I.

Introduction Communication has been more central to our lives than they are now. We

are communicating, organizing creatures, and we define ourselves largely through our various organizational memberships and communicative

connections. It hides a rather complex reality. The organizations that define who we areand our relationship to themhave become increasingly complicated. As systems of communication, we largely take for granted organizations and their role in our lives.1 Organizational communication takes place almost everywhere. Once a person starts to work in a part time job during the school year or whether volunteering for a non-profit group or belonging to a social organization, the person is already communicating in an organization. People often benefit from understanding how to communicate more effectively with other people because they participate in organizations regularly. Doing so, it will enhance their professional success and allow them to ask more informed questions about everyday organizational practices that help others decide what organizations they wish to frequent and support.2

Mumby, Dennis. Organizational Communication A critical Approach. SAGE publishing Inc., 2009
2

Alberts, Jes K. Human Communication in Society. 3rd Ed.

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II.

Definition of Terms

1. COMMUNICATION Communication is a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols or signs.3 It transmits information and common understanding from one person to another. The word communication is derived from the Latin word, communis, which means common. The definition underscores the fact that unless a common understanding results from the exchange of information, there is no communication4 2. ORGANIZATION

Amitai Etzioni (1964) states, We are born in organizations, educated by organizations, and most of us spend much of our lives working for organizations5

3 4

Miller, Catherine. Organizational Communication. . Lunenburg, Fred C. .Communication: The Process, Barriers, And Improving Effectiveness, Sam Houston State University
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Miller, Catherine. Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes.

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Stephen P. Robbins (2001) defines an organization as a consciously coordinated social unit composed of two or more people that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals People organize together to achieve what they cannot accomplish individually. Organizing happens through communication. They also organize together for common social, personal, political, or professional purposes. When people form organizations they establish rules, hierarchies, structures, divisions of labor, designated/negotiated roles, and interdependent relationships. Organizations are complicated, dynamic organisms that take on a personality and culture all their own. Organizations can be thought of as systems of people (Goldhaber, 1993) who are in constant motion in which change is inevitable (Redding, 1972). Organizations are social systems (Thayer, 1968, Katz & Kahn, 1966) that rely on communication to cope with uncertainty and perform with some degree of efficacy. Simon (1957) puts it quite simply: Without communication, there can be no organization6 An organization has been defined as a collection, or system, of individuals who commonly, through a hierarchy of ranks and division of labor, seek to achieve a predetermined goal.7

Miller, Catherine. Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes. Tubbs, Stewart L., Sylvia Moss. Human Communication 8th Ed. 3|Page

3. ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION

Organizational Communication has been called the life blood of the organization, the glue that binds the organization, the oil that smooths the organizations function, the thread that ties the system together, the force that pervades the organization and the binding agent that cements all relationships.8 It is the central to a persons ability to navigate successfully the myriad legal, educational, religious, corporate, and civic organizations one confronts across a lifetime.9 Redding and Sanborn define organizational communication as the sending and receiving of information within a complex. Their perception of the field includes the following: internal communication, human relations,

management-union relations, downward, upward and horizontal communication, communication skills of speaking, listening and writing, and communication program evaluation. Katz and Kahm define organizational Communication as the flow of information- the exchange of information and transmission of meaning within an organization. Thayer, also using the general system approach to communication, refers to organizational communication as those data
8

flows

that

subserve

the

organizations

communication

and

Goldhaper, Gerald M.Organizational Communication Alberts, Jes K. Human Communication in Society. 3rd Ed. 4|Page

intercommunication processes in some way. He identifies three communications system within the organization: operational (task-or-operations- related data), regulatory (orders, rules, instructions), and maintenance and development (public and employee relations, advertising and training). Bormann and others limit their study of organizational to speech communication within a system of overlapping and interdependent groups. They emphasize the communication skills of listening, meeting in small groups and speaking to persuade. Huseman and others limit the field of organizational communication to organizational structure, motivation and such communicative skills as listening, interviewing and discussing.10 Stanley Deetz (2001) argues that one way to enlighten our understanding of organization communication is to compare different approaches. It is the sending and receiving of messages among interrelated individuals within a particular environment or setting to achieve individual and common goals. Organizational communication is highly contextual and culturally dependent, and is not an isolated phenomenon. Individuals in organizations transmit messages through face-to face, written, and mediated channels. Organizational communication largely focuses on building relationships, or repeated interpersonal interactions, with internal organizational members and interested external publics. 11

10

Rogers, Everett M., Roger Rekha A. Communication In Organizations Marsen, Sky (In press). Communication Studies, Basing toke: Palgrave Mamillan 5|Page

11

III.

