Communication in the Workplace Free Essays

Communication is a vital process in organizations and companies in today’s world. It has been defined as an activity that entails transmitting information through interexchange of views or messages by behavior, signals, writing, visuals, and speech. The process of communication requires a sender, the message to be sent, and a receiver. We will write a custom essay sample on Communication in the Workplace or any similar topic only for you Order Now However, it is mandatory for the receiver to be aware of the sender’s intention to communicate. This means that a sender can be able to communicate with a receiver across vast distances (Wilson 2010). Normally, the communication the process is complete after it is clear that the receiver understood the message as intended by the sender. Communicative commonality is integral to effective communication between communicating parties. Effective communication is not only needed inside an organization but also when dealing with external stakeholders. It enables organization to achieve competitive edge considering the fact that it through it that an organization remains responsive to consumer needs (Jones George 2007). On the contrary, poor communication disrupts almost everything in an organization. There are a number of barriers to effective communication (Huczynski Buchanan 2010). This paper intends to highlight the barriers and how three organizations (Professional Sports, Bernard Mathews, and NHS trust Hospital) have been able to handle the barriers to ensure effective communication. Barriers to Effective Communication Barriers to communication are factors that might hinder effective communication between parties in the workplace. According to Antony and MacVicar (2011), this includes language barriers, cultural barriers, organizational barriers, personal barriers, and interpersonal barriers. Other barriers to effective communication include information technology and power. Professional sports organizations in Greece, Bernard Mathews, and NHS trust hospital have had to deal with at least of the barriers. The three have employed different strategies to deal with them hence their continued success (Mullins 2005). NHS Trust Hospital Poor communication has hindered hospitals to serve customers in the desired manner. There are a number of factors that have contributed to the problem. According to Smith and Preston (1996), the nature of jobs executed by doctors and nurses has contributed to poor communication. Nurses and doctors jobs are in most cases stressful leading to their informal communication among them. It is also common to find practitioners being less polite when addressing one another. Lack of understanding of one another’s role and knowledge has also contributed to the poor communication in NHS hospital (Smith Preston 1996). Gender differences have also been a barrier to effective communication with stereotypes being the main cause. Men practitioners seem to have less respect for female practitioners hence conflicts in communication. Research has shown that professionalism and status is also a major cause of poor communication in NHS hospital. More experienced nurses and doctors seemed to have fewer problems in building relationships and communicating effectively. This is as compared to less experienced doctors and nurses who experience a lot of problems communicating. Members of the same group in the hospital also find it easy to communicate. Smith and Preston (1996) argues that this ostensibly because of similar language, sense of belonging, and similar training. NHS has tried to deal with the barriers through the application of a number of strategies. For instance, it has tried to create good relationships among practitioners. This has been done to ensure they are able to communicate with one another with ease. It has also employed training and teaching communication programs to enhance to encourage good communication among practitioners. It is clear that nurses and doctors in the organization have found it hard to get along with one another as a result of different training (Smith Preston 1996). It has also been suggested that the organization should implement good communication systems to aid practitioners in communication. The world has been experiencing technological advancements on a daily basis. The hospital needs to capitalize on this to be able to improve communications (Smith Preston 1996). Bernard Mathews Farms Bernard Mathews Farms is also one of the organizations that have suffered as a result of poor or ineffective communication. Noise has been one of the major barriers to the organization’s effective communication. Specifically, the organization was affected by the noise created by the media. To be more precise, press articles published negative information about the Bernard Mathews that led to the public have a negative attitude towards it. On the other hand, the organization failed to communicate to its stakeholders or respond to the allegation in a timely to be able to set the record straight. In the essence, this left the public confused on the matter leading to the organization losing its credibility. This also led to the company losing a competitive edge on the market. Employees were also demotivated seeing their company’s name being tarnished in the media. As a result, it necessitated the need for the management to come up with strong strategies on how to enhance communication with its stakeholders (Bernard Matthews 2011). The company was committed to improving its communication not only with internal stakeholders but also external ones. Internal stakeholders include directors, managers, and employees. The company