Table of Contents
Introduction
Communication is an important aspect in the workplace. Without an effective communication, an organization cannot achieve its desirable targets and objectives. The major importance of workplace communication is that it assists companies in being productive in their operations. For the employees, effective communication helps them in experiencing an increase in morale, an increase in commitment levels, and an increase in productivity levels. Effective communication within the workforce results when the employees have the ability to communicate up and down the chain of communication in a company. Further, it entails the employers understanding the need for developing effective communication line in the organization whereby every stakeholder of the company can have an access to the information transmitted within the company. The purpose of the paper is to discuss how well employers perform at communicating and outline various ways in which an organization can improve workplace communication and the performance of the employers.
How well employers perform at communicating
Based on my friend’s real-life experience, employers do not perform very well at communicating. If my friend’s experience is the main representation of the characteristic of communication in most organizations, then employers need to step up how they communicate with their employees in the workplaces for the realization of improved productivity levels. My friend works at a research and development (R&D) firm that deals with analyzing the markets for enterprise expansion. His employers at the organization have a major issue with communication, which affects the performance of the enterprise. For instance, the management has a policy whereby each employee needs to ensure that they update themselves on a regular basis in regards to the new developments of the organization, with the information only available at the manager’s reception desk.
The main challenge for the employees in the organization, as per my friend’s experience, was the fact that the company had an operational website, and also had in their possession the emails of each member of the workforce, but did not update the employees through those two convenient channels. Besides, the organization even has a social media handle, which is quite dormant since it does not serve its key purpose of updating the workforce regarding the new developments made by the management. In other words, the employers are mean with information, as they do believe that the employees need to have a keen interest in ensuring that they have updated themselves regarding the new information presented by the management.
My friend also highlighted that the employers only communicated within the top ranks of the organization in relation to the new developments. It was then the duty of the departmental heads who had received the communicated information to share the issues of concern with the employees, and the manager would not confirm whether the information received the workforce. According to the friend, the manager was only interested in ensuring that every member of the workforce had met their objectives, and was following the new measures as discussed by the management. Thus, the workforce receives information from the third party, and in many cases, they receive the information in a distorted form that makes it loose its original value and meaning.
Employers, while communicating with the employees, usually assume a position of authority to the point that the communication process becomes a one-way traffic and the information communicated becomes irrelevant. From my friend’s experience, the biggest mistake that employers do while communicating is the assumption of a position of authority. He says that in his workplace, most employees are turned off by managers who do not listen to the workforce and rather assume that the employees need to follow all the orders they make. Thus, an authoritative approach to communication is a huge mistake that employers need to avoid if they want to perform well at communicating.
The employers who exhibit a lasses-faire leadership style also perform poorly in communication, as they leave the employees to handle and control themselves. From my friend’s experience, who noted that his manager exhibited lasses-faire leadership style, such leaders do very little supervision on the employees and do not communicate or interact regularly with the workforce. They also fail to provide the regular feedback necessary for the employees to understand the areas that they need to improve and the better ways for handling a particular issue. Thus, the lack of proper communication channel between the manager and the workforce leads to the realization of low productivity levels among the workforce, particularly for those who require supervision. It also leads to the rise in conflicts since the employees do not understand the correct procedures that they need to follow while handling a particular task.
Finally, the leaders who assume a participative leadership style usually perform well at communicating, considering that they believe that communication is an important key to the cohesiveness and the success of the team. My friend notes that his department leader exhibits a participative leadership style, with the leader focusing more on enhancing the communication between the members of the workforce. My friend notes that the leader always ensures that information circulates effectively within the team, with every member of the team having an understanding of their roles and objectives. He further underlines that the effective communication within the team is the main aspect making them feel comfortable and perform accordingly considering that the manager is not such an effective communicator. Therefore, the performance of a leader at communicating depends heavily on the leadership style of the individual, with those who are more open being more effective in communicating while those who are more reserved being quite poor in communication.
How to improve workplace communication and performance of employers
Improving workplace communication and the performance of employers at communicating is an important practice since it assists in the improvement of workplace productivity that further improves the performance of the organization. The improvement of workplace communication also leads to the enhancement of the products of the organization. Some of the core reasons why efficient communication is important to the employers include the fact that it can assist the manager in the effective communication of policies, handling the problems among the workforce with ease, dealing with sensitive information that may arise within the organization, and understanding various ways of communicating with each party in the organization.
One way in which workplace communication can improve is through ensuring that there is less misunderstanding within the organization. Misunderstanding and confusion usually arise because of the lack of clear information, and when an information does not follow the correct channels to reach a particular target group. Misunderstanding and confusion can act as the core recipes for the downfall of an organization, which is the reason why eliminating such issue is important for organizations (Miller and Barbour, 2014). Guaranteeing that there is an effective channel of communication in the workplace between the management and the workforce is the best way to minimizing incidences of misunderstanding while communicating. Thus, when the management can guarantee less misunderstanding, then the workplace communication within the enterprise would improve.
