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Chapter Four
4. Types of Communication

1) Internal and External Communication

External communication refers to communication with outside sources such as
customers, suppliers, professional associations, government organization etc. As the
external environment has become more dynamic and turbulent, regular exchange of
information with outside agencies and individuals becomes essential. Whether by phone,
fax, video tape, or letter, much of this communication is carefully orchestrated, and some
occurs informally. Two functional units particularly important in managing the flow of
external messages: the marketing department and the public relation department.
Marketing focuses on selling goods and services, whereas public relations is more
concerned with developing the organization’s overall permutation.
Internal communication takes place within the organization among managers and other
personnel between department, superiors and subordinates. Vertical and horizontal
communications take place with-in the organization.

2) Formal and Informal Communication

2.1 Formal channel of communication is established by the management and formally
shown in the charts of the organizations. It is the channel which is deliberately and
consciously established. Formal channel is the line of communication for transmission of
messages and information officially within and outside the organization. The formal
communication channel is used to transmit official messages, policies, procedures,
directives, and job instruction….

Downward Communication
When vertical communication flows from a higher level to one or more lower levels in the
organization it is known as downward communication. Downward communication flows
from the top of the organization and carries the message that translates top management
planning and decision making into orders that direct office employee. Some examples of
downward communication are:
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 Information related to policies, rules, procedures, objectives, and other type of plans
 Work assignment and directives
 Feedback about work performance
 General information about the organization such as its progress and status

Upward Communication
The vertical flow of communication from, a lower level to higher levels in the organization
is called upward communication. This may take place from the supervisor to middle level
manager, from manager to general manager and then from general manager to board of
directors. It moves in the opposite direction and is based up on the communication demand
system designed by management to receive information from operational level. It helps
managers judge the effectiveness of downward communication and enables them to learn
about organizational problems. Major areas of information should be communicated from
lower level through upward communication are:

 The activities of subordinates in terms of their achievement progress and plans

 Unresolved work problems in which subordinates may need help from seniors
 Suggestions (ideas) for improvement in offices or department/organization
 The feelings of subordinates about their jobs, associates, working environment and
etc …

Lateral Communication:
It usually follows the pattern of workflow in an organization occurring between members
of work groups between one work group and another between members of departments
having the same status. Its main purpose is to provide a direct channel for organizational
co-operation and problem solving.

Diagonal Communication
Diagonal communication refers to interchange of message among two persons located at
different levels of hierarchy and outside the direct chain of command. It serves the purpose
of coordination and integration and involves by passing the chain of command as in the
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case of horizontal communication. It is used to speed up information flow to improve
understanding and to coordinate for the achievement of organizational objectives.

2.2 Informal channel of communication

Known, as the grapevine is communication that takes place without regard to hierarchical
or task requirements. Informal communication can be thought of as relating to personal
rather than positional issues. In other words, Informal channel or the grapevine does not
follow the formal channels established by the management. This type of communication
arises on account of natural desire of people to communicate each other and is the result
of social interaction of people.
Characteristics of Informal Communication
 It is very fast and spontaneous
 It is not entirely reliable
 Its messages are difficult to stop once they get started
 It is accessible to everybody in that organization
 It can be supportive or obstacle to the effort of management

Types of Grapevine Chains

Single strand Chain: In this chain Person “A” tells to a single person “B”, who tells it to a
person “C” and so on

The Gossip Chain: a person being the source of the information transmits to many
individuals.

Probability Chain: here individuals are indifferent about to whom they offer information.
They tell people at random and those people intern tell other at random.

Cluster Chain: Here person “A” conveys the information to few selected individuals, some
of whom then inform a few selected individuals.

3) From the point of view of human aspect

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Intrapersonal communication: is communication with in oneself. It refers to speaking to
oneself. Thinking, encoding, decoding is can be examples. This shows that intrapersonal
communication is the foundation for interpersonal communication and there is no
interpersonal communication without intrapersonal communication.
Interpersonal Communication: is a communication flow from individual to individual in
face to face and group settings. It is a type of communication that exists between or among
people.

