The Importance of Communication in the business world Essays

The Importance of Communication in the Business World The Importance of a positive organizational culture is communication. Creating a positive culture is not an easy task. Companies today need to develop feedback mechanisms to provide a reality check on management?s beliefs about the perception of its employees. In this paper, I will examine the importance of communication in the business world and some of the ways in which companies can improve their communication skills. I will also discuss how communication barriers led to the loss of my past job as a bank teller and how breaking these communication barriers could have prevented the loss of my job. Communication is very important when trying to create a positive and effective work environment. It is important for employers and employees to be able to communicate with one another comfortably. ?Feedback mechanisms can: serve as devices to learn and respond constructively to employee problems and seek to create a climate of openness in which employees do not fear directing their questions, suggestions, or complaints to the attention of management. Also by attempting to remove the barriers to upward communication created by lower level management reporting only what they think top management wants to hear? (Grensing-Pophal, L., 2010, pg. 99). Communicating facts and information to employees about the future, growth, and barriers to profitability that the organization is experiencing can also help break the communication barrier between management and employees. By supplementing and validating overall supervisor and/or employee relationships and by taking corrective action when necessary can benefit both management and employees. Communicating more effectively helps employees with job-related and sometimes personal issues because personal issues are often barriers to employee productivity. Companies have a variety of feedback and communication mechanisms they can use, but for these to be effective they must be backed with commitment by top management. Examples of feedback/communication mechanisms include the following: ?Attitude surveys (also known as climate surveys) help employees to provide opinions on fair treatment, recognition and appreciation, quality of supervision, working conditions, job demands, job security, adequacy of communication, and satisfaction with compensation, benefits, and other conditions of employment? ( Grensing-Pophal, L.,2010, pg. 98). There are also other methods that companies can try to better their communication with their employees such as; ?Skip-level interviews. These types of interviews are usually used in a union free organization where managers are encouraged to spend time with each employee two levels below him or her on an annual basis. This method reduces the perception of ?we/they? in an organization and facilitates upward communication where it may not routinely happen. It encourages management to resolve issues and employees promptly? (Grensing-Pophal, L., 2010, pg. 124). Most union free organizations encourage open door person-to-person meetings. If the meeting involves complaints or grievances, the issue should be carefully documented. Departmental communication meetings are often used as a means of regular upward communication. Employees within a particular unit are asked to meet with the manager to discuss current developments and seek areas for improvement. What employees think or perceive is as important as the facts communicated to them. There are several methods of communicating information to employees. By keeping supervisors informed so they can respond to employees? questions. Employers could also publish newsletters or other types of communication. To an employee, the company is really no better or no worse than his or her immediate supervisor. This is why supervisory training on good communication and employee relations practice is necessary. There are six different types of barriers when it comes to effective interpersonal interactions such as ?different languages, cultural barriers, individual barriers, organizational barriers, interpersonal barriers, and attitudinal barriers? (Jain, R., 2008). Each of these communication barriers could cause great confusion in any work environment. It is important for individuals to learn to break these communication barriers in order to communicate effectively with one another in their work environment. In 1999 I took a job as a bank teller. The weekend before I started my new job my now ex-husband and I had separated due to some unresolvable issues. The day I started my job I was not only nervous and anxious about starting a new job I was also trying to deal with the issues that my now ex-husband and I were having