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LECTURE SIX
ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION

The Importance of Organizational Communication
We can claim without any doubt that everyone communicates at work. No matter what
one’s field is, and no matter how much one may know about the job, specialized knowledge
alone isn’t enough to guarantee a success; communication skills are of vital importance.
Surveys prove that the ability to communicate tops first leaving behind such attributes as
technical competence, work experience, academic background, and recommendations. The
importance of communication-related skills including working on teams, teaching others,
serving customers, leading, negotiating, working with cultural diversity, interviewing, listening,
reporting, conducting meetings, resolving conflicts, and serving on committees can not be
exaggerated.
Managing people effectively requires an understanding of several behavioral factors
among which is communication.

Forms and Functions of Organizational Communication
Organizational communication involves a wide range of human communication that
occurs within the context of events in organizations.
An organization can be defined as “a collection, or system, of individuals who commonly,
through a hierarchy of ranks and division of labor, seek to achieve a predetermined goal”
(Rogers & Rogers, 1975, 218). The most essential characteristics of organizations that relate to
this definition are
- span of control (a limit on the authority of the individual supervisor) and
- pyramid of control (the hierarchy of control in the vertical dimension of the organization).
The pyramid of control is used to depict which people formally report to which others in
an organization. When orders are sent down through this formal system, the process is
referred to as using the “chain of command’, that results from a company's organizational
structure. The company's formal organization chart reveals who is connected to whom and in
which directions communications will flow.
These designated pipelines for messages run in three directions: upward, downward,
and horizontally. Dennis (1975) identified five factors considered to be of prime importance in
communication:
1. Superior to subordinate communication
2. Downward communication
3. Superiors’ perceptions of communication with subordinates
4. Upward communication
5. Reliability of information
Managers are charged with the responsibility of creating, using, and keeping these
channels open and available to organization members. The channels act as connections
between members and outsiders and as paths through which official communications flow.
In the not-too-distant past, formal communication flowed down from the top and rarely in
any other direction. A strict chain of command existed at each level and in every work unit or
subsystem. Feedback efforts were difficult and time-consuming. A great dependence on paper
and written communication was the norm. Orders were given, procedures were written, and
those who received them obeyed them.