Strategic Communication Case Study. Literature & Language Essay

Strategic Communication Case Study
Student’s Name
 Strategic Communication Case Study
Milestone One: Introduction
Research In Motion (RIM) was founded in 1984 by Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin and went on to become the leading mobile communication company by attracting numerous investors and incorporating other telecommunication companies (Bigus & Seijts, 2012). RIM success under the management of Mike and Jim as the lead CEOs marked a major milestone by unveiling Blackberry 5810 in the year 2002. The company enjoyed tones of success with a vast market share by releasing numerous blackberry series over time. The creativity of the RIM Company reached its saturation point in around 2006 and it started experiencing drastic market decline. RIM’s market share declined even further with the emergence of Apple Inc. in the mobile industry when they launched the iPhone in 2007 (Bigus & Seijts, 2012). RIM resisted adopting new changes to stay relevant in the industry and the situation even worsen. In 2011, an anonymous employee drafted a letter addressed to the co- CEOs outlining the necessary measures to be taken in order to salvage the company. From the employee letter, two key issues that arose as a result of poor communication are depicted; incompetence and poor leadership.
  RIM was unable to keep up the pace with the emergence of Apple Inc. in the mobile industry to an extent of releasing products that were below standard and often regarded as unfinished. The company had leniency in dealing with employees with poor track records and there was no accountability for the work done. The company also had inefficient engagement amongst the employees and the senior management. The marketing team had a poor strategy whereby they criticized their competitors rather than focusing on their products to identify their flaws and strengths. Furthermore, their product design did not focus on simplicity, with their dedicated focus on partner requests rather than the end-user. These factors portrayed an aspect of incompetence from the RIM Company as a whole. 
The anonymous employee letter also revealed several scenes where the leadership of the company seemed to be compromised. The idea of having two CEOs proved to be ineffective. The employees could not air out their concerns to the top management without having to worry about their job security. Moreover, the idea of criticizing the competitors as a marketing strategy for products is ill-advised. A reputable company ought to define effective communication strategies, within or without to avert the consequences that may arise.
Different communication channels could be used differently with different groups of audiences to realize effectiveness in conveying the message (Emeralds work, n.d.). In the case of RIM, lunchtime meetings and team building events could be used to get the overall feeling of the employees and also inform the employees on the repercussions of failing to adhere to the company's goals and objectives. Meetings could also be used as avenues to brainstorm on better design techniques that are customer-centered to regain the consumer market. Questionnaires and customer feedback forms could also be used to have a clear insig...