Internal Communication Practice in British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB)

1. Introduction

1. Origin

This report is prepared as part of the course requirement of “C501 Managerial Communication” and is submitted to the instructor of the course Ms. Mahjabeen Ahmad, Professor, Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka.

2. Objective

The objective of this report is to study the steps, tools, process and the role of internal communication practices in British American Tobacco Bangladesh.

1.3 Scope

This report contains brief overview of BATB and various aspects of its internal communication related to the objective.

4. Methodology

The information of this report is collected from both primary and secondary sources. The primary source is oral interview with some company personnel while the secondary sources are company brochures and website.

1.5 Limitations

The contents of this report are collected mainly through oral interview of some company personnel. Naturally they declined to give information which is confidential and related to the non-disclosed strategy of the company. So incompleteness in the information provided here is inevitable.
1.6 Definitions, Acronyms and Abbreviations
Internal communications: Communication is often defined as an exchange of information. Internal communications includes all communication within an organisation. Internal communications may be oral or written, face to face or virtual, one-on-one or in a small group.
Grapevine: The informal transmission of information, gossip, or rumor from person to person.
Channel: Channel, in communications, sometimes called communications channel, refers to the medium used to convey information from a sender or transmitter to a receiver.

Audience: An audience is a group of people who participate in an experience or encounter a work of art, literature, theatre, music or academics in any medium. Audience members participate in different ways in different kinds of art

FMCG: Fast Moving Consumer Goods, are products that are sold quickly at relatively low cost. Examples of FMCG generally include a wide range of frequently purchased consumer products such as toiletries, soap, cosmetics, teeth cleaning products

1.7 Report Preview
This report deals with an overview of the overall Internal Communication at BATB. The first chapter is about the company’s history and operations in Bangladesh. The second chapter discusses the steps of communications, its purpose, audience and adaptation. The third chapter focuses on internal communication itself at BATB, its objectives, importance, process, tools and channels. The fourth chapter gives an elaborate detail of each individual tools used to communicate message at BATB. The final chapter appraises the importance and role played by internal communication at BATB.

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2.1 British American Tobacco Bangladesh

The British American Tobacco Group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of cigarettes, marketing its products in almost every parts of the world. The group comprises four tobacco subsidiaries. BAT subsidiaries operate in more than 90 countries employing over 173000 people. A remarkably successful subsidiary of the British American Tobacco Group is British American Tobacco Co. Ltd., the second largest tobacco company in the world, recognized as the world's most global tobacco company. Based in the UK, it operates in more than 50 countries.

The British American Tobacco Bangladesh is a subsidiary of British American Tobacco. British American Tobacco Bangladesh began its operations in the sub-continent in the year 1910 as Imperial Tobacco Company Ltd. Post 1947, Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC) came into existence with its head office in Karachi. During that time, PTC's East Pakistan office was in Armanitola which was ultimately moved to Motijheel.

After independence, in 1972, Bangladesh Tobacco Company (BTC) was formed with British American Tobacco holding majority of the shares. In March 1998, Bangladesh Tobacco Company changed its corporate name into British American Tobacco Bangladesh proclaiming its common identity with other operating companies in the British American Tobacco Group. The history of BATB is shown in Figure1.

Figure 1: History of BATB
Ever since the inception the company is regarded as the market leader in Bangladesh tobacco market. Based in Dhaka, the company has one packaging factory in Dhaka and one leaf processing factory in Kushtia a number of Leafs and sales offices throughout the country. The company currently employs more than 200 managers and 1300 employees.

2.2 Core Functional Areas

2.2.1 Leaf Department

This department is involved in cultivating and purchasing flue-cured tobacco. Each year the company registers thousands of farmers along with their land, to grow and cultivate tobacco crop. The company provides seeds, fertilizers and loans to the farmers throughout the crop season to ensure quality growth. At the end of the season BATB buys fixed quantities of tobacco from the farmers, paying rates depending on the grade of the crop.
Important functions of Leaf Department: ▪ Purchases tobacco leaves from growers ▪ Processes tobacco leaf for insertion in the production department ▪ Provides storage and transportation facilities in carrying tobacco to and from the factory ▪ Strengthens social relationship ▪ Exports tobacco leaf

2.2.2 Supply Chain Department

Operations function is at the heart of the business, so BATB invest substantially in people and technology to ensure that processes are state-of-the-art, highly flexible and responsive to the needs of customers and consumers alike. ▪ Green Leaf Threshing Plant (GLTP) ▪ Primary Manufacturing Department (PMD) ▪ Secondary Manufacturing Department (SMD)

Apart from producing a wide range of brands, the department also takes care of security, procurement, logistics, technical maintenance, process and quality control, employee relations, and other aspects of the business. The department ensures a working environment which complies with world-class Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) standards.

