Effective Communication
Communication is our greatest source of power, the most significant characteristic of mankind. Success of a manager depends more on his ability to communicate than any other skill. It is a process involving interchange of facts, view-points and ideas between persons placed in different positions to achieve understanding through effective communication. Through communication skill to work is brought in touch with will to work and both combined together lead to team work in the organization. Communication involve feelings, emotions, interests, experiences, ideas and attitudes.
Effective communication is a flash of lightening and even often more illuminating. It enables us to see others and make ourselves seen and known. It is a distinctive human characteristic and sets one man apart from another. Without communication we cannot live or work together in an organized way or pass ideas, innovations and inventions from generation to generation. It is no exaggeration if we say that good managers are good communicators and poor managers are usually the opposite. If we analyse the genesis of any crisis that in an industry, leading to strained labour management relations, we find that it generally arises from gaps in communications. It has been established that an average human-be' time talks for nearly 27 years which, if recorded 10,000 books of 400 pages each. It has also per average human-being spends 80 to 90% of his working time in communicating with others out of which 60% is spent in talking or lightening and 20 to 30% in reading and writing.
An organization is the coordination of the number of individuals, for the achievement of some common explicit goals. It is of utmost importance that policies, objectives which an organization has to follow are suitably communicated to its workforce so that they are able to carry out their work in accordance with the guidelines laid down. Therefore, communication is an essential function of management and all the managerial activities such as planning, organizing, directing, coordinating and controlling can only be implemented successfully, if they are communicated effectively. Communication system is the life blood of any organisation and its main purpose is to effect change to influence action. In any organisation the main problem is of maintaining effective communication process. The management problems generally result from poor communication. Serious mistakes are made because orders are misunderstood.
The basic problem in communication is that the meaning which is actually understood by one person may not be what the other intend to send. It must be realised that the speakers and listeners are two separate individuals having their own limitation and number of things may happen to distort the message that pass between them. The success of anyone who manages, depends more on his ability to communicate than on any other skill. Communication is not a substitute for good management but it requires a good management to operate it effectively and efficiently. Managerial actions are more significant than words, which means actions take priority in all communications; hence action must precede and follow the communication. In all communications, we must be result-oriented. We must, therefore, put conscious efforts in making our communication objectives result oriented. We must remember that the first requisite for effective communication is preparing ourselves to receive the communication in its true spirit. There is a saying: Give every man thin ear, but few thy voice. We must communicate in clear, concise and complete ways because impatience in communication might spoil the job. While following up we must listen with inner ear if we really want to know the inner man, his motivation and difficulties. A well, informed person is likely to put his best skill and ability to achieve the task.
Communication involves two persons and hence the psychological set up of the individuals plays a great part in communication. The perception of the situation can help or hinder the correct interpretation of the message. One's own wants and needs govern his interest in sending, understanding and interpreting communication. It is, therefore, necessary that while preparing a message, the arrangement of the ideas should be such that ideas are well supported, well organized and well planned. With the advancement of technology the changes have become a regular feature in an industrial undertaking. The prime objective of setting up a communication system is to exchange facts and information in a manner which is acceptable to all concerned and which will lead to willing and cooperative action. Problems of passing information from management to workers are very complicated and many techniques are applied to encourage an easy two-way flow of facts, ideas and opinions. But attitude of the persons involved in communication is equally important for better communication which will ultimately lead to better productivity and an atmosphere of mutual trust and confidence amongst workers and managers. If the communication system is carefully planned and applied it will reduce worker's' resistance to the acceptance of new ideas and changes.
Communication problems are more complex in large organizations. Managers find it difficult to maintain effective communication to pass message accurately without distortion to their subordinates. Effective communication is a broader process than merely passing orders and keeping people informed about the activities and various decisions of the organization. Organizational Communication should satisfy the needs of organization and its members. It should not become a burden, but a source of satisfaction. In any organization communication must be developed as a system. The communication system itself requires planning, organizing, coordination and control. The control is to be experienced on the type of information that is to be given and such information should be communicated in a manner that it is understood by the person concerned.
The overall position regarding upward communication in the organization does not appear to be too satisfactory. During the course of personal interview with several executives in a public sector organization it has been found that many subordinates particularly those at supervisory level, are very much critical of their superiors who according to subordinates have indifferent attitude towards upward communication. Superiors mainly rely upon authoritative action in securing information from their subordinates rather than motivating them properly. Positive managerial action to promote and support upward communication as such becomes essential in this organization. Identification of various obstacles and bottlenecks to upward communication as such is essential. Thus the communication procedures need to be much more improved in order to maintain good working atmosphere with increased productivity in public sector.
Like it on Facebook, Tweet it or share this article on other bookmarking websites.