COMMUNICATION PROCESSES AND BARRIERS

COMMUNICATION

Communication is the activity whereby an individual or group conveys, consciously or unconsciously, information to another individual or group, and, where necessary, evokes a discriminating response. the information may be facts, feelings or ideas.

Key points - Towards a definition of communication:

· Communication can be by or to a group of people. it is not just person to person.

· Communication can take place whether you are aware of it or not. it depends upon the very choice of medium, unintended meanings in words, or nonverbal cues such as body language.

· Communication is usually intended to evoke a particular response. – to get someone to do something, understand something, etc. the measure of effectiveness in such circumstances is the degree to which the desired response is achieved.

· Communication is not only concerned with the transmission of factual information. Although in management terms that is usually the main purpose, there are very often other things being communicated.

Communication and Management

A manager motivates and communicates. He makes a team out of the people who are responsible for various jobs.

He does that through the following.

· The practices with which he manages.

· His own relations to the men he manages.

· Through constant communication, both from the manager to his subordinate and from the subordinate to the manager.

The Importance of Communications to Management

The following lists show the importance of, communication in various aspects of management and organization.

(a) Span of control

• Span of management or control is a vertical means of co-ordination involving a number of subordinates who report directly to a specific supervisor or manager.
• As the number of subordinates increases, the manager is in danger of communications overload and potentially loss of control.
  • An increasing number of subordinates implies an exponentially increasing number of inter-relationships.
  • Too few subordinates on the other hand might lead to excessive communication and supervision, i.e. over-management and under-delegation.
  • Communication requirements in the span of management will also depend on the proximity of the subordinates (ease of communication), competence and familiarity of the manager/subordinates (fewer barriers), the morale of the group.and the need (job requirements) for interaction, e.g. there will be less need where skilled and experienced operatives are concerned.
  • Each manager must consider what form of network (see below) will be most effective for the group concerned. An autocrat might favour a chain or a wheel formation whilst a participative manager might use the circle or more interactive web.
  
  
  
  
  (b) The scalar chain
  
  
  • This is the chain of command from the top of the organisation down to the shop floor.
  • It links every manager from the CEO down to the first line supervisor and\ therefore ensures that decisions and polices are relayed down the organization and feedback is relayed back up.
  • The channels of communication between levels in this hierarchical structure are vertical, i.e. up and down between individuals and groups.
  • Downward communication passes directions on, and typically involves face-toface and written communication, e.g. briefs/memos/notices/e-mails.
  • Such communication is vulnerable to semantic blocks (see below), distortion and misperception.
  • Upward communication tends to report problems, progress, suggestions and grievances.
  • It suffers from filtering, distortion and often unreceptive recipients at higher levels.
  
  
  (c) Management style
  
  
  • If leaders are perceived as powerful, their credibility increases and increased credibility encourages the receivers to trust the communicator.
  • Too much power, though, may be seen as autocratic and lead to barriers being created.
  • A leader who shares information power is seen as democratic.
  • A leader seeking innovation and change will tend to use an informal communication system through which information will flow freely.
  • Quality communication is achieved where there is total satisfaction of the expectations of both communicators and receivers. Usually the communicator's expectations are made clear in the information provided, whereas the receiver's are less clear.