presentation about communication in an organization

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Importance Of Effective Communication In An Organization 2024

Effective communication is vital in all forms of life and of course even more vitally across all businesses and industries. If you don't run a tight ship then you can fall foul of confusion in the ranks.

Apple and Microsoft became highly successful companies not just because they had a great product to sell that people wanted or required, but also because their employees were all pulling in the same direction. This goal-oriented outlook came by way of effective communication from the top down, but also across with leaders of teams making sure that everyone knew what they had to do, and when it needed to be done by.

If open communication be it written or oral within a workplace is encouraged, a more cohesive and effective team will emerge, and this will show up on the bottom line. Good communication within a team also tends to build trust and boost employee morale. When managers communicate effectively, employees feel that they are well informed of the company’s direction and vision, there is no misunderstanding, and they will feel more secure within their role. 

Importance of Effective Communication in An Organization 

1. it boosts growth .

Effective communication is important when it comes to developing a better company culture and the growth and plays a pivotal role in driving growth and success in any setting, be it within a business, a team, or even personal relationships. When individuals are able to communicate their thoughts, ideas, and goals clearly and concisely, it leads to increased understanding, collaboration, and productivity. By fostering open dialogue, active listening, and clear messaging, effective communication paves the way for growth, innovation, and success.

2. It increases innovation

Effective communication plays a vital role in fostering innovation within an organization and can be achieved via idea sharing and collaboration, active listening and feedback, cross-functional communication, and transparent and inclusive communication.

On the subject of idea sharing and collaboration, when individuals feel comfortable expressing their thoughts and opinions, it creates a fertile ground for innovation.

With regards to active listening and feedback, when individuals actively listen to others' ideas and provide constructive feedback, it promotes a culture of mutual respect and encourages the free exchange of ideas. Constructive feedback helps refine and strengthen innovative concepts, leading to improved outcomes.

On the subject of cross-functional communication, effective communication facilitates collaboration across departments, teams, and disciplines, enabling the cross-pollination of ideas. By breaking down silos and encouraging interdisciplinary communication, organizations can leverage diverse skill sets and knowledge, resulting in fresh insights and breakthrough innovations.

Last but not least, transparent and inclusive communication can facilitate collaboration across departments, teams, and disciplines, enabling the cross-pollination of ideas. By breaking down silos and encouraging interdisciplinary communication, organizations can leverage diverse skill sets and knowledge, resulting in fresh insights and breakthrough innovations.

3. It improves productivity

Effective communication has a significant impact on productivity in the workplace. When communication is clear and concise, employees have a better understanding of their roles, responsibilities, and objectives. Clear communication eliminates confusion and ambiguity, enabling employees to prioritize their tasks and work efficiently towards specific goals. The end result of all that? You got it. Improved productivity.

4. It increases efficiency

Effective communication plays a key role in increasing efficiency within an organization. There are several ways in which it contributes to improved efficiency. Experts maintain that it can come via clear instructions and expectations, more streamlined processes, timely information sharing, regular feedback and performance evaluation, effective collaboration and teamwork, and better utilization of technology. By eliminating misunderstandings, facilitating quick decision-making, promoting teamwork, and leveraging technology, efficient communication optimizes workflows and resource utilization, leading to improved overall efficiency within the organization

Learn how to develop the most in-demand skills for your future career!

Discover how you can acquire the most in-demand skills with our free report, and open the doors to a successful career. 

5. It increases loyalty

Effective communication plays a crucial role in fostering employee loyalty within an organization. When employees feel that their voices are heard, opinions are valued, and information is transparently shared, they develop a sense of trust and belonging. Open and honest communication from leaders and managers helps establish a culture of transparency and integrity, creating an environment where employees feel comfortable expressing their concerns, ideas, and feedback. By actively listening to their employees, leaders can address their needs and provide support, which in turn boosts morale and loyalty.

6. It increases employee engagement

Effective communication plays a vital role in increasing employee engagement within an organization and there are several ways to make employees more involved. These can be open and transparent communication, two-way communication, recognition and feedback, making sure that levels of expectation are clearly set out, empowerment and autonomy is provided to all levels of employees, and teams are regularly communicated to and encouraged to collaborate on tasks. Effective communication that is open, transparent, two-way, and focused on recognition, feedback, clarity, empowerment, growth, and collaboration contributes to increased employee engagement.

7. It resolves problems

Effective communication serves as a powerful tool in resolving work problems and conflicts. When faced with challenges or disagreements, open and honest communication allows individuals to express their concerns, perspectives, and emotions in an early and respectful manner. By actively listening to each other, seeking to understand different viewpoints, and engaging in constructive dialogue, parties involved can find common ground and work towards a mutually beneficial resolution. Clear communication helps clarify misunderstandings, addresses underlying issues, and prevents conflicts from escalating further.

8. It enhances skills

Effective communication plays a significant role in enhancing skills in various areas. There are many ways that it can contribute to skills development and those include; greater clarity and articulation, an increase in active listening, greater incidences of nonverbal communication, better empathy and rapport-building, advanced conflict resolution and negotiation, and more effective written communication. Overall, effective communication enhances various skills, including clarity and articulation, active listening, nonverbal communication, empathy, conflict resolution, negotiation, presentation, and written communication. By consciously practicing and refining these skills, individuals can become more effective communicators, leading to improved personal and professional growth.

Conclusion 

Communication is key in business, and those organizations that have been able to master this crucial art of open and honest channels of communication between leaders and employees, and vice versa, will be best placed to reap all of the benefits. With open, honest and effective communication organizations will be able to mitigate conflict, increase employee engagement, improved productivity, a healthy workplace culture, boosted employee satisfaction, and increased innovation. 

Can being a great communicator be taught? You bet it can! Anyone can be a great communicator with training and practice and as an added bonus, it can make you a better leaders. The best communicators and leaders spend time developing, practicing and incorporating feedback into their communication efforts. These skills can be honed by doing a leadership management and teams course , and/or a leadership and organizational development course from a leading online university that offers MBA and BBA programs. 

Download our brand new free report on how you can acquire the most important skills for becoming a more successful communicator and effective leader.

Looking to Improve your Workplace Communication Skills?

Discover how you can acquire the most important workplace communication skills with our free report below.

Download the free report  now and find out how you can do this and stay ahead of the competition!

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Common types of communication in the workplace

Experts maintain that there are four common types of communication in the workplace, namely verbal, nonverbal, written, and visual. Verbal, or oral communication among employees and managers plays an important part because at its core it means using speech to share information with other people. 

Verbal communication: Verbal communication involves the use of spoken words, tone of voice, and effective listening. It helps in resolving misunderstandings by providing clarity and immediate feedback. Through face-to-face conversations, phone calls, or video conferences, individuals can express their thoughts, ask questions, and seek clarification in real-time, ensuring clear understanding and reducing the chances of misinterpretation.

Nonverbal communication: Nonverbal cues such as body language, facial expressions, and gestures convey important information in workplace interactions. Paying attention to nonverbal cues helps individuals understand emotions, attitudes, and intentions, which can aid in resolving communication problems. For example, observing signs of frustration or confusion allows others to respond appropriately and offer support or clarification.

Written communication: Written communication, including emails, memos, reports, and documentation, provides a clear and permanent record of information. It helps overcome communication problems by ensuring that details are accurately conveyed, allowing individuals to refer back to messages for reference or clarification. Written communication also provides time for thoughtful reflection and revision, reducing the likelihood of misunderstandings caused by hasty or impulsive responses.

Visual communication: Visual aids such as charts, graphs, diagrams, and presentations can enhance understanding and overcome communication barriers. Visual communication simplifies complex information, making it easier to grasp and remember. Visuals can be especially useful when dealing with diverse audiences or when language barriers exist, as they transcend linguistic differences and convey information in a universally understandable manner.

How to develop communication skills as a manager

Having effective management communication and an effective communication strategy can help improve many aspects of a business. There are many ways you can improve management communication in the workplace, as every company is different. Some of the best practice tips on how managers can develop and improve their management communication skills are, work on writing skills, create an open channel for communication, listen and be receptive, involve your team and be transparent, and have a primary channel of communication. 

How to develop communication skills between managers and employees at work

It goes without saying that that the importance of communication between managers and employees is one of the most important factors of any successful business. Clear and effective communication helps ensure everyone is on the same page regarding objectives, direction, and expectations. It means everyone knows where they stand. Experts maintain that there are six ways to improve communication between managers and employees and those are, meet weekly, have regular 1-2-1s, keep employees in the loop, have an open door policy with managers, take advantage of tools that improve communication, and ask for and give feedback.

How to improve communication skills of employees working remotely

There is an expression that goes, "out of sight, out of mind." When managers are dealing with employees that are not in an office environment daily, communication levels and frequency of communication can slip. But this need not be the case. Fortunately, there are examples you can look to for inspiration and guidance as you adapt to the dynamics of managing remote working teams. Good communication skills means saying good morning either on a video or via a message in Teams, engaging in casual chit chat, and trying to meet offline when possible. Be proactive with communication and don't just wait for planned meetings, and respect time differences.  

Challenges of communication training for employees

Communication is a vital skill for any trainer, whether delivering online or in-person sessions, facilitating group activities, or providing feedback. However, lack of communication and communication challenges and barriers can arise in any training scenario, affecting the quality of learning outcomes and the satisfaction of the participants. But all hope is not lost. There are ways to address these issues and ensure effective communication with training stakeholders. Identify the audience, choose the right mode of training that suits attendees, use clear and concise language, handle difficult situations, and finally evaluate and improve by using surveys, tests, observations, or feedback forms, to measure the effectiveness and impact of your communication on your audience's learning outcomes and satisfaction.

Should you invest in a leadership and communication training course for your staff?

In short, the answer is yes. The right leadership and communication development program can improve productivity, employee retention, engagement levels, corporate culture, and internal hiring. More and more studies are showing that effective communication and communication-related skills amongst employees contribute to some of an organization’s most important KPIs, including profitability, productivity, and client engagement. Whilst on the subject of leadership training, it has been proven that leadership development boosts employee engagement, increases the organization's ability to deal with gaps in the talent pipeline, and reduces the headaches and costs associated with turnover. 

What are the best communication training programs?

People learn in different ways and in accordance with their own timeframes. This is why organizations should take these things and more into account before settling on training programs that are right for your organization. Although we're biased, at Nexford, we have a broad range of online courses for you to take, whether you're interested in entrepreneurship, AI, leadership, data analytics and much more.

Mark is a college graduate with Honours in Copywriting. He is the Content Marketing Manager at Nexford, creating engaging, thought-provoking, and action-oriented content.

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How Great Leaders Communicate

• Carmine Gallo

Four strategies to motivate and inspire your team.

Transformational leaders are exceptional communicators. In this piece, the author outlines four communication strategies to help motivate and inspire your team: 1) Use short words to talk about hard things. 2) Choose sticky metaphors to reinforce key concepts. 3) Humanize data to create value. 4). Make mission your mantra to align teams.

In the age of knowledge, ideas are the foundation of success in almost every field. You can have the greatest idea in the world, but if you can’t persuade anyone else to follow your vision, your influence and impact will be greatly diminished. And that’s why communication is no longer considered a “soft skill” among the world’s top business leaders. Leaders who reach the top do not simply pay lip service to the importance of effective communication. Instead, they study the art in all its forms — writing, speaking, presenting — and constantly strive to improve on those skills.

• Carmine Gallo is a Harvard University instructor, keynote speaker, and author of 10 books translated into 40 languages. Gallo is the author of The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman  (St. Martin’s Press).

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Top 10 Slides on Effective Corporate Communication Strategy

Deepali Khatri

Let's talk about something that often gets overlooked but is super important for any successful organization - corporate communication.

It's not just about sending out emails or making small talk at the water cooler. Effective corporate communication is the lifeblood of any thriving business. It's the key to building strong relationships, fostering teamwork, and achieving shared goals.

From ensuring everyone's on the same page to keeping stakeholders informed and engaged, good communication makes the difference between chaos and harmony. 

Clear and effective communication is like the secret sauce that makes everything run smoothly. 

When everyone knows what's going on, ideas flow, problems get solved, and innovation takes off. Also, good communication builds trust and credibility, making customers more likely to stick around. 

So, if you want your business to rock and roll, make sure you invest in solid corporate communication. 

Corporate Communication Strategy 

You might be wondering why corporate communication strategies are a big deal, right? 

Well, let me break it down for you. 

Effective communication is like the secret sauce that makes businesses sizzle. It's the key to building strong relationships, keeping everyone on the same page, and achieving success. 

Whether it's engaging with stakeholders, rallying the troops, or presenting ideas, having a solid communication strategy is crucial. It helps you convey your message clearly, connect with people on a deeper level, and drive positive outcomes. 

So, buckle up and get ready to dive into the world of corporate communication strategies. It is surely going to be a game-changer for your business!

Corporate Communication Strategy PowerPoint Templates 

If you are looking for a hassle-free way to create impactful corporate communication strategies, We've got just the solution for you. 

Introducing our collection of editable PowerPoint templates specifically designed to streamline your communication efforts. These templates are here to save you time and effort by providing pre-designed slides that you can easily customize to suit your organization's needs. Whether you need to outline your communication plan, analyze communication gaps, or present stakeholder engagement strategies, these templates have got you covered. 

With their user-friendly interface and professionally designed layouts, you'll be able to create compelling presentations that effectively convey your message. 

Get ready to take your corporate communication strategies to the next level with these editable PowerPoint templates!

Cover Slide

The cover slide of the Corporate Communication Strategy PowerPoint presentation sets the tone for a comprehensive and impactful communication plan. It features a professional and visually appealing design that captures the essence of effective corporate communication. The slide includes elements such as the company name and logo, a captivating image, and a concise title that conveys the purpose of the presentation.

