Communication Problems in

Organizations

Peace Team
Contents

§ What is communication?

§ What is organizational communication?

§ The communication process.

§ Importance of orgaizational communication.

§ General types of communication.

§ Types of organizational communication.

§ Organizational communication problems: causes, effects and resolving.

§ Communication planning: why & process.

§ Case studies.

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What is communication?

 “the lubricant of organizations…”

 The art of being able to structure and transmit a message in a way that another
can easily understand and/or accept

 Using symbols (words) to attempt to create shared meaning (mutual

understanding) that will result in an effect on the two of them.

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What is organizational communication?

A program that focuses on general communication processes and dynamics within

organizations. Includes instruction in the development and maintenance of:

 interpersonal group relations within organizations;

decision-making and conflict management;

power and politics within organizations;

and how communications socializes and supports employees and team

members.

(source: U. S. Department of Education)

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The communication process

Person Person B
Noise
A

Sender Channel Receiver

Sender Receiver
1. Intended meaning 3. Decoding
2. Encoding Feedback 4. Perceived meaning
(2 way communication)
Receiver Sender
7. Decoding 5. Intended meaning
8. Perceived meaning 6. Encoding
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Importance of organizational communication

6
 COMMUNICATION TYPES

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General types of communication

Verbal Non - verbal

 Signals
 Symbols
 Body language

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 Types of organizational communication

External communication Internal communication

 Covers interactions with those outside  Communication within a company .
the organization.  And can take many forms.
 This may be with the public,
employers, community organizations,
local authorities, job centers, careers
offices, funding bodies, specialist
agencies and other training providers.

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 Types of organizational communication (cont.)
Directional communication
 Upward and downward communication have the following problems:
●
information overload

●
lack of openness
Withhold information even if sharing is important

●
Filtering
●
Some information is left out
●
Message can be distorted by adding personal interpretation

 Employee satisfaction with upward communication tends to be lower

than their satisfaction with downward communication. (Gibson 1985)

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1. Causes

1.
1. If I know it, then everyone must know it!
Perception
●
Selectivity/exposure filtering out of unpleasant things and focusing on or
2. I told everyone, or some people, or ...?
recalling things not heard.
3.
●
Did you Retention
hear whatfiltering of things
I meant for youthat feel good, and the tendency to forget
to hear?
those things that are painful.
4.
2. Our problems
Experiential are too big to have to listen to each other!
Barriers
●
The difficulty
SoOrgznizationl in understanding things not personally experienced.
5. what's to talk about? Communications Problems
3. Emotions
6. If I need your opinion, can
Communication I'll tell it to you.
involve tension, fear , anger and other emotions and
●
 Receiver
Sender Side
Side
can hamper ability to speak clearly
●
Emotions influence both what is said and what is heard.
4. Defensiveness
●
Adjustments people make to avoid acknowledging personal inadequacies
that might reduce their self-esteem

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2. Effects / Signs
1. You find it hard to get some people to
1. Morale of teams is going down.
cooperate.
2. Productivity is dull or at zero level.
2. Replies to messages are being
delayed or completely ignored. 3. You receive many complaints.

3. Groups in the organization are failing 4. Moments of conflict result in

to reach their goals. expressions of anger.

4. Mistakes are cropping up more and 5. There is significant employee

more often. turnover.
5. People are resorting more to criticism
6. Business is going to your
and placing the blame on other
competitors instead of to you.
people.

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3. Resolving

 Listen to the people involved or who have caused the communication problem.

 Secure the help of a neutral negotiator if the problems have deeply-rooted causes.

 Make a survey to maintain confidentiality.

 Initiate group counseling or training.

 Improve leaders communication skills.

 Search the history of the organization.

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 PLANNING OF
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

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Why planning?

 Because internal communication strategies are developed, reactively, when there

is a crisis or major event that clearly requires addressing communication issues.

