Organizational communication is a process through which organizations forge and shape events. Being a process, organizational communication is best understood by three different approaches: functional, mind-centered, and emerging perspectives. Functional approach asks how messages move within organizations and for what purpose communication works. The meaning-centered approach asks what communication is or if communication is responsible for decision making, organizing, or culture. The emerging perspectives ask if communication is a part or necessary process of social construction. The underlying message is that organizational communication can be explained through these three perspectives and that the organization can be successful in its endeavors if it employs what is argued by the approaches.
The afore-mentioned approaches: functional approach, meaning centered approach, and emerging perspectives are vital in solving any company’s communication problems. The functional approach describes communication as an intricate organizational process that serves the function of organizing relationship, change, and relationship functions, simply put, what messages do. The way messages move in an organization is understood by describing communication channels, networks, distortion, communication load, and message directions. This theory suggests that communication is responsible for transmitting rules, information, and regulations through the organization. Therefore, this theory underlines the need to study the systems or component parts making up the organizational communication that is the related units that when taken together make up organizations. Under functional approach, one realizes that communication exists on three levels: communication input, throughput, and output, which help in shaping relationship and change functions within the organization.
The meaning-centered approach to organizational communication attempts to understand communication as a complex process that shapes and makes organizational events. Therefore, communication is influence, culture, organizing, and decision making. Organizing is the ongoing process where human interactions attempt to reduce message ambiguity. Decision making, a part of organizing, is the process responsible for placing people on the path to achievement of organizational goals. Influence occurs when individuals and organizations come together to generate desired organizational behaviors. Culture is the unique feeling of belonging that reflects the way tasks are done and how people talk about the way tasks are done. Emerging perspective describes communication as a constitutive process that brings about notions of self-identity and social environments.
In the first case, Suzanne works as an executive director at the Interfaith Center for aging. The center’s mission is to give retired, widowed, and the lonely seniors an opportunity and place to add meaning to their lives. In her workplace, the people they are supposed to care for act as volunteers. Whatever decisions she makes, they are always contested by a few of the volunteers. The organization has a board of governors that includes a sizable number of volunteers. She can solve this problem by having the volunteers share in the process of decision making and a vote of confidence passed before a decision is made. One can witness that horizontal communication is mostly undertaken in the organization and in case upward communication is taken, it is in form of disagreements and not offering solutions to solving a problem. Communication rather than passing directly to the executive director incase the volunteers are not happy about a decision is shared amongst the volunteers. The organization releases a monthly newsletter that outlines their upcoming activities. This sort of throughput communication is essential for the groups or units that exist within the organization. With regard to that, in solving her communication problems, Suzanne should appoint a representative for each of her groups. Strict guidelines on appropriate conduct should be handed to every volunteer so as to avert a possible repeat of the same outburst witnessed during the fundraising committee meeting.
In the second case, a multi-disciplinary team forms a new organization and works together to intercede in serious domestic cases. The effectiveness of this undertaking can be explained under the functional and meaning-centered approach. Under functional approach, such an act of coming together to solve or mediate a problem is important in motivating the employees. This means that such messages initiate a certain change in the employees. Such messages can run throughout the entire organization whether upward, downward, or diagonal. Forming a team, compacts members working in different levels in the organization together therefore helping in forming closer ties within the employees in the organization. As the individuals work together, interpersonal relationships emerge and extend beyond the limits of the work group. The organization visibly works under concept of component parts that is rather than limiting such actions to the organization heads, allows members of the organization to take part in the decision making process. Having the proceedings and decisions settled upon in the meeting written down is vital and can be a good communication channel. Under meaning-centered approach, communication becomes a process that helps in organizing, influence, sense making, decision making, and culture. Meaning-centered approach underscores the need for organizing, decision making, and influence as these processes describe the culture of organizations through describing how people do and talk about things. Having the employees help each other out in solving problems makes the employees develop a positive culture that is beneficial in making the organization meet its goals.
The readings on ‘Organizational Communication: Balancing Creativity and Constraint’ raised a number of thought-provoking questions:
i) How does communication ensure changes are enhanced?
ii) Is formal communication limited to the workplace?
iii) Do organizational stories or events gather useful information?
iv) What are the types of cultures that exist? How effective are they in communication?
In relation to the cases handled, organizational communication holds a vital role. In the first case, the committee that Suzanne forms is vital in changing issues regarding the running of the organization programs. While in the meeting, minutes are written that help in officiating whatever has been suggested as a rule or regulation into actuality. To ensure such changes are enhanced, notices of, for example, change in policy should be dished out to the relevant persons within the organization through memos or newsletters. In that way communication would have helped a great deal in ensuring changes are enhanced or actualized. In the second case, it is a fact that organizational stories are important in gathering information. Such teams formed to solve domestic cases share stories and listen to witness accounts as they try to resolve such issues. In addition, regular organization chats between members of the same unit can be used positively to solve a problem.
In conclusion, functional approach, meaning-centered and emerging perspectives are vital tools in analyzing organizational communication. Since communication is vital for the success of any organization, one must see organizational communication in light of how and why communication works, what communication is, and if it is part or basic process of social construction. In so doing, problems relating to organizational communication are solved.