General Theories of Organization Communication

This report discusses the general theories of organization communication, including bureaucratic theory, groupthink, ACT theory of communication, and creativity in groups. It also evaluates the barriers of communication at LearnEnglishUK, such as linguistic barriers, emotional barriers, psychological barriers, and cultural barriers. Additionally, it provides strategies to overcome these barriers, such as active listening, use of simple language, avoiding information overload, and using body language effectively.

Foundation in Business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION….......................................................................................................................3
DISCUSS GENERAL THEORIES OF ORGANIZATION COMMUNICATION………………4
EVALUATE THE BARRIER OF COMMUNICATION AT LEARNENGLISHUK……………5
COMPANY STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME THESE BARRIERS…………………………….6
CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………………………9
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………..10

INTRODUCTION
Foundation in Business is a concept that focuses on learning and understanding the business
problems and coming with strategies and solutions for the problem. LearnEnglishUK is a private
company founded in 2018. The company focuses on supporting students and provide them
educational services. In this report, an understanding of organizational communication theories
will be developed, while evaluating the communication barriers. The report will also show a
detailed analysis of strategies to overcome communication barriers.
Q 1 Discuss General Theories of Organization Communication
Theories of organization communication, barriers of communication and strategies to overcome
barriers
Organizational communication is the process of sending, coding, decoding, and receiving
messages without any barriers in the organization. The message in the communication is sent
through different channels like emails, face-to-face, calls, notices, circular, or any other form of
written and oral communication. (Organization Communication Theories. 2018.) To understand
the organization communication there are various theories -
Bureaucratic Theory
The theory was provided by Max Weber, which explains the communication and
administrative process of the organization. The theory focuses on structure rather than activity
performance by the organization. The idea of the theory was developed when the unethical
behaviours of leaders in the organization increases. (Vuori and et.al., 2020.) Weber mention in
the theory that an organization follows rules and regulation, like Hierarchy of Authority,
specialization & Division of Labour, employment based on expertise and formal communication.
The labour task is distributed according to their specialization which helps in the increase of
production. A channel of the hierarchy is built and authority is divided among superiors and

subordinates. The theory explains that when the work is distributed with responsibility and
proper communication the employees work more efficiently for the organization.
Groupthink
The theory was given by Irving Janis who was a social psychologist. It explains that
when there is a problem, the group comes together to solve it. They come with a collective
decision that can be correct. (Coles and et.al., 2020.) The main objective of the theory was to
understand that decisions when taken individually and in a group make difference. It shows that
individual decision of problem solving and group decision are different. When a group of people
think about a problem, a single decision is followed by every person without any doubt and
questions. Groupthink is adopted by team members when there are several solutions to a
problem.
ACT Theory of Communication
The ACT theory of communication stands for Adaptive Concept of Thought which is
based on understanding and gaining knowledge from the information one has gained from
experience and learning. (Hanna and Richards, 2019.) The theory operates on the psychological
hypotheses of a human being, which are determined from the experiment and experience of
people. The main elements of ACT theory are, Modules, Buffers, and Pattern Matcher.
 Modules are of two types, perceptual Motor Module and Memory Module. The first
module looks at the communications with the real or outside world.
 Buffers explain that information is passed from one to another through various barriers
like noise.
 The pattern matcher marks that the productions when it is performed, should apart all the
buffers.

Creativity in Groups
Creativity in the group is a form of communication that explains when a person works in a
group his creativity in work is increased. The group includes people who share a common goal
and are ready to work with each other. There are two types of creative thinking. First is
Paradigmatic creative thinking that shows that work done step by step can develop new idea,
second is revolutionary thinking that brings some unexpected results that are unusual in nature.
Q 2 Evaluate the barrier of communication at LearnEnglishUK
The communication barriers are gaps and loops between the sender and receiver of the
message. Many barriers disturb the process of communication in the LearnEnglishUK. They may
occur while sending, receiving, coding, or decoding the message. Here are some barrier to
communication in LearnEnglishUK -
Linguistic Barriers
Linguistic barriers are the most common barrier in the LearnEnglishUK. It is the
language barrier that causes while communication between employees, clients, and customers.
The most common language used in the UK is English, but when the clients and customers are
from other countries like Germany, Spain, France, and then the Linguistic barriers affect
communication. (Shakirova and Alexeevna, 2016.) Sometimes a single word may make a
difference in the communication and mislead the message. Even the employees working in
LearnEnglishUK are from European countries that speak another language, which creates
difficulty in sending the correct message.
Emotional Barriers
The employees' emotional intelligence determines how communication is sent and
received. An employee with high emotional intelligence will communicate effectively without
any disruptions. While an employee with low emotional intelligence will face problems in

