Management Communication - Literature review Example

Management Communication College Presented to Management Communication In any organizations, excellent communication skills are not only vital but are also the backbone of the success of the management and the organization at large. The communication process ranges from planning, communicating what is expected from employees and finally recognizing employees for their achievements in meeting the organizational goals. Baack (2012) defines communication as the process through which an individual transmits, receives and processes information. Consequently, communication, as Baack further argues, would entail the transfer of meaning from one person to another or a group of people. In other words, in an organizational set up, communication has to involve the transfer of meaning and information from managers to employees and vice versa. The information communicated could take a wide range of forms that may involve symbols, words, numbers, and concepts among others. For any conveyed meaning or information to make sense, the receiver of such information has to make meaning from the conveyed elements. Therefore, considering that communication involves making meaning of the sent information, it would follow that organizations that design effective communication policies in their organizational management would perform much better than those with inferior communication strategies. Any organization has to put in place norms standards of communication that would lead to effective communication that result to change within the organization. Management involves the process of directing others to achieve organizational goals. Managers and employees have to be active listeners and pay attention to details for such communication to be effective. Research in Oncology has revealed that effective listening can be accommodating to others, leading to effective communication (Cohn, 2007). For instance, it is necessary to have communication at the same level. In other words, instead of communicating while one is standing, there is a need for both communicators to sit and have an eye-to-eye contact. Gupta (2013) further elaborates the need to have emotional contact expressed through facial or eye-to-eye contact as well as the use of maintaining a cordial relationship through proper tones, gaze or touch during such communication. Cohn (2007) further elaborates the need to avoid prejudgments during communication by allowing the speaker to express themselves fully without interruptions or unnecessary criticism. Moreover, there is a need to show emotional connectedness with the speaker by reflecting back to the speaker as a sign of understanding. Another norm in effective communication is the ability to respond to communication, a key indicator of active listening and understanding. Baack (2012) asserts that one of the best management approaches to ensure effective communication in an organization to be the culture of listening to one another. Such is the extemporary culture perfected in Southwest Airlines as innovated by Herb Kelleher. Baack (2012) explains two levels of communication in an organization namely, interpersonal communication and communication within an organization. Interpersonal communication is the most important aspect of communication, which involves relaying content between individuals or between an individual and a team of employees. Interpersonal communication may involve a supervisor and an employee, the supervisor with a team of employees or an employee with another employee (Baack, 2012). For interpersonal communication to flourish there has to be developed personal relations among the communicating parties. Baack (2012) offers a comprehensive interpersonal communication model that indicates how effective interpersonal communication would be achieved. Interpersonal communication involves transmitting a message; the receiver decodes the message and sends the feedback, which is then encoded by the sender. The entire communication process is cyclic and has to have a common goal, which would range from a sales person trying to win over a new client or a manager convincing an employee to remain in the company. However, a number of factors that include differences in individuals, situational factors, and transmission problems could hinder interpersonal communication. Some of the methods to overcome the above barriers to effective communication include avoiding biases, seeking a compromise and eliminating the temptation of jumping ahead in communication (Executive leadership, n.d). Another management style that enhances effective communication, as portrayed in the management style of Bill Marriott, the CEO of Marriott hotels, is having time and respect for everyone despite their levels in the organization (Baack, 2012). As organizations grow to become global enterprises, there emerges a need to consider international and intercultural business communication skills within the organization. There are significant benefits that could be derived due to cultural differences within the locality of an organization. Firstly, people from different cultures offer the organization an abundant pool from which to select employees with diverse interests, perspectives and bring such diversity to the companys operations (Baack, 2012). In addition, people of different cultures offer a rich potential market that the organization could exploit in its operations. People from different cultural backgrounds observe different cultural norms. For instance, some cultures do encourage observance of distance between leaders and employees while others may not (Baack, 2012). Moreover, as Baack (2012) further explains, some cultures may encourage risk taking or risk avoidance behaviors within organizations. Understanding the differences between the places of operation ensures effective communication in international business operations. Any communication in intercultural and international settings has to observe the differences and avoid elements that could be offensive, which may include language, the manner of greeting, eye contacts, directness when addressing among others. The need to observe the cultural context in international communication was further elaborated by Palmer-Silveira (2013), who asserted the need to consider the culture, context and discourse as a whole in communicating professionally within an international setting. As such, the central role