Engaging Organizational Communication Theory And Research

Discuss About The Engaging Organizational Communication Theory And Research.

Unclear and Untimely Decisions at the Executive Level

Communication plays a very important role in the day to day running of the organization. It determines the product management within the organization, customer relations and the employee management. Employees are the key audience in a business organization. This is because they act as channels to other audiences. Communication with other sectors is so well if the employees are well informed (Ferguson & Terrion, 2014). However, currently, there are a lot of drawbacks which have slowed down business operations.

Problem 1: Unclear and Untimely Decisions at the Executive Level

The executive level is the highest level in organizations and it makes decisions binding and the employee workplace. Therefore, the day-to-day decisions made at the executive level should reach all the employees in a business organization and in due time.

Through this, the employees might not know why decisions are being made. This is as a result of not involving them in the decision making of these decisions. Despite not being involved in the decision making, they do not get to know of these decisions in good time. Some decisions will tend to be vague (Abeza, 2015). Therefore, the employees will not be able to work efficiently due to miscommunications or failure to understand the decisions made at the executive level due to the complexity of these decisions.

Problem 2: Poor structural and functional segmentation of offices

Due to this, the employees could not be comfortable seeking work-related feed-back from their supervisors. Communications can be challenging when the parties are geographically not proximal to one another. This hinders the running of a business organization hence slows down growth and such. Some very vital information that is supposed to reach the employees in good time delay to reach them in good time (Ferguson & Terrion, 2014). This information will not reach the right people at the right time at the right time and right place.

The long distance interferes with the consistency and the flow of the information to the employees. There should be a consistent transformation of information from the supervisors to the employees. At times, the employees might not be in good times amongst themselves. There can be misunderstanding between the supervisors and the employees. This will hinder the information transformation between the two parties.

Long distance makes face- to face meetings arrangements be very hard. Moreover, making collaboration among the employees becomes a big problem. This hinders information access by the employees from the supervisors very hard to manage. The right information will not be sent to the right people (Terry, 2008). Distance will hamper with the eligibility of the information. Some important information might not reach the employees effectively. There will be time wastage when information is passed from either one office to another.

Poor Structural and Functional Segmentation of Offices

These vices have made emails communication unprofessional. Emails should be used strictly to serve their purposes. The executives or supervisors can decide to make all emails urgent even if they are not urgent. Emails that are made to serve purposes that they are not meant to serve make them unprofessional.

For instance, quoting and putting all words in CAPS. Words that are in caps are like shouting words. Mails that are made up of words that are in caps are not professional. They tend to be “yelling” to the recipient and can easily cause heart attack.

 Being too casual in mails makes the email communication unprofessional. The language depicted in your mails shows your relationship with the recipient.  The use of exclamation points, emoticons, colored text, fancy fonts, and SMS shorthand will indicate unprofessionalism in these mails (May &  Mumby, 2005). Also, being stiff and fierce when seniors are sending mails to juniors has been viewed rude and unprofessional. For instance, a one line email can cause a lot of tension to the recipient.

Problem 1: Unclear and Untimely Decisions at the Executive Level

The managing team should involve the employees in the decision making process so as to understand why such decisions are made. They should be directly involved in the meetings conducted at the Executive level by a representative so as to enable them be aware of these decisions made.

Democracy should be exercised. How can this be done? This can be done by involving the employees in the decisions making meetings through a representative. Whenever democracy prevails, the organization will grow and be managed efficiently and with ease. To avoid the vagueness of these messages, the Executive level should and must be in a position of letting the employees know what the decisions mean (May &  Mumby, 2005). 

The Executive offices should make smart decisions that will have a positive impact on all the employees. Smart decisions should be effective in a way that will put the Executive level, the supervisors and the employees in a position to find them adaptive. When making these decisions, the executive should focus on the employees since they play a very crucial position in talking to the clients or customers directly.

Problem 2: Poor structural and functional segmentation of offices

The employees are not in a position to seek work- related feedback from their supervisors. To curb this, there is the new technology that has enhanced life. Despite the offices being different, electronic means should be employed to quicken this. This can be through messages, telephone calls or emails.

Unprofessional Email Drafting and Sending

 This can help curb this problem. Some information is very vital to the organization to the extent that they are supposed to be delivered in good time and in the format they are in. Electronics and the modern technology have made this problem look so simple (Terry, 2008). There should be the use of telephone, emails and other modes of electronic that can be used to pass information within any organization. Through this, vital information will be delivered in good time and in the expected format.

There should be a consistent flow of this information within the organization. The termination of the flow of information within an organization hinders the processes in an organization. The modern technology should be embraced on the organization to maintain this flow of information. An organization without a constant flow of information is dead (Tracy & Myers, 2006). The supervisor-employee relationship should be kept well. The processes will be hindered if there is a poor relationship between the supervisors and the employees. Supervisors should not try and show the employees a lot of superiority when working. This will affect their relationship and hence slows then processes within a business organization. Their relationships should therefore, be very good for effective information passage and efficient work done.

Face-to-face meetings should be conducted between the supervisors and the employees within the organization. This will directly involve the employees in the decision making of the organization which will in turn build their confidence and passion to work. Secondly, through this, no decisions will be vague to the employees.

To avoid time wastage, the organization should employ the new technology which has solved these problems. There will be less energy involved or a messenger involved. The new technology will therefore be used as a medium for sending and receiving this information within an organization. To ensure eligibility of the information, the organization should use a medium which will be effective in passing across of the information within any given organization. Information will never be tampered with unless it passes through a third party (Ferguson & Terrion, 2014). When not tampered with, it reaches the recipient the way it is meant to reach hence avoiding ineligibility.

Problem 3: Unprofessional Email Drafting and Sending

Urgent emails should remain urgent. Likewise, emails that are not urgent should remain unurgent. The employees should be educated on the urgent emails and those that are not urgent. Therefore, this will prevent the employees from making assumptions that are not eligible. There should be a penalty to those who make all emails urgent even those that are not urgent. All the employees should know that quoting and putting all phrases or wording in capital letters depicts rudeness and unprofessionalism than the intended message. They should be cautioned from using the caps when sending emails (Abeza, 2015). The organization should prohibit the employees from using caps when sending emails. These caps make emails very unprofessional in nature. The Executive; supervisors should maintain their relationship quo. Mails should remain official irrespective of the out relationship of the sender and the recipient. Fancy fonts, colors and funny exclamations should not be used in the official emails. The work should be maintained at the office level and professional per se. The higher offices should not be too stiff and strict when writing these emails to an extent of causing tension to the recipient. They should use languages that are friendly to the recipient for better feedback. The one line mails should be avoided. It seems to be too strict. The language used in the emails determines the feedback from the recipient. Therefore, office work should remain office work while in the office.

This paper is based on the problems that affect internal communication within any given business organization. It clearly shows the key areas when internal communication is insufficient and how they affect the efficiency of such organizations. It finally gives solutions to these problems for proper operation within an organization.

References:

Abeza, G. (2015). "Mixed methods research in sport marketing". International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches. 9 (1): 40–56. 

Ferguson, S & Terrion, J. (2014). Communication in Everyday Life: Personal and Professional Contexts. Oxford University Press

May, S&  Mumby, D. (2005). Engaging Organizational Communication Theory and Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Terry, J. F. (2008). The Art of Asking: Ask Better Questions, Get Better Answers. FT Press

Tracy, S & Myers, C. (2006). "Cracking Jokes and Crafting Selves: Sense making and Identity Management among Human Service Workers". Communication Monographs. 73 (3): 283–308