With its polished appearance, the cover slide serves as an introduction, capturing the audience's attention and setting the stage for a strategic and engaging communication strategy presentation.

Download this Template Now 

What is Corporate Communication Strategy?

This slide provides a clear and concise explanation of the fundamental concept. This slide defines corporate communication strategy as a comprehensive plan that outlines how an organization communicates internally and externally to achieve its goals and objectives. It highlights the importance of strategic communication in building brand reputation, managing stakeholder relationships, and conveying consistent messaging.

This slide serves as a foundational piece, setting the stage for the subsequent slides that delve deeper into the components and implementation of an effective corporate communication strategy.

Download this Template Now

Types of Organizational, Business, and Corporate Communication

The "Types of Organizational, Business, and Corporate Communication" slide provides an insightful overview of communication methods used within an organization. It highlights both intra and inter communication types that facilitate effective information exchange. Examples include company-wide meetings, employee newsletters, the company intranet, annual employee reviews conducted by managers, and regular team meetings.

This slide showcases the diverse range of communication channels employed to foster collaboration, disseminate information, enhance employee engagement, and ensure smooth coordination across different levels and departments within the organization.

Importance of Corporate Communication

This slide Importance of Corporate Communication highlights the vital role corporate communication plays in achieving business success. It emphasizes the significance of clear and effective communication within an organization. The slide outlines key factors, such as avoiding miscommunication, maintaining brand image and awareness, and addressing customer problems.

By emphasizing these points, the slide underscores how corporate communication acts as a cornerstone for building strong relationships, fostering trust, and ensuring seamless operations, ultimately contributing to the overall success and growth of a business.

Effective Ways to Improve Corporate Communication

The given slide emphasizes the critical role of a seamless flow of information across an organization. It presents a range of strategies aimed at enhancing corporate communication. The slide highlights key approaches, including ensuring information is easily accessible to employees, fostering a culture of information sharing and engagement, strengthening connections between teams and departments, hiring qualified individuals with excellent communication skills, and leveraging social technology platforms.

By implementing these practices, organizations can create an environment that promotes transparent, efficient, and effective communication, leading to improved collaboration, productivity, and overall success.

Objective of Corporate Communication Strategy

The "Objective of Corporate Communication Strategy" slide outlines the key goals and aims of an effective corporate communication strategy. It highlights the importance of increased community awareness, demonstrating the organization's commitment to engage and inform stakeholders. The slide emphasizes the proactive delivery of information, ensuring that relevant messages reach the intended audience in a timely and strategic manner.

It also underscores the significance of providing accessible information, ensuring transparency and facilitating two-way communication. Moreover, the slide presents the objective of strengthening relationships with stakeholders, fostering trust, and building long-term partnerships. Lastly, it highlights the goal of creating a strong brand identity, solidifying the organization's reputation and establishing a distinct market presence.

Organizational Communication and Its Impact on Workforce

The "Organizational Communication and Its Impact on Workforce" slide provides a comprehensive overview of the communication channels within an organization and highlights the various departments involved in effective communication. The slide visually represents the interconnectedness of different communication channels, including internal communication platform indicating flow of information from top to down and bottom to up. 

It showcases key departments like HR, responsible for employee engagement and welfare, training and management teams ensuring skill development, public affairs managing external relationships, public relations handling the company's image, and research and development driving innovation. By illustrating the breadth and depth of organizational communication, this slide emphasizes the vital role it plays in fostering collaboration, productivity, and overall workforce effectiveness.

Content Strategy for Corporate Communication

The "Content Strategy for Corporate Communication" slide emphasizes the crucial role of aligning content strategy with the overall communication goals and objectives of the company in a specific region or market. The template showcases a comprehensive list of business goals, including generating awareness and driving sales, demonstrating how a well-crafted content strategy can support these objectives.

By highlighting the importance of content strategy for business success, the slide underlines how a thoughtful approach to content creation and dissemination can effectively engage the target audience, build brand reputation, and ultimately contribute to achieving organizational goals. It serves as a valuable reminder of the strategic impact of content and its ability to drive meaningful results in the corporate communication landscape.

Project Communication Strategies for Effective Team

This thoughtful slide provides valuable insights on enhancing project communication within a team. It highlights key elements such as identifying the target group members, ensuring communication is shared at a wider scale, understanding different audience and emphasizing effective planning. The slide includes visuals or bullet points  that you can use to illustrate these strategies, showcasing the importance of clear and regular communication channels, establishing feedback loops, and utilizing appropriate tools and platforms.

By implementing these strategies, teams can foster collaboration, minimize misunderstandings, and maximize project success. This slide serves as a roadmap for optimizing communication within project teams and promoting a cohesive and efficient work environment.

Gap in Corporate Communication Strategies

The "Gap in Corporate Communication Strategies" slide offers a critical analysis of the existing communication practices within an organization. It identifies common problems like insufficient stakeholder involvement, lack of interest, and ineffective communication with stakeholders. This slide emphasizes the importance of bridging these gaps to enhance communication effectiveness and foster stronger relationships.

The solutions proposed include implementing a proper stakeholder communication process with regular follow-ups, creating clear channels for feedback and collaboration, and adopting technologies or tools that facilitate seamless communication. By addressing these gaps, organizations can improve engagement, increase transparency, and establish a more robust and efficient corporate communication framework.

Conclusion 

Corporate communication strategies play a pivotal role in the success and growth of any organization. Effective communication is the foundation for building strong relationships with stakeholders, driving employee engagement, and achieving organizational goals.

This blog has highlighted the significance of adopting and implementing well-crafted communication strategies. Additionally, equips you with editable slides on communication strategies that can be readily used in organizations. These slides serve as powerful tools to structure and present communication plans, gap analyses, stakeholder engagement approaches, and more.

By utilizing these editable slides, organizations can enhance their communication efforts, foster collaboration, and ultimately thrive in today's competitive business landscape.

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13.2: What Is Organizational Communication?

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Like defining communication study, many definitions of organizational communication exist. Deetz argues that one way to enlighten our understanding of organizational communication is to compare different approaches. However, for the purpose of this text, we want to define organizational communication so you have a frame of reference for understanding this chapter. Our definition is not definitive, but creates a starting point for understanding this specialization of communication study.

We define organizational communication’ as the sending and receiving of messages among interrelated individuals within a particular environment or setting to achieve individual and common goals. Organizational communication is highly contextual and culturally dependent. Individuals in organizations transmit messages through face-to face, written, and mediated channels.

Organizational communication helps us to 1) accomplish tasks relating to specific roles and responsibilities of sales, services, and production; 2) acclimate to changes through individual and organizational creativity and adaptation; 3) complete tasks through the maintenance of policy, procedures, or regulations that support daily and continuous operations; 4) develop relationships where “human messages are directed at people within the organization-their attitudes, morale, satisfaction, and fulfillment” (Goldhaber 20); and 5) coordinate, plan, and control the operations of the organization through management (Katz & Kahn; Redding; Thayer). Organizational communication is how organizations represent, present, and constitute their organizational climate and culture—the attitudes, values and goals that characterize the organization and its members.

Organizational communication largely focuses on building relationships and interacting with with internal organizational members and interested external publics. As Mark Koschmann explains in his animated YouTube video, we have two ways of looking at organizational communication. The conventional approach focuses on communication within organizations. The second approach is communication as organization — meaning organizations are a result of the communication of those within them. Communication is not just about transmitting messages between senders and receivers. Communication literally constitutes, or makes up, our social world. Much of our communication involves sending and receiving relatively unproblematic messages and acting on that information. Other times things are a bit more complex, such as when you need to resolve conflict with a close friend or family member. There is much more going on in these situations then merely exchanging information. You are actually engaging in a complex process of meaning and negotiating rules created by the people involved.

For organizations to be successful, they must have competent communicators. Organizational communication study shows that organizations rely on effective communication and efficient communication skills from their members. A number of surveys (Davis & Miller; Holter & Kopka; Perrigo & Gaut) identify effective oral and written communication as the most sought after skills by those who run organizations. The U.S. Department of Labor reported communication competency as the most vital skill necessary for the 21st century workforce to achieve organizational success (Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills). The Public Forum Institute maintained that employees need to be skilled in public presentation, listening, and interpersonal communication to flourish in an organization.

Organizations seek people who can follow and give instructions, accurately listen, provide useful feedback, get along with coworkers and customers, network, provide serviceable information, work well in teams, and creatively and critically solve problems and present ideas in an understandable manner. Developing organizational communication awareness and effectiveness is more than just having know-how or knowledge. Efficient organizational communication involves knowing how to create and exchange information, work with diverse groups or individuals, communicate in complicated and changing circumstances, as well as having the aptitude or motivation to communicate in appropriate manners.

How the Field of Organizational Communication Began [ edit ]

As you now know, communication study is deeply entrenched in the oral rhetorical traditions of ancient Rome and Greece. Similar to the many of the early concepts that shaped the discipline, some of the founding principles of organizational communication originated in the East. As early as the fourth century, Chinese scholars concentrated on the “problems of communicating within the vast government bureaucracy as well as between the government and the people” (Murphy, Hildebrandt & Thomas 4). Ancient eastern scholars focused on information flow, message fidelity, and quality of information within their governmental bureaucracy (Krone, Garrett & Chen; Paraboteeah). These still remain areas of focus for organizational communication that you will learn in your classes today.

Like most of our field’s specializations, organizational communication began in the mid 20th century with the work of P. E. Lull and W. Charles Redding at the University of Purdue (Putnam & Cheney). During the industrial age, the focus of organizational communication was on worker productivity, organizational structure, and overall organizational effectiveness. Through this work people were interested in higher profits and managerial efficiency. Follett is often referred to as the first management consultant in the United States (Stohl). She focused specifically on message complexity, appropriate channel choice, and worker participation in organizations. Bernard placed communication at the heart of every organizational process, arguing that people must be able to interact with each other for an organization to succeed.

As a specialization in our field, organizational communication can arguably be traced back to Alexander R. Heron’s 1942 book, Sharing Information With Employees that looked at manager-employee communication (Redding & Tompkins; Meyers & Sadaghiani). Putnam and Cheney stated that the specialization of “organizational communication grew out of three main speech communication traditions: public address, persuasion, and social science research on interpersonal, small group, and mass communication” (131). Along with public-speaking training for corporate executives as early as the 1920’s (Putnam & Cheney), early works like Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People in 1936 focused on necessary oral presentation and written communication skills for managers to succeed in organizations.

Redding and Thompkins identify three periods in the development of organizational communication. During the Era of Preparation (1900 to 1940) much of the groundwork was laid for the discipline that we know today. Scholars emphasized the importance of communication in organizations. The primary focus during this time was on public address, business writing, managerial communication, and persuasion. The Era of Identification and Consolidation (1940-1970) saw the beginnings of business and industrial communication, with certain group and organizational relationships being recognized as important. During the Era of Maturity and Innovation (1970-present), empirical research increased, “accompanied by innovative efforts to develop concepts, theoretical premises, and philosophical critiques” (Redding & Thompkins 7).

As with other specializations over the last century, organizational communication has evolved dramatically as dialogue between business and academic contexts. Redding and Thompkins conclude that “by 1967 or 1968, organizational communication had finally achieved at least a moderate degree of success in two respects: breaking from its ‘business and industrial’ shackles, and gaining a reasonable measure of recognition as an entity worthy of serious academic study” (18).

Organizational Communication Today [ edit ]

As communication evolves, research continues to develop, and organizational communication continues to redefine itself. In the early stages, this area focused on leaders giving public presentations. More recently emphasis has focused on all levels of interaction in organizations. Because interpersonal relationships are a large part of organizational communication, a great deal of research focuses on how interpersonal relationships are conducted within the framework of organizational hierarchies.

Modern organizational communication research has been summarized into eight major traditions: 1) Communication channels, 2) Communication climate, 3) Network analysis, 4) Superior-subordinate communication, 5) the information-processing perspective, 6) the rhetorical perspective, 7) the cultural perspective, and 8) the political perspective (Putnam and Cheney; Kim) Since the 1980s, this specialization has expanded to include work on organizational culture, power and conflict management, and organizational rhetoric. If you were to take an organizational communication course at your campus, much of the time would be spent focusing on developing your skills in organizational socialization, interviewing, giving individual and group presentations, creating positive work relationships, performance evaluation, conflict resolution, stress management, decision making, and communicating with external publics.

Studying Organizational Communication [ edit ]

Looking back to Chapter Six, we looked at three primary ways Communication scholars conduct research. When we study organizational communication we can look to quantitative methods to predict behaviors, or qualitative methods to understand behaviors. We can use qualitative methods to study communication in the natural environment of organizations in order to understand organizational cultures and how they function (Putnam & Cheney; Pacanowsky & O’Donnell-Trujillo; Kim).

Critical approaches view organizations as “sites of domination” (Miller 116) where certain individuals are marginalized or disadvantaged by oppressive groups or structures. Most often the focus of this line of research involves gender or ethnic identity as they manifest themselves in organizations. The critical researcher uses interpretative research techniques similar to cultural studies. When looking at something such as a company pamphlet or the organization’s employee handbook, a critical researcher will expose political messages that may disadvantage particular groups of people.

• Survey of Communication Study. Authored by : Scott T Paynton and Linda K Hahn. Provided by : Humboldt State University. Located at : https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Survey_of_Communication_Study/Preface . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

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Managing Organizational Communication

Overview The Importance of a Comprehensive Communication Strategy Building a Communication Strategy Audience Vehicles and Approaches Types of Messages Legal Issues

Communication is a vital management component to any organization. Whether the purpose is to update employees on new policies, to prepare for a weather disaster, to ensure safety throughout the organization or to listen to the attitudes of employees, effective communication is an integral issue in effective management. To be successful, organizations should have comprehensive policies and strategies for communicating with their constituencies, employees and stakeholders as well as with the community at large.

