Business communication is a very important subject. Effectiveness of communication within an organization largely impact the organizational culture and level of employee satisfaction. There are several elements of communication that are essential to foster effective communication within any organization (Pearson, 2017). Through this course, we learnt about different forms, channels and ways of communication as well as how to make the communication effective. This essay is a reflection on the entire course. The first section entails important learnings from all the ten weeks in the form of a brief summary. The second section highlights upon the literature review of organizational structure and culture and its impact on communication. The last section talks about my personal learnings from interpersonal communication as well as non-verbal communication and their use in my career.
Week 1: During the first week, we learnt about ethical communication. We learnt about the role played by ethics in any communication. The five key elements of ethical communication is to be clear, democratic, logical, honest and respectful. This holds true for all forms of communication irrespective of the channel of communication.
Week 2: In this week we learnt an interesting concept of non-verbal immediacy. This involves the use of behaviours such as eye-contact, direct body orientation, physical contact while communicating and smiling. These behavioural patterns tend to increase simulation between two people and decrease the psychological distance between them. On the other hand there are certain non-immediate behaviours that can increase the distance between two people. These behaviours include monotone delivery. Stiff body posture and not smiling.
Week 3: The focus for the third week was on written communication. We learnt about the tactics of efficient written communication from the perspective of the writer as well as the reader.
Week 4: This week we learnt about academic writing and the role played by references. Academic writing is fairly unique on its own and we must be careful about ensuring low plagiarism.
Week 5: The fifth week helped us learn about writing self-reflective essays and literature reviews. Self-reflection essays often require immense thought and must be done in an honest manner. I was also able to focus on my learning with the help of self-reflecting essays.
Week 6: This week we learnt about communication apprehension which is the individual level fear or anxiety associated with any kind of communication with another person. I have been a victim of stage fear and communication anxiety and therefore this particular week’s lessons were very important for me.
Week 7: The seventh week taught us about cross cultural communication especially in the face of increasing globalization and diversity in organizations. By the end of the week we were able to understand the importance of cross cultural communication as well as the three levels of culture.
Week 8: During the eighth week, we learnt about organizational structure and the impact of the same on organization’s communication. We also learnt about different forms of communication in the workplace and practices to ensure their effectiveness.
Week 9: During this week we learnt about groups and teams. The interaction within a group can often get very complicated as I have noticed in my work experience as an engineer. However, this week’s learnings helped me in understanding various elements of effective group communication.
Week 10: The last week’s learnings were focussed on interpersonal communication. I learnt about several interpersonal relationships and management of effective communication within those relationships.
Organizational structure plays a crucial role in defining the communication within the organization. Three important elements defining the organizational structure are formalization, complexity and centralization (Ashkenas et. al., 2015). Centralization refers to the process wherein the decision making is central to the heads of the business. In a centralized organization, the flow of communication is usually from top to bottom.
Within an organization there are various forms of communication including meetings, memos, Emails and face to face communication. Leaders of the business are largely responsible for the kind of communication that takes place within the organization (Bolman & Deal, 2017). Some leaders are beginning to adopt open door policies. In this policy, the leaders leave their doors open in order to signal that they are available to communicate with any employee of the organization (Berry et. al., 2016). Therefore the level of transparency and openness of the business is largely dictated by the leaders of the organization.
In terms of structure, it has been noticed that organizational structure has a direct impact on organizational communication. A formal structure would propagate a formal communication while an open or a flat structure fosters more open communication (Kramer, 2014). The flow of communication in centralized organizations is usually from top to bottom. On the other hand, in a decentralized structure, all the employees participate in the decision making process and hence the flow of communication moves across the organizational setting.
Communication in the organization has a significant impact on organization’s culture as well. The communication environment has an impact on the culture of the business (Ramdhani et. al., 2017). Informal communication network is often seen as a means to improve interpersonal relationship among employees. It is the kind of communication that cannot be forced upon employees but it is something that they indulge in out of choice. A formal communication network can be downwards, upwards, horizontal or diagonal but an informal communication network can move in any direction.
An important element of this communication that takes place within the organization is grapevine communication. Grapevine communication flows in any direction and is aimed at spreading information without a formal channel (Baerjee & Singh, 2015). There are several advantages as well as disadvantages to grapevine communication. It helps build strong relationships among employees but often it can also encourage the spread of false rumours and information (Nwogbaga et. al., 2015).
