Acknowledgment

We have taken efforts in this project. However, it would not have been possible without the kind

support and help of many individuals. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them.

We are highly indebted to our honorable faculty Kashfah Khan Chowdhury for her guidance

and constant supervision as well as for providing necessary information regarding the project &

also for her support in completing the project.

We would like to express my gratitude especially towards Vice Chairman of Social Islami Bank

Mr. Md. Sayedur Rahman who helped us to prepare this report by giving us information related

to business communication process of SIBL Dhaka. His kind co-operation and encouragement

helped us in completion of this project.

We would like to express my special gratitude and thanks to SIBL”s Rampura branch manager,

employees and all the co-workers of SIBL for giving us such attention and time. They made the

time to participate in interviews and complete our survey instrument. We hope that in return, you

would find this report useful.

Our thanks and appreciations also go to our group members especially to Mamshad, Ikra,Moni,

Atikul, Sadlil and Ishrak in developing the project who have willingly helped us out with their

abilities.

Executive Summary:

In this report we have discussed about SIBL’s communication process. SIBL is one of the

leading Banks and is one of the tenth largest Bank of Bangladesh. Many branches of this

organization is working in Bangladesh and they are known as SIBL in this region. Maintaining

their reputation, they are also running successfully in Bangladesh and are one of the leading

Banks in the country. In this report, we discussed about the communication process of SIBL. The

goal of this report was to gather sufficient information on how their communication system

works. SIBL gives preference to informal communication process over formal communication

process. In our hypothesis we stated that SIBL is facing difficulties by allowing informal

networking in the organization. So to justify this hypothesis we went through interviews and

surveys. At first we interviewed some of the top level managers. We interviewed the vice

Chairman of SIBL Mr. Sayedur Rahman, Managing Director Mr. Md.Shafiqur Rahman,

Manager Mr. M.A Maruf and the Director Mr. Alhaj Sultan Mahmood Chowdhury. We also

conducted a survey among the employees SIBL to find out necessary information. After

gathering information from the interviews and surveys we analyzed the replies of the employees

regarding the communication system in SIBL. After analyzing the data we found that majority

of the employees found this communication process very convenient and it helped them to be

more efficient in their workplace. It seemed that a minority of the employees feel that this system

is affecting their privacy and causing problems in the working environment. Although it seems

that informal communication is working great for SIBL but we feel that it may cause problems in

the future. The informal communication and the open door policy SIBL follows is highly

commendable but we suggest that SIBL should be less lenient towards their informal

communication process.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

IntroductionSocial Islami Bank Limited known as “SIBL” a second-generation bank, operating since 22

November, 1995 based on Shariah Principles, has now 86 branches all over the country . It

works as an Islamic participatory Commercial Bank with human face approach to credit and

banking on the profit and loss sharing.

SIBL is a pioneer in introducing on-line banking among all the Islami Banks of the country with

state-of-the-art banking software, which will enable the bank to perform as any branch real time

banking service to the clients. The state-of-the-art banking software of the bank will enable to

perform as any branch real time banking service to the clients. SIBL is supported by core

banking solutions and our products & services are strongly backed by IT infrastructure, which

are upgraded & expanded on continuous basis.

Social Islami Bank Limited is always with modern thinking and up to date technology. It has

naturally introduced online banking, ATM service and any branch banking like

products. SIBL is prospering along with its clients and partners and contributing to nation as

well.

Research questions:

Our underlying research issue is center on identifying the communication process adopted by the

employees of ‘SIBL’. Because communication is the heart of the organization as it connects and

collaborates different kinds of department of an organization. To do that we will focus on the

interpersonal relationship between managers and employees and how they communicate with

each other when they do any official works. Other related research questions included:

1. Does SIBL have a effective communication system to communicate properly?

2. Does SIBL’s communication system depend on technology?

3. Does informal communication leads to grapevine in the company?

4. If yes, how does it affect the communication system?

5. What is the most effective communication system in SIBL?

6. Do the internal politics create barrier to communication in your Bank?

7. Does lack of English knowledge hinder your ability of communication in this Bank?

8. Does job monotony affects to communication in your Bank?

9. Does defective technology create barriers to communication in your bank?

10. Does technical word create barriers to the communication in your bank?

11. Do you want any changes in the organization communication system?

12. Is the communication process in harmony with the organization culture?

13. Do you feel free to communicate with colleagues?

14. Does the communication help you to create the social bonding?

15. How important do you feel is the communication system in your organization,

keeping in view that your that organization has internal as well as external

communication systems (with clients/prospective clients)?

