Communication in an organization

Draft For Discussion Only

What is Communication?

The First One of the defining feature of Communication is the sharing of information with other people.

The second defining feature of communication is the reaching of a common understanding.

• What are the key barriers in Communication- sharing information between two or more common individuals or groups, in an organization?

The function of communicationThere are 4 important functions of communication:

Functionof

communication

Providing knowledgeabout company goals, howto perform a job, standards

for acceptable behavior,needed changes, and so on

Controlling and coordinatinggroup activities-for exampleby producing social loafting, communicating roles, rules, and morns, and avoidingduplication of effort.

Expressing feeling andemotions such as positiveand negative moods, excitement, and anger

Motivating organizational member- for example,by determining valences, raising expectancies and instrumentalities, assigningspecific and difficult goals, and giving feedback.

1-Providing knowledge Function

A basic function of communication is to give members of the organization the information they need to do their jobs effectively by providing knowledge about, for example, ways to perform tasks and the decisionthat have been made.

The importance of communication is most apparentwhen and employee has just stared a new job.

2-Motivating Organization Function

Motivation is a key determinant of performance in organization, and communication playd a central role in motivating members of an organization to achieve their goals.

The only way that a manager can determine the valence of difference outcome for any given employee is by talking andlistening to the employee to find out what the employees wants.

likewiswe, manager need to communicate with employees to assure them they are capable of performing at high levels and will be rewarded for doing so.

3-Controlling and coordinating group activities function

Group and organization exert control over their members by regularly communicating information about roles, rules, and norms to them. similarly, as the interdependence betweengroup members increases, the need for communication to coordinate their efforts in order to achieve group goals alsoincrease.

For example, communication can help to eliminate dublication of effort in a team and to prevent one poorly performaningmembers from keeping the other members from achieveing the group’s goals.

4-Expressing feeling and emotions function

One of the most importance function of communication is to allow people to express their feeling and emotions. The feelingand emotion can be general or specific and can orginate from inside or outside the workplace.

Often individuals and groups can better achieve their goals if they can communicate theirs moods to others.

The communication of moods and emotions helps organizational members understand each other, and when people understandeach other, they are better able to work together to perform well and achieve their goals.

Organizational Communication Network

It is an organization chart that summarize the formal reporting relationships in an organization reflect are type of organization communication network formal reporting relationships emerge from the chain of command established by an organization hierachy. Which subordinates report to a given supervisor to whom that supervisor reports, and so on, up and down the chain of command.

Simple Chart

Subordinate Subordinate Subordinate

Manager Manager Manager

Director

The Communication Process

Sender

Massage

Encoding Medium Decoding by receiver

Receiver

MassageEncodingDecoding by sender(now receiver) Medium

Noice

Feedback loop

The medium is the means of communication which an encoded massage is transmitted to a receiver.

Verbal communication: The sharing of information by means of words, either spoken or written.

Nonverbal communication: The sharing of information by means of facial expressions, body language, and mode of dress.

The receiver's attention is more likely to be gained if the sender uses a combination of institutionalized means using two or more sensory channels.

When applying the multi-medium/channel concept to real situations, you need to consider the three basic institutionalizedmeans and a minimum of two of the sensory channels, specifically sight and sound.

Endcoding is stanslating the information and maggage into

words,symbols or images that the recipient will understand.

For communication to be effective, the sender must

translate the massage into a form that the receiver can

understand.Jargon: specialized terminology or language that members of a group develop to aid communication among themselves. Massage Encoded with jargon can lead to effective communication when senders and receivers are member of the same occupation or profession, but if they are not in the same occupation or profession the use of jargon leads to ineffective communication.

Decoding: lastly, the receiver translates the words or symbols

into a concept or information that he or she can understand.

When massage are ambiguous, the recever may have difficulty with decoding.

Feedback loop in the communication process can be just as

important as the initial transmission of the massage because

it comfirm that the massage has been received and properly

understand.

