Communication in Organisations: Theories, Barriers, and Strategies

This report by Desklib discusses the general theories of organizational communication, barriers of communication, and strategies to overcome them. It includes a case study of Marks and Spencer, a multinational British organization, and provides recommendations for open communication practices, motivation, and bureaucratic management theory. The report also covers different types of communication such as formal, oral, and written communication, and highlights the importance of effective communication in maintaining smooth flow of information between two parties.

Communication

Table of Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. General theories of organizational communication................................................................1
2. Barriers of communication......................................................................................................2
3. Recommendation and Strategies ............................................................................................3
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6
Books and Journal .....................................................................................................................6

Abstract
Communication is the process of sending and receiving the message from one person (sender) to
another (receiver). In an organisation communication is a crucial activity in order to maintain the
effective employee relationship. Effective communication is essential in order to maintain
smooth flow information between two parties.
INTRODUCTION
Communication is the process of passing of message from one person to another with actions,
words or pictorial representation (Wang and et. al., 2021). The communication is the purposeful
activity where the information is exchanged between the two or more participants with the one
intend to pass the message and other one has intend to receive the message. The basic phases of
communication are the forming of communicative intent, message encoding, transmission of
signals, message decoding and final interpretation of message. There are several types of
communication such as non verbal/ verbal communication, visual communication, written
communication etc. The present report is based on Marks and Spencer a multinational British
organisation established in 1884 headquartered at Leeds, UK. The report will evaluate general
theories of organisational communication. The barriers of communication are also discussed in
report that make employees reluctant to return to the work. In the ned report also discuss some
key strategies of communication in order to mitigate the barriers of the communication.
MAIN BODY
1. General theories of organizational communication
Formal communication
this is the most common type of communication occur within the organisation between the
employees and employers. In this the transition of the message or information is done in formal
and sophisticated language through mails or other designated channels. In this types of
communication the flow of information is precise and polite and has concrete and filtered pattern
of structure. It is communication theory in which the employers and employees of the marks and
Spencer communication effective with each other without any slang.
Oral communication
oral communication is the type of communication in which the employees communication
verbally via mouth. Person sitting in one setting or group communicate either formally or
1

informally through signs or oral speech. Some basic examples of the oral communication are
speech, presentation, demonstrations etc. such communication mostly occurs in the group
(Gumpert and Drucker, 2021).
Written communication
The type of communication in which message is communicated in the written format via
letters, manual, reports, newsletters etc. it is the form of formal communication in which the
employees and employers of the Marks and Spencer both communication through E-mail or
internal chat system.
Directional Communication
The way we communicate changes based on the position of the people we're communicating to,
which is known as information from groups. Downwards, upward, & information exchange are
the three forms of information from groups.
7 C's
The seven C's of communication are the series of communication in which employers
learn to understand the skill of effective communication (Samanta and et. al., 2021). Clarity,
accuracy, comprehensiveness, civility, comprehensibility, thoughtfulness, & completion are the
seven C's of communication that are discussed below:
Clear: this defines hat communication or message must be given with clarity so that it is easily
understandable to other participant.
2. Barriers of communication
`Due to the barriers of the communication organisation face ineffective communication
which results into employee and employers conflicts that turn into reduction of productivity and
performance of the employees, employees turnover and much more. Some of the key barriers of
communication that Marks and Spencer face within the organisation are discussed below:
Physical barriers: these are the most obvious and common barriers of the communication that
an employees encounter while working at the organisation. These are the key barriers in the form
of physical obstacles such as during Covid-19 employees where highly reluctant to use public
transport as the mode of conveyance as it contains high risk of getting caught with virus.
2

Sometimes large offices, physical separation between employees are also turned as the factors of
physical barriers.
Emotional barriers : this is the IQ barrier in which person is not comfortable and in ease with
its working environment and people around working in the same environment which leads to
emotional imbalance (Tewarson, Greene and Fraser, 2021). When the employee is emotionally
unstable this leads to ineffective communication and also due to this faces several difficulties
ion behaviour such as frustration, irritation, anger etc.
 Organisational structural barriers- Organisational structure barriers highlighted the
issues which present in the company's workplace due to inappropriate policies, rules and
structure. In regard to the ineffective communication structure employees are unsure
about the safety measures about the social distancing and other safety measures. Hence,
the mentioned communication barrier impacting the productivity of the firm.
 Perceptual barriers- The perceptual barrier is the highlight the basic tendency In which
an individual interpret and perceive other in a different way. In relation to this the
employee of mentioned company developed the perceptions of discrimination at the
workplace. These perception can impact the overall business operations of respected
firm, as the delegation of roles and responsibilities could not be addressed efficiently.
 Interpersonal barriers- Interpersonal barrier determines the pattern of behaviour which
work as an barrier to communicate an individual with others as well as discourage others
to communicate with him. Such scenario can be raised due to ineffective interpersonal
skills. After the lock down vast number of employees were loose their self confidence,
communication skills , empathy. Hence, the lack of these skills worked as an barrier for
employees to communicate with other team members. Therefore, such traits developed
the communication barrier which ultimately impacted the business productivity and
efficiency in the operational market(Bennie, 2021).
3. Recommendation and Strategies
Implementation of Open communication practices: In order to overcome major
communication barriers in organisation, there is a need to consider open communication in
workplace. For instance, prior perception of people for someone in an business organisation
sometimes leads to become a major barrier in communication. In addition to that, managers
engaged in that particular workplace need to regulate open communication in workplace in order
3

