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Today, organizations emphasize electronic means of communicating, empowerment of
employees, flexibility, and integrated teams. Therefore, compared to the past, more
communication flows from the bottom up and from side to side.
Because layers of middle management have been removed, communications today are
faster, more direct, and subject to less filtering than in the past. Computer networks, fax
machines, satellite communications, and teleconferencing link those who must work together –
even if they are in another part of town or in another country. With a laptop computer, a
modem, a telephone, and a fax machine, an employee is never out of touch. Today, managers
and workers occupy offices that are, in effect, without walls.
The quality of supervisory communication correlates highly with high employee
performance, high product quality, low absenteeism, and low job turnover. Communication
skills are rated higher than technical skills. Good communication is the essential basis for
effective leadership.
Conrad (1985) identifies three functions of organizational communication:
1. The command function: Communication allows members of the organization to issue,
receive, interpret, and act on commands (p.7). The two types of communication that make
up this function are directions and feedback, and the goal is the successful influence of
other members of the organization. Its outcome is coordination among the many
interdependent members of the organization.
2. The relational function: Relationships on the job affect job performance in many ways: job
satisfaction, less conflict.
3. The ambiguity-management function: Choices in an organizational setting are often made
in highly ambiguous circumstances; multiple motivations exist since choices affect
coworkers and the organization; the organization’s objectives may not be clear.
Communication is the means for coping with and reducing the ambiguity inherent in the
organization: members talk in an effort to structure the environment and make sense of
new situations, which entails gaining and sharing information.

Supervisory communication
Supervisory communication is considered the most important factor influencing an
employee’s communication satisfaction.
The effective supervisor is described as supportive, listening, caring, receptive to
feedback.
Supervisors and subordinators maintain a set of communication expectations (anticipated
communicative behavior) for themselves and for others. For example, asking relevant
questions, discussing one’s intentions openly, being honest, are communicative behaviors that
a supervisor or subordinate may expect of self and others.
Communication with subordinates includes:
 issuing instructions;
 appraising performance;
 complimenting, rewarding, and disciplining;
 clarifying intentions and instructions;
 getting to know them as individuals.