Verbal and Non-verbal Communication

Verbal communication can be of two types, oral and written. The main difference
between the oral and written is the time factor. Written communication is slower in
preparation, in conveyance (carrying or transmitting) and in perception (understanding).
Non-verbal Communication: is the process of communication without words. People use
nonverbal signals to support and clarify verbal communication. Generally, nonverbal
communication is presented in the following main categories:
Appearance: conveys nonverbal expressions that affect recipient’s attitude towards the
verbal message, even before they read or hear them. It can be of two types:
Personal appearance: clothing, hair style, cosmetics, jewelry, neatness, etc…are parts of
personal appearance. They can convey impressions regarding occupation, age, nationality,
social and economic level, etc … depending on circumstances.
Appearance of surroundings: it includes office size, location of the office, furnishings,
machine and equipments, wall decorations, floor, lightings, etc…
Body language: it includes the following:
Facial expression: are (eye and face) especially helpful means of communicating non-
verbally. They can show hidden emotions like anger, annoyance, confusion, enthusiasm,
fear, joy, love interest, sorrow, surprising and uncertainty.
Gestures and postures: gestures (traffic and deaf people). Postures convey impression of
self-impressions of self-confidence, status and interest.
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Smell and touch: various smell or odors and artificial fragrances on human beings can
sometimes convey emotions and feelings better than spoken words. For example, some
odor on equipment can indicate- smoke, fire, decay or dangerous leaks…
Touching people in different ways can silently communicate friendship, approval, anger or
other feelings.
SILENCE, TIME AND SOUND:
Silence: can actually cause serious hard feelings, loss of business, loss of sales, sometimes
loss of profit and loss of opportunities.
Time: is important in many ways. So, being on time for appointments, for work each day
and for deadlines communicate favorable nonverbal messages in our culture.
Sound: in addition to speaking person voice, other human sound like clearing throat,
language, etc… also communicate non-verbally. Sometimes nonhuman sounds like bells,
cars, trains, airplanes all can be significant nonverbal communicators.

2.3 Communication Channels and Functions

As we have seen communication, both oral and written is a predominant form of
organizational behavior. People in today’s organizations spend a great deal of time
communicating; the higher they go in the organizational hierarchy, the more time
communication consumes. However, as Peter Drucker points out, all is not well; “We have
more attempts at communications today . . . yet communications has proven as elusive as
the unicorn. The noise level has gone up so fast that no one can really listen anymore to all
that babble about communications.
But there is clearly less and less communicating. The communications gap within
institutions and between groups in society has been widening steadily to the point where it
threatens to become an unbridgeable gulf of total misunderstanding.” In short, while
people in organizations today spend a lot of time engaged in communication-related
activity, they are not very successful in communicating.
Generally, we have found five basic causes of communication failure.
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1. Communication often is one-way
Management frequently assumes that, as long as they are sending messages regularly to
the rest of the organization, they are communicating. They therefore engage exclusively in
“downward” communication, receiving little or no feedback from lower levels of the
organizations as a result they often do not know if their downward messages were
received, understood, believed, or approved of by employees, and they cannot adjust
future messages to employees needs or characteristics. In order to be effective,
communication in organizations must flow not only downward, but upward and laterally
as well.
2. The impact of communication is not measured
This problem is related to the preceding one. In many organizations, management receives
information feedback.
However, no systematic attempt is made to measure the impact of communication in terms
of the objectives or results the communication was supposed to achieve. If, for example,
the employee handbook is designed to inform employees about company benefit
programs, actual measures should be taken to determine how much information employees
get and retain about benefit plans by reading that handbook. In effect, management must
clearly define the results they want their communication systems to achieve, and then
regularly measure the extent to which those results have been produced.
3. Communications are not responsive to employee needs.
When defining the objectives of their communication systems, management should first
ask employees what information they want or need. Then they can tailor downward
messages to meet those needs.
Rarely, for example, do companies ask new employees what information they would like
to receive in the new employee orientation meetings; rather, they assume that the
information they are providing is exactly what the employees’ need. When we have
interviewed incoming employees about their concerns and desires, we find an entire body
of information is needed that company orientation programs do not provide.
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4. The people who implement communication systems lack the necessary
communication skills.
Department meetings cannot be effective if the department heads conducting them lack
meeting leadership skills. Employment interviews do not select the best available
candidates if the interviewers are unskilled. Communication systems and opportunities are
not enough; the people who use those systems must have skills as communicators.
As the preceding discussion indicates, communication in organizations has two basic
elements; communication systems (the meetings, publications, conversations and so on in
which messages are transmitted), and communication skills of the people participating in
those communication systems.
5. Communication in most organizations is activity-oriented, not results-
oriented.
When consulting with hospitals for example, it is our practice to ask the hospital
administrator to show us the hospital’s employee handbook. Then we ask him or her, “Do
you feel this is a good employee handbook? Typically, their answer will be “yes”
followed by such reasons as: It has won national awards for design and layout; it costs us a
lot of money to produce; my picture is on the inside cover; consultants helped us to
develop it, and so on. When we then ask, “But does it do what is it supposed to do?” We
typically receive a puzzled look and a long silence in response. Communication is a tool
designed to produce some effect upon its receiver. Too many organizations, however, view
communication as something that “ought to be done” losing sight of the impact their
communications should have.

