Improvement Areas

At my internship site there are a few aspects that could be improved. It appears that there are communication issues at times between leaders high up on the ladder and other members lower in the organization. For example, just the other day there was a meeting between myself, the CFO, the corporate controller, and another financial director, in which the CFO was inquiring what progress had been made on a project that had been undergoing for months. Very little progress had been made, and a reason for this was due to communication issues and ineffective allocation of work. The project was not necessarily assigned to anybody in particular, it was more of a group/department project. As the CFO stated, “a part time job never gets done”, meaning that if it is not assigned to anybody as a full time job, it will not be completed. At the close of the meeting, the CFO designated that the others hire on a member for a “part time” position in which this project would be their “full time” job. In addition, communication issues occur in that certain members lower on the power hierarchy sometimes encounter issues when trying to communicate with the higher ups. The primary cause of this issue is that they are fearful of upsetting those above them and as a result appear to only say a portion of their thoughts, or they say them hesitatingly and without confidence. An improvement in teamwork or collaboration could lead to a solution to this problem. If there was a stronger team atmosphere within the office, I believe there would be stronger communication and members would be able to freely speak their minds to others. One way to do this would be to potentially have office outings or be more encouraging of social interactions during work. The CFO is somewhat social, however it is never for extended periods, and he reprimands those in the office when they do not appear to be exerting their full effort. I understand the concept of wanting to work as much as one can and be as productive as possible, however I believe once a team atmosphere is established, there is more office chemistry which results in stronger communication and a more energized work place.