The Dominant Challenges in Organizational Communication - Essay Example

Human Resource Management and Labor Relations Organizational communication has a great impact on organizational performance and culture, productivityand effective management. Communication is context dependent and draws on many social sources of meaning other than the content of a given message or series of messages. In many cases, communication is affected by internal and external environment, by the nature of the task, and by tech­nology. Organizational communication is influenced by cultural context and differs in domestic and global companies. The Dominant Challenges in Organizational Communication Organizational communication is defined as “the pattern of communication between groups and individuals in the organization” (Organizational Communication 2007). The main challenges faced by domestic and global companies involve the challenge become more efficient or competitive, to overcome diversity and cultural differences, to introduce effective culture and good morale, organizational structure and change. In home country, difficulties in communication can arise with produc­tion systems where workers are stationed continuously at a particular point with limited freedom of movement. Even when opportunities exist for interaction with colleagues, physical conditions may limit effective commu­nication. Communication has an impact of organizational structure which is on the surface the elements or patterns of rules, and social relations (encounters and face to face co-presence) are articulated by discourse and ideology. Rather than being dependent upon information, organizational communication is embedded in trust. Surface relations must be seen in terms of a deeper code or structure that makes sense of the often conflicting surface events. An environment from which communication flows is interpreted and constructed, regardless of the networks from which the communication emerges or arises (dense, close, loose, tight, redundant, etc) (Campbell 45). In a global context, workforce diversity has a tremendous impact on communication and relations between employees. All employees come from different cultural and social environment; they have different social statuses and class location, different religious beliefs and belong to different cultures. Differences are bound to exist, due simply to the physical characteristics of the employees, such as sex, nation race (Gesteland 76). These differences create a certain tension between employees which requires special intervention actions of HR department to manage workforce diversity. The main challenges in communication involve cultural and language differences. Although the model identifies culture as a central construct, it is essentially an interpersonal model of communication. From the intercultural perspective, issues related to cultural diversity in police have to do with the problems people in organizations have in communicating with one another, with the different meanings they bring to organizational discourse. The locus of change is placed in people and their relationships with one another (Campbell 52). That perspective glosses over organizational policies and practices that exclude people who are different, and the power differentials within the organization and the larger culture that perpetuate those policies and practices. Cross cultural communication may be defined as that part of business action that is socially as opposed to genetically transmitted. It comprises ideas through which managers perceive and interpret the world, symbols they use to communicate these ideas, and institutions which enable individuals to become socialized and satisfy their needs. Cross cultural communication should distinguish in three layers of culture. At its most visible it represents those artefacts and goods that most readily distinguish one culture from another, such as architecture, food, ceremonies and language. At a deeper level it comprises their notions of right and wrong, their norms, and their notions about what is good and bad, their values (Gesteland 87). These variables shape the values and hence the behavior of people operating in work organizations and enable us to explain differences in the way different countries conduct their business affairs. Much of man­agement behavior is culturally determined and that the key to suc­cessful international management lies in the understanding of these cultural differences (Gesteland 82). It is possible to singles out an anthropological approach and attempts to examine cultural differences in the way managers relate to others, in their attitudes to time and in their attitudes to the environment. Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication Within the organizational context, verbal and non-verbal communication influences leadership, management, problem-solving and decision-making. Language, the underpinning of verbal communication, allows leaders to assign meaning to things. As employees assimilate into the organization, they create individual realities based on language, so they can predict and control own behavior. Leaders are forced to decipher from a variety of clues what messages mean and which messages are important. As such, verbal communication provides the written and unwritten, spoken and unspoken rules and procedures. These lead to a common purpose, or a set of ground rules, which constitute the process of organizing the various subsystems (Senior 15). Processing of information means that data are chunked, coded, organized mentally in narrative and tales, formatted within by organizationally sanctioned forms and means, and made symbolic. In short, raw data become encoded cultural materials within organizations. The material constraints are reflected in organizational discourse and not the other way around. Not only is verbal communication used to motivate, it also is used to predict, control, manage, coordinate, and perpetuate organizations (Senior 18). Managers must define for other employees exactly what is expected of them in a given situation and the various means of verbal communication provide an excellent avenue. Moving from connotative to denotative language is encouraged as a means to avoid emotionally charged words. Organizations carefully consider the impact of their written communication when it concerns policy and personnel actions. Written communication is critical to contracts, job descriptions, business plans, work rules, recommendations, resumes, reports, and many other activities. The functions of verbal communication need to be considered before we develop a further understanding of how it operates in an organization (Campbell 89). Written messages have numerous organizational functions. A partial list includes corporate goals and values, short- and long-range plans, job descriptions, work orders, announcements, bulletins, informal notes, house magazines and organs, annual reports, handbooks, procedures, official guidelines, regulations, codes, contracts, performance