of intercultural business communication would be to offer solutions to a wide range of communication challenges within organizations especially when such organizations have people from diverse cultures and backgrounds. Nonverbal communication plays an enormous role in effective management communication. In most cases, perception is a critical part of nonverbal communication. In other words, it is possible to judge the quality of relationships within the workplace through nonverbal communication (Gupta, 2013). For instance, as Gupta asserts, in US, most business women prefer the executive grip during greetings and are offended when someone only grips their fingers. A right grip could indicate detachment or lack of rapport with such businesses executives. However, in most Asian cultures, most business executives prefer a gentle grip and not the executive grip used in the American culture. In Islamic cultures, for instance, men never shake hands with women with whom they are not related (Gupta, 2013). In other words, nonverbal communication has a tremendous impact on management communication and requires individuals to understand the intercultural and international communication concepts to communicate effectively. Therefore, verbal communication accounts for only a small percentage of the messages that people send, with most of the communication being non-verbal. It is therefore not enough to choose words carefully when communicating verbally, but also to be aware of ones body language in such communication to enhance professionalism in organizations. Besides the use of verbal and nonverbal communication, written communication is critical in the business communication process. Written communication could be in the form of instant messages, emails, memos, reports among others. Lack of proper written communication skills could sometimes be disastrous to organizations and the community at large. Good evidence on the impacts of poor written communication skills was in the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, where an email sent to managers over leakage and defects in one of the rigs was ignored resulting in disastrous environmental impacts (Baack, 2012). As such, managers and employees have to understand how to prepare written communication such as memos, emails, and others. A major mistake that most executives do is bombarding the receiver with messages when sending emails due to the ease of composing and sending emails. Moreover, there is a need to ensure encryption of data in protecting sensitive information from leaking to unwanted people, which could compromise the security of the organization. Technology has made written communication easy, though is usually abused leading to unprofessionalism in communication. Before selecting the right technology, one has to consider the persuasiveness, sensitivity, negativity and the complexity of the intended message (Baack, 2012). As Palmer-Serveira (2013) asserts, in the current competitive global market, only the executives with the skills to communicate accurately and those that observe intercultural rules in business settings have the chance to survive the competitive market. Written communication skills are, therefore, critical in ensuring competitiveness of the organization at large and enhancing effectiveness in the communication process. In addition to effective written communication skills, in some cases, managers are required to make verbal presentations to different types of audiences. In such cases, presentation skills of the manager are critical in enhancing active listening and creating interest of the audience in the information presented. As Gupta (2013), explains, in any communication, the physical appearance of the person is the first message that the audience receives and develops judgment about the persons. In most business presentations, the audience is involved in critical listening; they have to evaluate the evidence presented in addition to understanding it. In such a case, the audience evaluates the argument and any misleading details; they analyze the presentation and bring out any fact, which makes presentations skills critical in successful business operations. As Baack (2012) argues, a level one listener is interested in the speakers messages and interests. The listener is open-minded and critically pays attention to every detail while maintaining eye contact and sitting attentively. A level two audience does ignore the non-verbal cues and is less interested in the intention of the speaker. Lastly, a level three speakers does not pay any attention to the speaker but is interested in other different matters. One of the best ways to ensure active listening is encouraging planned audience interactions where the audience may contribute on the issues under discussion. Moreover, there is a need to ensure proper personal etiquette by wearing appropriately, assuming proper communication behavior and the use of supportive materials that mostly attract the attention of the audience to the presentation. In this case, to encourage active listening, the presenter has to have conscious control of the impression they make to the audience as well as controlling ones emotional response to constructive criticism (Gupata, 2013). Organizations as are social entities made of teams of different people. Considering that people have different beliefs, values, backgrounds and preferences, conflict is healthy in organizations. However, the success or failure of the organization depends on the conflict resolution mechanisms used within such an organization. Eftimie & Moldovan (2011) suggests three levels of conflict within an organization namely: high, medium and low-level conflicts. High-level conflicts are in most cases detrimental to the operations of the organization. For instance, a client refusing to pay after a year of supply of goods would amount to a high-level conflict. Considering an organization has to protect its reputation in the market and the need to maintain cordial customer relationship, the best approach to solving such a conflict would be through negotiation where a negotiator the parties identify and agree upon a mediator. Baack (2013) stresses that negotiations are impossible unless there exists accepted set of issues and interests in the conflict and that the barging power of the parties is of much importance in coming up with the required solution. The medium level conflicts in organizations