Communication Barriers in Organizations - Research Paper Example

Communication Barriers in Organizations Introduction Effective communication is one of the significant competitive advantages of modern business organizations. Companies today heed genuine efforts to design their communication strategies to improve the overall productivity of the firm. The initial phase of developing internal communication is to identify the persisting communication barriers within the organization. With intent to explore the scope of developing communication tactics, this paper will discuss some of the major communication barriers identified at Staples, Inc. Major three communication barriers at Staples One who analyzes the case of Lewis can spot several communication barriers persisting with Staples all which impeded the overall development of the organization. Among them the major three communication barriers are 1) emotional and interpersonal barriers, 2) unscientific organizational structure, and 3) poor departmental integration. Emotional barriers exist when there are problems associated with emotional aspects like seniority, ego, skills, position, and qualification. For instance, when Lewis was appointed at Staples, many of the individuals who had been working there for many years found difficulty with accepting the inexperienced young manager (Suisse, p.4). Other unfavorable conditions like tough time schedule, increased number of workers, and unscientific organizational strategies also have affected interpersonal communication. The organizational structure that staples followed was comparatively complex as it was divided into three strategic business units (SBUs) like retail, contract and commercial, and international. Although the objective behind this structural design was to meet the needs of mid- sized and large businesses, it became a cumbersome task for the newcomers to cope with. As Lewis identified, ‘there was a firewall’ between marketing and advertising departments. To illustrate, there was no proper integration or information sharing between the two departments. Collaborative effort is essential for a firm to produce integrated message. Impact of communication barriers The above discussed communication barriers especially emotional barriers made it a cumbersome task for Lewis to maintain good relationship with the employees. In addition, employees’ periodic rotation also turned to be an interpersonal barrier that impeded the active employee participation (Suisse p.3). The emotional barriers caused employee resistance to change as Lewis was appointed as the manager of the firm. In the same way, because of the structural flaw ‘it was not easy to maintain the focus across the now over 1,500 corporate and 12,000 store employees’ (p.5). The effectiveness of communication system in an organization depends on its structure. Managers often fail to align their workforce due to the structural flaw of their organization. As far as the impact of poor integration is concerned, at Staples, “Marketing strategy was being developed by the marketing side and handed over to the advertising to execute, so neither party was benefiting from the extensive experience and expertise of the other (p.8)”. It was not in fact the problem of organizational structure; instead, it indicated the absence of departmental integration. In order to ensure the overall growth, viable environment must be maintained across the organizational departments by initiating an effective communication strategy. Suggestive communication strategy for Jeanne Lewis An effective communication strategy is essential to identify the emerging issues, weakness and strength, risks, and potential areas throughout the organizational value chain. Despite the size of the workforce, Jeanne Lewis should develop personal relationship with the employees in order to ease her managerial tension. It is better for Jeanne Lewis to adopt an audience strategy to enhance employee relation. As Munter (2006) states, “audience strategy is a technique for gearing one’s communication toward the audience’s needs and interests” (Munter, 2006, p.10). This strategy is very useful for understanding employees’ stress related problems and various interests that require immediate managerial attention. The questions Lewis has to consider include; identifying the persons who have direct or indirect power over communication, analyzing what the employees know regarding the strategies and objectives of the business and what they need to know, and identifying the emotional level of audience identifying effective task benefits that would persuade them (Source: Munter, 2006, pp.10-15) Message strategy for Jeanne Lewis Being an innovative manager Jeanne Lewis got promotional transfers frequently which made her a new-comer wherever she was assigned to. The message strategy that Lewis can adopt at Staples is an ‘indirect approach’ which ‘involves spelling out your support first, then finishing with your generalization or conclusion’ (Munter, 2006, p.21). Since her credibility is comparatively low as a newcomer, the employees may not take her words in the real sense. But the application of indirect approach would ease employee’s resistive mind and will help her gain their emotional support in the long run. The communication channel and its significance Jeanne Lewis utilized interpersonal as well as group-based (‘speaking to a group in face to face contact’) interaction as her communication channel to pass information to the employees (Suisse, 2000, pp. 14-17). This enabled her to communicate with the employees whenever she required, and helped her collect immediate response from every corner of the organization that gradually enhanced the organizational cohesion. Since ‘speaking to a group’ (Munter, 2006, p. 25) method is simpler than electronic writing communication channels, Lewis could create relaxed feelings among the employees while she spoke to them. Variable that shapes organizational culture There are numerous factors that normally influence shaping organizational culture. However, leadership is the most vital variable which determines the organizational culture. For instance, at Staples when Lewis was appointed in merchandising department, the condition was highly chaotic. But her intelligent managerial decisions and business policies could bring tremendous changes in the department (Suesse, 2000, p.4). Although before the arrival of Lewis the department had its own favorable condition, no one could take advantage of it. But Lewis’ admirable leadership changed the socio-economic status of the department and its organizational culture. Modification of Communication strategy Lewis believed that employees were the core element of an organization and she used to give priority to employees’ freedom. However, when she was deployed to lead marketing and advertising departments she changed her strategy as a result of employees’ dishonesty (Suesse, 2000, p.7). Lewis understood that it was not possible to vie with the situation following the strategy she always preferred. Thus she was forced to alter her strategy to ‘tell or sell style’ which involved ‘advocating or persuading’ (Munter, 2006, p.6), in order to ensure the success of the departments. The marketing and purchase departments were situated in two various floors; but in order to approach the workers personally and to give directions to them, she runs between these two floors. The fear of unpredictable supervision of Lewis compelled the employees to concentrate more on their jobs. The magnificent leadership of Lewis could change the prevailed detrimental situations in the organization. The timely modification of the communication strategy enhanced the growth and thereby the profitability of the departments. As a result of this distinctive strategy variation, the organizational culture also varied. It happened only because of the great impact of the culture shaping variable, the leadership. Appropriateness of communication strategy modification Lewis maintained an employee-oriented strategy till she was appalled by the insincere practice of some employees. She understood that continuing the current strategy would lead to organizational failure. Though controversial, her strategy paved way to considerable improvements. In addition, her effective leadership tactics could convince the employees of the consequences of misbehavior; and they were compelled to demonstrate full potential throughout their performance. The example of Lewis at Staple points out the significance of strategic modifications required at the changing business environment. Conclusion Communication strategy is one of the significant factors that determine the sustainability of every organization. Organizations that pay little effort to identify their communication barriers presumably fail in their overall performance. Effective communication helps information sharing, problem solving, and organizational integration. However, a well designed communication plan does not guarantee organizational success unless it is implemented effectively. The case of Lewis could be an excellent example to emphasize the significance of reviewing management approaches to communication barriers. References Kreitner, R & Kinicki, A. (2008). Organizational Behavior. NY: Tata McGraw-Hill. ISBN-13: 978-0-07-008008-9. Munter, M. (2006). Guide to Managerial Communication. New Jersey. Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0-13-14670402 Seuesse. (24 July, 2000). Jeanne Lewis at Staples, Inc. (Abridged). Harvard Business School Publishing. Web. Read More