One rule, 22 people, four places: Lena's Bakery Ltd is launching a sesame loaf. Some people are dangerously allergic to sesame, so there is a new rule: sesame loaves are baked last, and every tray is washed before it touches another loaf.
Everyone has to know
- Priti and her six bakers start at 2 a.m. at Mill Lane.
- The vans leave at 5.
- The counter staff in three shops open at 7.
- Lena, who made the rule, is asleep for most of it.
Getting that rule from Lena's head into everyone else's is communication: passing a message from a sender to a receiver so that the receiver understands it. It has worked only if the trays get washed. A message sent is not yet a message understood.
Five parts of every message
The sender
The person with something to say. Here, Lena, who decided the rule.
The message
What has to get across: sesame loaves last, then every tray washed.
The method
How the message travels (the medium or channel): said aloud at the start of the shift, pinned up by the ovens, or sent to every phone.
The receiver
The people who must act on it: Priti, the six bakers, the shop managers and their counter staff.
Feedback
The reply that shows how it was understood. Tom asks "the cooling racks too?" and Priti can answer. With no reply, the message is one-way; with one, it is two-way.
Lena has four kinds of method to choose from. Each does one thing well and another badly.
Spoken (verbal or oral)
- Words said aloud: a briefing, a phone call, a word at the ovens
- Fast, and questions are answered on the spot
- Leaves no record, and details are easily forgotten or heard differently
Written
- Words on paper or a screen: a notice, a memo, a letter, a report
- A permanent record that everyone can check later, the same for all
- Slower, and nobody can ask what it means there and then
Visual
- Pictures, charts, signs, or showing how it is done
- Shows at a glance what words take a page to say
- Needs words beside it for anything complicated
Electronic (digital)
- Email, text messages, a staff app, a video call
- Reaches every phone at once, wherever and whenever staff are
- Easy to miss among other messages, and less personal
Verbal means spoken: In business, verbal (oral) communication means spoken words: a meeting, a phone call, a word at the ovens. A notice uses words too, but it is written communication.
How it is said: How something is said carries a message of its own: tone of voice, a frown, a shrug (non-verbal communication). If Priti shrugs as she reads out the rule, the bakers learn how seriously to take it.
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Lena starts with the official routes the bakery has set up for rules and news.
Those routes are formal communication: the channels the organization has chosen and approved. Most of them follow the chain of command, who reports to whom, from Lena down to Priti and on to the bakers.
| Formal method | At Lena's Bakery | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Meeting or briefing | Priti's ten-minute briefing at 2 a.m., before the ovens are lit | Explaining something new and answering questions straight away |
| Notice board | The sesame rule, printed and pinned up by the ovens at Mill Lane | A reminder that everyone walks past every shift |
| Memo or email | Lena's email to Aisha, Kofi and Jonas with the rule and the new shelf labels | The same words to every manager, kept on file |
| Report | Priti's weekly report to Lena on loaves baked and loaves thrown away | Facts and figures that a decision rests on |
| Letter | A letter to each baker confirming a change to shift times | Anything about pay, hours or contracts that must be on record |
| Written procedure | The hygiene procedure every new baker reads and signs | Rules that last, so new staff learn them too |
Which way formal messages travel
Downward
From managers to staff: Lena's rule to Priti, Priti's briefing to the bakers. Instructions, rules and targets travel this way.
Upward
From staff to managers: Priti's weekly report, a baker's idea raised at an appraisal. Results, problems and suggestions travel this way.
Sideways (horizontal)
Between people on the same level: Priti and Aisha agreeing how many loaves the High Street shop needs tomorrow.
Outward (external)
To people outside the business: the flour order sent to Valley Grain, the allergy label a customer reads on the shelf.
What formal communication gives
- A record. The email and the signed procedure show who was told what, and when.
- One message for everyone. Every baker reads the same words, so nobody gets a watered-down version.
- Clear authority. It comes from the person entitled to give it, so staff know it is an instruction, not a suggestion.
What it costs
- Time. Writing, printing and holding a meeting take longer than a word in passing.
- It can feel cold. A notice cannot see a puzzled face or reassure a worried baker.
- Few chances to ask. A memo on its own leaves nobody to ask what it means.
For a safety rule like the sesame one, the record matters most. If the food inspector asks, Lena can show exactly what her staff were told and that each baker signed it.
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What the bakers say at 4 a.m.: By 4 a.m. the dough is rising and the bakers talk. By 7, a story about the new loaf has reached the counter at Market Square.
Tom's story: Tom has heard that the sesame loaf is "only a trial" and will be gone by Christmas, so why bother with all that washing?
Nobody sent that message. It travelled from person to person, outside any official route.
