The present study is the result of a non-experimental, transectional and descriptive quantitative investigation, which proposes a diagnostic study of the internal organizational communication of the journalistic institution "La Crónica" of Mexicali, Baja California México.
The research aimed to know the fundamental aspects of the organization in its internal environment: the organizational culture that is presented, the quality of the types of messages, the channels used to communicate in the company, as well as the quality of communication flows formal in their upward and downward communication.
Introduction
Communication within a company, be it of any record, business, size or sector, will always be a fundamental aspect for the fulfillment of the organization's objectives. If we want the company to function properly, there must be fluid communication for its proper functioning.
So communication is an essential element and therefore, a process worth studying to analyze if it is being carried out effectively or if it is not developing in the proper way, and subsequently, in this way reaching detect problems to propose solutions.
For this reason, this work seeks to identify the elements of internal organizational communication of the company; Corroborate that communication policies are effective and backed by concrete results, reaching conclusions that may be the premise for developing possible solutions that attack the problems that affect the company.
One of the main complications that organizations face, due to the fact that there are hierarchies within them, is the communication that flows in it through the different levels of the company.
All individuals have a particular importance within the organization, and for this reason it is essential that each member of the company knows how to transmit their messages to carry out an effective communication process.
Those who are in charge of a group of employees are responsible for monitoring and planning so that the work is carried out efficiently and effectively, so they assume their role as leaders.
The job of a manager is to analyze, diagnose, plan and control on expected results or objectives. Often we come across that the downward communication of the company is not sufficient or is not the appropriate one, either because the inadequate channels are used, because the messages are not clear or because of the quality of the information that is handled.
Against this background, we find ourselves with several questions: Is downward communication of the company inefficient? Is there feedback from employees to their superiors?
Undoubtedly, direct contact by employees with bosses is one of the great difficulties organizations are currently facing. The hypotheses used in the study are that the plant employees do not have direct contact with the department heads; there is distrust of the employees to express doubts or suggestions to their superiors.
On the other hand, a primary factor within the structure of an organization is the organizational culture it possesses. The concept that the company has of itself, and the degree of identity that they acquire cannot be left aside.
For this reason, the research aims to identify the organizational culture of the company, analyze formal and informal communication, as well as the channels and types of messages used by the institution. It is essential to understand the complexity of the study of communication in organizations in order to respond to the research questions.
Basic theoretical aspects
Internal organizational communication
To understand the concept from the current context, let's review how Fernández Collado defines it:
It is the set of activities carried out by any organization for the creation and maintenance of good relations with and among its members, through the use of different means of communication that keep them informed, integrated and motivated to contribute with their work to the achievement of the objectives. organizational. (Fernández, 2002: 12)
Countless bits of information are transmitted every minute of every day through an organization (Bateman and Snell, 2001). Now we will look at formal upward and downward communication. But first it is necessary to define roughly what is formal communication.
Formal communication
Organizational communications differ in formality. Formal communications are official episodes, sanctioned by the organization, in which information is transmitted. They can move up, down, or horizontally and often involve paperwork, are ordered in advance, and are required to perform a task (Bateman and Snell, 2001).
Ascending Communication
It goes from the lowest to the highest levels in the hierarchy of an organization (Bateman and Snell, 2001). Proper upward communication is important for a number of reasons. First of all, managers know what's going on. Management gets a more accurate picture of subordinate work, accomplishments, problems, plans, and attitudes.
Second, employees get the opportunity to communicate upward. People can ease some of their frustrations, achieve a stronger sense of company involvement, and improve morale. Third, effective upward communication facilitates downward communication as listening well becomes a two-way street.
Downward Communication
Refers to the flow of information from higher to lower levels in the organization hierarchy. (Bateman and Snell, 2001). Examples include the manager who gives an assignment to a secretary, the supervisor who makes an announcement to her subordinates, and the director of a company who lectures her management team.
Some problems of top-down communication are information overload, lack of openness between managers and employees, and filtering (when messages are passed from one person to another, some information is lost).
Communication channels
Communication can be sent through various channels, including oral, written and electronic. (Bateman and Snell, 2001).