The nature and mode of communication within the organization is also known to have a direct impact on the level of motivation for employees. Open communications make it easier for employees to address their issues and grievances and hence tend to be more satisfied with the work (Petrou, Demerouti & Schaufeli, 2018). Closed communication makes it difficult for employees to speak their heart out leaving them frustrated and their issues unaddressed. Open and participative communication in the business also enhances the sense of ownership that employees feel towards the organization and hence leads to further motivation to work (Saleh, 2017).
Two important things that I learnt during this course that are sure to assist me in my future endeavours are the skills of non-verbal communication as well as the importance of interpersonal communication. Interpersonal communication refers to any form of communication between two or more people. Predominantly, we learnt about three styles of interpersonal communication. This includes aggressive communication, passive communication and assertive communication (Ota & Price, 2015). I have worked as an engineer and we often depend on a large number of vendors for procurement. While studying about this interpersonal communication, I realized that there are several situations during which it is important to resort to an assertive form of communication in order to get the work done. Sometimes at workplace, people tend to become aggressive. It is essential to identify if any communication is aggressive in nature. Through this course I learnt that activities like teasing, attacks on character, background or competence, swearing, ridiculing or threatening are forms of aggressive communication. As a future leader, I would be in a lookout for these signs and ensure that there is no use of aggressive communication in my team.
Another important thing that I learnt cross cultural communication. This refers to the communication that takes place between people coming from different cultures. The advent of globalization has created diverse organizations everywhere. For my personal career growth, I would like to work in a multinational company. In such organizations, people come together from different parts of the world to work together. Therefore it is important for me to learn the importance of cross cultural communication in any organization. This form of communication helps people to interact in a productive and efficient manner. I learnt that it is important to be open to learning about different cultures and break stereotypes in the process of communication. Stereotyping, language barriers as well as lack of awareness about different cultures are primary barriers in cross cultural communication that need to be overcome to ensure the effectiveness of the communication process (Warren, 2017).
Conclusion
Effectiveness of business communications provides a solid base to the organization upon which it functions. It is essential that organizational stakeholders communicate in an effective manner. This entire course has been a journey of learning and has led to an increased level of understanding regarding business communication and its importance within any business. Organizational structure and culture play a significant role in defining the nature of communication taking place in the organization. At the same time, the leaders of the business have a massive responsibility to fulfil towards ensuring effective business communication. As an employee, interpersonal communication, its channels and styles have an impact on the effectiveness of communication. Lastly with the growth of globalization, the number of diverse organizations have also grown. This is why the understanding of cross cultural communication in the business is essential.
Communication at large is important for the success of any organization. Through this course, we have been able to learn and understand the importance of communication, its channels, means, ways and styles. All of the week’s learnings will surely have a significant impact on our future endeavours.
References
Ashkenas, R., Ulrich, D., Jick, T., & Kerr, S. (2015). The boundaryless organization: Breaking the chains of organizational structure. John Wiley & Sons. United States
Baerjee, P., & Singh, S. (2015). Managers’ perspectives on the effects of online grapevine communication: A qualitative inquiry. The Qualitative Report, 20(6), 765-779.
Berry, P. A., Gillespie, G. L., Fisher, B. S., & Gormley, D. K. (2016). Recognizing, confronting, and eliminating workplace bullying. Workplace health & safety, 64(7), 337-341.
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. John Wiley & Sons. United States.
Kramer, M. W. (2014). Managing uncertainty in organizational communication. Routledge. United Kingdom.
Nwogbaga, D. M., Nwankwo, O. U., & Onwa, D. O. (2015). Avoiding School Management Conflicts and Crisis through Formal Communication. Journal of Education and Practice, 6(4), 33-36.
Ota, C., & Price, D. (2015). The Assertive Practitioner: How to improve early years practice through effective communication. Routledge. United Kingdom.
Pearson, R. (2017). Business ethics as communication ethics: Public relations practice and the idea of dialogue. In Public relations theory (pp. 111-131). Routledge. United Kingdom.
Petrou, P., Demerouti, E., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2018). Crafting the change: The role of employee job crafting behaviors for successful organizational change. Journal of Management, 44(5), 1766-1792.
Ramdhani, A., Ramdhani, M. A., & Ainissyifa, H. (2017). Conceptual Framework of Corporate Culture Influenced on Employees Commitment to Organization. International Business Management, 11(3), 826-830.
Saleh, M. (2017). Influence Communication, And Cultural Organization On Performance Through Employee Motivation And Job Satisfaction In Sub Source Surakarta. eAbstract Excellent, 2(2).
Warren, T. L. (2017). Cross-cultural Communication: Perspectives in theory and practice. Routledge. United Kingdom.
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