flawed

• Scott Anthony
• April 16, 2019

How to Overcome Your Fear of Failure

• Susan Peppercorn
• December 10, 2018

Why Preventing Disruption in 2017 Is Harder Than It Was When Christensen Coined the Term

• Maxwell Wessel
• September 04, 2017

Why Talented People Fail Under Pressure

• Sian Beilock
• June 27, 2019

Redefining Failure

• From the September 2010 Issue

Why Hard-Nosed Executives Should Care About Management Theory (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)

• Clayton M. Christensen
• Michael E. Raynor
• September 01, 2003

Maybe Failure Isn't the Best Teacher

• Lauren Eskreis-Winkler
• Eben Harrell
• From the May–June 2020 Issue

Managing a Public Image: Rob Thomas

• Robin J. Ely
• Ingrid Vargas
• December 13, 2004

Deloitte & Touche (A): A Hole in the Pipeline

• Rosabeth Moss Kanter
• Jane Roessner
• September 28, 1999

BANEX and the No Pago Movement (A)

• Baily Blair Kempner
• April 21, 2011

Tata Nano's Execution Failure: How the People's Car Failed to Reshape the Auto Industry and Create New Growth

• W. Chan Kim
• Renee Mauborgne
• Robert Bong
• January 30, 2017

Into the Raging Sea: Final Voyage of the SS El Faro

• Joseph B. Fuller
• January 18, 2021

Ron Johnson: A Career in Retail

• Das Narayandas
• Joshua D. Margolis
• Ryan L. Raffaelli
• July 24, 2015

GoPro: The Disruptive Innovator Faces Challenges

• Rishi Dwesar
• Geeta Singh
• July 30, 2018

Bankruptcy in the City of Detroit

• Stuart C. Gilson
• Kristin Mugford
• Annelena Lobb
• April 08, 2015

Mission to Mars (A)

• Alan MacCormack
• February 07, 2003

Nebula: The Fall of a Company

• Matthew Saucedo
• Robert Siegel
• Mark Leslie
• October 09, 2015

Classic Fixtures & Hardware Company

• W. Carl Kester
• Craig Stephenson
• February 05, 2015

The Sinking of Swiber: 'Cause No Harm'?

• Shirley Koh
• Yin Kheng Lau
• September 25, 2017

BANEX and the No Pago” Movement (B)

Ken private limited: digitization project.

• Rupali Pardasani
• Asha Bhandarker
• August 19, 2013

Breaking Bad (the Rules): Argentina Defaults, Inflates (and Grows), 1997-2015

• Rafael Di Tella
• Fernanda Miguel
• December 04, 2013

Deloitte & Touche (B): Changing the Workplace

Aptera: the first time around (a).

• Lee Fleming
• Olav Sorenson
• December 31, 2021

Before the Fall: Lehman Brothers 2008

• Clayton Rose
• Anand Ahuja
• April 02, 2009

Walmart Goes Global (A)

• Juan Alcacer
• January 04, 2022

Cooptex: Reinventing Itself

• Tulsi Jayakumar
• June 13, 2017

Popular Topics

Partner center.

• Browse All Articles
• Newsletter Sign-Up

• 03 Oct 2023
• What Do You Think?

Do Leaders Learn More From Success or Failure?

There's so much to learn from failure, potentially more than success, argues Amy Edmondson in a new book. James Heskett asks whether the study of leadership should involve more emphasis on learning from failure? Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 05 Sep 2023

Thriving After Failing: How to Turn Your Setbacks Into Triumphs

When we slip up, we are often filled with shame, and our instinct is to hide. Instead, people and businesses should applaud smart risk-taking, even when things don't work out, and closely examine their failures to learn from them, says Amy Edmondson.

Failing Well: How Your ‘Intelligent Failure’ Unlocks Your Full Potential

We tend to avoid failure at all costs. But our smarter missteps are worthwhile because they can force us to take a different path that points us toward personal and professional success, says Amy Edmondson.

