University Report: MNG81001 Management Communication for Managers

This report delves into the critical role of effective communication within organizations, specifically emphasizing why managers should prioritize it. The study explores personal and interpersonal communication aspects, including the art of persuasion and the influence of personal networks and the grapevine. It examines how persuasion can alter individuals' views and beliefs through logical arguments and emotional connections. The report also addresses formal communication channels within an organization and their role in facilitating downward, upward, and horizontal communication. Furthermore, the report highlights the importance of communication related to sustainability, including corporate social responsibility. The report provides a comprehensive understanding of effective communication strategies for managers, emphasizing the need for clear, persuasive, and well-structured communication to foster positive relationships and enhance overall organizational productivity.

Running head: MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Abstract
The aim of the study is to understand the importance of effective communication in
organisations and why managers should understand the importance of effective personal and
interpersonal communication within the organisation. The different aspects of
communications in interpersonal communication help different individuals to form strong
relationships between them. The study further determines persuasion as a form of effective
communication and how persuasion will lead to another individual’s views and beliefs to
completely change if the other person is properly able to persuade him.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................3
2. Personal Communication.......................................................................................................3
2.1 Personal and interpersonal aspects of communication.....................................................3
2.2 Persuasion as a form of communication..........................................................................5
3. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................7
4. Recommendation....................................................................................................................7
5. References..............................................................................................................................8

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1. Introduction
Communication in the workplace is very important since it helps to increase the
productivity and build strong relationships between the employees and the management.
Communication help to increase the performance of the employees (Bonaccio et al. 2016).
This is because the employees are able to openly communicate with the management and also
proper guidance related to any task or issue that they might be facing in the organisation. The
building of a good relationship with the management will also ensure job satisfaction on the
part of the employees since they understand the value that their feedbacks and opinions in the
organisation. Therefore it is important for the managers to give priority to effective
communication within the organisation. This study will justify the requirement of the
effective of communication with the employees through personal communication aspects and
the need for persuasion in influencing others. The study will also provide certain
recommendations for the effective way to communicate within the organisation.
2. Personal Communication
2.1 Personal and interpersonal aspects of communication
Personal and interpersonal communication is the way through which an individual
interacts with another individual and mutually influences one another through different social
and cultural norms (Keyton et al. 2013). This means that interpersonal communication would
require two or more people to interact with each other on any topic and form a unique bond
with each other. Every interaction cannot be termed as interpersonal communication since
there needs to be a bond between the communicating individuals. Interpersonal skills are a
very important factor for all individuals and a major issue in organisations (Carroll 2015).
Companies which do not support interpersonal communication and bond between the
employees and the management, suffer a lot due to low performance of the employees. This

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is because interpersonal communication is seen as a strategic form of communication which
can be done to fulfil certain goals and this strategy can help in fulfilling the goals of the
employees in an organisation or the organisation as a whole (Manning 2014).
There are two aspects of personal and interpersonal communication which are
functional aspects and cultural aspects which needs to be determined by the communicator to
effectively communicate with the other part. There are several functional aspects which
motivates an individual to communicate with another. These could be to get someone to do
some work for them, to derive any information from any person to ask for help and support
from another person (Quintanilla & Wahl 2015). These kinds of goals are what often
motivates people to communicate with one another and form relationships or work on an
already existent relationship. The instrumental goals could be for a day or for a long time
depending on the person on the other side or on the importance of the goal. In an
organisational context, the functional aspect of personal and interpersonal communication is
prevalent in every situation. Co-workers often seek the help of each other for any hard task or
even share opinions in cases where employees have to work together as a group. Employees
also seek guidance or even help in many situations where they face problems. These are the
functional aspects of interpersonal communication which helps in the fulfilment of goals in
the organisation. Other than the functional aspects, interpersonal skills can also help in
building relationship cultures between individuals (Mitrofan & Bulborea 2013). This
relationship culture is established through regular interactions with an individual and a
comfort zone is created between the individuals. Cultures would lead to a sense of stability
during change in the organisation and to test the strength of the relationship and the
compatibility that is present between the individuals and in this case the employees and the
management of the organisation.

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One type of personal communication in organisations is grapevine communication
which is a type of informal communication and is conducted without maintain any kind of
formality between the individuals. This kind of communication is often done between people
of the same rank and position who are friends with each other. Grapevine communication is a
communication channel which is done in case of rumours and gossips that occur in the
organisation (Conrad 2014). Grapevine communication occurs in instances when people
spread a certain information about any individual or occurrence within the organisation in an
informal way. This proves that personal and interpersonal communication is very important
for an organisation and both formal and informal communications are needed to create an
effective and productive environment in the organisation.
2.2 Persuasion as a form of communication
Persuasion is a form of influencing another individual with the help of
communication. Persuasion can influence the views, beliefs and behaviors of other people
and even change the attitude of other individuals. The basic attempt of persuasion is to hit the
emotion of the other person so that they get influenced into changing their thought process.
Another attempt to influence people is by giving logical explanations which can help the
person to understand that their views might be wrong or the view of the other person might
be better than them. To persuade another individual, a person has to show arguments which
are logical in nature and counter the original belief of the person (Petty & Wegener 2014).
These arguments should have three parts which are claim, evidence and warrant. Claim is the
statement which should have an evidence to support the thing said by the individual. The
evidence is the actual proof which supports the claim. Evidence is the most important part of
persuasion and the way to changing the view of the other person. The last factor is warrant
which is the justification that is used to connect the claim and the evidence. The whole
process if presented in a correct way would help to persuade the other individual.

