What is the definition and function of communication? - Chapter 14

What is the definition of communication?

Communication is one of the most crucial aspects in the management of organizations. Effective communication has major consequences for the performance of individual employees, the group and the organization as a whole.

The definition of communication consists of two characteristics:

• Sharing information with others.

• The mutual understanding of the information.

Communication, therefore, refers to the sharing of information between two or more people or groups in order to develop a mutual understanding. If the information is not correctly understood, no effective communication has taken place. Note that mutual understanding does not necessarily mean that the parties involved agree. There is pure agreement in the interpretation of the information.

Which functions does communication have?

There are four main functions of communication:

1. The first function is to transfer knowledge. In an organization, employees must be provided with the right information to be able to carry out their work effectively. New employees, in particular, need new information about the organization and the work but also the most experienced employees need to be aware of changes in the work situation.

2. The second function is motivating employees. Motivation is a crucial determinant of work performance, and the role of communication in motivation is to create high, positive expectations for the employee. Managers can motivate employees by listening to their needs and expectations and responding to them by encouraging and confirming the employee's capabilities.

3. The third function is steering and coordinating group activities. The more employees in a group are interdependent, the more important and the more influence the communication has. By communicating about the division of roles, rules, norms and the importance of the task, a group can be effectively coordinated.

4. The fourth and final function is expressing feelings and emotions. Individual employees and groups generally function better when they can communicate their work-related feelings and understand each other.

What are communication networks?

Communication in organizations takes place at different levels, both within and between levels of the organizational hierarchy. A communication network is the system of routes where the flow of information can run within a group or organization. A communication network can take various forms:

• A wheel network means that most information runs through a central person. This central person receives information from all group members and is the only one who also conveys information to other members. Other group members do not communicate directly with each other. Wheel networks are most common in pooled task interdependence. This means that all members work independently of each other while the result depends on the sum of the work of all members together.

• A chain network is a network in which information is passed on from one person to another, in a fixed order. This type of networks occurs especially when there is sequential interdependence.

• In the circle network, people communicate among themselves and communicate with the most with the people who share common interests with them or who work directly next to them. This mainly occurs when communicating about shared interests, experience or expertise.

• In an all-channel network, all group members communicate with each other via all possible routes. You will find this network when there is a reciprocal task interdependence.

Another type of communication network is a network of the hierarchy of the organization, which can be mapped by formally specifying which supervisors communicate with which subordinates. In practice, communication networks often look different from the hierarchical networks, because informal information is often shared via other routes. This informal communication ensures that members of an organization can work effectively. According to Krackhardt and Hanson, there are three types of informal communication networks in organizations:

• The advisory network is used to obtain technical information.

• The trust network is used to share personal and sensitive information, for example about conflicts.

• The communication network is used to communicate about every day, work-related topics, such as administration or plans for a team outing.

What steps does the communication process consist of?

In the communication process, information is exchanged between two parties: the sender and the receiver. The sender is the person or group who wants or needs to share information with another person or group, and the recipient is the person or group for whom the information is intended. The message is the information that the sender must or wants to share with the receiver. An effective message has two properties: the message is complete and clear.

The communication process consists of the following steps:

1. Encoding: the station converts the message into words or symbols that the recipient can understand. The choice for the use of jargon is based on relevant or unrelated expertise of sender and receiver.

2. Determining the medium: the type of communication that is chosen to convey the message. Communication is made up of two components: verbal communication (sharing information by means of spoken and written language) and/or non-verbal communications (sharing information by means of body language, facial expressions, and clothing). Non-verbal communication contributes to the message, depending on the chosen medium.

3. Decoding: the receiver tries to interpret and understand the channel's message

4. The feedback loop: the receiver responds by deciding what message to send back to the sender. Again the steps are encoding, choosing the medium and decoding, but this time in the opposite direction (from original receiver to the original sender). The original sender can then determine whether the message has been received effectively.

What can disrupt effective communication?

During the communication process, there are several factors that can disrupt effective communication. This is called noise. There are six common communication problems in the context of organizations.

Six common communication problems

The first problem is filtering and information disruption. Filtering means that transmitters do not communicate part of the message because they assume that the recipient does not need the information or does not want to receive it (this is especially true for bringing bad news). However, this assumption is not always correct and can lead to incomplete information exchange. Information disruption is related to this and means that the meaning of the message is changed when the message is passed on by a chain of different people.

