Organizational Communication Theories and Barriers: A Report on Strategies to Overcome Them

This report discusses various theories related to organizational communication, including Max Weber's theory of bureaucratic organization. It also explores the barriers faced by employees, such as physical, emotional, and organizational structure barriers, and provides strategies to overcome them. The report recommends that companies adopt a simple organizational structure and be flexible in meeting targets to improve communication.

ASSESSMENT 2 INDIVIDUAL REPORT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Presenting organizational communication...................................................................................3
Barriers in communication.........................................................................................................4
Barriers faced by employees:....................................................................................................4
Brit-tech strategies to overcome barriers....................................................................................6
Recommendation.........................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Communication is process of interacting and sharing thoughts and ideas to the other
person. Along with this, it is very much important in organization so that it proper flow of
information is maintained within company. Moreover, the report will discuss about various
theories related to organizational communication. Lastly, it will discuss about barriers of
communication that will demotivate employees to work or create negative environment within
firm.
MAIN BODY
Presenting organizational communication
Organizational communication is vast growing filed and it is very important for the
company as it help in doing the work effectively as well as develop healthy culture within
firm.
 Weber’s classic organizational theory of fixed structure
 This is one of the widely respected management theorist that can be considered as
pioneer of organizational studies. According to Max weber theory of bureaucratic
organization it has defined about organizational structure and has given meaning to
the communication processes that happens within company. It states that company
should have clear roles and responsibilities and hence communication is structured,
hierarchical and clear. Although there should be no confusion in the message that
have been sent from top of the structure too down. This theory mainly lay emphasize
on the top and bottom level organizational communication. Max weber has also
defined that company have rigid structure and each individual contributes by way of
defining their roles and responsivity (Liu, Zhang and Ding, 2020). Moreover, the theory
analysis the way organization works is by allocating work according to the capabilities
of the individual or by seniority that determined by fixed notion of this concept.
 Tompkins and Cheney’s organizational control theory
 This framework is an extension of Max weber theory that applies to company that are
moving past the bureaucratic mode. The theory basically stated that there are four
kinds of control that determine the way organization exercise power within and it is
technical, bureaucratic, simple and concertive. Moreover, according to theory there
are four types of control that define the progress of company from simple models to

technical and finally an organization where employees known what are expected from
them and it have clear vision and mission. Theorist here explain that control
communication is more than weber has define and less than what post modern
theorist says about communication and control.
 Deetz’s Managerialism Theory:
 This theory define how company communicates and control happens in the
companies where classical notions are replaced with political and economic interest.
The theory mainly highlights that Deetz has posted about the organization that take
into account the democratic aspiration of employees as well as power centre in
company (Fedorowicz, 2021) . The motive this theory is that communication is
basically a transmission of information that involves managerialism and employees
that work together. It has explained that communication is the transformation of
information and it should be accurate so that there is no conflicts arise within firm.
The theorist has also explained that individual manager are not cause of issues but it
managerialism.
Barriers in communication
It can have significant impact on people personal and professional lives and it is particularly
evident that many employees face this issue while working. Although technology and
digital tool has bigger impact on communication barriers (Origlia Ikhilor and et.al., 2018). It
can be defined as anything that disable communicators to deliver the right message to person
at right time. Moreover, the 3 main categories of communication barriers that can make
effective communication challenging.
 Physical communication Barriers: It includes remote work, closed office doors and
social distancing others.
 Emotional communication : This means resulting from emotions such as fear and
mistrust.
 Language communication: This refer to how a person speaks both verbally and non
verbally.
Barriers faced by employees:
 Communication skill and styles:

 Every employee have different communication style and skill that mainly creates
difference in communication skill as well as create barriers between receiver and
communicator of message. For example: Some employee may want high detailed
and specific information while others may tend to get general knowledgeable .
However, it is important for workers to have communication skill as it is extremely
important as it evaluate performance reviews.
 Social distance and physical barriers:
 Many companies now days are using digital means of communication due to pandemic
rule of social distance and employees that are working from remote areas. This type of
barrier is mainly common in workers that do not have designated working space
(Ramlan and et.al., 2018). It can go a long way in creating damage to company that do
not make use of leverage technology to eliminate this challenges occurring within
firm. However, this barrier can demotivate employee and due to that productivity of
company may decline.
 Disengagement: Effective communication is about building engagement between
parties that are involved in communication . However, if there is no interaction or
connection between the parties then it will ruins the purpose of effective
communication. Moreover, most of the company across the world is facing this
challenge and not able to catch employees attention. Along with this, if employee
do not get healthy working culture or there is no transparent communication then it
will lead to decreasing their moral (Bisel, Kavya and Tracy, 2020) . Thus, leader
should make use of various effective style of communication in order to engage
employees with company.
 Organizational structure: The most complex and rigid structure create inefficient
communication and it create barrier within firm. Although if company has inefficient
information sharing and bad structure of communication style that it may lead to
lack of engagement and lower productivity among employees (Kushalnagar and et.al.,
2018). Thus, in order to reduce the impact of this challenge organization can make
use of hierarchical structure in order to maintain proper flow of information among
employees.

