Breakdown in Organizational Communication: GB Financial Corp - Essay Example

?Running Header: Breakdown in Organisational Communication: GB Financial Corp. Module Part 1) The GB case is certainly a very complicated one. Things started to go wrong since Jeff Butler joined GB Financial Corporation. The organization is in a shambolic state of affair due to Jeff Butler’s treatment of others in the organization and his inability to make things better at GB Financial Corporation. The main problem in the communication process is certainly the noise in the communication process. This communication process model shows us that the noise in GB Financial Corporation exists at decoding stage of the communication process. There can be several reasons for the noise at this stage of communication. The noise can be present in the process because of the sender, mediums of communication or receiver. Noise exists in the communication process if sender of the communication is unable to explain his message properly, if the wrong medium of communication is received and if receiver of communication is unable to trust the intentions of the sender of the message. However, after examining the case, we can see that the reason why noise exists in the communication process is because of problems with all three members of the communication process i.e sender, medium and receivers of the communication process. The noise in the process exists because of the sender. It can be seen from his email that Jeff Butler uses very small messages. He does not elaborate on them. This leads to different people interpreting the message different and sometimes because of this there’s a gulf between what the sender of the communication is trying to say and what is being taken by the receiver of the message. This has lead to great noise in the communication process. The following message from Jeff Butler justifies the above argument that there’s a problem with Jeff Butler’s messages: Mary and I have reviewed the proposed solution, and, in light of the need, an exception to sound data management practice will be allowed in this case … the new environment and processes that will be forthcoming will prevent this type of “work around” solution in the future. Jeff Butler The above message is short and is subliminal in nature. Not everyone in the organization will interpret the message in the same way. Hence, the message will lose its importance and will be taken differently by people. It may lose its meaning and may be take for what the sender does not actually want to say in this message. The second reason why noise exists in the communication process is because of the wrong channel of communication received. Jeff Butler has been interfering in the organization policy and announcing decisions on his own. This is extremely concerning for the people working in the organization. Since people expect information to reach them via proper channel and therefore Jeff Butler’s announcing the organization’s policy on his own will be disturbing for the people working in the organization. It was not a right decision for Jeff Butler to announce that the organization will soon be migrating from Lotus to Microsoft Exchange. A good channel to announce this new would have been Senior Vice-President or the President announcing the organization policy. This lead to job dissatisfaction and a few people left the organization on hearing this from Jeff Butler who was younger than them in terms of organizational experience. This can be seen in the following message: I know that I am forever the “thorn in your side” about terminology and data/technical design, but that is my “calling” … So, with that in mind, here goes … We should not look to Lotus Notes applications as we go forward as sources of data; they are not databases … That is, we need to keep in mind that the data in Lotus Notes should not belong to Lotus Notes. As we continue to deploy the intranet/internet/extranet publishing paradigm, we need to look at the data that is published via Web technology, as derived from a true database standpoint … shared/published with different deployment mechanisms … For what it is worth, we shouldn’t continue to design our Web publishing strategy around “jumps” to other platforms … We should centre upon applications that act as “agents” (e.g. java-based applets) and are services for data publishing from central/shared/enterprise databases. If the above appears less than clear, we can discuss it at the next meeting. It can be seen that in this message organization policy has been translated to people working in the organization by a person who has just joined the organization and some of the people he’s talking to are on the same level of hierarchy in the organization as himself. This leads to many receivers not owning the message and they tend to ignore such messages because they think that the organization is being unfair in translating the message. It would have been a better and option and the message would have been received much more efficiently if the president of GB Financial Corporation had announced the new company policy. The above discussion clearly tells us that the problem lies not just with the sender of the message, but also with the medium of communication. The organization can remove the noise from the communication process by using the better channels of communication and or by letting Jeff Butler know that he should first gain the trust of the members of the organization before giving them a command or a new message. Part 2: There are several inherent contradictions and paradoxes that can be seen from the case. The first inherent tension in the communication is that people in the organization do like preached. They require full information before they accept the message and act upon it. Any incomplete message will only enhance the conflict between various members of the organization if proper explanation is not given. Similarly, people do not like being preached by a person in the organization who lacks the organization culture or values and is new in the organization. The proper channel for such people should be to dictate the organization by using people who are trusted in the organization or sit at the top of organizational chart. Similarly, if the wrong channel is used in conveying a message, it creates noise and is not acted upon as anticipated by the sender of the message. Proper consideration needs to be given to the channel of the communication if the sender wants his message to be followed by the people working in the organization otherwise there are more chances that it will get loss in the organizational rubble and chain of command within the organization. References: Russ, G., Daft, R. & Lengel, R. (1990) “Media selection and managerial characteristics in organizational communication,” Management Communication Quarterly, 4, 2: 151-175. Lind, M. (2001) “An exploration of communication channel usage by gender,” Work Study, 50, 6: 234-240. Shee, V., Chen L.(2004) “Improving media richness theory: A study of interaction goals, message valence, and task complexity in manager-subordinate communication,” Management Communication Quarterly,18,1. Sussman, L., Adams, A., Kuzmits, F. &Raho, L. (2002) “Organizational politics: Tactics, channels and hierarchical roles,” Journal of Business Ethics, 40, 4: 313-330. Westmyer, S. DiCioccio, R. & Rubin, R. (1998) “Appropriateness and effectiveness of communication channels in competent interpersonal communication,” Journal of Communication, 48, 3: 27-48. Young, D. (1995) “The relationship between electronic and face-to-face communication and its implication for alternative workplace strategies,” Facilities, 13, 6: 20-27. Read More