Chapter 1: Communication in Organisations

Chapter 1: Communication in Organisations

In the first lecture, I was introduced to the definitions of communication and organisations. Communication is process conducted by two or more people who create and manage meaning using verbal and non-verbal signs within a certain context. The process is better defined with David Berlo’s Transmission Model as show in the diagram below:

David Berlo’s Transmission Model

Communication can be rhetorical (communication strategies during a crisis), semiotic (use of signs), phenomenological (dialogue or others’ experience), cybernetic (info processing), sociopsychological (expression and influence by personality style), sociocultural (social order in ethnic cultures), critical (confrontations) It was explained that our task is to study the various communication approaches and learn which are suitable for certain situations.

Organisation is defined as a social collective that that coordinates activities to achieve organizational, business or community goals in a structure (hierarchical, co-operative, complex) embedded in a particular surrounding. Example of organisations are businesses, corporations, non-governmental or even a family or social circle.

Combination of both elements forms Organisational Communication; the complex interaction of people, messages, goals and meaning. Organisational communication may be internally (between employees and employers) as well as externally (clients and media) and the subject is ‘a flourishing field of research’ internationally (Johansson, 2007). I was also introduced to the various research topics based upon this subject and discovered that I was to develop my own research for my upcoming assignment.

References:

Miller, K 2008, Organizational Communication: approaches and processes, 5th edn, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Boston, MA.

Johansson, C 2007, ‘Research on Organizational Communication: The Case of Sweden’, Nordicom Review, vol. 28, no.1, pp. 93-110.