Communications

4.3 Improving Organizational Communication

Getting Started

Take a moment and think about some of the leaders in your life and career. Do you think they are good leaders? Bad leaders? A little bit of both?

How much of your assessment of their leadership effectiveness is tied to the leader’s communication patterns? Do they listen or ignore? Are they inspiring or defeating? Do they energize or de-energize? Are they critical or supportive? How do they make you feel about yourself?

Often, much of how we assess our leaders has a communication component to it. Communication can be complex, especially at the organizational level. However, becoming a better communicator can be a key “tool” to become a better organizational leader.

Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:

• Articulate the key challenges and opportunities for effective organizational communication.

Background Information

Communication is often considered the glue that holds organizations together. It binds all of the parts together so that leaders and members can achieve the organizational mission. One important idea about communication is that we are always doing it. Even choosing not to communicate is communicating “something.” For that reason, within the organizational context the question is not whether communication is occurring. In many ways, an organization “is” communication. Rather, the key question is how well or how effectively we are communicating. Lots of factors can influence communication effectiveness. For example, organizations with tall hierarchies have unique communication characteristics when compared to organizations that are more decentralized or flatter. Issues also can emerge when we consider the difference between formal and informal communication. Within any organization, there are barriers to good communication as well as habits, interventions, or skills to promote good communication and a productive organization.

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
2. Watch the video “What is Organizational Communication? 2.0”
3. Read the following articles:
   1. Structures(new tab)– there are 5 pages you flip through to read the whole article.
   2. Tall Organization vs. Flat Organization: What’s the Difference?(new tab)
   3. Managing Organizational Communication(new tab)
   4. Internal vs. External Communications: Loving Soulmates or Strange Bedfellows?(new tab)
   5. Communication Barriers(new tab)
4. Compose a 3-4 page paper that addresses the following prompts:
   1. Introduction to the paper, including a brief description and definition of organizational communication (make sure to cite where you got the definition).
   2. Consider your own organization. Is it tall or flat? How does that impact communication in your organization?
   3. Is your organization better at internal or external communication? Explain why you think this.
   4. What is the single greatest barrier to excellent communication in your organization?  How would you advise your leaders to change the way that communication flows through or out of the organization?
   5. Conclusion to the paper, including a one-paragraph “philosophy” of organizational communication (i.e., why is it important? What does a leader need to know/do? Why?)
5. All papers are to be written and formatted in accordance with APA Guidelines (7th ed.). Papers must be logical, well organized, grammatically correct, and have correct spelling and sentence structure. Write in complete paragraphs of at least three sentences in length.