Communication is simply sending/receiving (a) message(s) to achieve a goal. The objectives of communication are: transmitting information, giving advice, creating order, making a suggestion, educating, warning, motivating, persuading and so on. Organizations get their jobs done through communication. If the right information does not get to the right people, in the right places, and at the right time, things might fall apart. This is to say that Information misappropriation could be high risk in Organizations; therefore, functional communication is absolutely critical.
In practical terms, there is no organization without communication, hence the use of the term Business Communication. Business communication could be selling a product, negotiating and closing a deal, coordinating a team, influencing individuals and teams for success and growth, business meetings, memos, presentations and so on. Management communication is then a subset of business communication.
Management communication helps the smooth flow of information between managers and their reports/other contacts in an organization. Management communication plays a vital role in strategy implementation; without clear communication, strategy will be misinterpreted. Effective management communication ensures information sharing achieves its desired effect. It could be Interpersonal or/and organizational communication.
Interpersonal communication takes place between two or more people in the workplace; while Organizational communication happens within an organization. These include: sending emails, writing memos, answering phone calls, having meetings, conferencing (video conferencing, speaking conferencing), speeches, presentations, etc. From the foregoing, we can say that communication flows within an organization.
Interpersonal communication (in Management Communication) takes place between the managers and subordinates, customers, suppliers, and other managers. Interpersonal could be formal or informal. It is formal when it is instructive or collaborative; while it is informal when it is basically self-interest driven. (The manager’s communication with bootlickers, ass kissers and workplace bitches is an aspect of the informal interpersonal management communication).
Organizational communication (in Management Communication) happens in the form of decision making that affects the entire organization. The colors and culture that represents a brand, communicating the brand values are examples of organizational communication. Another example is the branded written communication templates e.g. memo, email, letters, advert materials, brochures reward grid, and so on. Organizational communication is usually the outcome of the collaboration of managers. More so, organizational communication could be formal or informal. Formal when it is strictly official and unavoidable; informal when it happens randomly among employees/stakeholders in an organization.
A successful manager must communicate effectively. This begins with a clear communication of the objectives to teams, and also, individual members of teams. If employees could understand their managers better, performance output will be better. Lack of communication is the symptoms of other problems, both for employees and the organization.
The ways of communicating are quite important as the content. Ways of communication could be verbal (words, tone (Para-verbal), expressions and actions (non-verbal)), and written (emails, letters, etc.). Written communication might be more reliable than verbal, because of the benefit of automatic documentation. The direction of communication could be upward (from direct reports to the manager), downwards (from managers through line managers to subordinates), or crosswise (horizontal – between people on the same level or diagonal – among people with no direct reporting lines). Whichever way communication happens, the importance of effective communication cannot be overemphasized.
What to communicate (the message), how to communicate (the means), is essential for effective communication. Communicating in a way that cannot be understood is clearly a waste of time and a pathway to failure and disappointments. The essence of communication is to be understood. People can get the same message and take in different meanings. This is the result of the noise that transmits between encoding and decoding a message (noise could include: mental state, sounds, intellectual standing, social construct, time and chance).
Poor communication could drown a business and it might not survive the tainted image. Bad communication could ruin the chances of a business to survive in the face of edgy competitions. Meanwhile, communication helps to manage the most important and volatile resources for business survival: Human Capital. Effective communication is the most valuable skill a manager should possess to achieve his or her goal, and still have a motivated army of subordinates. For effective communication, it is important to know your audience, know your purpose, know your topic, know your objectives, anticipate objections, and build credibility. Communication is great; effective communication is the real deal in Management Communication.
