case study on importance of business communication in an organization

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How Great Leaders Communicate

• Carmine Gallo

Four strategies to motivate and inspire your team.

Transformational leaders are exceptional communicators. In this piece, the author outlines four communication strategies to help motivate and inspire your team: 1) Use short words to talk about hard things. 2) Choose sticky metaphors to reinforce key concepts. 3) Humanize data to create value. 4). Make mission your mantra to align teams.

In the age of knowledge, ideas are the foundation of success in almost every field. You can have the greatest idea in the world, but if you can’t persuade anyone else to follow your vision, your influence and impact will be greatly diminished. And that’s why communication is no longer considered a “soft skill” among the world’s top business leaders. Leaders who reach the top do not simply pay lip service to the importance of effective communication. Instead, they study the art in all its forms — writing, speaking, presenting — and constantly strive to improve on those skills.

• Carmine Gallo is a Harvard University instructor, keynote speaker, and author of 10 books translated into 40 languages. Gallo is the author of The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman  (St. Martin’s Press).

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Importance Of Effective Communication In An Organization 2024

Effective communication is vital in all forms of life and of course even more vitally across all businesses and industries. If you don't run a tight ship then you can fall foul of confusion in the ranks.

Apple and Microsoft became highly successful companies not just because they had a great product to sell that people wanted or required, but also because their employees were all pulling in the same direction. This goal-oriented outlook came by way of effective communication from the top down, but also across with leaders of teams making sure that everyone knew what they had to do, and when it needed to be done by.

If open communication be it written or oral within a workplace is encouraged, a more cohesive and effective team will emerge, and this will show up on the bottom line. Good communication within a team also tends to build trust and boost employee morale. When managers communicate effectively, employees feel that they are well informed of the company’s direction and vision, there is no misunderstanding, and they will feel more secure within their role. 

Importance of Effective Communication in An Organization 

1. it boosts growth .

Effective communication is important when it comes to developing a better company culture and the growth and plays a pivotal role in driving growth and success in any setting, be it within a business, a team, or even personal relationships. When individuals are able to communicate their thoughts, ideas, and goals clearly and concisely, it leads to increased understanding, collaboration, and productivity. By fostering open dialogue, active listening, and clear messaging, effective communication paves the way for growth, innovation, and success.

2. It increases innovation

Effective communication plays a vital role in fostering innovation within an organization and can be achieved via idea sharing and collaboration, active listening and feedback, cross-functional communication, and transparent and inclusive communication.

On the subject of idea sharing and collaboration, when individuals feel comfortable expressing their thoughts and opinions, it creates a fertile ground for innovation.

With regards to active listening and feedback, when individuals actively listen to others' ideas and provide constructive feedback, it promotes a culture of mutual respect and encourages the free exchange of ideas. Constructive feedback helps refine and strengthen innovative concepts, leading to improved outcomes.

On the subject of cross-functional communication, effective communication facilitates collaboration across departments, teams, and disciplines, enabling the cross-pollination of ideas. By breaking down silos and encouraging interdisciplinary communication, organizations can leverage diverse skill sets and knowledge, resulting in fresh insights and breakthrough innovations.

Last but not least, transparent and inclusive communication can facilitate collaboration across departments, teams, and disciplines, enabling the cross-pollination of ideas. By breaking down silos and encouraging interdisciplinary communication, organizations can leverage diverse skill sets and knowledge, resulting in fresh insights and breakthrough innovations.

3. It improves productivity

Effective communication has a significant impact on productivity in the workplace. When communication is clear and concise, employees have a better understanding of their roles, responsibilities, and objectives. Clear communication eliminates confusion and ambiguity, enabling employees to prioritize their tasks and work efficiently towards specific goals. The end result of all that? You got it. Improved productivity.

4. It increases efficiency

Effective communication plays a key role in increasing efficiency within an organization. There are several ways in which it contributes to improved efficiency. Experts maintain that it can come via clear instructions and expectations, more streamlined processes, timely information sharing, regular feedback and performance evaluation, effective collaboration and teamwork, and better utilization of technology. By eliminating misunderstandings, facilitating quick decision-making, promoting teamwork, and leveraging technology, efficient communication optimizes workflows and resource utilization, leading to improved overall efficiency within the organization

Learn how to develop the most in-demand skills for your future career!

Discover how you can acquire the most in-demand skills with our free report, and open the doors to a successful career. 

5. It increases loyalty

Effective communication plays a crucial role in fostering employee loyalty within an organization. When employees feel that their voices are heard, opinions are valued, and information is transparently shared, they develop a sense of trust and belonging. Open and honest communication from leaders and managers helps establish a culture of transparency and integrity, creating an environment where employees feel comfortable expressing their concerns, ideas, and feedback. By actively listening to their employees, leaders can address their needs and provide support, which in turn boosts morale and loyalty.

6. It increases employee engagement

Effective communication plays a vital role in increasing employee engagement within an organization and there are several ways to make employees more involved. These can be open and transparent communication, two-way communication, recognition and feedback, making sure that levels of expectation are clearly set out, empowerment and autonomy is provided to all levels of employees, and teams are regularly communicated to and encouraged to collaborate on tasks. Effective communication that is open, transparent, two-way, and focused on recognition, feedback, clarity, empowerment, growth, and collaboration contributes to increased employee engagement.

7. It resolves problems

Effective communication serves as a powerful tool in resolving work problems and conflicts. When faced with challenges or disagreements, open and honest communication allows individuals to express their concerns, perspectives, and emotions in an early and respectful manner. By actively listening to each other, seeking to understand different viewpoints, and engaging in constructive dialogue, parties involved can find common ground and work towards a mutually beneficial resolution. Clear communication helps clarify misunderstandings, addresses underlying issues, and prevents conflicts from escalating further.

8. It enhances skills

Effective communication plays a significant role in enhancing skills in various areas. There are many ways that it can contribute to skills development and those include; greater clarity and articulation, an increase in active listening, greater incidences of nonverbal communication, better empathy and rapport-building, advanced conflict resolution and negotiation, and more effective written communication. Overall, effective communication enhances various skills, including clarity and articulation, active listening, nonverbal communication, empathy, conflict resolution, negotiation, presentation, and written communication. By consciously practicing and refining these skills, individuals can become more effective communicators, leading to improved personal and professional growth.

