COMMUNICATION:

Communication is vital to organizations, it’s how we co-ordinate actions and achieve goals. It is
defined as a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through symbols, signs
or behavior. In most work environments, a miscommunication can interrupt workflow by causing
delays and interpersonal strife.

Functions of Communication:
Communication serves five major functions within a group or organization.
1) Management: When employees follow their job description or comply with company
policies, communication performs a management function.
2) Feedback: Communication creates feedback by clarifying to employees what they must
do, how well they are doing it, and how they can improve their performance.
3) Emotional Sharing: Emotion sharing involves communicating the circumstances, thoughts,
and feelings surrounding an emotional event.
4) Persuasion: Persuasion is an act or process of presenting arguments to move, motivate, or
change your audience
5) Information Exchange: Communication provides the information that individuals and
groups need to make decisions by transmitting the data needed to identify and evaluate
choices.
Process of Communication:
The communication process has five steps: idea formation, encoding, channel selection,
decoding and feedback.

Directions of Communication:
• Downward Communication
The purpose of upward communication is to allow employees to give feedback or
suggestions to authoritative company figure.
• Upward Communication
The use of downward communication is to give orders to lower-level employees about
their job responsibilities or company policies.
• Lateral Communication:
Lateral communication refers to sharing information, ideas, feelings, or concerns
between peers within an organization or coworkers of about the same level regarding
their tasks.

Formal Small-Group Networks

Formal organizational networks can be complicated, including hundreds of
people and a half-dozen or more hierarchical levels. We’ve condensed these networks into three
common small groups of five people each. chain, wheel, and all-channel.

In wheel network manager plays a vital role to spread information. Here the primary
communication occurs between the members and the group manager and then the group manager
shares the information with all. It is the feature of a typical work group.

In chain network each member communicates with the person above and below. It reflects upward
& downward communication and exists in a vertical hierarchy.

In All channel network All members of the group communicates with all other member
Modes Of Communication
How do group members transfer meaning among themselves? They rely on oral, written, and
nonverbal communication. This much is obvious, but as we will discuss, the choice between modes
can greatly enhance or detract from the way the perceiver reacts to the message.

1. Verbal Communication
Through spoken words and the use of speech and language to convey messages. It
occurs when we speak to others. Verbal communication can be formal and informal.
2. Non-Verbal Communication
Body language, facial expressions, eye contact, appearance, sign language. Non-verbal
communication complements verbal communication and also helps when words don’t
help. It is an important type of communication in interviews and discussions as they
value a lot.
3. Written Communication
The use of written words to convey messages. Written communication happens through
email, memos, texts, posts, etc. While written communication helps you share your
thoughts well, sometimes it does not fully convey the emotion that you are trying to
share.
4. Listening Communication
Listening is one of the most important parts of communication as it helps you understand
the perspective of the communicator and effectively engage with them. The process of any
communication takes a crucial value at listening correctly and responding appropriately.
5. Visual Communication
Through visual messages like pictures, graphs, objects and other visual facets. Visual
Communication is a crucial part of today’s methods of conveying important information.
It is used in presentations, televisions, etc.

CHALLENGES OF COMMUNICATION IN ORGANIZATION:

1. Time Zones:
With the rapid uptake of remote work, modern companies have seized the opportunity to
bring the best professionals in to their teams, hiring talent from all around the globe.
Truthfully, there are numerous benefits to having employees working in different time
zones. Just to name a few increased response and client satisfaction, and ultimately the
company’s profit, are some good examples.
Coworkers from different time zones could become stuck on various projects or
activities as a result of not being able to interact in real-time. This could result in
significant delays or missed deadlines, which hurt a corporation.
Usually, spread-around the world employees have regular calls to catch up on the latest
work news.
However, some projects require more frequent updates than others, which may be
difficult to coordinate due to differing time zones.

How to overcome this Challenge?

Having a weekly or daily online team calendar where employees can update their task status
at the end of the day is also advised in addition to regular check-in conversations. This makes it
simpler for colleagues who work outside the border to understand the precise status of projects and
where they should start.
 2. Language Barriers and Cultural Differences:
Today’s workplace has become more diverse, especially if your organization deals with
international clients or has employees abroad. Although there is diversity in the workplace, people
still tend to be more persuaded by people from their same culture or backgrounds, therefore,
managers face the challenges of communicating with everyone as one cohesive team, while
managing the dynamics involved in cliques and groups.
Try to mix people of different backgrounds together. Break up small groups and try to have diverse
people collaborate on brainstorming activities and projects. Also, communication tools such as
corporate desktop wallpaper software, newsletters and email can potentially decrease the impact of
cultural differences. This is because communication is written and is free from accents and
impulsive biases, and is therefore more thought out.

How to overcome this Challenge?

In order to reduce miscommunication and team communication issues in large firms with
employees from various backgrounds, cultural awareness training can help people understand one
another better.

For example, for Muslim women, shaking hands with the opposite sex is forbidden. In Sweden, a
woman won a lawsuit against a company that discriminated against her for this reason.
Be aware of how you take up space, too. In some cultures, it’s polite to leave a certain amount of
distance between people, while in others this may make people uncomfortable.
More examples:
https://www.commisceo-global.com/blog/3-real-life-examples-of-cultural-misunderstandings-in-
business

3. Ego And Attitude:

Often, teamwork is deterred due to one member’s attitude and ego. One worker may
want to take over discussions and prevent other members from speaking their minds.
Another might refuse to lose an argument and accept that another person might be right.
Many times, these people will refuse to accept that they are part of the problem. Egos
and attitudes within the team can then lead to resentment, misunderstandings and
friction. The role of the manager is, therefore, important in making sure that the team
focuses on the work and issues at hand. Teamwork and true collaboration will only occur
if resolutions reflect the needs of everyone in the group.
How to overcome this Challenge?
Ensure that your staff are properly trained and understand the role that they have to play in
the team to understand their contribution to shared successes. You may need to deliver specific,
targeted training on interpersonal relationships, dealing with conflict and other “soft skills” if you
identify this as one of the main communication issues in team work in your company.

Examples:
https://hbr.org/2018/11/ego-is-the-enemy-of-good-leadership

References:
https://www.hugo.team/blog/working-across-time-zones
https://management30.com/blog/how-to-deal-with-egos-in-the-workplace-and-check-yours-at-the-
door/