2.4 Communication Functions

Within each organizational setting, communication performs a variety of functions. One
function that occupies a central role within all organizational systems is information
exchange.
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I. Information Exchange
In the broad sense, any organization that does not exchange information with its
environment will die. The organization both effects change in its environment and
responds to change in order to survive. Such changes would not be possible without the
possession of considerable information on which to base intelligent behavior. Thus, the
exchange of information serves the basic function of organizational maintenance.
As members of organizations, we must possess adequate information to function
productivity on a daily basis.
We must also exchange sufficient information so that our goals are somehow integrated
and coordinated with those of others in the organization. Obviously, the separate rules and
tasks of any organization do not exist in a vacuum. Rather, we must accomplish each task
in coordination with other individuals, groups, and departments. In one of the texts on
organizational communication, Haney presents a tragic case involving the mismanagement
of information exchanged in a hospital.
In this case a deceased patient who was not immediately removed from his room was
visited by his wife who, upon finding her husband dead, collapsed and died of a heart
attack herself.
This tragedy occurred because rotting nurses in charge of the situation did not exchange
clear messages and failed to notify appropriate authorities the minute they knew their
patient had died. Although most instances of information exchange do not result in such
tragic outcomes, the smooth, timely, and undistorted flow of information remains an
important goal of all organizations.
II. Idea and attitude imposition{Enforcement}
Information exchange and idea imposition are not distinct. When a supervisor tells us how
to replace the paper in the copying machine, how to fill out grant request forms, or how to
deal with a disciplinary problem on the surface he or she is informing us about how to
perform our jobs. But such information clearly does more than inform. It also persuades
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that the procedure in question is not only accepted able but often preferred or even
required.
From the time we enter an organization, we are bombarded with ideas, information, and
attitudes whose purpose is to effect some change in us. Whenever we join an organization,
we immediately encounter some of the more common forms of idea and attitude
imposition. We may be told succinctly and directly how to function in our daily jobs and
how those jobs fit into the overall organizational plan. At a more subtle level, our initiation
may involve a strategic indoctrination aimed at encouraging us to conform to the values,
standards, and needs of the organization. Schein refers to this latter process as
“organizational socialization.”
Although some socialization is probably inevitable and in some sense beneficial. Schein
maintains that what organizations really need are creative people who accept crucial
organizational values, but who are richly diversified in other significant respects. Most
healthy companies are filled with professionals, who are united in their dedication to the
organization’s goals of high-quality products, employee satisfaction, and productivity.
Even so their ideas about what precisely constitutes quality, how to keep workers happy,
and how to achieve maximum productivity are probably quite different.
Although organizations can command a great of conformity, only through a process of
mutual organizational and individual influence is innovation and growth likely to occur in
the long run.
III. Evaluation
A third major communication function is evaluation. When we evaluate, we process,
interpret, and judge. Each of us is evaluated before entering the organization through
applications and employment interview, and the notion of evaluation is really inherent in
the organization’s hierarchy. Supervisors evaluate their subordinates just as higher
executive judge lower level supervisors. Worker evaluation sheets, memos, organizational
progress reports, interviews, and personal and small group conferences are a few examples
of common organizational evaluation procedures.
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IV. Soliciting Feedback
A fourth function of communication is soliciting feedback. Historically, several factors
have impeded feedback in organizations. Generally, some employees simply are not
interested in communicating to management or participating in decision making; others are
afraid to communicate (fearing reprisals from a management or ostracism by their peers);
still others are unaware that management expects them to communicate; and some simply
believe that management has no interest in their thoughts and concerns or that
management will not respond to them.
Taken together, the communication functions we have outlined influence the effectiveness
and efficiency of the organization. The amount, clarity, and appropriateness of information
exchanged, the ability of the organization to socialize and influence its members, the
impact of evaluations, and the success of attempts to solicit feedback all determine the
characteristics, and ultimately the success, of a particular organization. In the next section,
we will review some of the channels that organizations use to achieve these functions.

