MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION AND LEADERSHIP STYLES

PIPAŞ Maria Daniela 1, JARADAT Mohammad 2

1
Assistant Professor/Ph.D. Student, Faculty of Economics/Management-Economics
Department, "Bogdan Vodă" University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, e-mail: dpipas@ubv.ro
2
Professor/Ph.D., Faculty of Economics/Management - Economics Department, "Bogdan
Vodă" University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, e-mail: hadi@ubv.ro

Abstract: Managerial communication is a form of interpersonal communication, a

management tool by which the manager can perform specific functions: forecasting, training,
organization, coordination, control, evaluation. As part of the management process (Henry
Fayol joins to communication the planning, forecasting, organization and control as one of
the five basic elements of management), through which the manager would understand the
subordinate and makes himself understood to them, managerial communication is directed not
only to transmit messages, but also to change attitudes and to the psychological adjustment of
employees to business objectives. Communication between managers and employees provides
the necessary information that leads to obtaining an effective and efficient job in the
organization. Managerial communication is an auxiliary to management that makes the
information about the outcome of decisions circulate, returning to the center of decision,
making possible to agree to the implementation of the objectives and planning with results.
The importance of communication in organizations is due to the complex nature of the process
at this level. Thus, in any organizational framework there are numerous communications
networks, communication channels found in specific configurations that make different
communications systems (Nicolas, Gherghita, Gherghita, 2006).

Key words: managerial communication, leadership, management, behavior, feedback

JEL Classification: D83, M12

1. Introduction
The process of communication is aimed at delivering a clear message from a sender to
a receiver, using verbal or non-verbal channels. The process itself can be described as a loop
because the interaction ends when a feedback from the recipient to the sender is provided.
Communication is used by people to share and analyze thoughts, information and ideas.
In order to communicate effectively, communicators need to identify and realize the
importance and complexity of the communication process. Communication is a complex,
dynamic event involving a speaker who has learned how to create messages intentionally and
to express meaning full discourse which is perceived, understood, and responded to by one or
more human beings. Bell and Martin define managerial communication as "the downward,
horizontal, or upward exchange of information and transmission of meaning through informal
or formal channels that enables managers to achieve their goals." Within this framework the
role of managers is to facilitate the communication in the organization and use it as a means to
pursue the organizational goals (Bell and Martin, 2008, p.130).
Managerial communication is increasingly important at the interpersonal level for
positive interaction among all levels of management. It is essential for managers to interact
with internal employees and external stakeholders to accomplish managerial objectives and
develop positive team relationship. An effective managerial communication process with
appropriate strategies and skills will facilitate and encourage all managers for better
understanding, sharing differences, giving feedback, resolving conflicts, coaching and

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motivating teams for productive outcomes. Effective managerial communication
recognizes differences in others, connects people and creates trust.

2. Communication and leadership

Always, in a group, there will be a person that will have the role of the leader. So the
entire group will be lead by this person who will set the direction of travel and distribute
workloads between staff.
A definition of leadership says that "leadership is the ability to influence others"
(Pânişoară, 2008, p.258), while Hackman and Johnson talk about the importance of
communication in this process: "Management is the human communication that changes
attitudes and behavior of others towards achieving group goals and needs" (Pânişoară, 2008,
p. 258).
Because there are a number of definitions of leadership, a series of theories were
developed of leadership including a few specific categories that are focused on group
processes, personality perspective, power relations as a tool for certain purposes, etc.
Viewed from two different angles, leadership can be a positive force when it facilitates
individual or group tasks, or can be seen as a negative force when tasks are inhibited for
several reasons related solely to the leader (manager).
We can identify a group leader by the fact that there is a greater tendency of these
individuals to initiate communication, and, on the other hand, by the amount of calls
manifested by the leader that is much higher than calls from people of equal rank or lower.
These calls can range from complaints to the request for advice and clarification.
In terms of communication, we can say that this is the catalyst in different models of
leadership. This can be explained by the fact that a leader is not effective when not
communicating with subordinates and communication is not effective unless ambivalent.
In the literature, we find an extensive range of leadership positions. These can include:
 activation of group interaction - one of the roles of the leader is to
enable the group for the purposes of interaction, especially when it is
newly formed or has a difficult situation;
 maintaining an effective interaction – this should be considered in
terms of problem that is in question and in terms of participation of the
balance in the debate;
 ensure satisfaction of members from participating – from the
participation in group, all members must obtain satisfaction and
motivation for continued participation;
 conflict management – focuses on the need to know of the leader of
when intervention is necessary in settling tense situations;
 construction and ensuring of group cohesion – requires that the leader
has to deal with different personalities, different activities involving
group and the leader needs to standardize the amount of such
participation;
 encouraging the group to improve itself – assumes that any group is in
position to improve their performance and task leader is to encourage
and direct the group to this improvement (Pânişoară, 2008, pp. 258-
260).