Conclusion 

Communication is key in business, and those organizations that have been able to master this crucial art of open and honest channels of communication between leaders and employees, and vice versa, will be best placed to reap all of the benefits. With open, honest and effective communication organizations will be able to mitigate conflict, increase employee engagement, improved productivity, a healthy workplace culture, boosted employee satisfaction, and increased innovation. 

Can being a great communicator be taught? You bet it can! Anyone can be a great communicator with training and practice and as an added bonus, it can make you a better leaders. The best communicators and leaders spend time developing, practicing and incorporating feedback into their communication efforts. These skills can be honed by doing a leadership management and teams course , and/or a leadership and organizational development course from a leading online university that offers MBA and BBA programs. 

Download our brand new free report on how you can acquire the most important skills for becoming a more successful communicator and effective leader.

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Common types of communication in the workplace

Experts maintain that there are four common types of communication in the workplace, namely verbal, nonverbal, written, and visual. Verbal, or oral communication among employees and managers plays an important part because at its core it means using speech to share information with other people. 

Verbal communication: Verbal communication involves the use of spoken words, tone of voice, and effective listening. It helps in resolving misunderstandings by providing clarity and immediate feedback. Through face-to-face conversations, phone calls, or video conferences, individuals can express their thoughts, ask questions, and seek clarification in real-time, ensuring clear understanding and reducing the chances of misinterpretation.

Nonverbal communication: Nonverbal cues such as body language, facial expressions, and gestures convey important information in workplace interactions. Paying attention to nonverbal cues helps individuals understand emotions, attitudes, and intentions, which can aid in resolving communication problems. For example, observing signs of frustration or confusion allows others to respond appropriately and offer support or clarification.

Written communication: Written communication, including emails, memos, reports, and documentation, provides a clear and permanent record of information. It helps overcome communication problems by ensuring that details are accurately conveyed, allowing individuals to refer back to messages for reference or clarification. Written communication also provides time for thoughtful reflection and revision, reducing the likelihood of misunderstandings caused by hasty or impulsive responses.

Visual communication: Visual aids such as charts, graphs, diagrams, and presentations can enhance understanding and overcome communication barriers. Visual communication simplifies complex information, making it easier to grasp and remember. Visuals can be especially useful when dealing with diverse audiences or when language barriers exist, as they transcend linguistic differences and convey information in a universally understandable manner.

How to develop communication skills as a manager

Having effective management communication and an effective communication strategy can help improve many aspects of a business. There are many ways you can improve management communication in the workplace, as every company is different. Some of the best practice tips on how managers can develop and improve their management communication skills are, work on writing skills, create an open channel for communication, listen and be receptive, involve your team and be transparent, and have a primary channel of communication. 

How to develop communication skills between managers and employees at work

It goes without saying that that the importance of communication between managers and employees is one of the most important factors of any successful business. Clear and effective communication helps ensure everyone is on the same page regarding objectives, direction, and expectations. It means everyone knows where they stand. Experts maintain that there are six ways to improve communication between managers and employees and those are, meet weekly, have regular 1-2-1s, keep employees in the loop, have an open door policy with managers, take advantage of tools that improve communication, and ask for and give feedback.

How to improve communication skills of employees working remotely

There is an expression that goes, "out of sight, out of mind." When managers are dealing with employees that are not in an office environment daily, communication levels and frequency of communication can slip. But this need not be the case. Fortunately, there are examples you can look to for inspiration and guidance as you adapt to the dynamics of managing remote working teams. Good communication skills means saying good morning either on a video or via a message in Teams, engaging in casual chit chat, and trying to meet offline when possible. Be proactive with communication and don't just wait for planned meetings, and respect time differences.  

Challenges of communication training for employees

Communication is a vital skill for any trainer, whether delivering online or in-person sessions, facilitating group activities, or providing feedback. However, lack of communication and communication challenges and barriers can arise in any training scenario, affecting the quality of learning outcomes and the satisfaction of the participants. But all hope is not lost. There are ways to address these issues and ensure effective communication with training stakeholders. Identify the audience, choose the right mode of training that suits attendees, use clear and concise language, handle difficult situations, and finally evaluate and improve by using surveys, tests, observations, or feedback forms, to measure the effectiveness and impact of your communication on your audience's learning outcomes and satisfaction.

Should you invest in a leadership and communication training course for your staff?

In short, the answer is yes. The right leadership and communication development program can improve productivity, employee retention, engagement levels, corporate culture, and internal hiring. More and more studies are showing that effective communication and communication-related skills amongst employees contribute to some of an organization’s most important KPIs, including profitability, productivity, and client engagement. Whilst on the subject of leadership training, it has been proven that leadership development boosts employee engagement, increases the organization's ability to deal with gaps in the talent pipeline, and reduces the headaches and costs associated with turnover. 

What are the best communication training programs?

People learn in different ways and in accordance with their own timeframes. This is why organizations should take these things and more into account before settling on training programs that are right for your organization. Although we're biased, at Nexford, we have a broad range of online courses for you to take, whether you're interested in entrepreneurship, AI, leadership, data analytics and much more.

Mark is a college graduate with Honours in Copywriting. He is the Content Marketing Manager at Nexford, creating engaging, thought-provoking, and action-oriented content.

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The Importance of Business Communication in an Organization

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What are the important roles of a speaker and a listener in effective communication, supervisory etiquette.

• How to Deal With Difficult Callers in a Business
• How Should Firms Respond to Negative Publicity?

The importance of business communication is one of those things that is often overlooked. Most people assume that as long as you can type a sentence or have a voice, you can communicate. And this is true, however, that doesn't mean your communication is actually effective. For business, effective communication on several levels is required. Otherwise, not only does the business suffer internally, but the bottom line will take a hit as well.

Importance of Communication in an Organization

Effective business communication is the art of sharing information in a positive and helpful fashion. Whether this information is being conveyed to employees or customers, it is important that the best method and atmosphere is created when sharing the information. This is especially true when sharing negative information and bad news. That said, the elements of effective communication organization are the same, regardless of the kind of news or who is receiving it.

