Introduction
In order to explain what organizational communication is, we start from the basic outline of the definitions of both concepts.
According to the dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy, communication is defined as the transmission of signals by means of a code common to the sender and receiver.
While the organization is defined as the association of people regulated by a set of rules based on certain purposes.
For what we can understand by organizational communication to the relation of messages, codes and feedback within a predefined system, as a consequence of the information relations between people, areas, departments, and environments.
Through this work we will try to break down this concept from the perspective of different authors and the importance of effective organizational communication.
Organizational communication
Delving a little deeper into the concept of organization; Lucas Marín defines them as “Group of people related to the performance of basic functions of society. The purposes proposed by the organization are precisely determined and define the type of relationship that is dominant among the people that comprise it. ” While Wiener suggested that the organization should be conceived as "an interdependence of the different organized parts, but an interdependence that has degrees. Certain internal interdependencies must be more important than others, which is to say that internal interdependence is not complete »
Through time different authors have described the concept of organizational communication, basically putting the person or sender, the message, the receiver and the medium as its main factors.
The table with the different positions on this topic is attached below.
Martínez and Nosnik: Process by which one person intends to contact another through a message and expects the latter to respond, whether it is an opinion, attitude or
Redding and Sanbron: They define organizational communication as the act of sending and receiving information within the framework of a complex organization.
Katz and Kahn: They perceive organizational communication as the flow of information within the framework of the organization, they define organizations as the impression of energy from the environment, the transformation of said energy into some product or service
Zelko and dance: Thayer Greenham: They perceive organizational communication. Interdependent between internal communications and external communications
Witkin and Stephens: Describes organizational communication as the flow of data that serves the processes and combination and intercommunication of the organization.
Haney: Conduct, through ideas, facts, thoughts and behaviors, looking for a reaction to the statement that has been sent to close the circle.
He describes organizational communication as the data flow that serves the organization's processes and combination and intercommunication.
Perceives the field of organizational communication including the flow of formal and informal organization within the organization.
They define the organizational communication system as "those interdependencies and interactions that occur between and within subsystems, through communication and that serve the purposes of the organization"
Defines organizational communication as the coordination of a certain number of people who are interdependently related
Martínez and Noznik say that "the effects are the exchange rate in the behavior, attitudes and / or ideas of receiving as a response to the message that the sender has sent him" and these may be knowledge, attitude and opinion or apparent behavior.
Key concepts in communication
1. Message.- Miller defines the concept "information" as a model of energy flow that is perceived by the members of a system
Message: information that is transmitted and / or perceived within a system
2. Network.- Organizational communication studies the message flow in organizations, the language modality differentiates verbal and non-verbal messages.
The alleged recipients include people who are both inside and outside the organization
Suggest 3 reasons to explain the message flow
- To report human maintenance
Thayer introduces four specific message flow functions within the organization
- To inform To regulate To persuade To integrate
Even another network that can occur in the organization is the informal one, which transmits news and comments among the members of the organization without being considered as the radio corridor (effect of comments), even the rumor may become the effect of this communication. informal
Factors influencing the nature and extent of the network:
- The role of relationships.- The behavior of the role in the organization dictates who occupies it, what specific position or job Direction of the flow of messages is divided into upward, downward and horizontal communication. The nature of the flow of messages.- Who initiates The message of the person who receives it The content of the messages.- Main purpose of the message.
Redding states that the greater the number of links in the human chain that transmit the message, the more possibilities there are for details to be omitted or for the message to be distorted once it is broadcast from its point of origin.
3. Interdependence.- The organization is an open system whose parts are related to each other and to their environment.
4. Relations.- is the interaction between people and the different areas, since in their entirety they affect the system and are affected. It is the ability to relate within the network through the messages.
Thayer's 3 levels of communication
- Individual Group Organizational
Pace and Boren.- u use the term interpersonal when referring to situations in which communication occurs through a face-to-face relationship and identify 3 relationships specified according to the number of people involved
- Didactic communication, Serials, Within small groups With the assistance of an audience.
Importance of organizational communication
Organizational communication directly affects the work environment and the achievement and monitoring of objectives within specific companies and / or projects. It seeks to know and unify the organizational culture and to be able to offer the necessary resources to obtain the main purpose that the optimal obtaining of results in their daily work performance. Must be able to motivate and hold employees and the environment that supports them accountable
The function of communication in organizations is to plan, manage and evaluate relationships with internal and external audiences, in direct relation to the objectives of the organization and the economic, political, cultural, social and environmental environment to which it belongs.
