Hcs 325 Week 2 Effective Communication Paper

Effective Communication Paper

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HCS/325

March 29, 2011

Instructor name

Any organization large or small depends on the hard work of its employees to be successful. This is why communication is vital to the organization. With communication, employees can coordinate their efforts with other employees and managers to make their hard work seem almost effortless. One of the biggest reasons a company fails is ineffective communication among employees as well as supervisors and upper management. If the staff has not been made aware that there is a goal to attain, they certainly cannot contribute to accomplishing it. Several methods of communication exist to efficiently communicate within any organization. In my organization, emails messages are largely used to communication inside and outside of the organization. Although, email is somewhat informal, it is the quickest and most effective method of sending and receiving messages and they can also be considered a formal method of communication, depending on the contents and whether or not there is any formal correspondence attached. Email can involve one-to-one communication, but it also supports one-to-many transmissions in which the same message can be sent to lists of people (Reddick and King, 2001:24). Scheduling conferences and meetings, changing policies and procedures, keeping employees and staff apprised of any changes, and sending and receiving formal documents are just a few of the things email is used for in my organization. Email also works tremendously well when collaborating on a project. However, emails should only be used for quick messages or communication among staff members. While the majority of the employees in my organization rely on email messages and the internet to communicate with co-workers and other staff members, face-to-face communication is still a popular method of communication in my workplace. Regardless of how effective email messages are, they cannot replace the immediacy and closeness of people communicating face-to-face. Eye contact facial expressions and the tone in one’s voice are important when communicating face-to-face with another individual and influence the way the message is interpreted. However, with all this in mind, face-to-face is not the most effective way to communicate in my organization. Communicating face-to-face does pose some challenges for select employees when receiving information, especially in the form of a delegated task. Oftentimes, when a task is delegated to these select employees, it is not completed or completed in the wrong way. With face-to-face communication, the sender has to be sure they are clear and concise in the way they are conveying the message, as well as be fully aware of their body language and tone. The receiver of information also has to have good interpretation skills in order to decipher what the message actually is. For effective communication, a sender transmits his or her message in a clear and organized form to maintain and promote the need and interest of the receivers. Receivers or listeners show interest only if the person communicating is loaded with confidence, gestures and softness. Apart from management professionals, good communication skills are also required at all stages of life (WordPress, 2011). The use of email also presents challenges when communicating effectively. One must consider that there will technical difficulties such as risking that the email might not reach its destination or the proper recipient, risking that the recipient might misinterpret the information on the email message and that ease of using emails may decrease the accuracy of the information. In addition, when messages do go out with incorrect information, it is difficult to immediately correct due to the rapid distribution of the email. One might say that my organization clearly fits the description of a boundaryless organization very well, especially since we communicate mainly through virtual methods such as email messages and sometimes through telephone and voicemail messages. Perhaps making small adjustments like working in smaller teams or units to accomplish short term goals and specific projects might help achieve the long term goals quicker. In addition, tasks might be easier to delegate as well as follow. Virtual meetings such as teleconferences and video chats might be a useful addition to communicate effectively in such a large organization. An organization’s success cannot be achieved without excellent communication among team members. The greatest leaders set the tone and foster an environment for team members to reach their individual potential (Adubato, 2010).

References

Email. (2005). In Key Concepts in Journalism Studies. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/sageukjour/email
Adubato, S. (2010). Communication is key to effective office team building. njbiz, 23(27), 9.
WordPress. (2011). Good communication skills. Retrieved from http://www.goodcommunicationskills.net/

References: Email. (2005). In Key Concepts in Journalism Studies. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/sageukjour/email Adubato, S. (2010). Communication is key to effective office team building. njbiz, 23(27), 9. WordPress. (2011). Good communication skills. Retrieved from http://www.goodcommunicationskills.net/