Another way of improving workplace communication in an organization is through checking-in with the employees on a regular basis. It is essential for the manager to check-in with the employees on a regular basis, as it helps in the development of a strong bond an effective communication channel (Miller and Barbour, 2014). The management can improve internal communication within the workforce through inviting the employees to meetings whereby they can contribute to the development of new plans that can guide the organization into a path of financial success. It can also improve the performance of the employers in that the employees would feel more comfortable to interact with the manager of the organization considering that he or she is more welcoming and interactive.
The third way of improving workplace communication within an organization is through making the internal documents and knowledge easily accessible to the members of the workforce (Leonardi et al., 2013). For new recruits in the workforce, learning the ropes of the organization and how it operates can be quite effective in increasing the workplace communication levels. The fact that many organizations operate from a specific set of internal knowledge allows the organization to have an inbuilt training program at their disposal, which further makes the internal knowledge easy to access through documentation that further enables the communication to keep flowing (Leonardi et al., 2013). Thus, when there is an effective flow of communication within the workplace, there would be an improvement in the way the employees and the management relate with each other, which can further lead to the improvement of revenues for the organization.
Another way for improving workplace communication within the organization is through assessing the internal communication methods currently employed by the organization. Considering that it is very hard for an individual or organization to improve on a particular element when they do not understand the things holding them back, it is important to analyze the issues that might be affecting the communication levels of the organization, and working towards improving those issues (Mishra et al., 2014). Some of the common communication tools that organizations use include Emails, telephones, social media, messaging, and in-person communication. Through making a list of the internal communication methods used by the organization, the company can have a better understanding of the communication tools they are missing, and also realize the tools that can be more appropriate in improving the communication in the organization (Mishra et al., 2014). Therefore, through conducting an internal analysis on the current communication tools employed by the organization, a company can improve its workplace communication by understanding the areas that need improvement, and the new methods they can adopt for the realization of better results.
The other way of improving the workplace communication of an organization is through adopting an open-door policy whereby the management and the employees can interact effectively and discuss the core issues of concern that they face in their daily operations. Interacting with the management still acts as the biggest barrier to communication within the workplace since many employees usually feel uncomfortable in approaching the managers of the organization (Mikkelson et al., 2015). It further leads to apprehension whereby the employees might opt against bringing up very important issues that further block the flow of communication. Through implementing an open door policy, the employees can have the confidence of sharing with the manager about the core issues affecting their productivity levels, which can lead to the development of a positive atmosphere within the workplace and a further realization of improved results. The open door policy can also make the management more approachable and further improve the motivation levels of the workforce. When the workforce becomes more motivated, the productivity levels of the organization improves as well, which is the aim of every organization. Thus, through developing an open door policy and allowing the employees to interact freely with the management, an organization can improve the workplace communication levels that can also increase the morale of the workforce and a resultant increase in the productivity levels.
Conclusion
Guaranteeing an effective workplace communication level is important for an organization to realize improved productivity levels. Employers, while communicating with the employees, usually assume a position of authority to the point that the communication process becomes a one-way traffic and the information communicated becomes irrelevant. An authoritative approach to communication is a huge mistake that employers need to avoid if they want to perform well at communicating. On the other hand, the employers who exhibit a lasses-faire leadership style also perform poorly in communication, as they leave the employees to handle and control themselves. Further, the leaders who assume a participative leadership style usually perform well at communicating, considering that they believe that communication is an important key to the cohesiveness and the success of the team. One way in which workplace communication can improve is through ensuring that there is less misunderstanding within the organization. Another way of improving workplace communication in an organization is through checking-in with the employees on a regular basis. The third way of improving workplace communication within an organization is through making the internal documents and knowledge easily accessible to the members of the workforce. The other way of improving the workplace communication of an organization is through adopting an open-door policy.
- Leonardi, P.M., Huysman, M. and Steinfield, C., 2013. Enterprise social media: Definition, history, and prospects for the study of social technologies in organizations. Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication, 19(1), pp.1-19.
- Mikkelson, A.C., York, J.A. and Arritola, J., 2015. Communication competence, leadership behaviors, and employee outcomes in supervisor-employee relationships. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 78(3), pp.336-354.
- Miller, K. and Barbour, J., 2014. Organizational communication: Approaches and processes. Nelson Education.
- Mishra, K., Boynton, L. and Mishra, A., 2014. Driving employee engagement: The expanded role of internal communications. International Journal of Business Communication, 51(2), pp.183-202.