Factors that affect the Process of Communication in Information Transfer
Abstract
The process of communication is only effective when the receiver of the intended message and the sender are on the same page. When the receiver of the message, for some reason, does not understand, the message sent it leads to chaos. This is because the receiver’s actions as a result of the message may have the opposite effect from what the sender intended. This paper takes an in-depth look at the various factors that may cause problems in the communication process in the context of communication as a means of information transfer.
Key terms: Communication, Information transfer
Introduction
Communication is crucial in an organization since it ensures organizational effectiveness (Hargie, 17). This is because it ensures everyone understands the organization’s goals and the role they play attaining these goals. Apart from that, communication helps increase the levels of trust, engagement, and commitment among the employees. It also fosters better working relationships between fellow employees as well as with senior management. Consequently, this leads to an increase in job satisfaction and morale.
According to (Eisenberg et al, 27), communication as an information approach argues that communication is the flow of information from person to person. As such, company executives are said to communicate well when they pass information to their subordinates accurately and with little to no chance of ambiguity. This approach is used in organizations as a tool for people to accomplish their objectives (Eisenberg et al, 28). This approach is often summarized using the SMCR model where communication occurs when the sender (S) sends a message (M) via a channel (C) to a receiver (R).
Meaning-Centered Approach in Communication (MCA)
This approach helps one to easily understand communication in organizations. This is by understanding the connection between organizational reality and human interaction. In addition, a meaning-centered approach outlines communication in an organization as a process that involves decision-making, organizational culture, organizing, influence, and sense-making (Shockley-Zalabak, 35). The meaning-centered approach is explained using several characteristics. First, one should note that communication is simply organizing and decision-making. In addition, organizing and decision making also play a role in determining the culture that an organization adopts. Second, organizations are not alienable from human activity. Rather, the existence of organizations is because of human interaction.
Problem Identification
Effective communication causes the relationship between an organization and its stakeholders to grow strong. Stakeholders and the organization are able to collaborate even more as there is transparency being maintained. However, miscommunication may dampen this relationship. It causes misunderstandings between the organization and its stakeholders. Therefore, it is important to explore the different factors that cause miscommunication between organizations and their stakeholders
Research Question
What are the causes of miscommunication in the communication process between the Mill Creek Alliance and its stakeholders?
Analysis
This section will take an in-depth analysis of the various reasons that contribute to miscommunication in the process of communication. These factors include information overload, ambiguity, and distortion. This analysis will give a better understanding of how these factors cause miscommunication between the sender of a message and the receiver. This will be in the context of Mill Creek Alliance and its stakeholders. Apart from this, this section will also take an in-depth look at factors that enhance effective communication in an organization. This includes motivation, openness, empowerment, and supportiveness.
Information Overload
According to Sadiku, Shadare & Musa (4540), information overload is defined as having too much information but limited power or ability to process it. The receiver of the message is often overwhelmed by the information that must be processed. Mill Creek Alliance has a number of stakeholders who ought to know the organization’s dealings. As such, the organization ought to keep its stakeholders informed for various reasons, such as transparency. While Mill Creek Alliance may comply with such demands from its stakeholders, miscommunication between the organization and these individuals is bound to occur due to information overload. Information overload between Mill Creek Alliance may manifest itself in three ways. First, is through the amount or quantity of information to be processed. Second, information overload may be caused by the rate at which information is presented to all the parties. Finally, information overload may be as a result of the information being passed between the parties being too complex.
Information Quantity
The quantity of information being sent back and forth between the organization and its stakeholders may be large in quantity. Mill Creek Alliance has an official website where they post information about their past and present operations as well as any future endeavors they seek to pursue. Apart from this, the organization may also publish detailed information about their past operations. This may include financial statements, survey plans, etc. all dating many years back. The organization’s stakeholders may also request information that is not on the website. It is important to note that the organization’s stakeholders include the community in which they serve. As such, when a member of the community asks for some piece of information, the company ought to provide it. With information readily available everywhere, the quantity becomes too much. As such, the organization’s stakeholders experience information overload since they have too much information about the company for them to begin to analyze.
Rate of Receiving Information
The rate at which Mill Creek Alliance disseminates information to its stakeholders may also be a factor that causes information overload. If the organization is, releasing information after every milestone in its plan is achieved, this means that the stakeholders will receive too much information at a fast rate. As such, the organization’s stakeholders will not have enough time to analyze anyone given a piece of information. This is because before they get the chance to properly or fully information from the organization, the organization publishes new information. This type of speed when it comes to giving information is counterproductive. This is because the intended audience is not given enough time to process the information at hand. In addition, this speed causes the amount of information to increase hence causing information overload on the intended audience.
Complexity of Information
When disseminating information, it is important to put in mind the nature of the target audience. It would be counterproductive to provide information that the target audience would find too complex to understand. Mill Creek Alliance is working to revitalize the Mill Creek in Cincinnati. Such an undertaking is very technical in nature. There are portions of the stakeholders who may understand the technicalities involved in such undertakings thus may want to be provided with the relevant information that highlights the technicalities. However, a large portion of the stakeholders will not be interested in such information, as they do not understand the technical details involved. Therefore, Mill Creek Alliance may cause an information overload on its stakeholders by sharing information that is too complex for the stakeholders to understand.
Distortion
Miscommunication may also be caused by distortion. In this case, distortion refers to the effects of noise that prevent proper processing of the information by the recipient. It is important to note that Mill Creek is not responsible for miscommunication caused by distortion. Although noise in this context may mean actual physical noise, it also refers to contextual noise. The recipient of the information may try to process the information in a noisy area. The result of this is that the message may not be processed correctly causing the receiver to interpret the message wrongly. The second scenario is when the receiver of the information receives it under unusual circumstances. For example, the receiver may be stressed or may have their mind preoccupied with a lot of things. In such situations, the receiver fails to process the information correctly hence may interpret it correctly.
