The Importance of Effective Communication - Assignment Example

Presented by Name Presented To Lecturer Institution Topic Date Communication and Organizations: Course Portfolio Introduction: Organization communication helps in ensuring business success, promoting human relations within organizations and shielding organizations from troublesome situations. The modern business requires that workers should not work in total isolation. Instead, they associate with one another as well as with customers. Managers and leaders communicate roles and directions to employees while employees communicate work decisions to the leaders. Therefore, communication is a paramount element in organizational practice, which organizations must give the highest value. A literature review on communication establishes three main types of organization communication: downward, upward, and horizontal communication. A case study at the end of the essay stresses on the importance of organizational communication in shielding organizations from problems. Many problems in organizations stem from poor or badly executed communication, which is why communication should be more highly valued at all, levels of an organization, particularly by the leaders of, and within organizations. In organizations, communication encompasses all means, formal and informal, by which an organization passes information within and outside organizational premises. This involves the passage of information upwards (from managers to employees), downwards (from employees to managers), and across (from managers to managers or from employees to employees) within the organization (Cutlip, Centre, and Broom, p 208). The different modes of communicating within organizations are used to convey official information from and within managers to employees. In addition, these communication modes are used to convey rumors and hearsay, which are dangerous for the success of the organization. It is evident, therefore, that many problems in organizations stem from poor or badly executed communication. Accordingly, any business organization should strive towards channeling these myriad communications in order to create an affective knowledge sharing within the organization, enhance customer relations, improve employee satisfaction, and ensure enhanced competitiveness of the organization. This calls for communication valuation all levels of an organization, particularly by the leaders of, and within organizations. According to Deetz (p 5), internal communications within organizations are twofold. First, internal communication can be viewed as a phenomenon existing within organizations. Under this approach of organizational communication, the organization acts as a container, which gives room for internal communication to take place. Secondly, internal organization communication can be viewed as a means that describes an organization. This approach views communication as central towards information sharing, creation of relationships, and establishment of organizational culture and values. This process, which forms the basis of contemporary organizations, combines people, practices, messages, purpose, and meaning (D’Aprix, p 227-239) Importance of communication in the operation and success of organizations: Effective communication is paramount in the contemporary business. Rarely will you find an employee, or a group of employees working in total isolation? Instead, you will find that workers will interact with their colleagues, management, and clients as they carry out their duties. Accordingly, interpersonal communications skills are paramount, along with problem solving and critical thinking skills towards the completion of job tasks (Un ange passé, p 3). According to Harris and Nelson (p 362), communication is among the main and crucial activities within a contemporary organization. First, communication forms the basis for the growth of relationships within organizations. Therefore, communication dictates the survival and functioning of organizations since the two crucial aspects mainly rely on individual and group relationships within organizations. Jones et al. (P 722-750) adds that, through communications, individuals and groups within organizations coordinate their activities towards achieving common goals. Based on this role, communication is paramount to the process of problem solving, decision making, socialization, and management/leadership. Through internal communication, employees get crucial information pertaining to their jobs, their colleagues, their company, and their environment. For example, consider an organization where internal communication is not well established, and the organization wishes to merge with another company. Merging would most probably imply that the method and style of management will change. In addition, since many companies merge to reduce operating expenses, some employees will lose their positions. Failure to communicate this intention to the employees, due to poor internal communication, will imply that the employees will not know about their company and their jobs. This may have serious drawbacks especially when employees are caught unaware. Further, communication helps in employee motivation. It also helps employees to build trust in their organization, which creates shared identity with the organization and spurs employee engagement in organizational activities, even those beyond their job prescription. For example, motivated employees will like to be associated with their organizations and would make every effort in defending their organizations. For instance, when the organization wishes to conduct a social activity such as town cleaning, the employees will readily contribute to such activities even though they are not obligated to do so. It is through communication that employees manage to express their emotions, views and grievances effectively. In addition, effective communication within organizations enables employees to