• 03 Oct 2022
• Research & Ideas

Why a Failed Startup Might Be Good for Your Career After All

Go ahead and launch that venture. Even if it fails, the experience you gain will likely earn you a job that's more senior than those of your peers, says research by Paul Gompers.

• 30 Oct 2019

How to Recover Gracefully After Shutting Down Your Startup

It’s hard to call it quits on a business venture, but entrepreneurs can wind down a struggling startup while keeping their reputations and sanity intact, says Tom Eisenmann. The first step is knowing when to accept defeat. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 27 Feb 2019

The Hidden Cost of a Product Recall

Product failures create managerial challenges for companies but market opportunities for competitors, says Ariel Dora Stern. The stakes have only grown higher. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 04 Jan 2018
• Working Paper Summaries

Creating the Market for Organic Wine: Sulfites, Certification, and Green Values

Certified organic wine remains a tiny percentage of the global wine market. This paper provides a case study of failed new category creation, analyzing the challenges for the organic wine market over time, including overcoming an initial reputation for quality, wines being labeled with multiple names (“organic,” “biodynamic,” “natural”), and competing certification schemes.

• 17 Jun 2015
• Lessons from the Classroom

Excellence Comes From Saying No

In a new course designed by Frances Frei and Amy Schulman, business and law students help each other define and achieve their own interpretations of success. Lesson one: You can't be great at everything. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 21 Aug 2012

How to Sink a Startup

Noam Wasserman, author of the recently released book "The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup," discusses ill-advised entrepreneurial behavior. From the HBS Alumni Bulletin. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 06 Jun 2011

Why Leaders Lose Their Way

Bill George discusses how powerful people lose their moral bearings. To stay grounded executives must prepare themselves to confront enormous complexities and pressures. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 07 Mar 2011

Why Companies Fail—and How Their Founders Can Bounce Back

Leading a doomed company can often help a career by providing experience, insight, and contacts that lead to new opportunities, says professor Shikhar Ghosh. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 14 Feb 2011

Clay Christensen’s Milkshake Marketing

Many new products fail because their creators use an ineffective market segmentation mechanism, according to HBS professor Clayton Christensen. It's time for companies to look at products the way customers do: as a way to get a job done. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 08 Nov 2010

How to Fix a Broken Marketplace

Alvin E. Roth was a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Economic Science this week for his Harvard Business School research into market design and matching theory. This article explores his research. Key concepts include: Successful marketplaces must be "thick, uncongested, and safe." Sufficient "thickness" means there are enough participants in the market to make it thrive. "Congestion" is what can happen when markets get too thick too fast: there are heaps of potential players, but not enough time for transactions to be made, accepted, or rejected effectively. "Safety" refers to an environment in which all parties feel secure enough to make decisions based on their best interests, rather than attempts to game a flawed system. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 23 Sep 2009

Operational Failures and Problem Solving: An Empirical Study of Incident Reporting

Operational failures occur within organizations across all industries, with consequences ranging from minor inconveniences to major catastrophes. How can managers encourage frontline workers to solve problems in response to operational failures? In the health-care industry, the setting for this study, operational failures occur often, and some are reported to voluntary incident reporting systems that are meant to help organizations learn from experience. Using data on nearly 7,500 reported incidents from a single hospital, the researchers found that problem-solving in response to operational failures is influenced by both the risk posed by the incident and the extent to which management demonstrates a commitment to problem-solving. Findings can be used by organizations to increase the contribution of incident reporting systems to operational performance improvement. Key concepts include: Operational failures that trigger more financial and liability risks are associated with more frontline worker problem-solving. By communicating the importance of problem-solving and engaging in problem-solving themselves, line managers can stimulate increased problem-solving among frontline workers. Even without managers' regular engagement in problem-solving, communication about its importance can promote more problem-solving among frontline workers. By explaining some of the variation in responsiveness to operational failures, this study empowers managers to adjust their approach to stimulate more problem-solving among frontline workers. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 20 Jan 2009

