HCM 433 MANGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR.pdf

(v)
Communication is also the necessary process by which the manger function of planning,
organizing, leading and controlling are accomplished. The process of communication
therefore makes it possible for managers to carry out their task responsibilities.
The success of an individual in an organization is partly due to his position in the hierarchy, pertly
to his competence and to a very large extent upon the existence of a complete and well organized
communication system. An important aspect of communication in a business organization is its
relationship to organization structure.
Written and oral acts of communication tie the organizational units and positions together into a
total pattern or total framework. It links the supervisory presence with their subordinates
providing for the dissemination of ideas order.
3.3 BARRIERS AND BREAKDOWNS IN COMMUNICATION
It is probably on surprise that mangers frequently cite communication breakdowns as one of their
most important problems. Yet, every organization, whether it is comprised of as few as a handful
of employees or is a complex enterprise such as a government department or multinational
enterprise, required efficiency in its communication network in order to survive or to meet their
profit, product service quality or other objectives because of inadequate communications, which is
manifested in the distortion of messages, friction between individuals and a general lack of
morals. Thus the perspective manager will first look for the cause of communication problems
instead of just dealing with the symptoms. Barriers can exist in the sender, in the transmission of
the message, in the receiver or the feedback.
The principal barriers to communication include the following:
1. Lack of planning: Good communication seldom happens by chance, too often people start
talking and writing without first thinking, planning and stating the purpose of the message.
2. Semantic distortion: Another barrier to effective communication can be attributed to
semantic distortion, which can be deliberate or accidental. An advertisement saying “we
sell for legs”, is deliberately ambiguous; it release the question: less what? Words may
evoke different responses.
115