Communication in the Workplace Narrative Essay
Communication is a vital process in organizations and companies in today’s world. It has been defined as an activity that entails transmitting information through interexchange of views or messages by behavior, signals, writing, visuals, and speech. The process of communication requires a sender, the message to be sent, and a receiver. However, it is mandatory for the receiver to be aware of the sender’s intention to communicate. This means that a sender can be able to communicate with a receiver across vast distances (Wilson 2010).
Normally, the communication the process is complete after it is clear that the receiver understood the message as intended by the sender. Communicative commonality is integral to effective communication between communicating parties. Effective communication is not only needed inside an organization but also when dealing with external stakeholders. It enables organization to achieve competitive edge considering the fact that it through it that an organization remains responsive to consumer needs (Jones & George 2007). On the contrary, poor communication disrupts almost everything in an organization.
There are a number of barriers to effective communication (Huczynski & Buchanan 2010). This paper intends to highlight the barriers and how three organizations (Professional Sports, Bernard Mathews, and NHS trust Hospital) have been able to handle the barriers to ensure effective communication. Barriers to Effective Communication Barriers to communication are factors that might hinder effective communication between parties in the workplace. According to Antony and MacVicar (2011), this includes language barriers, cultural barriers, organizational barriers, personal barriers, and interpersonal barriers.
Other barriers to effective communication include information technology and power. Professional sports organizations in Greece, Bernard Mathews, and NHS trust hospital have had to deal with at least of the barriers. The three have employed different strategies to deal with them hence their continued success (Mullins 2005). NHS Trust Hospital Poor communication has hindered hospitals to serve customers in the desired manner. There are a number of factors that have contributed to the problem. According to Smith and Preston (1996), the nature of jobs executed by doctors and nurses has contributed to poor communication.
Nurses and doctors jobs are in most cases stressful leading to their informal communication among them. It is also common to find practitioners being less polite when addressing one another. Lack of understanding of one another’s role and knowledge has also contributed to the poor communication in NHS hospital (Smith & Preston 1996). Gender differences have also been a barrier to effective communication with stereotypes being the main cause. Men practitioners seem to have less respect for female practitioners hence conflicts in communication.
Research has shown that professionalism and status is also a major cause of poor communication in NHS hospital. More experienced nurses and doctors seemed to have fewer problems in building relationships and communicating effectively. This is as compared to less experienced doctors and nurses who experience a lot of problems communicating. Members of the same group in the hospital also find it easy to communicate. Smith and Preston (1996) argues that this ostensibly because of similar language, sense of belonging, and similar training.
NHS has tried to deal with the barriers through the application of a number of strategies. For instance, it has tried to create good relationships among practitioners. This has been done to ensure they are able to communicate with one another with ease. It has also employed training and teaching communication programs to enhance to encourage good communication among practitioners. It is clear that nurses and doctors in the organization have found it hard to get along with one another as a result of different training (Smith & Preston 1996).
It has also been suggested that the organization should implement good communication systems to aid practitioners in communication. The world has been experiencing technological advancements on a daily basis. The hospital needs to capitalize on this to be able to improve communications (Smith & Preston 1996). Bernard Mathews Farms Bernard Mathews Farms is also one of the organizations that have suffered as a result of poor or ineffective communication. Noise has been one of the major barriers to the organization’s effective communication. Specifically, the organization was affected by the noise created by the media.
To be more precise, press articles published negative information about the Bernard Mathews that led to the public have a negative attitude towards it. On the other hand, the organization failed to communicate to its stakeholders or respond to the allegation in a timely to be able to set the record straight. In the essence, this left the public confused on the matter leading to the organization losing its credibility. This also led to the company losing a competitive edge on the market. Employees were also demotivated seeing their company’s name being tarnished in the media.
As a result, it necessitated the need for the management to come up with strong strategies on how to enhance communication with its stakeholders (Bernard Matthews 2011). The company was committed to improving its communication not only with internal stakeholders but also external ones. Internal stakeholders include directors, managers, and employees. The company has been able to communicate effectively with its internal stakeholders through the production of multilingual weekly newsletter to all employees. This has been done to ensure employees are well aware of what is happening in the organization.
The same information is made available on its intranet site. Employees can also log in to be able to access new information. Similarly, the company also provides conducts face to face meeting aimed at informing managers on the progress of the company as well as new initiatives (Bernard Matthews 2011). The company has also employed different strategies to be able to communicate with external stakeholders. This includes customers, regulatory bodies, suppliers, the community, and the government. Essentially, the company was committed to winning back the trust of its stakeholders to survive the market.
One way through which this was achieved is advertising. The company has been able to use the television to advertise its products to ensure they stick in the minds of its customers. It has also made a follow to ascertain the impact of the advertisements. It is through this strategy that the company is able to explain to its customers the benefits of consuming its products. Ultimately, this also gives it the opportunity to address the negative publicity as it is able to inform stakeholders on what is really happening (Bernard Matthews 2011).
Social media and the internet has also been used by the company to be able to reach out to its stakeholders. For example, the company has four websites that serve different audiences. This includes a corporate website, consumer sites, Foodservice site, and a campaigning site. It has been able to use the same to market its products as well as make its new initiatives known to stakeholders. The company has also used the media and public relations to communicate circuitously with its consumers (Bernard Matthews 2011).
Professional Sport. Professional sport organizations have also faced many barriers that impede effective communication. Specifically, coaches have found it problematic to communicate effectively with their players during games. This can be attributed to them having limited time. Coaches find it hard to communicate with players as a result of the limited time they might have to transmit instructions. They have tried their best to handle the same. However, limited time remains a great obstacle (Athanasios 2005). Language has also created a barrier to effective communication in the company.
Professional sports teams are normally composed of players from different countries. As such, coaches might find it problematic to communicate with them. Ability of perception and attitude also hinder effective communication. It is common knowledge that players might decode messages differently hence some may not be able to get the right information. The negative attitude among players has also created a great barrier to communication considering the fact this affects communication not only to their superiors but also other players (Athanasios 2005).
There are also external factors that have hindered communication in professional sports in Canada. External factors are those that are not directly related to the players or their coach but still affect communication. For example, spectators, sports officials, and opponents also act as barriers to effective communications. This can be attributed to the noise they make during sports events (Athanasios 2005). Coaches try to ensure effective communication by asking their players to be calm and remain focused.
They also try to minimize the negative influence created by outside factors. Coaches have also dealt with the problem of languages through naturalization of players. Equally, they have also ensured that their messages are short and clear to ensure every individual perceives or understands them in the desired manner. Team cohesion, fatigue, and team environment affect their attitude towards one another. Coaches have tried to deal with this through ensuring team members have enough rest and spend more time with one another (Athanasios 2005).
Conclusion Communication is very essential for organizations. It is imperative for the management in different organizations to ensure effective communication for better performances. There are a number of barriers that hinder effective communication including personal barriers, language barriers, physical barriers, and gender barriers. Professional Sports, Bernard Mathews, and NHS trust Hospital have faced some of these barriers and have tried their level best to handle them to ensure their success.
