Chapter Four

Communication in
the Organization
Prepared By Mehdi M
Introduction

 Organizations are everywhere; indeed, it would be impossible to imagine

modern life without them.
 Think how many organizations you belong to. Organizations enable their
members to achieve goals they could not achieve by themselves.
 organization need people to achieve thier objectives and also in return
people need organization to successfully achieve his or her objectives.
 Messages flow into, through, and out of business organizations in a
variety of ways.
 All organizations need effective communication systems in order to
function efficiently.
1 FORMS OF COMMUNICATION

Communication is divided into external and internal communication.

 External communications are
 those communications which are occurring outside the organization like
communication with other companies, with government, general public
customer, supplers and etc.
 A Internal communications
 are those which are take place between people inside the organization. Internal
communications are further divided into two parts, formal or official and
informal.

A Formal: Formal communication flows along prescribed channels which all

members desirous of communicating with one another are obliged(forced) to follow.
 it follows the formal organization structure and uses methods that are officially
sanctioned by management. Messages sent by report, memo, bulletin, or official
briefing are all examples of such communication.
cont..

 formal flows of communication is also further divided into three

such as
 Vertical (downward and upward) Horizontal, and Diagonal
Communication
Downward Communication
 it was the communication flows from higher level to lower level
 transfer of information about management decisions, policies, and
attitudes, Order, individual instructions, to those lower in the hierarchy
 Types of Downward Messages
 Job instructions. Directions about what to do or how to do it
 Job rationale. Explanations of how one task relates to another task. “We
rotate the stock like that so the customers won’t up with stale
merchandise.”
 Procedures and practices. Information about rules, regulations, policies,
and benefits. “Don’t try to argue with unhappy customers. If you can’t
handle them yourself, call the manager.
 Feedback. Information about how effectively a person is performing.
 Indoctrination. Information aimed at motivating employees by
impressing the mission of the organization upon them and specifying
how they should relate to it.
Benefit of downward communication
 Helps to explain to subordinates the organizational plans, policies
program and procedures,work methodology etc. necessary information
for performing the job.
 Helps to convey to the subordinates the expectations of management
from them.
 Acts as a mean to control the activities of the subordinates with active
feedback.
 Provides motivation to the subordinates.
 PROBLEMS
 1. Sometimes the message may be distorted in the transmission from one
level to another level.
 2. If a particular authority is not present on the time of passing
information it may leads to delay in transmission of the message.
 3. Sometimes when the workload is unevenly distributed among the
employees it creates overload or unload of work which causes
dissatisfaction among the employees.
 How to make effective
 1. Managers should be adequately informed.
 2. Managers should be clear about how much to communicate.
 3. Some authority should delegate to lower levels to shorten the line of
communication.
 4. Information should be passed on to the correct person.
 Upward communication
This communication flows the message from subordinates to superiors. It is
reverse of the downward communication or communication flows from
lower level to upper level.
 There are practical advantages in encouraging employees both to give
feedback and to initiate communication of their own.
 BENEFITS
 1. Provides feedback to the superiors.
 2. Introduction of new schemes without unduly opposition from the
employees.
 3. Helps in to promote harmony between the management and the
employees.
 4. Problems and grievances are redressed.
 Problem
 Employees fear that their criticism may be interpreted as a sign
of their personal weakness.
 Bypassed superiors feel insulted which leads differences
between the relationship of the superiors and employees.
 Great possibility of message distortion.
 How to make effective
 Superior should take initiative to get close to the subordinate
staff.
 Keeping the line of communication short as much as possible.
 Timely redress the grievances of the employees.
 Horizontal Communication
 This communication flows between persons at the same hierarchy level either of
the same or other department or division of the organization.
 The increasing use of specialized departments and cross-functional teams makes
effective lateral communication essential eg marketing, accounting,
legal,customer, sales, etc
 it consists of a messages between members of an organization with equal power.
 it serves five purposes:
 Task coordination. “Let’s get together this afternoon, and set up a production
schedule.”
 Problem solving. “It takes three days for my department to get reports from
yours. How can we speed things up?’
 Sharing information. “I have just found out that a big convention is coming to
this town next week, so you ought to get ready for lost of business.”
 Conflict resolution. “I’ve heard that you were complaining about my work to the
boss. If you’re happy, I wish you’d tell me first.”
 BENEFITS
 It develops mutual trust and confidence amongst employees of same level
which help in maintaining or promote understanding between similar position
holders of different departments.
 If employees at similar position communicate to each other for a given task it
will create or develop the feeling of co-ordination among various departments.
 PROBLEMS
 Sometimes it creates rivalry among employees of various departments.
 Proximity shows the liking and disliking of an employee who is near by
another in respect of space. Like in any organization HR department and
Marketing department are near to each other than Manufacturing department.
So proximity exists between HR and Marketing department and they favour
each other as compared to Manufacturing department.
 Biasing shows the liking and disliking of an employee due to religion, caste,
family background, personality etc.
 Diagonal Communication
When a number of people irrespective of their status, sit down and confer
with one another to arrive at a decision acceptable to all, it is called
consensus. The format of these communications is predetermined and can not
be altered.
Consensus involves consultation
 Chief executive takes up the problem and analysis it to understand.
 Collect additional facts and information.
 Try to find out various means to solve it.
 Find alternatives.
 He contacts the members individually or invites them to a meeting.
 Problem is spelled out to the members.
 To carefully listen all members view.
 Arrived at solution.
 ADVANTAGES
 1. Decisions are taken after consultation among various members;
they find it easy to accept
 them.
 2. It promotes harmony among the members of the group. If any
conflict and split exits between members it will be carefully find
out and try to solve it.
 DISADVANTAGES
 1. Member is forced to subscribe to a view he doesn’t hold.
 2. Sometimes it may project the false image of management
because members think that management may not be able to handle
their problem efficiently.
B Informal Communication (Grapevine)