Risky Business with Structured Finance

How did the process of securitization transform trillions of dollars of risky assets into securities that many considered to be a safe bet? HBS professors Joshua D. Coval and Erik Stafford, with Princeton colleague Jakub Jurek, authors of a new paper, have ideas. Key concepts include: Over the past decade, risks have been repackaged to create triple-A-rated securities. Even modest imprecision in estimating underlying risks is magnified disproportionately when securities are pooled and tranched, as shown in a modeling exercise. Ratings of structured finance products, which make no distinction between the different sources of default risk, are particularly useless for determining prices and fair rates of compensation for these risks. Going forward, it would be best to eliminate any sanction of ratings as a guide to investment policy and capital requirements. It is important to focus on measuring and judging the system's aggregate amount of leverage and to understand the exposures that financial institutions actually have. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 31 Mar 2008

JetBlue’s Valentine’s Day Crisis

It was the Valentine's Day from hell for JetBlue employees and more than 130,000 customers. Under bad weather, JetBlue fliers were trapped on the runway at JFK for hours, many ultimately delayed by days. How did the airline make it right with customers and learn from its mistakes? A discussion with Harvard Business School professor Robert S. Huckman. Key concepts include: JetBlue's dependence on a reservations system that relied on a dispersed workforce and the Web broke down when thousands of passengers needed to rebook at once. A crisis forces an organization to evaluate its operating processes rapidly and decide where it needs to create greater formalization or structure. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 22 Aug 2005

The Hard Work of Failure Analysis

We all should learn from failure—but it's difficult to do so objectively. In this excerpt from "Failing to Learn and Learning to Fail (Intelligently)" in Long Range Planning Journal, HBS professor Amy Edmondson and coauthor Mark Cannon offer a process for analyzing what went wrong. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 12 Jul 2004

Enron’s Lessons for Managers

Like the Challenger space shuttle disaster was a learning experience for engineers, so too is the Enron crash for managers, says Harvard Business School professor Malcolm S. Salter. Yet what have we learned? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Determinants of Early-Stage Startup Performance: Survey Results

In this study of 470 founders/CEOs and their management practices, startups that employ lean startup techniques had better valuation outcomes. So did ventures that balanced hiring for skill versus attitude and, more broadly, made early efforts to professionalize human resource management.

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

A CASE STUDY OF WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION PROBLEM: STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTATION TO MAKE THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS MORE EFFECTIVE

Instituting effective organisational communication is imminent for organisations if they want to be relevant in the business world, going forward. Severally, breaches in communication ethics result in conflicts between top management and the labour force. This work examine such a case with a fictitious company name, in order to address the issue, by proffering a way forward using psychological theories and models.

Related Papers

Hesti Nur Syafa'ati

Geet Divekar

This journal was my submission for the course's final assignment. it is my reflection on ethics base on the case studies from Steve May's Case Studies in Organizational Communication. Ethics stand different for every individual and therefore, assuming that the thoughts in this journal are the only right ethical decisions would be wrong.

NHRD Network Journal

Prasenjit Bhattacharya

Journal of Marketing and Consumer Research

Ngorang Philipus

abhilasha ram

Excellent employee communication is must for any thriving organization. Effective internal communication is key to success of any organization. The need for communicating information to an organization's internal public — its employees — has become of utmost importance in the recent years. This research article studied internal / employee communication in terms of openness of communication and adequacy of information. The openness should be followed across the organization – between the employer and employee as well as amongst employees. Giving too little information as well as too much information to the concerned employee makes him/her confused; so, the importance of adequate information. The effectiveness of information studied on the basis of communication tools and practices used in the organization for the proper dissemination of communication.

Carl Harshman

Journal of Communication Management

Robert Beckett

RELATED PAPERS

Sustainable …

Gordon Wilmsmeier

Networking Knowledge: Journal of the MeCCSA Postgraduate Network

Sylvie Jochems

Sabir Samee

Advances in Space Research

Anna Swiatek

Volety Ramachandram

Chemical Research in Toxicology

Agustín Lahoz

Journal of Accounting Research

Jacob Thomas

Alejandro Rescia

Matilde Fernández Montes

Andre Jorge

The Japanese journal of ergonomics

Wattana Jalayondeja

Økonomi & Politik

Henrik Reintoft Christensen

Gondoskodás

Kinga Vajda

maryam matin

Micromachines

Daryoush Shahbazi-Gahrouei

Porto e Santiago de Compostela: artigo para …

Binge-Watching and Contemporary Television Research

Ri Pierce-Grove

sulistyo budi Budi

Sergio Gehrke

Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine

Michael Resnick

Sustainability

Wei-Ming Chen

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

7 Favorite Business Case Studies to Teach—and Why

Explore more.

