The Role of Communication in an Organization
Communication in an organization mainly refers to the channels and forms of communication that occurs between the members of the different types of organizations. The different organizations include non-profit organizations and corporations as well. The relationship between the different communication levels in an organization and the performance and satisfaction of the job is strong. The communication in an organization can be of two types mainly, informal and formal as well. The flow of the communication in an organization occurs in different ways. The different directions of the communication include the upward, horizontal and downward communication (Anders, 2016).
The downward communication mainly refers to that of communication which occurs from the executive and the managerial levels towards the staff of the organization. On the other hand, upward communication occurs from the staff of the organization towards the managers and the executives of the organization as well. Horizontal communication takes place between the employees of the organization to the share any information or resolve the issues. The communication in an organization plays an important role in leading the employees as well. Communication mainly determines the ways by which the instructions related to various processes in an organization are communicated to the employees (Andersen et al., 2013).
Another function played by the communication in an organization is the ways by which the reasons related to various decisions or the instructions are explained to the employees. Problem solving or resolving various issues in an organization is another function that is carried out by the process of communication. Communication can also help in managing the conflicts in an organization between the employees or with the management as well (Bargiela-Chiappini, Nickerson & Planken, 2013).
The report analysis and the research is based on the flag bearer of Australian airlines industry Qantas Airways. Qantas Airways is considered to be the largest airlines company in Australia and the fleet size of the airlines is also the largest in size. This airlines company holds the third position in the Australian airlines industry in terms of the time of establishment. The company was established in the year 1920 in Queensland. The headquarter of the company is located in Sydney. The airlines company is also nicknamed “The flying Kangaroo”. The base of the airlines company is in Sydney. The shares of the company were around 65% in the year 2014 in the domestic market of Australia and it is said to carry 14.9% of the total number of passengers of Australia (Qantas.com. ,2017).
Different Types of Communication in an Organization
The company has been growing steadily since its inception in the year 1920. In the year 1934 the company formed a merger with the British company Imperial Airways. Qantas Airways operates many subsidiaries in the other countries to serve the customer base of those countries as well. The subsidiaries of the company include, Australia Asia Airlines, which served the market of Taiwan from the years 1990 to 1996. Another subsidiary of the airlines is the Impulse Airlines which was acquired by the company in the year 2001. They ceased the operation of the company in the same year and established the Jetstar Airways. The company also has a regional airline service namely QantasLink which operated as a subsidiary (Qantas.com. ,2017).
Effective communication plays an important role in the organizational development. The communication in an organization helps the managers to conduct the various functions related to the management of the organization. The functions that are carried out by the managers of the organization with the help of effective communication are mainly, planning, motivating, organising and controlling. The communication of an organization forms the basis of the different aspects of the business (Cardon & Marshall, 2015). The organizational communication acts as the foundation for motivation in an organization. The attitude of the employees and the management of the organization is also affected by the effective organizational communication. Another important function that is served by the effective organizational communication is the ways by which the organizations can socialize in the market.
The research proposal is based on the communication strategy that can be implemented in the organization to increase the effectiveness of the operations (Leszczynski & Zielinski, 2013). The communication strategy can help in strengthening the number of customers and will also improve the position of the brand in the competitive scenario. The type of communication that has been proposed in the research is the Social Networking. The customer preferences and the types are constantly changing in the competitive business environment. This has thereby led to the changes in the types of communication in the organization as well. Digital medium of communication is the most effective way of communicating in the present technological scenario (Coombs, 2015). The effective social media communication strategy can thereby lead to the improvement of the brand position and this will attract more customers towards airlines as well.
The objectives of the research were to analyse the most effective strategy of communication that can improve the operations of the business. The necessity of the improvement of communication in the organization is also analysed in the research. The gaps that are present in the communication strategy of the company is discussed in the research in detail as well. The effective communication in an organization is related to many different strategies that can be used by the managers of the organization (Drury-Grogan & Russ, 2013). The environment of communication in an organization is should be open in nature and the employees should be able to share their feedback with the management and the other employees in the organization. The communication strategy that employed by the managers of the organization should be inclusive in nature so that the employees can take part in the decision making process of the company.
Qantas Airways: A Brief Overview
The communication in an organization must be a two-way process and the process should be carried our both in a horizontal as well as vertical manner (Gómez & Ballard, 2013). The process of business communication should be oriented around the results that are received with the help of the effective communication. The organization needs to employ all the members of the organization in the process of communication so that the communication proves to be effective in nature. The important messages in the communication process needs to repeated so that the messages are not lost in the cycle of communication. The strategy that has been proposed in the research for effective communication is the social media communication (Manning et al., 2013). This strategy of communication fulfils all the above discussed objectives that are required to make the communication process more effective.
The social media communication strategy is the most open manner of communication by which the employees can interact with the management and provide feedback regarding the processes of business. The management can also openly interact with the employees and try to improve their work process and thereby increasing their productivity. The social media communication strategy will be able to involve the employees as well as the managers in the process of communication (Raina & Roebuck, 2016). In this manner, the employees can also be a part of the decision process of the organization. The employees thereby become much more productive as they feel connected to the organization. Social media communication is essentially a two-way method where the communication can occur in horizontal and vertical manner. The message can be delivered easily with the help of social media connectivity.
The goals and objectives of the organization can be communicated to the employees easily with the help of social media communication. The information regarding the different aspects of the organization can be made available in the social media platform of the organization as well (Reed, Goolsby & Johnston, 2016). The internal communication of the organization can be made friendly for the users with the help of the social media page that is available for the connectivity of the employees and the management as well. The strategy of Enterprise Social Networking will prove to be effective for the employees of the organization and the management as well. The effective communication within an organization can help in increasing the productivity of the organization as well. It can be said that communication in an organization plays an important role in the productivity of the organization (Raina & Roebuck, 2016).
