Communication In The Workplace

Communication is an exchange of ideas, feelings and information by speaking, writing, gesturing or through behavior. Effective communication can lead to healthy personal and work relationships. Workplace communication involves listening, observing, speaking and the ability to understand verbal and nonverbal meanings in the communication process. Success of the workplace depends on the ability to communicate with others. From developing targeted messages to motivating workers and creating messages that keep us safe with increasing productivity and better work environment, leading to career success. Effective workplace communication skills are among the skills we assume every worker picked up along the way. The problem is that not all the communication skills and habits that we picked up at home, school or social circles are appropriate for the workplace. All workplaces today are continually evolving and becoming complicated. With more and more people getting involved in the workplace, all the more effective communication is needed. The workplace can be a place of stress, friction and misunderstanding, but with effective communication across different levels, these things can be decreased. Keep on reading to know communication in the workplace.

 

Formal communication rises from necessity rather than choice. Formal communication is comprised of orders, Instructions, feedback, guidelines and appraisals given to the employees by the employer in the workplace. Feedback, reporting, complaints and leave requests are types of communication from the employee to the employer. The different forms of formal communication include: departmental meetings, conferences, telephone calls, company news bulletins, special interviews and special purpose publications. These things are necessary for any organization since it helps in proper functioning of any office and if not pursued in the right way then the company will not accomplish any work.

 

The major advantage of formal communication is that the official channels help the habitual and identical information to pass around without rneeding much of managerial attention. Basically, executives and managers can devote most of their precious time on matters of utmost significance. But at the same time, the weakness of formal communication should not go unnoticed. Communication without the right channels of command greatly obstructs free and uninterrupted flow of vital information. Generally, it is time consuming, cumbersome and leads to a good deal of distortion.

Informal communication takes place amongst employees or between the employer and employee in an informal manner and about unofficial things. This type of communication is carried out in a friendly manner. Informal communication acts as a valuable method of expressing certain information that cannot be channeled via formal communication. It pleases the people who need to know what is happening in the company and offers an opportunity to convey their worries, anxieties and complaints without fear. Since more people are involved in making a decision, informal communication helps to improve managerial decisions. Though too much informal communication can be harmful to any workplace, maintaining a reasonable level of informal communication is needed to maintain healthy relationships. This will make all the employees comfortable with each other, and create a sense of camaraderie between all the employees in the workplace.
 

Informal communication has some drawbacks as well. Many people tend to gossip a lot and spread rumors about other employees. Informal communication does not give the right to any employee to be rude or emotional. Be polite and considerate about everyone. Being friendly with coworkers does not mean that you start wasting their time by gossiping and talking for long time. Respect others’ time and space. Also be open to all kinds of ideas. Listen to others rather than constantly talking. Getting involved in conflicts is another side effect of informal communication. If you have friendly relations with your superiors then do not assume that you can do whatever you feel like. If you have a meeting with them then always be on time. The informal communication may lead to completely vague information that could harm rather than benefit an organization. Moreover it becomes impossible to fix the responsibility for its origin or flow of information. Last but not the least; try not to mix personal and professional relationships.