Communication in organizations concept, elements and nature

Communication is an exchange of information and transmission of meanings and is the true essence of a social system or organization.

The consideration of the organization as an open system leads to its interaction with the environment that incorporates matter, energy and information. In this exchange of information there is both relations with the environment and inside the organization itself. The communication It is essential for internal functioning in the organization since the structure and scope of organizations are almost completely determined by techniques Communication.

1. Concept, nature and elements
2. Communication networks in organizations
3. Laboratory studies on communication networks

Concept, nature and elements

The first function of the Executive is to develop and maintain a communication system within the organization. For Simon, there can be no organization without communication because there would be no possibility that the group would influence the individual. Thanks to communication some individuals are related and coordinated with each other forming the organization. Communication is an essential element of organizations but it is not an easy concept to define. A series of authors have insisted by defining organizational communication in the transmission of information and meaning. Other authors have insisted on the elements intervene in organizational communication. Elements involved in a simple communication process:

• Every message has its origin in a Issuer context, in which the transmitter It is the creative pole with some intention to communicate something.
• The issuer (like the receiver) has a set of elements to prepare the message.
• A fountain o Information units - meanings - from which it composes the integrating elements of the content.
• Expressive elements - signifiers - from which it selects, orders and structure (encodes) the message in the expressive plane
• In addition, it has a code to structure and regulate information.
• The message is transmitted by means of a channel.
• He receiver It is considered as a mechanical device that captures the series of signals without attending to interpret its semantic content, which are decoded by the recipient from the data available in its source, its repertoire and its code.

Every communication episode has a series of effects aimed at modifying the behavior of the receiver although the changes produced are not always those intended by the issuer. Factors intervene in the process and can alter the content of the message. The noise, disturbance that is introduced into the communication process can be of two types:

• mechanical noise, due to technical differences of the transmitter, channel or receiver or by interference in their tasks.
• communication noise, deficiencies in the message at the level of signifier, meanings or at the level of use of the code.

Noise produces two types of dysfunctional effects on the communication process:

• mask the meanings and/or significant message altering the content of the message
• Ambiguity, the inability of the significant message to accurate.

To counteract the noise level and ambiguity is the redundancy in the message, repetitions and non -essential details. The communication episode is closed with the feedback process, in the recipient gives a response to the issuer of the message. Communication is a bidirectional and interactive process in which episodes occur more or less cyclically.

Communication networks in organizations

Systems theory has led researchers to change their Research perspective. Faced with a fragmented approach that obtained data about individuals as units of analysis, the emphasis has been placed on the study of the Diada and other relational units in which communication relationships are the central objective. And the field of analysis has been expanded to consider the networks of communication that develop in organizations. Communication flows occur between subjects that are at a time emitters and recipients. Communication within a network is a mutual exchange.

Laboratory studies on communication networks

Bavelas, Study the effectiveness of various communication structures (circle, wheel, chain and all of the channels) in the resolution of tasks through the cooperation of group members. Highly centralized communications networks, such as the wheel, were more effective in routine tasks while a decentralized network (the circle) was more appropriate for the solution of tasks that required innovation. I also observe that the "totally channel" network was no more effective than the wheel type.

Leavitt,He studied the comparative efficacy of the wheel (two levels of hierarchy) and the circle (a single level) to resolve a task that required the decision of a subject who knew information that they had to provide the remaining subjects. The author points out that the wheel was much more effective. In a review it was indicated that the superiority of the wheel could be due to the shortest time for the group to discover the optimal pattern in the solution.

Shaw, Centralized structure are more effective when problem is simple, in addition to producing less satisfaction among group members. Cohen The satisfaction of the group members is correlated with the centrality of the role in the network and in decision making. Among the criticisms of these laboratory research we can highlight:

Collins and Taven, It is impossible to generalize on any variable since the studies are contradictory. In addition, it is risky to generalize the results obtained in the laboratory, with experimental groups, to the real situation. Cohen, Robinson and Edwards, If there is a overlap of members in different groups, the same principles that governed behavior in small isolated groups no longer apply.

In these cases a greater degree of decentralization is more effective. NETWORK ANALYSIS Network analysis is a research method to identify the communication structure in a system. According to this analysis from the interactions between individuals, he tries to determine the subgroups (group networks) that are part of the general communication system as well as the connecting elements of these different subsystems. Communication networks have a certain structure. Individuals depending on their role perform four relevant functions:

• Goalie, person located inside the network that controls the messages that flow through a communication channel. Among its functions is reducing information overload when filtering messages.
• Intermediary, Interpersonally connect two or more groups without belonging to any of them, (if it belonged to one it would be a bridge), they are key pieces and disappearance would lead to the fragmentation of the network. Subjects do not tend to identify with a single group, but usually adopt intermediate positions.
• He opinion leadership, It is the ability to informally influence the behavior and attitudes of other individuals in a desired and relative frequency way. Subjects are usually more exposed to external information, have access to their followers and present greater compliance to the group rules they conduct.
• Cosmopolitan, It has a high degree of communication with the environment surrounding the system. They are subjects who perform border roles and facilitate the opening of the system to the environment and with it make possible innovation and adaptive changes.

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