2.2.3 Marketing Department

At British American Tobacco Bangladesh, informed adult consumers are at the centre of our interest. Marketing in such a controversial industry as the tobacco industry requires a clearer sense of responsibility than any other industry. Marketing operations at British American Tobacco Bangladesh include a range of activities like Brand management, Trade marketing and distribution, Market research and consume dialogue, and specialized channel management etc

2.3 Support Functional Areas

2.3.1 Finance Department

The functions of this department are to ensures the custodianship of all company assets by verifying their physical existence, monitors and assesses proper informational needs pertinent to company’s interest, develop accounting procedures and ensures the achievement of the financial growth of the company. The department also finance company assets, prepare and verify consolidated financial statement for all units of the company, monitor and control all financial activities of the company through auditing, process management information and structure capital policy. It also takes care of hedging, foreign exchange risk coverage, options, futures, bank conciliation, working capital management etc. To carry out these functions the supporting finance manager, audit manager and treasury manager assist the head of finance.

2.3.2 Human Resource Department

The department’s activities revolve around developing human resource, maintaining harmonious relationship between the management and workers and managerial development to contribute to overall organizational development. The department’s various activities include criteria for selection procedures, interview techniques, training standard and so forth in addition to devising policies on wages , fringe benefits, annual leave, training calendar , provident fund performance appraisal and so on all in line with BAT policy guideline. Aside from managing remuneration centrally, it settles with the trade union for Long Term Agreement (LTA) between management and workers and the ‘Collective Burgeoning Agents’. The concept behind the industrial relations is always ‘win-win’ situations.

2.3.3 IT Department

Information technology Department, provide the support between all the other departments in BATB. Three LANs have been set up in the Head Office to channel necessary information among Head Office, main factory and Kushtia leaf factory. LANs are connected via a Wide Area Network (WAN). BAT has private E-mail network through which management personnel communicate with each other and foreign personnel.
Key objectives of IT: ▪ Establishing and maintaining information and infrastructure to support business, outsourcing. ▪ Resilient communication infrastructures to take new technical innovation to keep the cost down. ▪ To adopt global application convergence strategy that meets the local business requirements. ▪ To support available innovative services and training. ▪ To develop and retain IT professionals.

2.3.4 Corporate and Regulatory Affairs (CORA)

The functions of this department are to ensures the custodianship of all company assets by verifying their physical existence, monitors and assesses proper informational needs pertinent to company’s interest, develop accounting procedures and ensures the achievement of the financial growth of the company. The department also finance company assets, prepare and verify consolidated financial statement for all units of the company, monitor and control all financial activities of the company through auditing, process management information and structure capital policy. It also takes care of hedging, foreign exchange risk coverage, options, futures, bank conciliation, working capital management etc. To carry out these functions the supporting finance manager, audit manager and treasury manager assist the head of finance.

2.3.5 Legal Department

Legal and Secretarial function is considered as the first line of defense and an essential business process of the company. The major activities of Legal and Secretarial includes litigation management, combat-illicit trade, trade marks & agreement management, in-house legal counsel, share management which is listed with two stock exchanges and operating under central depository system, company secretarial function, records management, shaping regulatory environment, trust fund management, policy compliance etc. Legal and Secretarial function also drives to ensure Corporate Governance in the company.

2.4 Executive Committee

All of the activities of support functional and core functional areas are guided by respective department heads. The Managing Director and Deputy Managing Director supervise these heads. The organogram of executive committee is shown in Figure 2.

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Figure 2: Executive Committee (BATB)

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3.1 Corporate Brand Model of BATB

CORA is the custodian of the corporate brand in BATB. It, however, not only matters for communications managed by CORA but for many types of company communications developed by other teams and functions, ranging from employee recruitment literature to sales force presentations, from financial reporting to the look and feel of BATB buildings, from internal communications to the way employees write letters.

