Challenges Faced by Organizational Communication

DAGUN, Jenny Mary C. 2011-00423 MHG Organizational communication, according to Goldhaber, is the process of creating and exchanging messages within a network of interdependent relationships in order to cope with environmental uncertainty. Even without this definition, the importance of communication in an organization is not unknown to many. Despite having such great importance, people use communication in their daily lives so much that it is often taken for granted. As a result, organizational communication faces different challenges in different aspects. For one, despite all the help from new communication technologies, I think that diversity still poses as a challenge for communication. An example of which is diversity in languages used. In communicating with others, we use a language of our choice, whether it is one’s mother language or it is a second language one learns when he/she grows up, in order to get our messages across. Different languages used in a single workplace usually result in misunderstandings, a sign of ineffective communication. For example is the Indonesian Embassy (discussed by Ms. Artates and her group). The employees consist of both Filipinos and Indonesians whose language is very different from each other. If they do not understand what each other are saying, they cannot get their messages across.
Another kind of diversity that may pose as a problem for communication is cultural diversity. In a workplace where employees are of different nationalities, culture may become somewhat of a problem. There maybe things that is alright for an employee of a specific nationality but may come off as offensive to another. This, again, may become as a source of misunderstanding.
Second, the lack of transparency between the management and its employees, in my opinion, is another challenge. There are times when information is withheld to the employees. This secrecy may breed to distrust and misunderstanding. I think that if employees