communication as they will mix the message with personal emotions that will produce
complications. Emotions like frustration, happiness, anger, or sadness can disturb
communication and may affect decision making. (Ganapathi, 2019.) While selecting the team
member for a task in LearnEnglishUK, if the leader is frustrated, he can create the wrong team.
Psychological Barriers
While sending and receiving the communication the psychology of sender and receiver
matter a lot. Various employees in an organization face mental and psychological issues that may
act as barriers to communicate effectively. Employees suffer from fear, depression, anxiety,
speech disorder, and phobia like problems that create a hole in the process of communication.
(Slusareva, 2020.) These problems interrupt the communication send and sometimes the receiver
may misread the message. For example, if an employee is feeling depressed, he will not take the
message accurately, which will break the chain of communication.
Cultural Barriers of Communication
Employees in the organization are from different countries and follow a different culture.
The cultural differences create a gap in communication and the message is disturbed. Dressing
culture, food culture, religious culture all impact communication. The message should be used
that it does not hurt other employees' culture. The LearnEnglishUK clients are from Arabian
countries, there culture is very different from English culture. Communication with the countries
can create complications.
Common Barriers
Some common barriers like noise, spam mails, junk mails, and the default in equipment,
closed doors, technological error, and natural disturbance can obstruct the communication
process. (Jekat and Massey, 2018.) Poor internet connection is the barrier faced by

LearnEnglishUK, as during the services the internet connection interprets the communication
and message either mislead or goes wrong.
Company Strategies to overcome these Barriers
The impact of communication in an organization is important because it may affect the
growth of the business. For effective communication strategies help in overcoming the problems.
Here are some strategies applied by LearnEnglishUK to overcome the barriers of
communications -
Active Listening - When communication is going at the workplace between any two employees,
both of them should listen actively to each other. (Jonsdottir and Fridriksdottir, 2020.) Active
listening not only clears the communication process but also shows that another person is
interested in communication. Active listening also includes an understanding of the message sent
by the sender. Ask questions in case of doubt, but do not interrupt in the middle of
communication.
Use of Simple Language - While communicating with the other employees always use simple
language, so it can be easily understood. The use of simple and clear words make
communication easy and comfortable for employees. If the use of complicated words and other
languages should be avoided as it will create difficulties.
Avoid too much information - When the bundles of information or messages are sent to
employees, it creates confusion and mix-match communication. Leaders and managers should
first plan the communication, the idea of communication should be clear and which information
will be sent to employees should be prioritized. An employee should not be overloaded with the
information, it should be properly distributed.
Use of Body Language - During communication, the use of body language should be used
effectively. It should not mislead the message while communicating. (Hurley and Moore, 2020.)
The use of hands, facial expressions, and other non-verbal communication should be used

according to the situation at work. For example, while doing meetings with clients the facial
expression should be professional.
Proofread and check grammar - During written communication like emails, text, and circular
read the message twice and check for grammatical mistakes. (Harwood, 2018.) Proofread the
message and make the necessary edit required. The message should be written correctly and
without the use of abusive language. A circular is also a form of written communication it should
also be formatted correctly.
Elimination of other noise - Other common barriers like noise should be avoided using different
methods. The internet should be working at high speed, equipment should be checked from time
to time, and the unnecessary sound should be avoided at the workplace.

CONCLUSION
In this report, various theories of organizational communication were discussed. These
theories explain the different ways of communication and how they affect the work of employees
and organizations. It shows how communication impacts the productivity of employees and
helps in generating new ideas. During communication, various gaps are created which act as a
barrier in communication. Some barriers are internal like psychological, social, and cultural and
some barriers are external like noise, poor internet connection, and other sounds in
communication. To overcome these barriers different strategies are used in the organization like
clear the idea of the message before communication, use of simple language, correctly using oral
and written communication.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Coles, J.L., and et.al., 2020. Director overlap: groupthink versus teamwork. Available at SSRN
3650609.
Ganapathi, N., 2019. An Examination of the Role of Emotional Barriers in Operative
Communication in a Diverse Organizational Setting. RVIM Journal of Management
Research. p.52.
Hanna, N. and Richards, D., 2019. Speech Act Theory as an Evaluation Tool for Human–Agent
Communication. Algorithms. 12(4). p.79.
Harwood, N., 2018. What do proofreaders of student writing do to a master’s essay? Differing
interventions, worrying findings. Written Communication. 35(4). pp.474-530.
Hurley, J. and Moore, S., 2020. SPEECH, LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION. Special
Educational Needs: A Guide for Inclusive Practice. p.85.
Jekat, S.J. and Massey, G., 2018. Barrier-free communication: methods and products:
proceedings of the 1st Swiss conference on barrier-free communication. In 1st Swiss
conference on barrier-free communication, Winterthur, 15-16 September 2017. ZHAW
Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften.
Jonsdottir, I.J. and Fridriksdottir, K., 2020. Active listening: is it the forgotten dimension in
managerial communication?. International Journal of Listening. 34(3). pp.178-188.
Shakirova, A.A. and Alexeevna, V.R., 2016. Linguistic Barriers to Academic Mobility. Journal
of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict. 20. p.79.

Slusareva, Y., 2020. Psychological Barriers Of Inclusive Interaction. Armenian Journal of
Special Education. 2(2). pp.20-24.
Vuori, J., and et.al., 2020. The Influence of Weber and Taylor on Public Sector Organizations'
Communication. The Handbook of Public Sector Communication. pp.115-125.
Online
Organization Communication Theories. 2018. [ONLINE] Available through: <
https://www.kbmanage.com/concept/communication-theories
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