Great Tech Company Organizational Communication

Great Tech Company Organizational Communication

Great Tech Company has been operating in the telecommunications industry for a while and had established a strong competitive advantage until recently when the company started losing customers. The company has also been experiencing high employee turnover resulting in the closure of some of its branches due to the lack of staff. The company has also had incidents of miscommunication. One incident involved miscommunicating product attributes, which resulted in returns because customers complained that the advertised product did not match what they purchased. Customers have also been complaining that the quality of products offered by the company is poor and there are delays in getting their orders approved and delivered. There have also been some incidents of miscommunication among staff, especially during Covid-19, when most communication was done via email because some employees misinterpreted the message in the emails, thus disrupting business operations. Currently, the main goal is to improve the company’s performance and reduce employee turnover.

This paper outlines the ideal organizational communication that should be used to communicate with managers and employees to meet customer expectations and create a conducive work environment for collaboration among employees. The paper will discuss the appropriate methods and types of organizational communication that Great Tech should use, the rationale for communication choices based on theories of organizational communication, roles of the organizational communication, the relationship between organizational culture and communication choices, and forces that are barriers to or will hinder effective communication and how the selected communication strategies will facilitate trust and team building within the organization and trust with external stakeholders such as customers and the media. Hire our assignment writing services in case your assignment is devastating you.

Methods and Types of Organizational Communication

According to Cowan (2017), quality communication between employees and management is among the most important factors for business performance in a competitive environment. The main types of organizational communication are formal and informal communication. Formal communication is any communication associated with the person’s official status passing information and receiver or organizational structure. It is also referred to as official communication. On the other hand, informal communication is any communication that does not involve any form of formalities. The two types of communication are then divided into downward, horizontal or upward communication. Downward communication begins from a specific top position in the organization and is disbursed or passed down to employees based on organizational hierarchy to influence and inform employees. Top management usually uses it to control the flow of information in the organization and communicate important things such as an organization’s policies and important decisions that could affect its overall performance. Horizontal communication includes the flow of information across functional departments in an organization through exchanging information among people at the same level. Upward communication includes communication from lower levels of the organizational hierarchy to upper levels to express feelings and thoughts and explain information.

Different factors influence effective communication within an organization. One of the factors is the commitment of managers and executives to the significance of communication. Accordingly, this dictates how often communication is done and the selection of appropriate communication channels to ensure that information is passed to relevant parties on time and with clarity. The second factor is the view of communication as a running process, such as providing rational and relevant information and aligning communication with the organization’s practices. The third factor is consistency between what managers say and what they do. According to Sharma et al. (2019), employees are likely to take communication more seriously if the message passed by managers aligns with their actions. Therefore, managers play a significant role in improving communication within an organization. They also influence communication outcomes; thus, they need to choose appropriate communication types and methods.

The best communication type between the general manager and other managers and employees at Great Tech Company is informal communication. As mentioned earlier, the company is experiencing high employee turnover and reduced productivity. Informal communication would enable managers and employees to freely express themselves, thus providing insight into the causes of high employee turnover. For instance, anonymous feedback could help the organization address employee concerns. Informal communication would also enhance the effectiveness of communication in the company by eliminating formal procedures that could cause delays in passing information to top management because employees and managers can directly address top management. Great Tech Company should also use personal instructions, meetings, memos, and emails to pass information between the general manager, employees, and other managers. The memos, emails, and personal instructions may be designed based on the specific audience the general manager intends to address.

The Rationale for Communication Choices Based On Theories of Organizational Communication

Personal instructions will play a significant role in communicating what the organization expects from employees and create room for clarification to avoid miscommunication. It will also ensure that communication targets the appropriate audience. Based on the Weberian theory of organizational communication, organizations have clearly defined responsibilities and roles, thus making communication clear, structured, and hierarchical. This organizational communication eliminates the possibility of confusion in the message being sent from the top, thus creating rigid structures where every individual contributes through unambiguous and defined roles and responsibilities. The role of the general manager in Great Tech Company is to guide other managers and employees on what should be done by providing instructions and setting targets. Therefore, communication is passed down from the general manager to the other managers, who then pass the information to employees and report to the general manager on employee performance and progress in completing assigned tasks. Thus, personal instructions can facilitate effective communication in the company by assigning specific roles and responsibilities to managers and employees.

Meetings facilitate the exchange of information between the general manager, other managers, and employees. They also create room for clarification of any unclear information, thus promoting effective communication. Besides, they create a conducive environment for employees to give insight and express their concerns, thus enabling a sense of belonging and job satisfaction and reducing employee turnover at Great Tech Company. Based on the organizational control theory by Tompkins and Cheney, four types of control dictate how organizations exercise power. These controls are bureaucratic, technical, concretive, and simple control.

The controls are defined based on the organization’s transition from simple organizational models to pure bureaucratic models, to technical models, and then models where everyone in the organization knows what is expected of them and has the purpose of the organization’s vision and mission instilled among them. Accordingly, meetings align with this model because they begin with the exchange of information and ideas among employees, managers, and top management, then transition to bureaucracies whereby vital decisions are made by top management based on the discussion held in the meeting. The shift from bureaucracies to technical models occurs in the implementation of what was discussed in the meetings before employees adapt to what is expected of them and align their activities to the organization’s goals, vision and mission because they may be required to update top management and managers about their progress in completing assigned tasks during the next meeting.

Moreover, memos and emails promote effective communication by ensuring that communication targets a specific audience. They give top management power over employees and managers because there is no room for feedback. Based on the managerialism theory by Deetz, organizations may consider the democratic aspirations of employees but center power on the leaders. In such cases, leaders hold the decision-making power and have total control of the information passed to employees. Emails and memos would also support managerialism, which would play a significant role in effective communication in Great Tech Company. According to Spillane & Joullié (2022), managerialism is the reliance or belief in the use of professional managers in planning and administering an activity. Great Tech has embraced the use of managers to improve the performance of various departments in the organization. Therefore, it would be ideal to use a communication method that gives managers the power and control over employees under their management to push them to meet the organization’s goals. For instance, the managers could use their position and control over employees to provide clear instructions on what should be done and acquire any resources required to improve the performance of their departments.

The Role of Organizational Communication

The role of communication in an organization is dictated by the link between top and middle management and employees. The main purpose of organizational communication is to achieve coordination in completing tasks within the organization, to share information regarding task direction, organizational goals, decision making, and results of employee and leaders’ efforts, to express emotions and feelings, to encourage employees’ participation in the decision-making process, to achieve effective control of operations in the organization and to create a good public image and reputation. Accordingly, Great Tech Company will leverage communication to reduce employee turnover, improve productivity, reduce customer complaints, and improve overall performance.

One of the roles that organizational communication will play in Great Tech Company is motivation. As mentioned earlier, the company currently experiences high employee turnover, resulting from a lack of motivation. Notably, organizational communication will facilitate effective communication of employee expectations, goals, and reinforcement, enhancing motivation and improving performance. Allowing employees to participate in meetings will also create a sense of belonging, thus increasing commitment and improving the organization’s ability to meet customers’ needs. Feedback and reinforcement will enhance employee motivation by appreciating the efforts employees make toward the organization’s success. According to Korzynski (2013), feedback and reinforcement play a vital role in employee motivation because employees are mainly rewarded based on the feedback from top management. Positive feedback also motivates employees and increases their commitment to the organization, thus reducing the intention to leave. Therefore, Great Tech Company can create performance review tools to assess employee performance and offer appropriate feedback and reinforcement.

The second role of the selected organizational communication at Great Tech Company is information. Communication will play a vital role in informing employees about their expectations. The organization’s success relies on the effective completion of various tasks such as customer relationship management, marketing, and the production of high-quality products and services. Effective internal communication will inform employees about new technology and developments that should be implemented to improve the organization’s performance, preferred processes, and goals. In addition, organizational communication will also provide relevant information to stakeholders. For instance, it will inform stakeholders about the different products offered by their organization, the quality of the products, and the price. Such information is essential in attracting customers and retaining existing ones. Employees may also use the selected organizational communication to express their emotions. For instance, they may express themselves during meetings held between them and managers and voice any concerns they may have relating to the work environment.

The Relationship between Organizational Culture and the Chosen Communication Strategies

Great Tech Company has an adhocracy culture. According to Harney (2015), an adhocracy culture includes adaptability and innovation. The company promotes creativity and implements new ideas to improve its products and create a competitive advantage continuously. The company also encourages collaboration among employees to enhance productivity. The communication choices made in the sections above align with Great Tech Company’s adhocracy culture in different ways. To begin with, they promote adaptability by providing clear instructions to employees and giving managers control over employees. According to Castellano (2013), managerial control promotes adaptability by preventing resistance because employees have to follow the guidelines provided by the managers. The managers may also lead by example, thus encouraging employees to embrace the necessary change. The communication choices also align with the adhocracy culture by promoting the exchange of ideas among employees and managers through meetings.

Employees may also use meetings as a platform to request resources needed to implement innovative ideas, thus encouraging innovation. Additionally, the communication choices promote clarity of the organization’s goals, thus ensuring that employees’ innovative ideas align with the organization’s long-term and short-term goals. They also facilitate effective communication of the organization’s expectations, thus guiding employees on the creative ideas they can implement to improve the company’s overall performance. Adhocracy culture is also characterized by less emphasis on official authority, thus making informal communication ideal. Corporate levels are not strictly defined, and employees are encouraged to take individual initiative. They can create teams and select team leaders to complete assigned tasks and meet expected roles and responsibilities.

Forces That Are Barriers To or Will Hinder Effective Communication

Various internal and external barriers hinder effective communication. Internal barriers are the barriers within the organization, while external barriers are within the organization’s external environment. The barriers could hinder effective communication through information distortion, poor coordination of information, and misinterpretation of information. One of the forces that will hinder effective communication in the organization is a lack of trust. According to Fulmer (2019), trust plays a vital role in communication within an organization by dictating how employees embrace communication. Employees are less likely to listen to an untrustworthy manager or fellow employee because they will assume that the individual is misleading them.

Additionally, another force is goal conflict. There may be a clash between individual goals leading to poor communication, especially within teams in the organization, because team members would not be working to achieve a similar purpose. Goal conflicts may also occur due to differences in managers’ and employees’ goals resulting in misinterpretation of information. Differences in departmental goals may also hinder effective communication resulting in poor overall organizational performance. According to Staniok (2014), goal conflicts are also a major cause of message filtering, hindering effective communication. Ideally, this mainly occurs when managers filter the message passed to top management, especially regarding employee performance and accomplishment of organizational goals. Managers may filter communication by eliminating any negative information to give top management a good impression, especially when there is a likelihood of being promoted to a higher rank.

Another force that could hinder communication in Great Tech Company is power consciousness. According to Furnham (2012), power consciousness occurs when people feel better than others due to their status and position in the organization. Managers may hesitate to communicate their challenges or any negative information to top management to avoid losing their position. They may also withhold information to avoid looking incompetent. Notably, information overload could also hinder effective communication in Great Tech Company. Information overload occurs when employees are given too much information with limited time to process it. This is likely to occur in organizations like Great Tech, where managers for every functional department report to a general manager because the managers may pass the information from top management at once through memos, emails, and personal instructions because these communication channels do not create room for feedback.

Impact of the Communication on Facilitating Trust and Team Building within the Organization

Communication creates the foundation of the interactions between employees and teams. Meetings will facilitate trust and team building by allowing employees to exchange ideas and express their concerns. Meetings will also allow employees to regularly interact with managers and top management and participate in decision-making, thus creating trust. Similarly, personal instructions will promote team building by clarifying what needs to be done, thus ensuring that employees work towards achieving the same goal. Memos and emails will enable the organization to maintain regular communication with employees, thus creating trust. According to Hiriyappa (2013), regular communication also promotes team building by reducing uncertainty to increase the team’s cohesiveness. The communication choices will also enable team members to stay updated on the performance of their team and the progress made to achieve a shared goal, thus promoting team building. The communication choices will also enhance trust by increasing transparency among team members by keeping each member informed about the team’s activities in the organization. Besides, transparency would also enhance team-building by enabling the team members to provide constructive feedback, build relationships and solve problems.