Ambiguity
Finally, Mill Creek Alliance may cause miscommunication between itself and its stakeholders. Ambiguity occurs when a certain message can be interpreted in various ways (Eisenberg). The information may intend to pass a certain message; however, its wording may cause its stakeholders to interpret it in various ways.
Effective Communication
According to (Eisenberg et al, 262), despite the leadership technique an organization chooses to adopt, effective communication between top executives and employees is guaranteed by four key characteristics. These factors may also apply to an organization and its stakeholders. These are motivation, openness, empowerment, and supportiveness.
Openness
In an open communication relationship, both the leaders and the subordinates perceive each other as willing and receptive listeners. In addition, the two parties refrain from responding to each other in ways that would be perceived as giving negative feedback. This trait works for both verbal and non-verbal dimensions. This means that an individual’s tone, facial expressions, etc. contribute to the level of openness in communication. However, it is important to note that although top executives in an organization ought to strive for openness in communication with their subordinates, it should not override other important aspects that are important in the organization when it comes to communication. This includes ethics, confidentiality, etc. On the contrary, the information should be shared with the right audience within the right context.
Supportiveness
Even more useful to top executives in a company than open communication is supportive communication. This aspect of communication puts a lot of emphasis on the top leadership in an organization listening actively to the employees as well as taking a real interest in them. However, it is important to note that it is difficult for top executives to have the same relationship with every single employee, they sub-consciously divide the employees into two; In-group and out-group relationships. In-group relationships include high-trust between the top executives and their subordinates. Apart from this, the relationship involves a high level of support and mutual influence between the two. Finally, it involves both formal and informal rewards. On the other hand, out-group relationships are strictly formal in nature even when it comes to top executives rewarding their subordinates. In addition, there is a low level of support as well as trust among the two. It is important to note that developing a positive in-group relationship is beneficial for the organization in general. This is because it enhances the employees’ feeling of being supported by the organization. This in turn strengthens their commitment to the organization hence improving their overall performance. Employee satisfaction increases among employees in the in-group relationships thus reducing the rate of employee turnover. All this is different in out-group relationships as it is generally characterized by less freedom for the subordinates.
Motivation
This can be defined as the extent to which employees are committed to accomplishing their various tasks, goals, and meeting their objectives. Top executives in organizations have the power to encourage as well as discourage employee motivation through their mode of communication. Generally, there are two ways in which communication could be used to motivate employees. First, leaders could provide information regarding the tasks, goals, and performance of employees. This would provide employees with a clear picture of their contribution to the organization and what is expected of them. Second, the leaders within an organization should be able to communicate encouragement, concern, and empathy towards their subordinates. It is important to note that in both cases, the ability of the leaders in an organization to sell the organization’s goals and aspirations through communicating with their subordinates is key in motivating subordinates. Apart from this, employees are motivated when their expectations are met by the organization, when they are treated fairly in terms of duties assigned and performance evaluations, and having challenging yet reasonable objectives and goals set for them.
Empowerment
This involves top executives in organizations sharing power as well as decision making with their subordinates. This is accomplished by delegating a considerable amount of duties to subordinates. In addition, empowering one’s subordinates can be achieved by motivating them to become more independent. This means that they do not need to ask for directions to carry out every single task given to them. Instead, they can make decisions with little or no errors on their own. Empowerment involves employees feeling capable of doing tasks independently and with confidence. Top executives in the organization can help achieve this by avoiding the close supervision of their subordinates. Instead, they should trust employees to work within given guidelines.
Findings
Various factors may cause miscommunication between an organization and its stakeholders. The first is overloading the stakeholders with information. This will result in them not engaging with a lot of important information. Information overload may be caused by three factors. First, providing information that is too complex for the target audience will cause information overload, as the audience does not know how to interpret the message presented. Second, providing too much information also causes information overload as the receiver does not know which piece of information is important and which one is not. Finally, providing information at a fast rate causes the receiver to be overwhelmed by the amount of data that they are supposed to process hence causing information overload. Miscommunication also occurs when the message being passed is ambiguous. The receiver may interpret it differently than was intended. Lastly, miscommunication is caused by distortion. Distortion may be caused by physical noise as well as the receiver’s mental state at the time of processing the information.
Conclusion
In summary, miscommunication may cause a deterioration in the relationship between an organization and its stakeholders. There it is important to ensure that communication between the two parties is effective and efficient. Factors that may cause miscommunication between the two parties include information overload, distortion, and ambiguity. However, communication between an organization and its stakeholders may be improved in various ways. They include empowerment, motivation, supportiveness, and openness.
Works Cited
Hargie, Owen. “The Importance of Communication for Organisational Effectiveness.” Psicologia Do Trabalho e Das Organizações: Contributos, 27 June 2016, pp. 17–34, 10.17990/axi/2016_9789726972556_015.
Shockley-Zalabak, Pamela. Fundamentals of Organizational Communication : Knowledge, Sensitivity, Skills, Values. Boston, Pearson, 2016.
Eisenberg, Eric M, et al. Organizational Communication : Balancing Creativity and Constraint. Boston, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010.
Sadiku, Mathew, et al. “Information Overload: Causes And Cures.” Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science and Technology, vol. 3, no. 4, 2016, pp. 4540–4542.
Eisenberg, Eric M. Strategic Ambiguities : Essays on Communication, Organization, and Identity. Thousand Oaks Sage, 2007.