Flow of Communication

Flow of communication:

Circulation of information within the organization is called flow of communication. Information flows from different levels in different directions. Flow of communication can be classified broadly in to two categories:

• 1      Formal &
• 2.        Informal

Some certain flows of communication are as follows:

Upward Communication:

Upward communication is formal and official in nature. When, within an organization, information is given to superiors by their subordinates, it is known as upward communication. Upward communication can only take place if subordinates feel free to convey their opinions and attitude and to report freely on their own work. Upward channel is useful as it provides valuable feedback to the higher authorities in the form of information, suggestions, responses, etc. from the lower level.

The directional of upward communication are given in the image below. 

Importance of Upward Communication

Upward communication is useful for top executives as it provides information on.

1.               What the workers are doing?

2.               How their work is progressing?

3.               Achievements, failures and future job plans.

4.               Unsolved work problems on which subordinates require help and guidance.

5.               Suggestions for improvements within the department and company.

6.               How workers feel about their jobs, their associated, supervisors and their                          company.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Upward Communication

Advantages of upward communication in an organization are followed:

(1). Fosters Friendly Relations

Upward communication helps to bring about co-operation, goodwill and understanding among employers and employees. This stimulates friendly relations.

(2) Provides Valuable Feedback

Upward communication provides a valuable feedback. The superiors come to know how their plans and policies; orders and instructions are being received and executed.

(3) Encourages Participation

By encouraging employees to make suggestion, upward communication helps to bring in elements of participative management in the organization.

(4) Two-Way Process 

Upward communication is a part of a two-way process which promotes better understanding between management and employees.

 (5) Making Suggestions

The employees are encouraged to make suggestions in the interest of the organization. Some of these suggestions prove useful, and the employees are suitably rewarded.

 (6) Introducing New Projects

Upward communication creates a healthy relationship between the management and the employees and this in turn makes it convenient for the management to introduce new schemes or projects.

(7) Employee Morale

Upward communication develops and improves employer-employee relations and promotes employee morale.

 

Disadvantages of Upward Communication

(1)Resistance from Employees

Employees rarely initiate upward communication as they are afraid of being ignored. Such communication often meets with improper recognition, so they hesitate to initiate it again.

(2) Fear of Incompetence

The subordinates communicating with the superiors fear that their colleagues or work may be regarded by their superior as a reflection on their own competence.

(3) Indecisive Superiors

If the superiors do not take any decision in the light of upward communication, the employees can lose confidence in their superiors.

 (4) Messages Not Heard

Often messages do not travel upwards; they merely rest with the inactive or indifferent superior. Some managers are poor listeners, some simply 'hear' messages without taking any action.

(5) Unwillingness to Admit Failure

Many employees in lower hierarchy are insecure about their jobs and uncertain about their future prospects. They, therefore, feel unwilling to discuss their on-the-job problems with their superiors.

Downward Communication

Downward communication occurs when information and messages flow down through an organization's formal chain of command or hierarchical structure. In other words, messages and orders start at the upper levels of the organizational hierarchy and move down toward the bottom levels. Responses to downward communications move up along the same path.

Advantages

Downward communication provides certain advantages to an organization:

(1)Organizational discipline
Downward communication follows the organization's hierarchy, meaning that organizational discipline and member compliance is much easier to maintain.

(2) Efficiency
Downward communication offers efficiencies because instructions and information come from the sources in power that are able to coordinate activities from the top of the organization. Employees receive feedback from the supervisors who manage them.

(3) Effective communication of goals
Upper management can easily communicate goals and assign responsibilities regarding achieving those goals.

(4) Ease of delegation
Delegation is much easier if the delegation comes directly from the vertical communication structure representing the chain of command.

 

Disadvantages

Downward communication is not without disadvantages, including the following:

(1)Distortion
 Downward communications can become distorted as it proceeds through multiple levels of the organization.

(2) Slow feedback
It takes time for messages to go down the organization and then up the organization and then back down again. This means that feedback can be slow, resulting in problems, especially in a dynamic environment.

(3) Interpretative problems
Downward communication presents interpretation of problems because of the distortion effect and the slow feedback for message clarification.

(4) Lowers morale
It can do the morale of the employees low by giving short time for the specific task, by putting up pressure on them. By enlarge downward communications can have a negative impact on organizational morale.

(5) Not motivating
Given slow feedback and the dependence on formal channels of communication, this method of communication doesn't really help with motivation.

1. Lateral / Horizontal Communication: 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. The advantages of horizontal communication are as follows:

•     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 cross-functional communication between employees at different levels of the organization. For example, if the vice president of sales sends an e-mail to the vice president of manufacturing asking when a product will be available for shipping, this is an example of horizontal communication. But if a sales representative e-mails the vice president of marketing, then diagonal communication has occurred. Whenever communication goes from one department to another department, the sender’s manager should be made part of the loop.

Diagonal communication is becoming more common in organizations with a flattened, matrix, or product-based structure.

 Advantages include:

·        Building relationships between senior-level and lower-level employees from different parts of the organization.

·        Encouraging an informal flow of information in the organization.

·        Reducing the chance of a message being distorted by going through additional filters.

·        Reducing the workloads of senior-level managers.

Disadvantage

A manager may be put in an embarrassing position and appear incompetent if he isn’t aware of everything happening in his department. Trust may be lost and careers damaged by not paying attention to key communication protocols.

External Communication Flows

Communications do not start and stop within the organization. External communication focuses on audiences outside of the organization. Senior management—with the help of specialized departments such as public relations or legal—almost always controls communications that relate to the public image or may affect its financial situation. First-level and middle-level management generally handle operational business communications such as purchasing, hiring, and marketing. When communicating outside the organization (regardless of the level), it is important for employees to behave professionally and not to make commitments outside of their scope of authority.