USTIFICATION FOR THE CHOSEN THEORIES AND EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS WITH EMPLOYEES

Thank you so much for reading my job. I appreciate your effort and the effort you’ve made to make sure I’m going through this module. I have seen that the document has grammatical errors, but I intend to correct the errors in future tasks. As for the “Evidence and Contemplation” section, I assure you that I appreciate the reviews and will strive to do it better. As for ”Theory and reading to make sense of experience,” I noticed that I wanted to expand on human actions in the case study. Organizational behavior studies the human attitude, behavior and organizational performance. The study draws principles and theories from sociology, anthropology, and psychology fields. The studies assist in learning individual perceptions and actions while working in teams. The sciences contribute heavily to organizational behavior as they explain fundamental concepts that revolve around nature of people in organizational setting.

Nature of Individuals in the Organization

The people have personality, cultural and perceptions, needs, demographics and past experience differences. Every individual is unique from the other and develop from different social surrounding and physical setting. It is important to note that individuals have different capabilities and talents. Diversity, therefore, becomes an essential asset to the organization.

Perception

Humans perceive and see things, organize and interpret issues considering the individual divergence and background. Individuals react not to objectives of the world, but judge in terms of beliefs expectations and values. People tend to focus to those things that reinforces and consistent with expectations. People are selective or misinterpreted events in search of new experience. The business needs to recognize distinct or perpetual difference and manage employees accordingly.

Whole Body

The human body functions using mental, physical, social, spiritual abilities. The organization is interested in these human elements for employees to perform in their respective work. The workers must be able to manage work and life outside work to avoid spillover. The mangers need to cultivate better employees and also better people in terms of fulfillment and growth. If the whole person develops, then the benefits extend far beyond the employer company. The larger society s set to benefit from individuals employment.

The people enjoy benefiting from their actions. Therefore, people get motivation through what they want to achieve. Similarly, the employees need involvement in making decisions that affect business operations. Involving employees means Managers motivating employees are better place in improving the welfare of employees and improve organizational performance.

The people needed to feel valued in their respective positions and be treated with respect and dignity. Employers must value workers. As a student I acquire knowledge in understanding how individuals behave while in a group. Therefore I can analyze organizational environment and improve human resource, strategies and objectives.

I will consider attending extra classes in order to get help with grammatical writing. The classes will play an integral role in improving my written communication. In the coming assignments, I will try to read all instructions carefully to understand the main points, thus write a high-quality assignment.

Justification

The Contingency Theory indicates that there no specific ways that managers can organize their organizations. The decision-making process in different corporation takes distinct processes and styles. Communication in organizations or decision-making process in one organization is not applicable in other situations. However, organizations need communication styles that promote collaborative cultures. Business entities require working teams to achieve objectives. Individual workers must first fulfill their psychological and social need to have motivation towards completing their assigned tasks. Managers need to realize employees need to effectively receive and convey information, effectively communicating and developing ways to satisfy economic, social and psychological needs of the employees.

The literature review offers the overview of social exchange theory relating to motivation and rewards as a result of effective communication in organizations. The literature review covers the various areas within organizational communication. For ease of presentation, the paper identifies major areas of study by organizational communication scholars. The areas covered include leadership, organizational culture, teams, communication networks, and technology.

Literature suggests that communication styles adopted by the business leaders determine the working environment. The positive environment helps in promoting individual workers performance. The transactional leaders may hamper or deter productivity of employees in the organization. Excellent communication style from leaders inspires the subordinates and enhances efficiency. In the process, the managers meet employees need before achieving goals of the organization.

The literature suggests that communication is essential during organizational change. The employees are important contributors to change implementation. The organizational managers must address the apprehensions and other issues in order to motivate employees to adopt the desired change. The employees need to have job security and the creation of the sense of community for employees to fulfill their responsibilities. The understanding of the need for change motivates workers and encourages them in change implementation process.

The business world continues to change due to diversity and globalization. The companies have issues with employees from different backgrounds working together. The diverse population in the organization has different communication needs. It is the responsibility of the business managers to look for ways to effectively communicate with diverse workforce for the success of business undertakings.

