CHAPTER 11: ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION

TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION

 Upward Communication - communication from subordinates to supervisors or from employees to managers.
- an ideal upward is an “open-door” policy wherein employees can directly communicate to their
supervisor, but however such policy is difficult to apply due to possible volume of communication from
the employees. Also, subordinates do find their supervisors intimidating, thus they hesitate to
communicate, especially about bad news.

 Serial Communication - a method of minimizing the amount of people communicating to the topmost
supervisor. Message is relayed in a “staircase” manner where the message is passed from a
supervisor to another supervisor and so on until it reaches the top.
-However, this method faces several drawbacks such as;

1. The tone and content of the message can change as it is being passed
from one person to another;

2. Bad news are often not relayed to the supervisor due to the stress related
to it;
 MUM (Minimize Unpleasant Messages) Effect - The idea that
people prefer not to be the one to pass on an unpleasant
message, with the result that important information is not
always communicated. (It’s a survival strategy!)

3. Informal Communication Channel (medium by which the

communication is transmitted) becomes less effective the farther away
two people are from one another. A message from a supervisor is more
likely to be passed on to another supervisor if the two are in close
physical proximity (physical distance between people).

- Due to these problems with serial communication, organizations uses several methods
to facilitate upward communication: attitude surveys, focus groups, suggestion boxes, and third
parties.

 Attitude Surveys - an outside consultant conducts a survey to determine employee attitudes about an
organization on factors such as pay, working conditions, and supervisors.
- However, is only effective when its results are taken seriously by the organization and
addresses existing sources of dissatisfaction. Furthermore, to increase trust, the organization
should also share (all) the results of the survey to its employees.

 Focus Groups and Exit Interviews - Focus groups are conducted by outside consultants who holds a
meeting with current employees to get their opinions and suggestions about the organization. The
information gathered is then passed to the management, at the same time protecting the identities of
the employees.
- Exit interviews are conducted on employees who are leaving the organization.
This method can provide the management with the “real” reasons why an employee decides to
leave.

 Suggestion Boxes - employees can anonymously put their suggestions for the organization in a box.
- opposite to suggestion boxes are complaint boxes. These boxes receives the
employees complaint about the organization anonymously.

 Third-Party Facilitators - the use of a liaison or an ombudsperson to facilitate upward

communication.

 Liaison - a person who acts as an intermediary between employees and

management, or the type of employee who both sends and receives most grapevine
information.

 Ombudsperson - a person who investigates employees’ complaints and solves

problems; is neutral and works for the solution that is acceptable to both
employees and management.

 Union Steward - a person who serves as a liaison between unionized employees

and management.
 Downward Communication - communication from the supervisor to the subordinate or from the management
to the employees.

 Bulletin Boards - a method of downward communication in which informal or relatively unimportant

written information is posted in a public place. Also, to communicate non-work related
opportunities such as scholarships, optional meetings, and items for sale.
- are also advantageous due to its low cost and wide exposure to both employees and visitors.
Electronic bulletin boards, also called in-house message networks, allow the display of even more
current information.

 Policy Manuals - a highly technical manual that contains the organization’s rules, policies, and procedures;
legally binding by courts of law.
-due to the length and technicality of a company manual, it exist in two other forms; (1) the Policy
Manual, specific and very lengthy, contains all of the rules and policies under which the
organization operates. (2) Another, Employee Handbooks, is much shorter and contains only the
most essential policies and rules, as well as general summaries of less important rules.

 Newsletters - typically used to communicate organizational feedback and celebrate employee success; is
also designed to bolster employee morale by discussing happy or innocuous events such as the
three Bs (babies, birthdays, and ball-game scores).

 Intranets - a communication network used exclusively by one organization (murag carsu); replaces bulletin
boards, newsletters, and company manuals.
- is a current resource for online employee handbooks, answers to FAQs, employee activity
calendars, forms that can be completed online, programs to write job descriptions or
performance appraisals, job postings, online benefits information, training courses, and
information about reward and incentive programs.

 Business Communication - the transmission of business-related information among employees, management,

and customers.

