Define communication and comment on the efficacy of the communication system in your organisation or an organisation you are familiar with.

Define communication and comment on the efficacy of the communication system in your organisation or an organisation you are familiar with. How cans the communication system made more effective? Discuss. Briefly describe the organisation you are referring to.

Ans. Communication is considered to be most important and most effective ingredient of management process. It is a method by which the activities of the organisation are unified. By communication the social inputs are fed into the social systems. It is a basis of modified behaviours, productive information and goals achievement. It is an effort towards the achievement of a common purpose. It is a means to like various people of the organisation together, for achievement of a common purpose. In fact group activity is impossible without the communication as coordination and change cannot be effected. It is generally to implement change which is essential for he internal functioning of the enterprise, since it integrates the managerial functions and also the external environment. Through exchange of information’s the managers are aware of customer needs, resources available, suppliers, stockholders etc. The information need has become critical and fast flow is desired in this area. Any loss proves to be highly lossy and huge costs need to be undertaken to correct them. It is necessary to identify the kind of necessary communications for effective decision making. This involves generating the information from the superiors, subordinates and compiling then together to achieve a desired state of decision-making. The communication must be so available as to fit the tailored needs of the manager. The communication in an organisation could be horizontal, diagonal upward or downward as per the requirement and according to management perspective. Downward communication flows from high to low level diagonal involves people from different levels horizontal communication involves people at similar organisation level. There is upward communication from subordinates to superiors and continues up the organisation hierarchy. Lack of such communication can be disastrous. Managers must create an informal climate that encourages the upward communication. An open door policy is useful when it is practised. The formal structure of information flow must be clean. Manager must learn by actually moving through the fields and ascertaining the situations. Communications in ICICI Bank is properly defined and managed in effective manner.

Crosswise communication includes the horizontal flow of information on similar organisation levels. Diagonal flow at different levels has no direct flow relationship. Information may not follow the chain of command, proper safeguards are needed to prevent potential problems.

Communications have favourable or unfavourable characteristics and are often used so that favourable qualities can complement. Visual Aids are supplement to the oral and written communication. While selecting the media one must consider the communicator, audience and situations and a right mix of written, oral and visual communication is required. While written communication provides recirds, references and legal defences the message can reach mass mailing. It is therefore uniform in policy and procedure. A major drawback with this system is leaps of papers.

Oral communication has a major advantage of directly influencing the large group of people simultaneously. It is also an interactive situation and hence a two way communication is possible. It could be a costly measure however the benefits are far more than the disadvantages.

Non verbal communication is form of body languages have its implication on the communication system as well.

Communication problems: There are various barriers to an effective communication. There could be barriers to an effective communication. There could be barriers in sender, transmission, receiver or the feedback.
Lack of planning: There must be proper planning for a communication process to succeed. A carefully planned communication is never short of ideas.
Assumptions: Nothing is more ambiguous than unclear assumptions. These would lead to failure only.
Semantics: Semantics distortion has no impact on the customers with focus on the clean scenarios.
Poor Expression: The message to be conveyed must be carefully designed and presented for message classification. Codes as far as possible must be avoided.
International barriers: Communication barriers may exist internationally due to different cultures, etiquette. Different work related notions pose a problem especially to expatriates.
Loss in transmission: Communication tend to get mutated if it has to pass through various channels. It must hence be direct.
Poor listening: Listening is an important component of the proper communication. A person who dies not listen completely and jumps straight to the conclusion often suffers huge losses. An elaborate and detailed information preview on the often hand leads to a better communication. Communication must be emphasised and must not be threatening risks involved must be identified and as far as possible must be eliminated.
Conclusion: An effective communication is a responsibility of every person in an organisation. This helps to achieve a common aim and better relationship and work environment.