Unit 01

• The flow of Communication: Downward; Upward,

Lateral or Horizontal; Diagonal or Crosswise

• Barriers to Communication.
 Upward Communication
• Flow Of Information From Lower To Higher
Levels Of An Organization
• From Employees To Management
• From Subordinates To Superiors
 Communication that flows to a higher level in an organization is called upward
communication. It provides feedback on how well the organization is functioning. The
subordinates use upward communication to convey their problems and performances to
their superiors.

 The subordinates also use upward communication to tell how well they have understood
the downward communication. It can also be used by the employees to share their views
and ideas and to participate in the decision-making process.

 Upward communication leads to a more committed and loyal workforce in an organization

because the employees are given a chance to raise and speak dissatisfaction issues to the
higher levels. The managers get to know about the employees feelings towards their jobs,
peers, supervisor and organization in general. Managers can thus accordingly take actions
for improving things.

 Grievance Redress System, Complaint and Suggestion Box, Job Satisfaction surveys etc all
help in improving upward communication. Other examples of Upward Communication are -
performance reports made by low level management for reviewing by higher level
management, employee attitude surveys, letters from employees, employee-manager
discussions etc.
 Development of plan: The information received from subordinate plays important role to help development of
planning of the organization.

 Providing suggestions and opinions: By upward communication system, subordinate takes necessary
suggestions and opinions from superiors about the work-related issues of the organization.

 Motivation to employees: Upward communication system allows lower level staff to express their attitude or
opinion to upper-level staff. As a result, sub-ordinates are influenced to work more towards fulfillment to
target.

 Providing constructive suggestion: All employees are supplied with constructive and important messages that
can help to implement the goals or objectives.

 Providing feedback: The subordinate’s reaction is returned to the superior in this communication system. So, top
level management can decide what to do and what not do clearly understand and followed.

 Creating favorable environment: Upward communication helps to develop a favorable working situation in an
organization by creating a good relation among all employees.

 Promote harmony: Upward communication creates a friendly environment in the organization which leads to a
peaceful and harmonious relationship among the subordinates and superiors.
 Changes of information/ Filter of information: In upward communication subordinates may
change their accurate information. So, the top executive cannot take an accurate decision.

 Unwillingness: Sometimes subordinates don’t send the information to their superior willingly.
So, the communication system may be disrupted.

 Fear of inefficiency: The main problem of upward communication is fair to superiors. Generally,
superiors make a question about the employees work position and efficiency. Many employees
fear to communicate and share their ideas, constructive suggestions and opinions with the
superiors.

 Indiscipline: Sometimes employees communicate directly to superior by avoiding proper

channel or chain of command. Here disciplines are not properly maintained.

 Supervisor’s negligence: Sometimes top-level executives discourage the upward flow of

information and neglect the constructive suggestions and opinions about the work-related
issues of the organization.

 Delay: It is an important limitation of upward communication is the long and slow movement of
information to the higher authority.

 Flattery: In order to convince the superior bosses, subordinates can take the help of flattery
and for this reason, subordinates may conceal the true and provide incomplete information to
top level.
Communication that flows from a higher level in an organization to
a lower level is a downward communication.

◦In other words, communication from superiors to subordinates in a chain of

command is a downward communication.

◦This communication flow is used by the managers to transmit work-related

information to the employees at lower levels.

◦Employees require this information for performing their jobs and for
meeting the expectations of their managers.

Example : Memo , Notices, Newsletters, E-mail Messages, Letters,

Handbooks, Policy Statements, Procedures

Downward communication is used by the managers for the following

purposes -
 Providing feedback on employees
performance
 Giving job instructions
 Providing a complete understanding of the
employees job as well as to communicate
them how their job is related to other jobs in
the organization.
 Communicating the organizations mission
and vision to the employees.
 Communication that takes place at same levels of hierarchy in an organization is called lateral communication, i.e.,
communication between peers, between managers at same levels or between any horizontally equivalent
organizational member.

 This kind of communication takes place between departments or people on the same level in an organizational
structure. It is one of the most frequently used channels of communication.

 It is very important for the smooth functioning of every organisation as it promotes understanding and

coordination between various departments. Embarrassing situations can arise when there is a lack of proper

horizontal communication.

 For example, the production and the marketing departments must interact with each other because marketing

tactics and production planning go hand-in-hand.

 It is time saving.
 It facilitates co-ordination of the task.
 It facilitates co-operation among team members.
 It provides emotional and social assistance to the
organizational members.
 It helps in solving various organizational
problems.
 It is a means of information sharing.
 It can also be used for resolving conflicts of a
department with other department or conflicts
within a department.
➢ Diagonal communication is when a manager
works with employees from another department
or work group. This is utilized in instances like
when a manager is creating a training module
and works with employees from various
departments to ensure that the training is
accurate, or when a project spans across multiple
departments. Effective diagonal communication
leads to uniformity across an organization, and
helps prevent any misunderstanding that may
occur through the communication chain.
(i) To help in proper coordination
(ii) To communicate effectively whether
laterally,
horizontally and diagonally
(iii) To improve mutual understanding
(iv) To boost the morale of lower level staff
through interaction across all the levels in the
organisation
Basic comparison Downward Upward communication
communication
Direction Downward communication Upward communication
flows from higher to flows
bottom form bottom to higher
level. levels
Speed Its speed is fast, Its speed is slow.
empowered
by authority.