The following communication topics are discussed in this toolkit:

• The impact of effective and ineffective communication on the organization and its employees.
• How to build an effective communication strategy.
• The various constituencies affected by the communicated information.
• Measuring results.
• How to select the appropriate audience for each type of message.
• The types of communication methods used in organizations.

The Importance of a Comprehensive Communication Strategy

Most HR professionals and organizational leaders agree that linking corporate communication to business strategy is essential to effective and consistent business operations. With a formal and comprehensive communication strategy, organizations can ensure that they:

• Communicate consistent messages.
• Establish a recognizable employment brand.
• Deliver messages from the top that are congruent with the organization's mission, vision and culture.

The impact of effective communication

Effective communication may contribute to organizational success in many ways. It:

• Builds employee morale, satisfaction and engagement.
• Helps employees understand terms and conditions of their employment and drives their commitment and loyalty.
• Educates employees on the merits of remaining union-free (if that is the organization's goal).
• Gives employees a voice—an increasingly meaningful component of improving employees' satisfaction with their employer.
• Helps to lessen the chances for misunderstandings and potentially reduces grievances and lawsuits.
• Improves processes and procedures and ultimately creates greater efficiencies and reduces costs.

The impact of ineffective communication

Ineffective communication may increase the chances for misunderstandings, damage relationships, break trust, and increase anger and hostility. Ineffective communication may stem from poorly aligned strategy, a failure to execute the strategy, use of the wrong communication vehicle, bad timing, and even nuances such as word choice or tone of voice. See  The Cost of Poor Communications and The 7 Deadliest Communication Sins .

Two-way communication

HR professionals may initially think of communication mainly in the context of delivering messages to employees about business issues, policies and procedures, but two-way communication plays an essential role in a comprehensive communication strategy. Listening to employee issues and concerns builds loyalty and drives improved productivity. Organizational leaders can learn through listening about issues or concerns before they become formal grievances or lawsuits. They can also discover potential employee relations issues and learn about attitudes toward terms and conditions of employment. See  Three Steps to Turn Up Your Listening Skills and Open and Transparent Communication .

Building a Communication Strategy

To develop a communication strategy, employers should begin by linking communication to the strategic plan, including the organization's mission, vision and values; its strategic goals and objectives; and its employment brand.

Effective communication strategies:

• Safeguard credibility to establish loyalty and build trust.
• Maintain consistency to establish a strong employment brand.
• Listen to employees and to members of the leadership team.
• Seek input from all constituencies.
• Provide feedback.
• Prepare managers in their roles as organizational leaders.

A communication strategy includes the following elements:

• Highly effective strategies that are often top-down, with senior management setting the tone for a cascading series of messages.
• A budget that allows for the use of various types of communication vehicles depending on the message to be delivered and any unique issues associated with it.
• A process by which leaders evaluate any particular situation driving the need to communicate and from which key messages will emerge.
• A method for generating feedback and using it to shape follow-up messages.
• A customized delivery approach with communication materials that are easy to understand.

Constituencies

Everyone in the organization has a role to play in communication:

• The CEO and senior managers are ultimately responsible for setting the tone and establishing organizational culture. Key leaders should be coached on their role in ensuring effective companywide communication.
• The HR professional and communication leader also have critical roles, especially in challenging economic environments.
• Managers are responsible for daily communication with their employees and for relating to their peers and colleagues.
• All employees have a responsibility to voice concerns and issues, provide feedback, and listen effectively.

Communication training may encompass any number of topics, including:

• Company communication policies.
• Effective writing and presentation skills.
• Train-the-trainer initiatives.

A strong training component will not only equip leaders to communicate effectively with their teams and other organizational leaders, it will also help them understand the appropriate communication channels and protocols.

Responding to employee issues

There is no better way to cause resentment among employees than to ask them for feedback and then fail to act in response to their concerns. Honest, constructive feedback from employees starts with trust and the understanding that employees can voice their concerns without fear of retaliation. See  Employee Engagement Surveys: Why Do Workers Distrust Them?

Dealing with external media

External communications—including public and community relations—may also be a part of an organization's communication strategy. HR professionals, in conjunction with public relations professionals and top management, should develop formal policies and procedures for dealing with external media.

Measuring results

While organizations generally agree that measuring and quantifying results of communication plans are beneficial, this goal is difficult to accomplish. Given the elusive nature of communication data, determining a cost-benefit ratio, for example, may be challenging. Did the organization fare better because of the manner in which it communicated crucial information about a merger or acquisition? Was the impact of a reduction in force on morale mitigated by the way in which employees were told?

Despite the difficulty of doing so, organizations should strive to collect qualitative and quantitative information to evaluate their efforts:

• Qualitative data may include anecdotal evidence that employees' attitudes were improved after the handling of an emergency situation or that focus group information supported the strategy for communicating benefits changes to employees.
• Quantitative data may include measures such as turnover rates, productivity rates and employee satisfaction benchmarks, as well as use of employee service center options.

See  Measuring the ROI of Employee Engagement .

Identifying audience issues is a key task in ensuring effectiveness in any communication strategy. What is the ideal audience for a particular communication? The audience may include everyone who influences or is influenced by the information being shared. For the most effective communication, audience size must also be appropriate given the information being shared and whether interaction will be permitted. If organizations anticipate that employees will have a number of questions regarding a new and unique benefit offering or a new procedure, for example, audience size should be limited so that questions can be adequately addressed.

Communicating "up"

While much of a communication strategy is focused on imparting information to employees, another central component is permitting employees to have a voice with members of senior management. Having a voice is a critical employee relations issue that affects satisfaction and engagement. See  7 Tips to Increase Employee Engagement Without Spending a Dime and Communicating with Two Ears and One Mouth .

Geographically dispersed audience

Organizations may have multi-unit operations with a variety of worksites within a city, state or country, or even globally. The more geographically dispersed and the more interdependent these groups are in their need to work together to solve problems, the greater the challenges are to the communication strategy. See  How to Use Technology to Support Remote Teams and Communicating with Diverse Audiences .

Diversity and global issues

Audiences for organizational communication may embody many dimensions of diversity: age, disability, ethnicity/national origin, gender and race, for example. Diverse audiences may have different perceptions and expectations when giving or receiving information, and these differences should be considered when developing messages to a broad audience. See  Cross-Cultural Sensitivity and Communication .

Vehicles and Approaches

One of the major challenges in developing and executing communication plans is to select the best vehicles for delivering any given message to and from employees. With so many choices, such as face-to-face communication, electronic media, meetings, printed materials and webinars, the decision becomes quite complex. Is the communication best suited for an electronic message via e-mail or for a face-to-face meeting? Should communication be mailed to the home address of the employee if family members are affected by the news, such as in a benefits update, or is it best communicated in a meeting conducted on work time?

New forms of electronic media raise additional questions. With social media opportunities available to any individual, HR professionals may need to consider not only strategies to tap into this medium but also policies for employees using this medium to communicate among themselves. See  Texts and E-Mails vs. Oral Communication at Work: Which Is Best? and Study: Tech Miscommunications May Erode Employee Engagement .

When selecting the best communication vehicle, organizational leaders should consider:

• Timing. The timing of the information may be imperative, such as in emergency situations.
• Location. Employees' location may affect this selection. Are all employees in one building, at multiple sites or situated globally? Do they work virtually?
• Message. Another issue that affects the decision is the sensitivity of the information. For layoff or termination information, most professionals agree that face-to-face meetings trump any other means of communication, but some issues may make these meetings impossible due to the geographic location of the employees, the number of employees affected and other factors.

Organizational leaders have many options, including the following, when selecting a communication vehicle.

The employee handbook is used to communicate standard operating procedures, guidelines and policies. The handbook is also used to communicate the organization's mission, vision and values, helping to establish an organizational culture and employment brand. While most employee handbooks traditionally have been produced in print format, more organizations are moving toward an electronic format, allowing for easy updating, documentation and review, especially when all employees have access to computers. See  SHRM Employee Handbook Builder .

Newsletters

Newsletters are used to communicate new information about the organization, its products and services, and its employees. Newsletters may be in print or electronic format and may be sent to the employee as well as to his or her family, especially when the news directly affects family members. Newsletters may be published on a regular basis (weekly, monthly, quarterly) or whenever the organization has news to report.

Town hall meetings

Town hall meetings are an option to gather employees together to share news, celebrate successes or communicate companywide information that affects all employees. These meetings are most effective when employees are physically located in one geographic area, but for some critical meetings, employees may be brought to one central location. Alternatively, town hall meetings may be held in various locations when employees are widely dispersed geographically or may be held electronically via webinars or teleconferences.

Electronic communication is a fast and easy way to reach many employees at once. It may be best used when information is urgent, such as in emergencies. E-mail communication presents some difficulties because tone of voice and inflection are absent, making an ironic or sarcastic remark appear rude or harsh, which may not be the intended message.

Face-to-face meetings

Face-to-face meetings with employees are one of the best ways to relay sensitive information. During layoffs or restructurings or when handling employee performance issues, face-to-face communication is generally preferred.

The telephone is another way to communicate information to employees. Whether it is used in the traditional sense when face-to-face communication is not physically possible or in more state-of-the-art communication via webinars or voice mail blasts, the telephone is a staple in communication vehicles.

Surveys/polls

Two-way communication is vital to any effective communication strategy, and developing formal tactics to listen to employees is essential. Employers can elicit fast feedback through surveys and polls about specific issues (like a new benefit or policy) or general concerns.

Storytelling creates a picture through words so that the message becomes memorable. Organizational leaders are beginning to understand how storytelling can be used as a powerful business tool to impart company culture, to create an employment brand, and to build trust and loyalty among employees.

Social media

Many individuals regularly use social media sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, not only for recreational purposes but as a business communication tool. Social media can help recruiters source top talent, help salespeople identify potential contacts and allow employees to keep in touch with their leaders. HR professionals should ensure that company policies are updated so that social media is used appropriately in the workplace. 

Messaging apps

Messaging applications such as Jabber and Slack and chatbots that interact with applicants and employees through automation may be the future of workplace communication. The next generation of workers prefer chat and messaging apps over traditional e-mail. 

Virtual team meetings

Organizations may have employees located across the city or across the globe and may need to rely on virtual team meetings to get work done. Setting expectations and establishing protocols are vital steps in ensuring that communication will be effective. Since written communication, whether in print or in electronic format, can hide tone of voice, inflection and other nuances of communication, many work teams rely on videoconferences and Internet-based technologies to make virtual meetings more productive.

The "grapevine"

One of the most used and undermanaged tools for employee communication is the proverbial grapevine. Watercooler discussions are still a mechanism for employees to hear the latest news unfiltered by management, and they continue to be a source for employees in learning the inside story. Employers must be mindful that whatever formal communication strategy is used, the grapevine still exists and will be tapped by employees at all levels. The grapevine should not be discounted when considering the best tool to listen to and learn about employee issues.

Types of Messages

The type of message sent is a major factor in choosing the appropriate communication channel.

Standard operating procedures

There are many ways to communicate policies and procedures—staff meetings, employee orientation sessions and one-on-one coaching, for example—but employee handbooks are still the best way to deliver a consistent message to all employees with respect to standard operating procedures.

General business updates

General organizational updates may be communicated through newsletters, e-mails or town hall meetings or in small group huddles.

Bankruptcy, downsizing and restructuring

Employers should use several different communication means to announce and update employees when an organization faces bankruptcy, a restructuring or a downsizing. Whether in regular briefings by top leaders—through voice mail blasts, e-mail alerts or town hall meetings—or in departmental or group meetings, the employer needs to keep employees apprised of whatever information may be necessary to keep the organization running smoothly. See  Layoffs Require Communication, Compassion and Compliance .

Benefits changes

Communication regarding employee benefits may greatly affect employees' perceptions of the value of their compensation package and, moreover, the value of their employment with an organization. Accordingly, benefits communications should be planned carefully using means appropriate to the circumstances: printed messages, virtual or face-to-face meetings, one-on-one briefings, and so on. Major benefits changes—such as a new carrier or new options—require a more comprehensive approach than the one used for routine updates. See  Make Your Benefits Website a Year-Round Hub

Emergencies

Emergencies—such as those caused by weather, violent employee behaviors, natural catastrophes or terrorists—require quick and effective communication to ensure the health and safety of employees and their families. A comprehensive disaster plan, complete with communication strategies and standard policies for dealing with emergencies, should be a requirement for all organizations. See  Managing Through Emergency and Disaster .

Merger or acquisition

Communication issues with mergers and acquisitions are a high priority for HR professionals. HR professionals must consider how to communicate new benefits plans, new operating procedures, a new company culture, revised organizational charts and myriad other issues during mergers and acquisitions.

Outsourcing

Organizations may find that some business functions are handled better through outsourcing. Communication is vital to explain the change and the rationale to employees, as well as in developing new strategies for communicating with the outsourced vendor.

Legal Issues

Some communications come with legal constraints and/or guidelines that impact the message being delivered or how the employer delivers the information. For example, employers may face charges of unfair labor practices as a result of how it communicates to employees the company's desire to remain union-free. See  Union Communication Guidance: TIPS and FOE .

Employers may also be limited in discussing employees' personal information; even in circumstances where there are no legal restrictions, employers are cautioned against breaching employee privacy in many circumstances.

Should employers announce or post employee birthdays?

Does the HIPAA Privacy Rule prohibit employer announcements of births, employee hospitalizations or family medical emergencies to other employees?

When Giving References, How Truthful Can You Be?