Importance of organizational communication

Because people participate in organizations regularly, they will benefit from under- standing how to communicate more effectively. Doing so will enhance their professional success that allow them to ask more informed questions about everyday organizational practices, and help them to decide what organizations you wish to frequent and support. Much of success

within organizations is connected to the communication abilities. Knowing what questions to ask and how to ask them will improve the persons abi lity to accomplish their goals. Finally, given that a wide variety of religious, corporate, and community organizations exist, there is a limit to how many a person can support. Understanding how to question organizations and how to interpret their responses and policies can help them make informed choices regarding which ones to embrace. For example, they might decide not to purchase products or services from for-profit organizations that force their employees to work mandatory overtime at the expense of their home lives. Or they might decide that you are better off working for an organization whose goals and beliefs someone support strongly, since their agreement with those goals likely will influence the persons career success. In sum, organizational com munication is central to a persons ability to navigate successfully the myriad legal,

6|Page

educational, religious, corporate, and civic organizations one confronts across a lifetime.12 Views of organizational communication can be categorized as those that view organizational communication as one aspect of an organization versus those that see it as the underlying basis of the organization itself. An example of the former is exemplified by Drenth et al. (1998), who define communication as the sending and receiving of messages by means of symbols and see organizational communication as a key element of organizational climate. The latter viewpoint is reflected by Myers and Myers (1982:xv) who define organizational communication as the central binding force that p ermits coordination among people and thus allows for organized behavior, and Rogers and Rogers (1976:3) who argue that the behavior of individuals in organizations is best understood from a communication point of view. In many ways, organizations have evolved in directions that make the latter view more appropriate. Changes confronting organizations and the

associated changes in organizational forms have made organizational communication increasingly important to overall organizational functioning.13

12

Alberts, Jes K. Human Communication in Society. 3rd Ed. Miller, Catherine. Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes.

13

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IV.

Functions of Organizational Communication

Neher (1997) and Rogers and Rogers (1976) emphasize the social and organizational functions of organizational communication as a whole rather than focusing on the functions of specific communication exchanges. Thus they

combine the functions of informing, directing, and regulating into the broader category of behavioral compliance. They also give greater emphasis to the role of communication in managing threats to organizational order and control, identifying problem solving and conflict management, negotiation, and bargaining as key functions of organizational communication The literature on communication generally acknowledges that the basic function of communication is to affect receiver knowledge or behavior by informing, directing, regulating, socializing, and persuading. Neher (1997)

identifies the primary functions of organizational communication as:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Compliance-gaining Leading, motivating, and influencing Sense-making Problem-solving and decision-making Conflict management, negotiating, and bargaining.
14

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Miller, Catherine. Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes.

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According to Conrad (1985), there are three functions communication performs on organizations:

1.

The command function: Communication allows members of the

organization to issue, receive, interpret, and act on commands. The two types of communication that make up this function are direction and feedback, and the goal is the successful influence of other members of the organization. The outcome of the command function is coordination among the many interdependent members of the organization.

2.

The relational function: Communication allows members of the

organization to create and maintain productive business and personal relationships with other members of the organiza tion Relationships on the job affect job performance in many ways, for example, job satisfaction, the flow of communication both down and up the organization hierarchy, and the degree to which command are followed. The importance of good interpersonal skills is highlighted on the job when you consider that many of the necessary relationships are not chosen but forced by organizational circumstances, making the relationships less stable, more prone to conflict, less committed, and so on.

3.

The

ambiguity-management

function:

Choices

in

an

organizational setting are more often made in highly ambiguous circumstances,

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for example, multiple motivations exist since choices affect co-workers and the organization, as well as oneself, the organizations objectives may not be clear, and the context within which choice needs to be made may be unclear. Communication is the means for coping with and reducing the ambiguity inherent in the organization: Members talk with each other in an effort to structure the environment and make sense of new situations, which entails gaining and sharing information.

