Communication is one of the human capacities that have generated our progress as a species. If we stop to observe carefully the natural history of our world, we will be able to observe that those entities that have a better capacity to exchange ideas with their allies, have better possibilities for reproduction and survival.
And as normally happens, it is always possible to make an analogy between the behavior of entities that live in the natural world and companies and organizations that compete in the free market. In the first instance, communication may seem an easy element to master among the many complications that can arise in a company, however, after analyzing the situation, we will realize that lack of communication is the main cause of the generation of problems in an administration.
With the development of technology, the speed of communication has generally increased around the world. Just 300 years ago, the speed of communication depended on how fast a horse or a pigeon could travel, the delivery of the message between sender and receiver being insecure. Today, we have a technically immediate communication system between ends of the globe. (Best Value Schools, 2017)
Another important topic to keep in mind is that this communication system is practically public, since all human beings have access to this communication system at relatively accessible prices. The unsuspecting observer would come to think that, due to this great growth in technology, individuals should have completed the problems inherent in communication, however, thanks to the increase in speed, which is technically immediate, these problems have become increased.
With the birth of mega business structures, which are planned to house an unimaginable number of collaborators, all focused on a particular task. Organizing a large number of people, to place their individual power and focus it on a single objective is a titanic task.
This brief essay reviews the issue of organizational communication, as well as the ability of communication, between collaborators and policy makers within a business environment in the free market. In addition, strategies are pointed out to carry out a correct measurement of the business culture and the way to manage the development of new alternatives.
Organizational communication history
Initially, the study of organizational communication was relegated to linguists, who studied the form of communication exercised in certain business areas, however, lacking the technical baggage of understanding administrative issues, these studies lacked a true relevance in the field of business.
Organizational communication traces its route through the field of business communication and the first mass communication studies published in the 1930s and 1950s. Until then, organizational communication as a discipline consisted of a few professors within the language departments who they had a particular interest in the way of speaking and writing in business settings. The current field is well established with its own theories and empirical concerns distinct from other fields.
Several seminal publications are highlighted as works that expand the scope and recognize the importance of communication in the organization process and in the use of the term organizational communication. Nobel Prize winner Herbert A. Simón wrote in 1947 about organizational communication systems, saying that communication is absolutely essential for organizations. Additionally, Charles Redding played a prominent role in establishing organizational communication as a discipline. (Fuentes, 2012)
According to Fuentes (2012) in the 1950s, organizational communication focused largely on the role of communication in improving organizational life and organizational performance. In the 1980s, the field moved away from a business-oriented approach to communication and became more interested in the constitutive role of communication in the organization. In the 1990s, the influence of critical theory in the field was felt when academics of organizational communication focused more on the possibilities of communication to oppress and liberate organizational members.
With the growth of contemporary capitalism, a better way of communicating in large groups of people is required. We must remember that the objective of a company is to develop systems for the creation of income. However, it takes a large number of people to put a product or service on the market. That is why interpersonal communication within an organization is required to obtain the expected organizational culture.
Interpersonal communication
Individual or interpersonal communication between individuals can take various forms; messages can be verbal or non-verbal, such as gestures, facial expressions, and postures. Nonverbal messages can even come from silence. Managers do not need answers to operate a successful business; they need questions Answers can come from anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world, thanks to the benefits of all the electronic communication tools at our disposal.
This has turned management's real job into determining what the business needs to know, along with who, what, where, when, and how to learn it. For managers to solve problems, seize opportunities, and achieve goals, managers need to ask questions. These are the people responsible for the operation of the company as a whole.
Ideally, the sent meanings are the received meanings. This is the most frequent case when the messages refer to something that can be verified objectively. For example, This piece of pipe fits into the threads of the coupling. In this case, the recipient of the message can verify the sender's words by actual proof, if necessary.
Non-verbal content always accompanies the verbal content of messages. When speaking of non-verbal communication, (Best Value Schools, 2017) It is complementary to, rather than redundant with, verbal behavior. For example, if someone is talking about the length of an object, you can extend your hands to give a visual estimate of it.
This is reasonably clear in the case of face-to-face communication. As Fuentes (2012) pointed out, people cannot avoid communicating symbolically or through some type of body language. In messages that are transmitted by phone, messenger or letter, the situation or context in which the message is sent becomes part of its non-verbal content.
For example, if the company has been losing money, and in a letter to the production division, the main office orders a reorganization of the shipping and receiving departments, this could be interpreted as meaning that some people would lose their jobs, a unless it was explicitly clarified that this would not occur. (Shapiro, 2017)
A series of variables influence the effectiveness of communication. Some are in the environment in which the communication takes place, some in the personalities of the sender and the receiver, and some in the relationship that exists between the sender and the receiver. These different variables suggest some of the difficulties of communicating with understanding between two people.
