Abdirizak Abdi BSAD 325: Organizational Behavior Professor: Cassandra Shaw Assignment 4-3: Influencing Individual and Groups

6/10/11

Communication is very important to maintain healthy relationships among societies, but communication is crucial to the success of a business. Lack of effective communication hinders all progress and creates chaos among groups in an organization. In my writing, we will explore the importance of communication within an organization starting with communication methods used by my current employer, followed by communication barriers within our organization, and lastly generating a list of sources of conflict within our organization. Communication is important to the success of an organization because groups in an organization are interdependent and need to communicate effectively in order to achieve objective. According to our readings, communication is a process by which information is transmitted and understood between two or more people (McShane, S. Von Glinow, M. 2010). The process of communication is conducted through sending a coded message to a receiver who receives and decodes the message. The next step in the process transmits feedback to the original sender who decodes the message and uses it accordingly. The process of sending and receiving messages is what organizations use to convey desired behaviors and objective. Effective contact occurs when the message is clearly decoded and utilized. Additionally, communication occurs in channels such as verbal and nonverbal communications. Verbal communication uses words to communicate the message, and nonverbal is all other kinds of communication which dont require spoken words. Communication methods are increasingly becoming more divers and organizations are learning to use the most effective forms of communication to gain advantage. Effective communication begins with choosing the most viable means of communication and perfecting it. In todays business world, communication methods take many forms and new ways of communication are being produced at a record pace. In the old days, letters, telephones, and fax

machines were cutting edge technologies, but in todays business world they have become obsolete. The most common communication methods in organizations today are email, instant messages, and blogs. Our organization Comcast uses a combination of verbal communication and nonverbal communication. For example, verbal communication is used during face to face team meeting, coaching sessions, and personal conversations. Phones are used in interoffice correspondence and when interacting with customer. Management uses email, instant messaging, and face to face communication to relay information to employees. Email messaging is very effective because it decreases the need for personal face to face time and allows managers flexibility of operating out of the office. Email messaging is also quickly composed and sent to the proper receivers which allows for quick access to important information. Another benefit to using email is that managers can send one email to multiple recipients this makes mass communication possible. Comcast managers use emails to report on process changes, update data reporting, and make schedule changes. Communication through email is a highly effective communication method, but it has its drawbacks. For example, email does a lousy job of communicating emotions. In an email, there are no visible facial expressions or expressive body language. There is also the obvious part of waiting for a response to an email which can be frustrating at times. Comcast managers recently installed instant messengers on all the computers to supplement the waiting time it takes for an email response. Instant message allows for immediate assistance when on the phone with customers which increases the effectiveness of the team. Supervisors also use instant messaging to give up to the minute updates on trending issues and call volume. Instant messaging is encouraging more employees at Comcast to find the right type of help by messaging the experts on the issue at hand at the time. Using technologies like

emails and instant messaging has elevated the efficiency of communication in our organization, but there are some barriers to effective communication that exist within our organization. Communication barriers are very common in organizations, but they are very unproductive for an organization. Communication barriers are considered to be noises that hinder the receiving of intended messages. One communication barrier that exists in our organization is information overload. Information overload is a condition in which the volume of information received exceeds the persons capacity to process it (McShane, S. Von Glinow, M. 2010). Information over load occurs at our organization because managers communicate with employees through email, instant message, paper print outs, and verbal face to face communication all while the employee is on the phone with a customer which overwhelms the employee. Employees in my department are expected to be on the phone during the entire shift, and at the same time answer emails, responds to question and process orders on the computer. In many cases information changes before an employee can respond to it. Moreover, marketing campaigns changes are made every month and most of the time customers learn about our offer before the employees know about it. Changes happen very rapidly at Comcast and employees are expected to perform under stressful conditions when it comes to information intake. When individuals have difficult time processing information due to information overload, they lack enthusiasm and start ScapeGoating just to get by (Hampton, J. 2009). Employees are less likely to respond positively when information becomes overwhelming. Comcast could use some strategies to improve information overload to create smoother information flow to employees. Some ways to prevent information overload would include using new strategies to improve current communication methods. There are three strategies Comcast managers can use to solve the problem of information overload which are; streamline information, condense

emails, and centralize data. The first strategy involves streamlining information so that it is always consistent and relevant to tasks. Many times we receive emails from other department that have no relationship to our daily functions which only creates noise. Updates are always late or incorrectly timed. This process could be improved by having middle supervisors send emails to employees. Condensing emails would help because email would be sorted by importance, priority, and significance. Only emails pertaining to the sales department would be received by the sales department. Additionally, centralizing databases would also be helpful because there would be one location where updates, marketing, alerts, and process changes could be found. This process change would help decrease information overload because each employee would know exactly where to get necessary information without being cluttered with useless information which could cause misunderstandings that can lead to conflict. Conflict is one of the most disruptive elements to an organization. In our organization, conflict comes from poor communication, lack of adequate resources, and personality clashes. The first conflict source at Comcast is poor communication. As we noted earlier, there are too many noises that hinder proper communication. For example, communication is not stream lined and there are too many step to fix little issues. When dealing with customers for example, there are 4 different departments that all have to be in communication to solve the customers issue. The communication needs to be clear so the issue can be handled promptly and by one individual. Furthermore, lack of adequate resources make it difficult for one employee to handle all the issues the customer may have. For example, the sales team has no technical knowledge to help customers with technical needs or trouble shooting needs. Situations like that create conflict among departments and individuals. According to the University of Oklahoma, handling and resolving conflict that arises in the workplace is one of the biggest challenges managers and

employees face in the business world today (Oklahoma University, 2011). The conflict sources at Comcast seem to stem from the use of technology and deferent department doing different functions. If all the departments are in communication with each other, then the problem solving would be quicker and less stressful. Stressful employees are more likely to have personality clashes. Personality clashes happen due to different personalities, but frustration with processes creates misunderstanding among employees. Comcast can fix this problem by holding focus groups that can voice problems solving solutions and communication process that can satisfy all employees. A work environment that is free of conflict is going to be very effective and efficient which Comcast can achieve only if the conflict sources are improved. In conclusion, my writing focused on the importance of communication within organizations starting with communication methods used by my current employer, followed by communication barriers within our organization, and lastly we generated a list of sources of conflict within our organization. Effective communication is key to the success of any organization and good communication is desperately needed at our organization. The intentions are good, but the communication methods at Comcast can sometimes be ineffective that is why management should implement some of the strategies put forth by this writing.

References Human Resources: What is Conflict . (2011, January 25). Retrieved June 10, 2011, from Oklahoma University website: http://hr.ou.edu//employee_resources/conflictresolution/SourcesofConflict.asp

Hampton J. (2009, May 5). Groups and Community Building: Barriers to Communication. Retrieved June 11, 2011, from Groups and Community Building website: http://www.community4me.com/

McShane, S., VonGlinow, M. (2010). Organizational Behavior. McGraw Hill: N.Y