1) An Open Door Policy is a new trend within large corporations. It means that employees are allowed to go to their supervisors, their supervisor’s boss, or even the President and Board of Directors, with a problem or issue that the subordinate feels needs to be discussed with upper level management. This new open-door policy ensures higher employee morale. This policy also ensures employee communications with managers, and establishes trust and openness between upper level management and their subordinates.

2) The Open Door Policy sometimes fails because if the upper management communicates with the supervisor in question, and the supervisor denies the allegations or wrongdoing, then usually it results in two levels of management’s point of views, against one employee's complaint.

3) Steiner fails to see the results of his discussions with his subordinates. He fails to see the results because his is out of the communications loop with his employees. Terry attempts to explain the problem to Steiner, but Steiner only yells and criticizes Terry. This is along with putting tremendous pressure on him to get the orders out or the parts in. The end result is that Terry no longer communicates with Steiner, from the full influence of Siegal, who does not communicate with Steiner as well.

4) Siegal does not communicate with Steiner. He represses the truth from Steiner, therefore cutting Steiner out of the communications loop. In order for operations to run smoothly, upward, downward and horizontal communication needs to be established within the company. Steiner does need to know everything that is happening within the company. Currently, Steiner is only receiving 20% or less of the original message. Siegal is not being effective employee-employees should always communicate with their supervisors and co.-workers.

5) 1. The long-term implications for Steiner are that he will eventually "only be a title" and nothing more than that. He will have decreased job security. The end result is that Steiner will probably end up loosing his job or be terminated, due to his inability to effectively manage the employees, due to decreased communication. Steiner will eventually be oblivious to everything that is happening within the company, so therefore he will become more and more unproductive.

2. The long-term implication for the company is that it will continue to operate on its own, without upper management being involved. Closed communication will result, and employee morale will be low. This in turn will amount to decreased productivity. The company will eventually lose business due to lost orders and parts not being in on time-which creates unhappy customers.

6) I think there is a way to reach Steiner. I think that if a subordinate such as Terry were to tell someone on the Board of Directors, for instance, about what is happening to Steiner, then someone from the Board of Directors would communicate with Steiner. Steiner can be reached through higher authority. If Steiner is told about the problem, chances are that he will attempt to change his ways in managing employees, and become less of a title and more of the role of upper-level management.

7) An employee can level with his or her boss, depending on the relationship. If the organization is such that an employee can feel like he can level with her boss, then by all means do so. The best organization to be able to determine this factor is the Human Relations Model. A Human Relations Model organization is usually a family-like atmosphere and more casual. The managers provide a relaxed work atmosphere, where the managers are concerned about the employees and treat them with Tender Loving Care. I work for an organization such as this one being described, and I can certainly "level" with my supervisor and feel free to discuss with her any problems that I have. If your organization is based on these qualities, it is more likely that you can "level" with your boss.

8) It is difficult to level with one’s boss because he or she is your superior. That fact alone is intimidating in even the most relaxed types of environments. She has the ability to hire you and fire you, as well as promote you. You don’t want to offend your boss in any way. If the subordinate uses jargon that is comfortable with the supervisor, it may be easier to communicate or level with him or her.

9) It is difficult to level with anyone on subjects of mutual concern. For example, if you have a certain viewpoint about a subject, and your co.-worker has a totally opposite viewpoint on the same subject, this can strain inter-office communications and work ethic. This would affect employee morale and productivity.

10) A. Open Communication-A freedom to communicate with one’s superior or other co.-workers/upper management. Open management is helpful to run a business, whether it is upward communication, downward communication, or horizontal, or inter-departmental. This can increase business. If employees were distrustful of each other, this would result in negativity. But if open communication is enforced company-wide, this would result in honesty and truthfulness, as well as awareness about happenings.

B. Responsible feedback is a positive way in which to give constructive advice on how to handle the issues at hand. Criticism is a negative way to devalue an employee. Criticism can consist of harsh words and verbal abuse-often resulting in decreasing productivity of the employee being criticized.

C. Non-verbal communication-all intentional and unintentional messages that are neither written, spoken, nor sounded. Examples of non-verbal communication include body language, gestures, the environment in which you are situated, clothes/attire, ads, eyes and eye contact, tone of voice, and timing. Non-verbal communication is just as important as verbal communication in the business world. Non-verbal communication is also culturally defined.