The sender wants to formulate an idea and communicate it to the receiver. This desire to communicate may arise from your thoughts or feelings, or it may have been triggered by something in the environment. Communication can also be influenced by the sender-receiver relationship, such as status differences, a staff line relationship, or a teacher-learner relationship.
Whatever its origin, information travels through a series of filters, both in the sender and in the receiver, and is affected by different channels, before the idea can be transmitted and recreated in the receiver's mind. The physical capacities to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch vary between people, so the image of reality can be distorted even before the mind goes to work. (Grace College, 2017)
State of the art of organizational communication
Historically, organizational communication was primarily driven by quantitative research methodologies. Statistical analyzes such as surveys, text indexing, network mapping, and behavioral models are included in functional organizational communication research. In the early 1980s, the interpretive revolution took place in organizational communication. In Putnam and Pacanowsky's 1983 text, Communication and Organizations: An Interpretive Approach. they advocated opening a methodological space for qualitative approaches such as narrative analysis, participant observation, interviews, readings of rhetorical and textual approaches, and philosophical consultations.
In addition to qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, there is also a third research approach called mixed methods. Mixed methods are a type of procedural approach to conducting research that involves the collection, analysis, and combination of quantitative and qualitative data within a single study program. (Rincón Quintero, 2014)
Their reasoning postulates that the use of both qualitative and quantitative research provides a better and richer understanding of Complex contextual situations are easier to understand when using a mixed-method research approach, compared to using a qualitative or quantitative research.
More than fifteen typologies of mixed methods design have been identified. Because these typologies share many characteristics and criteria, they have been classified into six different types. Three of these types are sequential, which means that one type of data collection and analysis occurs before the other. The other three designs are concurrent, meaning that qualitative and quantitative data are collected at the same time.
Sequential explanatory design
To achieve the results of a sequential explanatory design, the researchers would take the results of the quantitative data analysis and obtain a better explanation through qualitative monitoring. They then interpret how qualitative data explains quantitative data.
Sequential exploratory design
While sequential exploratory design may resemble sequential explanatory design, the order in which data is collected is revered. Researchers start with qualitative data collection and analysis, then follow-up using a quantitative research method. They use the results of qualitative data to form variables, instruments, and interventions for quantitative surveys and questionnaires.
Sequential transformative design
Researchers in line with sequential transformation design are guided by a "theoretical perspective such as a conceptual framework, a specific ideology, or a position of defense and employ what will best serve the theoretical or ideological perspective of the investigator." Therefore, with In this research design, it could be the qualitative or quantitative method that is used first and the priority depends on the circumstances and the availability of resources, but it can be given to anyone.
Concurrent triangulation design.
With a concurrent triangulation design, although the data is collected through quantitative and qualitative methods at the same time, it is collected separately with the same priority during one phase. Later, during the analysis phase, the mixing of the two methods takes place.
Concurrent embedded design
In a concurrent integrated design, again, both qualitative and quantitative data are collected, although here one method is compatible with the other. Then one of the two qualitative or quantitative methods becomes a support for the dominant method.
Concurrent transformer design
The concurrent transformation design allows the researcher to be guided by his theoretical perspective, so that his qualitative and quantitative data may have equal or unequal priority. Again, both are collected during one phase.
Mixed methods take full advantage of the strengths of qualitative and quantitative research and minimize their individual weaknesses by combining both data. Quantitative research is criticized for not considering contexts, lacking depth and not giving participants a voice. On the other hand, qualitative research is criticized for the size of the smallest samples, the possible bias of the researchers and the lack of generalization.
During the 1980s and 1990s, the Critical Organization Scholarship began to gain prominence with a focus on issues of gender, race, class, and power / knowledge. In its current state, the study of organizational communication is methodologically open, with investigations of post-positive, interpretive, critical, postmodern and discursive paradigms that are published regularly.
Strategies to increase effectiveness: ECAI case
A large number of small and medium-sized companies are involved in development and growth problems, mainly due to not realizing how they are progressing, which is why an organizational waste is being generated; The decisions they make are usually without prior diagnosis, which provides them with the knowledge and support of the priorities to be addressed. This is supported by the contribution of the Foundation for Sustainable Development, which highlights that one of the main causes of the failure of companies is the scarce or null application of organizational diagnoses that provide timely information on the real situation of the company. By consideration, and based on personal empiricism, most of the failures in business are due to the owner's "workshop blindness" about his company,what does not allow him to identify and visualize the problems and areas of opportunity in which he is immersed, being a reason for the application of diagnoses. (Luna, 2016)
A diagnosis examines and improves the internal and external communication systems and practices of an organization at all levels; For this purpose, a great diversity of tools is used, depending on the desired depth, the variables that are to be investigated and the available resources. The Organizational Competitiveness Diagnosis (DOC in the future) considers the principles of competitiveness through 112 critical variables (73 through a survey and 39 validated with the director of the company) that, by improving them, assure an organization, the systematic reduction of their vulnerability and promote their development.