• Case Teaching
• Course Materials

FEATURED CASE STUDIES

The Army Crew Team . Emily Michelle David of CEIBS

ATH Technologies . Devin Shanthikumar of Paul Merage School of Business

Fabritek 1992 . Rob Austin of Ivey Business School

Lincoln Electric Co . Karin Schnarr of Wilfrid Laurier University

Pal’s Sudden Service—Scaling an Organizational Model to Drive Growth . Gary Pisano of Harvard Business School

The United States Air Force: ‘Chaos’ in the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron . Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School

Warren E. Buffett, 2015 . Robert F. Bruner of Darden School of Business

To dig into what makes a compelling case study, we asked seven experienced educators who teach with—and many who write—business case studies: “What is your favorite case to teach and why?”

The resulting list of case study favorites ranges in topics from operations management and organizational structure to rebel leaders and whodunnit dramas.

1. The Army Crew Team

Emily Michelle David, Assistant Professor of Management, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS)

“I love teaching  The Army Crew Team  case because it beautifully demonstrates how a team can be so much less than the sum of its parts.

I deliver the case to executives in a nearby state-of-the-art rowing facility that features rowing machines, professional coaches, and shiny red eight-person shells.

After going through the case, they hear testimonies from former members of Chinese national crew teams before carrying their own boat to the river for a test race.

The rich learning environment helps to vividly underscore one of the case’s core messages: competition can be a double-edged sword if not properly managed.

Executives in Emily Michelle David’s organizational behavior class participate in rowing activities at a nearby facility as part of her case delivery.

Despite working for an elite headhunting firm, the executives in my most recent class were surprised to realize how much they’ve allowed their own team-building responsibilities to lapse. In the MBA pre-course, this case often leads to a rich discussion about common traps that newcomers fall into (for example, trying to do too much, too soon), which helps to poise them to both stand out in the MBA as well as prepare them for the lateral team building they will soon engage in.

Finally, I love that the post-script always gets a good laugh and serves as an early lesson that organizational behavior courses will seldom give you foolproof solutions for specific problems but will, instead, arm you with the ability to think through issues more critically.”

2. ATH Technologies

Devin Shanthikumar, Associate Professor of Accounting, Paul Merage School of Business

“As a professor at UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business, and before that at Harvard Business School, I have probably taught over 100 cases. I would like to say that my favorite case is my own,   Compass Box Whisky Company . But as fun as that case is, one case beats it:  ATH Technologies  by Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard.

ATH presents a young entrepreneurial company that is bought by a much larger company. As part of the merger, ATH gets an ‘earn-out’ deal—common among high-tech industries. The company, and the class, must decide what to do to achieve the stretch earn-out goals.

ATH captures a scenario we all want to be in at some point in our careers—being part of a young, exciting, growing organization. And a scenario we all will likely face—having stretch goals that seem almost unreachable.

It forces us, as a class, to really struggle with what to do at each stage.

After we read and discuss the A case, we find out what happens next, and discuss the B case, then the C, then D, and even E. At every stage, we can:

see how our decisions play out,

figure out how to build on our successes, and

address our failures.

The case is exciting, the class discussion is dynamic and energetic, and in the end, we all go home with a memorable ‘ah-ha!’ moment.

I have taught many great cases over my career, but none are quite as fun, memorable, and effective as ATH .”

3. Fabritek 1992

Rob Austin, Professor of Information Systems, Ivey Business School

“This might seem like an odd choice, but my favorite case to teach is an old operations case called  Fabritek 1992 .