relate to conflicts that are of lower interest and that which a manager could act as the mediator; an example is the dispute between two senior employees. In this case, a win-win situation is necessary where both parties have to look for a mutually agreed solution for the benefit of the organization (Eftimie & Moldovan, 2011). The low-level conflicts involve minor conflicts among employees when team-working. A supervisor is best suited to solve these conflicts before getting to the manager. This will involve finding the cause of the conflict and having the conflicting parties resolve to work mutually and respect one another. Importantly, during any conflict resolution, people have to make compromises and tradeoffs to have an amicable solution. Organizations with excellent conflict resolution approaches do not focus on personalities but on the real issues and have to define a way to move on after the conflict resolution in avoiding future conflicts (Baack, 2013). In leading organizations, proper conflict resolution mechanism usually do result in synergy and team working among employees while improving stronger relationships in the organization. Leadership is the single most aspect that steers organizational performance. In fact, proper conflict resolution skills are a result of excellent leadership qualities. Organizations that utilize extemporary leadership qualities stand out to compete effectively in the global market. For instance, Harley-Davidson, the motorcycle maker has its success story steered by benchmark leadership policies. The management in the company designed a strong organizational culture that encourages open communication among employees despite their levels and teaching all workers about the companys operations in additional to use of groups and teams to complete tasks (Baack, 2012). From the organizational culture, employees do respect and trust the management with the management encouraging the principles of participation, learning, inclusion and cooperation among all (Baack, 2012). The management program allows self-management among teams by giving independence to respective teams to make their decisions. When employees own a decision, they utilize their full potentials to make these ideas work, leading to better performance in the organization. Baack (2012) highlights the importance of encouraging communication at all levels within the organization as a way to minimize cases of conflicts; people are free to express their ideologies while strengthening team working. As such, for effective performance in organizations, managers have to encourage the culture of groups and work teams, design the norms and behaviors to be observed in these groups encourage team approach in all operations and finally reward groups that complete tasks efficiently. The result would be improved group cohesiveness, which would have group members focusing more on tasks at hand than on their relations, a major factor leading to success (Baack, 2012). Importantly, in leading groups, ethical and moral considerations are critical for managers to ensure quality leadership. In most cases, the operational, ethical conduct depends on the individuals code of conduct (Pettit et al., 1990), which requires such group managers to listen to their consciences before making decisions. In other words, managers have a role in steering organizations, a role that demands responsibility. Moreover, communication has a critical role to play in leading groups in that it is the only way through which managers can lead to ethical or unethical behaviors, which in turn affects the organizational performance (Pettit et al., 1990); that is ethical behavior steers the organization forward while unethical behavior eats on the gains of an organization. Consequently, personal responsibility and accountability in organizations not only in the communication process but also in the formation of an ethical organization. In summing up, communication is critical to the success of any organization in that it seeks to transmit information, coordinate efforts within the organization and share feelings and emotions, important functions that lead to the success of an organization. Communication, in this case, could be verbal or nonverbal. Encouraging communication at all levels within an organization facilitates ideas to flow while at the same time encouraging the formation of cohesive working teams. Moreover, communication is critical in conflict resolution, a major threat to organizational performance. Importantly, it is imperative to enhance communication skills at all levels in that the right response is only possible when information is given in the right way. Nonverbal communication is especially important in that the body language may speak louder than the verbal communication, which may impair the intended message. For instance, during presentations, the manager has to ensure the audience is active using both the body language, allowing the audience to participate and the use of other materials that attract the attention of the audience. International and intercultural communication is particularly important in that different symbols or nonverbal cues may have different meanings in different cultures; there is a need for sensitivity in communicating with people of different cultures. Generally, companies that have designed benchmark communication policies within their organizational cultures have emerged to perform much better than those that have not. References Cohn, H. K. (2007). Developing Effective Communication Skills. American Society of Clinical Oncology, 3(6), 314-317. Baack, D. (2012). Management Communication. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Eftimie, M. & Moldovan, G. R. (2011) Choosing the Best Method for Conflict Resolution According to the Intensity. Economic Science Series, 63(4), 73-82. Executive Leadership (2014). Communication strategy: Overcome barriers to listen better Gupta, H. (2013). Effective Body Language in Organizations. The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 7(1), 35-44. Palmer-Silveira, J. C. (2013). The need for successful communication in intercultural and international business settings: Analytic and comparative studies, new trends and methodologies. Iberica, 26, 9-16. Pettit, J. D., Vaught, B. & Pulley, J. K. (1990). The Role of Communication in Organizations: Ethical Considerations. The Journal of Business Communication, 27(3), 233-249. Read More