We spend a major portion of our time in communication so communication techniques are the most essential for management.
From the managerial viewpoint, a manager is always engaged in disseminating the information for effective management via effective decision making. It is often very difficult to determine which communication is necessary and which is not.
At this stage, we need to understand is the following:
Table of Contents
Communication techniques
- Flow of communication
- Form of communication
Flow of communication
In any organization, communication flows in various directions as under:
a) Downward communication
Downward communications are used by the superiors to convey their orders and directions to their sub-ordinates.
It is preferred by authoritarian management and the message is often likely to be distorted in transmission or ignored by the intended receiver.
b) Upward Communication
Usually this type of communication originates from a subrogate to his or her direct superior, then to that person’s direct boss, and so on up through the hierarchy. It is encouraged in the free, genial, and democratic atmosphere of Participative Management.
This type of communication is aimed to gather information about low-level employee’s attitudes towards management, production, and marketing information.
c) Crosswise/Horizontal Communication
Crosswise communication is used for enhancing the information flow and coordination efforts among persons of the same level or of different status in the organization who have no direct reporting relationship.
It improves the quality of understanding also. Cross wise communication can function effectively when the following conditions are present:
- Superiors should guide and encourage crosswise relationship
- Sub-ordinates should not exceed their authority
- Sub-ordinates should keep their superiors informed of their activities.
- The principles of departmentalization by itself lead to friction and acts as a barrier to communication. Apart from this, members have their own likes, dislikes, and group loyalties. The organizational structure should be understood by the members so that personality clashes can be avoided.
Form of communication
Communication may take written, oral or verbal and non-verbal form, as under:
a) Written Communication
It is a type of communication that is produced in black and white. Written communication may be conveyed through a letter, report, circular, memorandum, notice, note, and so on.
It is a very common form of communication in most organizations and is suitable for many situations.
Written communication is a documentary, uniformly transmittable, and cheap. But it takes up great physical space, and the feedback is slow.
b) Verbal/Oral Communication
In this method of communication, the two parties exchange their views, ideas, or the message with the help of word of mount such as telephone talk, face to face talk, lecture, speech, counseling, etc.
Oral communication and feedback are both instantaneous and direct. But it might be time-consuming and may end without results. Learn more verbal communication skills
c) Non-Verbal Communication
Non-verbal communication is made by paralinguistic means such as body movements, facial expressions, gestures, etc. and all of them may support and contradict verbal communication, giving rise to the saying that actions often speak louder than words
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