16. Overall, how satisfied are you with communication system in your organization?

17. Does grapevine reduce productivity?

18. If yes how does it reduce productivity?

Origin of the Report:

This report was done from section 04 of the course BUS 251. The faculty of this course was

Kashfah Khan Chowdhury.

Submission Date:

19th April, 2013

Objectives:

The objective of this report is to discuss the communication system of Social Islami Bank Limited and its

different aspects. We will also discuss the various effects this communication system has in the company

and its merits and demerits. We will cover how they communicate internally and externally. We will also

discuss what kinds of communication tools they use in order to communicate.

Organizational Overview:

Social Islami Bank Limited (SIBL) is a banking company registered under the companies Act 1994 with

its heads office 15 Dilkusha C/A, Dhaka-1000. The bank operates as a scheduled bank under a banking

license issued by the Bangladesh Bank. The Bank started its operation from 22, November 1995. SIBL is

a capitalized new generating Bank with an authorized capital of Taka 4000 million in 2008 and paid up

capital of Taka 1309.88 million in 2008 and also 1119.55 million respectively as of December 2007.

In the formal corporate sector, this Bank would, among others, offer the most up-to-data banking services

through operating of various types of deposit and investment accounts, financing trade, providing letters

of guarantee, opening letters of credit, collection of bills effecting domestic and international transfer,

leasing of equipment and consumer durables, hire purchase and installment sale for capital goods,

investment in low-cost housing and management of real estates, participatory investment in various

industrial, agriculture, transport, educational and health projects and so no. In the Non-formal non-

corporate sector, it would, among others, involve in cash Waqf Certificate and development and

management of WAQF and MOSQUE properties and Trust funds.

Literature Review:

In this report, we have discussed about the communication process of SIBL. How their communication

system works, we discussed whether the employees are satisfied with the current process of

communication. At first, in the hypothesis we stated that Grapevine leads to misunderstanding and

miscommunication in the organization. To justify our hypothesis we went through many interviews and

surveys to gather data and analyzed it. We have mentioned the names of the top level managers who we

interviewed. We have also given the names of the departments and the numbers of participants from each

department. In the analysis section we will highlight the data and different charts and graphs to show the

findings of our surveys and interviews. The report shows us the internal and external communication

systems in SIBL. Then in the findings we interpreted the data and came to a point of judgment. After the

findings we have given our recommendation regarding the matter and then we summarized the whole

report in a nutshell.

HYPOTHESIS:

There are various ways to communicate within a business, and communication is the essence of

management. It involves the constant flow of information, through various levels of hierarchy both

laterally and vertically. Effective communication is essential in maintaining cohesion within a group.

Communication can be formal or informal in bank sector.

The research that will be conducted will help us understand whether the mixture of communication

methods has any advantages and disadvantages. There may be certain advantages from the mixture of

communication methods such as easier to communicate with one another within the organization and

might also build loyalty towards the company.

Though there may also be a few drawbacks to such communication methods such as gossiping might

occur due to personal communication which might affect the attitude of the person and in turn damper

their work performance. That is why we have chosen HYPOTHESIS “Grapevine leads to

miscommunication and misunderstandings”

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

As for primary source, we plan to survey employees in Social Islamic Bank Limited through a

questionnaire to find out the difficulties, challenges and barriers they face in their workplace to

communicate with others and also their views concerning different communication process and whether

effective and traditional communication process are able to solve their communication problems and

make the communication effective within the organization.

As for our secondary source for the research paper, we wish to go through newspaper articles, journals

and browse the internet.