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Related Papers

Organizational Communication: Perspectives and Trends

Barry Spiker

Widodo Winarso

Communication is a very important skill in human life, where we can see communication can occur in every human step. Humans are social beings who depend on each other and are independent and interrelated with others in their environment. The only means to be able to connect with others in their environment is communication both verbally and non verbally (body language and cues are widely understood). Communication is one important thing to support the success of the organization both in improving organizational performance and organizational adaptation to any changes in the existing environment. Through good communication between individuals and parties directly involved in organizations and outside the organization, organizations can obtain the necessary information

Catriona Yan Qin

European Scientific Journal ESJ

This paper deals with the topic of organisational communication. It discusses the various types and theoretical aspects of communication. If one raises the question “How important is it to have good communication in an organisation?” Nearly everyone will give an answer that it is vital for both the organisation and its employees. However, when it comes to the question of what can be done to improve communication in organisations, there appears to be a somewhat slight conformity. A basic unavoidable feature of complex organisations is that the people in them do not work in isolation. Therefore, group identification and role relationships, information transmission, and the process by which information required meaning, must be better understood. Another important point is the fact that organisations are goal-oriented, a phenomenon which directly influences the content and patterns of communication within them (Porter & Roberts, 1977).

Organizational Communication Theory (Undergraduate)

Sarah Riforgiate

Individuals interact with and participate in organizations constantly. For example, a person may be a part of a university, a department, several classes, student organizations, religious groups, social groups (i.e., sorority/fraternity, networking group, dorm floor, etc.), and volunteer organizations. While organizations or groups represent a context for communication, organizational communication involves how individuals use communication to coordinate behaviors. This course is designed to provide a historical and theoretical overview of organizational communication research. Topics we will discuss include historical shifts in organizations, predominant theories, culture, socialization, identity, work teams, leadership, policy distribution and use, and ethics.

Organisational Behaviour

Iim Rohimah

Amadosi Mosugu

Information and organization communication technology has become such as an important aspect of organizational communication in the 21st Century workplace, with tangible and intangible contributions to efficiency, improved employee work-life balance, diversity, mobility, and customer experience, as well as increase in performance and revenue growth for organizations. Communication: Communication is the transfer of message from one person or group to another, or from one place to another. The transfer of message is considered communicative when it involves more than one sender or recipient. Several factors are involved when communication occur between people, such things like the medium of communication, the culture, location, and the emotion of those involved in the communication. However, this is what makes communication process difficult, hence, for a communication process to be regarded as appropriate, it must be easy to understand, effective and accurate. Communication occurs in several categories such as, verbal, non-verbal, written, and visual communication categories. It is important for those involved in communication process to use the appropriate channels, some of which are, face-to-face interactions, telephone, text messages, email, the internet, radio, television, letters, brochures, and reports (Miller, 2015). This is important for communication to be termed effective. These various channels have their advantages and disadvantages. Messages transmitted in a communication must be encoded in a form that the chosen channel can relay. Also, it must be able to be decoded easily without any barriers. At the end, the sender must receive without feedback by the recipient of the message. Organizational Communication: According to Wrench & Carter (2012), organizational communication is the assemblage of people with a similar interest, in a particular setup or space, interacting together to achieve a common goal. This include interaction with internal entities such as competitors, vendors, customers and other forms of stakeholders. Internally, organizational communication involves the various units and departments and the human capital, which form the important part of an organization. Organizational Communication is described as the ways and form in which communication occur in an organization. These include both internal and external communication. The container approach of communication describes organizational communication as the understanding of transmitted message through a channel to a receiver, while the social construction approach defines organizational communication as how language is processed to form diverse social structures, for example, relationship, teams and networks. Organizational communication is premised on the use of communication as a means of carrying out tasks and achieving organizational goals. According to some people, it is the lifeline of organizations. Some of the benefits of organizational communication includes, enabling various units of the organizational to work together effectively. It helps in the process of policy implementation, as well as encouraging exchange of information (Goldhaber, 1990). Organizational communication is significant in an organization in adaptation, management, motivation, leadership, and control. More so, there are certain aspects within organizational communication, such as, leadership, teams, communication networks, organizational culture, and organizational learning. Organizational Communication Ethics: Communication flow within organization: According to Turkalj & Fosic (), communication include upward flow, downward communication, sideward communication, oral communication, written communication, and non-verbal communication.

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With roots in social psychology, human relations, and organizational theory and behavior, the discipline of organizational communication has emerged in the last 25 years with its own content, methodology, and applications. Although one of the first major literature reviews ...

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8.2 Understanding Communication

Learning objectives.

• Define communication.
• Understand the communication process.

Communication is vital to organizations—it’s how we coordinate actions and achieve goals. It is defined in Webster’s dictionary as a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior. We know that 50% to 90% of a manager’s time is spent communicating (Schnake et al., 1990), and communication ability is related to a manager’s performance (Penley et al., 1991). In most work environments, a miscommunication is an annoyance—it can interrupt workflow by causing delays and interpersonal strife. But, in some work arenas, like operating rooms and airplane cockpits, communication can be a matter of life and death.

So, just how prevalent is miscommunication in the workplace? You may not be surprised to learn that the relationship between miscommunication and negative outcomes is very strong. Data suggest that deficient interpersonal communication was a causal factor in approximately 70% to 80% of all accidents over the last 20 years. [1]

At NASA, success depends on strong communication.

Wikimedia Commons – public domain.

Poor communication can also lead to lawsuits. For example, you might think that malpractice suits are filed against doctors based on the outcome of their treatments alone. But a 1997 study of malpractice suits found that a primary influence on whether or not a doctor is sued is the doctor’s communication style. While the combination of a bad outcome and patient unhappiness can quickly lead to litigation, a warm, personal communication style leads to greater patient satisfaction. Simply put, satisfied patients are less likely to sue. [2]

In business, poor communication costs money and wastes time. One study found that 14% of each workweek is wasted on poor communication (Armour, 1998). In contrast, effective communication is an asset for organizations and individuals alike. Effective communication skills, for example, are an asset for job seekers. A recent study of recruiters at 85 business schools ranked communication and interpersonal skills as the highest skills they were looking for, with 89% of the recruiters saying they were important (Alsop, 2006). On the flip side, good communication can help a company retain its star employees. Surveys find that when employees think their organizations do a good job of keeping them informed about matters that affect them and when they have access to the information they need to do their jobs, they are more satisfied with their employers. [3] So can good communication increase a company’s market value? The answer seems to be yes. “When you foster ongoing communications internally, you will have more satisfied employees who will be better equipped to effectively communicate with your customers,” says Susan Meisinger, president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management. Research finds that organizations that are able to improve their communication integrity also increase their market value by as much as 7% (Meisinger, 2003). We will explore the definition and benefits of effective communication in our next section.

The Communication Process

Communication fulfills three main functions within an organization, including coordination, transmission of information, and sharing emotions and feelings. All these functions are vital to a successful organization. The coordination of effort within an organization helps people work toward the same goals. Transmitting information is a vital part of this process. Sharing emotions and feelings bonds teams and unites people in times of celebration and crisis. Effective communication helps people grasp issues, build rapport with coworkers, and achieve consensus. So, how can we communicate effectively? The first step is to understand the communication process.

Lee Iacocca, past president and CEO of Chrysler until his retirement in 1992, said, “You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.”

We all exchange information with others countless times each day by phone, e-mail, printed word, and of course, in person. Let us take a moment to see how a typical communication works using this as a guide.

Figure 8.4 Process Model of Communication

A sender , such as a boss, coworker, or customer, originates the message with a thought. For example, the boss’s thought could be: “Get more printer toner cartridges! ”

The sender encodes the message, translating the idea into words.

The boss may communicate this thought by saying, “Hey you guys, let’s order more printer toner cartridges .”

The medium of this encoded message may be spoken words, written words, or signs.

The receiver is the person who receives the message.

The receiver decodes the message by assigning meaning to the words.

In this example, our receiver, Bill, has a to-do list a mile long. “The boss must know how much work I already have ,” the receiver thinks. Bill’s mind translates his boss’s message as, “Could you order some printer toner cartridges, in addition to everything else I asked you to do this week…if you can find the time ?”

The meaning that the receiver assigns may not be the meaning that the sender intended, because of factors such as noise. Noise is anything that interferes with or distorts the message being transformed. Noise can be external in the environment (such as distractions) or it can be within the receiver. For example, the receiver may be extremely nervous and unable to pay attention to the message. Noise can even occur within the sender: The sender may be unwilling to take the time to convey an accurate message, or the words that are chosen can be ambiguous and prone to misinterpretation.

Picture the next scene. The place: a staff meeting. The time: a few days later. Bill’s boss believes the message about printer toner has been received.

“Are the printer toner cartridges here yet ?” Bill’s boss asks.

“You never said it was a rush job! ” Bill protests.

Miscommunications like these happen in the workplace every day. We’ve seen that miscommunication does occur in the workplace, but how does a miscommunication happen? It helps to think of the communication process. The series of arrows pointing the way from the sender to the receiver and back again can, and often do, fall short of their target.

Key Takeaway

Communication is vital to organizations. Poor communication is prevalent between senders and receivers. Communication fulfills three functions within organizations, including coordination, the transmission of information, and sharing emotions and feelings. Noise can disrupt or distort communication.

• Where have you seen the communication process break down at work? At school? At home?
• Explain how miscommunication might be related to an accident at work.
• Give an example of noise during the communication process.

Alsop, R. (2006, September 20). The top business schools: Recruiters’ M.B.A. picks. Wall Street Journal Online . Retrieved September 20, 2006, from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115860376846766495.html?mod=2_1245_1 .

Armour, S. (1998, September 30). Failure to communicate costly for companies. USA Today , p. 1A.

Meisinger, S. (2003, February). Enhancing communications—Ours and yours. HR Magazine . Retrieved July 1, 2008, from http://www.shrm.org/hrmagazine/archive/0203toc.asp .

Penley, L. E., Alexander, E. R., Jernigan, I. E., & Henwood, C. I. (1991). Communication abilities of managers: The relationship of performance. Journal of Management , 17 , 57–76.

Schnake, M. E., Dumler, M. P., Cochran, D. S., & Barnett, T. R. (1990). Effects of differences in subordinate perceptions of superiors’ communication practices. Journal of Business Communication , 27 , 37–50.

• NASA study cited by Baron, R. (n.d.). Barriers to effective communication: Implications for the cockpit. Retrieved July 3, 2008, from AirlineSafety.com: http://www.airlinesafety.com/editorials/BarriersToCommunication.htm . ↵
• Communications skills cut malpractice risk—study reveals most important reason that patients decide to file malpractice suits is because of poor communication by physicians and not medical errors. (1997, October). USA Today . ↵
• What are the bottom line results of communicating? (2003, June). Pay for Performance Report . Retrieved July 1, 2008, from http://www.mercerHR.com . ↵

Organizational Behavior Copyright © 2017 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Basics of Communication in Business

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12 tips for effective communication in the workplace

Effective communication transcends simple information exchanges. Understanding the emotions and motives behind the given information is essential. In addition to successfully conveying messages, it's important to actively listen and fully understand the conversation, making the speaker feel heard and understood.

Today, we’re in almost constant contact with our coworkers. You might not put a lot of thought into saying “hi” to your coworker, grabbing virtual coffee with a remote team member, or sending a gif of a cat wearing pajamas to your team—and that’s ok. Even though you’re communicating at work, there’s a difference between these types of messages and communication in the workplace.

Communication in the workplace refers to the communication you do at work about work. Knowing when and how to effectively communicate at work can help you reduce miscommunication, increase team happiness, bolster collaboration, and foster trust. Teams that know how to communicate effectively about work are better prepared for difficult situations. But building good communication habits takes time and effort—and that’s where we come in. Here are 12 ways to take your workplace communication skills to the next level.

What is effective communication?

Effective communication is the exchange of ideas, thoughts, opinions, knowledge, and information so that the message is received and comprehended clearly and purposefully. When we communicate effectively, all stakeholders are fulfilled.

Developing effective communication skills requires a delicate balance of active listening, verbal communication, nonverbal cues, body language, and emotional intelligence to ensure messages are clearly transmitted and understood.

It's about more than just talking; effective communication involves listening skills and a deep understanding of interpersonal dynamics. Individuals can use these communication skills to bridge gaps, make informed decisions, and strengthen relationships. 

What does “workplace communication” mean?

Communication in the workplace can happen face-to-face, in writing, over a video conferencing platform, on social media, or in a group meeting. It can also happen in real time or asynchronously , which happens when you’re communicating about work over email, with recorded video, or on a platform like a project management tool . Some examples of workplace communication include:

Team meetings

1:1 feedback sessions

Receiving information

Communicating about project status or progress

Collaboration on cross-functional tasks

Nonverbal communication

Collaboration Report: How the most effective teams in the world collaborate

Explore key traits that have made the most effective teams in the world successful: their strategies, techniques, and tips for working well together.

What makes communication effective?

Now that you know what type of communication can be included in workplace communication, how do you start getting better at it? There are a few key tenets of effective communication that you can use, no matter what type of communication it is. In particular, good communication:

Aims for clarity. Whether you’re sending a Slack message, drafting an email, or giving an off-the-cuff reply, aim to be clear and concise with your communication.

Seeks to solve conflicts, not create them. In the workplace, we're often involved in problem solving and collaborating on projects or tasks. Good communication in the workplace can involve bringing up blockers or providing feedback—but make sure the goal is to get to a better place than where you are now.

Goes both ways. Every instance of effective communication in the workplace represents an exchange of information—even when the information is communicated solely through nonverbal cues.

Benefits of effective communication in the workplace

Clear, effective workplace communication can:

Boost employee engagement and belonging

Improve interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence

Encourage team buy-in

Increase productivity

Build a healthy workplace and organizational culture

Reduce conflict

Increase retention

7 tips for more effective communication in the workplace

Effective communication in the workplace is all about where, how, and when you’re communicating. Try these seven tips to develop better communication skills.