- Oral communication involves face-to-face debate, phone conversations, presentations, and formal speeches.
Advantages: questions can be asked and answered; feedback is immediate and direct; receivers can perceive the sender's sincerity (or lack thereof); oral communication is more persuasive and sometimes less expensive than written.
Disadvantages: It can lead to inconsiderate spontaneous statements (and regrets) and there is no permanent record of it (unless an effort is made to do so).
- Written communication includes memos, letters, reports, computer files, and other written documents.
Advantages: the message can be corrected several times, it is a permanent record that can be saved, the message remains the same even if it is passed by several people, and the receiver has more time to analyze it.
Disadvantages: the issuer does not have control over where and when it is read, or if it is read; the issuer does not receive immediate feedback; the recipient may not understand parts of the message, and the message must be longer in order to contain enough information to answer anticipated questions.
- Electronic media. A special category of communication channels is electronic media.
Managers use computers not only to collect and distribute quantitative data, but also to 'talk' to others through electronic mail (e-mail).
For people who do not have direct access to others through computers, faxes can transmit messages in seconds over phone lines around the world.
Other electronic means of communication are teleconferences, whereby groups of people in different places interact through telephone lines (audioconferences) and may also see each other on television monitors when participating in group discussions (videoconferences).).
Advantages: distribution of more information; speed and efficiency in delivering routine messages to large numbers of people across vast geographic areas; cheap communication.
Disadvantages: difficulty solving complex problems; it is less suitable for confidential information.
Organizational culture
Organizational culture is the base in the structure of any company, since thanks to it any company differs from another and according to its guidelines guides executives to decision-making (Ruiz, 1998).
On the other hand, Fernández (2002) quotes Andrade who states:
"We call the set of shared beliefs and values that provide a common frame of reference, organizational culture, from which people who belong to an organization have a more or less homogeneous conception of reality and therefore a similar pattern of behavior in specific situations ”(Fernández 2002: p. 90)
An important element within this concept are the values, which for their part, are ideals that are explicitly or implicitly shared and accepted by the members of a cultural system, and that consequently influence their behavior (Andrade, 2002; cited in Fernández, 2002).
The culture of the organization and the patterns of communication that are established among its members are closely linked. "The former will affect the latter and will determine, in many cases, their frequency, their quality, their degree of formality and direction" (Fernández, 2002).
Methodology
The diagnostic study is based on the quantitative research method, since a quantification of the results was made from the instrument used. Furthermore, this research has been carried out without deliberately manipulating the independent variables, that is, it is based on variables that have already occurred or actually occurred without any intervention. The research is based only on the observation of a phenomenon as it occurs in its natural context: the internal organizational communication of the company "The Chronicle".
Based on the above, it is concluded that the methodology of this research is Non-experimental. Likewise, considering that according to Sampieri (2003), experimental research can be transectional (when it occurs in a single time) or Longitudinal, (carried out in two or more moments). This research is particularly focused on carrying out your study in a certain time and in a group way, without following it up; therefore it can be classified as Non-experimental Transectional.
The Chronicle currently has 186 employees and the sample used for the diagnostic analysis of internal organizational communication was of employees from various departments. Among them, some values were taken into account in their selection such as: department, age, working time, among others.
The instrument used to carry out this investigation is the closed survey. Which studies the formal communication of the company. It establishes 4 questions for the study of top-down communication, 6 questions for the study of bottom-up communication, 3 questions to diagnose the quality of messages, 3 to learn about the means used and 5 to learn about organizational culture. In total there were 21 questions.
Results
Regarding the organizational culture, it was found that 84% of the respondents do know the mission of the company. While 64% state that they know the values of the company, only 56% take them into account to carry out their work. Which is to say that 8% of the sample does not take into account the values for meeting the organization's objectives. Most of the respondents know the mission and values, in addition to knowing the importance and feeling satisfied with their work towards the community.
Among the values that employees consider most important are truthfulness and freedom of information. Those that did not have major incidence are: responsibility of the newspaper, respect to the private life and repudiation to the personal advantages.