Supervisory communication

Factors considered by members of the organization to be prime importance in communicating a. Superior to subordinate communication: as measured by such questions as, to what extend does: i. Your superior make you feel free to talk to him or her? ii. Your superior listen to you when you tell him or her about things that are bothering you? iii. Your superior encourage you to let him or her know when things are going wrong on the job. b. Downward communication: As measured by the questions as i. Do people in top management say what they mean and mean what they say?

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ii. Is top management providing you with kinds of information you really want and need? iii. Are you satisfied with explanations you get from top management about why things are done as they are? c. Superiors perception of communication with subordinates: as measured by such questions as: i. Do you believe your subordinates are frank and candid with you? ii. Do you believe your colleagues are really frank and candid with you? iii. Do you believe that subordinates think that you understand their problems? d. Upward communication i. Do your opinions make a difference in the day to day decisions that affect your job? ii. Do you believe your views have any real influence in your organization? iii. Dowd your superior let you participate in the planning of your own work? e. Reliability of information i. Do you think that information received from your

subordinates is reliable?

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ii. Do you think that information received from your colleagues is reliable?

Clearly, supervisory communication is considered the MOST important factor influencing an employees communication satisfaction. Supervisors are more likely to be effective if they can establish a relationship with employees that includes mutual trust and

supportiveness.15 V. Approaches

A.

It is apparent that approaches to and definitions and

perceptions of organizational communication are legion. Organizational communication mean and refer to whatever an author wants. Despite such a variety of viewpoints, a few common strands can be detected in many of these perceptions.

1. Organizational communication occurs within a complex open system which is influenced by and influences its environment, both internal (called culture) and external. 2. Organizational communication involves message and their flow, purpose, direction, and media.

15

Tubbs, Stewart L., Sylvia Moss. Human Communication 8th Ed. 12 | P a g e

3. Organizational communication involves people and their attitudes, feelings, relationships and skills.16

B.

Communicating and Organizing There are two main

approaches to defining the relationship between communicating and organizing:

1. The container approach

- assumes that organizations exist independently of communication and serve as containers that influence communication behavior. For example, organizational structures, such as hierarchical, are assumed to exist independently and influence the content and directional flow of communication.

2. The social constructionist approach

Assumes that communication creates the form and shape of For example, when organizational members

organizations.

consistently funnel their information through one person, they create a centralized network structure where one person maintains a high

16

Baird, John E. Jr.. The Dynamics of Organizational Communication

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degree of power because s/he is at the hub and controls the flow of information. When people change the content and form of their communication such as transmitting their information to a larger array of people, they create new organizational structures, such as decentralized networks.

VI.

AREAS OF STUDY IN ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION

There are numerous investigation areas within the field of organizational communication. The five major areas that organizational communication

scholars study: (1) leadership, (2) teams, (3) communication networks, (4) organizational culture, and (5) organizational learning.

A. Leadership

Leadership may be defined as a communicative process where the ideas articulated in talk or action are recognized by others as progressing tasks that are important to them. This definition of leadership suggests that leadership may take many different forms and be associated with many different styles of communication. Nevertheless, a review of the literature suggests three important principles for effective leadership communication:

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a. Effective leadership communication connects with the hearts and minds of followers. At some level, effective leadership communication connects with the important values, attitudes, and commitments of followers and is viewed as addressing significant issues and facilitating task accomplishment. b. Effective leadership communication manages competing goals and tensions. Effective leadership communication balances the needs to create strong interpersonal relationships and accomplish tasks, maintain a balance between order and chaos within the organization, and use rewards and punishments to motivate followers. Rather than take an either-or position, effective leaders try to create a both-and position where oppositions are integrated constructively.

c. Effective leadership communication is context dependent. Every context is unique, and effective leadership communication is appropriate to the special combination of people, time, place, and topic.

B. Teams

Teams may be defined as two or more people who have a specific performance objective or recognizable goal to be attained where the coordination of activity among the members of the team is required for the attainment of the team goal or objective. A variety of teams exist within
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organizations such as work teams, project teams, research and development teams, sales teams, and special task forces.

