Lack of communication is the biggest challenge for today organizations as communication failures can hamper the organizations progress.
Outline:
Introduction
Communication is the main element of success in the business world. In order to be successful, top executives, managers and all team members require clear and effective communication. Sometimes, there is a lack of flow of information in organizations that cause interruptions in different functions of the organization. This also results in negative consequences for the business such as annoyed employees and missed opportunities by the organization. Therefore, organizations are required to have a focus on enhancing the quality of communication in the organization. This can be done by focusing on all types of communication and not relying on any single type. In order to take advantage of effective communication and avoid any loss due to ineffective communication, there is a need to have a communication policy in all organizations. Lack of communication is the biggest challenge for today organizations as communication failures can hamper the organizations progress.
Communication has a special place in healthcare settings as miscommunications among healthcare providers result in medical errors and adverse events. This communication in healthcare settings has an effect on interpersonal relations. Within the communication, the feedback has a special place that determines the quality of communication
Positive relationships among teams enhance their attitudes and communication about uncertainties. A framework of systems theory can be used to direct the structure of interpersonal processes such as perception, evaluation as well as feedback ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"KIb5N7dX","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Lee & Doran, 2017)","plainCitation":"(Lee & Doran, 2017)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":2217,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KZl8ZL3A/items/KBB5VP5J"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KZl8ZL3A/items/KBB5VP5J"],"itemData":{"id":2217,"type":"article-journal","title":"The role of interpersonal relations in healthcare team communication and patient safety: a proposed model of interpersonal process in teamwork","container-title":"Canadian Journal of Nursing Research","page":"75-93","volume":"49","issue":"2","author":[{"family":"Lee","given":"Charlotte Tsz-Sum"},{"family":"Doran","given":"Diane Marie"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Lee & Doran, 2017). All these processes construct specific communicative behavior.
Feedback has a special place in communication as it determines the quality of the communication by correcting the wrong behavior and encouraging the right ones ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"UxWQJhoL","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Lee & Doran, 2017)","plainCitation":"(Lee & Doran, 2017)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":2217,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KZl8ZL3A/items/KBB5VP5J"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KZl8ZL3A/items/KBB5VP5J"],"itemData":{"id":2217,"type":"article-journal","title":"The role of interpersonal relations in healthcare team communication and patient safety: a proposed model of interpersonal process in teamwork","container-title":"Canadian Journal of Nursing Research","page":"75-93","volume":"49","issue":"2","author":[{"family":"Lee","given":"Charlotte Tsz-Sum"},{"family":"Doran","given":"Diane Marie"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Lee & Doran, 2017).
Communication is the sharing of ideas, information as well as messages with others both verbally as well as non-verbally. It is not only a vital part of personal life but also of business life. Communication barriers lead to communication gaps at different levels of the organization.
There must be no communication gap between supervisors and customer service representatives ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"zXbboRE2","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Mallett-Hamer, 2005)","plainCitation":"(Mallett-Hamer, 2005)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":2215,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KZl8ZL3A/items/2WIX96TQ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KZl8ZL3A/items/2WIX96TQ"],"itemData":{"id":2215,"type":"article-journal","title":"Communication within the Workplace","author":[{"family":"Mallett-Hamer","given":"Beverly"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2005"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Mallett-Hamer, 2005).
Misunderstanding and confusion can occur at any stage in the communication process due to different barriers resulting in a communication gap ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"zXbboRE2","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Mallett-Hamer, 2005)","plainCitation":"(Mallett-Hamer, 2005)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":2215,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KZl8ZL3A/items/2WIX96TQ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KZl8ZL3A/items/2WIX96TQ"],"itemData":{"id":2215,"type":"article-journal","title":"Communication within the Workplace","author":[{"family":"Mallett-Hamer","given":"Beverly"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2005"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Mallett-Hamer, 2005).An effective communicator must lessen the frequency of these barriers at every stage with flawless, concise and accurate communication.
Millennial must learn to recognize generational differences so they can modify their behaviors for communication preferences of their managers.
Managers should also be trained for dealing with diverse workforce such as Millennial (Hall, 2016).
Manager’s communication competence will result in job satisfaction of Millennial.
