Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Organizational
Communication
Topics:
Organization, Organizational Culture,
organizational communication,
formal and informal communication
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Learning outcome
After completing the topics student
should be able to :
Understand and able to explain the
meaning of organization
Explain the meaning of communication
in organization
Describe the skills of communication in
organization
What is Organization
Two or more people get together and agree
to coordinate their activities in order to
achieve their common goals and objectives.
Responsibilities by means of which the
activities of the enterprise are dispersed
among the (managerial, supervisory, and
specialist) personnel employed in its service
formal interrelations established among the
personnel by virtue of such responsibilities
Types of organization
Two types of organization
Formal organization
refers to the planned structure of
jobs and positions with clearly
defined objectives and functions.
It is deliberately or consciously
created by top management for
the accomplishment of enterprise
objectives.
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Informal organization
Arises from the personal and social relations
of people.
not formally designed but develops
interactions between persons.
influenced by personal attitudes, like and
dislikes.
Informal relations cut across formal channels.
For example, a superior may take advice from
the sales manager instead of from the
production manager who is his boss.
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Organizational Culture
Auxillium West (2003) has defined
organizational culture as :
The moral, social and behavioral norms of
an organizational based on their beliefs,
attitudes and priorities of its members.
Department within companies can have
deference cultures.
Examp. = Department of HR vs
Department of treasury
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Types of culture
Deal and kennedy (1984) have
identified 4 types of culture
1. Tough-Guy-Macho-Culture
Typical of high risk organization
Dealing with life and death
Examples: police Departments, construction
industry, security industry
2. Work-Hard-Play-Hard-Culture
3. Bet-Your-Company-Culture
high risk but slow feedback
Examples :
4. Process Culture
- Low risk , slow feedback
- Focus on the processes of how things
get
done
- Examples : Governmental organization and
pharmaceutical industry
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Dimensions of Organizational
Culture
Sociability level of employees
involved with one another on a
personal
Power distribution and job
autonomy- degree of power
distance at different level, how much
freedom do employees have to make
decisions
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What is Communication????
Communication is defined as a
process by which we assign and
convey meaning in an attempt to
create shared understanding.
This process requires a vast repertoire
of skills in intrapersonal and
interpersonal processing, listening,
observing, speaking, questioning,
analysing, and evaluating.
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Definition of Organizational
Communication
Organizational communication is
the symbolic act through which
organizations adapt to, alter, or
maintain their environment for
the
purpose
of
achieving
organizational
goals
and
objectives (Kennan & Long,
2003)
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Functions of Communication in
Organization
Conrad (1985), identified 3 functions
communication in organization
Command Function : allows members to
issue, receive, interpret. Outcome of the
command Function is coordination among the
many interdependent members in organization
Relational function: allows members to
create , and maintain productive business and
personal relationship
Ambiguity-management function -choices in
an organizational setting are often made in
highly ambiguous circumstances objectives
may not be clear.
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Organizational Interaction
Two kinds of interactions exist in
organization
Formal
systems designed by management to
dictate who should talk to whom to get a
job done
Informal
patterns of interaction based on
friendships, shared personal or career
interests
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VICE
CANSELLOR
Deputy
VC
Head of
Department
Administrato
rs
Formal Network
Linkage
Informal Network
Linkage
Employee
s
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Formal Communication
Downward Communication
Upward communication
Horizontal communication
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Downward communication
Occurs whenever superiors initiate
message to their subordinates
Several types of downward
communication
Job instructions
when you restock the shelves, put the new
merchandise behind the old stock
Job rationale
we rotate the stock like that so the customers
wont wind up with stale merchandise
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Problems
Insufficient or
unclear messages
Message overload
Message distorted
as it passes
through one or
more
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Upward Communication
Messages flowing from subordinates
to superiors
Employees feel free to express their
ideas
four types of messages
What subordinates are doing
Unsolved work problems
Suggestions for improvement
How subordinates feel about the job
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Problems
Superiors may
discourage, disregard
, or downplay
importance of
subordinates
messages
Increased acceptance Supervisors may
of management
unfairly blame
decisions
subordinates for
unpleasant news
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Horizontal (lateral)
Communication
Messages between members of an
organizational with equal power
5 purposes
Task coordination
Problem solving
Sharing information
Conflict resolution
Building rapport
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Problems
Rivalry may occur
between employees
from different areas
Information overload
discourage contacts
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Informal communication
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Grapevine
"the informal transmission of information,
gossip or rumor from person to person
The grapevine is the informal and
unsanctioned information network within
every organization
The network helps employees make sense
of the world around them and
consequently provides a release from
emotional stress and all informal
information is undocumented
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Disadvantages of Grapevine
Communication
1. The grapevine carries partial
information at times as it is more
based on rumours. Thus, it does not
clearly depicts the complete state of
affairs.
2. The grapevine is not trustworthy
always as it does not follows official
path of communication and is
spread more by gossips and
unconfirmed report.
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Types of Communication in
Organization
Interpersonal communication
As the process through which people create and
manage their relationship, exercising mutual
responsibility in creating meaning.
Public communication
Public speaking
Size more than 18 or 20
peoples
It occurs at public places
Intercultural communication
Communication between
members of different cultures
(racial, ethnic)
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