1. Know where to communicate—and about what

Communication happens in many different forms—face-to-face, over email, via instant messages, and in work management platforms. To be most effective, make sure you’re following communication guidelines and messaging about the right things in the right places.

Sometimes, knowing where to communicate is half the battle. Your company may have different communication tools , which makes knowing which tool to use all the more important. Which tool is appropriate for your question or comment? Do you need to communicate in real time, or is it ok to send an asynchronous message? If you’re not sure, ask a team member or manager where you should be sending different types of messages. It is important for everyone to be on the same page. For example, at Asana, we use:

2. Build collaboration skills

Collaboration is the bedrock of effective teamwork. In order to build strong team collaboration skills , you need to practice open and honest communication. This doesn’t necessarily mean always agreeing on things—knowing how to disagree and work through those differences is a key part of collaboration, too.

Collaboration and communication skills are kind of a “chicken and egg” scenario. You can build good collaboration by communicating effectively, but knowing how to collaborate is a key component of strong communication. Essentially, this just means you’ll have to practice improving both collaboration and communication skills over time. As you improve team collaboration, you’ll get better at conveying information and opinions in a work environment—and as a result, that honest communication will make collaboration feel more effortless.

3. Talk face-to-face when you can

Perhaps the most tried-and-true way to avoid miscommunication is to talk face-to-face. If your team is virtual, speaking via video conferencing also works. Eye contact is particularly important if you know a conversation is going to be hard. Tone can be difficult to communicate through writing so ideally, you want your team member to be able to see your facial expressions and body language.

If your team is remote or distributed, communicating via a phone call instead of a video conference could work as well. Video conferencing fatigue is real, and it can make collaboration and communication particularly difficult for remote teams. Communicating over the phone reduces some of the visual strain, while still giving you the ability to hear your team member’s voice and tone.

4. Watch your body language and tone of voice

Communication isn’t just about what you say—it’s also about how you say it. Make sure you aren’t crossing your arms or coming off as curt. Oftentimes, your body language may have nothing to do with the current situation—maybe you’re tired or stressed about something in your personal life. But your team members, who might not have that context, could see your actions and assume you’re angry or upset about something. Particularly for hard conversations, try to relax your body language and facial expressions to avoid giving off any unintentional cues.

5. Prioritize two-way communication

Listening skills are just as important to communication in the workplace as talking. Part of being a collaborative team member is listening to other people’s ideas instead of just trying to put your own ideas out there.

There are two common types of listening : listening to reply and listening to understand. When you listen to reply, you’re focusing on what you’re going to say next, rather than what the other person is saying. With this type of listening, you risk missing key information or even repeating what the other person just said.

Instead, try active listening—that is, listen to what the other person has to say without thinking about how you’re going to reply. If you do think of something you want to say, jot it down so you can go back to listening to understand , instead of trying to remember the thing you want to say next.

6. Stick to facts, not stories

“Facts vs. stories” is a technique recommended by the co-founder of the Conscious Leadership Group, Diana Chapman. In this case, “facts” are things that have actually happened—things that everyone in the room would easily agree on. A “story,” on the other hand, is your interpretation of the situation.

For example, say your manager gives you live feedback during a small team meeting. That is a fact. You weren’t expecting the feedback, and you feel like your manager shared the feedback—instead of saving it for your 1:1—because they’re dissatisfied with your work. This is a “story” because you have no way of knowing if it is true or not.

Stories are inevitable—we all create stories from facts. But try to separate stories from facts, and avoid acting on stories until you’re able to validate them. For example, in this case, you might want to talk to your manager during your next 1:1 and ask why they shared feedback in a team meeting.

7. Make sure you’re speaking to the right person

Effective workplace communication is as much about who you’re talking to as it is about what you’re saying. Poor communication often occurs when you’re talking to the wrong people or trying to share information in the wrong setting.

To avoid this, make sure the right people are in the room or receiving the message. If you aren’t sure who that would be, go through an exercise to identify any important project stakeholders who might be missing.

5 tips to build effective communication skills in the workplace

If you’re a leader, you have the power to set and establish communication conventions on your team. Effective communication skills can build healthy company culture , foster trust among your employees, and break down silos between cross-functional teams. Here’s how:

1. Address any underlying changes

Before you start improving your team’s communication skills, ensure there are no underlying issues that keep everyone from communicating honestly. Does everyone feel comfortable talking openly? Is there anything that might make a team member feel like they can’t be their full selves?

One of the most valuable things you can do as a leader is to make sure your employees feel comfortable showing up to work as their whole selves (or as much of themselves as they want to bring). Whether that means voicing disagreements, talking about their passions outside of work, or being honest about what type of communication works best for them, make sure to understand each team member’s needs and ensure they’re being met in the team environment.

One theme that kept coming up in our employee engagement surveys was that we could improve information sharing and communication across the organization, so we looked for a way to do that.”

2. Frequently ask for feedback

If you don’t ask for feedback on your communication style, you may never get it. Even though communication in the workplace impacts every other interaction, team members might not immediately think of it as something to provide feedback on. By asking your employees for feedback on your communication style, you can continue to improve and develop clear communication strategies for your team.

3. Understand team communication styles

Another effective way to communicate with your team is to ask them how they want to communicate. Communication preferences shouldn’t be a secret—or a guessing game—and knowing off the bat if your team members prefer video conferences or phone calls, early morning meetings, or afternoon jam sessions can help you create an environment where they can thrive.

Important questions to ask include:

Are they an early bird or a night owl?

Do they like structured meetings or prefer free-flow brainstorming sessions?

Do they do their best thinking out loud, on the spot, or on paper?

What personality type do they identify with: introvert, extrovert, or ambivert?

Do they feel like they know their team members, or would they prefer more team bonding activities?

What types of meetings or tasks are most energizing for them?

4. Make time for team building or icebreakers

Getting to know your team is critical to developing good communication skills. It’s particularly important to make time to get to know your team outside of a workplace setting. Icebreaker questions can help bring an element of personality and fun to every meeting, so consider starting with a light chat before diving into your meeting agenda.

5. Set the tone

Remember: the way you communicate and collaborate will impact your entire team. It’s up to you to set the standard for open and clear communication in the workplace. Once you establish this standard, your team will follow suit.

Every few months, make a note to follow up with how everyone is feeling about team communication. Are there any habits that have cropped up in the last few months that you want to cull or encourage? Regularly thinking about how your team communicates—instead of “setting and forgetting” your team practices—can help you be more intentional about your communication methods.

As an organization grows, communication starts to bottleneck. At Hope for Haiti, we’ve seen those inefficiencies hurt us: when we can’t run like a well-oiled machine, we’re not serving as many people as we could be—and it’s our responsibility to improve upon that.”

More types of workplace communication

Most discussions about communication in the workplace assume the “workplace” is in person. But there are various forms of communication across different locations—from global offices to remote teams. Most effective communication best practices still apply to any type of team, but there are a few additional considerations and best practices you can use to help team members truly connect.

Distributed teams

Distributed teams work across multiple national or global offices. These teams might span different time zones and languages, and each office will have its own culture and habits. Don’t expect each distributed team to communicate in the same way—in fact, one of the advantages of distributed teams is the variety of thought you’re exposed to by working with teammates from all over the world.

If you work on a distributed team, it’s critical to over-communicate so that team members in different time zones and offices stay in the loop. Make sure to document everything in a central source of truth that team members can access when they’re online, and look for a tool that updates in real-time so no one has to slow down due to information lag.

Keep in mind that time zones might affect how people come to a conversation. Try to schedule meetings when everyone is available, or offer recordings and notes if team members can’t make it. It’s also critical to double check that the right people are in the loop, and that they aren’t just being left out because they’re in a different office than the majority of your team.

Online coworkers

If you’re working with a virtual team, it’s critical to establish where you’re going to communicate and how frequently. Knowing exactly what each communication tool should be used for can help team members feel connected—even while they’re remote.

While working remotely, we’ve had to re-learn how to communicate in many ways. Slack, Asana, and integrations between these tools has replaced or supplemented a lot of in-person ways we used to communicate.”

Remote team members can feel isolated and disconnected from one another, so consider doing an exercise with your entire team about preferred business communication habits. Some team members might love cold calls, while others might prefer scheduled meetings with concise agendas. Because team members have fewer chances to interact in person, it’s critical to establish these forms of communication as a team so you can keep the communication channels open.

Finally, make sure to bring team members in for regular team bonding events. Whether you’re doing icebreaker activities at the beginning of every meeting or scheduling some time to just chat at the end of each week, dedicated team time can help team members connect, no matter where they’re dialing in from.

The cherry on top of effective workplace communication

The last component of great communication is having a central source of truth for all of your communication and work information. Using a centralized system like a work management tool can help you coordinate work across all levels of your team. Learn more about how work management makes project coordination and communication easier in our introduction to work management article .

FAQ: Effective communication in the workplace

What are the best ways of communicating with your work colleagues.

The best ways of communicating with your work colleagues involve concise, respectful, and timely exchanges. This can be achieved through various channels, such as emails, instant messaging, face-to-face meetings, and video calls. Selecting the right medium based on the context of your communication (e.g., using emails for formal requests or Slack for quick queries) and ensuring you're concise and to the point can enhance the effectiveness of your communication.

Why is effective communication important?

Effective communication ensures that information is accurately conveyed and understood, resulting in improved efficiency, fewer misunderstandings, and better working relationships. It promotes teamwork, decision-making, and problem solving, which makes effective communication a cornerstone of successful operations and a positive work environment.

What constitutes effective communication?

Effective communication is characterized by clarity, conciseness, coherence, and considerateness, also known as the 5 Cs of communication. It means the message is delivered in a clear and understandable manner, is direct and to the point, logically organized, and sensitive to the receiver's needs and perspectives. It also involves active listening, openness to feedback, and the ability to adjust or paraphrase the message according to the audience and context.

How can you become an effective communicator?

To become an effective communicator, focus on clarity and brevity in your messages, actively listen to others, and provide constructive feedback. Pay attention to both verbal and nonverbal cues, such as body language and tone, to ensure your message is received as intended. Practice empathy by considering the receiver's perspective, and be open to feedback to continuously improve your public speaking skills.

Related resources

Unmanaged business goals don’t work. Here’s what does.

How Asana uses work management to drive product development

How Asana uses work management to streamline project intake processes

How Asana uses work management for smoother creative production

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11.2: Types of Communication in Organizations

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2. Know the types of communications that occur in organizations.

In the communication model described above, three types of communication can be used by either the communicator in the initial transmission phase or the receiver in the feedback phase. These three types are discussed next.

Oral Communication

This consists of all messages or exchanges of information that are spoken, and it’s the most prevalent type of communication.

Written Communication

This includes e-mail, texts, letters, reports, manuals, and annotations on sticky notes. Although managers prefer oral communication for its efficiency and immediacy, the increase in electronic communication is undeniable. As well, some managers prefer written communication for important messages, such as a change in a company policy, where precision of language and documentation of the message are important.

Managerial leadership

Dealing with Information Overload

One of the challenges in many organizations is dealing with a deluge of emails, texts, voicemails, and other communication. Organizations have become flatter, outsourced many functions, and layered technology to speed communication with an integrated communication programs such as Slack, which allows users to manage all their communication and access shared resources in one place. This can lead to information overload, and crucial messages may be drowned out by the volume in your inbox.

Add the practice of “reply to all,” which can add to the volume of communication, that many coworkers use, and that means that you may get five or six versions of an initial e-mail and need to understand all of the responses as well as the initial communication before responding or deciding that the issue is resolved and no response is needed. Here are suggestions to dealing with e-mail overload upward, horizontally, and downward within your organization and externally to stakeholders and customers.

One way to reduce the volume and the time you spend on e-mail is to turn off the spigot of incoming messages. There are obvious practices that help, such as unsubscribing to e-newsletters or turning off notifications from social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter. Also consider whether your colleagues or direct reports are copying you on too many emails as an FYI. If yes, explain that you only need to be updated at certain times or when a final decision is made.

You will also want to set up a system that will organize your inbox into “folders” that will allow you to manage the flow of messages into groups that will allow you to address them appropriately. Your system might look something like this:

• Inbox : Treat this as a holding pen. E-mails shouldn’t stay here any longer than it takes for you to file them into another folder. The exception is when you respond immediately and are waiting for an immediate response.
• Today : This is for items that need a response today.
• This week : This is for messages that require a response before the end of the week.

role, you may need a monthly or quarterly folder.

This system prioritizes e-mails based on timescales rather than the e-mails’ senders, enabling you to better schedule work and set deadlines.

Another thing to consider is your outgoing e-mail. If your outgoing messages are not specific, too long, unclear, or are copied too widely, your colleagues are likely to follow the same practice when communicating with you. Keep your communication clear and to the point, and managing your outbox will help make your inbound e-mails manageable.

Critical Thinking Questions

• How are you managing your e-mails now? Are you mixing personal and school and work-related e- mails in the same account?
• How would you communicate to a colleague that is sending too many FYI e-mails, sending too may unclear e-mails, or copying too many people on her messages?

Sources: Amy Gallo, Stop Email Overload, Harvard Business Review , February 21, 2012, https://hbr.org/ 2012/02/stop-email-overload-1; Barry Chingel, “How to beat email Overload in 2018”, CIPHER , January 16, 2018, https://www.ciphr.com/advice/email-overload/ ; Monica Seely, “At the Mercy of Your Inbox? How to Cope With Email Overload”, The Guardian , November 6, 2017, www.theguardian.com/small- business-network/2017/nov/06/at-the-mercy-of-your-inbox-how-to-cope-with-email-overload.

Nonverbal Communication

There is also the transformation of information without speaking or writing. Some examples of this are things such as traffic lights and sirens as well as things such as office size and placement, which connote something or someone of importance. As well, things such as body language and facial expression can convey either conscious or unconscious messages to others.