Purpose Its purpose may be to give Its purpose is to provide

orders for implementing feedback and give
plans suggestions.

Nature Its nature is authoritative Its nature is informative

and and
directive. that of an appeal.

Examples Its examples include Its examples include

orders, circulars , notices, reports.
etc. Suggestions, grievances,
 Barriers
to
Communication
Communication is the art of transmitting
knowledge, ideas, information and thoughts
from one person to another.
The transfer should be such that the receiver
understands the meaning and the intent of the
message and give proper feedback.
There are three levels at which communication takes place:

1. Noticing is done with the senses, and is at the physical level

2. Understanding is at the level of intelligence
3. Acceptance is at the emotional level

Anything that hinders the process of communication at any of these

levels is a barrier to communication Barriers to communication can
be defined as the aspects or conditions that interfere with effective
exchange of ideas or thoughts.
 Environmental Personal Interests
 Halo Effect
 Misinterpretation
 Fear / Stress
 Status
 Chain of command
 Trust Issues /Negative Self Image
 Technological
 Organizational
 Use of Jargons
 External Noise / Emotions
 Distance
• PHYSICAL BARRIERS
• SEMANTIC AND LANGUAGE
BARRIERS
• SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIERS
• ORGANIZATIONAL BARRIERS
Physical Barrier
Noise
Time &
Distance

Gender
 Physical noise (outside disturbance)
 Psychological noise (inattentiveness)
 Written noise (bad handwriting/typing)
 Visual noise (late arrival of employees)
 Improper Time
 Defects in Medium of communication
 Network Facilities
 Mechanical Breakdowns
Those who speak do not know
Those who know do not speak
- Random Japanese Guy
 Homophones

SIMILAR SOUNDING WORDS

These words are known as Homophones
Pronunciation
Spelling
Meaning

Examples:
• pale/pail
• alter/altar
• buy/bye/by
• rain/reign
These words are known as Homographs
Spelling
Pronunciation
Meaning
Examples
• The bandage was wound around the wound.
• We must polish the Polish furniture.
• He could lead if he would get the lead out.
These Words are also known as homonyms
Spelling
Pronunciation
Meaning
Examples
• Never desert your friends in the desert.
• Close the window before the bee gets too close
• Denotation: The literal meaning of a word
• Connotations: The emotions and associations
connected to a word
– Favourable Connotation: 'honest', 'noble',
'sincere’
– Unfavourable Connotation: 'cowardly', 'slow',
'incompetent‘
Examples:
They gave us cheap stuff.
At this shop, they sell things cheap
 LANGUAGE BARRIERS

Different Languages

No Clarity in Speech
• Using Jargons

 Not being specific

3. Denotations and connotations. Words have two types of meanings:
denotative and connotative .
The literal meaning of a word is called its denotative meaning. It just informs
and names objects without indicating any positive or negative qualities.
Words like 'table', 'book', 'accounts', 'meeting' are denotative.
In contrast, connotative meanings arouse qualitative judgments and personal
reactions. 'Honest', 'competent', 'cheap', 'sincere', etc., are connotative
words.
Some of these words like 'honest', 'noble', 'sincere“ are favorable
connotations; others like 'cowardly', 'slow', 'incompetent' have unfavorable
connotations. But there also exist a large number of troublesome words that
have favorable connotations in certain contexts and unfavorable connotations
in others. One such word is 'cheap'. Look at the following two sentences:
They gave us cheap stuff.
At this shop, they sell things cheap.
In the first sentence 'cheap' refers to quality and has an unfavorable
connotation, in the second one it refers to prices and is used favorably.
2. Bypassed instructions. Bypassing is said to have occurred if the
sender and the receiver of the message attribute different meanings
to the same word or use different words for the same meaning.
Murphy and Pack have given a classic example of how bypassed
instructions can play havoc with the communication process:
An office manager handed to a new assistant one letter with the
instruction, "Take it to our stockroom and burn it." In the office
manager's mind (and in the firm's jargon) the word "burn" meant to
make a copy on a company machine which operated by a heat
process. As the letter was extremely important, she wanted an extra
copy.
However, the puzzled new employee, afraid to ask questions,
burned the letter with a lighted match and thus destroyed the only
existing copy.**
Psychological barriers can be described as
the cause of distorted communication
because of human psychology problems.
 Attitude and values
 Emotions
 Filtering and distortion of message
 Status difference
 Pre- conceived notions
 Closed mindedness
 Lack of trust
• Group identification
• Self-image
• Premature evaluation
• Distrust
• Poor retention
• Loss or distortion of messages as they pass
from one level to another
• Filtering of information according to one’s
understanding/interpretation
• Information gap if upper level does not know
the true state of affairs
• Deliberate withholding of information from
peers perceived as rivals
• Lack of communication policy

• Authoritarian attitude of management

• Poorly Defined Authority and Responsibility

• Too Many Levels in Organization Structure

• Insufficient Communication Training

➢ For Physical Barriers-
• Appropriate Seating Arrangement
• Ensure Visibility & Audibility
• Environmental Comfort
• Minimise Visual/Oral Distractions

➢ For Semantic Barriers-

• Use of Simple Language
• Symbols & Charts
• Active Listening/ Constructive feedback
➢ For Socio-Psychological Barriers-

• Calling Attention & Motivation

• Assistance & Sympathy

➢ For Organisational Barriers-

• Simple Organisational Structure

• Avoiding Information Overload
• Flexibility in Meeting Targets