COMMUNICATION

Effective communication is significant for managers in the organizations so as to perform the basic functions of
management. Communication helps managers to carry out their jobs and responsibilities. Communication
serves as a groundwork for planning. All the necessary information must be communicated to the managers
who in sequence must communicate the plans to apply them. Organizing also needs effective communication
with others about their job task.
THE NATURE OF COMMUNICATION AND BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Communication is neither spread of message nor message itself. It is the shared exchange of understanding,
starting off with their receiver. Communication requires being helpful in business. Communication is heart of
management. The fundamental functions of management namely planning, organizing, staffing, directing and
controlling cannot be done well without effective communication. Business communication involves regular
flow of information. Feedback is integral part of business communication.
Communication plays a very important function in process of directing and controlling the people in the
organization. Immediate feedback can be obtained and misunderstandings if any can be avoided.
Business communication is goal oriented. Business communication is regulated by certain rules and norms. In
early times, business communication was limited to paper-work, telephone calls etc. Now with advent of
technology, cell phones, video conferencing, emails, satellite communication are new ways to support business
communication. Effective business communication helps in building goodwill of an organization.
Business communication can be two types:
1. Oral Communication – An oral communication can be formal or informal. Generally, business
communication is a formal means of communication, like meetings, interviews, group discussion,
speeches etc. An example of informal business communication would be that of grapevine.
2. Written Communication – Written means of business communication includes agenda, reports, manuals
and so on.

IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION

Managers dedicate a huge part of their time in communication. Therefore, it is said that effective
communication is an essential element of successful organizations. In other words, communication acts as
organizational blood.

The importance of communication in an organization can be summed up as follows:

1. Communication encourages motivation by telling and clarifying the employees about the task to be
done, the way they are performing the task, and how to improve their performance if it is not up to the
standard.
2. Communication is a basis of information to the organizational members for decision-making process as
it facilitates naming and reviewing alternative course of actions.
3. Communication also plays a vital role in changing individual’s attitudes, like a well-informed individual
will have better attitude than a less-informed individual. Organizational magazines, journals, meetings
and various other forms of oral and written communication aid in shaping employee’s attitudes.
4. Communication also assists in socializing. In today’s life, the only existence of another individual
fosters communication. It is also said that one cannot stay alive without communication.
5. Communication also helps in controlling process. It aids controlling organizational member’s behavior
in diverse ways. The employees must obey with organizational policies, carry out their job role
efficiently and communicate any work dilemma and complaint to their superiors. Thus, communication
helps in controlling function of management.

An effective and efficient communication system needs managerial expertise in delivering and receiving
messages. A manager must ascertain various obstacles to communication, analyze the reasons for their
happening and take preventive steps to avoid those obstacles. Therefore, the main duty of a manager is to widen
and maintain an effective communication system in the organization.
COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Communication is a process of exchanging verbal and non-verbal messages. It is a continuous process. A

requirement of communication is a message. This message must be expressed using some medium to the
receiver. It is crucial that this message must be understood by the receiver in similar terms as planned by the
sender. He must reply within a time period. Thus, communication is a two way process and is incomplete
lacking a feedback from the receiver to the sender on how well the message is understood by him.

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The major components of communication process are as follows:

1. Context - Communication is affected by the context which it takes place. This context may be physical,
social, chronological or cultural. The sender picks he message to communicate within a context.
2. Sender/Encoder - is a person who sends the message. A sender makes use of symbols (like words or
graphic or visual aids) to express the message and generate the necessary reaction. The views,
background, approach, skills, competencies and knowledge of the sender have a vast force of the
message.
3. Message - is a key thought that the sender desires to communicate. It is an indication that extracts the
response of receiver.
4. Medium - is a way used to exchange/transmit the message. The preference of fitting medium of
communication is important for making the message effective and rightly understood by the receiver.
This preference of communication medium differs based on the features of communication.
5. Recipient/Decoder - is a person for whom the message is intended/aimed/targeted.
6. Feedback - is the chief element of communication process as it allows the sender to examine the worth
of the message. It helps the sender in authenticating the accurate interpretation of message by the
decoder. Feedback may be verbal through words or non-verbal like smiles, sighs, and other forms. It
may be in written format also like memos, reports and other types.

COMMUNICATION FLOWS IN AN ORGANIZATION

Communication could be executed in several directions. In an organization, communication flows consist of

five main directions which could be downward, upward, horizontal, diagonal or external.

DOWNWARD FLOW IN COMMUNICATION

Communication that flows from a higher level in an organization to a lower level is a downward
communication. Simply, communication from superiors to subordinates in a chain of command is a downward
communication. This communication flow is utilized by the managers to spread work-related information to the
employees at lower levels. Employees need this information for executing their jobs and for meeting the
expectations of their managers. Downward communication is employed by the managers for the following
purposes:

1. Supplying feedback about employees performance

2. Detailing job instructions
3. Offering a comprehensive understanding of the employee’s job as well as to communicate them how
their job is connected to other jobs in the organization
4. Communicating the organization’s mission and vision to the employees
5. Stressing the areas of attention
Organizational publications, circulars, letter to employees and group meetings are all examples of downward
communication. In order to have effective and mistake-free downward communication, manager must:

1. Identify communication objectives

2. Make certain that the message is precise, exact and clear
3. Use the finest communication method to express the message to the receiver in correct form

UPWARD FLOW OF COMMUNICATION

Communication that flows to a higher level in an organization is called upward communication. It supplies
feedback on how well the organization is operating. The subordinates make us of upward communication to
express their problems and performances to their superiors. The subordinates also employ upward
communication to inform how well they understood the downward communication. It can also be utilized by
the employees to share their views and ideas and to contribute in the decision-making process.

Upward communication directs to a more dedicated and faithful workforce in an organization because the
employees are given an option to elevate and verbalize dissatisfaction concerns to the higher levels. Generally,
the managers dig up to identify about the employee’s feelings on their jobs, peers, supervisor and organization.
For that reason, managers can thus take actions for improving things.

Grievance system, complaint and suggestion box, job satisfaction surveys and other ways all facilitate in
improving are examples of upward communication. Other examples of upward communication are performance
reports prepared by low level management for assessing by higher level management, employee attitude
surveys, letters from employees, employee-manager discussions and so on.

LATERAL / HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION

Communication that happens at equivalent levels of hierarchy in an organization is called lateral

communication, such as communication between peers, between managers at same levels or between any
horizontally comparable organizational members. The advantages of horizontal communication are as follows:

1. It is time saving.
2. It facilitates synchronization of the task.
3. It facilitates collaboration among team members.
4. It offers emotional and social support to the organizational members.
5. It aids in solving diverse organizational troubles.
6. It is a way of information sharing.
7. It can also employed for solving disagreements of a department with other department or disagreements
within a department.