Types of Communication Channels in Organizations
Disucss about the Interpersonal aspects of Communication in Workplace.
One of the main factors that determine the growth of an organization is the way information is passed among the employees and the management. Proper communication do fuel efficiency in the operations of the company. Communication in an organization refers to the art of conveying intended information from one person or group, the sender, to another person or group, the receiver through various communication channels. A research done by Johnson, Donohue, Atkin, and Johnson (2011) elaborates that piece of information in a company can be communicated downwards; from top management to workers, horizontally; between workers of the same rank or upwards; from lower employees to management. This process does occur through various communication channels such as through emails, phone calls, verbally or through gestures (Enzinna 2016, p. 60). These communication channels can be categorized into three groups namely; formal, informal and unofficial communication channels.
A formal communication channel conveys organization’s formal information such as the company’s policies and goals. Generally, such information follows some chain of command from top to bottom or he reverses. An informal communication channel may be referred to grapevine communication that occurs between socializing colleagues in a company (Carr, & Zube, 2015, p. 40). Unofficial communication channels in an organization can be described as rumors in that they may convey an essential piece of information from the management, but the message has not gone through the recommended process.
One of the fundamental types of communication is known as the interpersonal aspects of communication that mostly entail communicating to persuade or influence others. DeKay (2012) found out that this aspect of communication mostly known as communication between two people, it can include written and non-verbal communication though it is mostly through spoken language face to face communication. The basic elements of interpersonal communication include nonverbal, preverbal and verbal factors.
Nonverbal Factors.
The nonverbal elements of interpersonal communication include the way people interpret the verbal cues in the process of communication. One of the nonverbal factors includes eye contact, where the speaker holds the gaze of the audience. This element mostly shows how serious and confident the speaker is about whatever he or she is speaking about and would end up influencing the seriousness of the listeners.
As explained byKurzius (2015) body posture is another factor that influences the perception of the information passed. For instance, a speaker who speaks while facing away from the audience would mean lack of interest in whatever communication he or she is conducting. Other factors include the positioning of the speakers’ arms, use of certain gestures such as shielding with arms across and fidgeting may imply lack of experience or inadequate confidence.
Formal Communication Channels
Preverbal Factors
These factors to do with the way the speaker speaks include the rate of speech, the pitch of the voice and his or her tone. Such factors have varying influence on how the way audience receives the information (Rusu & Chiri?? 2017, p. 42). For example, the volume of the speaker determines how important the information may be, raised volumes may imply that the message passed is more important than those parts conveyed in lower volumes. How the speaker stresses some syllables in a word can alter the way audience take the meaning.
Verbal Factors
These factors include the choice of words, grammar, and language style used by the speaker. The formation and quality of messages passed in interpersonal communication are greatly affected by these verbal elements. The choice and organization of the words used during interpersonal communication have a lot of influence on the clarity and effectiveness of the information passed.
Rusu and Chiri?a (2017) state that even though the interpersonal communication factors work independently, their combination ensures proper understanding as well as avoid misinterpretation and confusion. Constructing and delivering a piece of information in a precise manner the first time helps in preventing the need to repeat it in future. These are the factors that constitute interpersonal communication skills.
Promoting Effective Communication
Excellent interpersonal skills enhance the establishment of good relationships between workers in a company, this environment promotes sharing of ideas and skills among workers (Kleckner, & Marshall, 2014, p. 79). Additionally, the employees would be respectful to their colleagues and one another’s opinions.
Keeps the Feedback Loop Open
Effective communication and the ability to work on the feedback the company gets from within and outside is one of the essential aspects of a dynamic workplace (Sanina, Balashov, Rubtcova, & Satinsky, 2017, p. 260). If one employee is unfamiliar with some of the company’s terms and processes, it is the effective interpersonal communication among the workers that will enable other colleagues to take him or her through.
Expands employees Opportunities
Workers and managers with good interpersonal communication skills are always favorites of their fellow employees, a situation that earns colleagues’ trust which can, in turn, earn them higher positions with more responsibilities.
They Make workers Relatable
Good interpersonal communication skills make a manager easy to interact with. This ability makes other employees feel that the manager is easily approachable in case they have challenges and are seeking his or her piece of advice (Mackenzie 2010, p. 538). Working with juniors who believe in their manager is always encouraging and ensures smooth operations in the company.
Informal Communication Channels
Increases Credibility and Customer Satisfaction
A manager with good communication skills will always inspire his or her junior to be dedicated to their work and take responsibility in every stage of production they participate in (Kleckner, & Marshall, 2014, p. 68). With this commitment, there would be improved product quality which will result in customer satisfaction and possibly increased customer base through acquisition and maintaining new customers.
Make a Leader Effective
Good interpersonal communication skills mean a leader can communicate his or her ideas clearly to colleagues and juniors and this makes them effective leaders.
Improved Cooperation among Workers
Workers with good interpersonal communication skills tend to cooperate better given that each one of them can express their issues and ideas more clearly.
Improved Production
Good interpersonal skills would increase the efficiency of production as every worker clearly understands his or her role in the company, and this situation tends to avoid overlapping between workers hence no confusion.