Importance of Effective Communication for Organizational Development
The organization faced various challenges sue to the lack of effective communication with its customers. The issue not only is disrupting the image of the organization to its customers but also is leading the organization lose its ground in the specific industry. The organization is repeatedly failing to establish proper and effective communication with its stakeholders which is further leading the firm towards the gradual degradation of the public image. It has been found that the competitive market environment is not only tough but also the firm is lacking the proper supports and acknowledgement from the government (Qantas Airways Limited, 2017). The organization is finding itself at the loss due to the absence of the giverbemnt acknowledgement to the company. It has been noted that due to the lack of effective and proper communication with the stakeholders the issue of governmental acknowledgement is not being resolved.
In terms of the identifying the issues due to the inadequacy of effective communication, a thorough and deep analysis of the stakeholder of the organization needs to be presented. It must be noted that the stakeholders are not only referred to the customers of the organizations but also refers to all the people engage in the business activities. The aviation industry is one of the branches of the tourism industry and the tourism industry needs to have clear and transparent communication with the stakeholders for running the business of the specific industry. In the chosen company, the lack of proper communication is initiating several issues among the stakeholders (Hughes et al., 2014). These issues are further creating conflicts within the firm which is consequently leading the airline to lose its ground for in the international market. Due to the competitive market environment of the chosen airline in the global market, the consumers are leaning towards the other companies in terms of transparency in the communication. Consequently, the competitor companies are gaining the competitive advantages in the international market. Along with this, inadequate and vague communication of Qantas is influencing the situations.
On the other hand, the investors are losing interest in terms of investing money to the organizational business. The insufficient and ineffective communication creating conflicts between the management and the external investors of the company (Shaw, Elger & Colledge, 2014). Apart from this, the employees of the organization are experiencing various difficulties in performing their job responsibilities. The management of the organization is found to be posing hazards to the employees in terms of communications. It has also been noted that the organization at present is facing serious rate of turnover of the employees due to the ineffective and improper communication between the management and employees. In addition, the number of customer is decreasing for the firm. The lack of digital media communication is posing serious threat to the firm as the people of today’s era are immensely dependent on the technologies (Schivinski & Dabrowski, 2016). The technologically advanced customers are demanding the digital media communication and the failing to do so the organization is losing its potential customers.
Social Media Communication Strategy for Qantas Airways
The issues emerging from the ineffective communication by the chosen organization, needs effective recommendation to resolve the same. It has been found that the organization is losing its potential customers as well as the competitive advantages in the international market as the result of the improper and vague communicative relationship. In order to create meaningful and sustainable relationship with the stakeholders of the firm, this section implies range of recommendations to the organization. The organization must incorporate with the effective communicative strategies as the centre of organizational objectives for business. On the other hand, it is also suggested that Qantas can acquire different communicative approaches for easy and better communication with all the stakeholders of the firm.
Considering the fact of establishing and maintaining effective and transparent communication with the people of the firm, communication tools paly important and necessary role. As mentioned previously, the organization is devoid of digital media communication which is resulting into loss of customers as well as the employees of the organization. Therefore, the organization needs to implement effective digital communication tools in order to maintain transparent relationship with the stakeholders. The social media communication is found to be one of the most effective ways of communicating with the stakeholders (Macnamara & Zerfass, 2012). Among all the stakeholders of the organization, the customers will be the most benefitted. The CSR as well as the publicising of the business activities in the social media enable the company to gain the attention of the customers. On the other hand, the customers will be benefitted by this communication approach of the firm in terms of being able to receive all the required and desired information of the company.
Apart from that, acquisition of effective and popular communication strategies will be able to rescue the firm from losing its reputation in the public as well as in the business industry. prioritizing the stakeholders’ opinions is another effective communication strategy that can propose benefit to the organization (Xu & Li, 2013). The company can arrange various feedback programs and twice a year in order to identify the capabilities and drawbacks of the organizations in the communication. The feedback program will help the firm to establish a meaningful relationship with the customers and will enable the firm to identify the areas of improvement of its own (Ardestanizadeh & Franceschetti, 2012).
Apart from that, the organization can use its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities as another effective tools for the establishment of the effective and communicative relationship with its stakeholders. The popular CSR activities can enable the firm to identify the demand and need of the customers which will further lead the firm to prepare communicative strategies in terms of maintaining transparency and clarity in the exchange of information (Colleoni, 2013). Therefore, the organization must take it into consideration that the communication strategies and tools are the most effective ways for the maintenance of meaningful and beneficial relationships with the stakeholders in terms of achieving the organizational success and sustainable competitive advantages in the international market.
Conclusion
The communication process in an organization acts as the foundation for the different processes related to the business. The organization needs to have effective strategies of communication so that the management and the employees can communicate with each other in an effective manner. The ways by which the management of the organization communicates the instructions related to the various jobs to the employees is related to the organizational strategy. The communication process needs to be effective in such a way so that the employees can also provide their feedback to the management of the organization and the problems related to the various organizational processes can be effectively solved. The communication process that has been selected in the research of Qantas Airways is social media communication. The company has been facing issues in the work process in the previous years. The lack of investors for the company and the loss faced due to this loss has affected the profitability of the organization. The organization does not have any social media communication in their official website. Therefore, the implementation of social media communication strategy in the organization will help in increasing the communication between the employees and thereby the communication with the investors will also improve. This improvement will lead to the increase in the profitability of the organization.
References
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