The latest version of Fabritek 1992 is dated 2009, but it is my understanding that this is a rewrite of a case that is older (probably much older). There is a Fabritek 1969 in the HBP catalog—same basic case, older dates, and numbers. That 1969 version lists no authors, so I suspect the case goes even further back; the 1969 version is, I’m guessing, a rewrite of an even older version.

There are many things I appreciate about the case. Here are a few:

It operates as a learning opportunity at many levels. At first it looks like a not-very-glamorous production job scheduling case. By the end of the case discussion, though, we’re into (operations) strategy and more. It starts out technical, then explodes into much broader relevance. As I tell participants when I’m teaching HBP's Teaching with Cases seminars —where I often use Fabritek as an example—when people first encounter this case, they almost always underestimate it.

It has great characters—especially Arthur Moreno, who looks like a troublemaker, but who, discussion reveals, might just be the smartest guy in the factory. Alums of the Harvard MBA program have told me that they remember Arthur Moreno many years later.

Almost every word in the case is important. It’s only four and a half pages of text and three pages of exhibits. This economy of words and sparsity of style have always seemed like poetry to me. I should note that this super concise, every-word-matters approach is not the ideal we usually aspire to when we write cases. Often, we include extra or superfluous information because part of our teaching objective is to provide practice in separating what matters from what doesn’t in a case. Fabritek takes a different approach, though, which fits it well.

It has a dramatic structure. It unfolds like a detective story, a sort of whodunnit. Something is wrong. There is a quality problem, and we’re not sure who or what is responsible. One person, Arthur Moreno, looks very guilty (probably too obviously guilty), but as we dig into the situation, there are many more possibilities. We spend in-class time analyzing the data (there’s a bit of math, so it covers that base, too) to determine which hypotheses are best supported by the data. And, realistically, the data doesn’t support any of the hypotheses perfectly, just some of them more than others. Also, there’s a plot twist at the end (I won’t reveal it, but here’s a hint: Arthur Moreno isn’t nearly the biggest problem in the final analysis). I have had students tell me the surprising realization at the end of the discussion gives them ‘goosebumps.’

Finally, through the unexpected plot twist, it imparts what I call a ‘wisdom lesson’ to young managers: not to be too sure of themselves and to regard the experiences of others, especially experts out on the factory floor, with great seriousness.”

4. Lincoln Electric Co.

Karin Schnarr, Assistant Professor of Policy, Wilfrid Laurier University

“As a strategy professor, my favorite case to teach is the classic 1975 Harvard case  Lincoln Electric Co.  by Norman Berg.

I use it to demonstrate to students the theory linkage between strategy and organizational structure, management processes, and leadership behavior.

This case may be an odd choice for a favorite. It occurs decades before my students were born. It is pages longer than we are told students are now willing to read. It is about manufacturing arc welding equipment in Cleveland, Ohio—a hard sell for a Canadian business classroom.

Yet, I have never come across a case that so perfectly illustrates what I want students to learn about how a company can be designed from an organizational perspective to successfully implement its strategy.

And in a time where so much focus continues to be on how to maximize shareholder value, it is refreshing to be able to discuss a publicly-traded company that is successfully pursuing a strategy that provides a fair value to shareholders while distributing value to employees through a large bonus pool, as well as value to customers by continually lowering prices.

However, to make the case resonate with today’s students, I work to make it relevant to the contemporary business environment. I link the case to multimedia clips about Lincoln Electric’s current manufacturing practices, processes, and leadership practices. My students can then see that a model that has been in place for generations is still viable and highly successful, even in our very different competitive situation.”

5. Pal’s Sudden Service—Scaling an Organizational Model to Drive Growth

Gary Pisano, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

“My favorite case to teach these days is  Pal’s Sudden Service—Scaling an Organizational Model to Drive Growth .

I love teaching this case for three reasons:

1. It demonstrates how a company in a super-tough, highly competitive business can do very well by focusing on creating unique operating capabilities. In theory, Pal’s should have no chance against behemoths like McDonalds or Wendy’s—but it thrives because it has built a unique operating system. It’s a great example of a strategic approach to operations in action.

