The Organisational Structure and Communication Process

Communication Structure in Organisations

•    Based on the above analysis, organisational communication can have two broad forms: - Internal and external 

Formal Communication

•        It is generally associated with the flow of information across the organisation’s chain of command.

•  Official conferences, meetings and written memos and corporate letters can generally be used for communication.

•      In formal communication, information moves in either a vertical direction or in a horizontal or lateral direction.

•      Example: - The Marketing Manager sends out an invitation to all his distributors for a new product launch to be followed by lunch. 

Vertical communication

•        Vertical Communication occurs between hierarchically positions persons and can involve both downward and upward communication flows.

Downward Communication

Information flows from supervisor to subordinate. Katz and Kahn have identified five different elements in downward communication:

v Job instruction: - like direct orders, job descriptions, procedure manuals, special training programmes

v Rationale: - involves the explanation of an activity and how it fits into the overall objective of the organisation

v Information: - dissemination for making employees aware of the organisation’s practices, regulations, customs, and values

v Feedback: - a powerful tool used to make employees aware of their performance

Ideology: - an extension of rationale, seeks to justify subordinates’ support to strengthen loyalty, enthusiasm and motivation

Failure of downward message

•        No opportunity for feedback: - It is unidirectional

•     Gap in the perception of people: - seniors are generally aware of the long-term goals. They have the perspective at the back of their mind while communicating. However, subordinates only know the immediate outcomes.

•     Mismatch of expectations: - what the subordinates think he/she deserves and what the supervisor gives.

Upward Communication

•        The information flows from the subordinate to the senior.

According to Katz and Kahn subordinates transmit information upward about: -

v The assigned job, performance, and problems

v Fellow employees and their problems

v Organisational practices and policies

v Tasks to be done and how to do them

Distortion of Upward Communication

•     Project their positive image: - they would avoid transmitting positive information about their colleagues, as it might reduce their chance of graining management’s appreciation 

•       Indifferent relationship with the subordinate: - one instance of aggressive and negative reaction from superior can let down the confidence of the subordinate in sharing unfavourable news in future

•      Organisational culture: - many organisations follow an MUM effect, standing for “Minimise Unpleasant Messages”. Culture in these organisations encourages subordinates to communicate pleasant information for creating a favourable impression on the seniors.

Horizontal or Lateral communication

•    It involves communication among persons who do not stand in hierarchical relation to one another.

•   As organisational diversification has increased, the major direction of increased flow of communication is horizontal, especially cross departmental at the same status level.

•      This allows peers to make decisions, have inter and intra departmental discussions.

•      Different departments may have different goals and viewpoints and there is always a threat of competition among the peers.

Differences in Lateral Communication

•     Trend of increased specialisation: - it results in members of different departments having fewer common interests.

•    Lack of management recognition and rewards: - solution which emerges because of initiative through lateral communication go unrewarded.

Suppression of differences: - Most people want to be known as a “good guy” who goes along with the group and never disagrees.

Informal Communication

•   It includes instances of free, informal interaction between people who share a professional rapport with each other.

•        The people in the groups have something in common that links them together.

•    Teams become more cohesive when members talk to one another outside of the project, they may be working on.

•        The main form of informal communication is grapevine.

Grapevine

•     When employees find the system lacking in transparency or when they cannot get the information they need through formal communication channels, they resort to informal channels like grapevine.

•        It is not easy to trace the origin of such communication.

•     During lunch or a tea break in a cafeteria, subordinates talk about their superior’s attitude and behaviour and exchange their views with peers.

•        Specialists have identified four types of grapevine chains: -

v Single Strand chain

v Gossip chain

v Cluster chain

v Probability chain 

Grapevine Chains

Positive Aspects of Grapevine

•        The grapevine fills in the gap that is created in the absence of official information.

•      Research indicates that 70% of the messages communicated through grapevine are accurate since the impact of status, power and rank is minimal.

•  Sometimes before officially announcing a change, the management may use informal channels like grapevine to get the reaction and response of the people.

Negative Aspects of Grapevine

•        In real life, the positive aspects of grapevine communication seldom hold true.

•     Since the source or the origin of the information is not known, much information that gets spread through grapevine is not verified.

•   The uncontrolled and unlimited circulation of the message sometimes makes the message lose its originality and actual meaning.

• It may sometimes pose a threat to management information systems in organisations.

•    It may affect the goodwill of the organisation as it may carry false and negative information about the leadership and the policies of the organisation.

Social Networking

•        Social networking is the self-clustering of individuals into specific groups.

•     This is because the internet is filled with millions of individuals who are looking to meet other people, to gather and share first- hand information and experiences. 

Communication Climate

•        How does communication climate affect working environment of an organisation?

•        How do people communicate with each other?

•        How open or close is the communication culture in the organisation?

•     Are employees scared of raising their concerns and issues or do they freely interact with seniors and subordinates?

Open vs Close communication

•     It reflects the level of trust and faith that the employees and management have on each other.

•     An open environment encourages sharing of information, empathy, and healthy and supportive relationships while a closed communication environment is characterised by strict adherence to systems, deadlines, lack of flexibility and prevalence of a defensive attitude in general.