3. Goals, objectives and functions of managerial communication

Communication is one of the most difficult aspects of the work of a manager. The
source of most problems of communication is the difference between the message content or
impact that the manager intends to convey and how other members receive message.

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 One of the important components of management activity is the exchange of
information and messages made from the head of the organization to subordinates and
between employees on the same level without positions of management.
"The purpose of managerial communication in any organization is that of making a
correct, efficient and effective information both vertically and horizontally to achieve the
optimal conditions of internal and external requirements and in accordance with established
managerial and organizational objectives." (Niculae, Gherghiţă, Gherghiţă, 2006, pp.65-66).
If we want to achieve effective organizational communication, both employee and the
manager must communicate according to a certain strategy, a strategy that aims to create a
positive organizational environment to achieving the tasks.
One of the roles of a manager consists of controlling the extent to which decisions
were made and this can only be achieved by communicating with people who are responsible
for their execution. Only then can employees know and understand what to do, when and
what time to do, what and how to do and can, in turn, give suggestions. Sometimes
communication is poor due to a rigid system, which is not designed as a dynamic organism,
adaptable to information needs.
The goal of managerial communication is efficient effective and accurate information,
to achieve the optimum of requests from both inside and outside. For this, we met a number
of basic communication needs of any employee:
 need to know - refers both to the possession of professional knowledge
appropriate for the task and the need to know which is the task to be
performed;
 need to understand – comes as a complement to the first need and refers to
understanding the task manifested by its performance and its reason;
 need to express - is the ability to make your opinion known to the higher
hierarchical levels (Tran, Stănciugelu, 2001, pp. 214-215).
Another concept to be considered refers to the practice of managerial communication.
Through it, management objectives are to be achieved, regardless of their permanently
character. To understand the place and role of managerial communication it is important to
understand the management functions and their correlation with the communication process.
Thus:
a. planning and forecasting function – consists of all the work processes
through which the main objectives of the organization are determined and
also the material resources and time allocated to them. In the preparation
of these plans, budgets and programs there is a process that involves
gathering information, in turn, a communication process. Since
communication is seen as a pillar of this function, is inconceivable without
exercising real planning communication support.
b. function of organization – means all the processes through which
management sets and delimitates work processes and components and
group jobs or job formation. This function has a double valence in an
organization because we can speak of an organization of all institutions
and a departmental organization, sub-departments, etc. Since the function
of organization involves the assignment of tasks, resources, etc., it also
involves building a formal (and informal) framework of communication.
c. coordination function – the ensemble of processes working to
harmonizing the actions of personnel with management decisions. To
ensure the effectiveness of proper communication this function need to be
aimed at transmitting information, explanations, etc.
d. function of drive – incorporates all work processes which determine the
organization's staff to actively contribute to the objectives expected. This

