Workplace Communication The main problem that cause an organization to fail to function properly. What is a workplace? It is a place where people go to work. It can be an office or a shop or a factory or even a school. The workplace may be small or big and may consists only a few personnel or even hundred of personnels doing different kinds of tasks but all working together towards achieving the same objective. Therefore a lot of interactions will take place to get the job done and this of course will be through communication. It may take many forms such as verbal, non verbal and written communications. What is communication? Communication is a process of receiving, spreading and sharing of information and ideas through symbolic messages. It involves messages being transmitted by a sender and receives by a receiver. So it is up to the individual to choose the right type of communication for the occasion and this must be done effectively. What is the purpose of workplace communication? The purposes are many. Some of the purposes will be: 1. to inform personnel about events in the work place 2. to give instructions on how to perform certain tasks 3. to brief the workplace development
4. To
resolve
workplace
problems
and
improve
its
performance. 5. to inspire, to motivate and to develop personnel to work together as a team Why is workplace communication important? According to Chris Cole, 75% of the problems that occur in the workplace are due to the communication factors. So this shows that workplace communication is very important in running a workplace. To emphasize this Martin Luther King, Jr. in one of his famous speeches said that: PEOPLE DON’T GET ALONG BECAUSE THEY FEAR EACH OTHER PEOPLE FEAR EACH OTHER BECAUSE THEY DON’T KNOW EACH OTHER THEY
DON’T
KNOW
EACH
OTHER
BECAUSE
THEY
HAVE
NOT
PROPERLY COMMUNICATED WITH EACH OTHER
The personnel in the work place must get along with each other so that they can work as a team. They must not fear each other because sooner or later conflict may arises and affect team work. So to resolve this, they must begin to communicate with each other so that differences, grievances and other problems can be trashed out and settle in an amicable way. If this can be done and practice at all time, the workplace can be an enjoyable place to work. Nobody wants to be in a workplace where conflicts are rampant.
Conclusion So in conclusion, workplace communication is vital for the workplace
to
function
well
and
achieve
its
objectives
Workplace communication can be improved, but doing so is not always an easy task. It requires patience, determination, time, and motivation.
Composed in Berjaya Hotel, Penang