Major Influence on Interpersonal Communication

Regardless of the type of communication involved, the nature, direction, and quality of interpersonal communication processes can be influenced by several factors. 3

Social Influences

Communication is a social process, as it takes at least two people to have a communication episode. There is a variety of social influences that can affect the accuracy of the intended message. For examples, status barriers between employees at different levels of the organization can influence things such as addressing a colleague as at a director level as “Ms. Jones” or a coworker at the same level as “Mike.” Prevailing norms and roles can dictate who speaks to whom and how someone responds. Exhibit 11.4 illustrates a variety of communications that illustrate social influences in the workplace.

In addition, the communication process is heavily influenced by perceptual processes. The extent to which an employee accurately receives job instructions from a manager may be influences by her perception of the manager, especially if the job instructions conflict with her interest in the job or if they are controversial. If an employee has stereotyped the manager as incompetent, chances are that little that the manager says will be taken seriously. If the boss is well regarded or seen as influential in the company, everything that she says may be interpreted as important.

Interaction Involvement

Communication effectiveness can be influenced by the extent to which one or both parties are involved in conversation. This attentiveness is called interaction attentiveness or interaction involvement . 4 If the intended receiver of the message is preoccupied with other issues, the effectiveness of the message may be diminished. Interaction involvement consists of three interrelated dimensions: responsiveness, perceptiveness, and attentiveness.

Organizational Design

The communication process can also be influenced by the design of the organization. It has often been argued to decentralize an organization because that will lead to a more participative structure and lead to improved communication in the organization. When messages must travel through multiple levels of an organization, the possibility of distortion can also occur, which would be diminished with more face-to-face communication.

concept check

• What are the three major types of communication?
• How can you manage the inflow of electronic communication?
• What are the major influences on organizational communication, and how can organizational design affect communication?

16.2 Types of Communications in Organizations

• Know the types of communications that occur in organizations.

In the communication model described above, three types of communication can be used by either the communicator in the initial transmission phase or the receiver in the feedback phase. These three types are discussed next.

Oral Communication

This consists of all messages or exchanges of information that are spoken, and it’s the most prevalent type of communication.

Written Communication

This includes e-mail, texts, letters, reports, manuals, and annotations on sticky notes. Although managers prefer oral communication for its efficiency and immediacy, the increase in electronic communication is undeniable. As well, some managers prefer written communication for important messages, such as a change in a company policy, where precision of language and documentation of the message are important.

Managerial Leadership

Dealing with information overload.

One of the challenges in many organizations is dealing with a deluge of emails, texts, voicemails, and other communication. Organizations have become flatter, outsourced many functions, and layered technology to speed communication with an integrated communication programs such as Slack, which allows users to manage all their communication and access shared resources in one place. This can lead to information overload, and crucial messages may be drowned out by the volume in your inbox.

Add the practice of “reply to all,” which can add to the volume of communication, that many coworkers use, and that means that you may get five or six versions of an initial e-mail and need to understand all of the responses as well as the initial communication before responding or deciding that the issue is resolved and no response is needed. Here are suggestions to dealing with e-mail overload upward, horizontally, and downward within your organization and externally to stakeholders and customers.

One way to reduce the volume and the time you spend on e-mail is to turn off the spigot of incoming messages. There are obvious practices that help, such as unsubscribing to e-newsletters or turning off notifications from social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter. Also consider whether your colleagues or direct reports are copying you on too many emails as an FYI. If yes, explain that you only need to be updated at certain times or when a final decision is made.

You will also want to set up a system that will organize your inbox into “folders” that will allow you to manage the flow of messages into groups that will allow you to address them appropriately. Your system might look something like this:

• Inbox : Treat this as a holding pen. E-mails shouldn’t stay here any longer than it takes for you to file them into another folder. The exception is when you respond immediately and are waiting for an immediate response.
• Today : This is for items that need a response today.
• This week : This is for messages that require a response before the end of the week.
• This month/quarter : This is for everything that needs a longer-term response. Depending on your role, you may need a monthly or quarterly folder.
• FYI : This is for any items that are for information only and that you may want to refer back to in the future.

This system prioritizes e-mails based on timescales rather than the e-mails’ senders, enabling you to better schedule work and set deadlines.

Another thing to consider is your outgoing e-mail. If your outgoing messages are not specific, too long, unclear, or are copied too widely, your colleagues are likely to follow the same practice when communicating with you. Keep your communication clear and to the point, and managing your outbox will help make your inbound e-mails manageable.

• How are you managing your e-mails now? Are you mixing personal and school and work-related e-mails in the same account?
• How would you communicate to a colleague that is sending too many FYI e-mails, sending too may unclear e-mails, or copying too many people on her messages?

Sources: Amy Gallo, Stop Email Overload, Harvard Business Review , February 21, 2012, https://hbr.org/2012/02/stop-email-overload-1; Barry Chingel, “How to beat email Overload in 2018”, CIPHER , January 16, 2018, https://www.ciphr.com/advice/email-overload/; Monica Seely, “At the Mercy of Your Inbox? How to Cope With Email Overload”, The Guardian , November 6, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2017/nov/06/at-the-mercy-of-your-inbox-how-to-cope-with-email-overload.

Nonverbal Communication

There is also the transformation of information without speaking or writing. Some examples of this are things such as traffic lights and sirens as well as things such as office size and placement, which connote something or someone of importance. As well, things such as body language and facial expression can convey either conscious or unconscious messages to others.

Major Influences on Interpersonal Communication

Regardless of the type of communication involved, the nature, direction, and quality of interpersonal communication processes can be influenced by several factors. 3

Social Influences

Communication is a social process, as it takes at least two people to have a communication episode. There is a variety of social influences that can affect the accuracy of the intended message. For examples, status barriers between employees at different levels of the organization can influence things such as addressing a colleague as at a director level as “Ms. Jones” or a coworker at the same level as “Mike.” Prevailing norms and roles can dictate who speaks to whom and how someone responds. Exhibit 16.4 illustrates a variety of communications that illustrate social influences in the workplace.

In addition, the communication process is heavily influenced by perceptual processes. The extent to which an employee accurately receives job instructions from a manager may be influenced by her perception of the manager, especially if the job instructions conflict with her interest in the job or if they are controversial. If an employee has stereotyped the manager as incompetent, chances are that little that the manager says will be taken seriously. If the boss is well regarded or seen as influential in the company, everything that they say may be interpreted as important.

Interaction Involvement

Communication effectiveness can be influenced by the extent to which one or both parties are involved in conversation. This attentiveness is called interaction attentiveness or interaction involvement . 4 If the intended receiver of the message is preoccupied with other issues, the effectiveness of the message may be diminished. Interaction involvement consists of three interrelated dimensions: responsiveness, perceptiveness, and attentiveness.

Organizational Design

The communication process can also be influenced by the design of the organization. It has often been argued to decentralize an organization because that will lead to a more participative structure and lead to improved communication in the organization. When messages must travel through multiple levels of an organization, the possibility of distortion can also occur, which would be diminished with more face-to-face communication.

Concept Check

• What are the three major types of communication?
• How can you manage the inflow of electronic communication?
• What are the major influences on organizational communication, and how can organizational design affect communication?

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Communication in an organization

Jul 24, 2014

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Communication in an organization. UHS 2062 LECTURES at UTM Skudai . Prepared by Siti Rokiah Siwok , August 2009 [email protected]. Let me begin with a question:. What do you want in life?. What do you want in life?. Consider this : Some facts of life….

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Communication in an organization UHS 2062 LECTURES at UTM Skudai. Prepared by SitiRokiahSiwok, August 2009 [email protected]

Let me begin with a question: What do you want in life?

What do you want in life?

Consider this : Some facts of life… • Whatever you want to achieve in life..communication is VITAL to achieve what you want to achieve. • Happiness is will not be meaningful if you have nobody to share your feelings with. • Business is about your ability to “market” your ideas and convincing the other party to “agree” with you. • How much you learn depends on how much you listen and interact with the people who teach you. • Your ability to “change for the better” depends how much you “know” about yourself..this take intra personal communication.

..and this too. • Medical researchers identified that a whole range of health threats can result from the lack of close relationships: • A lack of social relationships jeopardizes physical wellbeing to a degree similar to cigarette smoking, high blood pressure etc • Socially isolated people are 2-3 times more likely to die earlier than those with strong social ties ( marriage, friendship, religious and community ties all seem to increase longevity). • Poor communication can contribute to coronary heart disease

Do you know that…..? • Communication is the way for us to survive? • As our sense of identity comes from the way we interact with people around us. • Deprived of communication, there will be no sense of identity. • The case of the “The wild boy of Aveyron”

Communication : A social need • We communicate for : • Pleasure (“to have fun”, “to have a good time” etc) • Affection (“to help others” , “ to let others know that I care” etc) • Inclusion ( “because I need somebody to talk to..” etc) • Relaxing ( “helps me to unwind/feel less stressful”..) • Fulfilling a need (“ I want it to be done today” ….) • Fulfillment of a practical goals( “ I need a hair cut”!....)

Organizational Communication • One of the main characteristics of effective employers and employees is to be able to communicate effectively. • Ideas, visions, knowledge, opinions or complains will not get anywhere without communicating them to relevant others.

Organizational Communication • Organizational communication may be classified into four types: • Upward communication • Downward communication • Business communication • Informal communication

Upward communication(UC) • UC is the communication of subordinates (lower levels ) to superiors or of employees to managers(upper levels). • The ideal practice is for employees to speak directly to the management with an “open door policy” . • Quality of UC contributes to employees satisfaction. • However, it is not be practical if every employee communicates with the manager for several reasons such as : the volume that reaches the management & employees feel threatened by managers.

Serial communication • In situations when open door policy is not possible, serial communication is adopted, in which message is relayed from an employee to the superiors ( according to hierarchy) until the message reaches the top.

Serial communication • Disadvantages of serial communication: • The message (content and tone) changes as it moves from person to person. • Bad news and complaints are seldom conveyed, partly due to the stress associated with delivering the bad news (McKee &Ptacek, 2001, in Aamodt, 2007). The reluctance to convey bad news is called MUM (minimize unpleasant message ) effect { Rosen & Tesser, 1970 in Aamodt, 2007}. • Effectiveness of the communication depends on the physical proximity of the sender and the receiver, especially with informal communication channels. However, proximity does not play a role if the message is being communicated electronically such as the e-mail ( Valacich, Parantia, George &Nunamaker, 1993 in Aamodt, 2007)

Serial communication • The MUM effect affects the organization as important information is being kept from the upper levels. • For the employees , the MUM effect is a form of survival, i.e nobody has to be the bad news bearer (the one who communicates the bad news to the management).

Facilitating Upward communication • To overcome the disadvantages of serial communication, several methods are utilised: • Surveys • Focus groups • Exit Interviews • Suggestion boxes • Third party Facilitators

Surveys • Surveys are usually conducted annually by an outside consultant who administers questionnaires, asking employees to rate their opinions on factors such as: pay, working conditions, supervisors etc • Surveys also give opportunity to employees to give suggestions and to list complaints. • The consultant then analyse the responses and then report to the management. • Results of the surveys are use to create the action plans for the coming year (Robb ,2004 in Aamodt 2007).

Surveys • Surveys are only useful if the results are being taken seriously by the management. • Some organization share the result of the survey with their employees, as an act to increase trust .

Focus groups • Focus groups are group interviews (Morgan, 1998). • A focus is a qualitative research method with a widespread use in various applicative fields (such as market research or NGOs research), and a fairly moderated use in social sciences (mainly sociology and psychology) (Barbour, 1995; Baban, 2002; Boan, 2006; Goldman & MacDonald, 1987; Greenbaum, 1988; Howard, Hubelbank, & Moore, 1989; Powell & Single, 1996). • The responses obtained from the focus group is the then passed on to the management, without telling the names of employs who participated in the focus groups.

Exit Interviews • Exit interviews are interviews done with employees voluntarily leaving the organization . • It is an excellent source of information as the “real” reason/s will be revealed.

Suggestion boxes • Suggestion or complaints boxes is another method to facilitate UC. (or the toll free numbers ). • The greatest advantage of the suggestion or complaints boxes is that employees can immediately communicate their feelings anonymously. • Suggestion and complaints boxes work equally well with customers. • For the boxes to be beneficial, management must respond to the suggestions and complaints in a timely manner.

Suggestion boxes • One way to respond to the suggestions or complains is to place the suggestions and complaints on the bulletin board or to post them on the organization’s intranet along with the management’s responses. • Some organizations take suggestions seriously and reward employees who give useful ideas such as money-saving ideas or cost –saving ideas.

Third party Facilitators • The use of third party facilitators, such as liaison and ombudsperson ,is another way to facilitate UC. • A third party facilitator takes the complaints and suggestions of the employees and personally work with the management to find solutions . • The advantage of this method is the neutrality of the ombudsperson , who works for a solution acceptable to both the employees and the management (Hirshman, 2003 in Aamodt, 2007)

Downward communication(DC) • DC is the communication from superior or management to employees. • DC considered a major method in organizational communication to keep employees informed and to convey vital information crucial for the employs to perform their jobs.

Methods in downward communication • Bulletin boards (electronic and non-electronic) • Policy manuals • Newsletters • Intranets

Bulletin Board • A method in DC . • The main use is to communicate non-work related opportunities such as scholarship , optional meetings and items for sale. • It is not an appropriate place for important information such as change of policy or procedures. • Advantage: low cost and wide exposure to employees and visitors, especially placed at strategic places . • There is also electronic bulletin boards called “networks” .

Policy Manuals • Policy Manuals is the place for posting important changes in policy or procedure. • The Policy Manual contains the rules employees must operate; written in highly technical language, although they should be written less technical so that employees feel encouraged to read. • The contents of the policy manuals are binding contracts by courts; thus must be updated each time policy changes. This is usually done by sending updated pages to employees so that they can replace the old ones with the new pages.