Questionnaire and Data Analysis

1. Does SIBL have an effective communication system to communicate properly?

We have started our survey by asking a very simple and basic question to know about their communication quality. We glad to know that about half of the employees are strongly agreed with their effective communication system. We have asked employees from different departments of SIBL such as human resource management, accounts, client service, media, events and activities department. We have obtained the following data by the help of their cooperation.

Answers

Effective Communication SystemStrongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

Participants 1 1 2 6 10Percentages 5% 5% 10% 30% 50%

Table 1.1

5% 5%

10%

30%

50%

Effective Communication system

Strongly DisagreeDisagreeNeutralAgreeStrongly agree

Chart 1.1

2. Does the informal communication system lead to grapevine in the company?

SIBL are strategically innovative as they believe good and friendly communication

among all the employees will help their company to reach their goals and objectives.

Hence, they allow their employees to communicate with each other through informal

communication. We have taken face-face interviews of some top manager. And they told

us that they allow their employees to communicate with each other and it leads to

grapevine. One of their senior managers Md. Samsur Rahman said, “As we know

grapevine can never be stopped and that is why we control it in a way so that it helps our

employees to build strong relationship and also refresh their moods.”

Answers Participants PercentagesYes 14 70%No 2 10%May be 4 20%

Table 1.2

70%

10%

20%

Grapevine of infomal Communication

YesNoMay be

Chart 1.2

3. If yes, how does it affect the communication system?

In the third survey question we select 20 employees to justify what they think about grapevine and how does it affect them while they are working. From the survey we come to know that 10 of them think that 10 of them have Bad effect on them. 4 of them have slightly bad effect, 2 of them have no effect and the rest 4 have good effect on them.

Types of effectsCommunication Affect

Bad Effect Slightly Bad Effect No Effect Good EffectParticipants 10 4 2 4

Table 1.3

Bad Effect Slightly Bad Effect No Effect Good Effect0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Grapevine Affect on Communication

Participants

Types of Effects

Num

ber o

f Par

ticip

ants

Chart 1.3

4. Does grapevine reduce productivity?

In the third survey question we see that due to grapevine half of the employees have bad effect on them. As employees are directly or indirectly involved in increasing or decreasing productivity, they cannot provide the best effort in increasing the productivity with this bad impact. As a result SIBL’s productivity reduces because of grapevine.

Answers Participants PercentagesYes 12 60%No 3 15%May be 5 25%

Table1.4

60%

15%

25%

YesNoMay be

Chart 1.4

5. If yes, how does grapevine reduce productivity?

In the fifth survey question we have found that out of 20 employees 6 employees answer that grapevine leads to miscommunication, 4 employees think as misunderstanding, another 4 employees think as a personal conflict, 4 more employees think as demonization and the rest 2 employees think high turnover happened because of this grapevine.

Answers ParticipantsMiscommunication 6Misunderstanding 4Personal conflict 4Demotivation 4High turnover 2

Table 1.5

Miscommunica

tion

Misunders

tanding

Personal C

onflict

Demotivati

on

High Tu

rnover01234567

Productivity Reduction of Grapevine

Participants

Answers' Types

Num

ber o

f Par

ticip

ants

Chart 1.5

6. How employees get involved in grapevine?

In the sixth survey question we have found that rumor, gossip, conversation and anonymous are equally the same reason by which employees actually get involved in grapevine.

Answers

Involvement in GrapevineRumor Gossip Conversation Anonymous

Sources of Information

Participants 5 5 5 5Percentages 25% 25% 25% 25%

Table 1.6

25%

25%25%

25%

Involvement in Grapevine

RumorGossipConversationAnonymous Sources of In-formation

Chart 1.6

7. What is the most effective communication system in SIBL?

After doing some survey on 20 employees we have found that upward communication system is the most effective one. Then informal, lateral and downward are the next effective one in a row.

Most Effective Communication SystemUpward Downward Lateral Informal

Participants 8 2 4 6Percentages 40% 10% 20% 30%

Table 1.7

Upward Downward Lateral Informal012345678

Most Effective Communication System

Participants

Types of Answers

Num

ber o

f Par

ticip

ants

Chart 1.7

8. Overall, how satisfied are you with communication system in your organization?

Though there are few problems inside the SIBL. Surprisingly, we have found that employees are still enjoying their respective job. As a result, most of the employees are very satisfied to do the job in SIBL with full of enthusiasm.

