Impact of Effective Communication on Employee Relationships and High Performance, Essay Example

Effective communication refers to delivery of undistorted information, with the delivery of the desired effect. The desired information is interpreted between different parties and acted upon in the desired way. Within an organization, communication has an impact on employee relationships, both horizontally among employees and vertically through the chain of command. The impact from communication between employees can have varying effects on employee job performance. Communication within an organization takes different forms. Written forms include office memos and emails. Oral forms of communication include meetings and informal conversations among employees, and between employees and managers in the office setting. How this information is shared, both between employees and management, and between employee departments, is important to the performance of the organization. Effective communication is argued to be the prerequisite for good employee relationships and high performance within an organization.

Companies with good employee relationships and high levels of performance from their employees tend to have a few factors in common. These factors include trust, motivated employees, and company loyalty. To maintain good employee relationships, trust must flow both ways, from the employees to management and from management to employees. Both parties must not feel like anything is hidden from them and must be confident that conflicts will be resolved and their needs will be met in timely fashion and with sincere effort. Motivated employees are a result of reward systems, fair office interplay and promotion, receipt of benefits, and the belief that one’s company has a genuine interest in their wellbeing, both when at work and when away from work with their families. A high level of company loyalty is achieved in much the same way as employee motivation, as far as interest in the well-being of the employee and their family goes. A rival company may present with increased pay, rewards, and benefits, however if an employee feels that their current company truly has their best interest and the best interest of their family in mind, they are less likely to leave and more likely to remain loyal to the current company. All three of these factors have one prerequisite in common. It is effective communication. Effective communication is necessary to ensure each of these factors blossom to their full extent.

Effective communication begins between employees and management. The dynamic of the employee-boss relationship depends on the quality of the communication between employees and management. Effective communication can lead to good employee-boss relationships based on trust, motivation and loyalty, and through that to high performance levels. The quality of communication between employees and management depends in large part on the methods of communication used and timely sharing. Communication sharing between employees and management comes in the form of company policies, employee guidelines, rules for conflict resolution and for reporting policy violations, changes to policies, employee evaluations, job descriptions, and daily work instructions. If these communications and any changes are given in a timely, easy to understand way with the possibility of two-way communication for questions and suggestions left open, then it can be considered effective communication. It cannot be stressed enough that if employees feel that management puts in the effort to respond and inform them of issues, news and changes in a timely manner, then they will also feel valued by the management team. An employee who believes he or she is considered an integral part of the organization will be motivated to perform the best that he or she can.

The second communication area of importance within an organization is communication between employee departments. If communication from management has been effective, then interdepartmental communication should flow smoothly, without confusion. Each department will know their respective function and be able to choose which information needs to be shared to optimize company performance. Interdepartmental conflict will also be lessened or avoided completely, allowing all of an employee’s resources to be focused on performing their job function. Clearly outlined job functions and department responsibilities, as outlined by the organization’s management team, serve to clear away confusion that might surround decisions about what information belongs with which department. When departments are effectively defined, employees are able to pass information back and forth more efficiently to complete the job or task quickly. Conflict between departmental employees is lessened or eliminated with effective communication because each employee knows where to look for what type of information and what each employee is responsible for. Situations and tension resulting from one employee mistakenly believing another is not doing their job or perhaps overstepping their job are going to be less of an issue. Information that might be shared between departments within an organization will vary according to industry. However some general types of information sharing between departments would include inventory data, policy changes, changes to the function of a particular department, and any information that affects the performance of another department. Here, communication can also be written, as memos, emails or data sheets, or oral, in meetings or informal talks at a desk.

Effective communication is argued to be the prerequisite for good employee relationships and high performance within an organization. When communication both between management and employees, and between employee departments runs effectively, job function and company tasks are better focused and result in higher performance. Confusion from mistaken communications are greatly lessened or eliminated. Employees feel valued by their co-workers, management, and the company itself, and display trust, loyalty, and motivation towards the company. An employee with a high-level of trust, loyalty, and motivation will consistently perform their job function with a high-level of achievement, increasing the performance level of the organization.