Technology altered the modern life in many ways in the workplace. The computer invention, development of wireless communication and electronic miniaturization improved the business world. Organizational communication experienced one of the greatest advancements due to technological development.

Leadership

The human society developed written and spoken language as a means of sharing meanings and messages. The most common method is interpersonal- face-to-face that happens at the same time and place. Organizational communication is the process where members gather pertinent information about their organization and the changes that might occur. Organizational communication objectives are to inform employees about their job expectations and the policies guiding their relationship with the organization. According to Chen et al. (2005), organizational communication transmits information about work to the employees. Secondly, the organizational communication aims at constructing communities within the organization. Meaningful communication educates workers at all levels, therefore motivate them to support organizations’ strategy. The workers are not always aware of the importance of communication towards organizational objectives. The employees put less effort toward establishment and maintenance of healthy systems of communication. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the managers to train employees on communication skills and encourage informal communication at the workplace. Communication barriers are common experiences in the communication processes. The barriers potentially create confusion and misunderstandings in the organization. Effective communicators need to eliminate barriers to pass information accurately without creating confusion. Lessening the frequency of the barriers at every stage is critical and should use clear, concise, accurate as well as planned communications.

Bi-directional Communication

Today’s business leaders ensure that employees are happy as they tend to have a positive attitude towards work. Ultimately, the productive workers are beneficial to the company (Waggoner 2013). Effective communication, therefore, must involve accuracy, openness, and high-frequency communication elements. The managers must adequately communicate organizational policies and performance feedback. A strong relationship exists between managerial communication and performance of the employees. Improved employee wellbeing and engagement in decision-making processes increase job satisfaction and happiness. The bi-directional communication in the organization recognizes the contribution of the employees thus build organizational commitment. The two-way communication results in happy employees as they feel comfortable and successful in all aspects of life (Eisenberger & Stinglhamber, 2011). Employees build beliefs about their value in the organization thus satisfy their social-emotional needs. The bi-directional communication is an important tool in promoting valuable feeling among employees and lead to increased job satisfaction.

Teamwork and Employee Engagement

The positive organizational culture comprises a friendly atmosphere, organizational values, heroes and searching for improved services to the customers. The company must cultivate a positive working place to create opportunities where the individual workers, team and the entire organization feel happy and engaged. Communication scholars recognize that organizational cultures determine workers’ emotions and attitude towards work. Cultures that allow two-way communication promote workplace happiness and satisfaction. Employers expect the employees at the front line to look cheerful and positively ready to face any adverse situation. The managers and supervisors must, therefore, work on communication effectiveness to create positive working environments (Leonsis, 2010). Organizations that foster a positive working environment treat the employees with respect, trust, and human dignity. Managers engaging all workers in decision-making processes, goal setting, problem resolutions, and daily operations have a satisfied workforce. The ultimate results are high levels of efficiencies and productivity.

Engaged employees have a positive attitude towards organizational change and significantly contribute to the change program implementation. Resistance to change is a serious threat to companies and the executives. According to Elving (2008), meaningful communication requires a cognitive organizational reorientation to some degree (45). The employees must appreciate and comprehend the proposed changes in the organization. The success in disseminating and adaptation of change in the organization depends on the informative and communicative skills of the managers. The managers may seem to understand the intended change, but they find communicating the same ideas to the employees as a difficult task (Bolden & Gosling, 2006, p. 147). The information distribution and communication of the need for change are critical to business organization modification.

Communication Networks and Trust

The workers in the organization need to establish or identify regular lines where they can exchange information. The employees identify networks of people to talk to, what to talk about, where and when to communicate. Centralized networks in the organization allow information exchange between a few individuals within the organization. In decentralized networks, information flows to many individuals in the organization. The decentralized system networks are crucial in complex and turbulent business environments. The members of the organization exchange ideas and knowledge and collaborate in introducing change.