Honesty Is Key 

Even when the news is bad, and even when it's the last thing you want to do, honesty is a criteria of communication. It might make you feel better to provide half-truths or omit important facts from the interaction, but that relief is short-lived. Eventually, the truth will come out and then you're forced to provide the full details and admit you lied. It is best to tell the truth once and get it over with than to have to address the same issue repeatedly because you weren't completely honest the first time.

Make It Quick

There is no real reason to have a long intro or backstory to lead up to the main point you're trying to convey, other than to buy time (or maybe work up courage). Don't dance around the issue. State the issue, let everyone know the result or problem created by the issue, offer your solution for the issue and thank people for their time. Sometimes we get wrapped up in the emotions of the news and we forget to let people know the actionable options that exist to deal with the issue. Having notes so you stay on track can help. It is also best to wait until emotions have had a chance to settle before addressing issues, especially when dealing with staff issues.

Check Your Body Language

Your body language can support or undermine your message. For example, if you tell an employee, "My door is always open. I'm willing to listen to your thoughts and opinions," but while you talking, you're slouched against the door frame with your arms folded and a frown on your face, your words might be inviting but your body language is not. Good posture, eye contact, and an inviting facial expression will improve your workplace communication and the ability to effectively convey what you need to say.

Know Your Audience

How you convey information will depend on your audience. If you're talking to corporate insiders, you can throw in shorthand and jargon and still get your points across. However, if you're talking to your customers, you'll want to keep the jargon to a minimum. Otherwise, you could spend more time explaining the jargon that sharing the information you wanted to share.

Have a Clear Message

Before you sit down with your team, an employee or the board, know exactly what you want to say. "Winging it" just leads to miscommunication. Take notes and bring them along if you need to. Knowing exactly what you want to say will help you frame your message and make sure your lead up stays on point and drive home the point you needed to make.

Listen More

Being an effective communicator requires you to be a good listener. People want to know they've been heard. So, if you can repeat back what a person has said to you before adding your own response or counter to their argument, you have a better chance of creating a dialogue that benefits everyone.

Effective communication can be a challenge, but if you want to be an effective leader, employee or influencer, honing your communication skills will help you in your career.

• Forbes: 15 Ways To Overcome Communication Errors As A Business Leader

K.A. Francis has been a freelance and small business owner for 20 years. She has been writing about personal finance and budgeting since 2008. She taught Accounting, Management, Marketing and Business Law at WV Business College and Belmont College and holds a BA and an MAED in Education and Training.

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Key issues in written business communication, how to overcome online communication problems, how to prevent misunderstanding in communication, how to coach an employee to communicate better, how to make a speech about teamwork at work, examples of positive communication in the workplace, the impact of communication on the decision-making process in an organization, the best ways to handle argumentative company emails, how to achieve successful written communication in a business environment, most popular.

• 1 Key Issues in Written Business Communication
• 2 How to Overcome Online Communication Problems
• 3 How to Prevent Misunderstanding in Communication
• 4 How to Coach an Employee to Communicate Better

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Case Studies in Organizational Communication Ethical Perspectives and Practices

• Steve May - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
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See what’s new to this edition by selecting the Features tab on this page. Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email [email protected] . Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html .

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The course including ethical decision-making has to be reshuffled for now, but in the future I will definitely use the book as a source for supporting material.

Excellent supplement to text I'm using. Offers in depth case studies and addresses evaluation using critical thinking.

Is there any instructor material available?

This book provides an effective way to engage students into theory. The cases presented can also be further analysed using a plethora of approaches, which makes it a useful teaching tool.

This book will be particularly helpful for students who have an interest in communication. I will also use it to supplement my lectures with examples in class. The book is very well laid out, engaging in its detail with signposting to further material for those students who wish to read more.

Matched with course design- practical and applied pedagogy for studying ethical issues and communication in everyday life.

NEW TO THIS EDITION

• The Second Edition includes expanded coverage of the recent economic meltdown, globalization, new technologies, and corporate social responsibility.
• Eighteen new case studies on current workplace issues include companies such as BP, Google, Toyota, Gap, Wyeth, and Enron.

KEY FEATURES

• Emerging issues in the workplace, explored in several case studies, include work/family balance, sexual harassment, outsourcing, personal privacy, bribery, new technologies, social networking, corporate social responsibility, and other issues.
• International case studies examine the ethical behavior of non-American organizations, providing a more thorough understanding of ethics in a global business environment.
• The consistent case study structure allows instructors and students greater opportunity to compare and contrast cases on comparable terms.

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Case Studies in Organizational Communication Ethical Perspectives and Practices

• Steve May - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
• Description
• Author(s) / Editor(s)

This volume is a crucial step toward addressing ethical issues, providing a rich and diverse overview of an increasingly important concern for organizations in contemporary society.

Key Features:

• explores some of the most important examples of organizational ethics today: case studies include discussions of dilemmas faced by NASA, Coca-Cola, Mitsubishi, Wal-Mart, the Catholic Church, the war in Iraq, and the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries

• examines a range of ethical dilemmas in diverse organizations: the cases look at a variety of emerging issues in the workplace, such as work/family balance, racism, sexual harassment, offshoring and telecommuting

• offers greater coherence and structure than other case books: the consistent case structure allows instructors and students greater opportunity to compare and contrast cases on comparable terms.

In addition, the book includes extensive instructional materials, often neglected in other case study books. Instructors unfamiliar with the cases are provided with additional pedagogical materials, including a case summary and discussion questions.

The course including ethical decision-making has to be reshuffled for now, but in the future I will definitely use the book as a source for supporting material.

Excellent supplement to text I'm using. Offers in depth case studies and addresses evaluation using critical thinking.

Is there any instructor material available?

This book provides an effective way to engage students into theory. The cases presented can also be further analysed using a plethora of approaches, which makes it a useful teaching tool.

This book will be particularly helpful for students who have an interest in communication. I will also use it to supplement my lectures with examples in class. The book is very well laid out, engaging in its detail with signposting to further material for those students who wish to read more.

Matched with course design- practical and applied pedagogy for studying ethical issues and communication in everyday life.

