Organizational Communications, Reaction Paper Example

Create a special advisory or “ombudsperson” role for someone who is free to roam the organization and can “speak truth to power” without fear of retribution.

Management is responsible for setting the overall direction of the organization but the people closest to the operations are those who are engaged in the production process or provision of service to the customers. The employees can be a valuable source of information as well as suggestions to the upper management, for e.g. how the operations can be made more efficient, what are the issues most cited by customers, how customer satisfaction rate can be increased, what are the most common problems in the manufacturing process, and what tasks add no value and thus, can be eliminated. On the other hand, management is more in touch with the state of the industry and the latest best practices. Greater awareness of the state of the industry coupled with their own extensive professional experiences means that management is in a better position to formulate effective strategies for the overall organization. But these same factors can also make management overconfident and they may not seek employees feedback. Similarly, employees may feel that management is out of touch with reality on the operations floor and is formulating ineffective strategies. Since both the management and the employees have their own self-serving bias, this makes coordination even more difficult.

An ombudperson is an effective solution to improve working relationship between the management and the employees. An ombudperson doesn’t have any personal stake so he is able to identify the bias in all the stakeholders involved and understand their views objectively. He can help understand both parties, the legitimate opinions of each other. At the substance abuse medical center where I work, an omburperson will observe the challenges we face, the most common patients issues, the needs of the workers in effectively servicing the patients, and the resources the workers desire from the management to improve the quality of service. An omburperson will communicate all the above mentioned observations to the management. Similalry, he/she will communicate back the management’s directions to the workforce as well as management;s assurance that the necessary resources will be provided to the workers to do their job more effectively.

Formulate projects that will require the meaningful coordination of multiple units of the organization. And, develop multiple communication networks throughout the organization.

This strategy will help each unit understand the challenges of other units and improve coordination. The units will also be more understanding of each other and having a better idea of how the overall system works, will help each unit improve their own performance, too. At my workplace, it is often quite challenging to give proper treatment to all the patients because the length of the treatment varies and in addition, different patients pose different levels of difficulty to deal with. When the work piles up, tensions arise among the departments who feel overwhelmed by the workload and assume that the others are not doing their job properly. Most often than not, it is due to the shortage of resources as well as the personnel rather than poor work performance. But the potential is high to feel overwhelmed and vent out frustrations at others in such stressful times. When different departments at my workplace will work on projects together, they will have more appreciation for each other’s issues and this will also improve communication and coordination among them.

While promoting unifying themes or goals at the top, be sure to involve employees at all levels of the organization in some way in the ongoing goal-setting process.

Involving employees at all levels of organization not only increase their job satisfaction but will also ensure their commitment and dedication to the goals set by the management (Heathfield). At my workplace, employees often face very difficult situations such as difficult to control patients and to do an effective job despite lack of resources. By involving employees at all levels, the management will not only benefit from the employees’ experience but employees’ will also be more likely to commit to new best practices introduced by the management. They will be more dedicated to their work and will show more patience in dealing with difficult situations. If employees are not involved in goal-setting process, they may be less committed to the management’s vision and will blame the management’s goals as well as lack of resources for performance shortcomings rather than giving in their best.

Foster a climate that is supportive, in various ways, especially in the sense of appreciating employees for their own sake.

Studies have shown that employees that are often praised by their managers enjoy close working relationship with their supervisors (Kacmar, Witt, Zivnuska, & Gully, 2003). Their job satisfactions and performance also improves because they feel they are valued by their respective organizations. At my workplace, praise and continues appreciation of the employees by their management will increase work satisfaction because the employees will feel that the organization values them and appreciates the hard work they do every day. Praise will also boost their morale and encourage them to do even better. When employees will know that the management stands ready to support them and provide them with necessary resources, they will stop worrying about minor issues and instead focus all their attention on the patients.

Allow for employees’ suggestions for modifying corporate communications strategies to emerge and to be considered in future planning.

The goal of the communication is for the receiver to receive the message and understand it as intended by the sender. But to ensure that the receiver does receive the message and pays attention to it, the sender should use the communication channels used or preferred by the receiver. At my workplace, some co-workers complain that the upper management is not easily accessible. Moreover, my co-workers have admitted to not always reading the emails send by the upper management. The management could attempt to identify communication channels that are used or preferred by the employees to improve communication. Examples include notice boards in the employees break room as well as social networking websites like Facebook that are used by most employees. The executive of a leading medical supplies company used the feedback from the employees to improve her availability even though her responsibilities required frequent travel. She started eating lunch with employees in the cafeteria (Graham, 2002). This improved her image among the employees and helped close the communication gap. Employees can often provide valuable suggestions because they know which communication channels work best for them and the management can adapt accordingly.

References

Graham, G. L. (2002, April). If You Want Honesty, Break Some Rules. Harvard Business Review , pp. 42-47.

Heathfield, S. M. (n.d.). Employee Involvement. Retrieved May 24, 2011, from http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossarye/a/employee_inv.htm

Kacmar, K. M., Witt, L. A., Zivnuska, S., & Gully, S. M. (2003). The Interactive Effect of Leader–Member Exchange and Communication Frequency on Performance Ratings. Journal of Applied Psychology , pp. 764-772.