2. The case shows how a strategic approach to human resource and talent development at all levels really matters. This company competes in an industry not known for engaging its front-line workers. The case shows how engaging these workers can really pay off.

3. Finally, Pal’s is really unusual in its approach to growth. Most companies set growth goals (usually arbitrary ones) and then try to figure out how to ‘backfill’ the human resource and talent management gaps. They trust you can always find someone to do the job. Pal’s tackles the growth problem completely the other way around. They rigorously select and train their future managers. Only when they have a manager ready to take on their own store do they open a new one. They pace their growth off their capacity to develop talent. I find this really fascinating and so do the students I teach this case to.”

6. The United States Air Force: ‘Chaos’ in the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron

Francesca Gino, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

“My favorite case to teach is  The United States Air Force: ‘Chaos’ in the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron .

The case surprises students because it is about a leader, known in the unit by the nickname Chaos , who inspired his squadron to be innovative and to change in a culture that is all about not rocking the boat, and where there is a deep sense that rules should simply be followed.

For years, I studied ‘rebels,’ people who do not accept the status quo; rather, they approach work with curiosity and produce positive change in their organizations. Chaos is a rebel leader who got the level of cultural change right. Many of the leaders I’ve met over the years complain about the ‘corporate culture,’ or at least point to clear weaknesses of it; but then they throw their hands up in the air and forget about changing what they can.

Chaos is different—he didn’t go after the ‘Air Force’ culture. That would be like boiling the ocean.

Instead, he focused on his unit of control and command: The 99th squadron. He focused on enabling that group to do what it needed to do within the confines of the bigger Air Force culture. In the process, he inspired everyone on his team to be the best they can be at work.

The case leaves the classroom buzzing and inspired to take action.”

7. Warren E. Buffett, 2015

Robert F. Bruner, Professor of Business Administration, Darden School of Business

“I love teaching   Warren E. Buffett, 2015  because it energizes, exercises, and surprises students.

Buffett looms large in the business firmament and therefore attracts anyone who is eager to learn his secrets for successful investing. This generates the kind of energy that helps to break the ice among students and instructors early in a course and to lay the groundwork for good case discussion practices.

Studying Buffett’s approach to investing helps to introduce and exercise important themes that will resonate throughout a course. The case challenges students to define for themselves what it means to create value. The case discussion can easily be tailored for novices or for more advanced students.

Either way, this is not hero worship: The case affords a critical examination of the financial performance of Buffett’s firm, Berkshire Hathaway, and reveals both triumphs and stumbles. Most importantly, students can critique the purported benefits of Buffett’s conglomeration strategy and the sustainability of his investment record as the size of the firm grows very large.

By the end of the class session, students seem surprised with what they have discovered. They buzz over the paradoxes in Buffett’s philosophy and performance record. And they come away with sober respect for Buffett’s acumen and for the challenges of creating value for investors.

Surely, such sobriety is a meta-message for any mastery of finance.”

More Educator Favorites

Emily Michelle David is an assistant professor of management at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Her current research focuses on discovering how to make workplaces more welcoming for people of all backgrounds and personality profiles to maximize performance and avoid employee burnout. David’s work has been published in a number of scholarly journals, and she has worked as an in-house researcher at both NASA and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Devin Shanthikumar  is an associate professor and the accounting area coordinator at UCI Paul Merage School of Business. She teaches undergraduate, MBA, and executive-level courses in managerial accounting. Shanthikumar previously served on the faculty at Harvard Business School, where she taught both financial accounting and managerial accounting for MBAs, and wrote cases that are used in accounting courses across the country.

Robert D. Austin is a professor of information systems at Ivey Business School and an affiliated faculty member at Harvard Medical School. He has published widely, authoring nine books, more than 50 cases and notes, three Harvard online products, and two popular massive open online courses (MOOCs) running on the Coursera platform.

Karin Schnarr is an assistant professor of policy and the director of the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program at the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada where she teaches strategic management at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels. Schnarr has published several award-winning and best-selling cases and regularly presents at international conferences on case writing and scholarship.