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 function is used as a collaboration and motivation tools, tools that in turn
depend on communication.
e. function of evaluation and control – can be defined as all the processes
that can be measured in the organization’s performance, its subsystems,
the departments. This allows managers to determine whether or not
objectives were met by conducting certain activities closely related to
communication, such as: interviews, discussion face-to-face with
employees, formulating and submitting the measures to be taken (Tran,
Stănciugelu, 2001, pp. 216-219).
Through the management and communication functions that we talked about earlier,
we can extract more features of managerial communication and its specific functions. Among
the features are:
 any organization fulfills the dual role of transmitter and receiver in a
communication process, using information of internal and external nature;
 each component of the organization reflects the information they convey, a
certain kind of processes (financial, legal, etc.)
 every organization has a clear record of information transmitted at a given
time in the company.
Among these specific functions of managerial communication we can include (Tran,
Stănciugelu, 2001, p.220 ):
 function of information;
 function of transmission of the decisions;
 function to influence the receiver;
 training function;
 image-making function;
 function of motivation;
 function of promoting of the organizational culture.

4. Leadership styles
Over the years, literature has distinguished, in general, three main types of leadership:
"laissez-faire" style, democratic style and autocratic style.
"Laissez-faire" leader is not taking any initiative on the conduct of subordinates work.
He does not give orders, does not suggest adjacent ways and does not indicate a course of
action, but allows the group to progress and develop itself even if this inevitably leads to
mistakes.
Democratic leader is characterized by his participation in group actions. He offers
ways to achieve the goal, but leaves the group to manage and progress alone. If the group
encounters a situation where he could not extricate himself, he provides support and
suggestions that contributes to targeting of alternative courses of action.
Autocratic leader is the opposite of the "laissez-faire" leader. He is the one who takes
decisions without consulting the other members of the group and is the one that requires the
path to be followed for the task. Although the group with such a leader produces a larger
amount of work, they have very low motivation and show a latent discontent (Pânişoară,
2008, pp.261).
It should be noted that none of the types of leaders is not absolutely superior to
another, while there is the possibility of combining these types.
In addition to these leadership styles already established, Ion-Ovidiu Pânişoară, in his
book "Effective communication", describes several theories regarding the leadership theory
which will be detailed below.

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a. Situational approach
Theory of situational approach says that various situations require different ways of
leadership. Thus, leadership development and expression may be affected by many factors
including: the nature of the problem, work and social climate, the personality of group
members, group size and time available to solve the problem.
In the analysis of this theory are used two axes – directive size and supportive size. By
combining them we get four leadership styles are using specific communication. Directive
behavior of the leader is setting goals and time limit in which they have to be made and
communication occurs in one direction. While supportive behavior supports group members,
tries to familiarize them with the situation, with the teammates, communication being
bidirectional or multidirectional.

(High)

High Supportive High Directive

and Low Directive and High Supportive
Behavior Behavior
SUPPORTIVE BEHAVIOR

Low Supportive High Directive

and Low Directive and Low Supportive
Behavior Behavior

(Low) DIRECTIV BEHAVIOR (High)

DEVELOPED DEVELOPING
INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT LEVEL

D4 D3 D2 D1

High Moderate to Low to

Competence Competence some Loe
and and Competence Competence
High Variable and Low and High
Commitment Commitment Commitment Commitment

Figure 1: The situational model of leadership

Source: (Blanchard, Carlos, Randolph - Three Keys to Empowerment, San Francisco:
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 1999)

Styles results are:

a. directive style – the manager focuses the communication on achieving
objectives, provides guidance and monitors the work of subordinates;
b. "trainer" style – need a communication intended to achieve both
objectives and needs of subordinates of socio-emotional nature.
Communication serves to resolve the actual load and to an optimal
working environment;
c. supportive style - communication is implicative, manager empathizes
with subordinate, the relationship is based on listening and feedback, as
well as professional development and personal connection;

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 d. style of delegation - the manager gives subordinates the responsibility
for carrying out tasks and developing a positive climate.
Communication in this case, is limited by quantity and quality.