share their hopes and ambitions also to celebrate what they have accomplished. Effective communication within organizations serves as the basis for individuals and groups within the organizations to understand their entire organizations in as far as the structure of their organizations. Literature review: Literature review into the statement under considerations reveals that there are different variables that affect effective communication within organizations. Consequently, these factors result into lack of communication or ineffective communication being accomplished. In general, these factors are considered barriers to communication or barriers to effective communication within organizations. In general, communication involves the flow and exchange of information and ideas between two people (Palazzolo). Therefore, successful transmission of the message is determined by the ability to have an effective and efficient communication. This is when the sender chooses the right message to convey and the right method of the conveying the message. On the other hand, the receiver perceives the message in the intended form and understands the contents of the message. The early models of communication concentrated on the efficiency of transmitting the message (Fiske, p 6). An example of such models includes the Shannon and Weaver model developed in 1994 (Fiske, p 6). These models considered that a noise in the message as unwanted message that only served to affect the efficiency of transmitting the intended message. Figure 1: example of Shannon and Weaver Model of organization communication This is a straightforward model that served to determine the efficiency of radio waves and telephone cables. Many researchers have developed numerous theories on the different factors affecting the relationship between the transmitter and the receiver. According to Hall (p 163), “both individual and organizational factors contribute to communication problems.” These problems include omission of message parts, distortion of the message, and message overload. Hall (p 164-165) gives the individual human as well as organizational factors that affect the communication within organizations. Individual human factors include the motive, attitudes, beliefs, values, experience and knowledge of individuals involved in an information process. Organizational factors include the size of the message, its structure and complexity as well as the sophistication of the technology used in the communication process. Downward communication involves the transfer of information from high authority posts in an organization to those of lower positions. This form of communication is typical in the conveyance of information regarding policies, job instructions, and goals among others. According to Downs and Adrian (p 54), a discrepancy exists in organizations in that “what the management considers fit for knowledge by the employees is not what the employees need or desire to know.” Euster (p 25) gives a basic difference between the traditional and the contemporary management styles. The traditional styles concentrated more on downward communication than upward comunication. This was based on the hierarchy nature of organizational structures. On the other hand, organizations in the modern world are embracing participative styles of management, which call for open communication within organizations. Open communication environments contain the three dimensions of communication flow; downward, upward, and lateral flow of information. Upward communication involves information moving from low level workers to their bosses. It is typical to the conveyance of information regarding employee concerns, suggestions, and operational issues among others. Several authors point out that this information flow is deficient in many organizations taking into considerations the possible consequences of upward communication. According to Hall (p 170), “people are less likely to pass information upwards if it appears to be harmful to them or to their peers.” According to Downs and Adrian (p 55), this results into the subordinates “filtering” the information contained in communication for protection purposes and to maintain the trust the managers put on them. However, upward communication is known to have numerous benefits on organizations in that it facilitates decision making process and learning in organizations (Tourish and Hargie, p 189-190). Stevens (p 33) gives an outline of the barriers to upward organization communication. These include management style, organizational philosophy, organizational structure, the people within the organization, and the failure to act swiftly to upward communication. Nevertheless, upward communication is extremely efficient in improving employee satisfaction and organizational overall performance (Downs and Adrian, p 55). Finally, horizontal communication involves the flow of information among people occupying the same level in an organization. It is mostly used when colleagues in an organization share information and ideas. According to Downs and Adrian (p 55) this organization communication is informal unlike the previous two types of organization communications. According to Stevens (p 43), “the most effective means of solving organizational problems are the one that allows for lateral communication.” This facilitates joint efforts in solving organizational problems. Despite its importance in organizational operations, measuring communication effectiveness is a considerable challenge yet crucial undertaking. This difficulty arises from the nature of communication as process instead of being a variable (Roberts and O’Reilly, p 321). However, researchers have come up with tools for assessing organization communication, such as the International Communication Association (ICA). These tools have played a crucial role in providing a standardized assessment of communications in different organizations under different setups. Organization