Flow of Intraorganizational Communication in the Workplace “You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere.” Lee Iacocca Pea Longest (2000) explains that communication in the workplace can flow upwardly, downwardly, horizontally, and diagonally. 1. Upward Communication provides feedback on how well the organization is functioning. Subordinates can use upward communication to convey their problems and performances to their superiors. It can also be used by employees to share their views and ideas and participate in the decision- making process. Upward communication can lead to a more committed and loyal workforce in an organization because the employees are given a chance to raise and speak dissatisfaction issues to the higher levels. The managers on the other hand can get to know about the employees’ feelings towards their jobs, peers, supervisor and organization in general. The effectiveness of upward communication according to Luthans (1984) can be increased using the grievance procedure, open door policy, counselling, questionnaires, and exit interviews, participative decision- making, and ombudsperson. a)a. Grievance procedure Employees can make an appeal upward beyond their immediate supervisor. This protects the individual from arbitrary action by their direct supervisor. This encourages communication about complaints. b. Open door policy This is an invitation for subordinates to come in and talk to their superior about things that trouble them. ¢. Counselling, questionnaires, and exit interview The Human Resource Department can facilitate confidential counselling, administer attitude questionnaires, and exit interviews. Information obtained from these forms of communication can be used to make improvements. = Participative decision-making technique This technique uses informal involvement of subordinates, quality improvement teams, and union management committees. Employees can make valuable contributions to the organization as they participate in the decision-making process. . Ombudsperson The use of an ombudsperson provides an outlet for persons who feel they have been treated unfairly. 2. Downward Communication - starts from a higher level in an organization toa lower level. This communication flow is used by managers to transmit work-related information to the employees at lower levels. Employees require this information for performing their jobs and for meeting the expectations of their managers. Downward communication is used by the managers for the following purposes: a. providing feedback on employees performance; b._ giving job instructions; c. providing complete understanding of the employee job as well as to communicate them; how their job is related to other jobs in the organization; d. communicating the organization’s mission and vision to the employees; and e. highlighting areas of attention. |3. Horizontal Communication - happens among employees of equal rank like committees, task forces, and cross-functional project teams. It is also called lateral communication as it takes place at same levels of hierarchy in an organization, The advantages of horizontal communication are as follows: a. time: saving; . facilitates coordination of the task; facilitates cooperation among team members; |. provides emotional and social assistance to the organizational members; helps in solving various organizational problems; ‘a means of information sharingjand can also be used for resolving conflicts of a department with other department or conflicts within a department. amrropoge 4. Diagonal Communication - crosses work areas and organizational level. Under this communication, any employee can communicate to other employees without considering the hierarchy or level of employees. This communication crosses the formal network of communication and chain of command. Diagonal communication is especially used by expert groups to ‘communicate expert ideas to the different levels of employees. INFO CORNER Conflict in the Work Environment ‘The word “conflict” produces a sense of anxiety for many people, but it is part of the human experience. Just because conflict is universal does not mean that we cannot improve how we handle disagreements, misunderstandings, and struggles to understand or make ourselves understood. Joyce Hocker and William Wilmot offer us several principles on conflict that have been adapted here for our discussion: Conflict is universal. © Conflict is associated with incompatible goals. Conflict is associated with scarce resources. Conflict is associated with interference. Conflict is not a sign of a poor relationship. Conflict cannot be avoided. ‘© Conflict cannot always be resolved. Conflicts not always bad. Conflict is the physical or psychological struggle associated with the perception of opposing or incompatible goals, desires, demands, wants, or (McLean, S,, 2005) McLean, 5. (2005). The basics of interpersonal communication. 1, MA: Allyn & Bacon.Going through each day demands awareness on the many factors that either disrupt one’s motivation to pursue tasks or enhances one’s capabilities to even become productive. Given that circumstances are inevitable, it is best to find means to cope with them. The workplace is one of the best venues where individuals are measured because each personality is distinct. However, despite the differences, companies try to harmonize employes through its vision. Quality services emanate from efficient people, so working out difficulties in dealing with colleagues is essential. Conflict Management Strategies ‘As professional communicators, we can acknowledge and anticipate that conflict will be present in every context or environment where communication occurs, Joseph De Vito (2003) offers us several conflict management strategies that we have adapted and expanded for our use. 1. Avoidance. You may choose to change the subject, leave the room, or not even enter the room in the first place, but the conflict will remain and resurface when you least expect it. 2. Defensiveness versus Supportiveness. Defensive communication is characterized by control, evaluation, and judgments, while supportive communication focuses on the points and not personalities. 