ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION.

BARRIERS

1. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION

1.1. EXISTING TYPES OF COMMUNICATION IN AN
ORGANIZATION
1.2. VOCATIONAL SCHOOL ORGANIZATION
2. COMMUNICATION BARRIERS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF
EDUCATION COUNSELLING

Objectives: after having studied this chapter, students will be able to:
1. to examine the responsibility of the educational counsellor in preventing and resolving
conflicts in schools,
2. to apply methods and techniques of meta-communication, active, persuasive, assertive
communication, and communication based on feed-back
3. to identify the dimensions of an effective leadership who leads to continuing
professional development
4. to propose strategies and psychological methods focused on validation for a smooth
communication

Recommended bibliography:
1. Brammer, L.M., Skostrom, E.L., and Abrego, P. (1988). "Therapeutic Psychology:
Fundamentals of Counselling and Psychotherapy", Inglewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall (5th
Edn).

2. Davies, M., Stankov, L., & Roberts, R. D. (1998). Emotional intelligence: In search of
an elusive construct. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 989-1015.

3. Geldard, D.,(1989). "Basic Personnel Counselling: A Training Manual For Counsellors.

Sydney: Prentice Hall.

4. Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam.

5. Josh Freedman, J. (2004). Emotional Validation. New York: Simon & Schuster

6. Rosenthal, R. (1977). The PONS Test: Measuring sensitivity to nonverbal cues. In P.

McReynolds (Ed.), Advances in psychological assessment . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-
Bass.

7. Sternberg, R. (1996). Successful intelligence. New York: Simon & Schuster.

1
 OVERVIEW

The course Organizational Communication. Barriers offers an approach to the

organizational communication in terms of educational advisers. The emphasis is on the
responsibilities of an educational counsellor in the prevention and resolution of existing
conflicts within the school organization. In this sense, there are listed possible errors
occurring in the communication and solutions to eliminate them through psychological
validation.

1. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL

COMMUNICATION

Chapter 1 presents the types of communication within an organization, the school

counsellor calls frequently: the communication with the manager, the communication with
the peers, the communication with the students, the communication between students, and the
communication with the parents. In this respect, there are some principles and important
aspects of building and maintaining a harmonious relationship of communication.

1.1. EXISTING TYPES OF COMMUNICATION IN AN

ORGANIZATION

In Chaster Barnard's conception, an organization occurs when two conditions are met:
a. there are people able to communicate with each other, b. they wish to contribute to
achieving a common goal. Belonging to an organization involves multiple advantages: its
capacity (because it is more efficient to work in teams), learning from previous generations,
psychosocial comfort (the needs of belonging and communion). The communication is the
essence of all the benefits listed.
The specialty literature appeals to the distinction between the ability to communicate,
communicability and power to communicate:
1. communication skills, means being able to interact with the others, to make them
exchange information and to make use of signs and symbols whose meaning is
determined by convention;
2. communicability, as a functional appearance of a relationship of communication, it

2
 expresses friendly events and interpersonal information sharing;
3. the power to communicate, expresses the ability to use deliberately certain
relationships and dependencies to enhance the impact and magnitude of interpersonal
exchange and convert those attributes in the targeted actions in a direction determined
in advance.
Labour relations in an organization involve all three aspects noticed by the author.

A. Types of communication (depending on the labour relations)

a. Communication with the manager - vertical employment relation
Labour relations are usually different from the social relations. In social life you can
make your choice, at work, you cant. The primary responsibility for creating and
maintaining a strong vertical relationship is the responsibility of the manager. If the
relationship requires a correction, it is the responsibility of the manager to initiate a
discussion. Although the manager has the primary responsibility, the employee has the
secondary responsibility to maintain a strong and healthy relationship.
b. Communication with the colleagues - horizontal working relations
A smooth communication within an organization is complying with the two
principles:
- Building and maintaining a relationships with the colleagues, equally appreciated
with the importance attached to the manager,
- Developing professional relationships, not personal.
c. Communication with the students - vertical communication
Students are divided according to the criterion of communication availability, some
relation and communicating easily and others having difficulty in relationships and
community integration. It is obvious that students differ in terms of possibilities of
communication, linguistic ability and their communication ability, interpersonal relationships
are being structured according to several factors:
- The role of the father / mother in the interest / disinterest in developing verbal-
communicative behaviour of the child;
- Family structure (usually in many families children are more talkative, more
communicative);
- Attending kindergarten or not for consideration that, in this context, social contacts
are more intense and more diverse than those in the family;
- Linguistic and educational family background (silent atmosphere dominance or,