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Persuasion is also used as a form of personal gain, especially in politics. In an
organisational context, persuasion is very important for both the employees and the
management. This is because it is important for both the parties to persuade each other in
case of emergency or because of any work. Employees often have to give presentations to
clients regarding any business deal (Sehnert et al. 2014). In such cases, the management
wants the employees to persuade the client to accept the deal and realise the authenticity and
the gravity of the deal. It is very important for the employee to persuade the client to take the
deal since his incentives and the future in the organisation would depend upon his persuasion
skills. Sometimes the employees also have to persuade the management regarding certain
tasks and issues that are being faced by the employees.
Not every persuasive communication could be successful as some people would agree
and some people would disagree with the individual. This is where the skills of persuasion
comes into place. The managers should also be able to persuade the employees when they
face any issues so that they can work effectively without any grievance or ill thoughts against
the organisation. The key principles of persuasive communication are to establish the
credibility of the persuader which is needed to be done so that the other people would believe
the persuader. The next principle is to find a common ground for both the individuals who is
persuading and who is being persuaded (Venus, Stam & Van Knippenberg 2013). This would
help in better understanding of the views of the person who persuading. The third principle is
to provide logical evidence so that the other individual would not be able to refute the
statement made by the persuader. This is the most important principle since evidence is the
key to a proper persuasion. The last principle is to connect emotionally with the individual
who is being persuaded. Along with providing evidence emotional connectivity is important
for proper persuasion.

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3. Conclusion
Hence, it can be concluded that effective communication is very important in an
organisation from the perspective of the managers. If the managers are able to openly
communicate with the employees then the employees will be able to instil trust and
confidence on the management. This will help them to perform better and therefore the
organisation will get more productive in nature. Along with effective communication,
persuasion is also important as a communication process, since persuasion would lead to
enable a smooth working environment within the organisation. If both the employees and the
management are able to maintain a healthy work relationship, then they will be able to work
efficiently without any issues in the management. This will help the employees to harness
their skills and work much be open about their issues in the organisation.
4. Recommendation
From the above study it can be recommended that, since effective communication is a
source of better productivity and it has to be planned and implemented in the organisation.
The managers should keep one to one sessions with the employees of each department every
three months so that they are able to understand the problems that are being faced by them.
The employees should be able to mail to the HR in case of any grievances and it is the job of
the manager to ensure that the grievances are being solved in a timely manner. In case of
emergency issues, it should be handled and solved by the manager directly.

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5. References
Bonaccio, S., O’Reilly, J., O’Sullivan, S.L. & Chiocchio, F., 2016. Nonverbal behavior and
communication in the workplace: A review and an agenda for research. Journal of
Management, 42(5), pp.1044-1074.
Carroll, C.E. ed., 2015. The handbook of communication and corporate reputation (Vol. 49).
John Wiley & Sons.
Conrad, D., 2014. Workplace communication problems: Inquiries by employees and
applicable solutions. Journal of business studies quarterly, 5(4), p.105.
Keyton, J., Caputo, J.M., Ford, E.A., Fu, R., Leibowitz, S.A., Liu, T., Polasik, S.S., Ghosh, P.
& Wu, C., 2013. Investigating verbal workplace communication behaviors. The Journal of
Business Communication (1973), 50(2), pp.152-169.
Manning, J., 2014. A constitutive approach to interpersonal communication
studies. Communication Studies, 65(4), pp.432-440.
Mitrofan, N. & Bulborea, A., 2013. The role of organizational communication in structuring
interpersonal relationships. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 76, pp.511-515.
Petty, R.E. & Wegener, D.T., 2014. Thought systems, argument quality, and
persuasion. Advances in social cognition, 4, pp.147-161.
Quintanilla, K.M. & Wahl, S.T., 2015. Business and professional communication: keys for
workplace excellence. Sage Publications.
Sehnert, S., Franks, B., Yap, A.J. & Higgins, E.T., 2014. Scarcity, engagement, and
value. Motivation and Emotion, 38(6), pp.823-831.

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Venus, M., Stam, D. & Van Knippenberg, D., 2013. Leader emotion as a catalyst of effective
leader communication of visions, value-laden messages, and goals. Organizational Behavior
and Human Decision Processes, 122(1), pp.53-68.