has been able to communicate effectively with its internal stakeholders through the production of multilingual weekly newsletter to all employees. This has been done to ensure employees are well aware of what is happening in the organization. The same information is made available on its intranet site. Employees can also log in to be able to access new information. Similarly, the company also provides conducts face to face meeting aimed at informing managers on the progress of the company as well as new initiatives (Bernard Matthews 2011). The company has also employed different strategies to be able to communicate with external stakeholders. This includes customers, regulatory bodies, suppliers, the community, and the government. Essentially, the company was committed to winning back the trust of its stakeholders to survive the market. One way through which this was achieved is advertising. The company has been able to use the television to advertise its products to ensure they stick in the minds of its customers. It has also made a follow to ascertain the impact of the advertisements. It is through this strategy that the company is able to explain to its customers the benefits of consuming its products. Ultimately, this also gives it the opportunity to address the negative publicity as it is able to inform stakeholders on what is really happening (Bernard Matthews 2011). Social media and the internet has also been used by the company to be able to reach out to its stakeholders. For example, the company has four websites that serve different audiences. This includes a corporate website, consumer sites, Foodservice site, and a campaigning site. It has been able to use the same to market its products as well as make its new initiatives known to stakeholders. The company has also used the media and public relations to communicate circuitously with its consumers (Bernard Matthews 2011). Professional Sport. Professional sport organizations have also faced many barriers that impede effective communication. Specifically, coaches have found it problematic to communicate effectively with their players during games. This can be attributed to them having limited time. Coaches find it hard to communicate with players as a result of the limited time they might have to transmit instructions. They have tried their best to handle the same. However, limited time remains a great obstacle (Athanasios 2005). Language has also created a barrier to effective communication in the company. Professional sports teams are normally composed of players from different countries. As such, coaches might find it problematic to communicate with them. Ability of perception and attitude also hinder effective communication. It is common knowledge that players might decode messages differently hence some may not be able to get the right information. The negative attitude among players has also created a great barrier to communication considering the fact this affects communication not only to their superiors but also other players (Athanasios 2005). There are also external factors that have hindered communication in professional sports in Canada. External factors are those that are not directly related to the players or their coach but still affect communication. For example, spectators, sports officials, and opponents also act as barriers to effective communications. This can be attributed to the noise they make during sports events (Athanasios 2005). Coaches try to ensure effective communication by asking their players to be calm and remain focused. They also try to minimize the negative influence created by outside factors. Coaches have also dealt with the problem of languages through naturalization of players. Equally, they have also ensured that their messages are short and clear to ensure every individual perceives or understands them in the desired manner. Team cohesion, fatigue, and team environment affect their attitude towards one another. Coaches have tried to deal with this through ensuring team members have enough rest and spend more time with one another (Athanasios 2005). Conclusion Communication is very essential for organizations. It is imperative for the management in different organizations to ensure effective communication for better performances. There are a number of barriers that hinder effective communication including personal barriers, language barriers, physical barriers, and gender barriers. Professional Sports, Bernard Mathews, and NHS trust Hospital have faced some of these barriers and have tried their level best to handle them to ensure their success. How to cite Communication in the Workplace, Papers Communication in the Workplace Free Essays Communication and its many assets are very important. In order to be successful in anything we need to have effective communication. Although effective communication is very important in today’s world we will have issues with ineffective communication, also known as barriers. We will write a custom essay sample on Communication in the Workplace or any similar topic only for you Order Now To communicate you need to have a sender, receiver and a message. It is important to relay any message with accuracy, with errors we then begin to have barriers causing ineffective communication. Technology is another factor that can be helpful but needs to be used properly. In my organization we use autocratic, democratic, paternalistic and laissez-faire. We are all about rights as well as delegating things to the appropriate parties. In my opinion having a combination of all management styles is important and makes it easier when you need to adjust to the different situations. Every situation and work day (involving who you work with) can be different. You make need to be more of a laissez-faire or paternalistic manager when you work with someone who needs direction at work. In my work facility we share knowledge and anything we need, thoroughly through emails, verbally and our communication book; which in our communication book you can find a lot of different information with dates, times, descriptions, etc. The more through we are the more likely we have communicated effectively even though the receiver or receivers may not be there. To communicate effectively there are five main techniques that can help you to improve. First off there is brainstorming; when you brain storm you are just throwing ideas out there in order to get any ideas together. There are also workplace tours which can also be known as a form of training. By doing tours you can allow others to see how another spectrum does things and learn how to improve or find new ways of doing things. Stakeholder surveys and stakeholder meetings are ways of getting groups together to generate more ideas. Put simply there is the expression â€Å"two heads is better than one†. Lastly there is formal suggestion system which in turns means you are workings together to figure out what these ideas mean and if they will have any value to what you need currently. Even though we have effective communication you are still going to have ineffective communication. This can be a variety of things. The first one which can cause a vast variety of issues is our main demographics like; age, cultural background, race, gender and language. There is also noise barriers which can cause you to miss-understand or interpret your sender (person giving message) wrong. You could also be ignoring parts of the message you will be receiving and only hearing the parts you would like to hear. Communication through technology has many of these same factors. Technology can be both effective and ineffective with all of its aspects. First we have speed which with online communication and cell phones you receive the date almost instantly. Accessibility in today’s world with the internet and our vast variety of resources we can find just about anything we would like. In health care accessibility can become an issue if information is accessed by an unauthorized individual which is a violation of HIPPA. When a breach becomes known you are required by law to notify the correct officials and take the necessary steps to correct the problem. Efficiency has a lot to do with speed. You can send something as simple as an email or text to get your message to the receiver. Written communication means there is a â€Å"hard copy† of the given information you can access. As for the news it can be accessed online or via the T. V. giving you more information. In health care we need to be able to keep up with the change and communication is vital. One simple mistake can make a world of difference especially in a hospital setting. You want to take the appropriate steps to improving and ways to alter or avoid having issues with ineffective communication. As you can see communication and management are vital in today’s success. You want to communicate effectively and work on improving and getting rid of any ineffective communication issues you may have. Make sure you are using the appropriate management style for the given situations and communicate your message thoroughly to your receiver. References McManus, K. (1998). A project management system for innovation. Journal for Quality and participation, 21(5), 60. Management Study Guide. Roles of Communication barriers in ineffective communication. Retrieved from: www.managementstudyguide.com/role-of-communication-barriers-in-ineffective-communication.htm Nelson, L. (2012). Ehow Learning. How Technology Impact How to cite Communication in the Workplace, Papers Communication in the Workplace Free Essays †¢ Module Code: PM 025 †¢ Class/Group: Group A †¢ Module Title: Contemporary Organisational Behaviour †¢ Assignment Title: Final Essay †¢ Assignment Title: Communication in the workplace †¢ Tutor Name: Frenie Antony †¢ Student ID Number: 2059591 †¢ Date of Submission: 21st Match 2013 Communication in the workplace The definition of communication is ‘a process in which information and its meaning (common understanding) is conveyed by a sender to receiver (s)’ (Rollinson and Broadfield, 2002:612, and Jones and George, 2011, cited in Antony and Macvicar, 2011:146). In Rollinson and Broadfield’s theory ‘meaning’ was more important than ‘information’, as long as both sender and receiver can understand the meaning of information, even the feedback is not necessarily in the communication ptocess. In addition, ‘The exchange of ideas and information is the lifeblood of any organization. We will write a custom essay sample on Communication in the Workplace or any similar topic only for you Order Now ’ (Hodge and Johnson, 1970: 93). In the other words, communication for an organization is the same as the blood flow for human being. (Conrad and Poole, 2012:5). Furthermore, according to Hodge and Johnson (1970) and O’Reilly and Pondy (1979), Dekay (2012) communication shaped the organization by interaction the organization and its environment, as the result, communication maybe the only connection between the organization and outside world. Besides, The majority aim of communication was enhance the connection between different roles in the company and smooth the working processes (Smith and Davidson, 1991, cited in Smith 1991:22). Therefore, Williams’s and Smith and Davidson’s ideas might argue that the purpose of communication in the workplace was improving the work efficiency and finally increasing