Managerial Communication

Table of Contents

1. What Is Managerial Communication? 2

1.1 Organizational Communication 3

1.1.1 Methods To Effective Organizational Communication 4

1.1.2 Barriers of Organizational Communication And How To Overcome Them? 5

1.1.3 Benefits of Effective Organizational Communication 7

1.2 Interpersonal Communication 7

1.2.1 Methods of effective Interpersonal communication 7

1.2.2 Key Functions of Interpersonal Communication 8

2. Conclusion 9

References 11

1. What Is Managerial Communication?

Managerial communications involves gathering important information from both inside and out side the organization and distributing appropriate information to others who need it. If you carefully analyze a mangers job it is evident that managerial communication is essential for every management function known to business. For example, when managers perform the planning function, they gather information, write letters, memos, and reports, and then meet with other managers to explain the plan. When managers lead, they communicate to share a vision of what the organization can be and motivate employees to help achieve it, when managers organize, they gather information about the state of the organization and communicate a new structure to others. In this light it is safe to conclude that managerial communication is a fundamental part of every managerial activity.

While Managerial communication is a wide area of study. I will be focusing on two key areas, namely organizational communication and internal communication. Organizational communication is how people communicate within an organization or the influence of organizational structures in communicating. Interpersonal communication deals with interaction between people.

1.1 Organizational Communication

Organizational communication can be briefly stated as how people communicate within an organization and with outside parties, or the influence and interaction with organizational structures in communicating and organizing. The majority of analysts on organizations, management and leadership state that effective communications is the basis for effectiveness in any type of organization. It is of the view that there can't be too much communication. However, some leaders misidentify communications to be the same as paperwork or bureaucracy and so they are blinded to a high degree of communications. As leaders and managers mature, they realize the need to effectively convey and receive information, and efforts at communications both internally and externally increase substantially.

Managers have usually spent a greater part of their time communicating in one form or another, for example it takes the form of meetings, face-to-face discussions, memos, letters, e-mails, reports, etc. In the modern day work place more and more employees find that an important part of their work is communication, especially now that service workers outnumber production workers and research as well as production processes stresses greater collaboration and teamwork among workers in different functional groups. Moreover, a shift in communication technologies has paved the way to the change of both work and organizational structure. For these reasons, communication practices and technologies have become more important in all organizations, with a higher degree of importance in knowledge-intensive sectors and organizations.

Organizational communication in today's organizations has not only become far more complicated and diverse, but has also become more important to overall organizational performance and success.

1.1.1 Methods To Effective Organizational Communication

Open Door Policy: literally means, that every manager's door is open to every employee. The purpose of the open door policy is to encourage open communication, feedback, and discussion about any matter of importance to an employee. The open door policy means that employees are free to talk with any manager at any time. If any area of work is causing an employee concern, they have the responsibility to address their concern with a manager. Whether it is a problem, a complaint, a suggestion, or an observation, the company managers want to hear from employees By listening to them, so that the company is able to improve, address complaints, and foster employee understanding of the rationale for practices, processes, and decisions. (Heathfield, 2002)

Listen: the art of listening is an important part of any successful manager's skill set. As the frenzy of work escalates, people don't often have the opportunity to be heard because others don't have the time to listen. Smart managers realize they have to make listening a priority. If they don't, team members may become disgruntled and use other channels to communicate their messages which can send ripples throughout an organization.

Frequent conversations: depending on the size of the team having at least one or two uninterrupted conversations a month with each team member. Having regular conversations will go a long way to establish trust and build healthy relationships between managers and team members. These informal meetings allow managers to stay on top of important issues, to be more attuned to the individual's needs and goals and to offer ongoing support. Frequent one-on-one meetings can also help to eliminate any surprises to you or the other person. (Lantz, 2004)

1.1.2 Barriers of Organizational Communication And How To Overcome Them?

Restrictive Environments: The communication chain is exposed to many errors. When a message travels through the chain it might end up being totally altered and may show no similarity to the original idea. If the flow of information is restricted in a company's communication network, communication within the organization becomes fragmented. Which results in lower level employees being limited to their duties with no knowledge about other areas.

Successful companies encourage employees to contribute by making sure that communication