Essay on Successful Communication in an Organization

Successful communication forms the building block and the backbone of any successful organization. Not only does it promote motivation amongst employees, but it also fosters good will amongst the top management structure. On the other hand, it plays a critical role in establishing an organizational culture, an essential component of an organization's governance structure and functions such as Controlling, Organizing, Planning, and Leading. It does help managers undertake their duties and responsibilities in addition to implementing strategic plans of the organization. In fact, managers and the top management organ of any organization, devote over 6 hours of their time in communication alone that include drafting memos, telephone conversation with low-level managers, reports, and face to face engagement with other employees and other managers. An efficient communication system demands proficiency in passing messages and information from one place to another. An organization thus needs to devote many resources to achieve effective communication and avoid any scenario that a barrier hinders the passage of information from one person to another or from one department to another. In fact, the chief responsibility of any top management personnel is to widen and maintain an effective communication structure within the organization in addition to communication with customers and stakeholders. Implementation and practice of effective communication, conception not only help organizations improve on productivity and success, but also assist in fostering and building a healthy interpersonal relationship within the organization and outside endeavors.

Concepts Vital for Successful Communication in an Organization

Concepts of communication within and in an organization involve the basics of successful communication that employees and managers within an organization employ to improve interaction with internal and external persons. Communication as a skill within an organization calls for a focus on an issue at hand, attention, and empathy, taking ownership, compromise, objectivity, and going out to achieve the main aim of the communication. While these skills play a critical role in communication in an organization, concepts behind communication consist of the most important aspect of communication as they bridge the gap between achieving the objective of the communication and its intention. It thus means that communication within an organization is derived from building skills and behavior that is favorable for building teamwork and growth (Arvanitis & Loukis 2015). They may include and not limited to sharing resources, developing new ideas from other employees, showing respect and concern for both the management and lower level employees. For example, to resolve effectively conflict amongst employees or between the low-level employees and the top management, it is critical to master and practice effective communication skills and utilizes communication concepts vital in effective communication between employees in an organization (Uka 2014).

Organizational Culture

Organizational culture denotes to commonly held beliefs, values, hypothesis, and behaviors that define an organization. Shared knowledge, values, and beliefs define and shape how employees relate, act, and undertake their duties within an organization. For example, an organization that has a strict code of conduct on dressing influences its employees to pay keen attention to the general public image and attempts to depict an official and well-cultured work ethics. According to Uka (2014), an organization that lays little emphasis on how employees undertake their activities brings out a disorganized and non-uniform group of employees. How the top management formulates company policies on shared values and ethics such as mannerism has a direct bearing on how employees will form the general outlook of the organization. Strict and well-cultured professional conduct has the positive effect of inculcating positive characteristic amongst employees. These shared beliefs and values arise from effective communication and form the tradition of the organization. A robust and binding belief and values amongst employees is thus built only through communication in which the employees share and pass the required requisite from one person to another (Cornelissen & Cornelissen 2017). For example, a new employee will only be in a position to learn an organization's values and beliefs through communication and by relating to other employees closely. The general distinctiveness of organizational culture entails innovation, attention to detail, teamwork, aggressiveness, and emphasis on others (Uka 2014). Often and in many instances, bringing up the characteristics as mentioned above involve effective communication between employees involved.

According to Uka (2014) as a concept of communication in an organization, organizational culture plays a critical role in laying the foundation of the interpersonal relationship between both the top-level managers and the low-level employees. Building up shared values such as a particular dress code involve and entail communication, a key component in fostering closer ties and bonds amongst employees in an organization.

Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution denotes to how warring parties within an organization find common ground and a peaceful solution to a difference between them. Within an organization, the difference may be emotional, personal, financial, or political. Resolving a conflict is often the best way to stop disagreement and further wrangles between parties in an organization. Left unattended, conflicts amongst employees or between an employee and an external party may turn ugly and affect the reputation of an organization (Cornelissen & Cornelissen 2017). For example, a supply that is not happy with the mode of payment after delivery may turn aggressive towards the paying officer within the organization. If not resolved, the scene may become violent and cause disruption within the organization. At the same time, employees with different financial attitude may differ on a common ground such as whether to allocate money for training or purchasing materials for the organization. Such a conflict may stop major activities from being undertaken together by the two warring parties. Resolution is thus the key to resolving the stalemate and enables the two parties to work harmoniously (Arvanitis & Loukis 2015). While resolving the impasse is critical, bringing the two parties to an agreement is the most important aspect of fostering peaceful coexistence. All the above scenarios involve communication within and amongst the parties involved. As a concept of communication, conflict resolution helps the organization and particularly the warring parties to employ the best communication strategy and practice to find a solution. According to Cornelissen and Cornelissen (2017), conflict resolution is thus a critical concept of effective communication within an organization as it helps employees put into use communication skills to find a solution. These include employing all principles, guidelines, and procedures for effective communication to ensure that communication is successful within the organization.

Leadership Strategies

Leadership is all about communication. Leaders devote over 70 percent of their time within the organization communicating with parties of all levels both internal and external (Men & Stacks 2014). According to Arvanitis and Loukis (2015), the primary purpose of leadership strategies is to build successful teams that can carry out successful strategic plans within the organization. These leadership strategies include driving profit making by utilization of values and principles in which the leaders fosters strong philosophies that drive commitment, devotion, and sustained long-term goal setting amongst and within the employees. Other strategies include the utilization of technologies to remain relevant in the highly competitive age. For example, with the advent of virtual data management, leaders have to stay abreast of all the skills and future technologies to enable the employees to improve their productivity and relevance within the organization. Additionally, strategies such as collaboration with other boundaries, developing leadership capacities, and giving the team direction remain an essential component of leadership (Arvanitis & Loukis 2015). The strategic place of leadership in formulating communication ethics and principles remain the central aspect of achieving the above objectives.

As a concept, strategic leadership employee all the skills and elements of communication to reach out to all parties needed to enable the organization achieves its goals and objectives. Effective communication abilities are vital aspects of any leadership experience and skill. For example, leaders need to be in a position to be able to employee tactical adapting styles to deal with different arising situations and people. According to Arvanitis & Loukis (2015), attributes such as good listening skills, empathy, and considerations comprise of key components to achieving organizational objectives while at the same time remaining strategic in employing leadership skills in delivering the same.

Active Listening

In many cases, communication is never all about listening; it is about watching and being attentive to both verbal and non-verbal cues during communication. Active listening entails remaining alert to all that is spoken and done. For example, while carrying out an interview, the interview panel will continue to be observant to the words spoken by the candidate and the body language that may entail fidgeting, eye contact, and rapid body movements. Active listening is critical in going beyond what is said and the physical actions that accompany the words (Men & Stacks 2014). For example, while carrying out an investigation into a theft within the organization, the investigating team who may comprise of the top level managers will pay keen attention to the words of the suspects and the body language that accompany the words. Active listening is about total listening in which the listener responds to all cues given out and the meaning behind the cues. At the same time, the audience or manager in the above situation will reflect upon the words and observed signals while developing a decision based on the same.

As a concept of effective communication in an organization, active listening entails a strategy to both employees and employers to foster stronger ties with each other, bond, and develop a strong working team towards achieving the organization's key objectives. At the same time, active listening employs vital elements and aspects of communication that enable an organization and particularly employees to understand one another, build strong ties, and inculcate binding concepts towards achieving the organization's goals and objectives. At the same time, active listening enables top managers to formulate policies and strategies bearing in mind the strengths and capabilities of each employee in their respective working areas (Men & Stacks 2014). Active listening is therefore important in strategic management, planning, organization of effective teams, and controlling the level of productivity through and by utilizing each employee's strengths and abilities. Active listening enables employers to gauge an employee regarding talents, strengths, and weaknesses. According to Men and Stacks (2014), the above attributes are vital in general management and control of the entire organization.

Principle of Human Communication

The theories and principles behind communication are intended to create meaning, cohere...