Organizational Communication
Organizational communication is a process of coordinating employees and group members to reach company specific goals. Unbeknownst to most employees organizational communication is used every day. In history individuals learn that organizational communication has been a center point in business communication and information for years. At one point there were many underlying assumptions that caused organizational communication to change theories and various beliefs. Using formal and informal communication an organization can be organized properly and effectively. Organizational communication is studied by many scholars even currently. This essay is designed to define and give a brief history of organizational communication as well as understand the underlying assumptions and changed viewed throughout the history and research process.
Organizational Communication is defined as a process by which the activities of a society or group are coordinated and collected to reach the goals of the members of that society or group. “It defines leadership in terms of being able to influence the management of meaning through the way in which decisions are framed using assessments. In this way, certain meanings are privileged over others and so meaning is managed.” (Clifton, J. 2012) Organizational Communication is an absolute necessity to having effective management in a work place environment. The way the organization gives the public and its employees specific information and its goals as well as to what it is planning on doing is also organizational communication. This type of communication is very important in any workplace setting no matter the size or tenure. All employees should have a full understanding of the aims of the organization or company, by affectively utilizing organizational communication skills. This helps create an overall understanding and knowledge of the process of the goals of the company.
As a brief history of organizational communication; the field traces the usage through business communication and information as well as early mass communication studies published in the 1930’s. Before then the organizational communication idea was used as a discipline that only consisted of a couple of college professors. These professors worked within speech departments and had an interest in writing and speaking in business settings. The organizational communication field has its own concerns and theories that are really distinct from other fields. In the 1950’s organizational communication focused on the role of communication in order to improve life. In the 80’s the idea really turned away from the business approach to being more concerned with the constitutive role in communication within the organization. As well as in the 90’s many critical theories held a strong influence on the organizational communication field as scholars focused on using it to liberate the organizational members. Organizational communication has really enveloped the ideas of organizing and successfully containing a work place group. Organizational communication may have changed and developed over the years but in the end it really is the same ideas and concepts that came about years ago that have been developed to the changing times.
In the early years of organizational communication there were many underlying assumptions that acted as the base for the theory. First assumption is that humans act rationally; as scholars have progressed they have found this to be false, in fact some people do not behave in a rational way at all. Individuals that are irrational will make excuses to cover their communication measures whether or not it is rational. This can cause organizational communication to be difficult in the workplace. The second underlying assumption is that formal logic and verifiable date should be the foundation upon which any theory should rest. This as well is false; the only thing really needed would be an observable behavior that can be transformed and changed into variables and can also be extended to underlying theories from observed past data. Organizations are mechanical things. Scholars have also found to be false; individual differences can be eliminated with careful management techniques. Individuals can learn to think as a group rather than as individuals. Bounded rationality challenges these assumptions; people making decisions in organizations do not always have the full information and after more information becomes available decision makers tend to just grab the first option rather than exploring things further. In the 90’s new theories on organizational communication were developed; these new theories included learning organization and systems thinking. These new theories are the main focus in the human resources department in the workplace. The new theories are now the main beliefs toward organizational communication in the workplace.
Interpersonal communication is between individuals in the face-to-face processes. Interpersonal communication is a part of organizational communication. Interpersonal communication can take numerous different forms; this could be verbal or by body language, as well as nonverbal messages an individual may receive in a form of silence. Each form of interpersonal communication can have different meanings such as verbal communication. As individuals in this class have learned over the previous weeks verbal and nonverbal communication are very important in the workplace. “HR professionals carry out many important organizational initiatives, including dealing with employee disputes, serving as a liaison between the employee and the organization, and drafting and enforcing organizational policies and procedures.” (Cowan, R. L. 2012) The HR department in the work place focuses on training individuals about interpersonal communication as it is a study that many individuals are unaware of. There are numerous variables that express interpersonal communication and how it is used in the workplace.
There are two main approaches that are used in organizational communication informal and formal. Informal communication is associated with horizontal and interpersonal communication. “Issues of the nature of informal communication between supervisors and employees at work and issues of manifestations of linguistic politeness and differences that informal communication takes across diverse industry sectors.” (Freihat, S., & Al-Machzoomi, K. (2012) It ensures effective conduct of work in modern organizations. The top down approach is also known as downward communication this is used to implement guidelines and policies as well as allow top level management to communicate to lower levels. The top down approach is most effective when used for feedback. There are four constitutive flows of communication that become related in order to constitute organizing the organization these include organizing structure, membership negotiation, activity coordination and institutional positioning.
Organizational communication was driven by research and methodologies in the past. This included functional organizational communication research and surveys, text indexing’s, and behavior modeling. When the interpretive revolution took place it was argued that opening up methodological space for narrative analyses, interviewing, participant-observation, as well as rhetoric approaches to reading. Currently research from post-positive, interpretive, postmodern, critical, and paradigms are being published and researched in the organizational communications field. Most organizations are seeking to influence the reputation of the organization through activities that express their identity and promote their specific image.
It has previously been considered that formal communications have a directional characteristic. This meaning that its content is very clear because it originates at a higher level of expertise and experience. This is used quite frequently in military communication. One-way communication is a faster way to communicate but two ways communication is more accurate. Receivers of the two way communication are sure of themselves when making judgments. The sender feels under attack in the two way system because at times the receivers may pick up on mistakes and point them out to the sender. The two way method is also nosier and looks more disorderly than the neat and efficient once way method. For example if a manager is concerned with businesslike appearance then a one-way communication would be preferred.
There are several networks within an organization. A network is an aspect of direction and a flow of communication. This has been shown that patterns or networks of communication influence the group members in very important ways. The patterns could affect the completion of the task on time, the position of the leader in the group, and even affect the member satisfaction rates. They have important implications for the dynamics of the formal organization communications. These changes are usually classified as different names such as the Circle or the Chain or the Wheel and the Star. They are named like so because of the bottling affect or chain of command from managers to employees. In networks there is a group responsibility for passing along messages that is split up between the members this betters the group’s moral.
This essay was designed to give readers a common knowledge of organizational communications as well as the aspects of the organization and the communication methods that have been used previously. Readers have learned what organizational communication is also a brief history of organizational communication as it has been formed. Organizational communication has changed with time throughout history and will be a constant in organizing any business or workplace. Readers have had an overview of organizational communication and should be able to relate to the known facts of organizational communication in their personal workplaces. If an individual looks closely they will see organizational communication daily.
References
Clifton, J. (2012). A Discursive Approach to Leadership: Doing Assessments and Managing Organizational Meanings. Journal Of Business Communication, 49(2), 148-168.
Cowan, R. L. (2012). It’s Complicated: Defining Workplace Bullying From the Human Resource Professional’s Perspective. Management Communication Quarterly, 26(3), 377-403.
Freihat, S., & Al-Machzoomi, K. (2012). The Picture of Workplace Oral Communication Skills for ESP Jordanian Business Graduate Employees. International Journal Of Business, Humanities & Technology, 2(1), 159-173.
Organizational communication is a process of coordinating employees and group members to reach company specific goals. Unbeknownst to most employees organizational communication is used every day. In history individuals learn that organizational communication has been a center point in business communication and information for years. At one point there were many underlying assumptions that caused organizational communication to change theories and various beliefs. Using formal and informal communication an organization can be organized properly and effectively. Organizational communication is studied by many scholars even currently. This essay is designed to define and give a brief history of organizational communication as well as understand the underlying assumptions and changed viewed throughout the history and research process.
Organizational Communication is defined as a process by which the activities of a society or group are coordinated and collected to reach the goals of the members of that society or group. “It defines leadership in terms of being able to influence the management of meaning through the way in which decisions are framed using assessments. In this way, certain meanings are privileged over others and so meaning is managed.” (Clifton, J. 2012) Organizational Communication is an absolute necessity to having effective management in a work place environment. The way the organization gives the public and its employees specific information and its goals as well as to what it is planning on doing is also organizational communication. This type of communication is very important in any workplace setting no matter the size or tenure. All employees should have a full understanding of the aims of the organization or company, by affectively utilizing organizational communication skills. This helps create an overall understanding and knowledge of the process of the goals of the company.
As a brief history of organizational communication; the field traces the usage through business communication and information as well as early mass communication studies published in the 1930’s. Before then the organizational communication idea was used as a discipline that only consisted of a couple of college professors. These professors worked within speech departments and had an interest in writing and speaking in business settings. The organizational communication field has its own concerns and theories that are really distinct from other fields. In the 1950’s organizational communication focused on the role of communication in order to improve life. In the 80’s the idea really turned away from the business approach to being more concerned with the constitutive role in communication within the organization. As well as in the 90’s many critical theories held a strong influence on the organizational communication field as scholars focused on using it to liberate the organizational members. Organizational communication has really enveloped the ideas of organizing and successfully containing a work place group. Organizational communication may have changed and developed over the years but in the end it really is the same ideas and concepts that came about years ago that have been developed to the changing times.
In the early years of organizational communication there were many underlying assumptions that acted as the base for the theory. First assumption is that humans act rationally; as scholars have progressed they have found this to be false, in fact some people do not behave in a rational way at all. Individuals that are irrational will make excuses to cover their communication measures whether or not it is rational. This can cause organizational communication to be difficult in the workplace. The second underlying assumption is that formal logic and verifiable date should be the foundation upon which any theory should rest. This as well is false; the only thing really needed would be an observable behavior that can be transformed and changed into variables and can also be extended to underlying theories from observed past data. Organizations are mechanical things. Scholars have also found to be false; individual differences can be eliminated with careful management techniques. Individuals can learn to think as a group rather than as individuals. Bounded rationality challenges these assumptions; people making decisions in organizations do not always have the full information and after more information becomes available decision makers tend to just grab the first option rather than exploring things further. In the 90’s new theories on organizational communication were developed; these new theories included learning organization and systems thinking. These new theories are the main focus in the human resources department in the workplace. The new theories are now the main beliefs toward organizational communication in the workplace.
Interpersonal communication is between individuals in the face-to-face processes. Interpersonal communication is a part of organizational communication. Interpersonal communication can take numerous different forms; this could be verbal or by body language, as well as nonverbal messages an individual may receive in a form of silence. Each form of interpersonal communication can have different meanings such as verbal communication. As individuals in this class have learned over the previous weeks verbal and nonverbal communication are very important in the workplace. “HR professionals carry out many important organizational initiatives, including dealing with employee disputes, serving as a liaison between the employee and the organization, and drafting and enforcing organizational policies and procedures.” (Cowan, R. L. 2012) The HR department in the work place focuses on training individuals about interpersonal communication as it is a study that many individuals are unaware of. There are numerous variables that express interpersonal communication and how it is used in the workplace.
There are two main approaches that are used in organizational communication informal and formal. Informal communication is associated with horizontal and interpersonal communication. “Issues of the nature of informal communication between supervisors and employees at work and issues of manifestations of linguistic politeness and differences that informal communication takes across diverse industry sectors.” (Freihat, S., & Al-Machzoomi, K. (2012) It ensures effective conduct of work in modern organizations. The top down approach is also known as downward communication this is used to implement guidelines and policies as well as allow top level management to communicate to lower levels. The top down approach is most effective when used for feedback. There are four constitutive flows of communication that become related in order to constitute organizing the organization these include organizing structure, membership negotiation, activity coordination and institutional positioning.
Organizational communication was driven by research and methodologies in the past. This included functional organizational communication research and surveys, text indexing’s, and behavior modeling. When the interpretive revolution took place it was argued that opening up methodological space for narrative analyses, interviewing, participant-observation, as well as rhetoric approaches to reading. Currently research from post-positive, interpretive, postmodern, critical, and paradigms are being published and researched in the organizational communications field. Most organizations are seeking to influence the reputation of the organization through activities that express their identity and promote their specific image.
It has previously been considered that formal communications have a directional characteristic. This meaning that its content is very clear because it originates at a higher level of expertise and experience. This is used quite frequently in military communication. One-way communication is a faster way to communicate but two ways communication is more accurate. Receivers of the two way communication are sure of themselves when making judgments. The sender feels under attack in the two way system because at times the receivers may pick up on mistakes and point them out to the sender. The two way method is also nosier and looks more disorderly than the neat and efficient once way method. For example if a manager is concerned with businesslike appearance then a one-way communication would be preferred.
There are several networks within an organization. A network is an aspect of direction and a flow of communication. This has been shown that patterns or networks of communication influence the group members in very important ways. The patterns could affect the completion of the task on time, the position of the leader in the group, and even affect the member satisfaction rates. They have important implications for the dynamics of the formal organization communications. These changes are usually classified as different names such as the Circle or the Chain or the Wheel and the Star. They are named like so because of the bottling affect or chain of command from managers to employees. In networks there is a group responsibility for passing along messages that is split up between the members this betters the group’s moral.
This essay was designed to give readers a common knowledge of organizational communications as well as the aspects of the organization and the communication methods that have been used previously. Readers have learned what organizational communication is also a brief history of organizational communication as it has been formed. Organizational communication has changed with time throughout history and will be a constant in organizing any business or workplace. Readers have had an overview of organizational communication and should be able to relate to the known facts of organizational communication in their personal workplaces. If an individual looks closely they will see organizational communication daily.
References
Clifton, J. (2012). A Discursive Approach to Leadership: Doing Assessments and Managing Organizational Meanings. Journal Of Business Communication, 49(2), 148-168.
Cowan, R. L. (2012). It’s Complicated: Defining Workplace Bullying From the Human Resource Professional’s Perspective. Management Communication Quarterly, 26(3), 377-403.
Freihat, S., & Al-Machzoomi, K. (2012). The Picture of Workplace Oral Communication Skills for ESP Jordanian Business Graduate Employees. International Journal Of Business, Humanities & Technology, 2(1), 159-173.
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