b. Theory of transformational leadership

This theory is based on the idea that the act of communication has a great share in the
management area and it can transform and change people who are part of it.
James MacGregor Burns distinguishes between two types of leadership characteristic
of this theory, namely transactional leadership and transformational leadership. Transactional
leadership is characterized by an exchange, a transaction in which the manager provides an
employee something while the employee is obliges to perform the task. While
transformational leadership focuses on the needs and motivations of people trying to help
them to manifest their full potential.
Then, B. Bass has developed a continuity of the transformational leadership with the
transactional one adding "laissez-faire".
This continuity has been optimized with a model that can provide a starting point to
persons occupying the position of leader. The model incorporates seven categories of factors
located on an axis of effective to ineffective and passive to active: (1) idealized influence, (2)
inspirational motivation, (3) intellectual stimulation, (4) individualized consideration, (5)
contingent reward, (6) management by exception (7) "laissez-faire".

Figure 2: Transformational leadership

(Processed by Bass, 2006, pp.9-10)

The first factor of transformational leadership, charisma or idealized influence,

describes the leaders acting in the depiction of models for group members, the latter being
identified with their leaders. Level of confidence in this type of leadership is very high.
The second factor, inspirational motivation describes leaders who communicate high
expectations from group members, inspiring them through motivation to become a part of the
organization's vision. They use symbols and emotional dimensions.
Intellectual stimulation includes leaders that stimulate their followers to be creative, to
think for themselves and to find innovative solutions to tasks.

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 Consideration individual characterizes leaders that promote a supportive climate. This
type of leader will listen to individual employees' problems, offering advice and allocating
sufficient time for analyzing each of the individuals, he it is more a "coach".

c. Communicative skills model

This model assumes that the management process incorporates behaviors that help the
group to overcome obstacles and tight situations, this can be achieved through
communication. Through this skills we can list:
 active communication - leaders are perceived as speaking more clearly and
more fluently than other members of the working group. While the task
becomes more complex, more difficult and the roles are more ambiguous,
the leader's communication skills are important;
 good command of the group task - through communication, leader proves
extensive knowledge about the task, organization and procedure that
facilitate understanding of the task;
 mediation of information – the leader has to distribute information to all
members so that they can solve the task received, he will have to organize
information and help members to focus on important activities;
 expressing their views on an interim basis – people prefer leaders who do
not express a definitive opinion, but are open to other ideas;
 concern centered on the group – the leader needs to show a personal
commitment towards achieving goals;
 respect of others’ expressing;
 appreciation of the effort of the group members.

5. Distinguishing features of leadership and communication style

Leadership style varies depending on several variables. We can consider the
personality of the manager, where it is when he needs to adopt a style or another, the internal
environment in which he works or the communication method he adopts. Regarding this last
variable were identified several distinctive elements that make the difference between
leadership styles. These can include:
a. practice of decision - decisions can be taken in several ways, taking into
account previous experiences, the expectations the leader has, previous
solutions taken in similar situations or deliberation with staff and collection
of solutions from organization members. This latest versions can be made
only through close communication between managers and subordinates and
also through mutual trust;
b. competence - this dimension may relate to professional, organizational and
socio-human competence, the latter two being in close communication with
the manager's skills;
c. attitude toward the collective goals of group – from the leader who
identifies totally with the goals of the organization, to the leader that uses
the organization in order to realize its interests (neither extreme is not
recommended), a manager must give clear and detailed objectives of the
work task;
d. motivation techniques - this variable takes a very large extent on the
techniques and communication skills possessed by the manager.
Unfortunately many organizations are characterized by poor exploitation of
motivational techniques, this representing a challenge for any leader;
e. attitude towards the employee – from autocratic manager who believed that
employees must perform rather than get involved, to the democratic one

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 that gives an active role to the subordinates, focusing on employee means a
trust developed through effective, two-way communication (Cismaru,
2010, pp. 28-30).