Gary P. Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie, Jr. Professor of Business Administration and senior associate dean of faculty development at Harvard Business School, where he has been on the faculty since 1988. Pisano is an expert in the fields of technology and operations strategy, the management of innovation, and competitive strategy. His research and consulting experience span a range of industries including aerospace, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals, health care, nutrition, computers, software, telecommunications, and semiconductors.

Francesca Gino studies how people can have more productive, creative, and fulfilling lives. She is a professor at Harvard Business School and the author, most recently, of  Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life . Gino regularly gives keynote speeches, delivers corporate training programs, and serves in advisory roles for firms and not-for-profit organizations across the globe.

Robert F. Bruner is a university professor at the University of Virginia, distinguished professor of business administration, and dean emeritus of the Darden School of Business. He has also held visiting appointments at Harvard and Columbia universities in the United States, at INSEAD in France, and at IESE in Spain. He is the author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books on finance, management, and teaching. Currently, he teaches and writes in finance and management.

Related Articles

We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience, including personalizing content. Learn More . By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies and revised Privacy Policy .

Your browser is ancient! Upgrade to a different browser or install Google Chrome Frame to experience this site.

Master of Advanced Studies in INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Case Studies in Intercultural Communication

Welcome to the MIC Case Studies page.

Here you will find more than fifty different case studies, developed by our former participants from the Master of Advanced Studies in Intercultural Communication. The richness of this material is that it contains real-life experiences in intercultural communication problems in various settings, such as war, family, negotiations, inter-religious conflicts, business, workplace, and others. 

Cases also include renowned organizations and global institutions, such as the United Nations, Multinationals companies, Non-Governmental Organisations, Worldwide Events, European, African, Asian and North and South America Governments and others.

Intercultural situations are characterized by encounters, mutual respect and the valorization of diversity by individuals or groups of individuals identifying with different cultures. By making the most of the cultural differences, we can improve intercultural communication in civil society, in public institutions and the business world.

How can these Case Studies help you?

These case studies were made during the classes at the Master of Advanced Studies in Intercultural Communication. Therefore, they used the most updated skills, tools, theories and best practices available.   They were created by participants working in the field of public administration; international organizations; non-governmental organizations; development and cooperation organizations; the business world (production, trade, tourism, etc.); the media; educational institutions; and religious institutions. Through these case studies, you will be able to learn through real-life stories, how practitioners apply intercultural communication skills in multicultural situations.

Why are we opening our "Treasure Chest" for you?

We believe that Intercultural Communication has a growing role in the lives of organizations, companies and governments relationship with the public, between and within organizations. There are many advanced tools available to access, analyze and practice intercultural communication at a professional level.  Moreover, professionals are demanded to have an advanced cross-cultural background or experience to deal efficiently with their environment. International organizations are requiring workers who are competent, flexible, and able to adjust and apply their skills with the tact and sensitivity that will enhance business success internationally. Intercultural communication means the sharing of information across diverse cultures and social groups, comprising individuals with distinct religious, social, ethnic, and educational backgrounds. It attempts to understand the differences in how people from a diversity of cultures act, communicate and perceive the world around them. For this reason, we are sharing our knowledge chest with you, to improve and enlarge intercultural communication practice, awareness, and education.

We promise you that our case studies, which are now also yours, will delight, entertain, teach, and amaze you. It will reinforce or change the way you see intercultural communication practice, and how it can be part of your life today. Take your time to read them; you don't need to read all at once, they are rather small and very easy to read. The cases will always be here waiting for you. Therefore, we wish you an insightful and pleasant reading.

These cases represent the raw material developed by the students as part of their certification project. MIC master students are coming from all over the world and often had to write the case in a non-native language. No material can be reproduced without permission. ©   Master of Advanced Studies in Intercultural Communication , Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland.

Subscribe Us

If you want to receive our last updated case studies or news about the program, leave us your email, and you will know in first-hand about intercultural communication education and cutting-edge research in the intercultural field.