1

How to Improve Communication within the Workplace

How to Improve Communications within the Workplace

By: San Isidro Navarro

Brenda Rodriguez
Narcisa Trevino

South Texas College

Management Theory I

ORGL 4341
 2
How to Improve Communication within the Workplace

Abstract
The effectiveness and productivity of a company is dependent on the effectiveness and the type

communication the company has adopted. There is a growing number of failing companies, this

is attributed to poor communication within the workplace. Success in a company is determined

by the achievement of the companys business target, objectives, and vision which are attributed

to the communication style a company has adopted. Communication is the process of sharing

ideas, information, and messages with others in a particular time and place. Communication

includes writing and talking, as well as nonverbal communication, visual communication.

Therefore, improving communications within the workplace is crucial to a companys

effectiveness and productivity.

 3
How to Improve Communication within the Workplace

Introduction

Failures in a companies have been experienced even in nations with superior economies

such as U.S. According to the ISBDC 2014 survey in the U.S. on small and medium sized

companies, 21,078 business were shut down in 2009, and the number increased to 32,400 in

2012, a numeral that was a 9% increment of the 2011 figure. The three-year survey shows that

there is a growing trend for business failures in the U.S. and the same could be reflected

worldwide. The aspect that the ISBDC report pointed out as a cause of company failures is poor

communication within the company. Communication within the workplace is defined as, the

process of sharing ideas, information, and messages with others in a particular time and place,

which in part maximizes companys efforts towards the accomplishment of certain goals,

objectives, and vision of a company. Successful communication within a workplace is measured

regarding the achievement of a companys business target, objectives, and vision which is often

delegated to employees and employers working as a team.

The aspect of good communication in the success pathway of a company manifests itself

through the establishment of a vibrant company vision and communicating that vision with its

employees and in other cases resolving immediate conflicts between them. Communication in

the contemporary business society has overlapped the aspect of management as it is now

described as the control, governance and coordination of all the companys economic resources.

Communication is a great determinate of a companys success as it influences how a team is led

for the achievement of its objectives. Effective workplace communication is closely linked to the

success of a company through the key determinants such as profitability, competition,

achievement of organizational goals and increased sales (Howard, 2012).

 4
How to Improve Communication within the Workplace

2. Problem or issue faced in management and organizational leadership

The problem in management is the communication in the workplace and flow of

information from one person to another. Employees problems is almost all over the

workplace, the majority of the problems or issues at the workplace are with personality

conflicts, supervisors issues, personal trauma, or company structure. Employees or

teams issues can right away expand if the organization dont take care of the problem

right away, many of the issues and situation must avoid right away. Many of the

employees get involved in conflict at the workplace the management structure is not

being practice on daily basis.

3. Why is it a problem?

It became a problem, because the management structure is not being followed on

daily basis, sometimes managers or leaders dont take the time to explain the policy and

procedures of the workplace. if the organization or management dont follow the formal

structure at the workplace, the company or organization will not have a positive and

command where the employees need to follow and abide by this organization chart.

This organization chart show who holds what position and who reports to whom and

what type of job description they hold. atmosphere within the employees. Many of the

organization followed a change of.

 5
How to Improve Communication within the Workplace

4. Purpose of the research

The purpose of researching the importance of having a good communication in

the workplace Improve communication with in the employees and management is very

important because it opens an understanding between the employee and the

supervisor. If the supervisor has a problem communicating with his or hers employees

within the company or organization, people will never be able to have a good

communication themselves. I see many supervisors and managers carrying a big

responsibility to lead the employees the best they can, however I seen others

supervisor which all they do is cause the problems at the workplace by practicing and

following favoritism and allowed that person to do whatever he or she wants to do at the

workplace. I think it is very important to search or even go to school and learn how to

become a great leader, supervisor or manager. Practicing positive behavior and very

well communication with in the employees and management.

5. Research questions that will be answered in your paper.

1. What are the contributing factors to improve the communication In the work place?
2. What type of communication are there in the workplace?
3. How does management play a role in the communication among employees?
 6
How to Improve Communication within the Workplace

Literature Review

The purpose of this study is to investigate the many ways that communication can be improved

in the workplace and why it is important to have good communication skills. A business can

survive without having good communication skills but it will have a hard time thriving without

it. There is a good number of information out there that gives workplaces different ways that

communication can be improved in the workplace.

There has been supporting evidence that when there is bad communication being released

there can be big continuances that can impact a good number of people. Three good examples

are as followed; in August of 2013 CEO Tim Armstrong of AOL announced that the company

would be reducing the number of Patch websites. He gave a conference call to about 1,000

employees to boost the morale of the employees and to talk about the future of AOL, but instead

of boosting the employees he ended up firing the Creative Director of Patch; Abel Lenz in front

of everyone. Soon after to make things worse Armstrong sent an apology to the employees and

made excuses for his behavior instead of just owing up to what he had done. Another example

would be; in 2006 when CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, Mike Jeffries told Salon.com in an

interview that the clothing was made exclusively for thin, attractive kids. In 2013 the comment

that Mike Jeffries made was brought back and it made a big impact by social media, consumers,

popular bloggers and high-profile individuals. Whats sad is that he waited 12 days after the

blog was posted he addressed the comments and he made it worse by saying that the quote was

taken out of context, wow he was not able to just own his statement and apologize he made it

worse. What is sad is that, he continues to be the CEO of the company even after one of the

most significant shareholders wrote a letter asking for Mike to be removed from his position

after his contract was up. He continues to get criticism from all around him till this day. The
 7
How to Improve Communication within the Workplace

third example that I have is in February when the HR of Yahoo sent a memo to employees that

telecommuting and working from home would no longer be available and that the employees that

worked like this had to relocate to an office or they would have to quite. Of course it since the

memo was written poorly it caused a spark a negative reaction, since it failed to give reason why

such change was going to occur. CEO Marissa Mayer gave a conference later on to say that the

best ideas come from in-person collaboration.

