Case study

Recently, PayPal - a leading technology platform company that enables digital and mobile payments on behalf of consumers and merchants worldwide - noticed that some of their employees did not use and embrace the PayPal app. The PayPal President (David Marcus) at that time believed that being passionate about the company's app should be part of the organisational culture and employees' endorsement of the app is the key to PayPal's success.

He took a heavy-handed approach by sending an email to employees at the headquarters. At the end of the email, it read "...if you are one of the folks who refused to install the PayPal app or if you cant remember your PayPal password, do yourself a favour, go find something that will connect with your heart and mind elsewhere. A life devoid of purpose, and passion in what you do everyday is a waste of the precious time you have on this earth to make it better."

The email was leaked to the media, which generated widespread coverage concerning the effectiveness of such communication and leadership.

The Board of Directors together with Senior Directors and Directors of Internal Communications, Corporate Communications, Human Resources and Employee Experience Communications at PayPal realised that there were a number of communication problems and opportunities that the company could address.

Imagine you and your team members are employed in a management communication consultancy and has been approached to provide recommendations on communication strategies (related to a specific topic your team has been assigned to - please see the topics below) for PayPal.

Implementing emotional and cultural intelligence communication strategies for leaders