 Memos - a memorandum; has the advantage of providing detailed information to a large number of people
in a short period of time.
- used to be received so frequently that most employees didn’t even read them, their use has been
greatly reduced as they have been replaced with email.

 Telephone Calls - its advantage over memos, email, and texting is that both parties can hear each other’s
voices, making it easier to understand the tone of the message.
- however, its limitation is that (1) nonverbal cues are not available and (2) conversations are not
documented.

 Email and Voice Mail - a method usually used to exchange general and/or timely information and ask
questions, however is not meant to substitute for important conversations.
- It’s advantage is the less use of paper and time saved by avoiding “small talks”. On the
other hand, voice mail often results in “phone tag”, and email, texting and voice male reduce
opportunities for personal contact.
- The advantage of email over voice mail is its ability to easily document the sending and
receiving of the document, can communicate with many people at the same time, and potential for
quick responses. On the other hand, its disadvantages were misinterpretations due to absence of
paralanguage, the tendency to be too informal, increased likelihood of expression negative
emotions (flaming) that might not have been communicated in person, and the tendency to not
proofread messages.

 Business Meetings - Though advantageous over email, memos, and phone calls, it is too time demanding
that can result to negative employee attitudes.

 Office Design - has several designs that improves several aspects of work such as the “Open or Landscaped
Office Design”. Informally called “cube farm”, is a design widely adapted by organizations that has
been developed by furniture manufacturers in West Germany which uses large, open office areas
without walls, where individual works are divided by plants, books, etc.
- open or landscaped offices has 3 common designs; (1) In a Freestanding Design (also
called “bullpen design), all desks are placed in a large area that is completely open; (2) With
Uniform Plans, desks are placed at uniform distances and are separated by panels into cubicle
areas; and (3) Free-form workstations use a combination of designs so that the different needs of
each worker can be accommodated.
  Informal Communication - Is also a type of organizational communication, wherein informal information are
transmitted through a “grapevine” (resembles wires of loosely hung telegraphs during the Civil War).
Information that travels along these lines are often distorted. Despite that, it is still commonly used as it
provides employees with information, power, and entertainment.
- there are 4 types of grapevine patterns;
1. Single-Strand Grapevine - information travels in a chain-like fashion from one
person to another until the chain is broken.

2. Gossip Grapevine - the message is passed to only a select group of individuals.

3. Probability Grapevine - message is passed randomly among all employees.

4. Cluster Grapevine - message is passed to a select group of people who each

can decide to pass the message to a few select others.

- Also, along the grapevine are 3 types of employees; (1) The “isolates” are the ones who receive
less than half of the information; (2) “liaisons” who both receives most of the information and pass it on
to others; and (3) “dead-enders” who heard most of the information but seldom pass it on to others.
- The grapevine also contains 2 types of information; (1) A “gossip” is a poorly substantiated and
insignificant information that is primarily about other individuals, and (2) a “rumor” is an information
that can be significant to the lives of those communicating the message and can be about individuals or
other topics.
- Rumor functions in helping employees make sense of ambiguous information and manage
potential threats, whereas gossip mainly serves as entertainment and supply of social information. Both
information are employees’ ways of relieving stress and anxiety, respond to perceived organizational
wrongs in a non-aggressive way, maintain a sense of control, and increase their power in an organization.

INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
- involves the exchange of a message across a communication channel between two individuals. Message travels
through a manner of “sender - encoded message - channel - receiver - decode message”. Although this seems like a simple
process, there are three main problem areas where things can go wrong and interfere with the accurate transmission or
reception of the message.

 Problem Area 1: Intended Message versus Message Sent

- the sender must know what he/she wants to say and how to say it, otherwise problems can occur. There
are 3 ways to solve this problem:

1. Thinking About What You Want To Communicate - One of the reasons why we don’t say what we mean is
because we are really not sure what to say. This problem can be witnessed in scenarios such as
when ordering or making a call, and the first thing we say is “uuuuh” (a filler). To solve this, you
can write a script of what you want to say. In fastfoods, placing menus before the ordering station
reduces this problem.

2. Practice What You Want to Communicate - Despite knowing what to say, communication errors can still
occur due to lack of practice. Especially when the communication is important, reciting what you
want to say before saying it reduces the chances of errors. For example, when we are asking
someone out. We change the tone of our voice, altering our first lines, and thinking of topics to
discuss to appear spontaneous.