C. Communication Network A communication network is a group of individuals who may be identified as sharing regular lines of communication. These lines of communication can be described as: who talks to whom, about what, when, and where. A dominant theme in the network literature has been to distinguish between centralized and decentralized communication networks. A centralized network exists when information is funnelled through a small number of individuals within an organization. A decentralized network exists when information is shared widely among and flows through many individuals within an organization. Decentralized networks are well-suited for managing turbulent and complex environments because organizational members can communicate the changes they perceive in the business environment and each member can contribute ideas and knowledge for managing these changes. Network forms have recently been adopted by a growing number of global organizations because they facilitate the rapid acquisition, processing, and dissemination of information. Network forms of organizations:

a. Employ relatively flat hierarchies by relying on flexible emergent communication.

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b. Develop flexible relationships with the network of organizations that go beyond the local country- bound network. c. Use information technology to coordinate units and members located in different geographic locations. d. Emphasize the use of autonomous, self-managing teams.

By emphasizing autonomous and self-managed task teams, local units can manage emerging crises quickly rather than needing to receive permission from a centralized location. The existence of information technology permits the rapid dissemination of information and allows differing units to coordinate their response within the global network.

D. Organizational Culture Organizational culture may be defined as the knowledge, ideology, values, and rituals that individuals share. There is not a single organizational culture within organizations, as unique sub-cultures may emerge within organizations according to demographics such as race, gender, sexual orientation, organizational tenure, and membership in a particular work unit or division. Nevertheless, many organizational leaders are concerned with creating overarching organizational cultures that emphasize ethical high performance. Eisenberg, Goodall, and Trethewey highlight several important characteristics of ethically high performing organizational cultures.
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a. Unethical practices are more likely to emerge in organizational cultures of broken promises, where no one takes responsibility for actions and decisions, and participation and dissent are minimized. b. High performing cultures tend to be characterized by a bias for action, maintaining close relations to the customer, emphasizing autonomy and

entrepreneurship, achieving productivity through its employees, fostering strong corporate values, focusing on what they do best, adopting simple organizational forms, and having simultaneous loose-tight properties (i.e., they are both centralized and decentralized). c. High performing cultures tend to preserve their core purpose over time while simultaneously being open to change. To create this strong sense of core identity and purpose, organizations explicitly articulate their ideology to employees, indoctrinate their employees into the companys core ideology, select potential employees based on their fit with the existing culture, and emphasize the special qualities of the culture.

Assessing the kind of culture that an organization has created requires you to focus on the communication that the organization uses in its messages and the various artefacts it creates. To analyze an organizational culture, you may want to focus on the following:

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A. The language that people use in their everyday conversation with other employees as well as formal organizational documents and

communications. This may include exploring the way that people use technical terms, jargon, slang, jokes, gossip, and metaphors.

B. The stories that people tell about their experience. Stories offer a window into the way that people make sense of their organizational experience.

C. The way that physical work space is organized. For example, the simple arrangement of office space can provide clues as to the way power and hierarchy is constructed in the organization.

D. Company rituals and ceremonies provide insight into what the company values.

E. Organizational Learning Organizational learning involves elaborating organizational members capacity to think collectively in new and rich ways that foster coordinated activity. The topic of organizational learning has grown in importance since the late 1980s as contemporary organizations have recognized that one of the primary strategies for adapting to a rapidly changing business environment is to learn from their successes and failures as well as think strategically about their
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future. Perhaps the strongest proponent of organizational learning is Peter Senge and his colleagues at MIT. Senge argues that organizations are more likely to learn when they develop practices that allow them to engage in systems thinking, foster a shared vision, encourage self-reflection, and develop the ability to view situations from multiple perspectives. From a communication perspective, Senge argues that dialogue is central to fostering learning. From Senges perspective, dialogue is a form of communication that fosters highquality collective thinking. Dialogue is guided by several principles. A. Inquiry and advocacy must be balanced. B. Individuals must ask questions that challenge existing assumptions and beliefs while simultaneously engaging with advocacy by stating opinions and taking action. Inquiry without advocacy can lead to interrogation while advocacy without inquiry can lead to dictating. C. Tacit assumptions and beliefs should be brought to the surface. Many times we pay attention to certain elements of a situation and draw inferences about the situation based on our tacit assumptions and beliefs. While our perceptions and actions may make sense to us, their tacit nature may make it hard for other people to understand the good reasons we use to act in a particular way in a situation. Therefore, dialogue works on making the tacit assumptions and beliefs that people use to form impressions and take actions explicit within the conversation.

