Q.Radhika started a business of supplying high class facial kits to beauty parlours in various cities of the country. Initially, the business was doing well and her products were popular. Despite the high quality of the products, Radhika faced difficulties in certain parlours, especially in Kagpur city, where her products failed to gain a strong market presence. To understand the cause, she appointed a qualified marketing manager. The marketing manager discovered that there was no proper exchange of facts, ideas and views etc. between the incharge of Kagpur city and the employees at different parlours at Kagpur. Vicky, who was the incharge and responsible for overseeing all parlours in Kagpur, was unable to effectively foster a common understanding of the product among the employees. As a result, the employees did not grasp the key benefits and features of the high class facial kits. In turn, the employees were not able to convince potential clients about the product's value.
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →The case highlights a breakdown in communication — the failure to exchange facts and ideas clearly — which directly hurt Radhika’s business in Kagpur.
The scene is set: Radhika’s business is thriving everywhere except Kagpur. The products are excellent, yet the market there remains cold. When she brings in a marketing manager to investigate, the root cause turns out to be something far more fundamental than pricing or quality — it is a failure of communication. Vicky, the city incharge, could not get the parlour employees to understand the product’s benefits. Without that shared understanding, the employees could not sell effectively. This is a classic case of what management textbooks call the process of communication — the exchange of facts, ideas, and views between people so that a common understanding is reached.
Communication is not just about talking or sending messages. It is about ensuring the receiver understands the message exactly as intended. In Radhika’s case, Vicky sent the message, but the employees did not grasp it — so communication did not truly happen.
- Identify the concept discussed in the above case.
The concept is communication. More precisely, it is the breakdown of the communication process between Vicky (the sender) and the parlour employees (the receivers). The case explicitly mentions “no proper exchange of facts, ideas and views” and the failure to “foster a common understanding.” These are the hallmarks of ineffective communication.
Important
Communication is defined in the NCERT textbook as the transfer of information from the sender to the receiver with the receiver understanding the information exactly as intended. Without that understanding, no communication has occurred — only noise.
- The concept identified in (i) above can be defined as a process having various elements. State first five elements of this process. The communication process, as described in the NCERT, consists of several sequential elements. The first five, in order, are:
- Sender — the person who initiates the message. In this case, Vicky is the sender. He is the source of the information about the facial kits.
- Message — the actual content being transmitted. Here, it is the key benefits and features of the high-class facial kits that Vicky needed to convey.
- Encoding — the process of converting the message into symbols, words, gestures, or any form that can be understood. Vicky had to choose the right words and examples so the employees could grasp the product’s value. …
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