Preview this book

Sample materials & chapters.

Case Study 1

Case Study 3

Steve May (Ph.D., University of Utah, 1993) is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a Leadership Fellow at the Institute for the Arts and the Humanities, an Ethics Fellow at the Parr Center for Ethics, and a researcher and ethics consultant for the Ethics at Work program at the Kenan Institute for Ethics He is co-editor, with George Cheney and Debashish Munshi, of The Handbook of Communication Ethics and, with Oyvind Ihlen and Jennifer Bartlett, of The Handbook of Communication and Corporate Social Responsibility. His organizational communication research... More About Author

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A CASE STUDY OF WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION PROBLEM: STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTATION TO MAKE THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS MORE EFFECTIVE

Instituting effective organisational communication is imminent for organisations if they want to be relevant in the business world, going forward. Severally, breaches in communication ethics result in conflicts between top management and the labour force. This work examine such a case with a fictitious company name, in order to address the issue, by proffering a way forward using psychological theories and models.

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Hesti Nur Syafa'ati

Geet Divekar

This journal was my submission for the course's final assignment. it is my reflection on ethics base on the case studies from Steve May's Case Studies in Organizational Communication. Ethics stand different for every individual and therefore, assuming that the thoughts in this journal are the only right ethical decisions would be wrong.

NHRD Network Journal

Prasenjit Bhattacharya

Journal of Marketing and Consumer Research

Ngorang Philipus

abhilasha ram

Excellent employee communication is must for any thriving organization. Effective internal communication is key to success of any organization. The need for communicating information to an organization's internal public — its employees — has become of utmost importance in the recent years. This research article studied internal / employee communication in terms of openness of communication and adequacy of information. The openness should be followed across the organization – between the employer and employee as well as amongst employees. Giving too little information as well as too much information to the concerned employee makes him/her confused; so, the importance of adequate information. The effectiveness of information studied on the basis of communication tools and practices used in the organization for the proper dissemination of communication.

Carl Harshman

Journal of Communication Management

Robert Beckett

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Business Communication Report

Executive summery, introduction, recommendations.

This case study report is a result of the call by the Junior, the owner of KJVM AMI FM radio station for a review of his organizations internal communications. The report looks into the factors that led to the dismissal of Mr. Dawson who had been a faithful employee of the organization for a long period of time. The report then gives recommendations on how communications can be enhanced to prevent a repeat of such dismissals.

The conflict that led to the dismissal of Mr. Dawson was as a result of poor business communication skills and techniques that include lack of proper: communication, emotional intelligence, conflict management among other issues such as dishonesty, and poor ethical values.

Following the identified problems that are facing the organization, the report holds the opinion that a transformation be undertaken with regard to: the organizational culture that has existed since the company changed ownership, the management team as well as policies and ethical values that are held by the company, especially with respect to how employees are handled.

Business communication refers to the aspect of relaying information within a business entity or among business structure. A passage of information in communication in a business environment may be intended for promotion of a given good or service, or for administrative purposes of an entity. This paper seeks to give a report on a case study that involves business communications.

The paper will identify technological, legal and ethical issues that are necessary in business communication together with principles of business communication. The paper will then analyze critical issues that caused communication problems in the company subject to the report together with the causes of these issues.

The paper will also look into the people who were responsible for these issues in the subject company’s case study as well as the communications strategies that could have been used by the company to resolve the conflict that faced it.

Bellow is a discussion and review of the problems that led to the frustration and subsequent dismissal of Dawson as an employee with Junior’s company. The actual problem into the issue is based on the inefficiency and the inability of the administration to establish a concrete communication mechanism leading to communication breach between Junior who is the company’s executive and his employees.

Junior’s managers have as a result taken advantage of the situation to drive their personal interest in the company. A clear understanding of essential communication issues together with appropriate changes in the management system of the company will help Junior to establish a better working environment for his employees.

Communication

Communications is a very important tool to the success of management. Some of the significant elements of communication as illustrated by Spence include the ability to identify and pose technical questions and then sit back and wait for responses that are provided. An administrator then analyzes the provided response with the aim of obtaining a very clear understanding of the drive to the given response.

Focussing on an employee to understand their issues thus follows the basis of communication in a business set up (Spence, 2009). The case that is witnessed in the Junior’s company illustrates a poor level of communication as demonstrated by the chief executive who does not take time to communicate with his employees.

He assumes a busy schedule that does not have time for his workers even when such employees have serious problems to be solved by him. Dawson who faces a seemingly harsh and unfair treatment for example tries to reach out to Junior but he does not even want to listen to the employee.

The managers in the company are also much concerned about their personal drive to listen to the employee. The lack of direct communication between Junior and his employees as well as that between the management and the employees is a significant problem in the company (Shafer, 2000, p. 59).

Emotional intelligence

Another key issue which is an element of business communications is emotional intelligence. Some of the features of emotional intelligence include “sensitivity, self disclosure, assertiveness, dynamic listening, criticism, team communication and analyzing relationships” (Knapp and Daly, 2002, p. 343).

A leadership that employs emotions intelligence in dealing with its staff will therefore be more sensitive to the needs of the staff. The consequences that actions against a staff can results in are for example thus considered before actions are undertaken against the employee.

Dynamic listening and assertiveness are also tools that are missing in the institution. In response to dynamic listening, an individual employee is given time to express him or herself concerning issues that may be bringing conflict between the employee and the management.

Serious consideration is then offered to the employee in an understanding manner in which help strategies can be adopted to assist the employee into adjusting to the organization’s system, which is if the problem is with the employee. Assertiveness as a communication tool also enables an individual to stress on a point that is probably being ignored in a communication.

Whether because the other party to the communication does not identify the point or chooses to ignore it. Assertion therefore helps to clear doubts in communication and room should be given to enable for assertion.

A fostered level of interpersonal relations across management levels which can concurrently be achieved through evaluation and analysis of such relations is another tool that the company lacks. A missing link is realized in which the chief executive officer is not informed of the relationships among his employees (Knapp and Daly, 2002, p. 343).

Elements of lack of emotional intelligence is quiet evident with respect to the case study. The characteristic treatment that Dawson is given is a feature of lack of emotional intelligence on the side of both his two immediate supervisors and the company’s chief executive.

