CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

OVERVIEW OF COMMUNICATION

As we know managers have three basic jobs: to collect and convey information, to make decision
and to promote interpersonal unity. To put it in short, managers are expected to work together to
achieve organizational goals. All of these jobs happen through communication. Effective
managers are able to use a wide variety of media & strategies to communicate.

1.1 DEFINITION OF COMMUNICATION

Different writers define communication in different ways.
some define communication as “the process of transferring ideas from one person to another”.
The Latin root of communicate is communicare, which means “to make common to many,
share”. ”. According to this definition, when people communicate, they express their ideas and
feelings in a way that is understandable (common) to each of them. They share information with
each other.

Hamilton and Parker (1987), define communication as” the process of people sharing
thoughts, ideas, and feelings with each other in commonly understandable ways.”

Bovee and Thill (2000) defined communication as the process of sending and receiving
messages. They distinguished communication and effective communication. According to
Bovee and Thill,, effective communication occurs when individuals achieve a shared
understanding, stimulate others to take actions, and encourage people to think in new ways.

1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF COMMUNICATION

In order to show the importance of communication to organization it is better to define

what organization is. An organization is a group of people associated for business, political,
professional, religious, athletic, social, or other purposes. Its activities require human beings
to interact, react- communicate. They exchange information, ideas, plans, make decisions,
rules, proposals, contracts and various agreements which all of them can not happen without
communication. Communication is the life blood of every organization. Whether an
organization is large or small, the sharing of information among the parts of an organization,
as well as between the organization and the outside world, is the glue that binds the
organization together. As a member of an organization, be it formal or informal organization,
you are a link in the communication chain. Whether you are a top manager or an entry level
employee, you have information that others need to perform their jobs. At the same time,
others have information that is crucial to you. Communication skills are important because it
is through communication that you gain the information you need to make successful
decisions at work. The success of an organization depends on communication skills of its
employees. Researches indicate that communication skills were rated “extremely important”
relative to other kinds of abilities by the surveyed organization. Researchers conducted on
business organizations also show that “inability to communicate” and “poor communication
skills” were the most frequently mentioned reasons for not hiring a job applicant. From this
you can see that communication affects even your personal life.

1.3 communications in management