appraisals, and meeting agenda and minutes. Written job descriptions can help employees understand the goals of organization leadership behaviors are pivotal to effective change management. The relationship between leadership behaviors and organizational success is well documented (Knapp and Vangelisti 37). Leaders are the driving force behind, and the heart of, the change process. Stories about the various actions taken by successful leaders are repeated within the organization and often create a standard of excellence for other organizational members to follow. Because leaders control the resources, the communication opportunities, and the goal-setting mechanisms, their behaviors have a critical impact on change efforts. Communication affects decision-making and influences a problem-solving process. On the one hand, ineffective communication has a negative impact on decision-making leading to misunderstanding and mistakes. In its term, decision-making has a great influence on effective teamwork, because it involves some degree of participation. Firstly, team decision-making uses an overlapping form of structure. Individuals known as linking-pins are members not only of their own team but also of the next superior team and, where appropriate, of peer teams (Knapp and Vangelisti 39). This enables each team to be linked to the rest of the organization which resulted in high efficiency and effectiveness of a particular team. On the other hand, decision-making relies heavily on group processes (scheduling), and discussions focus on the decisions to be made. With the team method of decision-making the superior is held responsible for the quality and implementation of decisions. The superior is also responsible for developing subordinates into an effective team. Communication involves the isolation of management functions most directly concerned with the achievement of objectives and the identification of main decision areas or sub-systems. Usually, management emphasizes the need for good information and channels of communication in order to assist effective decision making in it. A type of communication helps to account for variations among organizations and managers. This type helps to reduce complexity and uncertainly. It pro­vides a consistency in outlook and values, and makes possible the processes of decision making, co-ordination and control (Senior 69). The people-centered approach to management seems often to be lacking in practice. Too many managers appear to attempt to manage through the use of rules, systems, procedures and paperwork, rather than with and through people. Oral communication is used in practically any activity requiring coordination. For example, interviewing, delegating, meetings, performance appraisals, giving and receiving orders, public statements, and instructing are primarily verbal. The telephone, and the telecommunications industry, are extending oral communication to virtually every aspect of organizational behavior (Knapp and Vangelisti 52). The less formal oral communication behaviors are just as important and include "howdy" comments, break time, and the ritualizing of particular informal, but expected behaviors. Organizations have rich oral traditions surrounding events that have happened in the past, which are passed from work group to work group and form a substantial body of the known and commonly accepted data. Leaders focus on innovation, change, and dealing with turbulence whereas managers create stability, harmony, and constancy. A survey of 90 successful corporate and public leaders found that managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right things. Effective leaders are able to understand the organizations needs and adapt their individual style to facilitate change. Because there is a difference between controlling and changing, there are a large number of actions by organizational leaders that have come under increased attack for diminishing growth, team development, and company loyalty. Traditional managerial behaviors often are seen as roadblocks to effective change. Too often, managers act in ways counterproductive to facilitating change. Although everyone believes that organizations need leadership, most individuals act as managers (LaFasto and Larsen 48). Staff relationships has a great influence on the decision making process. Persons in a staff position have no direct authority in their own right but act as an extension of their superior and exercise only representative authority. There is no direct relationship between the personal assistant and other staff except where delegated authority and responsibility has been given for some specific activity (LaFasto and Larsen 73). This may be partially because of the close relationship between the personal assistant and the superior, and partially dependent upon the knowledge and experience of the assistant, and the strength of the assistants own personality. Successful management lies in responding to internal and external change. This involves the clarification of objectives, the specification of problems, and the search for and implementation of solutions. The Concepts and Practices of Communication Organizations cannot evolve and sustain themselves without the support of their larger environments. The main concepts of communication involve vertical, horizontal and diagonal communication. The environment is a source of critical resources: raw materials, human resources, energy, and information. Diagonal method of communication has an important influence on the morale, motivation, job satisfaction and performance of staff. It can provide members with greater opportunity to use their initiative and creativity in both personal and organizational development. In a process-based organization there are designated functions at individual, group and organizational level. But the emphasis should be on how these areas work together on multi-functional projects to deal with new demands. Communication among members of a team is influenced by successful or unsuccessful decision-making process, because it involves full discussion and participation (LaFasto and Larsen 74). This appears to work best where a high level of interaction is required among all members of the group in order to solve complex problems. Leadership predictability has less impact on team effectiveness than the process of collective decision-making which proposes a fairly high level of satisfac­tion for members. In this case, team effectiveness is concerned with doing the right things and relates to what the team actually achieves. “Vertical communication occurs between hierarchically positioned persons and can involve both downward and upward communication flows” (Baker 2002). Horizontal communication takes place between employees and peers groups within the organization. Natural work groups live a long time, in contrast of project groups. In contrast, matrix or project groups are more flexible and adaptable aimed to achieve communication objec­tives. In general, matrix organization