TECHNIQUES OF COMMUNICATION

Importance of Communication for an Organization 

Communication is easily overlooked, but the ability to communicate effectively is necessary to carry out the thoughts and visions of an organization to the people. The importance of speech and words whether through a paper or a voice is a communication medium to convey directions and provide synchronization. Without communication, there is no way to express thoughts, ideas and feelings. There are many ways to provide communication from the organization to the people of your community. Whether through a phone, fax, email, letter, website, instant message software, social networking websites (facebook, twitter, myspace) and etc… you are able to communicate your organization to the world. Things can be expressed, ideas can be shared, and thoughts can be joined. 

The ability and the importance of communication become much more crucial when you are on a mission or need to fulfill a goal. Without a means to communicate, your organization will become isolated. The ability to effectively communicate is very important when it is usually underestimated and overlooked. Communication is a necessity as we use it to network, spread ideas, and promote. Communicate effectively through well known mediums and convey it simply and precisely. The importance of communication is crucial to the success of your organization because you need to reach out in order to fulfill your mission.  

Benefits of Effective Communication in the Workplace are:- 

 If a manager is able to communicate their ideas clearly, so that employees definitely know what is asked of them, the subordinates will, consequently, 16 perform their jobs correspondingly. On contrast, an aggressive way of managing reports results in employees’ getting more and more frustrated, often guessing what their real faults were. A good style of management, as well as a positive approach to communication, ensures that an employee and a supervisor understand each other, and are more effective at the workplace 

Effective communication in the workplace provides employees with a clear understanding of what is demanded from them, with knowledge of what to do and what to expect. For organizations, such a communication style creates effective performance of the staff, and, consequently, increases customer loyalty and profit. 

• A manager should make sure one’s communication style is positive and effective. 
• The employees, if they understand the situation correctly, should communicate the problem to the supervisor, or to the higher management in order for the company to take certain measures for solving the problem.
• Any problems can and should be communicated both among the employees and up to supervisors. 
• The atmosphere inside the company should be encouraging for effective communication so that employees, thanks to their management, clearly realize how important communication is for each staff member personally, and to the company in general.  
• It is very important for communication to be ‘two ways’, as Business Performance outlines, – employees should not only listen, but always have a chance, and be encouraged to ask questions, discuss, express own ideas. 
• Feedback mechanisms and sharing best practices internally should be an integral part of organizational performance, and performance management system in particular. 

Formal and Informal Communication  

Effective Communication plays one of the crucial roles of ensuring a company can achieve its goal and objectives. Just for a moment, imagine that due to bad ineffective communication, many of staff does not understand what the management is trying to convey to them! It will be disastrous. Communication is indeed one of the very important management and managerial behaviors that we should try to understand in order to be a better manager. 

In an organization, there are basically two ways of communication namely:   

• Formal and 
• Informal communication 

Formal Communication 

• Communication takes place through the formal channels of the organization structure along the lines of authority established by the management. 
• Such communications are generally in writing and may take any of the forms; policy; manuals: procedures and rule books; memoranda; official meetings; reports, etc. 

Advantages & Disadvantages of Formal Communication: 

The advantages of formal communication are: 

• They help in the fixation of responsibility and 
• Maintaining of the authority relationship in an organization. 

The disadvantages of formal communication are: 

• Generally time consuming, cumbersome and 
• Leads to a good deal of distortion at times. 

Informal Communication  

• Communication arising out of all those channels of communication that fall outside the formal channels is known as informal communication. 
• Built around the social relationships of members of the organization. 
• Informal communication does not flow lines of authority as is the case of formal communication. 
• It arises due to the personal needs of the members of n organization. 

At times, in informal communication, it is difficult to fix responsibility about accuracy of information. Such communication is usually oral and may be covered even by simple glance, gesture or smile or silence. 

This differentiation of communication is mainly on the basis of situations. In situations like public speaking, mass communication, official communication, etc. formal communication is used. Here, language is used more precisely, and more attention is paid to grammar. Also we pay attention to our dress, posture, etc. formal communication occurs in the context of status differences. Informal communication takes place in case of informal and personal situations. Less attention is paid to structure of language and grammar. Also less attention is paid to nonverbal behavior like clothing, gait, posture, etc.  

To communicate effectively in your workplace, you need to be able to identify and use both formal and informal communication channels. The channels of communication are the formal and informal ways of communicating with other people. 

Formal communication channels relate to the structure of the organization. They include:  

• Reporting relationships and policies 
• Committee meetings 
• Bulletin boards 
• Participation in group events  
• Internal newsletters 

The benefits of reporting relationships  

Reporting relationships help to address issues quickly and clearly, and to spread the communication workload. For instance, in most organizations your supervisor or manager will be your first point of contact, rather than the managing director or the head of another department 

This is useful because 

• Your manager may meet with the other departments regularly and be able to answer the query. 
• If you have a query the answer may be helpful for your colleagues too – your manager can make sure it is passed on to everybody. 
• If most people in your department have the same question it is better that another department only has to answer the query once. 

Policies and Procedures 

Communication is the flow of information within an organization. It includes: 

• Internal newsletters 
• Notice boards 
• Memos 
• The intranet 
• Internal customer service.  

A policy is a statement that outlines how the organization will act on a particular issue. Who can access information? What information can be released internally and externally? When information can be released? What the organization aims to achieve by communicating? 

A procedure is a step-by-step guide on how to carry out an activity in the workplace. Communication procedures provide guidelines on how to share certain types of information. A procedure on writing internal memos, for example, may include: A style guide, design template or the Instructions for distribution. 

Committee Meetings  

The meeting with the employees is found to be very useful in building formal communication the higher-ups are to encourage the employees to talk about their constructive suggestions, job problems and needs. They are also to be encouraged to express their views on whether the management practices help the job performance or interfere with it. The meetings enable the management to ascertain the worth of their directives imparted to the workers. The activities and discussions in the meeting can be well directed if the purpose of meeting is specific and the agenda is strictly followed. The meetings help to heighten the team spirit and assure the necessary information flow by encouraging two-way communication. 20 The useful knowledge and experience of the employees is mutually shared during the meetings  

Internal Newsletters 

The employees are encouraged to write letters. First the management sends enquiry letters to the employees and the replied are encouraged. This is a direct and personal way for the employees to transmit the information to the management. The employees are encouraged to drop their suggestions and new ideas in the suggestion boxes. The management, which is aware of the fact that the small problems and complaints of the employees that go unnoticed have way of mushrooming into major problems, encourages the employees to drop their complaints in the suggestion boxes. These boxes are placed at some convenient places in the firm and are opened at regular intervals. 

Participation in-group events  

Some casual events provide opportunities for arranging social gatherings in different departments of the firm. The informal atmosphere during the sport events, picnics and parties offer spontaneous information from the employees to the firm. 

Informal communication channels are those that develop through social interaction.   

They include: 

• Conversations at break times 
• Grapevines 
• Consensus

Conversations at break times  

The telephone conversation and face-face conversation are the primary means of horizontal communication, which facilitate the coordinating activities of the organization. Today, the modern business houses on telephone services spend thousands of rupees. The telephonic communication cannot be as effective as the face-to-face communication because people cannot use facial expressions and gestures in telephone conversations. But it is possible to make it effective through modulations of voice.

Grapevine 

Grapevine is an informal communication network, which ignores formal channels of communication and spreads rumors and gossips at all levels of the organization. Although every business-organization has its formal channels of communication, the informal channel of communication called grapevine also operates in it. It can be easily found that a large portion of the communication in almost every business house is not formal or pre-planned. The employees communicate through informal channels as they do their jobs. It is neither pre-planned nor deliberately motivated by the management. It is neither written nor documented or recorded. Therefore, it refers to any communication that takes place outside the prescribed and preplanned channels of formal communication. It is not set with the lines of organizational hierarchy. As it has no set rules and regulations, it is not confined to a particular direction. It just spreads like a grapevine. 

Importance of Grapevine

Though the structure of the grapevine is not so well defined, as that of the formal channels, it should not be taken for its weakness. The messages flowing through grapevine have greater speed than that of the messages flowing through the formal channels. The grapevine may carry equally vital message through it for the achievement and success of the organization. It is not correct to underestimate the grapevine by saying that the vital messages pass only through the authorized, formal channels. On the other hand, though the formal channels are systematic,pre-planned and documented, it is authority-laden. It can never be as speedy and spontaneous as the grapevine. The employees communicate through grapevine, not because they are compelled to communicate but because they earnestly want to communicate with their associates. 

The method of formal written communication is slow and expensive method of information transmission. The grapevine, on the other hand, is non-expensive method and most-rapid oral method of transmitting the information to the maximum number of the communication receivers. The grapevine can flow wherever the participants wish it to flow; therefore, the manager can use the properly cultivated grapevine in dealing with the problems that require crossing the boundaries between the departments 

Grapevine originates from the psychological need of the employees to talk about their jobs and their associates as the subject of their main interest. The absence of grapevine surely creates the dull, sick and unfriendly atmosphere in the organization. Grapevine is also described as the barometer of public opinion in the organization. If the manager is sensitive to it, he can gather information about the ideas, opinions, attitudes and interests of the employees.  

The grapevine gives an opportunity to the employees to let off the suppressed air of anxiety, worries and frustration. When they talk about their associates, they get emotional relief. The fact that the employees talk about their associates or that they have the interest in their associates is a proof of the high morale. Thus, the grapevine not only promotes unity, integrity and solidarity of the organization but it also helps to raise the morale of the employees.  

Limitations of Grapevine  

1. The grapevine may carry some degree of error in it. 
2. The baseless, imaginary and non-factual messages may prove harmful to the organization
3.  Often the employees feed the grapevine with self-serving information. They add to the facts rather than simply report.
4. The grapevine often carries incomplete information, which leads to misunderstanding of the receiver. 
5. The communicator does not take the responsibility of the message. 
6. Sometimes the grapevine spreads the message so swiftly that it causes damage to the organization.