Introduction
Imagine a group of people who share the same goals, but whose members cannot communicate with each other or better yet think of a group of employees of a company or organization who are prohibited from exchanging messages for a week, what would happen? The company would be paralyzed during that time, this shows that in organizations communication is the first condition for existence.
Human beings have the need to interact among ourselves, since our ancestors people have survived by forming societies, and when these are formed various differences have emerged between them.
Interaction with other people occurs at every moment and more when we find ourselves sharing the same goal, the same space, "communication is a phenomenon that occurs naturally in any organization, it is the most important social process" (Fernández, 1991: 30).
But this phenomenon has not been easy, if we focus on the work environment it has been somewhat complicated, in a company the workers share the same objective and despite this, problems have always arisen in communication processes.
In any company or institution where its members develop and share their work in the same physical space through various situational and daily contexts, there will be communication interaction or exchange, therefore there will be differences that will affect this phenomenon.
Communication in companies
"It just seems that we are not communicating," are the words that are heard daily in organizations or companies, managers or managers attribute it to poor communication or lack of understanding between managers and their "subordinates."
Organizations depend on communication to coordinate the activities of their employees, since "it fulfills important functions in organizations, mainly with regard to production, innovation and maintenance processes" (Fernández, 1991: 29)
And it is a phenomenon aimed at facilitating and streamlining the flow of messages that are given among the members that make up an organization in order to meet the objectives of the company, which Fernández (1991) defines as organizational communication, which It reduces it to the total set of messages that are exchanged between the members of an organization and between it and its environment.
Communication is essential for the successful operation of a company in the participatory context with all people, “communication by management must appropriately reflect the true reality of company policies and management in general must be receptive to communications from other participating groups ”(Parkonson and Rowe, 1977: 143).
Regardless of the size of the organizations, communication exchange is a substantial process, and small companies, regardless of their structure, need to know, manage and analyze communication parameters within them.
Currently there is no formula that expresses that the size or dimension of a company is the cause of its profitability, but knowing, analyzing and detecting the organizational climate, communication exchange and the importance of leadership will help in the performance of a company.
The processes of influence between the members of an organization through communication to achieve different objectives are determined by the level of participation in decision-making that managers give to members of the system.
For them, according to Siliceo (1997), being a leader is influencing others to achieve a valuable end, in this sense the key words of this concept are influencing and a valuable end, which is transmitted in the ability to be suitable to motivate others to that are committed to the accomplishment of a task or objective.
Many times leadership is confused with the hierarchy, power and authority derived from them, these elements are complementary to the ability to positively influence that every leader exercises over others, in this sense Siliceo (1997) says:
- If there is positive influence, there is leadership, although there is no hierarchy, title or power. If there is hierarchy, title or power and there is no positive influence, strictly speaking there is no leadership. If there is positive influence and there is also hierarchy, title or power, the phenomenon of leadership is of greater strength, completeness and results.
And if a balance is achieved in the communication processes between the members of a company regardless of their hierarchy, a balanced organization could be achieved, which according to Sexton (2002) should have the following characteristics: a) allow management control over management and the number of changes present in formal operations, b) offer a viable degree of prediction or planned change for the future and c) have continuity with the past.
For this reason, the importance of communication within companies and that there are no barriers that can intervene or divert the message that is intended to be communicated and coupled with good leadership will lead to the success of companies.
conclusion
The organizational climate and leadership are topics of great interest for the analysis of internal communication in companies regardless of their size and only by detecting and analyzing them can the good performance of organizations be reached.
As already mentioned, communication is of great value for organizations but there are factors that do not allow this communication process to be concluded, affecting the company's productivity, this phenomenon occurs in the interaction between managers and subordinates.
In most organizations communication continues to move in one direction, with a strong emphasis on top-down leadership, “employees are encouraged to ask questions, express their opinions, and share information, but rarely they are asked to solve problems, make decisions, create new procedures, prepare plans or determine what has gone wrong "(Rees, 1995: 17).
This communication system is frustrating for employees and can even weaken and discourage them when they believe that there are better ways of doing things and resent being asked to support the procedures and decisions in which they did not participate.
Managers are also frustrated by complaining that they do not have greater involvement from “subordinates” and not making them feel immersed in the goals and operations of companies, however these same managers often lack skills to extract ideas from staff, listen carefully and apply the proposed ideas.
Ultimately, these managers believe that they are the leaders, that is, those who have to make the decisions and know what is happening, as soon as these managers realize that the staff helps to create better work groups and more teams will be formed. problem solving.
Employee participation in company decisions requires leaders to be more facilitators and less controllers; participatory leaders must know how to be able to involve other people, how to create consensus and how to obtain commitments from those they direct, they must act as facilitator and helping others solve problems and make decisions, employee participation is important.
All this is achieved through communication, a complex process but one that is the watershed to achieve success in a society and the key to obtaining profits in a company.
Bibliography
- Fernández, CC 1991. Communication in organizations, Trillas, Mexico DFParkonson N and Rowe N. 1977. Communicate, Parkonson's formula for business survival, Diana, Mexico DFRees F. 1995. Leadership in working groups, facilitation skills, Panorama, Mexico DFSexton W. 2002. Organizational theories, Trillas, Mexico DFSiliceo AA 1997. Leaders for the 21st century, what the leaders of today and tomorrow must learn from great leaders and teachers of humanity, Mc Graw-Hill, Mexico DF
