Importance of Effective Communication in an Organisational Setting
The following essay aims to highlight the importance of effective communication in an organisational setting. An organisation comprise of employees, clients and stakeholders who belong from various cultural backgrounds. In order to achieve the expected performance level, in line with intercultural values and sensitivities, it is essential to recognise the communication style applicable in specific contexts (Baccarani & Bonfanti, 2015). The importance of verbal and non-verbal communication and active listening skills would be discussed in relation to inter-cultural communication. The communication network evident within an organisational structure is defined by various types, forms and functional competencies. The purpose of this essay is to iterate such types of communication network along with shedding light on the ethical aspects associated with it. In course of explaining such ethical communication, principles and misconception would be explained with the aid of relevant communication theories and models. Persuasion and public speaking are two such skills that are deeply related to developing effective communication. Such skills help an individual to gather the necessary competency required in a managerial designation (Young & Chen, 2013). The present essay would also be describing how these two skills help an individual to prepare himself or herself for addressing managerial and leadership roles in the future.
Communication refers to the process by which an individual conveys his or her intentions, opinions and also inhibition to another. In a professional or organisational sphere, effective communication is considered as a mandatory skill for delivering high performance responsibilities as well as an indicator for possessing managerial potential. Communication is a core aspect that determines the sustainability of an organisation and also, how effectively can strategies be formed to achieve organisational objectives. In an organisation, the purpose of communication is multi-fold. However, all of these purposes are singularly directed towards attaining organisational welfare. As opined by Ladegaard & Jenks, (2015), these purposes or objectives consist of the following:
Formulation and Execution of Organisational Plans: The vital component in the formulation of any plan consists of transfer of information. When the necessary information are gathered, the corresponding plan can be outlined and subsequently conveyed to the necessary sources for its implementation.
Counselling and Advising: In an organisation, situations may arise when an employee needs to be counselled about his or her way of delivering service or maintaining interpersonal relations within the organisation. Such advice or counselling can be either impersonal or professional and its flow can be both horizontal as well as vertical.
Types and Forms of Communication Networks
Co-ordinating and Encouraging Employee Co-operation: When all the departments in an organisation work in co-operation with each other it results in functions that are well coordinated and at par with organisational objectives.
Persuading: When an individual can efficiently influence others in an organisation with his or her attitude, behaviour, personality and domain knowledge, he or she is able to instil such beliefs within them by which they readily express their interest in carrying out a certain responsibility. This ability to convince others into doing something in order to achieve a larger purpose is referred to as persuasion. Persuasive skills are mostly used my leaders or managers within an organisation to get the responsibility discharged by their subordinates in certain ways.
Motivating Employees: Through exchange of valuable information, the manager as well as the subordinates are able to evaluate the need to undertake a certain responsibility in order to achieve organisational goals. These information are based on mutual respect and understanding and lead to mutual benefits when the goals are achieved.
Developing Industrial Relations: Industrial relations particularly signify the employee-management relationship which can be established harmoniously only through effective communication.
Warning and Notice: When employees violate any organisation rule or fail to abide by any mandatory compliance, the organisation issues a warning notice, which is a formal business communication, to impart that such activities are unacceptable within company grounds and would not be tolerated from the next instance.
Raising Morale: It consists of one of the core objectives of business communication. Morale is the positive spirit infused through discipline and confidence by an authority to its subordinates to make them feel that they are important assets in the organisation.
The above mentioned objectives of business communication are primarily achieved through exchange of information in verbal or non-verbal format. Non-verbal communication refers to the overall body language of the conveyor: his or her posture, appearance, facial expression, eye-contact and gestures (Neuliep, 2017). These are considered to be as important as verbal dialogue. Along with such non-verbal aspects, the tone and modulation of voce also determine how his or her message would be perceived by others. In a workplace, people communicate with each other throughout the day using one or more than one aspects of these two modes of communication. In a two-way communication, the sender’s intentions are revealed along with the embedded feelings which reflect directly on the importance laid by him or her on the context of the message. Such might either lead to excitement and enthusiasm among the audience or disgruntlement and chaos. The reaction solely depends on “what” and “how” the message was communicated.
Ethical Aspects of Communication
Communication between a sender and a receiver is essentially based on certain principles such as the need to communicate is a natural process that mostly arises from a certain context. The message communicated could be both intentional and unintentional and being so, at times, certain unwarranted messages get communicated to the receiver in some impulse. However, the process of communication is also irreversible in nature. Hence it is very important for the sender to assess the messages before transmitting or conveying those to the receiver. There are certain misconceptions associated with communication, the first and the foremost being that the meaning embedded within a message in a communication is always represented by words spoken or written (Oetzel, 2017). The reality is that meaning is also heavily dependent on the non-verbal modes used along with the verbal communication.
As stated by Mainiero & Jones, (2013), the principles of communication can be understood by means of various levels of communications such as Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Public and Intercultural. Intrapersonal communication refers to one’s communication with self. It generally signifies when an individual retrospects for the purpose of self-evaluation. Interpersonal communication happens when the he or she is in direct conversation or consultation with one or more individuals. The interior structure of an organisation is complex, formal and mostly centralised. The professional interpersonal communication, hence differs from those of personal. A communication occurs, in the first place, because either there is a need for production or maintenance consultation or the organisation wises to undertake an innovation project. Information in these cases generally flow vertically from top to bottom where the subordinates function as per the guidance communicated by their managers. These information are objective in nature and for the purpose of transmission and reception, the sending and the receiving parties are expected to be within a definite circle of physical or digital proximity. As criticized by Phutela, (2015), the message conveyed by the sender could be misinterpreted in those circumstances when the receiver is not subjected to the non-verbal cues of the communication. The sender is likely to influence the receiver’s behaviour, attitude and perception through his or her transmitted messages. Hence for the purpose of fulfilment in understanding, it is important that the receiver is subjected to the entire aspect of communication. Higher the level of self-awareness in an individual transmitting a message, more powerful is his or her interpersonal relational skill which maintains the authenticity of his or her association with the receiver and also serves to meet the individual needs. This forms the basis for Communication Competence.