On the other hand, an organization to evolve and improve requires the balance of four training strategies (ECAI Model) which are: Education, Training, Training and Instruction. The dose of training that an organization requires varies from period to period depending on the level of evolution and competitive maturity.
The organizational diagnosis that is exposed in the author's article was made in a company belonging to the SME group; that, for privacy policies, your name will be kept anonymous. It has more than 20 years of experience in the region's market. The SME is dedicated to offering repair, maintenance, adjustment and calibration services to valves and equipment; to companies in various industrial sectors, such as the paper, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, and food industries, among others. (Luna, 2016)
It should be noted that the objective of this diagnosis was to define the level of progress, organizational waste and training balance of the study company, through the DOC, to detect their areas of opportunity and promote their development.
Methodology
Firstly, there was an approach with the director and staff of the company, to have a notion of how it operates and to foster an environment of active participation. Subsequently, guidelines were given to analyze and adapt the diagnosis of organizational competence to the criteria and resources of the SME, carrying out an exploratory descriptive study and using the structured survey as the main instrument. To develop the DOC diagnosis, the methodology proposed by Álvarez y Palacios was used as a basis. (Luna, 2016)
Author's conclusions
It is recognized that the DCO is a great tool to detect opportunities; reason why, in a matter of the SME of study, it is concluded that it is a company that shows to have wide possibilities of growth, expansion and reach a solidity in the market, since in addition to the detected areas of opportunity, it has an excellent system of quality management, accreditations and a highly requested market niche. From the organizational competitiveness diagnosis (DOC) it was verified by defining the level of progress, organizational waste and training balance of the company; that you can easily detect areas of opportunity and provide alternatives or suggestions for the development of an SME. (Luna, 2016)
Conclusion: communication as a strategy for business development
Teams are the fundamental particle of any organization. The correct application of various team building methods leads people to the correct conclusion of objectives.
Cooperation is fundamental for survival, that is why each and every one of the life forms present within the evolutionary process keep relationships with their peers and even with other species having a symbiotic relationship. It is curious how the world of biology has infinite analogies with the world of economics and business.
The development of modern society begins when a group of peers sets common goals. In this particular case the survival of the species and the maximization of utility. In the world of modern organizations, this maximization of utility remains one of the main objectives at both the general and individual level.
The success of an organization depends largely on its financial resources, its access to technology and the demand for its services to society. However, all these elements would be of no use if the members of this organization did not have the capacity to integrate efficient work teams in order to achieve the desired objectives. (Bolaños, 2016)
The formation of teams within daily life is an aspect present in each of the facets of the human being. The production system for goods and services is really a large chain that seeks to satisfy individual objectives through joint activities. Under the right incentives and the necessary knowledge, individuals are able to overcome any challenge.
Research proposal:
The theme is proposed:
Measurement of organizational communication in the marketing area of a regional company through the ECAI strategy The objective is:
Investigate the impact of organizational communication within a marketing area through the ECAI strategy, in order to observe if the idea of the company is transmitted to the public and to consumers in general.
Bibliography and sources:
- Best Value Schools. (2017, February 28). What is Organizational Communication? Retrieved on April 15, 2019, from https://www.bestvalueschools.com/faq/whatis-organizational-communication/Bolaños, EA (2016). Contributions of modern Administration Gurus - GestioPolis. Retrieved on March 12, 2019, from https://www.gestiopolis.com/aportes-delos-gurus-modernos-de-la-administracion/Fuentes, C. (2012). Organizational communication. Alfaguara. Grace College. (2017, December 19). Types of Organizational Communication. Retrieved on April 15, 2019, from Grace College Online website: https://online.grace.edu/news/business/types-of-organizational-communication/Luna, N. (2016). Diagnosis of organizational competence: its importance to determine areas of opportunity in an SME and promote its development. Rincon Quintero, Y. (2014).Corporate Communication, Public Relations and Logistics in Organizational Dynamics. Encuentros Magazine, 12 (1). https://doi.org/10.15665/re.v12i1.201Shapiro, C. (2017, November 14). What is Organizational Communication & Why is it Important? Retrieved on April 15, 2019, from Shapiro Communications website:
