Chuyên đề tốt nghiệp: Recommendations to improve internal communication at Gear Inc. Vietnam Limited Company

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NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITYFACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGESDEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ENGLISH

TRAN THI KIM ANH

RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE INTERNAL COMMUNICATION ATGEAR INC., VIETNAM LIMITED COMPANY

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NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITYFACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGESDEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ENGLISH

TRAN THI KIM ANH

RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE INTERNAL COMMUNICATION ATGEAR INC., VIETNAM LIMITED COMPANY

Hanoi, April, 2023

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Tran Thị Kim Anh — 11190547 — Business English 61A

First of all, I would like to express my endless thanks and gratitude to my

supervisor — our teacher (Mrs Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh) for her valuable support andguidelines in the process of completing my thesis Her encouragement and feedbacksignificantly enriched and improved not only my knowledge of the topic studied butalso enhanced my personal development I feel grateful to have the opportunity to beinstructed and monitored dedicatedly by her Without her expertise and motivation,this thesis would have been impossible to be done successfully.

Next, I would like to send a lot of love and hugs to my colleagues at Gear

Inc - the company that I worked for during the internship They have instructed andembraced all of my mistakes whenI first stepped into this field They also helped

me a lot in the process of collecting data for this thesis I will always remember theiradvice and our endless conversations that benefit me until now and probably in thefuture.

Last but not least, my dearest thank goes to my family members and friendswho always support me both physically and mentally in the process of completingthis report.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Internal communication has a profound effect on the activity of an

organization, especially the large one, to ensure the smooth flow between differentlevels, and Gear Inc Vietnam Company Limited is one of those It is the reason to

choose the topic "Recommendations to improve internal communication at Gear Inc.Vietnam Limited Company”.

After reviewing and studying previous research as well as the context of GearInc Vietnam Limited Company, the author has analyzed the internal communicationof the company, and therefore, pointed out its strengths and weaknesses.

From that, the author has proposed some solutions to address existingproblems of the company.

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TABLES OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - LH HH HH HT TT TH HH HH nh gnH 2LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES - HH HH Hà HH HH tt nh 5

Research methOỌÒV - - «6 + s11 91911911 901 TH TT HH Hệ 4

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION OF GEAR INC., VIETNAM LIMITED COMPANY— —.diđ 51.1 Founding and development of Gear Inc., Vietnam Limited Company - 5

1.2 Business field and vision of Gear Inc., Vietnam Limited Company 5

IV NGƠ vc¡cadaadđaaiđdiiiiitiidiiii 51.2.2 ViSION ' :.:.:.:.:.: :.:.:::-:-ÝÝẼ 61.3 Company Structure 1107 71.4 Structure of Human Resources DeparfI€TI - <2 3E **vE+skEseeeseereserree 91.5 Characteristics of employees at Gear Inc., Vietnam Limited Company 101.6 Current internal communication at Gear Inc., Vietnam Limited Company 121.6.1 Internal communication channels ccc eesseseseeeceeeeeseeeeeeesneseeeseessesseeeaeeaes 121.6.2 Internal €V€TI{S - - Ăn HH HH TT TT TH TH HH HT Thi nà 13

1.6.3 0 i0 18

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEỀW HH HH TH HH nghiệt 192.1 P ii nh 19Q.L.1 COMMUNICATION 1 192.1.2 Internal commun1CAfTOH - .- - «+ xxx 1 1 1111919 HH HH nh nh ng 20

2.2 Importance of internal communication to a buSIn€SS - s6 55+ +s + cseesseess 21

2.3 Factors affecting internal communiCafIOI - - 5 s++++s£++sE£kEseeEerskeersrerrke 22"800i J1 23

2.3.2 M@ZZO leVel G HTHT nH H inrh 24

2.3.3 Macro Ï€V€ÌL 2c 111111111 ng ng ngà 24

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CHAPTER 3 ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS nhe, 263.1 Evaluation of internal communication at Gear ÏnC - ¿+ £+s£+>sssssxe 263.2 Analysis current impact of internal communication at Gear INc .- 283.2.1 00vi8(.)naadađdadđdđadđadđdidadttẳ 28

3.2.3 Macro Ï€V€Ì, G9 n TH H H T irh 29

CHAPTER 4 SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE INTERNAL COMMUNICATION AT

(7.9.0) :::(:::ÔÖÔ:46ÖÚ(ddđ4ii43 314.1 Communication between staff and managers (mezzo leve]) - -«-<-«++«++ 314.2 Communication between staff and the company (macro leve]) - «« ««+ 32CONCLUSION 01017215 4d4 33Summary of the fÏndlnS - <2 1191191191119 91T TH HH HH 33Limitations of the Study - LH HT TT TT TH TH HH HT 3330.4000 aaiaitir 4:3534 1APPENDIX | cc cee rece 2

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURESTable 1.1 Gear Inc.’s company structure

Table 1.2 Gear Inc.’s Human Resources Department structureTable 1.3 Gear Inc employee characteristics

Table 1.4 Internal Events at Gear Inc

Figure 3.1 Difficulties that staff often meet when communicating with colleaguesFigure 3.2 Difficulties that staff often meet when communicating with managers

Figure 3.3 Difficulties that staff often meet when communicating with the company

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INTRODUCTIONIntroduction of the research topic

In such a fast-changing world, where new technologies and unprecedentedevents happen every day, the work market becomes more challenging for both

employers and employees.