The corporate brand definition of BATB defines these attributes as winning enterprising, open minded and responsible. It also summarizes them in a corporate brand essence: winning with integrity.

Visual Identity

BAT's visual identity (Figure 3) provides a fresh, contemporary look and feel for its communications and aims to enhance the heritage and equity of its corporate signature. The key components and color schemes of the visual identity have been designed to enable its companies to develop distinctive communications and consistent look and feel for the group.

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Figure 3: Visual Identity

Corporate Signature

BAT's corporate signature (Figure 4), the yellow three leaf symbol and blue logotype, is a vitally important element of its visual identity. It is a registered trademark everywhere BAT operates.

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Figure 4: Corporate Signature

3.2 Steps in Communication

For the communication to take place, a number of steps were identified and then aligned with the process of communication of the Corporate Guidelines. The steps are as follows:

3.2.1 Purpose

The objectives of the communication include achieving awareness of the Corporate Attributes and Visual Identity, making the employees at BATB understand the corporate guidelines and aware of its implications with a view to helping the employees ▪ Understand the CB model ▪ Think about its implications and importance in Business ▪ Feel Confident that these are being followed in BATB and they are ethically aligned with their business

3.2.2 Identify Audience

The audience for communications is all the 1300-plus employees at BATB. They are divided into two divisions. The management comprising about 250 employees and the remaining are non-managerial employees.

3.2.3 Adaptation

Which messages are most important for which audiences?
The audience has been divided into two parts—Management and Non-Management.

Management: They need to communicate that each of them needs to take ownership of the ‘areas of responsibility’ outlined to them. They need to be apprised by the Executive Committee.

Non-Management: The employees need to have a brief overview of the CB and they have to know that these are being followed in BATB and are ethically aligned to their business.

3.3 Four Guiding Principles

There are four guiding principles shape the behavior of individuals and leaders. They also guide towards creating and maintaining a winning culture at the workplace. The beliefs that drive the approach to working at British American Tobacco Bangladesh are depicted in Figure 5.
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Figure 5: Guiding Principles

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4.1 Internal Communications

Internal Communications is a part of the corporate communications team of CORA. Its function is to engage all the 1300-plus employees, belonging to both management and non-management. The responsibilities of Internal Communications involve planning and developing appropriate communications tools, methods and messages as well as advising other functions in developing cross-functional communications tools or activities.

Objectives of Internal Communications: ▪ Communicate corporate projects, events, achievements ▪ Provide counseling service for cross-functional teams for communicating projects, events, achievements ▪ Generate positive shift in employee comprehension of company objectives and directions

4.2 Internal Communication Tools and Processes

The company has to decide what to communicate and how to communicate it. From its portfolio communication tools, British American Tobacco selects a particular tool or a combination of tools, depending on the number of people involved and the relative importance of the communication. All these tools are designed to meet specific needs and together they provide a comprehensive communication with no gaps.

4.2.1 Selection of Communication Channels

Amongst a variety of resources (face to face, print, and multimedia) available, the tools of Internal Communication were chosen. The purpose of selection of communication channel is to identify the different communication channels available to communicate key messages and to select the most appropriate one, best fit to reach the target audience.
4.2.2 Internal Communication tools

All Internal Communication tools are used for this communication. Thus the following tools are used: ▪ BARTA: An Internal quarterly magazine of BATB which takes a people-centered approach to events and issues in business. ▪ Alaap: Monthly discussion for non-management employees ▪ Internal Website: A cyber tool allowing managers to share the latest information, news, within functions and eventually with other Operating Companies. ▪ Road show: Company Plan Presentation ▪ Chit Chat: Informal discussion with Executive Committee ▪ Lotus Notes (L.N): Lotus Notes is the intranet which connects all managers. ▪ Notice board: Notice placed in the notice board for non management people especially factory people. ▪ InstaNews: Short Message Service (SMS) called InstaNews ▪ Briefings: These are sessions conducted by members of the Executive Committee. This is an open forum where all the employees of BATB assemble in groups.

Apart from these formal channels, all communication channels that are not being controlled by Corporate Communications are also used, e.g. communication through the line, team meetings, grapevines, etc.

