The Importance of Communication

Poor communication can produce powerful negative consequences, such as the following:

Distortion of goals and objectives of the organization

Through anxiety, distrust, lack of support, rigidity, and other human resource issues created by poor communication, employees develop patterns of work in which they set their own agenda without regard for the organization's mission. They focus on tasks that are only partially related to the major goals of the organization. For example, employees may devote their work efforts to pet projects instead of working to accomplish organizational objectives.

Misuse of resources

Another consequence of poor communication is the misuse of an organization's resources. For instance, money may be budgeted for purchases that are only marginally effective, and employees may be assigned tasks that do not take full advantage of their abilities. Because of mistrust, a highly competent employee may be given routine duties and never be allowed to make significant decisions and to advance in the organization.

Inefficiency in performance of duties

Because of communication problems, employees may perform their jobs inefficiently. An angry employee may decide to use more paper than is necessary, to take more time than is needed, or to route information along more complex channels. In each case, poor communication contributes to a less efficient use of resources and to inefficiency in the organization.

Inept performance

Poor communication can lead directly to doing a job badly, even to doing it wrong. Unskillful, incompetent, inept completion of tasks probably contributes to waste and loss as often as any other cause. Inept performance can lead to intolerable conditions and can be grounds for dismissal. Much inept performance could be eliminated through effective communication.

Lack of coordination

Accomplishment of organizational goals requires the coordination of activities. The degree to which activities are coordinated depends on the quality of communication. The lack of communication that results in poor coordination is a serious organizational loss in and of itself.

There can be little doubt that the consequences of poor communication are costly - in terms of productivity losses and detrimental effects on employees. You are in a position to prevent these types of consequences in your organization. As a supervisor or manager, you are in the "front line of communications." The ultimate responsibility for the quality of communication within your employee group rests with you.

Methods of Communication 

The methods by which information is communicated to employees may be grouped into three classes: (1) written, (2) oral, and (3) non-verbal. Here, we will focus primarily on the "big picture" for written and oral methods.

When weighing various methods of communication, two issues deserve consideration: (1) which methods are viewed by supervisors and managers as most effective and (2) which methods are used most frequently.

Dale Level, an expert on business communication, surveyed supervisors and asked them to rate the effectiveness of different combinations of methods for different types of communication situations. Level's findings are shown in the table below:

Most Effective Versus Least Effective Methods for  Communicating with Employees in 10 Different Situations

Thomas Dahle, an authority on speech and communication, studied the effectiveness of five methods of downward communication from management to employees in business and industry. The results of his study are summarized in the table listed below:

Relative Effectiveness of 5 Methods of Transmitting Information from  Management to Employees in Business and Industrial Settings

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References:

D. Level

Communication Effectiveness: Method and Situation

The Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 10

T. Dahle

An Objective and Comparative Study of Five Methods of Transmitting Information from Management to Business and Industrial Employees

Speech Monographs, Vol. 21