 Every organization also has an informal communication network—a

grapevine—that operates anywhere two or more employees are in
contact, from the lunchroom to the golf course to the company’s e-mail
and instant messaging (IM) systems
 informal exchanges are now considered so important that a new class
of technology has sprung up to enable them.
 Social media play an increasingly important role in the informal
communication network. Just as Face book, MySpace, and similar
social networking technologies help students and other individuals
connect, software and websites such as Spoke Connect, LinkedIn.com,
and Ryze.com help businesspeople connect.
 the grapevine has several positive features(pros)
 It is the social glue that holds groups together at work.
 It is often the only source of vital information for employees.
 It is fast and used far more frequently than formal channels.
 Grapevine limititation (Cons)
 Grapevine information travels an unpredictable path that is
dependent on social relationships, chance meetings, and so on.
 Information is transmitted mainly by word-of-mouth. Small
inaccuracies and distortions may creep into the message as it
travels from one person to another.
 The nature of grapevine information may cause problems. Some
of it consists of rumor and gossip, which can be damaging
either to individuals or to the organization as a whole.
C. Functions of Informal Networks within
Organizations
 not all informal messages are idle rumors. Informal communication can serve
several useful functions.
 Confirming; Some informal communication confirms formal messages. You
have probably heard this sort of confirmation yourself
 Expanding. Information communication can fill in the gaps left by incomplete
formal messages.
 Expediting. Informal networks can often deliver messages more quickly than
official channels can. Canny job hunters, for example, often use personal
contacts to learn about openings within an organization long before the
vacancies are published.
 Contradicting. Sometimes informal networks contradict official messages.
 Circumventing. Informal contacts can sometimes help you bypass official
channels that are unnecessarily cumbersome and time-consuming
 Supplementing. Sometimes even management realizes that informal
communication can get the job done better than the more formal variety can.
 Writing in the Harvard Business Review, by David Krackhardt and Jeffrey
Hanson capture the difference between formal and informal networks:

 “If the formal organization is the skeleton of a company, the informal is the
central nervous system.” Like the human nervous system, informal
networks are faster, and often more dependable, than formal channels.

 They also provide a shortcut (and sometimes a way around) for the slower
and more cumbersome formal channels, making innovation easier. This
fact helps explain why organizational decision-makers tend to rely on
verbal information from trusted associates.

 Smart communicators don’t just rely on informal contacts with peers for
information; they take advantage of sources from throughout the
organization.
 The End

Thank you for

Your Attention!!!
Your Stamina!!!
Your Patients!!!