For example, a gesture in one country may be defined as something entirely different in another country. Knowing the signs of non-verbal communication can improve your entire style of communicating.

D. Power, status, and ease of communication-Power and status in the business world define your role in the corporate organization. If you are an easygoing president or CEO, and say hello to everyone and make them feel comfortable, chances are your organization is more friendly and easygoing as a whole entity. If, you are a non-communicative president/CEO, and do not make an effort to be "nice" with your employees, you will, as Steiner was, be eventually cut out of the communications loop.

E. Hidden agendas-are hidden objectives or goals that the leader of the meeting hopes to achieve by the end. For example, the financial officer may have a printed agenda handed out in a meeting, but may have a sub-agenda in his head that he wants to cover, and will somehow incorporate that into the already-set agenda.

1) Communication has changed over the corporate life of Chick-fil-A. It has changed from being decentralized, which means that messages were poorly sent/received, and sometimes even misinterpreted or never received. Now the corporation is becoming more centralized, due to Mark Ashworth. He has helped to train department managers to deliver their messages more effectively through the use of E-mail and voice-mail. The changes were brought about because messages were not being delivered appropriately or on a timely basis, due to the manager’s travel schedules. Messages were often delayed or never sent. Through Mark Ashworth’s implementation, communication at Chick-fil-A businesses has become more effective.

2) The definition of Business Communication is a dynamic process of people sharing ideas, thoughts, and feelings in a common, understandable way. Messages affect the response. The successful communication is people understanding the sent messages of ideas, thoughts, and feelings. The choice of medium is important to successful communication because it helps to actively achieve the goal of the message being received 100%. For example, E-mail is effective, but sometimes a face-to-face meeting more often helps the listener to retain the message.

3) I think that communication at Chick-fil-A is becoming more-two way than one-way. Over time it will become more two-way. It may be one-way still because not enough time has lapsed to take the full implementation of these new mediums into effect. The company is attempting to make communication two-way through voice-mail, E-mail, and corporate headquarters, and videotapes. I think a message board where people could post messages on the Internet would also further communication as well.

1) Al Dunlap’s management approach is very authoritarian. He has an "in-your-face-attitude rare among executives". He takes control of troubled companies such as the Scott Paper Company and makes vital decisions in order to increase business. This style is similar to the Blind Style. The Blind Style Manager does best in situations where he or she can take control of the situation and show their expertise in a certain area. The profile of the blind style indicates that Dunlap rarely seeks feedback, and discloses excessively. Meaning he does not seek advice, but rather takes actions among himself and tells other people what to do. Dunlap’s style contradicts one of these points because he does not disclose much information about himself, apparently. Dunlap’s style definitely fits the profile of the Blind Manager.

2) A massive downsizing effort can be both good and bad for a company. Downsizing means cutting back on employees and overall costs. Downsizing can save company money in the long run. However, it can also put more stress on the employees, therefore decreases employee morale and productivity if not managed appropriately. Cutting back on employees means putting extra work on the remaining employees. A company should think twice before downsizing, and consider all sides to the issue.

3) The remaining workers were given increased responsibility, which increased productivity at Scott Paper. Another factor was the selling of "unrelated business units". Yet another factor was "launching new products and selling unprofitable ventures". Dunlap was responsible for all this by taking "decisive action". He implemented major changes, such as cost cuts and increased prices, plus getting rid of about 8,000 employees, turned the company into a profitable business.

4) The kind of company that might hire Dunlap next would be a small company that would be in financial trouble. As Scott Paper Company was originally described "In the period 1990 to 1994, Scott continued to loose market share, and in 1993, the company lost $277 million and saw its credit rating deteriorate". The company would need Dunlap to take action immediately, and would need the use of a Blind Style manager/CEO for the position. The Board of Directors would see the immediate need for someone like Dunlap, and their major goal would be to get this company out of financial trouble. Many of the smaller, startup dot.com Internet companies would probably fit into this description. Only a few of the million dot.com companies ever make it big. The rest of them struggle to maintain employees and sales, as shown recently in the stock market. Dunlap would be a great benefit to one of these Internet dot.com startup companies.