Communication should not just be a cost item for companies but should be an investment. Communication in an organization is not optional, and the organization needs to have open communication. Such communication channels will enable managers to disseminate information in the correct direction. The right flow of information ensures employee morale and the ultimate organizational performance. Kandlousi et al. (2010) carried out research that proved that employees satisfied with communication channels in an organization tend to have a positive feeling of engagement (35). Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the managers to administer the organizational communication process. The open communication channels should be monitored and administered to avoid employee detachment towards the employer. Open communication is based on trust which is very fragile among human beings working together. Trust is difficult to build but easy to lose (Conhie & Burns, 2008, p30). The bad news in the organization does not affect the employees, but they tend to be biased with the bad news. However, trust can be built through open communication.

Communication is the means to building trust and cultivating the involvement of all employees. Trust is the embedded beliefs towards other individuals in the workplace. Communication and information are vital elements in building trust. Interpersonal trust correlates strongly with open communication. In upward communication, the essential point is the details quantity. Conversely, the lateral and downward communication deals with the quality of information exchanging hands. All these communication styles are related to the growth of the business. A style with its base on open communication is able to cultivate trust and concern. Open communication involves storytelling rather than the traditional approach of command and control (Hoover, 2005, p. 25). Effective stories pay an integral role during the introduction of organizational change. The communication will help in paradigm penetration in the organizational cultures and change mindsets.

Listening Skills

Communication is a competence that every manager needs for successful organizational leadership. The central element to the internal communication in an organization is listening. Effective and efficient communication at the workplace depends on organizational culture and structure. Consequently, the managerial style determines the nature of communication environment. The environment can result in informal or formal communication networks and determines the extent of operation in the business. The listening process adoption among co-workers is essential in lateral, downward and upward communication. The upward communication process helps employees in sharing information, responses, critique, and ideas with their superiors (Hoover, 2005, p. 25). The managers are able to listen to the information from the bottom-level of the organization. When managers maintain credibility and trust during critical situations promote dedication and involvement from employees. Listening, honesty, and openness from the managers help employees improve communication skills.

Cross-cultural Adaptation

The global business has diverse people from different races, ethnicity, religious, cultural and social backgrounds. The organizations today have multicultural teams that must work together to achieve the set objectives. Organizational managers, therefore, must have the special focus on intercultural effectiveness. The organization must be ready to adjust to the different cultures, social systems, and interpersonal relationships. Cross-cultural communication should focus on how employees from various cultures communicate with each other both non-verbally and verbally (Brislin, 2008, p. 55).

Communication in a diverse workforce requires an understanding of diverse population perceptions towards organizational communication. Some workers are of the view those meetings and constant memoranda waste time and such employees to tune out both the intended message and the messenger. Other employees enjoy listening to every movement made by the company. When such employees discover the lack of transparency in some information, they feel unappreciated and undervalued. The organizations are unable to modify communication methods to cater to the varying communication preferences (Bolden & Gosling, 2006, p. 147). Nevertheless, the business leaders need to design business communication in different formats to suit different employees’ preferences. The managers, for instance, can offer employees the option to choose face-to-face discussions in meetings or sign up for the webinar broadcasting to view the message. The leaders have the option of releasing meeting transcripts completed with questions and answers from the attendees. Improving the media should be accompanied by increased reception of communication from the employees. The effective communication is the one that clearly and accurately conveys the intended message to the receiver. The conveying and receiving of information management in a diverse workforce require knowledge in flexibility, inferences, and cultural competence.

Communication Tools and Technology

Discussion forums are one of the oldest communication approaches used by organizations. It is still a preferred tool for communicating business goals and objectives. The managers and the employees converge for open discussions on several topics usually moderated by the business leaders. The discussion forums are essential in disseminating knowledge and bringing together the workforce. The discussions help achieve reference knowledge to every individual staff. It is an important way to boost staff’s morale as they participate in the discussions. However, the business world continues to embrace business communication technology to improve employee and customer relationships.