That is informal communication: messages passed between people outside the channels the business has set up. A chat at the ovens, a word in the van yard, a group chat the staff started themselves. When news and gossip spread this way through a workplace, it is called the grapevine.
What it gives
- Speed. News reaches all three shops before any email is written.
- Honesty. Staff tell each other what they would never put in a report, so a manager who listens hears worries early.
- Team spirit. Talk at the ovens builds the friendships that get a night shift through a hard week.
- It fills gaps. Maya's "the back oven runs hot" teaches a new baker more than the procedure does.
What it risks
- Rumours. Stories change as they pass: "a trial" becomes "gone by Christmas".
- No record. Nobody can check who said what, or correct it at the source.
- It can pull against the official message. If the bakers believe the rumour, the washing rule is followed half-heartedly.
- It leaks. A grumble in a group chat can reach a customer or a rival.
Managers cannot switch it off: Every workplace has a grapevine. Lena cannot stop it, but she can use it: give staff the facts early, so a rumour has nothing to feed on, and listen to what the grapevine carries.
Using the grapevine: Aisha hears about the "trial" at the High Street counter and texts Lena. At the next 2 a.m. briefing Priti says it plainly: the sesame loaf is here to stay, and this is why the trays matter.
| Formal communication | Informal communication | |
|---|---|---|
| Who sets the route | The business | The staff themselves |
| Examples | Meetings, notices, memos, emails, reports, letters | Chats, the grapevine, the staff's own group chat |
| Speed | Slower | Very fast |
| Record | Yes | None |
| Accuracy | Checked before it is sent | Changes as it passes |
| Control | Managers decide what is said | Nobody controls it |
No method is best everywhere. The right choice depends on the situation, and Lena asks the same six questions each time.
Six questions for choosing a method
How urgent is it?
A van breaks down at 4:30 a.m. A phone call now beats a perfect email at noon.
Who needs it, and where are they?
Six bakers at 2 a.m., counter staff at 7, in four places. A briefing reaches only the people in the room.
Does it need a record?
Safety rules and changes to pay, hours or contracts must be written down, so there is proof of what was said.
Is it complicated or sensitive?
Bad news about jobs is given face to face, where people can ask questions. A new way of shaping dough is shown, not described.
Is a reply needed?
If Lena must know the message was understood, she picks a method with feedback: a meeting, a call, a signature.
What does it cost?
Stopping the whole night shift for an hour costs an hour of baking. A pinned notice costs a sheet of paper.
| Situation | Method | Why it fits |
|---|---|---|
| The sesame rule, which every baker must follow | A briefing at the 2 a.m. start, then the rule pinned by the ovens and signed by each baker | Questions are answered on the spot, and the signatures prove who was told |
| A van at the garage: deliveries 30 minutes late tomorrow | A phone call or text to Aisha, Kofi and Jonas | Urgent, short and for three people; a meeting would come too late |
| Each shop's monthly waste figures | A short report with a bar chart, at the managers' meeting | Numbers are easier to compare as bars than as a list |
| Park Road to close on Sundays, cutting some staff hours | A meeting with Jonas's team first, then a letter to each person | Sensitive news needs a face and time for questions; a change of hours must be on record |
| Thanks for the busiest Saturday of the year | Lena says it in person when she visits each shop on Monday | A spoken thank-you from the managing director means more than an email |
Say it, then write it down: The strongest choice is often a mix: spoken first, so people can ask questions; written after, so there is a record to check.
One method on its own leaves a gap. Said only aloud at 2 a.m., the sesame rule leaves no proof. Pinned up with no briefing, nobody can ask whether the cooling racks count too.
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How this comes up: A case describes a manager who told employees something by word of mouth, and a later dispute about what was said.
What you are asked
- Explain one disadvantage for the business of using verbal (oral) communication, for two marks.
- The same two moves work for any method: written, visual or electronic.
- They work for an advantage as well as a disadvantage.
The two-mark pattern
- Name the disadvantage. Spoken words leave no written record, so there is nothing to check or prove later. Or: the message can be misunderstood or half-remembered.
- Show it in the case. Use the people and the event: who was told what, what went wrong, and why the missing record matters to this business.
Trap 1: the rule is not the method: The question is about how the message was passed on, not whether the rule was a good one. The trays, masks or helmets are the story, not the answer.
Trap 2: no case, no second mark: "Verbal communication leaves no record" is one mark. "Priti cannot prove that Tom was told to wash the trays" is two.
Explain one disadvantage for Lena's Bakery Ltd of Priti using verbal (oral) communication to tell the bakers about the sesame rule.
Model answer plan
See the answer broken into clear points, with guidance on how each point earns marks.