The problem of filtering and information disruption can be solved by creating trust and ensuring that bringing bad news does not lead to a sense of guilt on the part of the sender.

The second problem is poor listening behavior. This occurs when people attach more importance to sending messages than to receiving them. Certainly, in today's society with an abundance of information, good listening skills are of great importance for effective communication. Listening skills include behavior such as attention being fully focused on the sender, focusing on the message that is given at that moment, asking questions and summarizing or reformulating them in order to achieve a better understanding.

The third problem is a lack of feedback, which may mean that no feedback is given at all or that the feedback is given in the wrong way. The latter mainly occurs with negative feedback. Managers with good feedback skills take into account the vision and feelings of the recipient.

The fourth problem is spreading gossip and rumors. This usually takes place via informal communication paths and the risk of gossip and rumors is particularly high when information about threatening problems is withheld. This can be personal information about employees, groups within the organization or the organization itself.

The fifth problem is diversity. This involves diversity in vision and attitudes. The more diversity, the more difficult it can be to deal with this. Large companies nowadays use special training courses to deal with diversity. Such training can be designed in different ways: in some cases, a minority group within the organization is allowed to speak about their experiences and problems they encounter, in other cases employees from one group need to work together for a period with members of another group.

The sixth and final problem is caused by cultural and linguistic differences. The linguistic style of a person is a characteristic way of speaking and can differ within cultures, but especially between cultures. This can lead to misunderstandings.

What are communication mediums and how do you choose the best?

As described in the communication process, there are various possibilities regarding the medium. Every medium has advantages and disadvantages, so a balance has to be made to choose the best fit. An important feature of the medium is information richness: the amount of information a communication medium can carry and the extent to which the message is mutually understood by the sender and the receiver.

Face-to-face communication is the medium with the highest information density. There are two reasons for this: firstly there is both verbal and non-verbal communication, and secondly it makes direct feedback possible.

Electronically transmitted verbal communication means that information is transmitted through telephone lines. The information density is less high than in face-to-face because there is less non-verbal information but in the use of voice, there is still some degree of non-verbal communication. Direct feedback is not always possible, because voicemail falls under this medium.

Personal addressed written communication such as via letters and e-mails has a reasonable degree of information density and a good chance of effective communication because personal addressing makes it likely that the recipient reads and answers it. There is no question of non-verbal communication. There is also no direct feedback, but this can be an advantage when the time is needed to think about the message and the response.

Impersonal written communication has the lowest information density. It is not intended for a specific person and is mainly used when the sender must transmit the same information to a large number of recipients at the same time. The chance of feedback is small. Therefore, it is very important that the transmitter uses clear, non-ambiguous formulations.

The consideration when determining a medium has not only to do with information density but also with the time investment. In addition, a choice must be made from information on paper or electronic communication. Technological progress has led to a huge increase in possibilities for communication and also to faster and easier access to information. An organization must ensure that employees are not overwhelmed with excessive amounts of information.

What is conviction and why is it important?

Mutual understanding is not the only goal of communication. A second important goal is conviction: the intention to influence the goals and attitudes of the recipient. With conviction, the accuracy of the message is often less important than its shape.

Conviction is important in various situations. In organizations, this especially applies when the sender does not have formal authority and therefore has to use a different way to control the behavior of others. The effectiveness of conviction depends on five factors:

1. Features of the transmitter. The credibility, speaking and listening skills and emotional intelligence of the sender increase the success of conviction.

2. Active listening, in which the message is constantly evaluated in terms of meaning and consequences, intentions of the sender and inconsistencies in the content, influences the way in which the message is received. A transmitter of convincing communication is aware of this and responds to this.

3. The content of the message.

4. The medium of communication. Face-to-face communication is generally the most effective.

5. Features of the receiver.

What problems are there with communication in crisis situations?

Communication in crisis situations can cause problems for the hierarchy of the organization. Managers must be able to respond quickly and work closely with other managers. A predetermined plan for crisis situations can help in this, determining which role each team member has. Face-to-face communication is the most effective in crisis situations because it has the highest information density.

Problems can arise when a top manager has no clear authority about other managers of other organizations. There is then uncertainty about who should report to whom and who is responsible for which task. A second problem is that the responsibility for crucial decisions is often passed on to others. A third problem is that the gathering of information takes time, so unless a good plan for crisis situations is made, it can take too long to form an adequate response to the situation.