Amount of time Goes into the Communication
One of the reasons that the communications has such an important place in the organizational context is due to the fact that how much time the managers and the other stakeholders tend to spend communicating with each another. It has been speculated that about 70 % of the time of the management goes into the communication and as per the managerial research, the good communication skills are the most important aspect for the managers if they want to succeed in the business world. The other reason that the communication tends to play an important role is due to the fact that how different objective setting rationales are supposed to work in the organization. If the communication protocols are not developed to a full manner in the organization, the likelihood that the business is going to be succeeding are on the lower side. For any business and function, they need to know the particulars what SMART objective that they should be achieving at the given point of time. The idea is to ensure that the goal setting is done in the manner that it turns out to be worthwhile for all the stakeholders in the business setting. The more sorted out and the clear the objective is going to be, the greater is the likelihood that the result is going to turn out well. For instance, the military context the following speech by Field Marshal Montgomery is a good example of how target setting is done in the communication setting
"Our mandate from the Prime Minister is to destroy the enemy forces in North Africa; I have seen it, written on half a sheet of notepaper. You must see that this mandate permeates right down through the Eighth Army to the most junior private soldiers. All the soldiers must know what is wanted".
Relationship Building among Different Stakeholders
Effective communication is all about making sure that the effective communication is carried out among the different stakeholders in the manner that it allows the managers to make sure that they are able to take the right decision. Specially in this day and age where communication is becoming more and more PR driven, and little slip up in terms of the organizational communication would go a long way towards completely disrupting the organizational communication at the particular point of time. If the manager has good communication skill. There have been many examples in the past where the lack of communication or the lack of right communication by the organizational stakeholders have completely broken down the way communication issues are being resolved at the workplace. What it means is that the effort has the first the communication has to be integrated and the mixed message should not be coming from the messages. The recent case of the Harvey Weinstein comes to mind when first time around he was being accused of sexual harassment, was witnessed, and as many women came forward and implied that the sexual harassment has been carried out. If the admission was being made first time around, the situation could have been handled in a much better manner. The problem for them was that the messages that came from the management were confused. There was a need to make sure that all the broader stakeholders that are involved in the organizational decision making were needed to be made aware of the possible repercussions of their action and what are some of the remedial actions that are needed to be taken by them.
Ability of the Organizational Stakeholders to take Critical Feedback
For any organizational stakeholder, it is important to make sure that they are being communicated in the right manner. The idea is that each of the stakeholder in the organization must be made aware about the issues and the insights of the business and they should know what are some of the thing that are needed to be done by them to make sure that the better sense should prevail. The idea should be to make sure that the people who are not performing as per expectations in any organization should be in the position must be allowed a chance, they should be let known that what are some of the areas that they need to improve and what are some of the thing that are needed to be done by them in order to ensure that they are able to get things back on track. There have been many examples where successful businesses have failed to take care of themselves due to the fact that they were being managed in the a manner where open environment was not created where it can be made sure that the people can be criticized or made to realize the mistakes that are made by them.
"Every human being is entitled to courtesy and consideration. Constructive criticism is not only to be expected but sought". [Margaret Chase Smith]
"Take criticism seriously, but not personally. If there is truth or merit in the criticism, try to learn from it. Otherwise, let it roll right off you." [Hillary Clinton]
Conclusion
Effective communication has positive results for the organizations such as building and maintaining relationships for team working that further results in innovation.
Sometimes, there is a lack of flow of information in organizations that cause interruptions in different functions of the organization
Therefore, organizations are required to take it as a challenge and focus on enhancing the quality of communication in the organization
Annotated Bibliography:
Mallett-Hamer, B. (2005). Communication within the Workplace.
Mallett-Hamer has referred communication to the sharing of ideas, information as well as messages with others both verbally as well as non-verbally. It is not only a vital part of personal life but also of business life. The purpose of the study was to check the communication gap between the supervisors and customer service representatives. Whether they exist or not in the organization. Moreover, to know about the subject's perception of their immediate supervisors level of communication. The third purpose was to know about the ways that are used to provide information in the organization.
The research is accurate and reliable as it is quantitative research aimed to know about the communication gap within the organization. Multiple choice single answer surveys was used for data collection from the customer service representatives and/or unit leaders that are reducing the biases in the study. Moreover, the survey was a drop-off-survey and researcher received back 87 percent surveys. These were distributed to non-exempt unit leaders in Building B. CSR's and UL's got a total of 111 surveys and got instructions both on the survey and through face-to-face conversation. However, a total of 97 surveys were completed and returned to the researcher. This was the limitation of the study as a researcher was not able to collect back all the forms as well as was not able to dispense the surveys to forty-three employees.
Moreover, the study is relevant as it is enhancing the importance of internal communication through literature review and is providing information about different styles of communication that can be used to enhance the effectiveness in the communication. In addition, the results of the study are showing face-to-face communication as the number one style of communicating within organizations. Organizations must use this to decrease the communication gap as lack of communication will result in low productivity, moral as well as other serious workplace issues.
Hall, A. (2016). Exploring the workplace communication preferences of Millennials. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, 20, 35.