Strategic Communication Planning is part of the management processes in organizations, transforming itself into a vector that provides fundamental value in scenarios limited by technological digitization that modify communication processes around an increasingly systemic virtual world
Strategic planning in communication
Albrecht defines planning as “the set of actions aimed at achieving a clearly defined result, as long as there is a high level of certainty about the situation in which they will be carried out and a high control of the factors that will allow that the desired result is achieved ”.
Planning in communication thus becomes a theoretical-descriptive scenario that relates everything that needs to be done and what is available for it. It includes goals and objectives, ways or strategies to achieve what is intended, tactics, actions and tools that support intentions and messages, etc.
Strategic planning is mainly based on 7 points:
1) "Strategic communication plan"
a) Analysis-diagnosis Public investigation. Both objective and potential b) Internal investigation. Through analysis of work environment and evaluation of the internal communication plan c) External investigation
d) Evaluation of the external image of the company
e) Competition research to know what it is that offers us what we have to change or what we must explore
Create a group of communication specialists, periodically evaluate the plan, print other strategies to raise awareness of business needs and the importance of carrying them out.
3) Communication objectives
Establish the goals you want to achieve through the plan
Strategic objectives.-They can be called general objectives. They aim to achieve in the long term. They can be specific with respect to the result to be achieved and do not require the use of detail. It is enough and it exceeds with specifying the pursued result and the deadline destined for it. Various people and functional areas are involved in its management and report directly to senior management.
Operational objectives. Also known as functional, operational, performance or efficiency objectives, they are the basis of Objective Management. They are expressed in more detail and they must analyze the maximum cost that will allow the results to be achieved to be profitable and to be considered in the short term, being the responsibility of a functional director. The sum of the operational objectives that will allow the achievement of the strategic objectives, linked to the general policies.
4) Strategies
Action plans to reach these objectives according to the diagnosis made, the organizational SWOT and the budget must be considered.
Martin Martin, indicates that the budget should be configured based on the following:
a) Construction. Analysis and detailed detail of each and every one of the items involved in the action plan of the strategic plan.
b) Realization. Quantitative comparison with the costs of the previous year. Budget control study to segment and quantitatively detail the real costs of each of the budgeted items, as a previous step to analytical accounting.
c) Control of efficacy. Verification of the effectiveness obtained from the informative actions. Determination of possible unforeseen costs
5) Establishment of concrete actions
Know what you want to do, how, when, where, why, through what, etc. Clarify strategies, circumstances, resources, areas involved and expected results.
6) Budget calendar
Set dates for actions and publicize the cost of them.
7) Control tools
Implement mechanisms for evaluation and control of results.
For Cutlip and Center, the evaluation consists of a continuous process that will allow the online function to introduce the necessary adjustments, highlighting the particularity that the evaluation techniques should be used exclusively to discover the possible maladjustments produced and not to demonstrate the good end of program executed.
Said control tools are mainly classified into two:
a) Control and analysis (qualitative)
- Application of the most appropriate channels Trends in public opinion and the media Disappearance of communication problems
b) Evaluation (Quantitative)
- From the space and time obtained in the media From the audience obtained in each medium and support the number of times the name of the organization has appeared The final balance (evaluation of the overall and percentage cost in relation to the Initial budget)
Communication models
Of the different existing communication models, I would like to focus our attention on the following, due to their practical use in any communication context.
The first is the Laswell model which indicates a series of simple and practical questions to carry out the communication, he suggests that to achieve it we must ask ourselves: Who says what, through which channel, to whom, with what effects?
By doing this simple practice, we will be able to realize what type of message we want to send and the most viable way for the message to reach our final recipient with as little noise as possible. Since it must be a clear message and it must consider both the medium and the conditions in which the message is being delivered.
Shannon and Weaver, for their part, created a communication model that already includes noise or distortion of the message, to take it into account based on the following scheme:
Communication
While Weaver specifically refers to the three levels in which communication problems are traditionally addressed:
- At a technical level, problems related to the fidelity with which certain information can be transmitted from a sender to a receiver are faced. At a semantic level, questions regarding the meaning and interpretation of a message are studied. A pragmatic level focuses on communication from the point of view of its consequences in the manifest behavior of people
Marston established a strategic decision-making process in the field of public relations in four phases, which he called RACE: Research, Action, Communication and Evaluation. This is inspired by the classic “management” process of Management by Objectives that consists of a compilation of previous information that must be analyzed in detail in order to design an action plan, and after its execution, achieve certain previously defined objectives.