the profit. This essay will argue that barrier to communication in the organization may not only influence the further market expansion of company, but also push the company to the edge of bankrupt, as its can distortion the meaning of information during the communication process. Furthermore, this essay will mainly divided into two parts, first, indicate the communication processes in the organization and verify some barriers (power difference barrier, cultural diversity barrier, individual perception barrier and so on) during the communication processes, second, inspect three case study of different companies (Bernard Matthew farms, The Luxor Company, Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell and ChevronTexaco) which had conquered the communication barriers. Normally, there were three directions of communication in the workplace: ‘vertically’ (superior and subordinate), ‘laterally’ (horizontal), and ‘diagonally’ (Rollinson and Broadfield, 2002:627). Furthermore, the communication processes unsurely consisted of two parts, the sender and receiver (Williams 1991, cited Smith, 1991:120 and Hodge and Johnson, 1970:150, Rollinson and Broadfield, 2002:612). On one hand, sender wanted to transfer an idea, the idea needed to be ‘Encoded’, which means translated the message into general language. Then choosing a ‘Channel’, for instance, by e-mail, by telephone, put an advertisement and so on. After that, receiver received the massage from sender and they should try to ‘Decoded’ the message, which means the receiver should try to understand what sender’s meaning, at last gave respond (feedback) to the sender (Rollinson and Broadfield, 2002:617 and Buelens et al, 2011, cited in Antony and MacVicar, 2011:109). On the other hand, the barriers, which called ‘Noise’, existed during these six processes, and might lead to organization ‘communication collapses’, even worse, the bankrupt of company (Hodge and Johnson, 1970: 151). The barriers of communication often separated into two parts: ‘external barriers to the communication’ and ‘internal barriers to the communication’ (Williams 1991, cited in Smith, 1991:117, and Coulson-Thomas and Coulson-Thomas, 1997:267). To be more specific, first, external barrier often indicated as: neglect the extra message, ignore the importance of the information that processes it all followed by first-come-first-served rule, and slack to the responsibility (Williams 1991, cited in Smith, 1991:117). Second, there were five performance of internal barrier: first, could not find a need of communication, second, careless in understanding the information or tend to not correspond at all. Third, ‘Encoded’ problem, the sender introduce in professional way that make message unclear or the sender executed it in a wrong ‘channel’, the message could not receive by target customer. Fourth, the message might tamper during the transfer. Fifth, the personality might influence people’s understanding and acceptance of the message (ibid). The lack of communication might trigger a death for a company. For example, Bernard Matthews farms (the largest turkey supplier in the UK) started to lose reputation since 2005, because of the incident of unhealthy turkey for students in improve-school-meal program, then reached at the peak because of outbreak of bird flu and exposure of imported turkey from abroad, which against the idea of company. What was worse, Matthews never responded and defended themselves to the media in time (The Times 100, 2012). With reference to Williams’s (1991, cited in Smith, 1991:117) theory, the farm met one of the external communication barriers that the manager notice the problem they faced, however, took no respond of it. Before Matthews took any actions the company already lost 35% of selling in the UK, and it was standing on the edge of bankrupt (The Times 100, 2012). As mentioned above, the purpose of communication is to make organization work better and increasing the profit. With reference of Rollinson’s theory (2002: 617), during the improved communication processes, Bernard Matthews acted in three ways to simulate the internal stakeholders: formal written (weekly newsletters), electronic communication (company’s intranet site), and face to face communication. While Bernard also try to change external stakeholders’ attitude by: internet (four websites with different target customer) and social media (advertisement). These series of action offered high information richness which easily understood and accepted by both internal and external stakeholders, in addition, it rescued the Bernard Matthews farms from bankrupt to 9% annual increasing rate. To sum up, an effective communication, both internal and external, could help overcome the barriers and change the loss position. The communication could not only help company changing the loss position, but also make great effort for company’s further development. The Luxor Company (manufactures domestic and office furniture), which headquarters had 750 employees approximately and located in outskirts of Paris , for instance, increased dramatically in a short time that the CEO of company, Charles Binochet, realised everything seemed to be not working as smoothly as before. Furthermore, Charles believed that the rapid development would become a serious barrier when the next wave of market expansion coming (Rollinson and Broadfield, 2002:626). According to Williams (1991, sited in Smith, 1991:117), the barriers of the Luxor Company was external communication barriers, which means both the employers and the employees could not take care of the extra information, ignore the importance of the different information, and slack to the responsibility to the company. By hiring a consultant the Luxor Company solved problem of the lack of connection between production and marketing and no financial control system problem (Roillinson and Broadfield, 2002:626). However, the chaos of relations in the organization still existed. After some discussion, the Luxor tried to keep all of its in touch with company and its actions by provide the formal information which contained the high information richness (displayed four company’s situation chart which including ‘Number of employees’, ‘Output’, ‘investment in new plant and machinery’, and ‘New product lines added’) (ibid). Although the feedback of this action might come slowly and seldom, according to Roillinson and Broadfield (2002:612) as long as the receiver understood the information, feedback was less important in the communication. The charts, which might help employees to understand the company’s operation and their contribution to the company, leaded to hard working performance of employees (Roillinson and Broadfield, 2002:626). As a result, it improved communication with company and employees that not only improved the employees’ motivation but also might offer a significant assistant in company’s next expansion. Many multinational corporations had the same communication barriers as the Luxor Company, during the processes of taking collaborative advantage (Hansen and Nohria, 2004: 22). Nowadays, increasing international competition lead the company, for instance, Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell and ChevronTexaco (multinational corporations) were losing their dominant position than before. To recover the position and to increase the profit, they were willing to seek a new source, where collaboration might work, to increase the competitive advantage (ibid). Hansen and Nohria (2004:23) claimed that collaboration had several benefits: decreased the cost, better decision making, increased the revenue, be more creative, and enhanced the connection with its subsidiaries. During the processes of taking collaborative advantage, there was a significant barrier called: ‘Inability to work together and transfer knowledge’, which Hansen and Nohria considered it as a communication barrier (ibid). The employees from different subsidiaries which belonged to different countries, suffering the language barrier (language different) and intercultural barrier (message changed because of local culture) (ibid). According to Williams (1991, cited in Smith, 1991:117), the MNCs often had external communication barriers, which indicated as personality (culture different) influence the understanding and acceptance of the message and the message had been distorted (translate language) during the transfer. After a survey from supervisors, the companies decided to operate two actions to encourage the communication: First, setting an international standard of technologies words to conquer the communication. Second, setting an employee-exchange-program that employee could understand the culture different and improve the work efficiency. With reference to Rollinson and Broadfield (2002:617) theory, the first solution settled the encode and decode barriers, while second solution was choosing the ‘channel’, which was exchanged the employees to other subsidiaries, to increase the understanding and to solve the distortion barriers. To conclude, this essay has identified the communication in the workplace which included the communication barriers in the organization and purpose of communication, follow with three case studies about communication barriers, which including first, Bernard Matthews farms developed internal and external stakeholder by communication to rescue the loss position, second, the Luxor Company’s communicational-bias-further-development, third, communication helped multinational corporations to develop collaborative. As a result, communication in the workplace is critical important. Related essay: â€Å"Advice About Communication† However, the limitation of this essay still existed, the communication barriers identified not enough in this essay and the case study of this essay might be fewer representatives of the communication barriers. Words: 1616 Reference Antony, F. and MacVicar, A. (2011). Contemporary Organisation Behaviour. New York: McGraw-Hill. Argyris, Chris (1994). Good Communication That Block Leaning. Harvard Business Review, July-August, 1994, 77-85. Conrad, C. C. and Poole, M. S. (2012). Strategic Organizational Communication: In a Global Economy. U. K. : John Wiley and Sons. Coulson-Thomas, C. (1997). The Future of the Organization: Achieving Excellence through Business Transformation. London: Kogan Page. Dekay, S. H. (2012). Interpersonal communication in the workplace: A Largely Unexplored Region. Business Communication Quarterly, 75 (4), 449-452. Hansen, M. T. and Nohria, N. (2004), How to Build Collaborative Advantage. MIT Sloan Management Review, Fall, 46, 1, 22-30, 2004. Hodge, B. J. and Johnson, H. J. (1970). Management and Organizational Behavior: A Multidimensional Approach. United States of America: John Wiley and Sons. O’Reilly, C. A. and Pondy, L. R. (1979). Organizational Communication. Columbus HO: Grid Rollinson, D. with Broadfield, A. (2002). Organisational Behaviour and Analysis: An Integrated Approach. London: Pearson Education. Smith, M. (1991). Analysing Organization Behavior. London: Macmillan Education. The Times 100 Business Case Studies. (2012). Communication with stakeholders: A Bernard Matthews case study. Retrieved October 28th, 2012 from: http://businesscasestudies. co. uk/bernard-matthews /communicating-with-stakeholders/ How to cite Communication in the Workplace, Essay examples