The Value of Clear Communication Lines

Communication importance, process and elements

Communication is one of the most basic functions of management, the manager can make a good decision, think out well conceived plans, establish a sound organisation structure, and even be well linked by his associates. Communication is essential for achieving managerial and organisational effectiveness. Good communication helps employees become more involved in their work and helps them develop a better understanding of their role and job. Clear, precise and timely communication of information also prevents the occurrence of organisational problems. Without communication, employees will not be aware of what their co-workers are doing, will not have any idea about what their goals are, and will not be able to assess their performance. Managers will not be able to give instructions to their subordinates and management will not receive the information it requires to develop plans and take decisions, hence communication acts as a nervous system for any organisation.

Concept of Communication

The word communication has been derived from the Latin word "communis", which means common. Communication, therefore, refers to the sharing of ideas, facts, opinions, information and understanding. It is the transfer or transmission of information and understanding from one person to another. Although the word "communication" is used often, there is no consensus amongst communication experts regarding its definition. In general, it is defined as the process by which information is exchanged between individuals. The process uses written messages, spoken words and gestures.

Communication can be defined as the process of transmitting information, thoughts, opinions, messages, facts, ideas or emotions and understanding from one person, place or things to another person, place or thing.

Organisational Behaviour seeks to examine the impact of communication on the behaviour of employees within organisations. The importance of communication in any managerial process can hardly be over-emphasised. If an organisation is to operate as an integrated unit, it is necessary that the top management should keep the lower level supervisors and employees well-informed of its ultimate objectives and what it wants each person to accomplish towards their realisation.

The overall vision and strategy must be conveyed down the organisation hierarchy to ensure complete buy-in by the business and to convey a one team approach to the problem.

By freely sharing information, the management takes employees into its confidence, prepares them for changes, avoids misunderstanding, and removes it if at all it develops, and makes them more knowledgeable about the problems and policies of the enterprise.

Functions of Communication

1. The information function serves to provide knowledge to the individuals need for guidance in their actions. It also fulfils worker's desires for awareness of things that affect them.
2. The command and instructive functions serve to make the employee aware of his obligations to the formal organisation and to provide him with additional guidance on how to perform his duties adequately.
3. The influence and persuasion function (also known as motivational function) encourages the appropriate individual to perform or to exhibit a certain behaviour. Messages communicated are used to convince individuals that their actions can be personally or organisationally beneficial.
4. The integrative function refers to the fact that the communication of messages/ideas, if properly handled, should help to relate the activities of the workers to their efforts complement rather than detract from each other. Work efforts are unified rather than fragmented as a result of properly integrative communication. Employees can perform well and be involved in their work only when they understand their job duties and responsibilities. Unless the organisation's key goals, values and strategies are communicated to employees, they will not work in that direction.
5. The two-way communication process involves the transmission of a message from a sender to a receiver and back. Communication may take place through speech, hand signals, or other form/medium. All communication involves eight steps, regardless of the form used as depicted in the diagram above.

The Eight Steps of Communication are as follows:

1. Developing an idea - The sender should perceive that he has some important message to be conveyed to the receiver. The sender should have a clear idea about what s/he wants to communicate to the receiver.
2. Encoding the message - The sender codifies the message. S/he selects the appropriate words, charts, or symbols in this step, to convey his ideas as clearly as possible. S/he also decides on the medium of transmission so that the words and symbols constituting the message can be arranged in a suitable manner.
3. Transmitting the message - This step involves the transmission of the message using an appropriate medium of communication such as written words, phone call or personal interaction. While transmitting the message, the sender tries to ensure that the timing of the message is right. The sender also takes care that the transmission of the message doesn't encounter any barriers or interference, which may impede the flow of communication. Ensuring that the communication channel is free from barriers or interference increases the chances of the message reaching the target audience and holding its attention.
4. Reception of the message - In this step, the receiver, the person for whom the message was intended, receives the message. If the message was communicated orally, the receiver has to be a good listener to avoid loss of information during the transmission of the message.
5. Decoding the message - The message is decoded and understood by the receiver. The receiver has to understand the message exactly as intended by the sender. The communicator of a message can make the receiver listen to him, but understanding has to be achieved by the receiver alone. This aspect of understanding is referred to as "getting through" to a person.
6. Acceptance or rejection of the message - The receiver is free to accept or reject the decoded message. The receiver can not only choose whether to accept a message, s/he can also choose whether to accept the message in total or in part. The acceptance decision of the receiver is influenced by factors such as their perception regarding the accuracy of the message, the authority of the sender, and the implications of accepting the information.
7. Using the information - This step involves the use of the information by the receiver. The receiver may use the information, discard it, or store it for future.
8. Giving feedback - Feedback occurs when the receiver sends back some response to the sender or acknowledges receipt of the message. The communication loop is complete only after feedback has been provided. Feedback is essential for finding out whether the message has been properly received, decoded, accepted and used by the receiver.

The two-way communication process can be compared to the back-and-forth pattern within a racket sport such as tennis or badminton. The players adjust their shots depending on the response of the opponent. Similarly, as communication progresses, the sender adjusts their message to the previous response of the receiver. Two-way communication leads to the accurate transmission of information and improves the quality of decisions and actions dependent on that information.

Organisational Communication

Organisational communication can be broadly classified into formal and informal communication.

Formal communication

This is where communication is official, it is part of the recognised communication system which is involved in the operation of the organisation. These communications may be oral or written. A formal communication can be from a superior to a subordinate, from a subordinate to a superior, intra-administrative, or external.

Formal communication may be mandatory, indicative or explanatory. Mandatory communication implies an order or command to be followed and goes by various euphemistic names such as instructions, briefing, etc. This kind of communication is mostly vertical and usually one way from top to downward in direction. The indicative or explanatory may exist between any levels and may be vertical as well as horizontal.

Informal Communication

Informal communication grows out of the social interactions among people who work together. These are not bound by any chart on the wall but are bound by conventions, customs and culture. Such communication provides useful information for events to come, in the form of a grapevine.

Organisational Communication can also be classified as:

1. Downward Communication
2. Upward Communication
3. Lateral Communication
4. Interactive Communication

Downward Communication

Downward communication is one of the most critical processes of organisational communication. It defines the interfaces between people by aiding the flow of information between them.?

Downward communication has five purposes:

1. To give instruction to employees regarding their jobs, roles and specific tasks.
2. To provide information about organisational procedures and practices to new employees.
3. To explain the rationale of a job to a new employee.
4. To provide subordinates feedback about their job performance.
5. To give information required by different teams and departments for the achievement of goals

Historically, organisations have only given priority to the first two bullet-points above whilst modern organisations give attention to all five bullet-points. If the communication process fails to achieve these purposes, employees will not receive all the information they require about their jobs and will not be aware about the importance of their work. They may evaluate their job to be of little significance within the organisation and may feel isolated or ignored. They may carry out their tasks only because they have been asked to do so by their seniors with no buy-in to the organisations vision or strategy. This kind of attitude on the part of the employees acts as a catalyst for negativity and can directly affect organisational performance. It will promote an authoritative and/or dictatorship atmosphere, which will adversely affect the upward and horizontal flow of information. Hence, it is important to communicate to all employees how their jobs will contribute to the achievement of organisational goals and how their poor/excellent performance will affect other jobs in the organisation. From this, we can define the objective of downward communication should be to help employees understand their jobs better and align their goals with organisational goals.

Upward Communication

The upward communication process is non-directive in nature, unlike the downward process, which is directive. Effective upward communication is possible only when organisations empower their employees and allow then to participate freely in decision-making. The techniques described below are used to promote upward communication in organisations:

1. The grievance procedure: Enables employees to appeal to management and seek guidance of their grievances.
2. Open-door policy: Allows employees to approach manager at any time and discuss their problems with them.
3. Counselling, attitude questionnaires and exit interviews: The Human Resources department can conduct non-directive counselling programs to help employees deal with their work-related problems as well as work and family conflicts. Attitude questionnaires may be administered periodically to find out employees' attitudes towards the workplace and the workload. Exit interviews may be held for employees resigning from the organisation to find out their reasons for leaving and their suggestions for improving the workplace.
4. Participative techniques: Upward communication can be achieved through formal participation programs like union-management committees, suggestion boxes, junior boards and quality circles or through informal involvement of employees. Research has shown that employees who participate in these programs are more satisfied with their job, show greater commitment toward the job, and perform better than non-participating employees.
5. The Ombudsperson: A position created to receive and respond to inquiries, complaints, requests for policy clarification, or allegations of injustice by employees. Through the ombudsperson, employees can have their problems resolved quickly without going through lengthy channels. The position had been initially created in Scandinavia as an outlet for people who felt that they had been treated unfairly by the government bureaucracy.

Lateral Communication

Lateral communication involves communication across chains of command. It facilitates coordination among departments. It probably takes place because people prefer the informality of lateral communication to be the formal downward and upward communication channels. Those actively involved in lateral communication are called "boundary spanners". Since "boundary spanning", allows for accumulation of vast amounts of information, such persons wield tremendous power and enjoy greater status by filtering and communication with others.

Interactive Communication

Interactive communication is beneficial when communication is necessary between peers involved in tasks that require coordinated effort. However, if they are not involved in tasks that require coordinated effort, interactive communication would result in reduced productivity. Interactive communication among peers may also affect vertical communication in a negative way. Employees at each level may communicate freely among themselves but fail to communicate upward and downward. The main aims of interactive communication are:

1. Task coordination
2. Problem solving
3. Information sharing, and
4. Conflict resolution

Verbal Communication

Verbal communication takes place directly between the superiors and juniors in organisations and between farmers and extension functionaries in the field and is often known as face to face communication. It takes the form of talks, a public address, verbal discussions, telephonic calls, telecommunications and other artificial media tools.

Verbal communication has the following merits:

1. It is the least time consuming, is more direct, simple and the least expensive.
2. It is more communicative and effective and aids in avoiding delays, red-tape and formalities.
3. It generates a friendly and cooperative spirit.
4. It provides an immediate feedback, as questions can be put and answers obtained about the information transmitted.
5. Since every information cannot be put into writing, most of it is conveyed by means of oral instructions, mutual discussions and telephonic conversations

Verbal communication has the following demerits:

1. Lengthy, distant and important information cannot be effectively conveyed verbally.
2. Verbal talks may often be distorted if there is some cause of indifference between the receiver and the sender.
3. It is inadequate where permanency and uniformity of form are required.
4. Due to various communication gaps, as a result of status and other physical or personal barriers communication is incomplete.
5. Spontaneous responses may not be carefully thought.
6. The spoken words can be more easily misunderstood than the written words.
7. It presupposes expertise in the art of effective speaking

Written Communication

Written communication as the name implies is always put in writing and generally used when the audience is at a distance or when a permanency or record is required or where its preservation is essential in case it is needed as evidence in cases of dispute. It is generally in the form of instruction, orders, rules and regulations, policies, procedures, posters, memos, reports information bulletins.

The merits of written communication are:

1. It serves as evidence of what has occurred or what was stated.
2. It provides a permanent record for future use.
3. It reduces the chances for misinterpretation and distortion of information.
4. It is reliable when transmitting lengthy information on financial, production or other important data.
5. It provides an opportunity to the subordinates to put up their grievances in writing and get them supported by facts.

Written communication has the following demerits:

1. It is generally an expensive and time consuming process.
2. Even though such communication has been transmitted, it is not certain whether the receiver has understood it.
3. Written materials not only get out of date but may also be leaked out before time.
4. It sometimes leads to excessive formality and rigidity in personal relations

Non-verbal Communication

A message can be sometimes expressed without the help of words. Non-verbal communication is the process of communicating without the use of words. It is defined as non-word human responses like facial expressions and gestures and the perceived characteristics of the environment through which the human verbal and non-verbal messages are transmitted. Non-verbal communication is also known as "silent language". It involves the use of cues, gestures, vocal characteristics, facial expressions and spatial relationship between the sender and the receiver to convey a message. For example, a smile, glance, stare or a frown or convey different meanings.

Non-verbal Communication has the following components:

1. Kinesics
2. Proxemics
3. Oculesics
4. Chronemics
5. Haptics
6. Paralinguistics
7. Paralanguage
8. Physical appearance

Kinesics

This is the interpretation of body language such as facial expressions and gestures – or, more formally, non-verbal behaviour related to movement, either of any part of the body or the body as a whole. Body Language is technically known as kinesics.

Body language is the unconscious and conscious transmission and interpretation of feelings, attitudes, and mood, through:

• Body posture, movement, physical state, position and relationship to other bodies, objects and surroundings.
• Facial expression and eye movement.
• And this transmission and interpretation can be quite different to the spoken word.

Proxemics

This is the technical term for the personal space aspect of body language. Proxemics is the study of measurable distance between people as they interact.

Body spacing and posture are unintentional reactions to sensory fluctuations or shifts, such as subtle changes in the sound and pitch of a person's voice. Social distance between people is reliably correlated with physical distance, as are intimate and personal distance according to the following diagram.

Oculesics

Oculesics is the study of the role of eye contact in non-verbal communication. Our eyes are a very significant aspect of non-verbal signals we send to others. Oculesics is one form of non-verbal communication, which is the transmission and reception of meaning between communicators without the use of words. It can include the environment around the communicators, the physical attributes or characteristics of the communicators, and the behaviour of the communicators.

Chronemics

This is the study of the use of time in non-verbal communication. The way we perceive time, structure our time and react to time is a powerful communication tool, and helps set the stage for the communication process. Across cultures, time perception plays a large role in the non-verbal communication process. Time perceptions include punctuality, willingness to wait, and interactions. The use of time can affect lifestyles, daily agendas, speed of speech, movements and how long people are willing to listen.

Haptics

Haptics refers to the study of touching. It has been stated that there are six types of touch: positive, playful, control, ritualistic, task-related and unintentional. Managers should know the effectiveness of using tough while communicating to subordinates, but need to be cautious and understand how touch can be misunderstood. Working with others and using touch to communicate, one must be aware of each person's touch tolerance.

Paralinguistics

This is the study of variations in pitch, speed, volume and pauses to convey meaning. Interestingly, when the speaker is making a presentation and is looking for a response, he will pause. However, when no response is desired, they will talk faster with minimal pause.

Paralanguage

Paralanguage refers to the non-verbal elements of communication used to modify meaning and convey emotion. Paralanguage may be expressed consciously or unconsciously, and it includes the pitch, volume and in some cases, intonation of speech. Sometimes, the definition is strictly limited to vocally-produced sounds.

Physical Appearance

Physical appearance always contributes towards how people perceive an individual. Neatly combed hair, ironed clothes and a lively smile will always carry more weight than words. It is believed that physical appearance determines the success a person will attain at every stage of their life.

Understanding Non-Verbal Communication

The following guidelines can help individuals understand non-verbal communication better:

1. Observe keenly what is happening: When non-verbal behaviour involves an emotional response (for example, tears rolling down the cheeks or eyes becoming red), it clearly conveys the message to the other person.
2. Consider the differences between verbal statements and non-verbal behaviour: If there is a discrepancy between what a person says and what their body language indicates, then the situation should be studied closely. It is believed that actions are more accurate than words.
3. Look for subtleties in non-verbal behaviour: Through careful observation, one can differentiate between a fake action and a genuine action. For instance, a sarcastic smile can be differentiated from a genuine one.

Communication Feedback

The importance of feedback cannot be overemphasized and needs no special elucidation. Feedback is the yardstick which measures the effectiveness of communication and is used for evaluation review and to amend the message in the light of response. Efficient workers have reliable feedback and they succeed in their effective communication.

The "Glossary of Training Terms" defines Feedback as: "The process by which information about the results of an action is communicated to the source of the action. It is argued for example, that learning takes place either through the informational characteristic or the knowledge of result, or through a combination of health".

Characteristics of Feedback

Feedback has several characteristics and are given herewith:

1. Intention - Effective feedback is directed towards improving work performance and making the worker a more valuable asset. It is not a personal attack. Feedback is directed towards aspect of the job.
2. Specificity - Be specific rather than saying things like “you always” or “you never”. Vague criticism causes resentment.
3. Description - Effective feedback can also be characterised as descriptive rather than evaluative. It tells the receivers what he or she has done in objective terms, rather than presenting a value judgement.
4. Useful feedback - Effective feedback is information that the receiver can use to improve performance. If it is not something the receiver can correct, it is not worth mentioning.
5. Timeliness - There are considerations in timing feedback properly. As a rule, the more immediate the feedback, the better. This way the receiver has a better chance of knowing what the sender is talking about and can take corrective action.
6. Clarity - Effective feedback must be clearly understood by the recipient. A good way of checking this is to ask the recipient to restate the major points of discussion.
7. Validity - In order, for feedback to be effective, it must be reliable and valid.
8. Readiness - In order, for feedback, to be effective, the receiver must be ready to receive. When feedback is imposed upon the receiver it is much less effective.

Feedback should be a continuous process as the audience and communicators are neither always the same persons, nor they are interacting in the same situation. The extension agent shall take steps to analyse the responses of the audience, which may be positive, negative or no response. If there has been no response or negative response to a message, the extension agent shall find out reasons for the same. If it pertains to research, the problem should be referred as feedback information to research, to find out solutions for the same.

The process of giving and receiving feedback is one of the most important concepts in training. Through the feedback process, we see ourselves as others see us. Through feedback, other people also learn how we see them. Feedback gives information to a person or group either by verbal or nonverbal communication. The information you give tells others how their behaviour affects you, how you feel, and what you perceive (feedback and self-disclosure). Feedback is also a reaction by others, usually in terms of their feelings and perceptions, telling you how your behaviour affects them (receiving feedback).