What is Communication?

• Communication: the process by which information is exchanged between a sender and a receiver. Interpersonal communication –> the exchange of information between people
• Effective communication: The right people receive the right information in a timely manner.

Basics of Organizational Communication

• Chain of command: lines of authority and formal reporting relationships
• Downward communication: information that flows from the top of the organization toward the bottom.
• Upward communication: information that flows from the bottom of the organization toward the top.
• Horizontal communication: information that flows between departments or functional units, usually as a means of coordinating effort.

Deficiencies in the Chain of Command

• Informal communication: chain in command fails to consider informal communication between members. Not all informal communication benefits the organization. It might begin unsavoury, inaccurate rumours across the organization.
• Filtering: the tendency for a message to be watered down or stopped during transmission. Overzealous filtering will result in improper effective communication resulting in the organization’s lack of effective continuation. Upward filtering occurs because employees are afraid that their boss will use the information against them. Downward filtering is often due to time pressures or simple lack of attention to detail, but more sinister motives may be at work. The potential for filtering increases with the number of links in to communication chain.
• Open door policy: the opportunity for employees to communicate with a manager without going through the chain of command.
  • Slowness: even when the chain of command transmits information faithfully, it can be painfully slow. It can even be slower for horizontal communication between departments, and it is not a good mechanism for reacting quickly to customer problems.

Manager-Employee Communication

• It represents a key element in upward and downward communication in organizations. Ideally, such exchange should enable the boss to instruct the employee in proper task performance, clarify reward contingencies, and provide social-emotional support.
• How Good is Manager-Employee Communication?
  • The extent to which managers and employees agree about work-related matters and are sensitive to each other’s point of view is one index of good communication. Perceptual differences should include: how employees should and do allocate time, how long it takes to learn a job, importance employees attach to pay, amount of authority the employee has, the employee’s skills and abilities, etc…
  • Perceptual differences like these suggest a lack of openness in communication, which might contribute to role conflict and ambiguity, especially on the part of employees.
• Barriers to Effective Manager-Employee Communication
  • Conflicting Role Demands: Many managers have a difficult time attending to both task and social-emotional functions
• The Mum Effect: the tendency to avoid communicating unfavorable news to others. It occurs when employees desire to impress their bosses to achieve a promotion have strong motives to withhold bad news. The bosses might be reluctant to transmit bad news downward too.