3
 alternatively, the loquacious)
- Social group membership;
- The functionality of the verbal-motor device (deficiencies such as: deafness, hearing
loss, aphasia, stutter, etc.).
d. Communication between students - horizontal communication
The relationships established between the students of a class are direct, such as face
to face meaning that each student can communicate and exchange information with all the
other students, and they in turn can communicate with him. In the classrooms of students the
communication is a condition of their existence. Inside the classroom, the two sources of
communication (sender and receiver) can be the students, as distinct personalities and the
class as an independent unit. The difference is that the messages issued by the class have a
normative character and only to the extent that students adhere to classroom rules can
become, in turn, senders of these messages in interpersonal relations between them. On the
other hand, the messages emerging from the student to the class have an informational
character and can be rejected without echo or taken by it. It is realized the communication
structure: who communicates with who and the way in which the messages are moving, and
knowing this, teachers will be able to make assessments regarding both the psychological
climate of the classroom and in terms of how it will disperse messages from the teacher.
e. Communication with the parents - vertical communication
The counsellor is the expert who analyses, correlates, outlines the existing school with
all its aspects. It provides the parents the experience translated and interpreted in the form of
accessible products. The powers and duties of the school counsellor extend to the lowest
level which is gathering data about students to the social community.
B. Techniques and issues involved in communication
Meta-communication is a way of communication consisting of non-verbal and para-
verbal communication.
Active listening is the communication ability which manifests by a conduct that
provides communicational space to the partner encouraging him to speak freely and
confidently.
Persuasive behaviour is the behaviour that influences through communication
(persuasion).
Assertiveness is the ability through which we can express our beliefs and emotions in
a polite way, to affirm socially without hurting the others and without giving up our
legitimate purposes.

4
 The basic skills used by the assertive behaviour are:
- Emotional self-control through action on situations and / or irrational thoughts such
absolute, catastrophic supra-generalizing or less flexible;
- Emotional empathy or the ability to apprehend and understand the emotional states of
others.
The feed-back or the mirror (reflection) has a major role in raising awareness and
clarifying issues, resources and communication solutions.

1.2. VOCATIONAL SCHOOL ORGANIZATION

A study implemented in the U.S. identifies four dimensions of the leaderships that
lead to continuous professional development:
a. opportunities to learn from and with other colleagues, in their own schools and other
schools through collaboration in solving real problems in school,
b. mentoring,
c. quality training, together with direct support and materials that can be used
practically
d. support, recognition and support from principals, school inspectors, teachers
colleagues by participating teachers' network.
These issues emphasize the need to support the importance of school organization. A
school with a culture of professional development promotes the relationship between
coaching, mentoring and peer collaborative networks (peer-networking).

Schools with a culture of professional development:

Coaching - Considers employees as experts,
- Shares best practices,
- Helps to accelerate the learning curve.
Mentoring - Discovers and encourage latent abilities,
- Improves team performance,
- Helps build confidence,
- Contributes to employees' personal development and clients,
- Promotes collaboration.
Peer collaborative networks - Helps the staff to feel part of the school organization,

5
 - Improves collaboration,
- Shares best practices,
- Promotes the relations between teachers and management.

A school with a culture of professional development:

- promotes the progress in relation to the needs of participants,
- considers the teachers to be professionals and participants in decision making, not
merely employees,
- provides opportunities and resources.
The schools that require these features share best practices and look for innovative
thinking. In these institutions there is a climate of cooperation and support. The team is
motivated and encouraged to improve their performance. Encouraging collaboration is a tool
for empowerment. Teachers and educational advisors will gain self-esteem, confidence,
support from other colleagues.

