Why Organizational Communication Is Important - Essay Example

Why organizational communication is important and the issues involved for managers in creating effective organizational communication Institution Abstract Organizational communication entails the process of disseminating information, ideas, thoughts, opinions, and plans between various sections of an organization. Organizational communication offers a platform in which employees can submit reports, comments, grievances, and suggestions to their managers or their superiors and vice versa. Organizations should institute effective and speedy communication policies and procedures in order to circumvent setbacks, misinterpretations or distortions of information. This is critical to the maintenance of harmony between departments and employees themselves. This paper explores the importance of organizational communication as well as pertinent issues confronting managers in creating effective organizational communication. Introduction Communication encompasses dissemination of both oral and written messages from the sender and the receiver. Communication is at the centre of people and organizations’ activities and incorporates organization activities such as promotions, Public Relations, and publicity, among others. Communication shapes the organization’s cooperative system while linking the purpose of the human players. Communication should be concise, purposeful, and coherent to avoid misrepresentation of facts. The success of an organization hinges upon effective communication between all parties such as employees, managers, and clients (Neher, 1997). Effective communication is indispensable to the implementation of an organization’s strategies as well as the management of the day to day activities through people. Organizational communication entails both formal and informal communication. Formal communication can be categorized as both vertical and horizontal and depends on the openness of communication channels between management and employees. Informal communication, on the other hand, is associated with interpersonal, horizontal communication (Desanctis & Janet, 1999). Bottom, upward, and horizontal communication within an organization are critical to the running of the organization. The modern global business environment demands flawless organizational communication in both internal and external communication since both are significant to the attainment of success in an organization (Neher, 1997). As Miller (2009) notes, the workplace in is never static; its complex nature requires an accommodative communication structure that embraces the diverse knowledge, learning, and innovation taking place within the organization. Effective communication aids aspects such as teamwork, safety, innovation, learning, and decision making. Effective communication bears the principles of conciseness, concreteness, clarity, completeness, courtesy, and consideration. Importance of Organizational Communication Organizational communication is critical for managers as it aids in performance of basic functions of the organization such as planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Organizational communication is a source of information to the organization members, especially in decision making process. Communication also aids in pinpointing alternative course of actions and ensuring compliance of all members of the organization. Managers are expected to issue instructions in a concise and coherent manner so that the employees follow them devoid of difficulty (Desanctis & Janet, 1999). Organizational communication is critical in controlling behaviours of organization members. An organization is hierarchical and details principles and guidelines that employees must follow. The performance of the roles and responsibilities and attainment of goals within the organization is anchored in communication. The success of the organization’s strategies is closely tied to its communication structure. It is essential that managers communicate directly with the employees on matters concerning the organization’s goals, policies, vision, mission, and core values (Miller, 2009). Organizational communication is critical for managers in maintaining employee relations. Organizational communication is a critical component of socializing, and prompt propagation of information, as well as decisions within an organization (Ince & Gul, 2011). This centres on the premise that the manager cannot get work done by the employees unless there have been an effective communication of the task. This is because ineffective communication only breeds misunderstanding and misrepresentation of facts. Similarly, ineffective organizational communication shadows management-employee relations. Failure in organizational communication suffocates the flow of insights, fresh ideas, and fresh views on change. Employee motivation is not a single step process, but it incorporates a range of factors such as having a mission, knowing the employee well, and being aware of what motivates the employees (Jablin & Putnam, 2000). Similarly, the management should have a genuine concern for its employees by listening, fair treatment, and positive reinforcement. Managers should not block constructive criticism from the employees but should encourage upward feedback so as to capture the perception of the employees. The organization structure should be aligned with express feedback communication. Even though communication cannot be termed as the silver bullet for an organization’s success, it lays the basis for the establishment of organization components such as motivation, decision making, and organization structure. Organizational communication is critical for motivation and employee morale. Defective communication within an organization breeds persistent conflicts and low morale at work (Ince & Gul, 2011). Organizational communication plays a crucial role in changing people’s attitudes. The diffusion of information within organizations shapes the attitudes of managers and employees. This calls for clear communication between managers and employees on issues concerning what is to be done, the best way to do it, and ways of enhancing performance within the organization. Organizational communication has a role to play in diffusing the organization’s objectives. Organizational communication is also vital in enhancing the productivity within the organization. Seamless communication between employees and management contributes to job satisfaction in employees, which promotes productivity. Organizational communication is paramount in maintaining effective employee engagement within the organization, which enhances productivity (Gillis, 2011). Organizational communication avails a platform for sharing of fresh ideas from employees and implementing those resolutions. Organizational communication is critical to the enhancement of productivity within the organization. The construction of relationships and rapport is essential in organizations because an organization encompasses a cross-cultural environment. In today’s organization environment, competition for talent is a common feature. Organizational communication has become a strategic tool for employee engagement, satisfaction, and retention. Organizations attract and retain their valued workforce through effective communication (Tourish & Hargie, 2004). Another importance of organizational communication is handling uncertainty and perceptions, especially during organizational change. Similarly, organizational communication addresses employee change-related uncertainty. Employees within an organization look upon the management or supervisors in matters dwelling on implementation-related and job-relevant information. In addition, organizational communication is vital in rationalizing whereby the managers are expected to explain the reasons for instructions in a manner that employees can understand. This encompasses downward communication. Similarly, the employees should bring issues to the attention of management by employing vertical communication. Thus, the management and supervisors are made aware of the issues affecting the organization as a whole. Therefore, in the case that an employee