Effective communication assists in getting jobs done in a timely manner and within the budget. Successful managers are always aware of the internal communication tool to use to disseminate certain information. They leaders use tools that fit the purpose of relaying information in a coherent and concise manner. The chat rooms offer a collaborative space for private and group messaging (Fitzgerald, Dennis & Durcikova, 2015 p. 22). These tools offer great chat functions and best suit teams working together. The tool offers effective communication to the busy employees and managers. Instant messaging creates updates of particular projects and allows easier group discussions. The tools are useful to team members that are geographically spread and are using different time zones. The team members work together and accomplish their objectives via chat rooms. The teleconferencing uses high-speed internet connections. According to Fitzgerald, Dennis & Durcikova (2015), the teleconferencing allows meetings to be held virtually over audio or video link. The teleconferencing saves a considerable amount of money used in traveling of the employees. The virtual whiteboards and communal data-sharing platforms allow the remote users to interact in the virtual workplace meeting.

The computer invention, development of wireless communication and electronic miniaturization improved the business world. The internet allows video conferencing, blogging and audio communication. Video and images across the company’s intranet result in more employee engagement. The managers are able to post tutorials and training materials thus increase engagement and material compression by all employees. The Infographics are particularly important in the marketing department. It indicates and explains the sales process in the organization. The medium appeals and assists in communicating various instructions easily and very quickly.

Conclusion

Leadership communication is a critical element in management that helps enhance the performance of the organization. The managers and employees must cultivate relationships that promote respect thus improve organizational performances. The managers need to follow corporate culture as managerial actions are reflected by the employees. Communicating with employees merely does not translate to organizational success. Rather, the business leaders with formalized methods for effective communication approaches stand out from the rest. Communication efficiencies can assist or hurt business operations. The leaders determine effective communication if they allow open paths with co-workers in the organization. In the literature, communication during the change in the organization is fundamental is successful change management.

The managers must be competent enough to be able to listen to employees and involve them in daily activities and decisions making processes. Upward communication allows employees to air their grievances and emotions. Engaged employees have boosted morale, job satisfaction and highly productive. Open communication is essential to employees but needs monitoring to avoid grapevine and misinformation or gossip. The managers must train communication skills to employees to improve competencies. Again, the organizations need to adapt to styles of communication that resonates well with the workers. The managers must use the best channel of communication to pass different messages. Technology plays a crucial role in improving organizational communication. Trained employees utilize technological means to communicate with their co-workers about the business. The channels of communications must allow collaboration between individual workers, teams, and departments for the overall performance of the organization.

References

Brislin, R. W., 2008. Working with cultural differences: dealing effectively with diversity in the workplace. Westport, Conn, Praeger.

Bolden, R., & Gosling, J., 2006. Leadership competencies: Time to change the tune? Leadership, 2, 147-163.

Chen, J. C., Silverthone, C., & J. Y. Hung, 2005. Organizational communication, job stress, organizational commitment, and job performance of accounting professionals in Twain and America. Leaderships and Organization Development Journal, 27(4), 242-249.

Eisenberger, R., & Stinglhamber, F., 2011. Perceived organizational support: Fostering enthusiastic and productive employees. Washington, DC: APA.

Elving, W., & Hansma, L. (2008). Leading organizational change: On the role of top management and supervisors in communicating organizational change. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Montreal, Quebec, May, 1-45

Fitzgerald, J., Dennis, A., & Durcikova, A., 2015. Business data communications and networking. [Online] Available at: https://knowledgebaseportal.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/business-data-communications-and-networking-11th-edition.pdf [Accessed 12 Apr. 2017]

Hoover, G., 2005. Maintaining employee engagement when communicating difficult issues. Communication World, Nov-Dec, 25-27

Leonsis, T., 2010. The Business of Happiness. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing

Lewis, L. K., 2000. Communicating change: Four cases of quality programs. Journal of Business Communication, 37, 128-155

Waggoner, J., 2013. Do happy workers mean higher profit? USA Today. [Online] Available at: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/02/19/treating-employeeswell-stock-price/1839887/ [Accessed 12 Apr. 2017]