Communication in the Organization - Essay Example

Phase 3 Discussion Board Communication is very important for any situation that involves more than one person. Similarly, it is important within an organization. Any message, instruction, suggestion, request etc must be spread and not kept to oneself and only the process of communication allows this to happen. Imagine what will become of the organization if all employees and management do not communicate with others in the organization in any way. The employees would not know what to do because they are not being instructed by the management and the management would not know what is happening in their organization because the employees would not inform to them of the updates in the workplace. The employees would be unhappy because their requests would not be forwarded to the management and there would be no improvement in their methods of working because the management would not give their suggestions to them. In short, the organization would not be efficient or successful at all (Thompson, S.). However, there is more to just this. The communication process must be effective in order to get the most of it. Whatever the sender encodes must be correctly decoded by the receiver and the receiver must give appropriate feedback. The medium that is used within the organization to pass around a message is of great importance. The medium that is selected to send a message must be selected by keeping the purpose and subject of the message. For instance, if a message is private, it must not be posted on the organization’s notice board and must not be discussed over the phone which has many extensions. On the other hand, if the message is meant for 200 employees of the organization, an appropriate medium of sending must be used which is cost effective and which will ensure that the message is not changed on the way. If word of mouth is used for such a message, there are higher chances that the message is altered till it reaches the receivers and hence it is not appropriate. My organization, Rick Auto Enterprises, is very particular about the medium of communication that it uses for different messages. It first decides with whom the message has to be shared. The next step is deciding how much budget or time must be allotted to it and lastly it selects the appropriate channel of communication. The project status and issues need to be shared with higher level of management and the team members. The rest of the people do not need to know the project status and issues unless these affect them. The person who has information regarding the status of the project must report to the project manager directly from time to time. Also if there are any issues, the manager must be informed. The project manager must have this updated information with him at all times. Next, it becomes the responsibility of the manager to give information of the project status and any issues to the management. Since a variety of departments will be affected by the project of developing a new web-based version of the legacy billing system, they will all have to be informed about the project updates and issues. These departments include consumer service department, billing department, sales department etc. From time to time or whenever the project reaches the next level, the management and the department heads of these departments must be contacted. A meeting must be scheduled and in this meeting, each and every detail must be disclosed to the audience. For example, if the project team has finalized the plan of the project, it will set up a meeting with the organization heads and management and inform them about the plan. If there are issues regarding the underestimation of budget, this will also be discussed in the meeting. They will discuss with them about how the plan can be made better and suggestions regarding the budget would also be welcome. Also, besides this, reports and memorandums can be written by the project manager explaining all the issues and updates to the management. Next, the accomplishments of a project or anything else must be shared with everyone in the organization. Therefore, a meeting would not be most appropriate means of communication. Any accomplishment that is achieved by Rick Auto Enterprises is mentioned in its bi-monthly magazine ‘Rickspose’. This ensures that anyone who is responsible for the achievement will be given credit by appreciating it with everyone within the organization. This method will motivate the rest of the employees to work harder and achieve something which would be mentioned in the bi-monthly magazine and their performance ratings would go up. For instance, If a project is great success, the project team and the project manager will be appreciated by mentioning the success of the project in the magazine. Documents are used to share information that have a lot of details that need to be remembered. Also, if something is needed more than once, it will be documented. For example, if there is a proposal for a certain project, it will be documented because this proposal will be needed from time to time. It will also have a lot of details regarding the project which cannot be memorized and therefore verbal communication would not be ideal. Meetings will be used to share information which needs to be explained. Also, this information is mostly important and first hand transfer of information is necessary For instance, if cost benefit analysis of a certain project has to be, along with documenting it, it will have to be presented to the management in a form of a meeting because different aspects of the analysis will need explanations and queries will have to be attended on the spot. Informal communication is very important for an organization (Kraut, R.E et al). Grapevine or rumors are used to spread information that is needed to be spread quickly and if this information is lightly altered in the process of being transferred, it would not matter a lot to the organization (Entrepreneur). This method is very unreliable however it is cost and time effective. Email has definitely positively influenced the effectiveness of project communications. It has made communication very easy, cheap and fast. Emails have now become the most convenient form of communicating. However, it has also increased the chances of unwanted access to private information through hacking and other methods. Conclusion In conclusion, communication is very important for any organization because it ensures that thoughts, ideas and suggestions are passed around. It makes the organization effective and efficient. Therefore, this process must be given a lot of thought by the management and it must be ensured that communication is encouraged. References 1. Entrepreneur (1998) The informal communication network: factors influencing grapevine activity. Retrieved 22 August 2008, from Entrepreneur. Web site: http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/54069622.html 2. Kraut, R.E et al. (2002) Informal Communication in Organizations: Form, Function, and Technology. Retrieved 22 August 2008, from CS. Web site: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~kraut/RKraut.site.files/articles/kraut90-InformalCommInOrgs.pdf 3. Thomson, S. (2007). Importance of Communication in an Organization. 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