It should be noted that within the values considered by the company, there were 4 that are not taken into account by the surveyed employees: exalting the family, obligation to rectify, confirmed information, observance of the language. This means that the members of the organization do not feel that those values established in the journalistic institution are so important, so they are not identified with them.
Regarding the channels of the organization, it was found that the means that the company most frequently uses to communicate about social events are: email with 40%. 28% answered that all (wall newspapers, verbally, trades, telephone, email).
The means used to convene a work meeting is verbally, with 48% and wall newspapers with 28%.
While to receive instructions, the means that employees consider most practical is verbally, with 48% and from there email follows with 20%. Once again it is proven that face-to-face communication is the best option to send a message. Employees prefer this medium because there is thus a greater interaction between employer and subordinate.
The following were found about the types of messages the company uses:
52% of respondents believe that the instructions given by their superiors are almost always clear; 4% think that almost never. Therefore, maintenance tasks are considered good, because the information that employees receive regarding instructions is clear.
64% consider that almost always their work doubts are clarified by their superior correctly, 36% think that always. Maintenance tasks are also considered good in this case.
On the other hand, 48% think that there is almost always motivation from their superior to improve their job performance. While 40% think that always, and only 12% say never. Human-type tasks are also considered positive; However, in this case, there are negative responses regarding the motivation transmitted by the superiors.
Regarding formal communication, in descending order, it was obtained that:
84% always know the importance and the meaning of the tasks or activities that they carry out in their work and 16% think that almost always.
56% of those surveyed believe that almost always the dissemination of information regarding the work to be done in the company is sufficient; 12% think that almost never.
80% of the sample says that the company's objectives are always clear. 76% think that the goals are always clear.
Regarding formal communication from the bottom up, it was found that:
64% think that it is almost always taken into account when solving problems in their area.
20% think that always. And only 16% think that almost never. Most of it is taken into account although there is still a sector that is not. So it follows that the level of participation is not the same, and not precisely because of the personality of the members, but because of the difference in accessibility that exists in each area.
40% of those surveyed believe that they always externalize their labor complaints to their superior; while 8% think that never.
44% believe that they almost always externalize their suggestions to their superior to improve work activities; 40% think that always and 16% think that almost never.
52% of those surveyed believe that they almost always express their comments to their superior about the job performance of their coworkers; 28% think that almost never; 12% always and 8% never.
28% of respondents believe that almost always if their immediate boss does not respond to any questions, they go directly to their immediate boss's superiors. While equally 28% think that never. 24% say always and 20% think that almost never.
Contrasting results were found in this question. The responses are very divided and this shows that there are areas in which work is very different from others, in terms of the style of mandate by the different leaders in each of the areas.
44% believe that the attitude of their superior is always open and available. Another 44% think that almost always and 12% consider that almost never.
Conclusions
The journalistic institution "La Crónica" has a well-structured hierarchy, which is defined by its division of labor.
Culturally, the majority of employees are identified with the company, know the philosophy, values, mission and vision of the company and make them part of their personal and work life; they are satisfied with their work. They feel that there is a good work environment and good fellowship; although they do not interact with their superiors; However, there is a part of them that knows neither the mission nor its values.
The channels used by the company are good; some are considered useful by employees, such as the electronic medium. However, verbal communication carries more weight and employees insist that they prefer this communication process to take place through it.
Message types are good; Although there is a sector that is not motivated by employees. This means that the degree of leadership on the part of the high commands varies and not all work with the same motivation towards subordinates.
Formal downward communication shows that it is good, that there is a clear flow of communication to employees, since they do know the importance, objectives and goals of the company.
On the other hand, in formal upward communication there is a phenomenon: if there is feedback to the superiors by the majority, but
communication with the company's top management is little or nil.
Workers have a lot of contact with their immediate boss. He assigns them their tasks, informs them, is open to listen to him; But it does not always solve their doubts or it is beyond their reach to solve problems. As for the relationship with the high command, communication is null.
It is important to consider that to achieve a good work team, both downstream and upstream communication flows have to be effective and efficient. The communication of this institution is good for the most part, but it is necessary to attack small problems at the root that may affect the personnel and cause other conflicts to arise from it.
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