6. Chief-subordinate communication
One of the best ways through which the manager can be more effective is to know
what impact his actions and words have on those around him. The key to knowing the impact
of the messages to others lies in challenging feedback from them, which involves a risk. In
personal relationships, people are becoming more open to others as they gain more confidence
in each other. In the organizational context things change because, on the one hand, the fact
that the manager has the power, on the other hand, the fact that information is distorted in its
passage through the informational communication (Jaradat, 2007).
There are ways to develop an effective communication strategy that facilitates
managers to ensure correct reception of their messages and methods of obtaining necessary
feedback.
Also, feedback is not only between manager and subordinates, but also between the
manager and other managers. When they talk to their hierarchical superiors, managers face
many of the problems faced by their subordinates when they are given the opportunity of
feedback. When talking with their subordinates, managers must know the standards that
subordinates must achieve, the degree to which an employee needs to improve performance
and the consequences of failure.
Whatever form managerial communication takes we must take into account a number
of conditions (Păuş, 2006, p.123):
 concise and accurate formulation of the message to be understood
easily and completely;
 fast and undistorted transmission of the message;
 ensure reversibility and fluency of the communication;
 use of a common language by the transmitter and receiver;
 simplifying and easing the communication channels;
 ensure flexibility and adaptability of the communication system to be
used in any situation.

7. Importance of managerial communication

Most managers have a variety of experiences of communicating with colleagues,
superiors and teams during the first half of their careers: some may have given presentations
to internal or external clients; others may even have addressed large audiences at meetings or
conferences. Communication is vital for coordination and collaboration within a firm, and for
establishing relationships with clients. It is an essential skill for a manager.
Managerial communication is an important process in order to ensure a clear
understanding of the organizational goals and engage people at all levels towards their
attainment. In fact, through an effective communication, managers can communicate
objectives, tasks and policies to employees and transmit their feedbacks to the top
management. Managers can influence, whenever necessary, the perception of the recipients
and trigger the adequate reaction to the information delivered (Stefanescu and Popa, 2008: 3).
Basically, communication is the means with which managers can exercise their duties
of planning, direction and control (Mullins, 2010: 433) in order to pursue their goals of
improving the productivity of the organization and fulfill the expectations of the employees
(Richmond, Wagner and McCroskey, 1983: 27). In particular communication is crucial during
the process of change which is becoming more and more important within moderns
organizations and that requires an extraordinary level of engagement as well as a strong
leadership (Flock, 2006: 1; Kotter, 1996: preface).

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 8. Conclusions
Modern management gives him a very important role to communication which it is
considered a vital component of the management system of any organization, private or
public.
The peculiarities of managerial communication in relation to other types of
communication are generated by the purpose, objectives and functions (roles) of this
communication, by the framework and structure, organizational culture and context. Also,
managerial communication in any organization is subject to specific ethical rules, which are
found in the organizational culture, the organizational policy and obviously, in the individual
employee’s ethics in leadership.
The process of communication allows managers to plan, lead and control the
subordinates. By this process the information, thoughts and ideas pot can be shared between
members of the organization. Messages can be transmitted through a variety of channels, for
example, circulars, memoranda, letters, notices, forms, reports, email, phone, fax, paging,
face-to-face interaction, interviews, power-point presentations, images, and many others, each
of them with advantages and disadvantages.
Interpersonal Communication influenced by the different perception that individuals
have towards the reality. A manager must therefore be aware of the human factor in order to
achieve an effective communication and to avoid conflicts. Manipulation and overcoming
personal barriers or environmental one that affect communication are fundamental to ensure
the efficiency of the entire process therefore, being used properly they will determine the
achievement of organizational objectives. Communication is essential to highlight and track
organizational objectives and to assess organizational feedbacks provided by employees, all
helping to improve the quality of the results and organization policies.

9. References
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Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers, pp. 9- 10
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Publishers, Inc.
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accessed 28 June 2011
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<http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/7172/1/MPRA_paper_7172.pdf> , accessed 28.02. 2012
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