attempts to merge traditional line authority for decision making with a project-orientated, multi-disciplinary, team-based approach. Members of the project group agree to accept the authority of the project manager for the duration of the project. “Diagonal communication refers to communication between managers and workers located in different functional divisions. Although both vertical and horizontal communication continue to be important, these terms no longer adequately capture communication needs and flows in most modern organizations” (Baker 2002). With the increasing technization of work, the use of new communication technology in the form of lateral flow of communication between employees is becoming more important. Distinguishing between technical and managerial employees, it has been found that in settings that use communication technology extensively, 70 % of total information exchange for technical employees was lateral, while only 34 % was lateral for managerial employees (Campbell 51). When employing asynchronous communication technology, electronic mail rather than voice mail was used. The preference for the telephone for lateral departmental and extra departmental communication for all types of employees seems to indicate that conveying social (context-related) information is just as important as substantive (content-related) information when people communicate laterally. The superiority of the telephone over asynchronous communication technology for conveying social information may outweigh the convenience of asynchronous technology when crossing a unit’s boundaries. When people are further away physically and across time, however, the tendency towards asynchronous communication technology is expected to increase. As organizations become flatter, customer-focused and dynamic, effective organizational information processing requires the creation of lateral relations – the ability to convey information beyond the confines of the hierarchy. Relatively few studies have dealt specifically with the lateral complexity of organizations. Modern communication technologies, by strengthening the informal communication process in organizations, contribute directly to the creation of lateral relations. This is so because lateral relations, by definition, require the ability to cut across the formal organizational structure based on the ability to exceed the space–time boundary (Campbell 45). Organizations vary in their degree of formalizing communication. Although informal, horizontal communication flow has always existed within organizations, researchers and managers have started more recently to emphasize their importance. The notion of formality that people experience can be seen in terms of (i) directionality of information exchange; (ii) involvement in the exchange (number of communication linkages); and (iii) degree of control over the situation (participation in decision-making). Directionality refers to the organizational area the communication situation entails; involvement pertains to the number of communication linkages; and control makes reference to the degree to which communicators can exert influence on others in a given decision-making situation. Together these three factors determine the formality of information exchange within organizations. It is possible to distinguish formal and informal communication. Teams will jointly consider ways of responding to public (society) requirements. Quality and continuous improvement will be regarded as a common responsibility shared between employees of different ranks from each function. The overriding objective will be to maintain a smooth flow of work between functions and to achieve synergy by pooling resources from different functions in task forces. Small groups are the cornerstone of organized behavior, operate at all levels of an organization, and play a major role in informal and formal activities and communication (Baker 2002). Nonverbal communication has little or no formal structure, it does have a natural set of rules which are recognized through cultural norms. Second, verbal communication is confined to the use of language. Nonverbal communication, then, is any part of communication that does not use words. For the sake of analysis, this is a useful division. There are nonverbal behaviors that stand by themselves, such as a hitchhikers thumb, but most nonverbal communication occurs in conjunction with some verbal act (Hall and Gay 26). At group level, task ordering, involves cognitive meaning, which focuses on either/or choices. At this level, when given instructions, team (group) members either follow them, or not; or comprehend them or not. In many ways, group communication involves level of meaning. For instance, in human service organizations, group work is designed to meet the needs of particular groups of clients in order to solve complex problems they face with. If a group is to be successful and perform effectively there must be a spirit of unity and co-operation, which can be achieved through scheduling and decision-making. In this case, group work based on cooperation becomes the main tool helping both the client and the agent to achieve the goals (Hall and Gay 23). Usually, the most con­sistently successful groups comprise a range of roles undertaken by various members. Employees may not always follow the recommendations of top management, and therefore the employment of communication technology may lead to unintended results. In addition, users may decide to employ the communication technology in ways not intended by either the designers or the technology itself. Thus communication technology and organizational design have a reciprocal influence (Baker 48). In sum, communication depends on the environment and organizational settings. Management usually invests in communication with a specific purpose in mind – for example, to increase organizational efficiency. Users and designers also play a critical role in the adoption process. Therefore, the outcome may not necessarily correspond with the intentions of management. Using effective verbal and non-verbal communication patterns managers have a highly developed sense of people per­ception, and understand the feelings of staff, and their needs and expectations. It is people who are being managed and people should be considered in human terms. Works Cited 1. Baker, K. Organizational Communication. Chapter 13. 2002. 2. Campbell, D.J. Organizations and the Business Environment. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 1997. 3. Gesteland, R. Cross-Cultural Business and Behavior 2nd edn. Copenhagen Copenhagen Business School Press, 1999. 4. Hall, S., Gay, P.D. Questions of Cultural Identity. SAGE Publications Ltd, 1996. 5. Knapp, M.L. Vangelisti, A. Interpersonal Communication and Human Relationships. Allyn & Bacon; 5 edn, 2004. 6. LaFasto, F., Larsen, C. When Teams Work Best. Sage Publications, 2001. 7. Organizational Communication. 2007. 8. Senior, Barbara. Organizational Change. Capstone Publishing, 1999. Read More