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D. Suspend beliefs. It is important for others to be open to the opinions and thoughts of others; therefore, it is important to suspend certainty about the best way to understand a situation and what counts as appropriate actions and be open to new ideas. Suspending beliefs also means that one is willing to make ones beliefs an d opinions clear to others (i.e., suspending them in front of others for them to see). E. A safe space for dialogue must be created. To reveal ones thoughts and positions requires trust in the other person. A lack of trust and feeling that ones statements may be used against them create an unsafe space. When people feel they can trust each other and that they are safe when revealing their opinions, they are more likely to openly discuss their thinking.17

VII.

ANALYZING ORGANZATIONAL COMMUNICATION

Dennis (1975) found under the traditional categories for analysing organization communication

I. Downward Communication

17

World Bank. Communication for Governance and Accountability Program.

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After the supervisory, the second most important factor in determining communication is downward communication. Such communication is initiated by the organizations upper management and the filters downward through the chain of command

A. Seven ways in which people adapt to information overload

a. b. c. d.

Omission (failing to handle all the information) Error (ignoring or failing to correct errors when made) Queuing (letting things pile up) Filtering (dealing with input in categories ranked according to priority system)

e. f. g.

Approximation (lowering standard precision) Multiple channels (delegation if information processing to others) Escape (refusal to handle the input at all)

B. Effectiveness of downward communication

Researches show that using a combination of channels tends to get the best results. Channels were ranked in the following order of effectiveness (from least) a. Combined oral and written
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b. c. d. e.

Oral only Written only Bulletin board Grapevine

In terms of actually getting information through employees accurately, a combination of written and oral channels gets the best results. Sending the same message through more than one channels gets the best results. Sending the same message through more than one channel creates redundancy and the redundancy seems to be helpful not only in getting messages through but in ensuring that they will be remembered. An important consideration in organization communication is the law of diminishing returns, which states that more is better, up to as point. Another characteristic of downward communication is lack of accuracy.

C. Power

Often comes into play in organizational relationships. It is especially relevant, but not limited, to downward communication. The classic typology of power: based on his or her position in the organization and two types of personal power.

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a.

Legitimate Power: is the authority a person has by virtue of her or his position

b.

Reward Power: is the ability to use rewards to influence other people. Allowing a person to take time off and giving pay increases or bonuses or awards are a few examples

c.

Coercive Power: is the ability to influence individuals by withholding rewards such as pay increases, promotions or business travels as well as punishments such as reprimands, suspensions and ultimate termination

d.

Expert Power: a type of personal power, is the ability to influence another based on ones knowledge, experience or judgement which other people needs

e.

Referent Power: is the ability to influence someone because of his or her desire to identify with the power source18

18

Tubbs, Stewart L., Sylvia Moss. Human Communication 8th Ed. 24 | P a g e

Downward communication means the flow of information from superiors to subordinates and it is a dominant channel in accordance with formal communication networks. Garnett (1992) identified four roles of downward communication: conveying a vision, communicating to motivate subordinates, providing feedback on subordinates performance, and assigning tasks and conveying task -related information. Likewise, Katz and Kahn (1966) indicate five types of downward communication, including job instruction, job rationale, procedures and practices, feedback, and indoctrination of goals. In most cases, task-related messages, such as goals, disciplines, orders, policies, and directions, are dominant. Goldhaber (1993) indicates two intriguing points of downward communication: message overload and filtering. He mentioned in one organization most of the employees, after eight months of receiving countless messages every day, began to throw every message into the wastebasket before reading it (p.156). Thus, downward communication can cause message overload to individuals, especially subordinates who usually receive messages, and it leads them to avoid Receiving messages from supervisors, senders. OReilly (1980) has empirically proved the relationship and between information He found overload that and

organizational

satisfaction

performance.

