Communication Flows and Communication Networks within a Company

Organizational communication establishes a pattern of formal communication channels to carry information vertically and horizontally. (The organization chart displays these channels.) To ensure efficient and effective accomplishment of objectives, information is exchanged. Information is passed upward from employees to supervisors and laterally to adjacent departments. Instructions relating to the performance of the department and policies for conducting business are conveyed downward from supervisors to employees. The organization carries information from within the department back up to top management. Management furnishes information about how things are going, notifies the supervisor of what the problems are, and provides requests for clarification and help. Supervisors, in turn, keep their employees informed and render assistance. Supervisors continually facilitate the process of gaining necessary clarification and problem solving, both up and down the organization. Also, supervisors communicate with sources outside the organization, such as vendors and customers.

Organization chart prescribes the flow of formal communication within the company, the roles being clearly defined to prevent ambiguity, confusion and stress. The communication within the company is conventionally considered as vertical (downward and upward) and horizontal (lateral) as it reflects the traditional hierarchy of the company organization (see fig. 1) in which the authority is delegated from the chief executives downwards in decreasing amounts to the level of ordinary clerks and shopworkers. On the contrary, the responsibility to the immediate superior starts at the lowest level of the organization, and every other level reports to their superiors upwards. At each level the employees communicate within the departments and with other departments of the same level, which forms horizontal or lateral communication.

Downward, upward and horizontal communication each have their specific problems and requirements which cannot be underestimated nor ignored as they are inextricably interwoven with the company organisation.

Downward communication in the company may be hindered by psychological and technical causes. Very often the top management is mainly preoccupied with its responsibility for achieving the company’s objectives and for them communication is practically a one-way route of issuing orders and commenting on performance. Such centralized management system proved to be rather effective for the control of repetitive and closely integrated tasks, but happened to be very inflexible in case of any new developments.

Traditionally, downward communication serves for the following purposes:

r instructions to job execution

r logical explanation of work

r policy and methods communication

r feedback

r persuasive communication

However, due to complicated hierarchical structure, narrow specialization of the employees and division of responsibility sometimes it is difficult to get information in the required scope and results in waste communication which is time and effort consuming. A lot of problems are caused by bad communication techniques, most frequently through careless or ambiguous wording. Passing through the organizational hierarchy such messages are most likely to undergo distortion.

The superiors have good reasons for establishing effective downward communications. According to their basic professional functions they should

r let a subordinate know what is expected of him;

r share information with a subordinate on job performance;

r improve motivation;

r get information on suggestions and improvements;

r give information on policies, rules and regulations;

r counsel subordinates.

Intercommunication between colleagues, whatever rank and file they are, is facilitated by easy access to each other and they can draw one another’s attention to the problem quickly and freely[3]. This “interpersonal relationship marked by a high degree of mutually shared thought, interests and sentiments concerning particular topics, and by readiness to communicate about those topics and act on suggestions concerning them”[4] is called rapport. Unfortunately, rapport is the weakest when the departmental boundaries have to be crossed.

Nevertheless, the managers are given a wide variety of the modern techniques of downward communication which include speaking directly to employees, sending circulars to them at their work places or putting them in pay envelopes, letters to their home address, placing notices on departmental and canteen boards and company newspapers. They are to choose among those tools depending on their purpose, urgency and cost-effectiveness.

Upward communication is very often a cause of many communicative problems in the company if not organized properly. Firstly, there are much more senders engaged and interested in expressing their concerns and ideas, hence, there are much more dissatisfied in case the communication fails. Secondly, the subordinates are psychologically much tenser and feel frustrated if they are not listened to or paid attention to by superiors. Frustration may also be caused by the inaccurate transmission of upward communication through an intermediary (chief clerk, department manager).

Upward communication is usually applied to send the following information:

r What has been done by an employee, his subordinates and his peers;

r What problems this worker and the department he works at have;

r What he thinks should be done;

r How he evaluates his performance;

r What aspects of the organizational policy and practice should be corrected.

An employee has a set of informational needs which he tries to satisfy while communicating with the superiors: a) how am I doing and does anybody care? (need for personal evaluation); b) how are we doing? (need to know group or company performance); c) how can I help? (need to contribute meaningfully).

Thus, a motivated employee has his objective reasons for establishing effective upward communications:

r to keep the management informed about current operations;

r to discuss long- and short-range plans;

r to represent crew’s needs to superiors;

r to receive information on the company’s goals.

Having those needs satisfied, an employee is given a positive reinforcement for putting forward ideas and conscious participation into day-to-day management of the company. This kind of communication holds the whole team together.

Nevertheless, the superiors have to filter the large upwards flow of communication, otherwise they will be involved into time and effort consuming debates and explanations which they often can not afford. The usual barrier to control the flow of upward communication is to restrict a subordinate’s upward communication to his immediate superior, who will then decide whether to pass it further or not.

Horizontal, or lateral communication exists between all functions of the company: Sales, Finance (e.g. a clear summary of the rules governing budgeting and expenditures to departments), Personnel, Purchase, Research and Development have to communicate across to achieve the common goal. Good lateral communication is necessary for:

r exchanging information between departments;

r getting support and assistance;

r sharing information on problems and their solution;

r coordinating and rescheduling.

Sometimes, taking care only of their narrow field of activity, departments simply ignore horizontal channels of communication, putting up fences and having no wish to share information. Breakdowns in horizontal communication may occur not only between departments, but also between colleague and colleague. Although there is a wide variety of reasons to neglecting lateral communication, in many cases those breakdowns are simply caused by a one-sided and self-centred outlook, which ignores the company policy. Robert Sheldon, who spent many years working for Ford Motor Company being responsible for staff recruitment and training, states, “Information gives us power, and it is naive to behave as though power and company politics do not exist, or that they do not influence internal communications”[5].

Figure 2. Product-oriented Structure of the Organisation

Besides, the organizational flows of communication there exist three types of communication networks in the company:

· formal - established by the management and functioning on a set schedule;

· alternate - established when communication breaks down or emergencies arise; backs up formal network;

· informal - (grapevine) - carries unofficial information and operates outside established networks.

Formal communication network usually operates effectively, having been tested and tempered by the years of the company’s operation. However, climate of distrust, group loyalties, oversight and distortions may undermine the effectiveness of the most stable formal network.

Informal network, though difficult to control, can hardly be overestimated. Talks over coffee, spontaneous meeting, easy casual access to the boss’s office contributes to the sense of openness. T.Peters and R.Waterman, who investigated the management success in their book “A Search for Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies” noted that all of them have rich network of open informal communications.

Grapevine is the unavowed supplement to the official channels of communication. It consists of scraps of information which managers and specialists familiar with some topic of special interest have let fall. There are usually people below to pick them up and pass them either upwards or horizontally, and such people do not feel in any way responsible for the accuracy of what they communicate. Gaps are filled in by conjecture or rumour, often passed off as fact.

Grapevine may be easily distorted but travels fast, and this makes it one of the most influential communication channels which can’t be sold short. On the contrary, there are simple rules to deal with informal network:

· be aware of the information in grapevine and learn who the key people in grapevine are;

· find out information being sought;

· determine if information should be shared;

· anticipate and supply correct information (when and if possible).

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11