 Information overload: Less information is not good but more can cause damage so
it should be in limited form in order to prevent barrier. As excessive data can be
biggest communication challenges (Koschmann and Campbell, 2019). However, more
information has proved to have a very negative impact on employees productivity as
well as success at work. Thus, it may lead to increase employee turnover rate within
organization that will lower down brand image within competitive market.
 Lack of trust: It play very important role in building motivation of employees and
build healthy relation with them. Along with this, if there is lack of trust between
employers then it lead to no effective communication and leaders have to suffer.
Moreover, the main goal for organization is to build trust in the work place. So that
employees can feel motivated and being loyal to firm .
Brit-tech strategies to overcome barriers
 The company has decided to make ideas clear before communication: In order to
remove unclarity and vagueness as well as confusion in process of interacting the
company should make things precise (Zito and et.al.,2021). Along with this, the
company has decided to make message clear and on the point so that employees can
easily understand the concept.
 Eliminating differences in perception: The organization has decided to recruit right
individuals for the job. The HR manger of the company will ensure that candidate
should have control over the written and oral communication as well as there should be
proper training conducted for the employees for example accent and voice training
(Prasetyo and et.al.,2021).
 Give constructive feedback: The company has decided to avoid negative feedback as
well as even if comment is negative it should be deliver in positive way in order to
develop effective communication between seniors and employees. Although manager
will take feedback from the employee on monthly basis in order to analyse the issue.
 Proper media selection: The manager of the company has decided to select proper
medium for communicating the information. Such if there is simple message then it
will be conveyed orally through face to face meetings. In case of complex message
written communication will be taken into consideration like memos and notice in
order to avoid confusion.

Recommendation
 It is to be suggested that in order to avoid communication issue the manager of
company need to be flexible in meeting the targets. Such the manager should ensure that
individual meet their targets timely without skipping the formal channels of interaction.
Moreover, company should not pressurize subordinates to meet the target as it will leave
the organization (DuHadway, Carnovale and Kannan, 2018).
 Along with this, it is to be suggested to company that it should make use of simple
organizational structure as it will reduce complexity and will enhance more effective
communication. The company will be adopting functional structure so that proper
chain of command is maintained as well employees will be able to known their roles
and responsibilities.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that communication play vital role within
the firm as it helps in maintaining proper flow of information. Along with this, it has
summarized that there are various theories related to organizational communication such as
Max Weber which explain that information should flow in proper hierarchy. Moreover, it has
also depicted about barriers in the communication that is faced by employees while
working. Such as physical, emotional and organizational structure. Lastly, the study has
analysed about various strategies that can be used to overcome it.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
DuHadway, S., Carnovale, S. and Kannan, V. R., 2018. Organizational communication and
individual behavior: Implications for supply chain risk management. Journal of Supply
Chain Management. 54(4). pp.3-19.
Prasetyo, I. and et.al.,2021. Effects of organizational communication climate and employee
retention toward employee performance. Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory
Issues. 24(1). pp.1-11.
Zito, M. and et.al.,2021. Does the end justify the means? The role of organizational
communication among work-from-home employees during the COVID-19
pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 18(8).
p.3933.
Koschmann, M. A. and Campbell, T. G., 2019. A critical review of how communication
scholarship is represented in textbooks: the case of organizational communication and
CCO theory. Annals of the International Communication Association. 43(2). pp.173-
191.
Bisel, R. S., Kavya, P. and Tracy, S. J., 2020. Positive deviance case selection as a method for
organizational communication: A rationale, how-to, and illustration. Management
Communication Quarterly. 34(2). pp.279-296.
Ramlan, S. and et.al., 2018. The impact of language barrier and communication style in
organizational culture on expatriate’s working performance. Management Science
Letters. 8(6). pp.659-666.
Origlia Ikhilor, P. and et.al., 2018. Barrier‐free communication in maternity care of allophone
migrants: BRIDGE study protocol. Journal of advanced nursing. 74(2). pp.472-481.
Fedorowicz, S. C., 2021. Barrier-Free Communication for the Deaf in Japan: A Local Initiative
for Medical Interpretation Services in Japanese Sign Language. Journal of Inquiry and
Research. 114. pp.319-337.
Liu, Z., Zhang, L. and Ding, Z., 2020. Overcoming the channel estimation barrier in massive
MIMO communication via deep learning. IEEE Wireless
Communications. 27(5) .pp.104-111.
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Kushalnagar, P. and et.al., 2018. Communication barrier in family linked to increased risks for
food insecurity among deaf people who use American Sign Language. Public health
nutrition. 21(5). pp.912-916.
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