Organizational Communication: Makes it, or breaks it

In today’s global business environment, effective organizational communication has a significant impact on an organization’s success. To provide a thorough definition, organizational change, or the systematic change effort, could be defined as the usage of behavioral science knowledge and skill, to change or transform the organization to a more advanced and efficient state. Ideally, the department of human resources facilitates organizational communication by sharing information, project coordination, and social interaction within the organization—but how much importance the role gets has been questionable. People make the mistake that human resources only deals with employee management– but that is not entirely true. Rather, it could be defined as how internal communications build on the relationships that influence the employee management team to double the efficiency of each department and cater to increase the business size. The necessity to hire individuals who are particularly trained to handle this side of the business did not seem to be of utmost importance until very recently. Corporate offices in Bangladesh have finally entered the global trend to prioritize the importance of ensuring that their human resources and communications are catering to the company’s overall growth. It could therefore be assumed that the public representation of the company is in essence the reflection of the internal communications, effective resource management between functions, and the necessity to build and develop employee relationships.

The demand for public relations and communications officers has not really been in the trend, or mainstream per se until such time certain multinational companies have publicized their efforts of bringing their human resources team to the forefront of the company. Public relations research is not only a fundamental part of identifying and resolving important issues in the organization in a strategic manner but also significant to enhance the worker productivity level. It provides a multi-dimensional platform for the organization to scan the environment to identify key issues early and resolve them via strategic planning and strenuous teamwork. Research uncovers potential areas of concern so that the organization can build relationships, develop programs and take corrective action to prevent small problems from becoming major issues both internally and externally. One area where public relations can play an important role in organizational communication is by recognizing areas of not only actual agreement and disagreement but also perceived agreement and disagreement.

In my opinion, organizational communication will become the “next big thing” that will indicate a company’s growth and forecast. Human resource management has mainstreamed over the past couple of years to primarily recognize essential aspects of maintaining an efficient standard of structural changes that are actually a major reason behind the company’s road to perfection. Public relations, media relations, and various kind of practical training can be identified as structured organizational communication; not only does this ensure a positive stride towards improving a company’s infrastructure, but also help move towards a more developed direction. In the process, organizational communication can aid in enhancing team building and worker productivity. Change can be very difficult, yet healthy relationships within the organization can help build a platform to provide opportunities to strengthen teamwork, increase employee productivity, and construct resourceful third-party business rapports.

It is extremely important that while an organizational change is taking place, the media keeps the positive aspects of the change in the limelight with the least amount of criticism. Dealing with the media presents unique challenges, since the news media cannot be controlled — they have ultimate control over whether stories pitched to them are of interest to their audiences. Because of this, an ongoing relationship between an organization and the news media is vital. One way to possibly ensure a positive working relationship with media personnel is to become deeply familiar with their areas of interest— a good enough reason as to why the necessity of organizational communication personnel should be prioritized.
Google’s theory that the most productive workers are happy workers has reached the corporate houses in Bangladesh today. Top authorities of every organization are now ensuring that employees are kept happy in an effort to increase the level of productivity; furthermore, the concept of organizational hierarchy has more or less gone into extinction and teamwork became the new fad of running corporate houses. When a company is lean and ensures a good relationship between its management staff and its non-management staff, the achievements such as increased worker productivity and satisfaction, and smooth structural changes are highlighted with little or no emphasis on the negative impacts.

Training and worker development are one of the most important pillars of organizational communication that are used to facilitate change and development. It comes in many forms including unstructured, small-group sessions where participants share their experiences and learn from their interactions. It focuses the attention on the dynamics of a group or team interaction, provides a basis for team building, through individual attention, and in turn inspires workers. As a result, they are more positive about adapting to the idea of a different work setting, a diversified corporate culture, and even reporting to a different set of top-level management.

So what is the point of my article? It is certainly not suggesting that we do not give any importance to communications, but rather there is always room for improvement. There is no one particular department of an organization that is more prestigious, or more important than the other; just as the spine of a human body is incomplete with only 25 ribs—consider the least important department to be the 26^th rib. Each organization may be particularly well known for a department, but it is the other supporting functions that have brought the strength into the limelight. With Google’s proven theory of the correlation between happiness and high productivity, Bangladeshi corporate houses should be commended for their effort in taking a leaf out of the multinational giant’s book to enhance their corporate settings and double their business sizes. Poor communication in a nonfunctional organizational change leads to confusion, lowered morale, and loss of productivity. Therefore, it is important that qualified leaders are guiding the employees to remain strong during the structural changes since their opportunity costs are higher than the rest. If not already, it is recommended that to experience a smooth organizational transition, the department of human resources should partner with each function/ department to enhance the growth of the business, and ensure that there are no weak links in any process. 

This article was originally written by Farah K. Iqbal