 So, strategic planning principles are:

long-term focus
clear values, goals
comprehensive, pervasive methods
consistent messages

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Planning process

1. Identify the common culture needed/wanted .

2. Identify the available communication tools.

 Paper-based

 Electronic

 Management behavior

6. Determine what tools are suited to which goals.

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Planning process (cont’)

1. Develop a description of how each tool will be used.

2. Plan for remediation.

3. Plan For Implementation.

4. Implement.

5. Continuously Monitor and Revise.

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 GE Real Estate Case Study
CASE STUDIES

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GE Real Estate Multinational Company Case Study
http://www.gecapitalrealestate.com/cms/servlet/enter

1. Problem definition

 GE Real Estate is a multinational commercial real estate investor.

 employees consistently say that they prefer to hear 70% of corporate information
from their managers.

4. Suggested solution

 developing a manager’s communication workshop that includes a face-to-face

presentation covering:
 the fundamentals of communication;
 a reference booklet;  a communication plan template;Adobe Acrobat
Document

 assessment templates;  a communication scorecard;

Adobe Acrobat
 subsequent ongoing Manager’s
Document
Minute email messages.HTML Document
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GE Real Estate Multinational Company Case Study (cont.)

1. Results

 Every other year, the company receives employee feedback through an in-depth
The scores have risen by approximately 10% over the past five years and now
opinion survey:
show:
The than
 More actions
90%of of
senior leaders areunderstand
the employees consistent their
with what they say?
job responsibilities and say they
 want to be workinginwith
Communication this the company
business one and
is open yearhonest?
from now.
Over
 80%
Senior of employees
leaders say
provide a thedirection
clear senior leaders
for myprovide them with a clear
business?
understanding of the business vision, mission and strategy.
 My immediate manager respects people as individuals with different styles, skills
Over
and 70% respond positively regarding their manager’s ability to listen and
experiences?
understand their need to know how their roles and work contributes to the
business goals.

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 Challenger Shuttle Explosion Case Study
video.flv

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What happened?

 Losses:

7 lives lost

In addition to:

Several families sued NASA management
gave up $10 million incentive fee
NASA launched on unmanned rockets
and of over $2 billion in hardware

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Case discussion

 Unclear NASA Goals

• President Ronald Reagan, in an important policy speech on the national space

policy on July 5, 1982 declared that the shuttle was “fully operational”.

•Engineers
This speech shaped NASA
at Morton goals
Thiokol, theand increased
contractor the pressurefor
responsible onbuilding
NASA the
organization . solid rocket booster, had vigorously
“opposed the launching of Challenger”
• This pressure was undoubtedly felt by individual decision makers and setting
the stage for the Challenger explosion.

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Case discussion (cont’)

 NASA Policy.

– As NASA attempted to meet the increasing flight schedule of the space shuttle
to achieve the new goals ,the agency encountered a number of constraints and
operating problems.

– These constraints made it increasingly difficult for NASA to reach its goals in an
acceptable way-that is, with the high level of safety expected of it.

– The disjunction between the organizational goals of NASA and acceptable

means available (Safety Instructions )

 NASA ignored Safety Instructions

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Case discussion (cont’)

 NASA Structure

– The Organization Chart of Space Shuttle Challenger project consist of IV

Levels

– More than 30 people were in at least 25 communication situations during this

period discussing the O-ring problem.

– None of the concerns reached levels I or II , only level III managers were given
the opportunity to evaluate the concerns of the engineers.

– The level I and II managers would have viewed matters differently than those at
level III (“I can assure you that if we had had that information, we wouldn’t have
launched “) (Kennedy Space Director )

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Conclusion

 The Challenger accident is not individual mistake , it is organization mistake

 Lack of external communication

 Unclear Goals and disrespect organization policy.

 Lack of an effective internal communication systems

– The bad news seldom flows up in an organization.

– Top level manages need to be aware of this fact and take steps to create a
climate in which all critical information good or bad is communicated upward.

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 Thank You

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References
 http://ezinearticles.com/?6-Powerful-Ways-to-Solve-Communication-Problems-at-Work

 http://managementhelp.org/mrktng/org_cmm.htm

 http://performance-appraisals.org/Bacalsappraisalarticles/articles/comstrat.htm

 http://www.internalcommshub.com/open/news/turnover.shtml

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4JOjcDFtBE

 http://content.authorstream.com/ppt/177900_633758259289737500.pptx

 http://dc118.4shared.com/download/117379210/99b08e58/Organizational_Communica
 Work place communication text book, by Simon Thompson & Melanie Bhagat, ISBN 1-

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