Organizational communication
Discuss About The Embarrassments In Managerial Communication.
Effective communication is one of the major factors in the current business scenario that determines the effectiveness of the contemporary business organizations. This is due to the reason that current business organizations are having huge number of stakeholders and departments and thus they are in the need of effective communication process in order to connect with each and every stakeholder effectively (Abu Bakar and Su Mustaffa, p. 109).
This report will discuss about the different channels of organizational communication along with the different tactics of organizational communication available. The information for the report is gathered from the secondary resources for further analysis. In addition, the difficulties that may be faced by the business organizations from the certain communication channels along with from certain tactics of the organizational communication will also be discussed and critically evaluated in this report.
Organizational communication is the process of initiation of the communication, network and connectivity among the different organizational stakeholders. It is important due to the reason that effectiveness of the organizational communication determines the connectivity and relationship between the different organizational stakeholders (Christensen and Cornelissen 2013, p. 72). There are mainly two types of organizational channels available that will be discussed in the following sections.
Communication channel refers to the medium through which the subject of particular communication process is being transmitted (Sakai et al., p. 3). Thus, effectiveness and efficiency of the communication channel will determine the flow and quality of the entre process of communication. The following sections will discuss about the types of communication channel.
Formal communication channel refers to the official mode of communication process, which involves formal rules and regulations. Thus, in this case, the stakeholders involved in the communication process are responsible to use official tone, words and languages along with maintaining the formal structure. However, there are number of advantages and disadvantages to be faced from the initiation of the formal communication channel. According to Tenhiala and Salvador (2014), one of the major advantages of initiating the formal mode or channel of communication is the lack of glitch in the process. This is due to the reason that according to the Accounting, formal communication channel involves more rules and regulations to be followed by the involved stakeholders. Thus, the probability of origination of glitch in the process is less compared to other mode of communication.
Communication channel
However, in this article the authors have no discussed about the possibility of having glitch in the formal communication channel also. This is due to the reason that in the case of the formal communication channel, huge involvement of the rules and regulations sometime causes issues and barriers in the communication process due to the reason that the core subject sometimes gets diluted with following much regulations and restrictions. However, these issues are not being discussed by the authors.
Information communication channel refers to the more casual approach of communication process. This is mainly initiated among the peers and is largely considered as non official. However, informal communication process is being initiated in the organizations also, only between the same hierarchical levels. According to Verma (2013), one of the major advantages that can be gained from the initiation of the informal type of communication channel is the speed of the transmission of the message. This is due to the reason that in case of the informal communication channel, less rules, regulations and restrictions are being involved. In addition, the author has also stated that in the case of informal communication channel, fewer intermediaries are involved in the process and thus the message can swiftly transmit to the target stakeholder. Thus, as per the authors, this is one of the major advantages for the informal type of communication channel.
However, in this case also, one of the major questions left unanswered. This is the probability of the having speed of communication in the formal type of communication channel. This is due to the reason that in some cases the speed of the communication in the informal channel of communication get restricted due to the presence of unreliable and unauthentic mediums. On the other hand, formal communication channel always follows the reliable and authentic mediums, which helps in having more speed in the communication process. Thus, this can be treated as one of the major gas in this article.
There are number of communication strategies being used in the contemporary business organizations based on their situations. There major three communicating tactics are upward, downward and horizontal. The following sections will critically discuss about these three tactics.
Upward communication refers to the bottom up approach of communication in the organizations. This denotes that communication flow mainly transmits from the lower hierarchical level to the upper hierarchical level. Thus, the feedback from the employees gets effectively communicated to the upper level of the communication. According to Koc (2013), initiation of the upward communication helps in having motivated and engaged employees in the organizations. This is due to the reason that with help of the upward communication tactics, lower level employees will have the option to transmit their feedback and opinion to the upper level of management. Thus, their issues and challenges will get properly communicated and can be mitigated effectively. According to the authors, this will lead to the enhancement of the level of motivation and engagement of the employees and increase in the organizational performance.
Formal communication channel
Downward communication refers to the top down approach of communication in the organizations that denotes that the communication flows from the upper level to the lower level. In this case, the communication of the upper level management only flows to the lower level employees and not vice versa. According to Spaho (2013), downward communicational tactic is mostly effective in the crisis management and conflict management in the organizations. This is due to the reason that in case of the downward communication, the vision of the upper level management gets effectively communicated to the lower level employees. In addition, it is also being stated by the author that initiation of the downward communicational tactic also helps in having more control over the organizational processes. Thus, in case of the organizational conflict, upper level management will have greater control over the employees and they can mitigate the challenges accordingly (Borca and Baesu 2014, p. 503).
Horizontal communication refers to the flow of communication between the same hierarchy levels. This flow of communication can be between the same upper level management or among the same lower level employees. This is also considered as one of the major tactics of communication due to the reason that it involves fewer restrictions and promotes more casual approach. According to Voinea, Busu, Opran and Vladutescu (2015), initiation of the horizontal tactic of communication enables the managers to gather information more effectively due to the reason that it involves less hierarchical barriers like the other two tactics. Thus, according to the authors, the effectiveness of this communication tactic is also more than the other two.
However, one of the major issues being identified in this article is that horizontal communication tactic cannot be considered as the most effective one due to the reason that it does not involve higher or lower hierarchy levels in the communication process. According to Mishra, Boynton and Mishra (2014), involvement of the employees in the organizational communication process is one of the most important factors to be considered. However, in the case of the horizontal communication, employees from the lower hierarchy level will not be involved and thus this tactic cannot be considered as the most effective.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded from the above discussion that communication process in the organization is very much depended on the organizational situation. This is due to the reason that all the communication channels and communication tactics are having various merits and demerits. Hence it is up to the particular organization to initiate the communication process on the basis of their demanded requirements and preferences. It can also be concluded that the effectiveness of the communication process can only be enhanced when it can be well aligned in line to the organizational requirements. The different communication tactics discussed in this report also having their own merits and demerits. Thus, it denotes that a particular communication strategy cannot be called effective over others due to the reason that they will have different outcome in different situations.
- It is recommended that organizational requirement should first get determined prior to the initiation of the communication strategy. This will ensure that communication strategy initiated will fulfill all the criterions desired by the organizations.
- It is also recommended that communication strategies should be flexible enough to change in accordance to the organizational demand and requirements. This will ensure that the current and latest communication strategies of the particular organization are applicable with the current and present external business situation.
- It is also to be ensured that communication strategy in the organization should cover all the associated stakeholders in order to have the maximum effectiveness.
Reference
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Voinea, D.V., Busu, O.V., Opran, E.R. and Vladutescu, S., 2015. Embarrassments in managerial communication. Polish Journal of Management Studies, 11.