As Knapp and Daly (2002) explained, individuals who have a history of social problems in their lives tend to be restrictive and give less regards, or no regard at all to what other people are going through. These individuals tend to be self centred to an extent that they may not like or appreciate successes that are registered by other individuals.

Such are the identified features of the two managers who move in to plot for the removal of Dawson from the organization on the grounds that he is making a lot of money from the organization and at the same time have influence over many of the organization’s other employees.

These two features are the basis of the conflict in the organization and the top manager is not informed because the organization lacks a mechanism of monitoring how its employees relate with each other and what could be causing such relations. Acculturated level of emotional intelligence could have helped Junior to identify and solve the problem before it was late (Knapp and Daly, 2002, p. 343).

Siljander (2008) also argued that emotional intelligence is more like a complementary element to managerial skills. He holds the opinion that in the absence of emotional intelligence, management is not complete and therefore experiences a lot of inefficiencies.

This opinion is evidenced in the case study as the personalization of management by the two supervisors leads to the loss of an employee who had for a long period of time been considered to be productive to the organization. There is also a resultant discomfort among the remaining employees posing a threat to the management (Siljander, 2008, p. 293).

Conflict management

As an organization with many employees, conflicts are bound to arise between individuals. Such conflicts can however be avoided or even resolved if appropriate communication techniques are acculturated in the organization. An initiative at personal level which includes “communicating ideas assertively and respectfully” is for example one of the ways of solving conflicts (Beck et al ., 2009, p. 367).

If a conflict can not be solved at a given level of the administration then it should be referred to the next administration level. The inability to identify, appreciate and resolve the conflict between Dawson and the two managers therefore contributed to the problems that arose in the organization (Beck et al ., 2009, p. 367).

Other communication problems in the company

The series of events in the case study illustrates problems in the communication mechanisms that had been adopted by the company through its newly established management. One of the problems realized about the company’s communications is the inefficiency in how messages are relayed. An employee is for example given a notice of a meeting whose agenda is withheld.

When the employee goes for the meeting which he expected to have departmental workers, he only finds two managers who ask him to resign and leave the office in less than an hour’s time. An agenda for a meeting, which is a piece of information that a person should be given before the meeting (Sikkim University, n.d.), was not even availed to this employee.

A call for resignation or sacking of an employee should also be subject to a notice. Inefficiency, therefore, constitutes a problem in this organization’s communication. The employee is even not given any explanation as to why the action was being taken against him.

The selective action against the employee, since he was the only person who was asked to resign together with the manner in which the employee was handled at the meeting also gives a reflection of some level of discrimination against the employee. Elements of distrust and poor communication techniques are thus realized (Tripathy, 2008).

The treatment that the employee was given was even rude, unfair and inconsiderate. The two managers who handed him the letter did not seem to bother about the impacts that the action could have on the employee, his dependants or even other employees of the organization. Poor ethics can therefore be sited as another problem facing communications in the organization.

It is clear that problems of ethical values of empathy as well as restraining from causing harm or damage to an individual are evident in this case (Davis and Emerita, n.d.). Unavailability for options to the employee as he was strictly compelled to resign also cites ethical problems since a solution requires a wider and consultative step that has options to be considered (Mayer, 2001).

Lack of proper “upward information flow” that is a key tool to improving relations between employees and managements was also a problem in the organization with respect to this particular case. The employee who is victimised to the point of dismissal is not given even an opportunity to communicate to the management.

The two managers who deliver to him his resignation letter do not provide an interactive environment. The top administrator was also not willing to talk or even listen to the employee as he bluntly expressed to the employee that he could not discuss the matter with the employee (Guffey, Rogin and Rhodes, 2009, p. 22).

Another problem that is realized in this company is a high level of dishonesty on the side of two managers who were introduced into the firm after the death of the founder and former owner of the company.

The acts such as withdrawing accounts that belonged to the victim employee, blocking the employee’s access to his incoming calls and frustrating his contributions as well as raising his work targets were later realized to be management moves not to motivate the employee but rather to portray him as inefficient worker who is turning out to be a burden to the company.

The two managers had even confided in another employee who later informed the victim that all those moves were meant to just make ground for his dismissal. Conditions such as daily reporting to one of the managers were imposed on the victim and not any other employee in the firm.

It has been noted that if applied, “honesty in business communication increases efficiency of participating business enterprises” (Riffert, 2005, p. 248) as well as the productivity of individual employees in a business organization (Riffert, 2005, p. 248).

The dishonesty that the two managers together with the company’s top director showed towards the employee can have an impact on other employees who can be demoralized by the harsh treatment that is indicate employment insecurity in the organization.

The two managers and the new owner of the company are therefore responsible for the communications problems that strained the relationship between the company and the employee.

The cause of the subject problem was, according to the case study, discrimination against the old employee which was coupled with a high level of jealousy over the high amount of money that the employee was earning together with the influence that he had in the company (Riffert, 2005).

Communications

The company lacks key elements of basic communication techniques that even hinder a direct communication between an employee and the management. There is also a broken link between employees and the top management of the company.

A level of lack of emotional intelligence is noted in the company’s two supervisors who discriminatingly and at a personal level frustrate an employee with less regards to ethical values and possible impacts to either the employee or the company.

Conflict resolution which is achievable through communication is rendered impossible by the poor communication level that has been developed between the employees and the management.

Other communication problems

The change in administration of the subject company led to introduction of inefficiencies in management that were characterized by personalized feelings and attitudes rather than management skills. A change in the form of administration is therefore necessary.

The problem that emerged between the management and employees of the company was as a result of the unfair treatment and final dismissal of one of the company’s employees. The company’s top manager is later informed of the true circumstances that led to the dismissal of the employee and he is now faced with another conflict with the staff.

Conflict resolution is a measure to restore a disturbed peace that was previously experienced in a system. The first step to conflict resolution is to understand the causes of a particular conflict. The top administrator, Junior, should further investigate the dismissal of the employee to have a basis of solving the conflict.

He should further investigate the characters of the two parties that led to the cause of the conflict, the two managers and the dismissed employee. He must also look into his inefficiency that contributed to the conflict as he ought to have discovered and resolved the problem at an earlier stage.

