Theories about communication should provide managers with the tools and information necessary to communicate more effectively and efficiently with members of the staff and avoid miscommunication.

Nevertheless, there are numerous cases where a message was not received by staff or customers in the way it was intended.

With the advent of social media, managers and businesses have new opportunities and methods to communicate with staff and customers. At the same time, messages that are transmitted via social media can lead to instances of miscommunication and confusion among recipients, with many often questioning whether managers have used the most appropriate channel of communication. Here are two examples.

• A cryptic Facebook post was how the staff of the Bank Café Bar, a popular Belfast restaurant, found out that they were to lose their jobs. Managers took the decision to announce the immediate closure of the restaurant to customers and staff in the same message, ending the message with “#nojob.” Members of the staff had previously been told that the restaurant was facing some difficulties, but many had agreed to stay with the business nonetheless.

• UK-based supermarket Morrisons fell victim to cybercrime and found that the personal data it had collected,

including the bank details of 100,000 employees, had been stolen and uploaded to the Internet. They used social media platform Facebook to immediately announce the issue. Morrisons had also sent out notifications via email to managers within stores and requested that it be passed onto colleagues who did not have access to company email addresses. Many employees found out about the issue because of the announcement on Facebook long before any internal communication had reached them.

Discussion Questions 

1. Based on the two examples from the case, what do you think are the main communication issues? Did the managers of these organizations communicate effectively? Why or why not?

2. How would you feel if you were working in these organizations and were affected by such miscommunication through social media platforms?

3. What would you do differently if you were a manager for the companies mentioned in the examples?

4. What do you think other managers should learn from these examples of miscommunication?