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5.1 BARTA (Magazine)

The magazine ‘BARTA’ is published only for the exclusive use of the employees.
The magazine’s core contents are: ▪ Success stories- achievements by a person, department or business. ▪ People News- sharing of experiences by an employee. ▪ Values/Principles- demonstration of values in the work place/ ▪ Lifestyle- light articles for entertainment ▪ Fun/Humorous articles ▪ Relevant photographs

The contents of it have a people oriented approach. An employee’s success story, for example, is ideally shared through the Magazine. BARTA can act as an archive of information as well.

How it is communicated?

Each issue contains six or seven articles. There are two different versions of the magazine-English version for the management and Bangla version for non-management. BARTA is hand delivered to all the employees in Dhaka and couriered to out stationed employees.

Publication Process

This quarterly magazine’s content is compiled with the help of 8-member editorial board, representing finance, marketing, CORA, HR, legal, leaf, operations, IT, and the trade union. This board is responsible for identifying the prospective news and events from the functional areas and to motivate employees to contribute articles.

The design and publication of BARTA are handled by outside agencies. The design is done by an advertising agency; after approval of the design the dummy is sent to a printing agency. The advertising agency usually supervises production and is paid 15% of production cost as commission. Internal Communications has to work within a given budget for BARTA publication.

5.2 Alaap (Monthly discussion for non-management employees)

Alaap deals with news on Business Performance, Strategic Initiatives and Projects. It is an interactive tool for the non-management employees to create a greater understanding at that level. It comprises detailed news such as Sales, Brands, Market Share, Production, Wastage levels, and such important corporate news as Annual General Meeting, Corporate Social Responsibility activities etc.

How it is communicated?

Alaap sessions take place on the factory floor every month where the line manager makes a PowerPoint presentation to the factory workers for 45 minutes to an audience of 25 to 30 employees who report to that manager. Alaap sessions are highly interactive and generate a lot of feedback. The content has two parts – Corporate Part containing companywide information and Team Part containing performance feedback of that particular team (e.g. Cell or Shift or Warehouse).

At the end of each session the line manager fill out a feedback form which is emailed to Manufacturing HR and Internal Communications. This form indicates the turnout in each session and the important queries that were left unanswered. Internal Communications then obtains answers from the right source and emails the answers back to the line managers. These questions are then addressed in the immediate next Alaap discussion.

Production Process

Internal Communications collects relevant information from across the company, edits the material and prepares PowerPoint slides which are emailed via Lotus Notes to line managers, at the factory, who conduct the session.

5.3 Internal Website (Intranet site)

All the workstations of BAT across the globe are connected to an internet network, accessible only to the members of BAT, referred to as the Interact site and is used by all BAT companies. Besides Interact, BAT Bangladesh has its own Local intranet accessible only to the managers in Bangladesh, Which has been given the brand name Internal Website and has the same architecture as the Global Interact page.
Contents of Internal Website ▪ News from the Global Interact page ▪ Local news Bangladesh Bulletin Board ▪ A Media Desk (system which provides an archive of newspapers items) ▪ Room Reservation facilities ▪ Chat room, allowing employees to share views across the company. ▪ Functional pages– IT, CORA, and marketing, providing information relevant to the departments.
In addition to all these features, the page has a search option allowing managers to find information they need in an easily and quickly.

How it is communicated?

Internal Website provides a simple solution to company wide information on demand. The limitation of this tool is that it is available only to the managers based in the Dhaka Head Office and the Green Leaf Treshing (GLT) plant in Kushtia. Managers in remote locations do not have connectivity and hence cannot use Internal Website.

Production process

The content on Internal Website is managed by the Internal Communications managers.

5.4 Road show (company Plan Presentation)

The objective of the Road show is to communicate future business plans and give updates of company performance against yearly or half yearly targets. The nature of communication here is very formal as the information given is very important.

How it is communicated?

Road show is a presentation session conducted by the Managing Director or other Executive Committee members. Road show comprises 26 sessions, involving 20/30 employees from a certain area of the company. The audience number is deliberately kept down to allow the sessions to be interactive and obtain a lot of feedback.

Production Process

Internal communication prepares the slides for the presentation, based on the content provided by the CEO, and records the feedback during the session which is later sent to the Executive Committee. The presentation is prepared in both English and Bengali.