The top manager must also exhibit conflict resolution mechanisms that include admitting failure to take appropriate actions and rise to the occasion to control the operations of the business. Measures like self control and professional approach are also essential strategies in conflict resolution that the administrator can use to resolve conflicts in his company (Business, n.d.).

Beck et al . (2009). Business Communication and Technologies in a Changing World . Australia: Macmillan Education Aus.

Business. Effective conflict resolution strategies . Web.

Davis, A and Emerita, D. Ethical issues and questions to think about . Web.

Guffey, M., Rogin, P and Rhodes, K. (2009). Business Communication: Process and Product . New York, NY: Cengage Learning.

Knapp, M and Daly, J. (2002). Handbook of interpersonal communication . California: SAGE.

Mayer, A. (2001). What makes a problem an ethical problem? An empirical perspective on the nature of ethical problems in general practice . Web.

Riffert, F. (2005). Alfred North Whitehead on learning and education: theory and application . Newscattle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press.

Shaffer, J. (2000). The leadership solution . New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Professional.

Sikkim University. Internal business communications- guidelines for meetings . Web.

Siljander, R. (2008). Introduction to Business and Industrial Security and Loss Control: A Primer for Business, Private Security, and Law Enforcement. Illinois: Charles C Thomas Publisher.

Spence, J. (2009). Awesomely Simple: Essential Business Strategies for Turning Ideas into Action . San Francisco, CA: John Wiley and Sons.

Tripathy, P and Reddy, P. (2008). Principles of Management . New Delhi, India: Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

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1. WHAT IS TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION?

1.4 Case Study: The Cost of Poor Communication

No one knows exactly how much poor communication costs business, industry and government each year, but estimates suggest billions.  In fact, a recent estimate claims that the cost in the U.S. alone are close to $4 billion annually! [1] Poorly-worded or inefficient emails, careless reading or listening to instructions, documents that go unread due to poor design, hastily presenting inaccurate information, sloppy proofreading — all of these examples result in inevitable costs. The problem is that these costs aren’t usually included on the corporate balance sheet at the end of each year; if they are not properly or clearly defined, the problems remain unsolved.

You may have seen the Project Management Tree Cartoon before ( Figure 1.4.1 ); it has been used and adapted widely to illustrate the perils of poor communication during a project.

The waste caused by imprecisely worded regulations or instructions, confusing emails, long-winded memos, ambiguously written contracts, and other examples of poor communication is not as easily identified as the losses caused by a bridge collapse or a flood. But the losses are just as real—in reduced productivity, inefficiency, and lost business. In more personal terms, the losses are measured in wasted time, work, money, and ultimately, professional recognition. In extreme cases, losses can be measured in property damage, injuries, and even deaths.

The following “case studies” show how poor communications can have real world costs and consequences. For example, consider the “ Comma Quirk ” in the Rogers Contract that cost $2 million. [3]   A small error in spelling a company name cost £8.8 million. [4]   Examine Edward Tufte’s discussion of the failed PowerPoint presentation that attempted to prevent the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster. [5] The failure of project managers and engineers to communicate effectively resulted in the deadly Hyatt Regency walkway collapse. [6]   The case studies below offer a few more examples that might be less extreme, but much more common.

In small groups, examine each “case” and determine the following:

• Define the rhetorical situation : Who is communicating to whom about what, how, and why? What was the goal of the communication in each case?
• Identify the communication error (poor task or audience analysis? Use of inappropriate language or style? Poor organization or formatting of information? Other?)
• Explain what costs/losses were incurred by this problem.
• Identify possible solution s or strategies that would have prevented the problem, and what benefits would be derived from implementing solutions or preventing the problem.

Present your findings in a brief, informal presentation to the class.

Exercises adapted from T.M Georges’ Analytical Writing for Science and Technology. [7]

CASE 1: The promising chemist who buried his results

Bruce, a research chemist for a major petro-chemical company, wrote a dense report about some new compounds he had synthesized in the laboratory from oil-refining by-products. The bulk of the report consisted of tables listing their chemical and physical properties, diagrams of their molecular structure, chemical formulas and data from toxicity tests. Buried at the end of the report was a casual speculation that one of the compounds might be a particularly safe and effective insecticide.

Seven years later, the same oil company launched a major research program to find more effective but environmentally safe insecticides. After six months of research, someone uncovered Bruce’s report and his toxicity tests. A few hours of further testing confirmed that one of Bruce’s compounds was the safe, economical insecticide they had been looking for.

Bruce had since left the company, because he felt that the importance of his research was not being appreciated.

CASE 2: The rejected current regulator proposal

The Acme Electric Company worked day and night to develop a new current regulator designed to cut the electric power consumption in aluminum plants by 35%. They knew that, although the competition was fierce, their regulator could be produced more affordably, was more reliable, and worked more efficiently than the competitors’ products.

The owner, eager to capture the market, personally but somewhat hastily put together a 120-page proposal to the three major aluminum manufacturers, recommending that the new Acme regulators be installed at all company plants.

She devoted the first 87 pages of the proposal to the mathematical theory and engineering design behind his new regulator, and the next 32 to descriptions of the new assembly line she planned to set up to produce regulators quickly. Buried in an appendix were the test results that compared her regulator’s performance with present models, and a poorly drawn graph showed the potential cost savings over 3 years.

The proposals did not receive any response. Acme Electric didn’t get the contracts, despite having the best product. Six months later, the company filed for bankruptcy.

CASE 3: The instruction manual the scared customers away

As one of the first to enter the field of office automation, Sagatec Software, Inc. had built a reputation for designing high-quality and user-friendly database and accounting programs for business and industry. When they decided to enter the word-processing market, their engineers designed an effective, versatile, and powerful program that Sagatec felt sure would outperform any competitor.

To be sure that their new word-processing program was accurately documented, Sagatec asked the senior program designer to supervise writing the instruction manual. The result was a thorough, accurate and precise description of every detail of the program’s operation.