perceived

information overload is associated with lower performance but higher job satisfaction. On the other hand, filtering means that messages have chances to be changed or distorted during their travel from top to down within an
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organization due to number of links in a network, perceptual differences among employees, and lack of trust in a supervisor (p.157). Managerial over control results in internal rules and red tape, as Bozeman (2000) mentioned: Managers responsibilities for obtaining organizationally sanctioned objectives necessitate developing tasks and rules ensuring that subordinates will take coordinated action to achieve the objectives (Bozeman, 2000, p. 95). 19 Downward communication. communication and Larkin is more prevalent suggest than upward

Larkin

(1994)

that

downward

communication is most effective if top managers communicate directly with immediate supervisors and immediate supervisors communicate with their staff20

D. UPWARD COMMUNICATION

Upward communication is the process whereby feelings, ideas and perceptions of lower-level employees are communicated to hose at higher levels in the organization. A. Five important functions

19

Rho, Eunjo. The Impact of organizational communication on Public and Non-Profit Manager Perception of Red Tapee, University of Georgia, 2005.
20

Miller, Catherine. Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes.

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a. It provides management which needed information for decision making b. It helps employees relieve pressures and frustrations of the work situated c. It enhances employees sense of participation in the enterprise d. It serves as a measure of the effectiveness of downward communication. e. It suggests more rewarding uses of downward communication for the future.

Ironically, although its importance is obvious, upward communication is not always encouraged by management.21 When supervisors are open, they create an environment of trust that decreases the likelihood that upward communication will be distorted22 Even less is known about upward communication. One consistent finding is that employee satisfaction with upward communication tends to be lower than their satisfaction with downward communication (Gibson 1985; Gibson and Hodgetts 1991:221-22). Larkin and Larkin (1994) found low levels of

satisfaction with all the strategies commonly used to enhance upward communication, including employee surveys, suggestion programs, employee

21 22

Tubbs, Stewart L., Sylvia Moss. Human Communication 8th Ed. Alberts, Jes K. Human Communication in Society. 3rd Ed.

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grievance programs, and employee participation programs such as quality circles and team meetings. Gibson and Hodgetts (1991:268-69) note several management-based reasons for this lack of satisfaction, particularly that these strategies often do not involve two-way communication, are not packaged well, are poorly timed, and are apt to trigger defensiveness on the part of managers. In addition, McCelland (1988) found a number of employee-based reasons why upward communication tends to be poor, including: 1. 2. Fear of reprisal people are afraid to speak their minds Filters employees feel their ideas/concerns are modified as they

get transmitted upward 3. Time managers give the impression that they dont have the time
23

to listen to employees.

Upward communication which flows from subordinates to superiors. Upward communication is a channel to know how work is processing, what problems and opportunities subordinates see, what ideas subordinates have for improving performance, what intelligence subordinates gather about what clients and other organizations are doing and what subordinates feel about the agency, their superiors, and their jobs (Garnett, 1992, p. 115). Finally, horizontal communication indicates the lateral exchange of information, which flows in accordance with the functional principle among people on the same level within an organization. Upward and horizontal communication are emphasized for

23

Miller, Catherine. Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes.

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employee satisfaction (Miller, 1999). However, upward communication could be another instrument to control and regulate subordinates, as Shermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn (2005, p. 298) mentioned: upward communication keeps higher levels informed about what lower level workers are doing, what their problems are, what suggestions they have for improvements, and how they feel about the organization and their jobs. When the upward communication channel is formalized and becomes a mandatory burden that employees should do, upward communication can cause administrative delay of the subordinates job duties and make them perceive more red tape. With this in mind, Internal

communication usually occurs in the context of internal processes where most rules, regulations, procedures, and constraints emerge, develop, and exist. In this context, downward and upward communication within the organization could make employees feel so many burdens on the job that they may want to throw emails into a wastebasket.24

E. HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION

Conboy (1976) Horizontal Communication is the exchanges between and among agencies and personnel on the same level of the organization chart. It frequently suffers in organizations because of employee loyalty to a given department. Groups within the organization compete for power and
24

Rho, Eunjo. The Impact of organizational communication on Public and Non-Profit Manager Perception of Red Tapee, University of Georgia, 2005.

