Case study

UNISON has:
-1.3 million members
-12 regional offices
-1,200 staff
-1,300 branches.
Union representatives need to communicate
at all levels in the workplace and beyond.
Sociability is a determining factor in establishing
a good relationship between one and the other.
 In a trade union
communication is
essential and important to
maintain a balance and
a way to resolve any
disputes or decisions in a
transparent way and
make the relationship
between the manager
and the union more
efficient.
Effective communication
helps to give:

 • a direction for those involved in

a dispute or issue
 • an understanding to the varying
groups of what these issues involve
 • help and support for those who
need it
 • the ability to change opinion
about a dispute in a way that
leads to it being resolved.
 Internal Communication

Is art of transmitting:
 Knowledge
 Ideas
 Information
 Thoughts
There are many forms of internal
communication. For example:
 Workshops help people to
become involved
 Project groups at UNISON look at
issues and help to put out policy
into action
 Through its in-house magazine
called Inside Out.
 Communication using:
 E-mail
 Posters
 Document

 Staff briefings
 Meeting
 Intranet
Internal communication involves not only
information, but also motivation, retention,
consultation and support to espouse the aims of the
team.
What are the communication
barriers for Unison?
 Communication is the way of transmitting knowledge, ideas, information
and thoughts from one person to another.

Barriers of communication are the difficulties involved in the process of

communication which distort the message being properly understand by the
receiver.

Noise is the physical disturbances like environment, people, in the case of

Unison, “ noise “ is represented in different forms, because is a lot of
members, different backgrounds, beliefs, languages, and cultures.
 By the model Shannon-Weaver (1947) is revealed the communication from
inside of UNISON and is about the implication of “noise” in the process of
communication.

People working in Unison make sure messages are sent out clearly, and noise is
not a barrier.

Concepts in Shannon Weaver Model is: Sender (Information source), Encoder

(Transmitter), Channel, Decoder (Receiver), Receiver (Destination) and Noise.

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 Barriers in communication
 For Unison members a important barrier in communication is
English language, which is not the mother languages for all.
 Unison membres may not have a computer or some of them do not
know how to acces a computer because of today’s more advanced
communication technologies.
 Another blockage for Unison members is that some people prefer to
work on their own, as there are many experts who work at the
individual level and are hard to understand.
 The humans health condition is another barrier, that can affect
communication, perception is low when the state of health is poor.
 Cultural differences, is another problem in Unison organization.
 Overcome the barriers

 Overcome the language barrier between members, by give them free English
classes for a better communication.

 Create a way by which all members can get, understood and accessed the
transmitted information.

 UNISON supports the social model of disability and they believe it is the a way
for stopped people’s attitudes about disabled people.

 The better way to overcome the cultural barriers is to respect other people’s
opinions and beliefs.

 Unison has to work hard to remove communication barriers with all members.