In all of the three examples there was information that was given by mostly CEOs that

was miscommunicated to the employees, consumers and social media. So how can all of these

examples be used to better the communication in the work place and among consumers? The

first thing that we need to understand is what is communication. Communication in the work

place, it is being able to verbally and nonverbally get information transferred clearly to another

individual. It is important to have this communication because it helps build and maintain

relationships, makes innovation possible, helps create team cohesiveness, employee

management, allow organizations to better scale and ensures transparency.

What is effective in the workplace when it comes to communication? There are a good

number of ways that there can be effective in the work place such as; implement an employee

advocacy solution, regularly check in with employees, make internal documents easily

accessible, putting it on writing, strengthening employee manager relationships, place a strong

focus on company culture, utilize social media, keep an open door policy, foster employee

engagement, send out an internal newsletter, encourage your employees to get out of the office,

allow water cooler chat, schedule regular team meetings, utilize a suggestion box and celebrate

your employees and their achievements.

 8
How to Improve Communication within the Workplace

Communication is crucial when it comes to achieving your goals in the work place, it should be

effective and understood clearly. Why is it important for a person to communicate clearly with

others in the work place? It is important to communicate clearly in the work place by learning

how to listen first, this begins when we focus on our perceptual filters. What we choose to hear

varies on what interest us and has a lot to do with cultural background, beliefs and values. From

there it is important to understand what we listened to, by processing the message. Then there is

remembering, which involves retrieving information and coming up with an appropriate respond.

Afterwards there is interpreting and evaluating and at the end is responding appropriately. If

one does all of these then when we communicate with one another it will go a long way.

Project Plan and Methodology

A. What is your plan to address and continue your own research on this issue or

problem facing leadership/management?

Leadership constantly presents challenges to a leader and their abilities. These

challenges are an incitation to rise to another level. Each person has different way of

thinking, communicating and doing things, to improve the process of having a good

communication we need to learn how to show confident in what we are communicating

with in our co-workers, we need to show that no matter what is the situation we can

accomplish goals even if it seems difficult or even possible. Every good leader will work

to accomplish improvement in the areas they see ineffective. It is very important to have

good communication with in the workplace. Communication is a part of our everyday life
 9
How to Improve Communication within the Workplace

that occurs whether we intend it to or not. Each individual person has a style of

communication. These styles are both verbal and non-verbal approaches, and with so

many styles of communication and several different personalities, it is easy to have

discrepancies and misunderstanding the result in miscommunication. Being able to

communicate well with in the work place at the different program areas we need to have

plan where it will be effective best practice at the workplace. According to verbal and

nonverbal communication helps to improve our communication with in workplace,

however they both have different interpretation and help to have a better understanding

with in each others. Nonverbal communication is an effective communication essential

that people uses sometimes to communicate, expression of messages through facial

expression, gestures and body language, is essential to successful relationship in the

workplace for example of this type of communication include eye contact, posture and

voice speed. Employees and managers should be aware of how they communicate in

these nonverbal ways in the workplace. Verbal communication involves words that may

be spoken or written. Through verbal communication we can inform others of what we

intend to convey or for imparting knowledge to others. The key factors are to bring an

understanding and clarification to missing information and misunderstanding that may

arise. The importance of understanding the difference of verbal and nonverbal is to

become an effective communicator and can correct wrong, persuade someone, create
 10
How to Improve Communication within the Workplace

relationship, bringing clarity, increase productivity, increase job satisfaction, sharing of

ideas, remove barriers and give motivation with in employees, manager, leaders at the

workplace.
 11
How to Improve Communication within the Workplace

Conclusion

There is a close relationship between the effectiveness and productivity of a company and

the type of communication adopted. Good communication style lead to accomplishment of

company objectives and vision while poor communication leads to failure of company

operations. It has been demonstrated that good communication is based on strategic leading of

workers, which is the determinant of sustainable company success in the contemporary

workplace. Small and medium sized companies which are the lifeline of the most developing

nations are experiencing high failures rates due to poor communication, showing the relationship

between success and the adoption of good communication approach. Communication styles that

have been linked with the fruitful accomplishment of company goals include transformational

and democratic leadership approaches. Communication that lead to entail success coaching,

guiding, mentoring and leading from the front. A companys success is measured in terms of the

achievement of company business target, objectives, and vision. Therefore, effective company

communication is closely linked to the success of a company through the key determinants such

as profitability, competition, achievement of company goals and increased productivity.

 12
How to Improve Communication within the Workplace

Project Time Line

Week 1 Gather with the group members to brainstorm

Week 2 Assigned task to each group member

Week 3 Gather material needed for assignment

Week 4 Analyze gathered materials

Week 5 Hold meetings to discuss progress project

Week 6 Format project and finalize information

 13
How to Improve Communication within the Workplace

References

Hernez-Broome, & Hughes. (2013). Leadership development: Past, present, and future. Journal

of Human Resources Planning, 28(I): 24-33.

Howard. (2012). Small business growth: Development of indicators. Academy of

Entrepreneurship Journal, 12(3): 129-172.

ISBDC. (2014, February 13). Small Business Failure Rates and Causes. Retrieved from ISBDC:

http://www.isbdc.org/small-business-failure-rates-causes/

https://getbambu.com/blog/communication-in-the-workplace/

www.yourthoughtpartner.com