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resources, and new employees are taught to be loyal to their department and not to trust or help anyone outside it. This situations is intensified in organizations that reward people and groups on competitive basis. Naturally, if there are four promotions to be awarded among ten departments, rivalries will develop. In such situations, each department may consider itself to be at the top of the organization. In summarizing, Goldhaber (1990) has identified four functions of horizontal communication in an organization:

a. Task Coordination: The department heads may meet monthly to discuss how each department is contributing to the systems goals. Another example of coordination is the frequent use of team-teaching or team-writing found in university communities. b. Problem Solving: The members of a department may assemble to discuss how they will handle a threatened budget-cut; they may employ brain-storming techniques c. Information Sharing: The members of one department may meet with members of another department to give them some new data. d. Conflict Resolution: Members of one department may meet to discuss a conflict inherent in the department or between departments.

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REDUCING BARRIERS Some steps can be taken to reduce the barriers to horizontal communications. Schein (1970) describes four procedures or guidelines that have proved successful in some cases: 1. Relatively greater emphasis given to total organizational

effectiveness and the role of departments in contributing to it; departments measured and rewarded on the basis of their contribution to the total effort rather than their individuals effectiveness 2. High intention and frequent communication between groups to work o problems given partly 3. Frequent rotation of members among the group to stimulate high degree of mutual understanding 4. Avoiding of any win-lose situation; groups never put into position of competing for some organizational reward.25 Horizontal communication, was primarily seen as a potential hindrance to effective organizational performance. This is no longer the case. On-going, dynamic, and non-formal, if not informal, communication has become more important to ensuring the effective conduct of work in modern organizations. It indicates the lateral exchange of information, which flows in accordance with the functional principle among people on the same level within an
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Tubbs, Stewart L., Sylvia Moss. Human Communication 8th Ed. 31 | P a g e

organization. Upward and horizontal communication are emphasized for employee satisfaction (Miller, 1999).26

F. INFORMAL COMMUNICATION

Informal

structures

are

patterns

of

interaction

that

develop

spontaneously. Most organizational members use both formal and informal structures, for example, following corporate procedures for requesting a leave of absence (formal) and asking a friend in a position of power to recommend their leave request to the boss (informal)

Informal

communication,

generally

associated

with

interpersonal,

horizontal communication, was primarily seen as a potential hindrance to effective organizational performance. This is no longer the case. On-going, dynamic, and non-formal, if not informal, communication has become more important to ensuring the effective conduct of work in modern organizations.

Most discussions of informal communication emphasize how to manage organizational culture and climate (the context of informal communications) to prevent informal and formal communications from being in opposition. DAprix (1996:39-40) developed a SAY/DO matrix managers say one thing but do

26

Miller, Catherine. Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes.

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another as a key explanation of how informal/formal communication issues can arise (see Figure 3). He locates ideal organizational communication in the High Say/High Do quadrant indicating that there is sufficient communication and that management actions match their communications. An organization in the High Say/Low Do quadrant is most likely to have a culture in which informal and formal communications conflict.

Other discussions of informal communication have focused on diversity training as a mechanism for sensitizing staff to potential issues associated with informal (as well as formal) communication. Still others have emphasized conflict management as a strategy for dealing with issues that arise from informal communication and interactions between workers. More recent

discussions focus on the growing dependence on dynamic computer-facilitated communications that are neither formal nor informal, such as communication within teams or within communities of practice.

VIII. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Organizational culture refers to a pattern of shared beliefs, values, and behaviors, or the system of meanings and behaviors that construct the reality of a social community (Cheney, Christensen, Zorn, & Ganesh, 2004, p. 76). In

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addition to structure and function, each organization also develops a distinct organizational culture. 27

Individuals interact in networks or groups which carry expectations, rules, norms and ideals. These regulative practices are based on assumptions about the order of things, values, ethical beliefs, and attitudes towards status and authority - all characteristics of the misleadingly transparent conce pt culture. Meanings about the world and its objects are constructed in social interactions within or between cultural groups and then serve to identify the group both socially and globally.

A system of activities and discourses, which have been codified and crystallized by usage, and which reflect the conventional practices of a group. All collectivities develop a culture over time a nation has a culture, as do an organization, a fan club and a gang. Complex societies have a diversity of cultures, including those of minority groups, such as ethnic cultures, gay culture, etc. The more complicated a culture becomes, the greater the chance that groups will break apart to form sub-cultures, which may be alternative (different from the mainstream, but not challenging it), or oppositional (different from the

27

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mainstream and attempting to change it in their light) (Williams 1980; de Certeau 2002).28

IX.