3. Learn Better Communication Skills - Of course, communication errors can still occur despite knowing what
you want to say and practicing it before saying it if you lack communication skills. Courses such
as public speaking, writing, and interpersonal communication can greatly improve one’s
communication skills.

 Problem Area 2: Message Sent versus Message Received

- Despite knowing what to say and saying it the way it should be, several factors can still affect how a
message can be received

1. The Actual Words Used - Factors such as gender, age, socio-economic status, and country of origin can affect
vocabulary and interpretation of message. Vague phrases can also cause miscommunication.

2. Communication Channel - Interpretation of a message differs on the channel used of sending it. For example, a memo can
be interpreted as an important message, whereas a text message as informal. Reprimanding in person also carries
a different message than in email.

3. Noise - these are interference that surrounds a communication channel that affects the proper reception of a
message.
4. Nonverbal Cues - Our actions are also reflections of our words. There are several forms of nonverbal cues that
affects interpretation of message:
 Body Language - how we move and position our body when we communicate. The use of
body language also varies by culture, gender, and other related factors.

 Use of Space - how much space a person occupies when communicating speaks about
their feeling and personality. There are also 4 major spatial distance zones that
defines relationships a social situations: (1) the Intimacy Zone extends from
physical contact to 18 inches away which is usually reserved for close
relationships such as dates, spouses, and family; (2) the Personal Distance
Zone ranges from 18 inches to 4 feet away and is reserved for friends and
acquaintances; the Social Distance Zone is from 4 feet to 12 feet away and is
typically used for business or interacting with strangers; and the Public
Distance Zone are ranges greater than 12 feet away and is typically used for
social interactions such as large group lectures.

 Use of Time - an individual’s use of time tells a lot about their personality. Time can also
indicate the importance of the message, meeting or a person. Time can also
determine a person’s position as well as amount of work.

5. Paralanguage - communication inferred from the tone, tempo, volume, and rate of speech

6. Artifacts - an element of nonverbal communication that refers to the things that people surround themselves with
(jewelries, cars, clothes, etc) that communicate information about the person.
-This can also refer to the arrangement of things, such as an office desk. An Open Desk
Arrangement is arranged in way so that a visitor can sit adjacent or next to the person who sits
behind the desk. On the other hand, a Closed Desk Arrangement is arranged in a way so that the
visitor can sit across from the person behind the desk. Such arrangements can communicate
feelings or boundaries towards the visitor.

7. Amount of Information - the amount of information can affect the accuracy with which it is received. When
information exceeds the amount our memory can hold, it can either be leveled, sharpened or assimilated.

 Level - removing unimportant bits of the message before passing it on to the next person.

 Sharpened - interesting and unusual information are rather retained in sending the
message to another person.

 Assimilated - message is modified to fit one’s beliefs and knowledge before sending it to the
next person.

8. Reactions to Communication Overload - In a job, communication overload can occur when an employee receives
several communication more than he/she can handle. When such problem occur, he/she can resort to any of the
following to reduce stress:

 Omission - It is the conscious decision not to process certain types of information; ignore

 Error - It is the deviation from the standard quality; processing all of the information but
processing some of it incorrectly.

 Queuing - Involves organizing work into an order in which it will be handled (Be it a matter
of deadline, importance, etc.)

 Escape - The employee leaves the organization due to prolonged communication overload.

 Use a Gatekeeper - A person screens potential communication for someone else and allows
only the most important information to pass through (a secretary or alike).

 Use of Multiple Channels - An organization’s method of reducing amount of information

going to one person by redirecting it to another person.

 Problem Area 3: Message Receive versus Message Interpreted

- despite properly sending the message with no interference, the meaning of the message will still depend
on how the receiver will interpret it. This interpretation is affected by a variety of factors, such as
listening skills, listening style, emotional state, cognitive ability, and personal biases.