Organizational communication
The Marshallian model is also known as the “Spiral Method” because, being graphically conceived, it is drawn as an ascending line that, starting from the birth of research, moves towards action, moves through communication and, finally, in communication. the evaluation.
His contribution focuses on the cyclical description of its four stages or phases and on their closed order. Although the idea of the spiral is not entirely decisive, the fundamental thing in Marston is that each stage inevitably leads to the next, so that the evaluation ”, once passed, will force us to resort to the first one, research to continue going forward
Organizational communication measurement
The measurement is carried out through performance and work attitude evaluations. With the aim of identifying the weak points of communication and improving them in order to increase its production and profits. So the medium, customers, suppliers, partners, etc. must be considered.
Measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of that management; effectiveness being the ability to achieve objectives and efficiency, the relationship between the result achieved and the resources used.
Results management should be measured to see if it is doing the job well, if resources are being optimized; if the cost-benefit ratio is favorable; if you are achieving your objectives and if you are improving or not compared to your previous management.
Michael Ritter points out that "management measurement is the only tool to demonstrate the added value to the business of the company's communications management and is the element that legitimizes the role of the institutional communicator in the organization." It also measures the use of resources (financial, personnel, time) and the satisfaction of the public (internal and external). Ritter maintains that for this it is necessary to focus on the different actions that are developed in the organization in relation to its strategic objective.
Evaluation For James Bissland this process consists of “the systematic evaluation of a program and its results. It is a means available to professionals to justify their work to their clients and to themselves ”
Authors like Glen Broom, David Dozier or Frank Wylie emphasize that the purpose of the evaluation should be “the desire to do better next time. Learn from what we have done well, what we have done wrong, what progress has been made and how to improve it next time. ”
However, the key is in the widespread adoption of the “objective management system”. Wilcox is forceful: "the client and / or businessman wants to know if the money, time and effort in public relations have been well invested and if they have contributed to achieving the objective of the organization."
Keys to achieving effective communication
Having analyzed the above, we can deduce that the main objective of organizational communication is to create an efficient and effective environment for communication practices within organizations.
Effective communication is defined as "Exploring the conditions that make communication profitable and effective." And in order to achieve it, it must be coupled to the internal and extra characteristics of each environment, in order to eliminate noise, erroneous interpretations that often strongly affect companies, movements and / or projects.
- Maintain contact at all times: broadcast and reinforce messages in as many media and formats as possible, such message must contain honest, open and consenting information. It must be taken into account that each person has different styles of learning and listening, so a variety of communication channels should be tried to ensure that it is well received. Be clear and precise: Messages must be transmitted with clarity, specificity and coherence. Taking into account the main goal of what you want to make known Choose the best messenger: Selection of the right person to talk to each group or people. The message should be adjusted to each department, but still aligned with the global strategy. Face-to-face meeting: Assess whether the situation warrants face-to-face confrontations in the issuance of the message.Follow-up sessions give you the opportunity to repeat the information until everyone incorporates it. Multiplying the meetings also gives listeners more opportunities to evaluate and express themselves. Promote 360 ° feedback: Listen to the informal comments that exist in any company in this way, you will be able to properly adjust the key messages and you will be sure that the information has arrived. correctly.
conclusion
When composing the human factor, organizations must rely on a measurable, structured, effective and efficient information transmission system, since this depends on the success or failure of communication between different areas or people, which leads to the appropriate scope of objectives or goals.
Currently most of the medium and small companies do not give much importance to the correct practice and planning of these internal and external communication channels, due to the myth that as few people are involved in the internal process, and handle the assumption that the messages will arrive in an adequate way, however the latter is not always fulfilled, thus hindering the correct understanding and fulfillment of the general and specific goals of the corporation.
While in the companies that have a greater solidity and presence in the current market, they have managed to establish specific channels of organizational communication, which has supported the consolidation, monitoring, feedback and promotion of new improvements to these companies.
These measurement practices must be regulated and evaluated under different methods in order to ensure their correct operation, since process innovation must take into account their environment, both internal and external, which is versatile in our society.
