Scribd
Upload
43 views3 pages

Functions of Organizational Communication

The document discusses the four main functions of organizational communication: control, motivation, information, and emotional expression. It also outlines seven principles of effective business communication: being clear, concise, objective, consistent, complete, relevant, and understanding your audience.

Uploaded by

Henrissa Granado Talan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
43 views3 pages

Functions of Organizational Communication

The document discusses the four main functions of organizational communication: control, motivation, information, and emotional expression. It also outlines seven principles of effective business communication: being clear, concise, objective, consistent, complete, relevant, and understanding your audience.

Uploaded by

Henrissa Granado Talan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Functions of Organizational Communication

 Define the functions of organizational communication

Even when we’re not speaking, we’re often using technology to communicate with other individuals.

Research tells us that poor communication is the most frequently cited source of
interpersonal conflict.[1] It’s not surprising, really. We spend about 70 percent of our
waking hours engaged in some sort of communication. Whether it’s writing, reading,
speaking, or listening, we’re participating in the transference and understanding of
meaning between individuals. Those individuals who are good at communicating are
setting themselves up for success. Those organizations that facilitate good
communication—both inside their walls and with their customers and community—set
themselves up for success as well.

In an organization, communication serves four purposes:

 Control
 Motivation
 Information
 Emotional Expression

Control

Organizations have rules and processes that employees must follow, communicated to
workers to keep order and equity operating within the system. For instance, if an
individual has a grievance about her job task, the organization might dictate that the
grievance first has to be addressed with a supervisor. If it goes unresolved, the next
step in the process might be to file a complaint that is reviewed by a committee. This is
an example of an organization leveraging their communication processes to keep order
and ensure grievances are heard fairly.

There’s an informal version of control within an organization, too. A department member


might be too eager to please the boss, staying late and producing more than the others
on his team. The other team members might pick on that eager individual, make fun of
him, and very informally control that person’s behavior.

Motivation

Goals, feedback and reinforcement are among those items communicated to


employees to improve performance and stimulate motivation. Organizations are likely to
exhibit a bit of the “control” aspect in communicating goals to individual contributors,
transferring information via a chain like the management by objective process we
discussed in an earlier module. Feedback and reinforcement can also be a formal
controlled process (via a mid- or end-of-year performance review, for example) but it
can also occur in informal ways. When a manager passes an individual, she might stop
and say, “Hey, I heard from Fred today about how well you did presenting to his group.
Great job! We’ll try to find other opportunities for you to get in front of a crowd.” That
would be an informal version of feedback and reinforcement that acts as a motivator.

Information

Organizations need to keep their employees informed of their goals, industry


information, preferred processes, new developments and technology, etc., in order that
they can do their jobs correctly and efficiently. This information might come to
employees in formal ways, via meetings with managers, news and messaging via a
centralized system (like an intranet site), or it could be informal, as when a team
member on the assembly line suggests a quicker way to approach a task and gets his
coworkers to adopt the method.

Emotional Expression

Communication is the means by which employees express themselves, air their


grievances, and interact socially. For a lot of employees, their employment is a primary
source of social interaction. The communication that goes on between them is an
important part of an organization and often sets the culture of the organization.

There is not one function of organizational communication that’s more important than
another—an organization needs to have all four of the functions operating well.

An organization can’t actually communicate, though, can it? Technically and


scientifically, no. It’s the organization’s employees that do the communicating and follow
the processes on behalf of the organization. So, individual expertise is equally important
if an organization is going to have a successful communication function.

Communication is happening between individuals when all parties are engaged in


uncovering and understanding the meaning behind the words. It’s not something that
one person does alone. When business professionals makes their contribution to the
uncovering and understanding process, they should strive to be:

 Clear. Their messages should be easily understood


 Concise. Their messages should feature only necessary information
 Objective. Their messages should be impartial
 Consistent. Their messages, when communicated more than once, should
always be the same
 Complete. Their messages should feature all the necessary information
 Relevant. Their messages should have meaning to its receiver
 Understanding of Audience Knowledge. Their messages should consider what
the receiver already knows about the situation, and not assume too much or too
little

These are the seven pillars, or principals, of business communication. If an individual


opens his mouth, puts pen to paper, or picks up a camera to make a video, he should
be striving to create a message that meets this criteria.

Why? Well, the point of communication is not to talk. It’s to be understood. When your
team understands you, they deliver results. When your customers understand you, they
buy. When your manager understands you, she advocates for you and supports you in
your career. When organizations communicate well and employees understand their
roles and how they fit into the organization’s mission, they succeed.

You might also like