Policy Manuals • Policy manuals are usually hundreds of pages long and so many employees do not want to read them. • To reduce length problems, most organizations have two types of company manual: (1) A policy manual (very specific and lengthy, containing all the rules and policies under which the organization operates) (2) The employee handbook (shorter and contains only the most essential policies and rules, as well as general summaries of less important rules)

Newsletter • Newsletter s are designed to bolster employees’ morale by discussing happy or innocous events such as birthdays, births and ballgame scores. • A good source of information for celebrating employee successes, providing feedback of how well the organization is doing , introducing new employees and to remind employees of organizational changes . • Newsletter can be printed or electronic (sent through email or intranet).

Intranet • Many organizations are using intranets to replace bulletin boards, newsletter and company manuals . • Intranets are organization-wide versions of internet. • One of the most useful aspects of intranets is the speed , besides its 24-hour availability , paperless and savings on postage and printing. • Intranets are common resources for : online employee handbooks, FAQs, activity calendars etc

Business Communication • This is the communication which relates to the business –related information among employees, management and customers. • Methods include: • Memos • Telephone calls and faxes • Email and voice mail Each method has its advantages and disadvantages

Informal communication • Informal communication happens everywhere including the workplace . • Often, informal communication is transmitted through “grapevine”, a term which can be traced back to the Civil War. • Informal communication provides information, power and entertainment. • Most people consider contents in informal communication to be inaccurate or distorted, research shows that it contains a great deal of truth.

The process of communication • Communication is a process • Examples of models: • Linear • Interactional • Transactional • Communication is not something that we do to others but do WITH them. • Communication is mutually influencing one another

Types of communication • There are different types of communication: • Interpersonal communication • Intrapersonal communication • Organizational communication

References: • Aamodt, M.G (2007). Industrial /organizational psychology. An applied approach. Belmont, CA: Thomson • Adler , R. B & Towne, N. ( 1996). Looking out /Looking in. Interpersonal Communication (8thed) . Florida: Harcourt Brace.

Useful websites • http://www.maxwideman.com/issacons4/iac1432/sld003.htm • http://www.shkaminski.com/Classes/Handouts/Communication Models

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Open communication can also promote inclusion, especially from employees and colleagues who might come from different industries or backgrounds. By gaining a wide array of perspectives, organizations can avoid being short-sighted in their project’s scope, results, and implementation. This can further strengthen the bonds between team members as well as supervisors who can entrust teams to act autonomously— driving motivation toward a project’s success.

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Mustafa Suleyman, DeepMind and Inflection Co-founder, joins Microsoft to lead Copilot

Mar 19, 2024 | Microsoft Corporate Blogs

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Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer, shared the below communication today with Microsoft employees.

I want to share an exciting and important organizational update today. We are in Year 2 of the AI platform shift and must ensure we have the capability and capacity to boldly innovate.

There is no franchise value in our industry and the work and product innovation we drive at this moment will define the next decade and beyond. Let us use this opportunity to build world-class AI products, like Copilot, that are loved by end-users! This is about science, engineering, product, and design coming together and embracing a learning mindset to push our innovation culture and product building process forward in fundamental ways.

In that context, I’m very excited to announce that Mustafa Suleyman and Karén Simonyan are joining Microsoft to form a new organization called Microsoft AI, focused on advancing Copilot and our other consumer AI products and research.

Mustafa will be EVP and CEO, Microsoft AI, and joins the senior leadership team (SLT), reporting to me. Karén is joining this group as Chief Scientist, reporting to Mustafa. I’ve known Mustafa for several years and have greatly admired him as a founder of both DeepMind and Inflection, and as a visionary, product maker, and builder of pioneering teams that go after bold missions.

Karén, a Co-founder and Chief Scientist of Inflection, is a renowned AI researcher and thought leader, who has led the development of some of the biggest AI breakthroughs over the past decade including AlphaZero.

Several members of the Inflection team have chosen to join Mustafa and Karén at Microsoft. They include some of the most accomplished AI engineers, researchers, and builders in the world. They have designed, led, launched, and co-authored many of the most important contributions in advancing AI over the last five years. I am excited for them to contribute their knowledge, talent, and expertise to our consumer AI research and product making.

At our core, we have always been a platform and partner-led company, and we’ll continue to bring that sensibility to all we do. Our AI innovation continues to build on our most strategic and important partnership with OpenAI. We will continue to build AI infrastructure inclusive of custom systems and silicon work in support of OpenAI’s foundation model roadmap, and also innovate and build products on top of their foundation models. And today’s announcement further reinforces our partnership construct and principles.

As part of this transition, Mikhail Parakhin and his entire team, including Copilot, Bing, and Edge; and Misha Bilenko and the GenAI team will move to report to Mustafa. These teams are at the vanguard of innovation at Microsoft, bringing a new entrant energy and ethos, to a changing consumer product landscape driven by the AI platform shift. These organizational changes will help us double down on this innovation.

Kevin Scott continues as CTO and EVP of AI, responsible for all-up AI strategy, including all system architecture decisions, partnerships, and cross-company orchestration. Kevin was the first person I leaned on to help us manage our transformation to an AI-first company and I’ll continue to lean on him to ensure that our AI strategy and initiatives are coherent across the breadth of Microsoft.

Rajesh Jha continues as EVP of Experiences & Devices and I’m grateful for his leadership as he continues to build out Copilot for Microsoft 365, partnering closely with Mustafa and team.

There are no other changes to the senior leadership team or other organizations.

We have been operating with speed and intensity and this infusion of new talent will enable us to accelerate our pace yet again.

We have a real shot to build technology that was once thought impossible and that lives up to our mission to ensure the benefits of AI reach every person and organization on the planet, safely and responsibly. I’m looking forward to doing so with you.

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Core Webinar - Best of Core Forum: Evaluating Your Library Assessment Program

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For Immediate Release Tue, 04/02/2024

Mia Blixt-Shehan

Continuing Education Assistant

Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures

American Library Association

[email protected]

CHICAGO — Core hosts the webinar "Best of Core Forum: Evaluating Your Library Assessment Program" on April 9, 2024, at 1 p.m. CT. In assessment, we measure all manner of library services and outcomes, but how often do we assess ourselves? Due to personnel constraints and an increased demand for data-driven decision making, library assessment/analytics librarians have difficulty finding time for reflection, much less a structured assessment. This presentation describes how to use an information maturity model to assess the current internal data culture of each library. The information maturity model establishes the baseline levels of an organization’s data culture across three categories: people, processes, and tools. By understanding the library’s information maturity, we can surface issues related to data management, communication, and technical skills, and discuss the consequences of these issues on productivity and decision-making. The information maturity model can also be used to set new targets for a more effective data culture, and this presentation will demonstrate ways to use the results to improve assessment programs.

This webinar was previously presented in-person as a session at the 2023 Core Forum. We are hosting this webinar, with the session adapted and presented live as a virtual event, to extend its reach.

Best of Core Forum: Evaluating Your Library Assessment Program Live Webinar: Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 1 - 2 p.m. CT

Ellie Kohler, Head, Library Data Analytics and Assessment, University Libraries at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

Registration Fees:

Core Member: $57.67 ALA Member: $71.10 Nonmember: $79.00

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You can register a group by specifying the number of people who will be accessing the webinar during checkout. We offer webinars discounts based on the number of registrations you specify at checkout. If you are a Core member, you can purchase seats for yourself and your colleagues at the Core discount rate; ALA's new e-Learning store allows you to extend Core member savings to colleagues at your institution.

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Register online or by phone at 1-800-545-2433 (press 1 to reach our customer service representatives).

For questions or comments related to Core webinars, please contact Core staff at [email protected] .

Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures is the national association that advances the profession of librarians and information providers in central roles of leadership and management, collections and technical services, and technology. Our mission is to cultivate and amplify the collective expertise of library workers in core functions through community building, advocacy, and learning. Core is a division of the American Library Association. Follow us on our Blog , Instagram and LinkedIn .

Introduction to Organizational Communication

What is organizational communication, what is organizational communication.

Before you begin reading, watch a cool animated short. Take notes when you hear answers to the question: “What is Organizational Communication?”

Like defining communication study, many definitions of organizational communication exist. Deetz argues that one way to enlighten our understanding of organizational communication is to compare different approaches. However, for the purpose of this text, we want to define organizational communication so you have a frame of reference for understanding this chapter. Our definition is not definitive, but creates a starting point for understanding this specialization of communication study.

We define organizational communication’ as the sending and receiving of messages among interrelated individuals within a particular environment or setting to achieve individual and common goals. Organizational communication is highly contextual and culturally dependent. Individuals in organizations transmit messages through face-to face, written, and mediated channels.

Organizational communication helps us to 1) accomplish tasks relating to specific roles and responsibilities of sales, services, and production; 2) acclimate to changes through individual and organizational creativity and adaptation; 3) complete tasks through the maintenance of policy, procedures, or regulations that support daily and continuous operations; 4) develop relationships where “human messages are directed at people within the organization-their attitudes, morale, satisfaction, and fulfillment” (Goldhaber 20); and 5) coordinate, plan, and control the operations of the organization through management (Katz & Kahn; Redding; Thayer). Organizational communication is how organizations represent, present, and constitute their organizational climate and culture—the attitudes, values and goals that characterize the organization and its members.

Organizational communication largely focuses on building relationships and interacting with with internal organizational members and interested external publics. As Mark Koschmann explains in his animated YouTube video, we have two ways of looking at organizational communication. The conventional approach focuses on communication within organizations. The second approach is communication as organization — meaning organizations are a result of the communication of those within them. Communication is not just about transmitting messages between senders and receivers. Communication literally constitutes, or makes up, our social world. Much of our communication involves sending and receiving relatively unproblematic messages and acting on that information. Other times things are a bit more complex, such as when you need to resolve conflict with a close friend or family member. There is much more going on in these situations then merely exchanging information. You are actually engaging in a complex process of meaning and negotiating rules created by the people involved.

For organizations to be successful, they must have competent communicators. Organizational communication study shows that organizations rely on effective communication and efficient communication skills from their members. A number of surveys (Davis & Miller; Holter & Kopka; Perrigo & Gaut) identify effective oral and written communication as the most sought after skills by those who run organizations. The U.S. Department of Labor reported communication competency as the most vital skill necessary for the 21st century workforce to achieve organizational success (Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills). The Public Forum Institute maintained that employees need to be skilled in public presentation, listening, and interpersonal communication to flourish in an organization.

Organizations seek people who can follow and give instructions, accurately listen, provide useful feedback, get along with coworkers and customers, network, provide serviceable information, work well in teams, and creatively and critically solve problems and present ideas in an understandable manner. Developing organizational communication awareness and effectiveness is more than just having know-how or knowledge. Efficient organizational communication involves knowing how to create and exchange information, work with diverse groups or individuals, communicate in complicated and changing circumstances, as well as having the aptitude or motivation to communicate in appropriate manners.

How the Field of Organizational Communication Began

As you now know, communication study is deeply entrenched in the oral rhetorical traditions of ancient Rome and Greece. Similar to the many of the early concepts that shaped the discipline, some of the founding principles of organizational communication originated in the East. As early as the fourth century, Chinese scholars concentrated on the “problems of communicating within the vast government bureaucracy as well as between the government and the people” (Murphy, Hildebrandt & Thomas 4). Ancient eastern scholars focused on information flow, message fidelity, and quality of information within their governmental bureaucracy (Krone, Garrett & Chen; Paraboteeah). These still remain areas of focus for organizational communication that you will learn in your classes today.

Like most of our field’s specializations, organizational communication began in the mid 20th century with the work of P. E. Lull and W. Charles Redding at the University of Purdue (Putnam & Cheney). During the industrial age, the focus of organizational communication was on worker productivity, organizational structure, and overall organizational effectiveness. Through this work people were interested in higher profits and managerial efficiency. Follett is often referred to as the first management consultant in the United States (Stohl). She focused specifically on message complexity, appropriate channel choice, and worker participation in organizations. Bernard placed communication at the heart of every organizational process, arguing that people must be able to interact with each other for an organization to succeed.

As a specialization in our field, organizational communication can arguably be traced back to Alexander R. Heron’s 1942 book, Sharing Information With Employees that looked at manager-employee communication (Redding & Tompkins; Meyers & Sadaghiani). Putnam and Cheney stated that the specialization of “organizational communication grew out of three main speech communication traditions: public address, persuasion, and social science research on interpersonal, small group, and mass communication” (131). Along with public-speaking training for corporate executives as early as the 1920’s (Putnam & Cheney), early works like Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People in 1936 focused on necessary oral presentation and written communication skills for managers to succeed in organizations.

Redding and Thompkins identify three periods in the development of organizational communication. During the Era of Preparation (1900 to 1940) much of the groundwork was laid for the discipline that we know today. Scholars emphasized the importance of communication in organizations. The primary focus during this time was on public address, business writing, managerial communication, and persuasion. The Era of Identification and Consolidation (1940-1970) saw the beginnings of business and industrial communication, with certain group and organizational relationships being recognized as important. During the Era of Maturity and Innovation (1970-present), empirical research increased, “accompanied by innovative efforts to develop concepts, theoretical premises, and philosophical critiques” (Redding & Thompkins 7).

As with other specializations over the last century, organizational communication has evolved dramatically as dialogue between business and academic contexts. Redding and Thompkins conclude that “by 1967 or 1968, organizational communication had finally achieved at least a moderate degree of success in two respects: breaking from its ‘business and industrial’ shackles, and gaining a reasonable measure of recognition as an entity worthy of serious academic study” (18).