When Sagatec began marketing its new word processor, cries for help flooded in from office workers who were so confused by the massive manual that they couldn’t even find out how to get started. Then several business journals reviewed the program and judged it “too complicated” and “difficult to learn.” After an impressive start, sales of the new word processing program plummeted.

Sagatec eventually put out a new, clearly written training guide that led new users step by step through introductory exercises and told them how to find commands quickly. But the rewrite cost Sagatec $350,000, a year’s lead in the market, and its reputation for producing easy-to-use business software.

CASE 4: One garbled memo – 26 baffled phone calls

Joanne supervised 36 professionals in 6 city libraries. To cut the costs of unnecessary overtime, she issued this one-sentence memo to her staff:

After the 36 copies were sent out, Joanne’s office received 26 phone calls asking what the memo meant. What the 10 people who didn’t call about the memo thought is uncertain. It took a week to clarify the new policy.

CASE 5: Big science — Little rhetoric

The following excerpt is from Carl Sagan’s book, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, [8] itself both a plea for and an excellent example of clear scientific communication:

The Superconducting Supercollider (SSC) would have been the preeminent instrument on the planet for probing the fine structure of matter and the nature of the early Universe. Its price tag was $10 to $15 billion. It was cancelled by Congress in 1993 after about $2 billion had been spent — a worst of both worlds outcome. But this debate was not, I think, mainly about declining interest in the support of science. Few in Congress understood what modern high-energy accelerators are for. They are not for weapons. They have no practical applications. They are for something that is, worrisomely from the point of view of many, called “the theory of everything.” Explanations that involve entities called quarks, charm, flavor, color, etc., sound as if physicists are being cute. The whole thing has an aura, in the view of at least some Congresspeople I’ve talked to, of “nerds gone wild” — which I suppose is an uncharitable way of describing curiosity-based science. No one asked to pay for this had the foggiest idea of what a Higgs boson is. I’ve read some of the material intended to justify the SSC. At the very end, some of it wasn’t too bad, but there was nothing that really addressed what the project was about on a level accessible to bright but skeptical non-physicists. If physicists are asking for 10 or 15 billion dollars to build a machine that has no practical value, at the very least they should make an extremely serious effort, with dazzling graphics, metaphors, and capable use of the English language, to justify their proposal. More than financial mismanagement, budgetary constraints, and political incompetence, I think this is the key to the failure of the SSC.

CASE 6: The co-op student who mixed up genres

Chris was simultaneously enrolled in a university writing course and working as a co-op student at the Widget Manufacturing plant. As part of his co-op work experience, Chris shadowed his supervisor/mentor on a safety inspection of the plant, and was asked to write up the results of the inspection in a compliance memo . In the same week, Chris’s writing instructor assigned the class to write a narrative essay based on some personal experience. Chris, trying to be efficient, thought that the plant visit experience could provide the basis for his essay assignment as well.

He wrote the essay first, because he was used to writing essays and was pretty good at it. He had never even seen a compliance memo, much less written one, so was not as confident about that task. He began the essay like this:

On June 1, 2018, I conducted a safety audit of the Widget Manufacturing plant in New City. The purpose of the audit was to ensure that all processes and activities in the plant adhere to safety and handling rules and policies outlined in the Workplace Safety Handbook and relevant government regulations. I was escorted on a 3-hour tour of the facility by…

Chris finished the essay and submitted it to his writing instructor. He then revised the essay slightly, keeping the introduction the same, and submitted it to his co-op supervisor. He “aced” the essay, getting an A grade, but his supervisor told him that the report was unacceptable and would have to be rewritten – especially the beginning, which should have clearly indicated whether or not the plant was in compliance with safety regulations. Chris was aghast! He had never heard of putting the “conclusion” at the beginning . He missed the company softball game that Saturday so he could rewrite the report to the satisfaction of his supervisor.

• J. Bernoff, "Bad writing costs business billions," Daily Beast , Oct. 16, 2016 [Online]. Available:  https://www.thedailybeast.com/bad-writing-costs-businesses-billions?ref=scroll ↵
• J. Reiter, "The 'Project Cartoon' root cause," Medium, 2 July 2019. Available: https://medium.com/@thx2001r/the-project-cartoon-root-cause-5e82e404ec8a ↵
• G. Robertson, “Comma quirk irks Rogers,” Globe and Mail , Aug. 6, 2006 [Online]. Available: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/comma-quirk-irks-rogers/article1101686/ ↵
• “The £8.8m typo: How one mistake killed a family business,” (28 Jan. 2015). The Guardian [online]. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/law/shortcuts/2015/jan/28/typo-how-one-mistake-killed-a-family-business-taylor-and-sons ↵
• E. Tufte, The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint , 2001 [Online]. Available: https://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/pi/2016_2017/phil/tufte-powerpoint.pdf ↵
• C. McFadden, "Understanding the tragic Hyatt Regency walkway collapse," Interesting Engineering , July 4, 2017 [Online]: https://interestingengineering.com/understanding-hyatt-regency-walkway-collapse ↵
• T.M. Goerges (1996), Analytical Writing for Science and Technology [Online], Available: https://www.scribd.com/document/96822930/Analytical-Writing ↵
• C. Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, New York, NY: Random House, 1995. ↵

Technical Writing Essentials Copyright © 2019 by Suzan Last is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Communication Training: The Most Overlooked (and Most Important) Workplace Training

Radical candor.

• Building a Team , Featured , Radical Candor

By Indiana Lee, a freelance journalist specializing in business operations, leadership, communication, and marketing.

No business with multiple employees succeeds in silence. Communication in the workplace is vital to the success of everything from basic day-to-day operations to empowering people to innovate.

While people may have a range of interactive abilities, their communication skills might not always be honed to the point of being effective for your company or their careers.    

This is why workplace communication training is a powerful tool. By giving your workforce—from entry-level employees to executives—the knowledge to improve their communication skills in relevant areas, you’re setting a foundation for improving team performance and achieving success. 

However, even though you know how impactful communication training in the workplace can be, it’s not always easy to know exactly what aspects of communication can be most impactful. So, let’s examine a few key areas of workplace communication training.

Table of Contents

Workplace Communication Training Strengthens Your Organization

This improves retention a nd reduces quiet quitting . By learning to have Career Conversations , asking questions, and clarifying thoughts and ideas before communicating them to others, you set yourself and your company up for success.

