The Formal Methods For Communicating

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Introduction:

Communication is the process by which people are linked together, how they function in to achieve a common goal. Communication is transactional, involving two or more people interacting within a defined environment. The organization needed to enhance its communications with its internal and external stakeholders. Internal stakeholders are those individuals and groups within the organization. They include the employees, the managers and directors of the business and its owners or shareholders.

Communicating with stakeholders:

Communications with internal stakeholders help to develop a positive attitude within the organization. This is particularly significant when times are tough as employees may become de-motivated if they see negative stories about their organization in the media.

One of the most important groups of external stakeholders is customers. Rather than customer other important external stakeholders are the government and regulatory bodies, suppliers, the media and the communities that exist close to the organization and operations.

Formal Methods for Communicating:

Usually organizations use the following formal method to communicate with stakeholders:

Meetings: Meetings are the most popular form of communication. They can vary from organization to organization, based on situation and audience. It is the perfect way when organizations have the verbal and non verbal cues that appreciate the communication and avoid mistake.

2. Conference Calls: Nowadays conference calls is the most common as it does not consume time and expense of travel. The conference can take place though its dependant on voice articulation and certainty of the verbal message. It only requires cost of phone call and there are many paid and free services that will simplify use of a conference call line for many people to dial into. It’s also a familiar way for classes to be recorded and replayed when it’s adapted for the organization.

3. Newsletters/ Email/ Posters: This strategy is one way communication system. It utilizes emailed updates, hard copy brochures, posters, newsletters mailed or emailed. One of the deficiencies is that messages are delivered and one can’t gauge if they were read and understood, deleted as sometimes there is no feedback. That primary feedback is valuable for strengthening message and making sure impacts and feedback are quickly received.

Informal Methods for communicating:

It is important to not only depend on formal channels but to exploit informal communication as well. The spontaneous channels are often more information affluent and critical for relationship building.

1. Hallway Conversations, Bathroom conversations: These meetings are important for one to one communication, but also are plain and do not establish false expectations with casual discussion dropped.

2. Lunch Meetings, Drink at the bar after work: These informal communications can be great for connecting, getting feedback, ideas, and work to build support.

3. Sporting events: Sporting events like tennis, golf, etc are an easy forum to get the input on what support exists, feedback on ideas, brainstorming to strengthen your communication and build stakeholder support.

4. Voice mail: Voice mail is often underutilized since email is so common but still shown to be more often listened to than an email will be read. By using voice accent for excitement, urgency, etc. it can be more imperative.

Project Communication Plans:

It’s not enough for the organization to just have a plan. It is important to seek to understand what stakeholders desire both spoken and unspoken. The apprehension of the employee must be carefully managed from beginning to end. In a large organization, every team and project varies in its rate of fluctuation, so organization need to follow the most advantageous communication channel, frequency and should make sure it’s fruitful. Just as having the plan is crucial, monitoring its effectiveness, adding and discarding supplemental ways of communicating will be imperative.

The use of technology in communication process:

Emerging communication technologies, for example internets are not only influencing how small groups in an organization connects, but are also speeding up decision making amongst these small groups in an organization. Technologies like internet are easy to use and they cost less yet they swift communication process within an organization.

It is very crucial for an organization to encourage effective communication and speed up the productivity of an organization. It does not matter whether the size of the organization is small or big. Organizations must equip and train its employees on how to use various communication technology tools to achieve its goals in this era of information technology. Most widely used tools are video conferencing; Bluetooth enabled printers, remote databases etc.

Email: This is the most used mediums of communication across the world by all organizations. Email is very important for both big and small business.

Instant Messaging (IM):  By using instant messaging a manager can easily hand over work to employees. Instant messaging (IM) services communicate messages faster than email. Managers can ask a question from their employees and employees can make a quick reply. Big services like Yahoo messenger, Skype, and other text messaging Apps have played this role. And simplified the system.

Using computer: In an organization there will be information that is sensitive and private in nature stored on the computer network. Most organizations have a restricted agreement that employees sign when they first join the company.

Customize office software: There are a lot of customize office software like MS Office, MS Excel, MS Word etc. that make communication process interactive and effective more than ever.

Hindering communication:

Today, we are in peril of becoming a race of keyboard tappers fail to interact with each other, meaningfully, in a natural manner, face to face. There is a hypothetical assumption for all emails and other forms of virtual communication. That every recipient will read same and think it is as important as the sender thinks it is. It's part of the illusion of communication. Overuse of email, over dependent on power point may result in inefficiency in communication process.

The communication policies and procedures and their effectiveness:

Organization should develop and execute a set of comprehensive communication policies to make communication process more effective. While developing Communications plans, management should aim to disclose simple messages based on the following principles:

WHY: Why should administrative staff change their working and learning practices?

WHAT: What should administrative staff change in their working and learning practices?

WHEN: When best to bring changes in the organization?

WHO: Who needs to be incorporated in the change occurring in the organization?

HOW: How to make necessary the changes in organizations?

Rodney Gray, communication specialist develops the following ten point policies. Needless to say that such a communication policy is just the start – it needs to be consistently reviewed and supported by senior management of the organization.

1. The exchange of meaning.

Top management of the organization should keep in mind that successful communication is the effective exchange of meaning or understanding in formal and informal procedures. Management applies upward, downward and lateral communication in the organization.

Both managers and employees in the organization are liable for the effectiveness of personal communication. This especially applies to those who manage others within organization.

2. Open communication.

One of the key values of an organization is open communication. If it is not commercially confidential, it can be communicated in a complete, certain and timely manner. That’s why, unless told otherwise, managers are authorized to communicate.

Communication on significant event needs to be thoroughly planned. Being too busy is not a delightful excuse for inadequate or ineffective communication.