3. Face-Detracting and Face-Saving-Face-detracting strategies. They involve messages or statements that take away from the respect, integrity, or credibility of a person. Face-saving strategies protect credibility and separate message from messenger. 4, Empathy - Empathetic listening. It involves listening to both the literal and implied meanings within a message. 5. Gunnysacking. George Bach and Peter Wyden discuss gunnysacking (or backpacking) as the imaginary bag we all carry into which we place unresolved contflicts or grievances over time. Holding onto the way things used to be can be like a stone in your gunnysack, and influence how you interpret your current context. Managing Your Emotions. Your awareness of your emotion can help you clear your mind and choose to wait until the moment has passed to tackle the challenge. 2 Grapevine Communication Grapevine is an informal channel of business communication. It is called so because it stretches throughout the organization in all directions irrespective of the authority levels. Man as we know is a social animal, Despite existence of formal channels in an organization, the informal channels tend to develop when 00 o (eehe interacts with other people in organization. It exists more at lower levels of organization. “Advantages of Grapevine Communication 1. Grapevine channels carry information rapidly. As soon as an employee gets to know some confidential information, he becomes inquisitive and passes the details then to his closest friend who in turn passes it to other. Thus, it spreads hastily. The managers get to know the reactions of their subordinates on their policies. Thus, the feedback obtained is quick compared to formal channel of communication. }. The grapevine creates a sense of unity among the employees who share and discuss their views with each other. Thus, grapevine helps in developing group cohesiveness, The grapevine serves as an emotional supportive value. ;. The grapevine isa supplement in those cases where formal communication does not work. Disadvantages of Grapevine Communication 1; 2. The grapevine carries partial information at times as it is more based on rumours. Thus, it does not clearly depicts the complete state of affairs. ‘The grapevine is not trustworthy always as it does not follows official path of communication and is spread more by gossips and unconfirmed report. The productivity of employees may be hampered as they spend more time talking rather than working. ‘The grapevine leads to making hostility against the executives. . The grapevine may hamper the goodwill ofthe organization as it may carry false negative information about the high level people of the organization. hitp://wwww.managementstudyguidecom What Research Shows about the Grapevinesomeone else, 2. The conflict may be something that happened years ago, or a current issue that just arose. 3. Describe how the conflict was resolved, or could have been resolved. Discuss your ideas with your classmates.Il. Among the strategies for managing conflict described in this section, which do you think are the most effective? Why? Discuss your opinions with a classmate. Ill. Imagining a Positive Outcome! Think of a time when a conflict led to a new opportu- nity, better understanding, or other positive result? Ifnot, think of a past conflict and imagine a positive outcome. Write a 2- to 3 paragraphs describing what happened to that conflict or what could have happened. 8 OO eeeFase A 77 1. Grapevine Survey. Answer in your own words the questions in the Grapevine Re search. “Which would you tend to believe if there were big differences in a message delivered in an official newsletter (online or print) or theMl. Read the article below and give your reaction, THE GRAPEVINE IS ALIVE AND WELL Employees do, indeed, tend to believe the grapevine—an inevitable part of organizational life. It's a communication channel very much alive within organiza tions but not sanctioned by them, a natural (and healthy) consequence of people interacting. Research suggests that up to 70% of all organization communication comes through the grapevine, yet many senior leaders are unaware that it exists or how it operates. One study, in fact, found that while 92% of lower-level managers knew the grapevine was active, only 70% of upper-level managers knew about it. In the same study, 88% of supervisors said they understood that the absence of formal communication increased activity through informal channels—but only 54% of ex- ecutives understood this correlation. Research also finds that 80% of organizational rumor proves to be true. There may be a need for more research here, since this seems incredibly high, given what we know about how information gets distorted. Remember the child's game of telephone,’ for example, where a whispered mes- sage is whispered and changes along the way from child to child. But even if that figure is accurate--that small percentage of distorted or fabricated information can be devastating. And, remember, the grapevine is not responsible for errors. httpY/www.amanet.org My Reaction: