Organizational Communication

Summary

This course explores the intricacies of the communication process, emphasizing the role of encoding, decoding, and feedback in transmitting information. It highlights how technology and the internet have reshaped organizational communication. The script delves into barriers such as noise, selective perception, and cultural differences that can distort messages. It underscores the importance of active listening, effective business writing, and the dynamics of meetings in fostering clear communication. The course also distinguishes between different types of organizational communication, including downward, upward, horizontal, and diagonal, and the impact of social networks on these channels.

Takeaways

• 🔄 **Communication Process**: Communication is a two-way process involving encoding, sending, receiving, decoding, and feedback to ensure shared understanding.
• 🌐 **Influence of Technology**: Technology and the Internet have significantly impacted how information is shared within organizations.
• 📢 **Encoding and Decoding**: The sender encodes a message into symbols or words, and the receiver decodes it, aiming for the decoded message to match the sender's intent.
• 🔍 **Barriers to Communication**: Noise, selective perception, misrepresentation, filtering, information overload, and organizational or cultural barriers can distort or block communication.
• 🤔 **Nonverbal Communication**: Nonverbal cues like facial expressions and body language are crucial, often conveying more than words in face-to-face interactions.
• 👂 **Active Listening**: Active listening is essential for effective communication, requiring full attention, feedback, and clarification when necessary.
• ✍️ **Effective Business Writing**: Good business writing is clear, concise, and tailored to the audience, using common language and avoiding jargon.
• 📅 **Meetings**: Effective meetings are punctual, well-prepared, and participatory, contributing positively to employee well-being and productivity.
• 🔽 **Downward Communication**: Managers communicate with subordinates about job expectations, goals, policies, and company performance.
• 🔼 **Upward Communication**: Encouraging feedback from lower levels helps managers understand employee challenges and fosters a sense of inclusion and commitment.
• 🔄 **Horizontal Communication**: Peer-to-peer communication is vital for coordinating tasks and resources within the same organizational level.

Q & A

What is the definition of communication as discussed in the script?

Communication is defined as the process of transmitting information from one person to another to create a shared understanding and feeling. It comes from the Latin word 'communicator' meaning to share or make common.

What is the significance of the term 'encoding' in the communication process?

Encoding is the process where the message sender converts a thought, idea, or fact into a message comprised of symbols, pictures, or words.

What role does the 'message' play in the communication process?

The message is the encoded information being sent from the sender to the receiver.

Can you explain the term 'channel' in the context of communication?

The channel is the medium used to send the message to the receiver, which can include voice, writing, graphs, videos, intranets, television, body language, and so on.

What is 'decoding' and how does it relate to the communication process?

Decoding is the interpretation and translation of the message back into something understood by the receiver.

Why is 'feedback' important in the communication process?

Feedback is a check on the success of the communication, ensuring that the receiver's understanding matches the sender's intended message.

What is 'noise' in the context of communication?

Noise is anything that blocks, distorts, or changes the message in any way, preventing the intended message from being communicated effectively.

How does nonverbal communication play a role in the communication process?

Nonverbal communication includes body language, facial expressions, and other non-spoken cues that can be as meaningful as verbal communication, with research suggesting that in face-to-face communication, a significant portion of the message is conveyed nonverbally.

What are some barriers that can interfere with the communication process?

Barriers can include sender or receiver issues, organizational structure, cultural differences, noise, jargon, selective perception, misrepresentation, filtering, information overload, and more.

What is the difference between 'active listening' and 'hearing'?

Hearing is passive, while active listening is an active search for meaning, requiring engagement and clarification of messages.

Why is effective business writing important and what are some guidelines for it?

Effective business writing is crucial for clear communication and should be direct, use common language, support points with evidence, be respectful and relevant, and be free of grammatical errors. It should also be tailored to the audience and use graphic aids where appropriate.

How can managers improve meeting effectiveness?

Managers can improve meeting effectiveness by ensuring people come prepared, using an agenda, starting and ending on time, having clear purposes, and encouraging widespread participation.

What are the different types of organizational communication mentioned in the script?

The script mentions downward, upward, horizontal, and diagonal communication as different types of organizational communication.