Ashley Hall was investigating the workplace communication preferences of Millennial employees through this study. Different themes of the study were; information sharing, the employee-manager relationship, feedback as well as coworker communication. This study’s findings have numerous implications for business and education. Millennial must learn to recognize generational differences so they can modify their behaviors for communication preferences of their managers. Moreover, managers should also be trained in dealing with a diverse workforce.
The study has less reliability although it was using the survey method that was approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB). Participants were allowed to voluntarily share their perspective on workplace expectations as well as preferences. Researcher after getting the responses securitized the data and excluded incomplete surveys. The sample was 84 Millennial with 58.33% female and 41.67% male. However, there is biased in the study as participations were given open-ended questions for the identification of themes. Moreover, the sample was consisting of only Millennials who were pursuing higher education. The study was also not considering the perspective of the managers of Millennials. Researcher in the future can use quantitative or qualitative methods to know about the type of communication differences among generations and their managers.
The study has numerous implications for business as well as education. It is assisting in understating the communication success at workplace. The results have proved the importance of feedback in communication success. Without feedbacks, inappropriate behaviors cannot be corrected at the workplace. In addition, the results of the study were contradicting with the previously reported characteristics of Millennials. The study also highlighted the unique perspectives of Millennials and challenges for managers at the workplace for effective communication.
Brink, K. E., & Costigan, R. D. (2015). Oral communication skills: Are the priorities of the workplace and AACSB-accredited business programs aligned? Academy of Management Learning & Education, 14(2), 205-221.
Authors are focusing on the importance of oral communication skills at the workplace to avoid communication failures at the workplace. The importance of oral communication has been understood by recruiters or prospective employers. Employees at an organization can develop skills such as presenting, listening, and conversing in order to have communication competence. They must recognize the relative value of these skills. The study was aimed to evaluate the configuration of oral communication (OC) skills between the workplace and business schools. Moreover, it was also aimed to find the priority of communication skills in business in general along with knowing about specific types of OC; presenting, listening, and conversing.
The study was including 116 sets of learning goals from AACSB’s accreditation list. These were then coded according to the three types of OC. Results showed the 93% U.S. undergraduate business programs have these learning goals. The study has an established accuracy and reliability as the researcher used goals approved by U.S. AACSB-accredited undergraduate programs. The literature review is also supporting the overall results of the study.
However, the data was not gathered at the same level for comparison. The element of biases in the research cannot also be ignored as the results are based on respondent perceptions of the utility of different OC skills as compared to empirical associations with job performance.
Previous studies are supporting this study by considering the OC as the most important communication type to reduce the communication gap in the workplace. The results of the current study are showing listening as the most important OC types in the workplace. The study has not only discussed the potential reasons for the misalignment but also has offered different suggestions for closing the gap. It has also confirmed previously reported characteristics of Millennials. Future research must focus on newer communication technologies for enhancing the effectiveness of OC.
Lee, C. T. S., & Doran, D. M. (2017). The role of interpersonal relations in healthcare team communication and patient safety: a proposed model of the interpersonal process in teamwork. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 49(2), 75-93.
Communication has a special place in healthcare settings as miscommunications among healthcare providers result in medical errors and adverse events. This communication in healthcare settings has an effect on interpersonal relations. In this study, the author was interested in the interpersonal relations among healthcare team members and their effect on communication among them. Positive relationships among teams enhance their attitudes and communication about uncertainties.
This is a qualitative study that has shown the importance of interpersonal relations and healthcare team communication to patient safety. These terms were used for searching the databases; interpersonal relationship, patient safety and communication. There was also the mapping of MeSH terms so that all relevant material can be found. Medline and Web of Science were used for searching for information between June and August of 2014. Moreover, the search was limited to English-only articles.
The study has different limitations such as it is qualitative and used much little time frame for search results. Moreover, it is related to healthcare and cannot be applied in all business settings. In addition, it has a limitation that it is not considering virtual relationships and communication. These limitations can be addressed with future research focusing on empirical data. The results of the study are emphasizing over the nurses to identify characteristics that they can prevent misunderstandings.
References
Brink, K. E., & Costigan, R. D. (2015). Oral communication skills: Are the priorities of the workplace and AACSB-accredited business programs aligned?. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 14(2), 205-221.
Hall, A. (2016). Exploring the workplace communication preferences of millennials. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, 20, 35.
Lee, C. T. S., & Doran, D. M. (2017). The role of interpersonal relations in healthcare team communication and patient safety: a proposed model of the interpersonal process in teamwork. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 49(2), 75-93.
Mallett-Hamer, B. (2005). Communication within the Workplace.