Organizational Communication Today

As communication evolves, research continues to develop, and organizational communication continues to redefine itself. In the early stages, this area focused on leaders giving public presentations. More recently emphasis has focused on all levels of interaction in organizations. Because interpersonal relationships are a large part of organizational communication, a great deal of research focuses on how interpersonal relationships are conducted within the framework of organizational hierarchies.

Modern organizational communication research has been summarized into eight major traditions: 1) Communication channels, 2) Communication climate, 3) Network analysis, 4) Superior-subordinate communication, 5) the information-processing perspective, 6) the rhetorical perspective, 7) the cultural perspective, and 8) the political perspective (Putnam and Cheney; Kim) Since the 1980s, this specialization has expanded to include work on organizational culture, power and conflict management, and organizational rhetoric. If you were to take an organizational communication course at your campus, much of the time would be spent focusing on developing your skills in organizational socialization, interviewing, giving individual and group presentations, creating positive work relationships, performance evaluation, conflict resolution, stress management, decision making, and communicating with external publics.

For an example of another approach to Organizational Communication read Dennis Schoeneborn’s paper on organization as communication involving the Luhmannian perspective.

• Survey of Communication Study. Authored by : Scott T Paynton and Linda K Hahn. Provided by : Humboldt State University. Located at : https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Survey_of_Communication_Study/Preface . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• What is Organizational Communication? (full version). Authored by : Matthew Koschmann. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5oXygLGMuY . License : All Rights Reserved

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Second-half surge powers No. 11 NC State to unlikely Final Four berth with defeat of Duke

DALLAS — One of the great postseason runs in men’s college basketball history keeps on going. Next up for the NC State show? The Final Four. 

For the first time since 1983 — the year they won it all with Jim Valvano running around The Pit in New Mexico hugging anyone he could find — NC State is back on the sport’s biggest stage. 

And to make it even sweeter, the Wolfpack beat rival Duke to get there on Sunday in an all-ACC matchup, dominating the second half of the South Regional final to mint a 76-64 victory that will live forever in NC State lore. 

NC State, a team that finished 10th in the ACC regular season and stood at 17-14 when the conference tournament began, has now rattled off nine straight wins and will face No. 1 seed Purdue on Saturday in Glendale, Arizona, for a spot in the national championship game. They’re the sixth team in tournament history to reach the Final Four as a No. 11 seed.

And the main reason the Wolfpack have been transformed over the past three weeks? It’s DJ Burns, Jr., the charismatic 6-foot-9 center with a feathery touch and passing skills that do not seem possible for someone carrying well over 300 pounds (he’s officially listed at 275).

FOLLOW THE MADNESS: NCAA basketball bracket, scores, schedules, teams and more.

With Duke choosing to use just only defender most of the time to guard him — just as they did in two earlier meetings this season — Burns ate the Blue Devils' defense alive with 29 points on 13-of-19 shots. 

NC State also got timely outside shooting from senior guard DJ Horne, who scored 18 and sparked second half in which the Wolfpack made 19-of-26 shots. 

Duke, meanwhile, could never get settled on offense, shooting 32 percent overall and 5-of-20 from the 3-point line. The Blue Devils got poor games from sophomore big man Kyle Filipowski (11 points on 3-of-12 shooting) and sophomore guard Tyrese Proctor (0 points, 0-for-9) and simply could not mount a response once NC State began to get its second-half rhythm. 

NC State seemed to be in foul trouble early in the second half when Burns picked up his third with 15:11 remaining and Mohamed Diarra, its other big man, was called for his fourth with 12:41 left. 

But NC State coach Kevin Keatts managed to nurse his rotation just enough to keep Burns on the floor most of the time, and it paid off with easy looks at the rim out of their halfcourt sets. 

The first half finished with both teams struggling to unlock their offense. NC State made just 9-of-34 field goals, struggling both from the 3-point line (1-of-7) and finishing at the rim where they continually ran into a wall of resistance.

Duke also shot poorly (8-of-26) and committed five turnovers but managed to get to the foul line with more frequency, making all nine to account for their 27-21 lead.  

But Duke’s lead was a mirage: Possession by possession, NC State was sharper, more aggressive and never looked back once Horne gave the Wolfpack a 40-38 lead on a runner with 11:39 left. 

NC State is making its fourth trip to the Final Four in school history. It won the national championship in 1974 and 1983, the latter of which is considered one of the great longshot runs in tournament history as a No. 6 seed.

• International

Israel-Hamas war

Taiwan earthquake

April 2, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

By Chris Lau, Antoinette Radford, Maureen Chowdhury , Elise Hammond , Aditi Sangal and Tori B. Powell , CNN

Biden administration outraged by Israeli airstrike that killed aid workers, official says

From CNN's Nikki Carvajal

The Biden administration is outraged by an Israeli airstrike that killed several aid workers in Gaza, the White House said Tuesday, adding US President Joe Biden also spoke with the organization’s founder, José Andrés, to express his condolences. 

“We were outraged to learn of an IDF strike that killed a number of civilian humanitarian workers yesterday from the World Central Kitchen, which has been relentlessly working to get food to those who are hungry in Gaza, and quite frankly, around the world,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said at a news briefing Tuesday. “We send our deepest condolences to their families and loved ones.”

Kirby said the White House had seen comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli Defense Forces that they would investigate and said the administration expected the investigation to be conducted “in a swift and comprehensive manner.” 

“We hope that those findings will be made public and that there is appropriate accountability held,” Kirby said. He said a preliminary investigation had already been completed. 

Kirby said one of the victims was a dual-national United States citizen. 

Aid worker deaths in Gaza exceed annual casualties of any other conflict in past 20 years, data shows

From CNN's Rachel Wilson

The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas has become the deadliest for aid workers in more than two decades, according to the Aid Worker Security Database .

In fewer than six months, the number of aid workers killed in Gaza has   reached nearly 200 — a higher number of casualties than   seen over a year in any other conflict since at least 1997.

Afghanistan, Syria and South Sudan had been the deadliest countries for humanitarian workers in the past 20 years, but annual fatalities during the worst years of conflict there were lower than during the current Israeli offensive in Gaza ,  data shows.

The Aid Worker Security data includes workers from the United Nations and other nonprofit humanitarian aid agencies. The UN has separately reported more than 170 of its staff members killed since October 7, which is also the highest number of casualties among UN personnel in the agency’s history. Fifteen Palestine Red Crescent Society workers and volunteers have also been killed, according to a UN report on March 29.

US has "longstanding commitment" to Israel's security, Blinken says as scrutiny over military sale grows

From CNN's Jennifer Hansler

The US has a “longstanding commitment” to Israel’s security, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken argued Tuesday as the administration’s arms transfers to the Israel government come under growing scrutiny.

The top US diplomat stressed that commitment has been consistent across Democratic and Republican administrations. “That policy developed over many years, developed into successive agreements between the United States and Israel, long duration, 10 years in this case, to provide military assistance over that timeframe to about $3 billion a year,” Blinken said at a press conference in Paris.

CNN reported Monday the US is close to approving the sale of as many as 50 American-made F-15 fighter jets to Israel, in a deal expected to be worth more than $18 billion , according to three people familiar with the matter.

“We've been focused on trying to make sure that October 7 never happens again. Having said that, every relationship we have with Israel (is not) just about Gaza, Hamas, October 7. It’s also about the threats posed to Israel by Hezbollah, by Iran, by various other actors in the region — each one of which has vowed, one way or another, to try to destroy Israel,” Blinken said.

The weapons go toward Israel's self-defense, replenishment of stocks and supplies, and deterrence from more conflicts, he argued. He also noted that many of the sales were approved years before the war in Gaza, saying “these complex systems can take years.”

He said “every single” arms transfer happens within policy requirements, adding that President Joe Biden's administration is “going above and beyond the law” to keep Congress apprised.

$18 billion sale of jets: CNN reported Monday the US is close to approving the sale of as many as 50 American-made F-15 fighter jets to Israel, in a deal expected to be worth more than $18 billion , according to three people familiar with the matter.

Gaza's largest hospital permanently out of service, acting director says

From CNN's Sarah El Sirgany

The Al-Shifa medical complex in northern Gaza is “permanently out of service” due to extensive destruction caused by the 14-day Israeli siege, the hospital's acting director said Monday, calling for the deployment of a field hospital urgently.

“We can’t work here again or even attempt restoration. These (standing) buildings are near collapse. The damage on the inside is even more,” Dr. Marwan Abu Saada said in a video statement recorded Monday at the complex. 

Before Al-Shifa siege: The hospital — the largest in Gaza — used to have 750 beds, 26 operation rooms and served 250,000 patients annually, he said.

“We urgently need a field hospital to treat our injured with a minimum capacity of 180 beds,” he said.

Dire need for medical workers: The director of the nursing department at the complex, Jadallah Al-Shafie, told CNN on Monday that such a field hospital would require returning the medical staff that were forcibly displaced to the south, in addition to other Arab and international professionals.

Abu Saada said numerous doctors and surgeons were killed or arrested by Israeli forces during the first siege in November, as well as in the second siege that ended early Monday. He said he was appointed in his current position as director following the arrest and imprisonment of his predecessor by Israeli forces.

“We don’t have the staff to even go treat the wounded in other places,” Abu Saada said.

Aftermath video of deadly World Central Kitchen strike is consistent with Israeli targeting, expert says 

From CNN’s Allegra Goodwin and Gianluca Mezzofiore

Video and images of the deadly airstrike in Gaza that killed seven aid workers from the nonprofit World Central Kitchen appear to show that the strike was carried out by targeted drone missiles, an explosive weapons expert said.

Chris Cobb-Smith, a former British Army artillery officer and munitions expert, told CNN the heavy damage to three vehicles seen in video and images from the scene was consistent with the use of “highly accurate drone-fired missiles,” adding it was “hard to believe” the tragic incident was accidental.   

The drone that fired the missiles would have been operated in conjunction with a surveillance drone, Cobb-Smith said, meaning the Israeli military would have had total visibility of the cars. At least two of the vehicles were branded with the WCK logo on their roofs, the group has said.

The “limited blast” and “considerable localized destruction” seen in photos and videos of the aftermath are also consistent with an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle strike, he added.

Cobb-Smith told CNN missile fragments would be needed to definitively identify the exact munition used in the strike.  

Patrick Senft, a research coordinator at Armament Research Services (ARES), echoed the opinion of Cobb-Smith, saying that the aftermath of the strike “seems consistent with munitions deployed by UAVs.”   

"Without munition fragments, I can't say anything for certain, but the damage to the vehicles appears consistent with precision-guided munitions with a small explosive payload," Senft said.

Israeli opposition leader will visit Washington next week, his spokesperson says

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid will visit Washington, DC, next week, a spokesperson for Lapid told CNN Tuesday.

The spokesperson did not have details about whom Lapid will meet with, but said that the focus of the visit is “strengthening the Israel-US strategic relationship, bringing the hostages back home, the situation in the north, and Israel’s role in the region.”

A recent visit to Washington by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rival Benny Gantz caused massive outrage from Netanyahu.

Both Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet, during that visit in early March. At the meeting, top Biden administration officials conveyed their frustrations over the “unacceptable and unsustainable” situation in Gaza. Gantz’s decision to travel to Washington was not sanctioned by the Israeli government, meaning he was not accompanied by the Israeli ambassador in his meetings, according to an official familiar. 

Blinken regularly meets with Lapid during his trips to Israel.

CNN has reached out to the US State Department and National Security Council to see if any officials plan to meet with Lapid.

Israeli defense minister instructs forces to maintain transparent communication after aid convoy strike

From CNN's Amy Cassidy, Vasco Cotovio and Ami Kaufman

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant instructed forces on Tuesday to "maintain an open and transparent line of communication" with international organizations on actions being taken after an airstrike killed seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers in Gaza.

Gallant also ordered that a "joint situation room" be opened promptly to coordinate aid distributions between international organizations and the Israel Defense Force's Southern Command, according to a media statement published after Gallant held a meeting with senior Israeli defense officials.

"Minister Gallant referred to the tragic nature of the incident and emphasized the importance of conducting a thorough, professional investigation, which will be followed by the implementation of lessons learned," the statement read.

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the agency that controls access to Gaza, expressed condolences to families of WCK "colleagues" who have "worked closely" with COGAT over the past months.

"Our aim is to prevent such events from happening again, ensuring the safety of humanitarian workers as they carry out their crucial tasks," COGAT wrote on X Tuesday.

UK summons Israeli ambassador over strike that killed aid workers, including British nationals, in Gaza

From CNN's Louis Mian

The United Kingdom has summoned the Israeli ambassador in London on Tuesday over the killing of World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza, including three British nationals.

The British Minister for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell summoned Israel's ambassador to set out the government’s “unequivocal condemnation of the appalling killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including three British Nationals,” he said in a Foreign Office press release.

“I requested a quick and transparent investigation, shared with the international community, and full accountability,” Mitchell said. "I reiterated the need for Israel to put in place an effective deconfliction mechanism immediately and urgently to scale up humanitarian access. We need to see an immediate humanitarian pause, to get aid in and the hostages out, then progress towards a sustainable ceasefire."

Earlier on Tuesday, World Central Kitchen announced that seven members of its team were killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza and said it is immediately pausing its operations in the region.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military "unintentionally struck innocent people" as the Israel Defense Forces pledged to investigate the strike "at the highest levels." 

A US-Canadian dual citizen was killed in the strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy, US official says

From CNN's Jennifer Hansler 

A US-Canadian dual citizen was killed in the Israeli strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy, a US official said on Tuesday.

The airstrike killed at least seven aid workers from a team delivering food to civilians in Gaza, according to WCK and authorities in the enclave. WCK previously said those killed include a dual US-Canada national, as well as Australian, Polish, UK, and Palestinian workers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military "unintentionally struck innocent people" as the Israel Defense Forces pledged to investigate the strike "at the highest levels." US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called for a swift and thorough investigation into the strike.

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