Organizational Communication Mini Project

RUNNING HEADER: ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION 4

Organizational Communication

Name

Institution

Organizational Communication

Effective communication is quite important in every organization. It can help change its processes, behaviors and culture (Miller, 2011). Communications plays a vital role in customer relations, employee management, product development-virtually every element of a business’ operations. Employees form a key audience since they usually serve as the pipeline to other audiences. If the workforce is well engaged and informed, there is a high probability that communication with other parties will be strong too.

Communication becomes even more critical if it’s flowing between managers or leaders and other staff. For one to be able to effectively lead others, he should possess effective communication skills. Otherwise, a leader or manager will lose the credibility needed to implement the objectives of his employer and will struggle to rally other employees behind him (Mumby, 2012). A manager who is capable of communicating well has the ability to become a good problem solver, which is becoming an increasingly important skill in today’s diverse workplace.

The video used for purposes of this assignment is Satya Nadella address to Microsoft’s employees at a “Meet the CEO” event in 2014. Satya Nadella is the CEO of Microsoft. In the 44 seconds video clip, Satya is seen giving a speech to thousands of employees after which they animatedly clap for him. In his speech Satya is telling the employees that the business of Microsoft does not respect tradition. In his words, technology is all about innovation. He tells the employees that they all have a collective challenge to make Microsoft succeed in the highly competitive industry.

As Satya gives his speech, one can see that he is making facial expressions and using hand gestures to put his message across. The employees can be seen responding by cheering, clapping and some giving standing ovations. Choosing to give his speech orally by word of mouth increased the likelihood of him getting feedback from the employees. The response would have been totally different if he had used a different channel, for instance, such as the use of emails or written newsletters. When giving his speech, Satya’s speech connects with the audience. He uses varying paces depending on the point he wants to push to the audience. In addition to this, Satya uses a wide range of linkers that help him to connect with the audience. It would have been hard for a manager to send the same of message such as the one that Satya did. A large number of managers lack the ability to communicate effectively with their employees (Miller, 2011). This kills engagement, retention and productivity in an organization. Probably if the same message had been given to a manager they would totally fail to engage the audience. The leading cause of this is likely to be lost trust and low morale.

In the modern business world, effective communication between managers, leaders and employees is key. It builds engagement which consequently leads to increase productivity, reduced turnover and increased productivity. Unfortunately, management tends to lack proper communication skills, causing low engagement in the workplace. What makes the difference between good teams and great ones is not skill or talent, it is the ability to work together in order to achieve a common goal. Managers and leaders have a responsibility to ensure that everybody strives to achieve a common goal, and this can only be done through maintaining open lines of communication. Achieving this goal would encourage collaboration, enhance problem solving capabilities and allows for proper motivation.

References

Miller, K. (2011). Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes. Cengage Learning

Mumby, D.K. (2012). Organizational Communication: A Critical Approach. SAGE Publications, Inc