identifies a problem within the place of work, the employee should communicate via upward communication to the management (Tourish & Hargie, 2004). In summary, organizational communication plays a fundamental function in affecting receiver knowledge or behaviour through directing, informing, regulating, socializing, and persuading. Similarly, organizational communication is essential in compliance-gaining, leading, motivating, and influencing members within the organization (Witherspoon, 1997). In addition, organizational communication is central in sense-making, problem solving, and decision making between all the parties. Organizational communication plays a central role in tabling of problems and brainstorming of prospective responses as well as finalizing of solutions. Lastly, organizational communication is decisive in conflict management, negotiation, and bargaining between employees, management, and clients (Ince & Gul, 2011). Conflict within an organization can result to the loss of talented employees, lodging of grievances, and perhaps lawsuits. Hence, organizational communication has a critical role in managing conflict by inviting stakeholders together to iron out their differences in a secure environment. Issues Involved for Managers in Creating Effective Organizational Communication Communication is only fruitful if the messages sent by the sender are interpreted with the same meaning by the receiver. Thus, managers should be wary of noise or disturbances that may distort the meaning of the sent messages. Noise can block any step of the communication process and managers should locate the sources of the barriers to effective communication and make an effort to rectify (Jablin & Putnam, 2000). Managers should possess outstanding communication skills and invest in effective communication systems. Effective communication within an organization dictates four components interworking to yield a shared meaning. The sender of the message must encode the message clearly, authentically, and in detail. The receiver of the message, on the other hand, must be keen to receive the message succinctly. The mode of delivery of the message also affects its effectiveness. The delivery of the message must conform to the context and the goals of both the encoder and decoder of the message (Gillis, 2011). The content of the message must also resonate and connect to the beliefs that the receiver holds in order to avoid conflict of meanings. Barriers to Communication One of the prominent barriers to effective communication is perceptual language differences. Perception entails how an individual interprets the world around him or her. Every person pursues to receive messages that are significant to them and which conform to their set of values. Thus, messages that contradict a person’s world view are mainly misinterpreted or at worse ignored (Tourish & Hargie, 2004). An event may be interpreted differently by various individuals depending on how they perceive it. Linguistic or semantic differences also contribute to communication breakdown. This arises from the fact that a word may have different meanings to various individuals. Communication barrier stems from the sender or receiver having a wrong perception. The second barrier to effective communication stems from information overload. Both managers and employees are surrounded by a pool of information coming from various sides. Managers and employees are bombarded with upward, downward, and lateral communication all at the same time. It is vital that managers and employees alike control the information flow in order to avoid misinterpretation of the information (Shockley-Zalabak, 2006). Queuing of information is a grand strategy for avoiding information overload. The strategy also pre-empts overlooking of information. Inattention is another barrier to effective communication within an organization. Inattention to messages is aggravated by selective listening where one pays attention to some messages while ignoring others. Repetitive messages also contribute to inattention during the communication process. Managers and employees should cultivate a rich communication environment where the opinion of every person matters profoundly (Spaho, 2011). Time pressure is another barrier to effective communication within the organization. In most instances, individuals within the organization are confronted by deadlines with which they must abide. In order to beat the deadlines, the formal structures of communication may be shortened, or the messages may be partially given. Incomplete messages are a barrier to effective communication (Desanctis & Janet, 1999). Other barriers to effective communication include emotional states and poor retention, especially when receiving information. The prevalent emotional state of a person has an immense bearing on interpretation of the message. Moreover, the intricacy of the organizational structure affects effective communication within an organization (Shockley-Zalabak, 2006). The hierarchical an organizational structure is, the higher the chance of distortion of information as it seeps through the hierarchies. The interrelationships between various tiers of the organization structure have a tremendous bearing on interpretation of messages within the organization and may be a source of communication breakdown. In order to minimize barriers to effective communication, managers should construct a communication plan that guarantees that all parties within the organization communicate consistently, regularly, and through diverse channels of communication such as oral, writing, bulletin boards, and intranets. Communication within the organization should be proactive rather than reactionary. Another prominent issue that managers should pay attention to revolves around communication skills. Management practice should incorporate the value of communication skills (Witherspoon, 1997). Thus, the employees ought to pay attention to the presentation of information related to the organization’s mission and goals. Effective communication is critical to teamwork. Both managers and employees should establish expectations of communication with each other in order to streamline responses. For effective communication, managers should set an organization climate that ensures standards of the messages relayed between members of an organization are of high quality. Ambiguous messages should be avoided at all costs (Spaho, 2011). Managers should ensure that the communication is kept short and straightforward to avoid misinterpretation. The organizational climate should promote trust, openness, reinforcement of reliable communication practices, and shared responsibility of maintaining effective communication. Conclusion Concise, consistent, and honest communication is a significant management tool for the effective running of an organization. Strategic and up-to-date communication lends credibility to an organization’s leadership and enhances the effectiveness of the communication process. Any failure in an organizational communication policy only breeds distrust, frustration, scepticism, pessimism, and unnecessary turn over. Effective communication within an organization is essential for bringing awareness to opportunities for growth within the organization. Communication is at the centre of organizational performance; managers and employees should be committed to fostering effective communication within all levels of the organization. Organizational communication is critical to the sustainability of the organization, and efforts should be expensed to harness the power of communication. References Desanctis, G. & Janet, F. (1999). 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Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Spaho, K. (2011). Organizational communication as an important factor of company success: Case study of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Business Intelligence Journal, 4 (2), 390-393. Tourish, D. & Hargie, O. (2004). Key issues in organizational communication. New York, NY: Routledge. Witherspoon, P.D. (1997). Communication leadership: An organization perspective. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Read More