Communication Principles and Misconceptions
As highlighted by Ladegaard & Jenks, (2015), Communication Competence is not only determined by the knowledge, performance and behavioural repertoire of the sender but also on his or her cultural background. To make the, management strategies more effective in this era of globalisation, it has become crucial on part of the managers to understand the importance of effective intercultural communication and proactively engage in promoting a diversified workforce culture within the industry. An advice, by the manager to employees belonging from diverse cultures, on adapting necessary measure of adjustment with respect to peer-networking or making provision for soft-skill training can make a big difference in the quality of success for an organisation. As stated by DeFrancisco, Palczewski & McGeough, (2014), intercultural communication can take place in various forms such as:
Enculturation: It refers to being conservative and rigid by sticking to one’s own cultural aspects.
Ethnocentrism: It is the attempt made by a culturally diverse employee to interpret other’s culture through one’s own cultural lens.
Acculturation: It refers to learning a new culture in order to adapt in it.
Cultural relativism: It refers to accepting one’s cultural difference with the other employees.
The Management can make a positive difference in daily operations by honouring everyone’s religious values and beliefs by celebrating holidays or trying to learn the new language of the recruit or expatriate. A better work culture is established when businesses invest in helping their diverse team to come in terms with the differences, thus broadening each of their horizons to build a multicultural asset who can easily communicate with each other and work together to let the organisation yield increased
Conrad, (2014) has tried to evaluate the quality of effective communication beyond these socio-communicative parameters, using assertive, supportive or defensive communication behaviour, especially that in problem solving. As evidenced in his research, the art of listening is the largest part to achieve effectivity in any communication, personal or business. Listening empowers the receiver with enriched knowledge by which he or she can articulate or retaliate much more efficiently. The style of communication might be supportive, defensive or assertive, depending on the nature of context.
In my experience, I have found the skills of persuasion and public speaking quite helpful in developing my communication skills in business. To gain the skill of persuasion I had to develop certain related components of communication such as critical thinking, investigation of the problem and then, integration of all the available information to form a solution that would serve to convey my message to my receiver in a way that he or she would understand the solution from my perspective and hence would be convinced to collaborate with me. To use these components of reasoning and evidence, I also had to face situations that demanded an argumentative approach. As mentioned before, the 2type of communication style adapted mostly depends on its contextual validity. However, the process of communication is also irreversible in nature (Jackson, 2014). Hence it is very important for the sender to assess the messages before transmitting or conveying those to the receiver. There are certain misconceptions associated with communication, the first and the foremost being that the meaning embedded within a message in a communication is always represented by words spoken or written. The accuracy of persuasion, in my opinion, mostly depended on the conviction of the sender.
Persuasion and Public Speaking as Core Skills for Managerial Roles and Leadership
The art of public speaking is an integral part of effective communication which I had developed over time. It consists of a well-iterated manuscript which is either delivered verbatim or impromptu (German et al., 2017). The prime objectives of business communication are primarily achieved through exchange of information in verbal or non-verbal format. Non-verbal communication refers to the overall body language of the conveyor: his or her posture, appearance, facial expression, eye-contact and gestures. These are considered to be as important as verbal dialogue (Keyton et al., 2013). Along with such non-verbal aspects, the tone and modulation of voce also determine how his or her message would be perceived by others. In a workplace, people communicate with each other throughout the day using one or more than one aspects of these two modes of communication. In a two-way communication, the sender’s intentions are revealed along with the embedded feelings which reflect directly on the importance laid by him or her on the context of the message. Such might either lead to excitement and enthusiasm among the audience or disgruntlement and chaos. The reaction solely depends on “what” and “how” the message was communicated.
To conclude the present essay it might be stated that the art of effective communication can be achieved through a balanced approach of multiple parameters. With appropriate guidance, an individual becomes competent in delivering messages in the right form and stature.
References
Baccarani, C., & Bonfanti, A. (2015). Effective public speaking: a conceptual framework in the corporate-communication field. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 20(3), 375-390.
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Conrad, D. (2014). Workplace communication problems: Inquiries by employees and applicable solutions. Journal of business studies quarterly, 5(4), 105.
DeFrancisco, V. P., Palczewski, C. H., & McGeough, D. E. (2014). Gender in communication: A critical introduction. SAGE Publications, Inc..
German, K. M., Gronbeck, B. E., Ehninger, D., & Monroe, A. H. (2017). Principles of public speaking. Routledge.
Jackson, J. (2014). Introducing language and intercultural communication. Routledge.
Keyton, J., Caputo, J. M., Ford, E. A., Fu, R., Leibowitz, S. A., Liu, T., … & Wu, C. (2013). Investigating verbal workplace communication behaviors. The Journal of Business Communication (1973), 50(2), 152-169.
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Mainiero, L. A., & Jones, K. J. (2013). Workplace romance 2.0: Developing a communication ethics model to address potential sexual harassment from inappropriate social media contacts between coworkers. Journal of business ethics, 114(2), 367-379.
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Neuliep, J. W. (2017). Intercultural communication: A contextual approach. Sage Publications.
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Young, P. L., & Chen, G. M. (2013). The Impact of an Individual’s Spirituality on Communication in the Workplace. China Media Research, 9(3).
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