to ensure effective employee engagement. Furthermore, it facilitates in ensuring effective
interaction of employees which further contribute towards upright coordination and collaboration
of employees in workplace. Therefore, open communication will facilitate employees in
maintaining efficient coordination with each other as well as maintaining healthy relationship
with workforce in a workplace.
 Motivation: This initiative also plays a major role in prevention of communication
barriers in a workplace. For instance, intra-personal barriers to communication which
includes lack of self-confidence, nervousness, attitude, etc. sometimes lead to become a
major barrier to communication. Furthermore, motivating employees to boost up their
self-confidence contributes additional values towards effective communication to be
carried out in a workplace. Therefore, motivating employees facilitates them in
expressing their ideas and opinions over specified and determined topic or subject matter
in order to ensure efficient decision-making(Tavsanoglu and et. al., 2021).
 To eliminate the physical barrier from the workplace the respected organisation to
develop the effective formal communication at the workplace. By choosing the formal
route in the communication could assist in developing the effective mode of
communication. In regard to this the mentioned company need to adopt the effective
technology at their workplace in order to create an effective bridge of communication
such process could assist the organisation in order to enhance the productivity of
employee by addressing their issues.
 In order to eliminate the emotional barrier from the employees the respected organisation
need to adopt the effective practises such as motivated them towards the organisation
functions. By developing the mindful training programs such as yoga classes can enhance
the stability of employee. Moreover by engaging the employee in the group activity could
create the strong bound between the team members through which productivity can be
enhanced.
 By purposing the bureaucratic management theory at the workplace the mentioned
organisation can solve the issues of their employee which impacting their psychological
states and working ability. Hence by developing the effective open communication the
mentioned organisation can address the issues. It assist them in order to identifying the
4

real issues and purposed the solutions according to their concerns (Novelim and Victor,
2022).
CONCLUSION
The above report is highlighting the communication barriers and the strategies to
overcome the same to provide a chance to the organization to move forward in an effective
manner. The report holds, discussion about different communication theories and models which
are suggested to companies to for developing and maintaining effective channels in order to
make sure effective communication flow is developed internally and externally. Moving along,
communication barriers like physical, emotional and others are discussed who has significant
effect over developing inefficient flow of communication within the business. At the end,
strategies are recommended to mitigate the effects of these barriers and improve the conversation
flow.
5

REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Bennie, M., 2021. Guide to Good Business Communications: How to Write and Speak English
Well in Every Business Situation. how to books.
Novelim, F. and Victor, V., 2022. Analysis of Business Communications and Entrepreneurs
Services towards Online Shop Sales (Case Study on Doggy Medan Online Shop on
Instagram). Jurnal Mantik, 5(4), pp.2365-2370.
Tavsanoglu, A. and et. al., 2021, September. Wireless Communications in High Speed Vacuum
trains environment for Vehicular Technology Conference. In 2021 IEEE 94th Vehicular
Technology Conference (VTC2021-Fall) (pp. 1-5). IEEE.
Wang, Q. and et. al., 2021. Remarkably improved photoelectric performance of AlGaN-based
deep ultraviolet luminescence by using dual-triangle quantum barriers. Optics
Communications, 478, p.126380.
Gumpert, G. and Drucker, S. J., 2021. Communication across lands divided: the Cypriot
communications landscape. In Cyprus and Its People (pp. 237-249). Routledge.
Tewarson, H., Greene, K. and Fraser, M. R., 2021. State strategies for addressing barriers during
the early US COVID-19 vaccination campaign. American journal of public
health, 111(6), pp.1073-1077.
Samanta, D. and et. al., 2021. Underutilization of epilepsy surgery: Part II: Strategies to
overcome barriers. Epilepsy & Behavior, 117, p.107853.
6