 Listening Skills - the most important communication skill that a supervisor should master as 70% of
workday is spent for communicating (45% is listening; 30% is speaking; 16% is reading; and 9%
is writing).
 - Listening is important for 2 reasons: (1) It is a skill that isn’t being taught at school, but is
highly required for managerial communication, so it means that we must practice this skill
on our own; and (2) poor listening habits equates to poor retention. If after a meeting you
only retained less than 50% of the materials you have heard, that meeting is a wasted time.

 Styles of Listening - To improve listening effectiveness, it is important that every individual has their own
listening styles that serves as a communication. One way to measure listening style is the use of
Attitudinal Listening Profile. This measure postulates that there are 6 listening style: leisure,
inclusive, stylistic, technical, empathic, and noncomforming (LISTEN).

1. Liesure Listening - a person cares only about interesting information; only listen to words
that indicate pleasure; dislikes unpleasant conversations.

2. Inclusive Listening - a person who only cares about the main points of the communication.
Advantageous in summarizing, but disadvantageous when details are really
important.

3. Stylistic Listening - a person who pays attention mainly to the way in which words are
spoken; the “look” of the speaker can also affect their probabilities to listen.

4. Technical Listening - a person only cares about the facts and details (opposite of inclusive
listener); they can retain huge amount of details, but does not hear the
“meaning” those details.

5. Empathic Listening - the one who is most likely to pay attention on nonverbal cues;
primarily cares about the “feelings” of the speaker. Will listen and validate your
feelings (chaaar!!!).

6. Nonconforming Listening - a person who cares about only information that is consistent
with his/her way of thinking; won’t listen to a speaker she/he does not agree
with; is more likely to listen with those who are strong or have authority.

- Understanding each of the six styles can make communication more effective in 2 ways:
(1) becoming aware of your own style allows you to understand the filter you use when listening
to others; and (2) understanding the six styles can lead to better communication with others
because you can modify how you will communicate your message based on what type of listener
will be the receiver.

 Tips for Effective Listening

1. STOP TALKING! Listening starts by using your ears, not your mouth.

2. Let the other person finish speaking.

3. Focus and try to understand what they are trying to communicate.

4. Ask questions to make sure you understand their point, but don’t ask too much that they’ll get distracted.

5. Be patient and keep an open mind. If you disagree, you can do so after he/she finished talking.

6. Show them that you are listening by making an eye contact or simply nodding.

7. Remove or resist distraction that will keep you from listening.

8. Be silent for a few seconds after the person has finished talking. This will encourage them to continue talking, you will
be sure when they are really finished talking, and will give you time to respond calmly.

 Emotional State - emotions and current moods can affect the receivers interpretation of the message,
especially when they are stressed, mad, angry, or anxious. Timing your message wherein their
emotions have simmered down can greatly improve the communication and avoid
misinterpretation.

 Cognitive Ability - Despite properly sending your message, some people may not be that bright enough to
interpret your message properly. Tone down your message, such as reducing technicalities and
using much more common language, in order to make your message more understandable. Avoid
vague phrases as well.

 Bias - sometimes we opt not to listen because we hate someone, or we tend to agree with someone’s idea
despite it being wrong just because we like them. Again, be patient and keep an open mind.
IMPROVING EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATION SKILLS
- How can an organization increase the communication skills of its employees?

 Interpersonal Communication Skills - this skill can be improve through training workshops by an outside
consultant or a company trainer.

 Written Communication Skills - this skill can be improved in two approach: improving the writer’s skills or
making the material easier to read.

 Improving Writing - due to the increase use of email and texting, effective writing skills are more essential
than ever. Organizations aim to give employees formal training in writing, correct their bad
writing habits, and teaching them the most important concepts of writing.

 Readability - this focuses on making the messages easier to read and understand. Readability indexes are
used to determine the difficulty of a text. This method aims to make written material readable
and understandable even for those who only high school or grade school level of education (which is usually
common in blue-collar employees).

1. Fry Readability Graph - determine readability level of a written material by analyzing sentence
length and the average number of syllables per word.

2. Flesch Index - determine readability level by analyzing average sentence length and the number of
syllables per 100 words.

3. FOG (Frequency of “Gobbledygook”) Index - determine readability level by analyzing sentence

length and the number of three-syllable words.

4. Dale-Chall Index - determine readability level by looking at the number of commonly known
words used in the document.