Making Communication Count - Essay Example

Making Communication Count Introduction Communication plays a crucial role with regard to facilitating the success of an enterprise. The major areas where an organization relies on communication relate to advertising, employee retention and customer satisfaction. In case a business venture fails to communicate effectively, then the outcome would be unmotivated employees, discontented customers and sales loss. Ineffective communication takes place when the stakeholders are promised one thing but something different is delivered (Papa, 2014). Although people tend to use various communication techniques to develop a variety of skills, it becomes easy to fall into a trap of using ineffective communication. This can lead to negative impact in the workplace or at home. Incidences of ineffective communication have been witnessed in the case of senior policemen, politicians, newspaper editors among others. Therefore, it is vital for a person to understand his communication skills in order to determine whether he is communicating in an effective manner to other parties (Papa, 2014). This paper will evaluate a scenario that targets the use of verbal and non-verbal communication skills in an effective manner, and how to foster effective communication in an organization. Discussion Ineffective Use of Verbal and Nonverbal Signs In an organizational setting, ineffective communication manifests itself either in a verbal or nonverbal mode of interaction. For instance, ineffective verbal communication is vague, uses jargon, and is hard to follow. Conversely, ineffective nonverbal communication takes place when verbal messages fail to rhyme with nonverbal actions. With regard to verbal communication, there are those people who tend to overwhelm their audience with words. When a listener is overwhelmed, he does not have the time to gather his thoughts on what is being said. The listener also finds it difficult to elaborate the situation in order to gather more understanding. In case communication flows for a long time, then it becomes irrelevant to those people who get switched off (Manning & Curtis, 2003). A number of managers have been noted to communicate to their listeners what they feel is appropriate to them with the hope that they can do something about it. However, this path makes the listeners to switch off for failing to address their needs in an effective manner. Also, some senior executives in an organization assume that their listeners have understood what they are talking about. This is the case where people do not understand the language being used because it is their second language. This leads to confusion, misunderstanding, conflicts and incorrect action (Manning & Curtis, 2003). In the case of ineffective nonverbal communication, a listener gets the message that you do not agree with him when you communicate while you are crossing your hands on your chest. Additionally, in case the audience fidgets while listening, this is a reflection that he is not interested in what is going on. Hand gestures also serve as a reflection of infective nonverbal communication. Though not every person talks with their hands, it is a means of getting communication through to the audience in order to put your point across. When you point at a listener, this makes him feel cured because of being confronted. This makes the audience to lose the point of engaging in the communication process (McFarlin, 2014). Scenario Evaluation The HR manager at Tickle Me Elmo factory hired a new employee, while the Personnel Manager explained to her the duties that she was supposed to undertake, and ensure that she reported to work at 8.00am on a prompt basis. The following day at 8.45am, the Personnel Manager heard a knock on his door, and the foreman at the assembly line entered the office complaining about the new employee. He said that the new employee was very slow with regard to undertaking the tasks that were assigned to her, and thus making the whole line to back up. The Personnel Manager was later taken by the foreman down to the factory to show him where the problem was coming from. In the factory, Elmos are usually backed up in the entire floor. The new employee was situated at the end of the line where she had a roll of material that is usually used for Elmos as well as a big bag of marbles. Both the foreman and the Personnel Manager watched as the new employee cut a little piece of fabric, wrapped it on the two marbles before starting to sew the small package between the legs of the Elmo. In this case, the personnel manager started laughing, and after pulling himself together he walked to the new employee and explained to her that she must have misunderstood him the previous day, when he said to her that her role was to give the Elmo two tickles during a test. This is an indication that the Personnel Manager was not effective while explaining to the new employee the exact roles that she was supposed to play in the organization. This led to communication breakdown between the foreman and the new employee, and thus resulted to backing up of the whole line. Case Description In the art of leadership, communication is one of the major talents that one should possess in order to be regarded as an effective leader. There are particular qualities that a leader should portray in order to be effective in the communication process. A leader should be efficient with respect to ensuring, advocating, promoting, collaborating and influencing the stakeholders. A leader should be