Communication channels that organizations commonly use to achieve their

communication functions

1. Face-to-Face Communication:
 Meetings: Regular team meetings, departmental meetings, and company-wide
meetings facilitate discussions and decision-making.
 Conferences: Industry conferences, seminars, and workshops provide opportunities
for networking and knowledge sharing.
 One-on-One Interactions: Personal discussions between managers and employees,
mentors and mentees, or colleagues help build relationships and address individual
concerns.
2. Written Communication:
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 Emails: Formal and informal emails are used for daily correspondence, project
updates, and announcements.
 Memos: Internal memos are used to communicate policies, procedures, and
important information within the organization.
 Reports: Detailed reports on performance, financials, market analysis, and project
progress are shared with stakeholders.
 Letters: Formal letters are used for external communication with clients, partners,
suppliers, and regulatory bodies.
3. Telephone Communication:
 Phone Calls: Quick conversations over the phone are used for urgent matters,
clarifications, and follow-ups.
4. Social Media:
 Facebook: Organizations use Facebook pages to engage with customers, share
updates, and run marketing campaigns.
 Twitter: Tweets are used for real-time updates, customer service responses, and
sharing industry news.
 LinkedIn: Professional networking on LinkedIn helps organizations connect with
potential employees, partners, and industry professionals.
 Instagram: Visual content on Instagram is used for brand promotion, showcasing
products/services, and engaging with a younger audience.
5. Intranet:
 Internal Websites/Portals: Companies use intranet platforms to share company
news, policies, employee resources, training materials, and documents securely
within the organization.
6. Video Conferencing:
 Zoom: Video conferencing tools like Zoom facilitate virtual meetings, webinars,
training sessions, and remote collaboration.
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 Microsoft Teams: Teams is used for video calls, chat messaging, file sharing, and
project management among team members.
 Skype: Skype is commonly used for one-on-one video calls, group calls, and screen
sharing.
7. Newsletters:
 Email Newsletters: Regular newsletters are sent via email to employees or
subscribers to provide updates on company news, events, promotions, and industry
trends.
8. Public Relations:
 Press Releases: Organizations issue press releases to announce new
products/services, partnerships, acquisitions, or other significant developments to
the media and public.
 Media Interviews: Spokespersons from the organization participate in media
interviews to share insights, respond to queries, and promote the brand.
 Events: Organizing press conferences, product launches, charity events, or industry
conferences helps organizations engage with stakeholders and enhance visibility.
9. Advertising:
 TV Commercials: Television ads are used to reach a broad audience and promote
products/services.
 Radio Ads: Radio commercials target listeners based on demographics and interests.
 Print Ads: Newspaper ads, magazines ads, flyers, brochures, and direct mail are
used for targeted advertising.
 Online Ads: Digital advertising on websites, search engines (Google Ads), social
media platforms (Facebook Ads), and mobile apps helps organizations reach
specific audiences.
10. Feedback Mechanisms:
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 Surveys: Organizations conduct surveys to gather feedback from customers,
employees, or stakeholders on products/services, satisfaction levels, or
organizational processes.
 Suggestion Boxes: Physical or digital suggestion boxes allow individuals to submit
ideas, complaints, or suggestions anonymously.
 Feedback Forms: Online feedback forms on websites or after customer interactions
help organizations collect structured feedback for improvement.
By leveraging these diverse communication channels effectively, organizations can ensure
clear, timely, and targeted communication with their internal and external stakeholders.