What type of workplace communication training influences organizational success? Understanding the most important types of communication at work is a good place to start.

1. Communicating Upward

For upward communication to work, leaders must ask employees for feedback and employees must feel safe to give feedback to their boss .

Encouraging employees to communicate up the chain of command gives managers and executives visibility into day-to-day activities, while employees feel safe to speak truth to power without fear of reprisal. Effective upward workplace communication training includes teaching managers how to establish psychological safety , regularly solicit feedback from their direct reports , and provide training via feedback workshops like the ones offered by Radical Candor .

2. Communicating With Direct Reports

Leaders knowing how to communicate with their direct reports effectively ensures that relevant information is passed on to those who need it. The most important part of workplace communication training is providing managers with opportunities to improve their leadership communication skills regularly as communication is an ever-evolving process and what works for one person won’t work for every person. 

Training should encourage managers to get to know the people who report directly to them well enough to know what they do, what tools they need to perform well at their jobs, and how they like to receive information.

For managers who haven’t received workplace communication training, it’s easy to default to an absentee management style. Some managers assume if they hire the right people they can let them loose and ignore them.

Kim Scott, author and co-founder of Radical Candor says adopting a “choose and ignore” mindset is a big mistake.

“If you don’t take the time to get to know the people who get the best results, you can’t understand how they want and need to be growing in their jobs at that particular moment in their lives. You’ll assign the wrong tasks to the wrong people. You’ll promote the wrong people. Also, if you ignore your top performers, you won’t give them the guidance they need.”

3. Communicating With Peers

Also known as horizontal or lateral communication, this type of communication is vital for peer-to-peer and cross-functional team collaborations. 

Despite peer-to-peer and cross-functional communication being so vital, many people are apprehensive about communicating with peers and attempt to funnel everything through their manager.

Managers, when someone tells you about something great a colleague did, urge them to also share that feedback directly with the colleague who did the great work.

This will develop stronger relationships between peers, allow for more praise to be shared (again, you don’t want to be a feedback bottleneck), and provide more perspectives on what’s going well and why.

When there are issues, insist that people communicate them directly. It’s kinder for them to tell their colleague about the issue that needs to be fixed than to report that issue to the boss.

This type of workplace communication training should focus on encouraging peer feedback , helping people build workplace relationships , and teaching people the importance of clean escalation versus talking about someone behind their back.

 4. Communicating Externally

Your employees’ interactions with clients, supply chain partners, and other external parties are integral to the strength of your organization. Not to mention that these interactions influence your reputation. 

This type of workplace communication training should focus on the company’s brand voice, values, communication expectations, and how to interact with external partners in a way that accurately represents the organization and its goals.

Workplace Communication Training: What’s Next?

It’s worth considering that these types of communication will be used in different ways depending on the structure of your organization. 

When designing your workplace communication training programs, start by examining how your employees communicate and what hurdles currently exist.  You’re then better able to tailor your training to focus on which methods are most in need of upskilling or adjustment. 

You may also want to offer folks a workplace communication training course for employees so everyone has a grasp on the organization’s communication culture. This kind of workplace communication skills training can be offered asynchronously by using platforms like MasterClass or LinkedIn Learning .

Now that you know what kinds of workplace communication training are most important to your organization, let’s talk about how establishing a culture of Radical Candor facilitates effective communication at work.

Radical Candor = Caring Personally + Challenging Directly

he most effective way to implement a successful feedback culture is by embracing the principles of Radical Candor to teach everyone a shared language for communicating that’s kind, clear, specific, and sincere.

Absent this kind of workplace communication training, people tend to default to Ruinous Empathy , being kind but not clear, Obnoxious Aggression , being clear but not kind, and Manipulative Insincerity , being neither kind nor clear and talking about others behind their backs. 

Radical Candor offers virtual, in-person, and digital courses for companies of every size to help you level up your workplace communication training.

Workplace Communication Training Enhances Employee Wellness

@thegardeningtheologian #greenscreen let’s talk about the new model for workplace wellness: Protection from harm. Connection and community. Work-life harmony. Mattering at work. Opportunities for growth. I love this model because it highlights the ways that we can create work environments that are connection-centered vs. productivity centered. #fyp #work #connection #inclusive #equity #healthywork ♬ Just a Cloud Away – Pharrell Williams

  When you care for people and give them the resources to thrive, they generally respond positively. 

Workplace mental health and employee welfare is both an ethical duty for companies and a business imperative. Reliable workplace communication impacts employee well-being in a range of ways. 

It enables social wellness by helping employees build stronger bonds with colleagues, reduces stress, and improves employee engagement. 

Open communication also fosters a culture of feedback and transparency, in which people are comfortable sharing thoughts and feelings, thereby strengthening mutual trust.

Another element of workplace communication training is ensuring everyone understands that a diverse workforce is key to innovation and a richer experience for all stakeholders. This is why it’s important to hire people who are “culture adds ” rather than “culture fits.” 

To get the most out of any workplace communication training, it’s important not only to be aware of cultural differences in the workplace but also to commit to creating an inclusive workshop experience where everyone feels safe to participate.

Kim Scott’s book Radical Respect: How to Work Together Better teaches folks how to optimize for collaboration instead of coercion and to value individuality instead of conformity.

Good workplace communication training supports everything from organizational success to employee well-being. Remember, though, that one-off training courses are unlikely to be effective on their own. 

It’s important to integrate what you learn into your company’s overall culture, including all areas of employee training and development. You’ll find your efforts have a more holistic and lasting impact when you walk the talk versus thinking of workplace communication training as one-and-done.

If you’re interested in learning about AI-driven workplace communication training practice partner from Radical Candor, contact us today!

Indiana Lee is a freelance journalist specializing in business operations, leadership, and marketing. Her writing aims to provide insights that promote personal and organizational growth. Connect with her on  LinkedIn

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Do you want to fix communication issues in the workplace? Then you need The Feedback Loop  (think  Groundhog Day  meets  The Office ), a 5-episode workplace comedy series starring David Alan Grier that brings to life Radical Candor’s simple framework for navigating candid conversations.

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