2. COMMUNICATION BARRIERS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE

OF EDUCATION COUNSELLING

Chapter 2 develops the perspective of educational advisers in the prevention and

correction of errors of communication within an organization. In this respect, there are
developed strategies to eliminate barriers to communication focused on psychological
validation.
Counselling is a way of relating and responding to the requirements of a person,
which involves assisting in the discovery of its own thoughts, feelings and behaviours to
achieve a clear picture of the personal resources. The person is supported in discovering
his/her own characteristics in order to adapt better decision making and action planning.
Counselling is one of the areas of most matching techniques, first of all because it
requires knowledge of the person and the problem appeared here many times due to
communication dams defensive mechanisms of both participants in the relationship.
Communication errors are: masking the true feelings, inconsistency, inadequacies,
exaggeration, minimization, and the disposal method of these errors is the psychological
validation. The invalidation, the mechanism of defence and the reasoning principle are the
impediments to establishing any counselling relationship or educational process.

6
 COURSE SUMMARY

The course Organizational Communication. Barriers offers an approach to the

organizational communication in terms of educational advisers. Chapter 1 presents the types
of communication within an organization, the school counsellor calls frequently: the
communication with the manager, the communication with the peers, the communication
with the students, the communication between students, the communication with the parents.
In this respect, there are some principles and important aspects of building and maintaining a
harmonious relationship of communication. The emphasis is on the responsibilities of the
school counsellor in the prevention and resolution of existing conflicts within the school
organization.
Chapter 2 develops the perspective of educational advisers in the prevention and
correction of errors of communication within an organization. Counselling is one of the areas
of most matching techniques, first of all because it requires knowledge of the person and of
the problem, often occurring communication barriers due to defensive mechanisms of both
participants in the relationship. Communication errors are: masking the true feelings,
inconsistency, inadequacies, exaggeration, minimization, and the disposal method of these
errors is the psychological validation. The invalidation, the mechanism of defence and the
reasoning principle are the impediments to establishing any counselling relationship or
educational process.

KEY CONCEPTS

1. The communication skills, means being able to interact with the others, to make them
exchange information and to make use of signs and symbols whose meaning is
determined by convention;
2. The communicability, as a functional appearance of a relationship of communication,
it expresses friendly events and interpersonal information sharing;
3. The power to communicate, expresses the ability to use deliberately certain
relationships and dependencies to enhance the impact and magnitude of interpersonal
exchange and convert those attributes in the targeted actions in a direction determined
in advance.
4. Meta-communication is a way of communication consisting of non-verbal and para-

7
 verbal communication.
5. Active listening is the communication ability which manifests by a conduct that
provides communicational space to the partner encouraging him to speak freely and
confidently.
6. Persuasive behaviour is the behaviour that influences through communication
(persuasion).
7. Assertiveness is the ability through which we can express our beliefs and emotions in
a polite way, to affirm socially without hurting the others and without giving up our
legitimate purposes.
8. The validation is a method of communication and support, based on empathic attitude
and holistic vision of the person.
9. The invalidation is a form of psychological offensive.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
1. Brammer, L.M., Shostrom, E., Abrego, P. (1989) Therapeutic Psychology:
Fundamentals of Counselling and Psychotherapy (5th edn.) Prentice Hall.
2. Brammer, L.M., Skostrom, E.L., and Abrego, P. (1988). "Therapeutic Psychology:
Fundamentals of Counselling and Psychotherapy", Inglewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall
(5th Edn).
3. Davies, M., Stankov, L., & Roberts, R. D. (1998). Emotional intelligence: In search
of an elusive construct. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 989-1015.
4. Ezechil, L., 2002, Comunicarea educaional n context colar, EDP, Bucureti, p.94
5. Geldard, D.,(1989). Basic Personnel Counselling: A Training Manual For
Counsellors. Sydney: Prentice Hall.
6. Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam.
7. Josh Freedman, J. (2004). Emotional Validation. New York: Simon & Schuster
8. Rosenthal, R. (1977). The PONS Test: Measuring sensitivity to nonverbal cues. In
P. McReynolds (Ed.), Advances in psychological assessment . San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
9. Rhodes C., Stokes M., Hampton G., 2004, A Practical Guide to Mentoring,
Coaching and Perr-Networking,New Yorg: RoutledgeFalmer, .P.6
10. Sternberg, R. (1996). Successful intelligence. New York: Simon & Schuster.