Interpersonal communication in the workplace a largely unexplored region

Title:

Communications in the Workplace. By: Wienclaw, Ruth A., Research Starters: Business, 2020

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Research Starters

Communications in the Workplace

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Abstract

Good communication skills are essential for success in virtually any organization. No matter how good one's technical skills or how innovative one's ideas, if not communicated clearly to others, they are irrelevant. Employees today need to be able to effectively communicate within the organization to each other, their bosses, and their subordinates as well outside the organization to customers or clients and vendors. Clear communication that unambiguously conveys one's meaning, however, is not a simple task and can be hampered by numerous barriers including different perceptions of a situation, filtering, language, jargon and ambiguity. In addition, cultural and gender differences can compound the process, making communication even more difficult. However, through such techniques as active listening, disclosure, and feedback, employees can learn to become better communicators and improve their own effectiveness and that of the organization.

Overview

Communication is the process of transmitting information between two or more parties. Although communication is often thought of as a verbal process, transmissions can also be written or even nonverbal, with our actions or body language communicating our message. Communication can be intentional (the interoffice memo describing a new implementation policy) or unintentional (the boss receives the message—correct or not—that an employee is not a hard worker when they never get assignments in on time).

Good communication skills are essential for success in business. No matter how innovative one's idea is, no matter how skilled the service one offers, no matter how much the marketplace needs the product or service, if the business cannot articulate what it can do for potential customers or clients, it will not be successful. Good communication skills, however, are not only necessary for successful marketing. Employees must be able to communicate with each other and management must be able to communicate with employees. A boss who expects employees to be mind-readers will not be a boss for long. A team whose members cannot communicate their ideas to each other will not be able to achieve the synergy that is the goal of such work groups. The technical expert who cannot communicate a flash of insight will not be able to use it to help the organization. In short, communication is key to success not only on an organizational level, but on a personal level as well.

A study of entry-level job requirements listed in the job advertisements from newspapers in ten large metropolitan areas found that "interpersonal skills" were mentioned most frequently. Even for jobs such as accounting where it would be reasonable to assume that mathematical ability was more important than communication skills, it has been found that up to 80 percent of work time is actually spent in communication rather than in working with numbers. Despite the importance of good communication skills in the workplace, however, research has found that employees often do not possess adequate communication skills for success. As a result, many US companies give communication training to employees in areas such as team building; public speaking and presentation skills; interviewing skills; and business and technical writing.

At its simplest, communication starts when the sender decides to transmit a message to the receiver. They decide what message to communicate and how best to express this message (words, gestures, body language, intonation). This message is then sent to the receiver. This person then decodes the message and forms the appropriate feedback, be it a nod of the head, a smile, or other body language; an action such as doing what the sender requested; or forming another verbal or nonverbal reply to show that the message was understood or not understood. This message is then transmitted to the original sender who, in turn, receives and decodes the response, and forms a return message.

Figure 1: The Communication Process Model (adapted from McShane, S. L. & Von Glinow, M. A.. (2003). Organizational behavior: Emerging realities for the workplace revolution (2nd ed). Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, p. 324)