communication: Case Study The case study outlined in this section serves to explain how badly executed communication can cause many problems in organizations. The case study also serves to stress on the importance of upholding high level communication, especially by organizational leaders. According to Spaho (2011), organization communication paves way for human relations. In addition, effective communication is paramount to success in business activities (Spaho, p 392). According to Spaho (p 392), employers, in Croatia, are obliged to communicate to their employees about the status of the companies at least two times in a year. This is done through informing workers’ trade unions. This does not, however, apply to all countries since Herzegovina and Bosnia governments do not impose such obligations (Spaho, p 392). The case is about an Engineering company based in Bosnia, where communication between company management and trade unions was not effective. The economic downturn looming around the world is affecting many companies. As a result, companies are forced to make tough and painful decisions. This engineering company, due to the reduced number of contracts and income, made a decision reduce its workforce by 15 percent. 5 percent of the reduction would come from part-time employees while the rest from full time employees. The company management had strategized to accomplish this reduction by the year 2012, which would save the company from over $ 20 million a year on labor. The company management did not communicate this strategic plan to the trade unions. Therefore, the trade unions and the employees were not prepared for the decision. The plan was supposed to kick off on first January 2010 when the company would lay off 1000 employees along its supply chain. The company managed to lay off 800 employees, who were caught unaware. It was barely two months later had the employees, through their main trade union, filed a case against the company’s decision. The court took one year to rule the case, the ruling being that the company should reconsider its decision and reinstate all the 800 employees. In addition, the company was forced to compensate the employees for possible damages arising from the decision. The company ended up undergoing more losses that it had objected. Conclusion: From the literature review and case study presented above, the importance of effective communication cannot be underestimated. It is clear that no organization can operate without effective communication. This is especially the case in the contemporary world of business where competition for resources and the market is on the increase. There are three main types of communication that a company can employ. Downward communication involves information flow from management to the employees while upward communication involves information flow from employees to management. On the other hand, horizontal communication involves flow of information along members of the same level. Each of the three types of organization communication has its own barriers. In many instances, all the three forms of communication take place within a single organization. From the case study, it is evident that organization communication is not only essential in ensuring human relations and business success but also in avoiding troublesome circumstances. If the engineering company had considered communicating its strategic decision to the trade unions, it would have shielded itself from the penalties imposed by the court. Most probably, the company management, together with trade unions, would have come up with better decisions, such as reducing workers’ salaries until economic conditions are okay or until retirement reduces workforce naturally. Cited Works Cutlip, S, M, Center, A, H, and Broom, G, M., Effective Public Relations, 9th Edition. UpperSaddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006.  D’Aprix, R, Throwing Rocks at the Corporate Rhinoceros: The Challenges of Employee Engagement. In T. L. Gillis (Ed.), the IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 2006, p 227-239. Deetz, S, Conceptual Foundations. In F. M. Jablin & L. L. Putnam (Eds.), The New Handbook of Organizational Communication: Advances in Theory, Research and Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2001, p 3-46. Downs, C, W, and Adrian, A, D, Assessing Organizational Communication: Strategic Communication Audit. New York: The Guildford Press, 2004. Euster, J, Changing Patterns in internal Communication in Large Academic Libraries. Occasional Paper Number 6, 1981, p 25. Fiske, J, Introduction to Communication Studies, 2nd Edition. London: Routledge, 1990. Hall, R, H, Organizations: Structures, Processes, and Outcomes, 8th Edition. London: Pearson Education Ltd, 2002. Harris, T, E, and Nelson, M, D, Applied Organizational Communication: Theory and Practice in a Global Environment. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2008. Jones, E, Watson, B, Gardner, J, and Gallois, C, Organizational Communication: Challenges for the New Century. Journal of Communication, Volume 54 (4), 2004, p 722-750. Palazzolo, S, Influential Communication. 2008. Retrieved from on Tuesday, November 08, 2011 Roberts, K, and O’Reilly, C, Measuring Organizational Communication. Journal of Applied Psychology, Volume 59 (3), 1974, p. 321-326. Spaho, K, Organizational Communication as Important Factor of Company Success: A Case Study of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Business Intelligence Journal. Volume 4 (2), 2011, p 390-394. Stevens, N, D, Communication throughout Libraries. New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1983. Tourish, D, and Hargie, O, Communication in the NHSL using Qualitative Approaches to Analyze Effectiveness Journal of Management in Medicine, Volume 10 (5), 1996 p 38‐54. Un ange passé, Angel, Mastering Interpersonal Communication Skills. 2008. Retrieved from: on Thursday, November 10, 2011. Read More