Types of Satisfactions ParticipantsVery Dissatisfied 1Dissatisfied 3Neutral 3Satisfied 5Very Satisfied 8

Table 1.8

Very Dissatisfied

Dissatisfied

Neutral

Satisfied

Very Satisfied

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Satisfaction with communication

Participants

Number of Participants

Type

s of S

atisf

actio

ns

Chart 1.8

9. Is the communication process in harmony with the organization culture?

As we have mentioned earlier the communication process of SIBL mostly follows informal

patterns and for this reason sometimes it leads to grapevine. But we have found out by taking

personal interviews of their managers that the communication process is in harmony with the

organizational culture. As we have mentioned earlier that the top managers believe that

working as a team bring success and hence they let their employee to communicate with each

other through informal communication. They let their employee to think big and give them

opportunity to bring new ideas.

Answers

Communication process in harmonyStrongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

Participants 2 4 2 6 6Percentages 10% 20% 10% 30% 30%

Table 1.9

10%

20%

10%

30%

30%

Communication Process in Harmony

Strongly DisagreeDisagreeNeutralAgreeStrongly Agree

Chart 1.9

1. Internal Communication:

1.1Employee to employee communication:

As we have mentioned earlier SIBL gives immense importance on how employees are

communicating. All the employees can discuss any kinds of problems with each other anytime in

the office .For doing that they do not need to follow any formalities. Even an employee from one

department can ask help from another department’s employee. SIBL also let their employees to

talk with each other even if they don’t have any problems to discuss. For this particular reason a

friendly relationship has grown among all the employees.

1.2 Employee to manager communication :

SIBL follows open door policy so that the employees can easily reach their managers help. All the managers and department’s heads always try to help their subordinates by giving continuous positive and corrective feedbacks so that all the employees reach their fullest potential. Employees are also allowed to call their department’s head by using cell phone or Email if they face any kinds of work related problems.

1.3 Manager to employee communication:

Managers are also encouraged to ask help from their employees. They can go to an employee’s

desk anytime and ask for a favor. To appraise the performance of managers and employees SIBL

use 360 degree performance appraisal tool. To build better relationship Department Heads of

SIBL arrange annual function such as road trips and picnic. They also occasionally give treats to

their employees to motivate them. To build better connection and relationship among employees

and managers of SIBL set up a table tennis court in their office space.

2. External Communication:

SIBL has excellent external communication process to communicate with clients. They use many

communication tools to make a proper advertisement such as, Cell Phone, Office Telephone,

Email, Website Advertisement, Personal face to face interaction, and so on. Generally their

clients contact them via phone ,email or direct face to face conversation. Almost each branch,

they have receptionists who provide all sort of information to the clients. Their website is is very

informative and changes on a regular basic with updated information.

3. Communication Challenge:Informal networks or Grapevine:

SIBL allows their employees to communicate with each other freely. As we have mentioned

earlier employees can communicate with each other at any times in office. But sometimes it can

create grapevine. For this reason many employees may get the wrong news and rumors about the

company and company’s managerial decision. If it happens employees will sense uncertainty.

Also, at times employees do not have self-confidence due to which they form unions. Sometimes

the managers show preferential treatment and favor some employees giving a segregated feeling

to other employees. The grapevine is not trustworthy always as it does not follows official path

of communication and is spread more by gossips and unconfirmed report. The productivity of

employees may be hampered as they spend more time talking rather than working. The grapevine

also leads to making hostility against the executives.

Recommendation

To avoid this problem the managers and supervisors need to play a vital role. They can make a

new policy like they may announce an extra bonus for the employees who will be mostly

dedicated toward their respective job. The employees, whoever is not dedicated towards the job,

will be punished by giving fine. To make it successful, they may start evaluating procedure to

justify the employees more logically and effectively. In this case, managers should keep track on

employees by using EPM (electronic performance monitoring) so that they can control the

grapevine. Because of this rewarding and punishing approach the job place will be more

competitive and responsive. As a result to stay in the competitive place the employees will give

more concentration to the job.