From a business perspective, attracting and retaining talent becomes essentialfor the company to grow In order to keep and engage staff, a company needs to

apply some techniques related to Human Resources management, one of which isinternal communication The importance of internal communication has been

emphasized for a long time since employees are the first "customers" of the

company Therefore, if a company can communicate well with their employees, theycan also communicate well with their external customers

In many respects, communication is the distinguishing characteristic thatestablishes whether a group of people are part of an organization or are just a

random assortment of individuals We are able to come to common goals, discover acommon purpose, and function as a team because of the communication process.

Through communication, an organization may communicate its tone or culture to all

employees Whether it is controlled or not, communication takes place within

organizations While regular contacts between coworkers are important for gettingthe task done, organizations must also make sure that staff are aware of the

company’s objectives and priorities Besides, as organizations become bigger andmore complicated, it becomes harder to include employees in the bigger picture,dangers, and difficulties that the organization as a whole faces.

Internal communication is becoming more and more important as an

organizational function, which justifies a specific focus on the subject Not just

multinational or huge organizations that must connect with hundreds of employees

need to be concerned with internal communication While a sophisticated

communication system is necessary for a multinational corporation to communicatewith its workers globally, a small, family-owned business may also gain a lot frominformation exchange and feedback to improve operations In addition, internal

communication is essential whenever a company of any size or in any industry goesthrough a transition or transformation The internal public will need to understand

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exactly what the company expects from them As customer demands must beexplained by businesses, or service goals must be made clear by public sector

organizations, employees' demands must be heard by the company Besides goodcompensation and benefits, internal communication enables a company to be a

prominent employer in the job market.

The way employees communicate has a profound impact on different aspectsof a company, helps the message be delivered successfully between different levels,and makes sure everyone is aligned with the company's value.

Research rationale

The world’s economy has transformed rapidly in recent years, with the

advancement of technology New technological devices appear every day, or newtools are introduced to the world Besides, the world is now volatile, uncertain,

complex and ambiguous, and the COVID-19 pandemic is a prominent example.People had to change their living habits, so did a business, especially ones in the

technology sector The reason is that it is a fast-evolving industry where experts maynot always agree or have similar views Interconnected systems and global supply

chains are complicated and hard to understand Disruptive technologies aredeveloped every day.

Vietnam's economy is changing significantly since it is going through a phaseof economic integration with the rest of the world The country will have many

potentials to grow as a result of integration However, at the same time, businessesand organizations need to compete fiercely to maintain their market share and grow.Besides modern technology and equipment or new organizational structure, humanresources management is essential for almost all organizations to have competitiveadvantages It is one of the most important factors contributing to the success of abusiness.

The job market in our country has been more demanding than ever before,

notably in the technology field In order to create competitive advantages over othercompanies in the same field, a company needs to have effective internal

communication to keep their staff, since human is considered the most important

asset.

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Gear Inc., Vietnam Limited Company is also one of the companies in thetechnology field, and therefore, not an exception From just 10 employees at the

start, it now has more than 2000 employees in 3 branches (Hanoi, Danang, Ho ChiMinh City) Internal communication plays a significant role in attracting and

retaining the talented However, the bigger the company size, the more difficult it isfor internal communication There have been some weak points in internal

With all reasons mentioned above, the author has chosen the topic

“Recommendations to improve internal communication at Gear Inc., Vietnam

Limited Company” with the hope that it can help the board of company managersrealizes the impact of current internal communication by collecting and evaluatingdata through a survey, then understand the upsides and downsides of it and proposesome solutions to make internal communication better.

e Propose some recommendations to improve internal communication at Gear

Inc., Vietnam Limited Company

Research questions

This research aims to address the following questions:

e What is the current situation of internal communication at Gear Inc., Vietnam

Limited Company

e@ What are the upsides and downsides of internal communication at Gear Inc.,

Vietnam Limited Company

e@ What are some recommendations to improve internal communication at Gear

Inc., Vietnam Limited Company

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Research scope

This research only collects opinions of present Gear Inc.'s staff working inteam Back Office, Enginering, Udemy and Express, without classifying their yearsof experience or working office due to the time limit and other available resources.Research methodology

This research used the following methods to collect and analyze data:Primary data

A total of 65 employees at Gear Inc.'s head office participated in this survey.They are working in team Back Office, Engineering, Udemy and Express They

come from different ages and genders, with different years of experience.