capable of transmitting messages in a clear manner and monitor, receive and seek for them. There are two key ways in which communication within an organization should be enforced. One of the major ways is through verbal communication, and the other one is via nonverbal communication. In order for a leader to communicate effectively through nonverbal means, the he should emphasize on body language (Green, 2004). The leader is also supposed to be aware of who the message is directed to. This is because the receiver is the one who gives the message meaning based on his knowledge, background, values, experience and prior observations. This brings in the need to be an active listener as well as be able to ask questions in order to be sure on what the leader desires to be accomplished. In the case of the new employee at Tickle Me Elmo Factory, the worker failed to address the tasks that were assigned to her in an effective manner because she failed to listen carefully to the descriptions that the Personnel Manager gave her with regard to the tasks that she was supposed to address at the organization. As a result, the activities that the new employee undertook resulted to backing up of Elmos at the organization. This dragged the productivity of the other employees behind, and thus resulted to complaints about the new employees (Green, 2004). Evaluation of the Communication Style Location of Communication Breakdown When things go wrong within an organization, it is evident that some of communication breakdown prevails. This is one of the major issues that most organizations face today, and hence contributing to lowered productivity among employees. In order to ensure that employees address the tasks that are assigned to them according to the set expectations, the managers should ensure that they set appropriate expectations towards their employees. This can be done by ensuring that employees participate fully in the communication process, and ask questions whenever some issues seem unclear. This is essential in terms of ensuring that employees address their roles according to the standards of the organization (Papa, 2014). In the case of the new employee at Tickle Me Elmo factory, it is evident that communication breakdown prevailed between the Personnel Manager and the employee. This is because the new employees undertook the tasks that were assigned to her in a completely manner, which made the Personnel Manager to break into laughter. This means that the employee did not understand the roles that the personnel manager expected her to perform, and thus leading to backing up of Elmos in the faculty where she was working. This means that it is crucial to seek for clarification before embarking on a particular task so that one can address the roles that have been assigned to them in an effective manner. Lead Communicators Behavior that Hindered Communication The Personnel Manager, who served as the lead communicator hindered communication in the case of the new employee because he did not clearly describe to her the exact duties that she was supposed to undertake while in the organization. As a result, she ended up handling the tasks that were assigned to her in a completely different manner as opposed to the expectations of the foreman. The Personnel Manager assumed that the new employee clearly understood what was expected of her and allowed her to proceed with the job without making sure that she was capable of performing the task according to the expectations of the company. Improvements to Lead Communicators Behavior With respect to facilitating for effective communication at Tickle Me Elmo factory, the Personnel Manager should have taken time to understand the various components that should be followed to facilitate for effective communication in the organization. First, he should have understood that there are various levels of communication, and that he should have taken time to determine whether the upward, horizontal or diagonal approach to communication was appropriate to apply for the situation. Here, it is true that the communication skills of the Personnel Manager changed while he was communicating to the new employee. In order to eliminate communication barriers, he should have established effective interpersonal relationships with the employee in order to determine his level of understanding. Listen actively to the questions that the employee raised, and display empathy towards the employee when he handled the tasks differently from what was expected of him (Green, 2004). Conclusion The paper has revealed that effective communication is n appropriate way of ensuring that things get done appropriately inside an organization. Therefore, it is the role of the lead communicators to ensure that they possess good verbal and nonverbal communication skills to help the listeners gain a better understanding of what is expected of them, and hence address the tasks that are assigned to them appropriately. References Green, R. L. (2004). Practicing The Art Of Leadership: A Problem-based Approach To Implementing The Isllc Standards. New York: Pearson Education. Manning, G., & Curtis, K. (2003). The Art of Leadership. London: McGraw-Hill International. McFarlin, K. (2014). Nonverbal Communication Examples in the Workplace. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/nonverbal-communication-examples-workplace-10663.html Papa, N. (2014). Ineffective Business Communication. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/about_6690367_ineffective-business-communication.html Read More