VERTICAL, LATERAL, AND DIAGONAL COMMUNICATIONS

Communication can also be characterized as vertical, horizontal, or diagonal. Originally greater importance was directed at vertical organizational communication as compared to lateral communication but that is no longer the case. Diagonal communication is an even more recent emphasis in the

organizational communication literature.

A.

Vertical Communication

Vertical communication occurs between hierarchically positioned persons and can involve both downward and upward communication flows. One way to give supervisors power is to communicate directly with them and to have them provide input to decisions. Ensuring that supervisors are informed about

organizational issues/changes before staff in general, and then allowing them to communicate these issues/changes to their staff, helps reinforce their position of power. When the supervisor is perceived as having power, employees have
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greater trust in the supervisor, greater desire for communication with the supervisor, and are more likely to believe that the information coming from the supervisor is accurate (Roberts and OReilly 1974). Jablin (1980), after

reviewing almost 30 years of research, pronounced the Pelz effect to be one of the most widely accepted propositions about organizational communication.

B.

LATERAL COMMUNICATION

Lateral communication comprises announcement among persons who do not stand in graded relation to one another. While recent trends to flatten

organizations have enhanced the importance of lateral communications, studies on lateral communication still lag behind those on vertical communication. One fairly limited study found rather high levels of satisfaction (85 percent) with lateral communication among human resource managers (Frank 1984), but lateral communication across managers of dissimilar functional divisions, while often cited as a major source of organization dysfunction, has not been subject to much empirical research. It has been assumed that lateral communication at the worker level is less problematic, at least within a functional area. However, with the greater importance of teams, more attention is now being directed at communication between team members. Lateral communications between

workers in different functional areas is also becoming a bigger concern as greater attention is being directed at increasing the speed of production through simultaneous, as opposed to sequential, work processes. And there is greater

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emphasis on communication across distributed workers and geographically separated work groups doing similar kinds of work in an attempt to promote learning and the sharing of expertise, best practices, and lessons learned.

C.

Diagonal Communication.

Diagonal communication refers to communication between managers and workers located in different functional divisions (Wilson 1992). Although both vertical and horizontal communication continue to be important, these terms no longer adequately capture communication needs and flows in most modern organizations. The concept of diagonal communication was introduced to capture the new communication challenges associated with new Also,

organizational forms, such as matrix and project-based organizations.

with the rise of the network organization (both internally and externally oriented networks), communication flows can no longer be restricted to vertical, horizontal, and diagonal
29

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X.

Conclusion

Organizations as communication systems are in a state of crisis mainly due to archaic structure and faulty communication. Several authors and researchers have offered explanations and solutions to the organizational communication problems inherent in our systems. Common to many of the perceptions is the proposition that an organization operates as a complex, open social system through which energy flows to and from the environment via the interaction of people and messages within the within the systems. Organizational Communication is discussed from a functionalist perspective as a dynamic process by which the organization interacts with the environment and by means of which the organizations subparts interact with each other. Thus, organizational communication can be seen as the creation and exchange of messages within a network of interdependent relationships to cope with environmental uncertainty.

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XI.

Bibliography

Alberts, Jes K. Human Communication in Society. 3rd Ed. Baird, John E. Jr.. The Dynamics of Organizational Communication Hahn, Laura K. Survey of Communication Study: Chapter 11Organizaitonal Communication Lunenburg, Fred C. .Communication: The Process, Barriers, And Improving Effectiveness, Sam Houston State University Marsen, Sky (In press). Communication Studies, Basing toke: Palgrave Mamillan Miller, Catherine. Organizational Communication. Miller, Catherine. Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes. Mumby, Dennis. Organizational Communication A critical Approach. SAGE publishing Inc., 2009 Rho, Eunjo. The Impact of organizational communication on Public and Non-Profit Manager Perception of Red Tapee, University of Georgia, 2005. Rogers, Everett M., Roger Rekha A. Communication In Organizations Tubbs, Stewart L., Sylvia Moss. Human Communication 8th Ed. Goldhaper, Gerald M.Organizational Communication World Bank. Communication for Governance and Accountability Program.

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