The survey was conducted anonymously and voluntarily, which means the staff's

names were not included in the survey The participants were asked to complete anonline Google form about current internal communication at Gear Inc based on

their perspectives.Secondary data

This research used the internal documents of Gear Inc., Vietnam LimitedCompany under the agreement of the Head of Human Resources It includes the

information about company’s development, structure and characteristics of currentstaff.

The information on the company's website was also used to collect data about

business field and vision In addition, related research on Communication and

Internal Communication was reviewed.

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION OF GEAR INC., VIETNAM LIMITEDCOMPANY

1.1 Founding and development of Gear Inc., Vietnam Limited CompanyGear Inc Vietnam Limited Company is a Vietnam company providingsoftware outsourcing, information censorship and game production Gear Inc

Vietnam Limited Company is also known as Gear Inc (used as Gear Inc from nowon).

In 2006, Gear Inc was established with a small office in Hanoi, focusingmainly on software outsourcing In 2009, the company cooperated with others toproduce the first online game of their own, which was a milestone marking the

transformation of Gear Inc., to enter the video game market In 2012, the companyexpanded into the field of quality testing (QA) The company's QA team will checkthe quality of games and software according to customer requirements In 2016, thecompany provided the service of censoring content and images on social networkingsites In 2019, Gear Inc opened three offices in Da Nang, marking outstanding

development through the relentless efforts of the staff.

For more than a decade, the company has created many products that are

well-known in the video game market such as Meteor Blitz which had over 300,000

downloads and was in the Appstore's global top 10 for the next few months; TribalRivals now has more than 5 million downloads; Words of Fortune game in

association with Sony Pictures Television Gear Inc has also demonstrated its

strength when cooperating with big names in the world such as Shopee Vietnam (inthe field of censorship of livestream videos), Tiktok Vietnam (in the field of

moderating the content and user information), Sony Pictures Television, Udemy,Snapchat, Wattpad,

1.2 Business field and vision of Gear Inc., Vietnam Limited Company

1.2.1 Business field

Production of video games

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Gear Inc focuses on producing or cooperating to produce video games on themobile platform Some games that the company has made: Words of Fortune,

Legend of Runeterra, Meteor Blitz, Poker, Pet Hotel, Tribal Rivals, etc.Control quality of websites and applications

In addition to developing and producing video games that attract variousplayers, Gear Inc also develops quality assurance for websites and mobile

1.2.2 Vision

Gear Inc.'s vision is “Our goal is to grow our team, allowing all staff to

develop their skills, their personal development and progress in their careers Ourstrength comes from people That is the reason why Gear Inc always try treasure

those who accompany them We also try to create the most interesting game for themarket.”

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Tran Thi Kim Anh — 11190547 — Business English 61A

1.3 Company structure

Back Office Udemy & Games & QA Business

Express Development

Table 1.1 Gear Inc.’s company structure

Founder: is the legal representative of the company cum manager of the

Back Office and Head of Human Resources He is the person who has authority overall departments in the company, runs and ensures the business activities of the

company In addition, the founder also directly manages the Back Office

department, closely monitoring the daily activities of the three departments

including Accounting, Administration and Human Resources Moreover, at present,the founder is also the head of the Human Resources Department, directly managingthe activities of the Human Resources Department.

Game Production Department: Plan to work on their own or with partnersto produce video games on mobile platforms In addition, this department also

undertakes the task of creating characters in the company's games using 2D, 3Dtechnology, creating story scripts.

Quality Control Department: their main task is to check the quality ofwebsites, platforms, and applications, constantly finding product errors to ensureproduct quality meets the standards required by customers.

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Content Censorship Department: censor all videos and clips includingpromotional videos on social networking sites that are partners of the company.

Moreover, in 2020, the Content Censorship Department started censoring livetreamson e-commerce platforms.

Image Censorship Department: censors all images on social networking

sites that are partners of the company as well as censors the identification documentsthat users send to the company's customers.

Customer Care Department: takes care of customers and addressescustomer complaints about the services of online learning platforms.

Accounting Department: is responsible for monitoring debt managementand budget, ensuring reasonable spending for the company, making periodical

accounting reports, and final settlement according to state regulations.

Human Resources Department: search, recruit workers, train newemployees, and manage employee benefits In addition, the department alsoconducts internal communication to connect employees in the company and

supports other departments when they have problems related to human resources.Administration Department: manage the reception, ensuring facilities,

purchasing equipment, and stationery, take care of employees’ lives.

Sales Department: search for customers, develop and expand the market,propose options to promote products, and advise the Founder on the business plan.

