Question

What types of written and oral organizational communications have you prepared? Are your communications typical of the types of communications found in business organizations? Explain the reasons for your answer.

Answer 1

In General, being an effective leader, effective communication also has a larger role to play in my Organization. As it is known, it is vital in any given Organization that communication plays an effective part to realize the predetermined objectives. When I, as a Leader encourage communication with each other within the Department, it helps in reaching out to the employees effectively with the departmental goals, project objectives as well as with the overall Vision and Mission statements of the Organization. I always ensure the culture of imbibing Communication and Relationship management to offer customer-oriented services which is very essential for survival of a business. I have set up a system of communication that supports the informal route in order to build more personalized relationships within the Organization. For this, it encourages, non-task groups activities within the system. However, formal communication plays a more important part in an Organization as well where, the communication takes place in the form of writing such as e-mails, recorded tele-conferences, etc. Communications among the peers are facilitated by me and so with that of the seniors and subordinates in a more informal way such that it supports the formal channels of communication more effectively. I also organize various functions and events are also organized in the Firm with the view to bring the employees closer to each other in the form of informal communication network as well. On the other side, I form Task groups to emphasize the value of formal communication at work as well.

However, to be more specific, apart from my emphasis on written communication such as e-mails, letters, memo, circulars, etc., I believe Oral communication also plays a great role in our Organization.

Therefore, in order to establish effective communication system in an Organization, various types of oral and written communication have been prepared and executed by me. I have always prepared the visual communications more with the belief that that the Visual communications are stronger way of communicating the message as compared to the written communication process without the use of visuals. It enhances the communication process by adding more meaning to the same. Visuals help in supporting all other forms of communication by making it easier for the audience to relate the topic that is attempted to be communicated, through imaging the same on the minds of the audiences. It is also the faster way of communication and could be especially used to support such communication process that includes Presentation or any other form of Oral communication, Written forms of communication such as Report writing, Emails, etc. Visuals have the potential to make the content of the communication more interesting and engaging for the audience. Also, the images help the audience form a larger picture to the Topic it pertains to. It is recall value is higher and hence it enhances the communication process.

Further, owing to such a recall value and the image that it sets on the minds of the audiences, it could be said that it inhibits the message that is being conveyed. Oral and Written communications are full of words. But visuals are of a different genre. If visuals are attractive, then audience could connect with the inhibited message in a faster and more effective way.

I also believe that in order to be an effective communicator, the communicators’ needs to have an appropriate content of the message. They further need to listen more than speaking more because listening also forms an important part of the entire communication process. They also need to concentrate upon the communication to ensure its genuineness. In addition, they should also pay a great deal of interest in the non-verbal part of the communication too because that aids the oral communication significantly. The communicator should further be aware of any sort of misunderstandings that could be possibly associated with the entire communication process and accordingly, take steps to do away with the same.

I have often prepared Face-to-Face communication for instant response and action. However, although Face-to-face could be the most effective form of interpersonal communication but it is a part of oral communication which may suffer from certain limitations as well owing to which this approach is practiced considerably less these days than in the previous time:

• It lacks written evidence for documentation purpose
• Unless recorded, there may be a scope for misinterpretation, loss of information due to forgetfulness, turning hostile to the communication process, etc.
• When distances matter and people are residing at two different places but still need to communicate with each other, face to face communication cannot be a possibility unless in case of video-conferencing.
• Other forms of communications have gradually gained popularity due to the advent of Globalization and technological services such as internet(for social media networking, emailing, blogging, etc.) or mobile phones (for the use of internet services as well as cellular services such as phone calls, text messaging, etc.).

Overall when I prepare various types of Oral communication such as seminars or tele-conference, I remember while communicating orally, that the environmental factors and room set up may either facilitate the oral communication or could impede the same. Resorting to various techniques of oral communication by taking into account the environmental factors and the room set-up is hence necessary. For example, I would have to take the aid of the micro-phones when addressing to the mass audience by way or oral communication. In case of a communicating orally with few people, physically approachable at closer distances, then accordingly, the oral communication could be subtle yet powerful. It should not be a noise to the listeners but rather subtle to help reaching out to the listeners in more effective way.

In a mass audience, when I present a seminar using the Projector, laser pointer and a microphone to address the public, there could the possibility of technology failure if the Projector connected to the Computer crashes or conks off for a while During that period, a back plan B needs to be ready such as taking the large print-outs of the important slides that could have been presented before the audience with the help of MS PowerPoint otherwise. This shall help the audience to be in synch with the speaker even if the Plan A failed.