5.5 Chit Chat (Informal discussion with Executive Committee)

Chit Chat, an informal discussion over launch with the CEO, is usually participated by 10-15 randomly selected employees every month in the absence of immediate line managers of the participants cannot attend the same discussions , thus Skips a level of hierarchy .

The objective is to generate a sense of belongingness and create a scope of two way communications among the top team and other members of the company. This discussion takes place off the company premises usually at a restaurant, creating an informal environment where floor employees and junior management can take part in discussions and give them opportunity to voice their ideas, grievances etc.

Internal communications prepares meeting minutes which are then shared with managers via electronic bulletin board.

6. Email or Lotus Notes

Lotus notes is an email tool which is used to communicate with managers both for none to one and mass level communications. This tool is used on an ad hoc basis.

7. Notice board

Notices placed on the electronic bulletin board are communicated to the non management employees in Dhaka through a printed version of the notice placed on a notice board at the Dhaka Factory premises.

5.8 Short Message Service (SMS) called InstaNews

The SMS tool is used for crisis communication. Internal communication maintains database of mobile numbers of all managers. Messages are sent to multiple people to make a communication during the emergency moments.

5.9 Briefings

These are sessions conducted by members of the Executive Committee. This is an open forum where all the employees of BATB assemble in groups.

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As little as a few decades ago, managers of most organization believed that the behind the scenes dealings of their companies were of no concern to employees. Thus, information that may have motivated employees or inspired their job interest was not available to them as they were merely considered ‘another cog in the organizational wheel’. BATB always feels its employees’ sentiment and believes that self motivated working force is much more efficient than mechanically driven people. So it aims to involve all its employees including management and non-management in decision making or other activities to which everyone is not necessarily directly related. Internal communication practice plays a vital role in this respect.
Internal communication helps employees to understand the organisation's vision, values, and culture. It involves staff members in issues that affect working life and keeps staff informed on important decisions taken by management. Furthermore, internal communication, when implemented effectively, can be crucial in a time of crisis, providing employees with not only a strategy to handle a crisis, but the facts surrounding such an event. Therefore the most invested individuals in the organization, trusted and valued employees can prove to be excellent partners when addressing a crisis. By maintaining open lines of communication between management and employees, effective internal communications enhance stronger relationships throughout all levels of the organisation and force a sense of community.
The following are the factors that BATB has realized and has given importance to in determining the communication policy:

▪ Good idea can come out of any person when provided all relevant information. ▪ Thinking process of employees should be directed to the objective and interest of the company. ▪ People feel respected and valued when they have free access to the superiors. ▪ Grievances should be addressed at the first stage. ▪ Free flow of information inside organization strengthens relationship.

Considering such factors BATB has adopted an open door policy for its internal communication. Internal Communications also plays a vital role in upholding the guiding principle of “Open Mindedness”. This guiding principle entails that one listens actively, communicates openly, values feedback, fosters a climate of support, encourage creativity, and constantly challenges the status quo.

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Operating in such a controversial industry as tobacco entails a different set of approaches in transmitting the messages both to the key stakeholders outside the organization and to the people inside. Internal communication at BATB, however, has been considerably successful to set a very high standard among all the other companies in Bangladesh. Aided by the department CORA(Corporate and Regulatory Affairs) and guided by the guiding principles of the organization, internal communication at BATB is marked by variety, efficiency and effectiveness, resulting in conducive working environment and top notch communication practices.

Internal communications, a part of CORA, is primarily responsible for overseeing practically all the internal communication activities at BATB. With a view to conveying the messages to the employees, both management and non management, a number of communication channels are used, which includes the tools as magazines, websites and so on. All these activities upholds and confirms the company’s guiding principles of open mindedness and open door policy , which contributes to the overall favorable working environment, exemplary communication practices and its organizational success.

References

British American Tobacco (2008). Retrieved April 20, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.bat.com
British American Tobacco Bangladesh (2008). Retrieved April 20, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://207.56.111.185/batb/index.html[pic]
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Chapter 2
Company Overview

Chapter 3
Steps in Communication

Chapter 4
Internal Communication

Chapter 5
Internal Communication Tools

Head of CORA

Head of IT

Head of HR

Head of Leaf

Head of Finance

Head of Operations

Head of Marketing

Head of Legal and Secterial

Managing Director

Deputy Managing Director

Chapter 6
Importance of Internal Communications

Chapter 7
Ending Summary