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1.4 Structure of Human Resources Department

Table 1.2 Gear Inc.’s Human Resources Department structure

Gear Inc.'s Human Resources Department is divided into two main segments:Recruitment and C&B with a scale of 16 employees including a Human ResourcesDirector who is also the Founder of the company and a Deputy of Human ResourcesDepartment The Recruitment team consists of 1 Recruiting Team Leader, 3

Recruiting Specialists and 2 interns while the C&B team consists of 1 C&B TeamLeader, | Internal Communications Specialist, 2 Expat Support Specialists, 2 HROfficers and 2 interns.

Gear Inc.'s Human Resources Department performs 2 main functions:AR Administration Functions

- Responsible for all steps involved in the employee’s circle.

- In charge of Health Insurance, Social Insurance and employee benefits.

- Archive and finalize company procedures, company handbook and some companyreviews.

- Manage English and Vietnamese classes for employees

- Support foreign employees to come to the company to workInternal Communication function.

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- Organize and communicate to employees traditional events of the Company, andholidays (October 20, March 8, Christmas., ).

Recruitment function

- Receive recruitment requests from other departments, analyze job requirementsand implement the existing recruitment process at the company.

- Building Employer Brand.

+ Make reports, plan and organize recruitment events.

+ Organize events to communicate and develop the Employer brand.

- Research and cooperate with Headhunt companies to recruit some of the keypositions of the company.

1.5 Characteristics of employees at Gear Inc., Vietnam Limited Company

Members of the CEO team of Gear Inc all have bachelor's degrees or higher,and all have experience in managing large companies and corporations around the

globe, for instance, the US, the Netherlands, Singapore,

The company's management team all meet the requirements of having a universitydegree or graduating from major universities in the world as well as in Vietnam Inaddition, each period, the company will provide managers with training courses toimprove their qualifications.

Besides Vietnamese employees, Gear Inc also recruits a number of foreignemployees to work at the company, so the company's working environment can beconsidered as an international working environment Working in an environment

with many colleagues coming from many parts of the world will enable the

company's employees to develop their English skills and be trained with

international standards.

Although the company's leaders and managers have university degrees, it

does not mean that Gear Inc only respects the degree What the company chooses tocare about first is experience If the candidate has a lot of experience in the field thecompany is doing, the company is completely willing to hire he/she.

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Education Below 90 100 122 140

level university

University 110 125 140 179

Higher 25 27 35 35university

Years of | Less than | 120 130 160 179experience year

1 - 3 years 81 97 102 135

More than 3 24 25 35 40

(Source: Human Resources Department of Gear Inc.)

Table 1.3 Gear Inc employee characteristics

1.6 Current internal communication at Gear Inc., Vietnam Limited Company

1.6.1 Internal communication channelsOral communication

At Gear Inc., oral communication consists of daily conversations and

meetings Based on each team’s needs and characteristics, they will have daily,

weekly or bi-weekly meetings, and the duration also varies The office style at GearInc is an open area, where every member of a team sits together By that design,

staff will not only have their personal space but also can communicate easily withother people in their team.

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Written communication

The main communication channel of Gear Inc is Slack and Skype groups.

All important notice is posted to these channels which include every staff in thecompany to ensure everyone has received the information.

Besides, Gear Inc also has an email (help @ gearinc.com) to receive any request,

order, or feedback from the employees There are an estimated total of 3 emails sentthrough this channel every day, ranging from requests on personal working

equipment to inquiries about employee compensation and benefits Human

Resources and the General Administrative department are responsible for replyingto those emails Based on the question or request in each email, people in chargewill be assigned to answer properly.

1.6.2 Internal events

The company always determines the goal of developing a strong staff,

allowing every member to develop skills, career, and personal development Gear

Inc.'s leadership team always keeps in mind that the strength of the company alwayscomes from the staff and the company always tries to support all employees workingat Gear Inc Therefore, internal communication activities are always carried out by

flexible working hours, there are always snacks and free drinks in the office as wellas three cats and a dog These animals provide a sociable and friendly working

environment for Gear Inc.

The Human Resources Department is responsible for internal communicationincluding time, location, organizational ideas, budgeting, submission to the Head ofHuman Resources and Administration, making preparation and then noticing to all

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employees through company groups Every year, there will be two big events for allemployees in the company, namely Summer Event and Year-end Party.

Employees will receive paid leave as well as financial support from the company toparticipate At events, all employees are divided into teams, participate in cohesive

team games, and also have moments of entertainment and relaxation after tiring

In addition, in order to connect the members of the company more, thecompany always organizes some activities such as Puppy Day, Football

Tournaments, company trips, and Year-End parties There is a gym and game roomthat provide space for exercise and recreation Yoga classes are held 3 times a week,and game nights are held weekly on Fridays attracting a lot of employees to

participate.

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Trần Thị Kim Anh — 11190547 — Business English 61A

Company trip Once a year