Good conflict resolution
Managers with excellent interpersonal communication skills can listen and solve conflicts between their juniors, as they can monitor and make informed judgments and decisions (Mackenzie 2010, p. 535).
Persuasion
According to Ametrano, Constantino, & Nalven (2017), persuasion in the context of a workplace is the process of trying to change the attitude or perception of a given person or group towards an idea, a person through the means of spoken, written or visual communication to convey reasoning, feeling or their combination. Persuasion can be achieved through the following six tactics;
Consistency-This tactic banks on the belief that people do follow consistency. If the management commits itself to making the company workers believe in the new idea or leader, they would finally believe due to the consistency. For instance, if salesperson becomes consistent with his or her product, the consumers would end up giving the product a try which would lead to an eventual sale.
Reciprocation- The manager can use the idea of giving a gift to the workforce to feel the guilt of giving back through accepting the product, idea or leader being introduced.
Social Proof- Human beings are always influenced by what other people do. To persuade a group of employees into believing in some idea, an intelligent manager would convince a small easygoing fraction of the group; the entire group would follow suit employing social proof.
Authority- This tactic argues that people are obliged to follow the rules of authority. To persuade worker into believing in some idea, a wise manager would be accompanied by an expert in the field the plan was drawn (Johnson 1974, p. 18). The presence of the expert would finally make the workers believe in the idea as they would not want to question professionals in their areas of expertise.
Unofficial Communication Channels
Liking- The tactic believes in the idea that people are more likely to believe people they like. A wise manager would identify a few workers who are popular in the company, convince them to believe in the newly introduced idea or leader. The famous individuals would easily persuade colleagues into the manager’s point.
Scarcity- This tactic involves psychological applications of making people believe that if they don’t join the group, they would be left out or would become odd one out in the society. In his or her attempt to persuade workers into an idea, a wise manager would find a way of convincing a few then make the remaining employees feel that they are left behind (Stephens, Barrett, & Mahometa 2013, p. 238). This tactic works best in advertisement field where companies create the feeling that the advertised product is almost out of stock, and that consumers should harry and grab the remaining few.
The art of persuasion mostly arises in a company when a group of workers are against some idea or leaders based on some previous experiment or just pieces of information at hand. Such circumstances need careful approach by the management considering that the opposing group has reasons that may be right (Punyanunt-Carter, & Arias 2017, p. 119). A manager with excellent interpersonal communication kills should listen to them and analyze their reasons for opposition, then apply the appropriate persuasion tactics.
List of Reference
Ametrano, R, Constantino, M, & Nalven, T 2017, ‘The Influence of Expectancy Persuasion Techniques on Socially Anxious Analogue Patients’ Treatment Beliefs and Therapeutic Actions’, International Journal Of Cognitive Therapy, 10, 3, pp. 187-205.
Carr, C, & Zube, P 2015, ‘Network autocorrelation of task performance via informal communication within a virtual world’, Journal Of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, And Applications, 27, 1, pp. 33-44.
DeKay, SH 2012, ‘Interpersonal Communication in the Workplace: A Largely Unexplored Region’, Business Communication Quarterly, 75, 4, pp. 449-452.
Enzinna, MN 2016, ‘Reconsidering Nonverbal Communication among Children with Mental and Physical Disabilities’, Journal Of The Communication, Speech & Theatre Association Of North Dakota, 29, pp. 56-70.
Johnson, J, Donohue, W, Atkin, C, & Johnson, S 2011, ‘Differences Between Formal and Informal Communication Channels’, Journal Of Business Communication, 31, 2, pp. 111-122.
Johnson, MG 2011, ‘Context, Flexibility and Meaning: Some Cognitive Aspects of Communication’, Journal Of Advertising, 3, 1, pp. 16-20.
Kleckner, M, & Marshall, C 2014, ‘Critical Communication Skills: Developing Course Competencies To Meet Workforce Needs’, Journal For Research In Business Education, 56, 2, pp. 59-81.
Kurzius, E 2015, ‘The extraverted chameleon: Personality’s effects on mimicry of verbal behavior’, Journal Of Individual Differences, 36, 2, pp. 80-86.
Mackenzie, ML 2010, ‘Manager communication and workplace trust: Understanding manager and employee perceptions in the e-world’, International Journal Of Information Management, 30, 6, pp. 529-541.
Punyanunt-Carter, N, & Arias, V 2017, ‘The interplay between interpersonal communication and instructional communication’, Communication Education, 66, 1, pp. 118-120.
RUSU, O, & CHIRI??, M 2017, ‘Verbal, non-verbal and paraverbal skills in the patient-kinetotherapist relationship’, Timisoara Physical Education & Rehabilitation Journal, 10, 19, pp. 39-45.
Sanina, A, Balashov, A, Rubtcova, M, & Satinsky, D 2017, ‘The effectiveness of communication channels in government and business communication’, Information Polity: The International Journal Of Government & Democracy In The Information Age, 22, 4, pp. 251-266.
Stephens, K, Barrett, A, & Mahometa, M 2013, ‘Organizational Communication in Emergencies: Using Multiple Channels and Sources to Combat Noise and Capture Attention’, Human Communication Research, 39, 2, pp. 230-251.
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