Effective communication is an essential part of management and good management is required to ensure achievement of organisational goals.
Therefore, it is logical to state that successful communication is essential to the achievement of organisational goals.
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Indeed, both Betts (1999) and Jewell (1993) both agree that poor communication leads to mistakes, low morale and low productivity.
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How we define and measure a successful communication is crucial to our success as managers. Jewell (1993) says that in order for a communication to be considered successful it must first be received and second, be decoded by the receiver in the manner intended by the sender.
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Within my workplace, xxxx College, we use many different types of communication and I consider most to be successful. However, it is important to always to be evaluating our processes and to identify where improvements can be made.
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I will analyse my own interpersonal communication skills and identify communication barriers and weaknesses within my organisation and make recommendations for improvement.
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Organisational Evaluation
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Findings
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We can judge the success of the communications process by gaining feedback from the recipient. Feedback is the receiver’s response to the communication and offers an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of the message.
Feedback also offers the opportunity to refine the original communication to aid comprehension. !
Another important factor in the ensuring successful communications is the appropriate choice of channel. Communication channels refer to the medium used to convey the communication form the sender to the receiver.
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My role as a Business Consultant for xxxx College requires me to receive information from internal and external sources, comprehend and digest it and then impart it back to both internal and external customers in a suitable manor.
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I often receive this information at a meeting or briefing, by e-mail or letter, or by telephone. !
Where the information is delivered in a face-to-face situation it is clear that I will have received the message, and by a combination of verbal and non verbal communications I can feedback to the sender that I have understood the message. !
These non verbal communications could be smiles or nods indicating affirmative responses or paralanguage such as “err” or “umm” to show that the message has not been clearly understood.
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Organisational Evaluation
In the event that I have not understood the message as intended I can seek clarification by asking questions. This in its self is a form of feedback and will provide the sender with valuable information.
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Where the information is not delivered in person it is even more important to ensure that I acknowledge receipt of these messages and show that I have understood them or alternatively, for the sender to seek this assurance. For in this situation there is not any immediate feedback to the sender.
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This could be achieved by a simple e-mail response to an e-mail received or by a conversation with the sender at a later time that references the communication and discusses it to assess comprehension.
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An example of this is when my Manager will e-mail details of a change to the funding eligibility criteria of certain qualifications. On receiving the e-mail I will try to put the changes into the context of my current customers. I would then either telephone or wait until the next face to face meeting with him, to discuss the changes by explaining to him the effects the changes will have on my customer and by asking for confirmation that this is correct.
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This is defined by R Whitehouse (2009) as Active Listening and whilst more regularly used