Impact of the Communication Choices on Facilitating Trust with External Stakeholders Such as Customers and the Media

The selected communication approaches will be implemented to create trust with external stakeholders such as the media and customers. To begin with, memos and emails can be used to communicate important information to customers. Such information could include product releases and upgrades aimed at enhancing product efficiency. Emails can also be used to address customer complaints, thus creating trust among customers by providing effective solutions that show the organization’s interest in their welfare. Maintaining open communication between the company, customers, and the media also creates transparency which plays a vital role in building trust. According to Mesaroș (2011), transparency in communication convinces stakeholders that the organization is providing honest information, thus promoting collaboration and improving overall organizational performance.

Moreover, memos can also facilitate trust with external stakeholders by regularly updating them on important things. Stakeholders may also be involved in decision-making by attending important meetings through their representatives. The participation of stakeholders in decision-making facilitates trust by enhancing transparency. The communication choices will also bolster trust with customers and media by allowing them to give honest feedback on the company’s products and services. Customers can rate and review the company’s products on social media channels creating positive or negative criticism and following up on the organization’s response and action taken to address any concerns and implement recommendations.

References

Castellano, W. G. (2013). Practices for engaging the 21st century workforce: Challenges of talent management in a changing workplace. FT Press.

Cowan, D. (2017). Strategic internal communication: How to build employee engagement and performance.

Fulmer, A. (2019). Trust in organizational contexts. Management. https://doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199846740-0159

Furnham, A. (2012). Power and status in organizations. The Talented Manager, 167-169. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230369764_46

Harney, B. (2015). Adhocracy. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, 1-1. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118785317.weom110029

Hiriyappa, B. (2013). Team building and group dynamic management. Booktango.

Korzynski, P. (2013). Employee motivation in the new working environment. International Journal of Academic Research, 5(5), 184-188. https://doi.org/10.7813/2075-4124.2013/5-5/b.28

Mesaroș, C. (2011). Knowledge communication: Transparency, democracy, global governance. Editura Universității de Vest.

Sharma, N., Chaudhary, N., & Singh, V. (2019). Management techniques for employee engagement in contemporary organizations. IGI Global.

Spillane, R., & Joullié, J. (2022). Overcoming managerialism: Power, authority and rhetoric at work. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.

Staniok, C. D. (2014). Goal prioritization and commitment in public organizations: Exploring the effects of goal conflict.

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About this Assignment
Effective organizational communication is a primary tool for creating and sustaining a competitive advantage in organizations of all types, sizes, and stages of development. In this course, you learned about the importance of organizational communication, a variety of key theories surrounding organizational communication, some of the different roles it can play and the forces that benefit or hinder effective communication. In a 2500-3000 word paper, please identify an organization, either real or fictitious, and analyze it in terms of organizational communication.

Scenario
Imagine that you are a manager of a real or fictitious small to medium-sized business where you have middle managers who report to you.

A business where there is increased competition and is losing business and/or employees.

With this framework in mind, in your paper, analyze the scenario you have chosen and address all of the following:

1)Explain the methods and types of organizational communication that you should use to communicate with your managers and employees for the scenario you have chosen.
2)Provide a rationale for your communication choices based on theories of organizational communication.
3)Analyze the different roles that organizational communication will play in your chosen scenario.
4)Describe the relationship between your organizational culture and the communication choices you have made.
5)Evaluate the forces that are barriers to or will hinder effective communication.
6)Analyze how your communication choices will facilitate trust and team building within the organization.
7)Analyze how your communication choices will facilitate trust with external stakeholders such as customers and the media.