So, organization should be taken care of deciding what requires in formal communication and by whom, and what can be communicated informally.

3. Face-to-face communication.

There is unlikely to be a fruitful interchange of meaning or understanding unless there is discussion and the occasion for questions to be asked and answers received. It is best medium of face-to-face communication. While planning communication, the needs of different internal audiences should be taken into account. Some audiences may be satisfied with simple verbal presentations while others may require documentation of significant information. Common forms of Face to-face communication are team leader, supervisor, manager and general manager briefings and discussions as appropriate.

4. Information is not communication.

Both written and electronic messages should be complemented by face-to-face communication where feasible

5. Feedback is encouraged.

For successful communication gathering feedback and listening effectively are critically important. Effective communication will only come if participants at all organizational levels seek out feedback and tae appropriate measurement to ensure the intended meaning is passed on to the regarding audience. Employees should always be encouraged to say what's on their minds without hesitation.

6. Focus on local issues.

In communicating, organization should focus on local issues such as business results, customer feedback, and the future of the business. Successful communication requires the active involvement of at least two parties regarding local issues.

7. The team leader is critical.

Team leaders should make certain what information is available and communicate as requested. Significant information must be made available to top management in a timely manner. Information should be overflowed down the organization and communicated direct to team leaders as appropriate. It is preferred to over-communicate than under-communicate.

8. Training will be provided.

Organization provides training to the employees for effective communication. Organization also provides communication materials and support to managers, supervisors and team leaders as appropriate.

9. Communication will respect individuals.

All types of communication process must be truthful and ethical. Organizations determine the impact and consequences of communication in advance. In effective communication process everyone is kept informed of how they are performing. Individual performance feedback is also common.

10. Communicating both positive and negative news:

Organization should be devoted to communicating both good and bad news as soon as possible, if possible in advance and even if the full impact of the decision or message may not be clear.

Communication problem:

Communication is the key to company's success. Organization may face problem in executing different communication process. But there are respected solutions to these problems too. Employees and managers are willingly investigated and solve such problems within an organization. Poor communication may result in many negative results including low morale, poor productivity, interpersonal conflicts and high turnover. Therefore, an effective organization needs to explicate its communication process and figure out if improvements need to be made.

Communication involves at least two parties--the speaker and the listener. Problems can develop at all three of these sources. There are severals reasons for communication problem. Such are:

Lack of Personal Contact:

With the use of e-mail and telephones, cell phones more than ever, personal contact is at an all-time low. And most importantly managers with substandard communication skills communicate through email or phone messages rather than by personal contact. Personal communication is the only way to resolve the true meaning of an important matter as it is easy to misinterpret the tone of an email or phone message.

Lack of Feedback:

One-way communication process can become an inefficient way to exchange information throughout the organization. Employees and administrative staff should provide feedback at all times to enhance the quality of information diffuse and the tone in which the information is delivered.

Ambiguous expectations:

Top management does not discuss expectations with mid-level managers. Therefore, they do not have the same expectations nor do they agree on how to accomplish strategic goals. Because of this, employees do not have clear goals and benchmarks to guide their development.

Contradictory experts:

Conflicts often involve when different experts making contradictory statements about important issue. Because the general public lacks technical expertise, it has no way to figure out who to believe. As a result, people tend to deny expert analysis and believe what they want to believe.

Values and cultures of the organization:

Organizational culture refers to the beliefs and values that have existed in an organization for a long time, and to the beliefs of the staff and the foreseen value of their work that will influence their attitudes and behavior. Management usually adjust their leadership behavior to achieve the mission of the organization, and this could influence the employees' job satisfaction. It is therefore important to understand the relationship between organizational culture, leadership behavior and job satisfaction of employees. The culture within an organization is very important, playing a vital role in whether it is a happy and healthy environment in which to work.

Evidence shows that organisations who have strong cultures are capable of increasing revenue, profitability and shareholder value. Likewise organisations with weak cultures find it tough to change and adapt to market demands. With the growing increase in globalisation, organisations face far more competition than ever before. Having a strong culture which supports and establishes an organisation's brand proposition helps businesses build and maintain competitive advantage - witness organisations such as Sony, Samsung, Disney and Orange.

Organization culture reflect the assumptions and values that guide an organization. They are intangible but powerful influences on employee behavior. Because it is a dynamic systems concept, culture is also affected by almost everything that occurs within an organization.

Characteristics of cultures:

There are several characteristics of organization culture. Such as:-

Distinctive

Stable

Implicit

Symbolic

Integrated

Accepted

Subcultures

Of varying strength

A reflection of top management

Communicating and changing culture:

If organizations are to consciously create and manage their cultures, they must be able to communicate them to employees, especially the newly hired ones. People are generally more willingly to adapt and learn when they want to please others, gain approval, and learn about their new work environment.

Employee learn about their organization’s culture through the process of socialization and influence it through individualization. Organizational culture can be changed, but the process is time consuming.

Conformity

Creative individualism

Isolation

Rebellion

High

Socialization

(impact of organizational culture on employee; acceptance of norms)

Low

Low High

Individualization

(impact of employee on organizational culture; deviation from norms)

Figure: Four combinations of socialization and individualization

Conclusion:

Communication is the transfer of information and understanding from one person to another person. Organizations need effective communication in downward, upward and lateral directions. Managers play a key role in downward and upward communication, sometimes even delaying or filtering the flow of information. Many tools are available for their use, such as providing performance feedback and social support or establishing open-door policies and holdings employee meetings. Listening, however remains one of the most powerful tools. Networks have become popular ways for employees to find out what is going on around them, while the rapid development and use of computers and other tools have made possible electronic mail system, telecommunicating, and offices for some employees.