Noice is anything that interferes with the communication

Process. Noice can include the use of jargon, poor hand

writting, a brokend answering machine, a heavy workload,

that prevents receiver from reading a written report, a

receiver bad mood resulting in the misintepretation of

a massge, or the operation of perceptual biases.

Barriers to Effective Communication

Filtering And Information DistortionFiltering And Information Distortion

Filtering occurs when senders withhold part of a message because they think the receiver does not need the information or will not want to receive it. (information)

Barriers toEffective

Communication

Filtering andInformationdistortion

Lack of orInappropriate

feedback

Poorlistening

Workforcediversity

Differences inCross-cultural

Linguistic styles

RumorsAnd the

grapevine

Information Distortion The change in meaning that occurs when a message travels through a series of different senders to a receiver.

Poor Listening is responsible for many communication problems in organizations. (Many

people enjoy talking more than they enjoy listening)

Lack of or inappropriate feedback

Sometimes communication breaks down because receivers either fail to provide feedback or provide feedback in an inappropriate manner.

In Cross-cultural communication difficulties such as these can be overcome by understanding cross-cultural differences in linguistic styles. Cross-cultural differences is also often helpful because these differences are often linked to differences in linguistic styles.

Differences In Cross-Cultural Linguistic style is a person’s characteristic way

of speaking including tone of voice, volume, speed.

Rumors and the grapevine

Rumors Unofficial information on topic that

are important or interesting to an organization’s members.

Managers can’t discount the power of the “grapevine” to spread rumors. Sometimes the rumors aren’t accurate. In other case, however, they provide legitimate. information to employees that managers could have provided.

Grapevine A set of informal communication pathways through which unofficial information flows.

Selecting an Appropriate Communication Medium

• Experience demonstrate that sharing information to reach a common understanding is often more difficult than it appears.

• Choosing the right communication medium for any given message can help ensure that a message is received and properly understood.

• We explore these issues and the implication of advances in information technology for communication in organization.

INFORMATION RICHNESS

• The amount of information they can carry and the extent to which they enable senders and receivers to reach a common understanding.

Face-to-Face Communication• Is the medium highest in information richness for at

least two reasons. The first that it provides the receiver not only with a verbal message but also with a nonverbal message conveyed by the sender’s body languages and facial expressions. The second receivers to give senders instant feedback.

Verbal Communication Electronically Transmitted Is electronically transmitted over telephone lines is the

communication medium next highest in information richness.

High Moderate Low

Face-to-facecommunication

Verbal CommunicationElectronicallytransmitted

PersonallyAddressed

Writtencommunication

ImpersonalWritten

communication

USING NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Recent advances in information technology (IT) not only have given members of organizations new ways to communicate with each other but also timely access to more information than ever before.

Despite these problems, IT has the potential to significantly reduce the costs of communicating information.

Intranets.• Communication information technology

advances such as the Internet have also dramatically altered the nature of communication in almost all organizations.

• Internet that provide file and data transfer together with electronic mail functions for millions of users around the world.

• IBM (International Business Machine) the largest Computer Company in the world, developed the first PC based on the Intel processor.

Characteristics of the senders

• As you might expect, messages are always more persuasive when they are sent form those people who are credible, meaning that the receiver that the sender is in a position to know what the appropriate objective is.

• People who are able to persuade others also often possess good speaking and listening skills.

Active Listening.• Is an important ingredient of persuasive

communication.• Active listeners pay attention not only to the

words that are being said.• Active listeners also try to show interest and

ask questions to solicit more information from the sender than perhaps he or she ever wanted to reveal.

Content of the Message.

• That is information and arguments it contains, is also a crucial ingredient in the communication process.

Method of Communication

• In general, face-to-face communication and telephone conversation offer the greatest facility for persuasive communication.

Characteristics of the Receiver

• What about the receiver?

• Because in any influence attempt a receiver upon replying becomes a sender, much of the preceding information applies to receivers, too.

Devil’s advocate

• A person willing to stand up and question the beliefs of more powerful people that a planned course of action is flawed.

Thank you.