Organizational Communication - Personal

Being involved with extra-curricular activities and organizations in high school always kept me busy. Most of the organizations that I was in followed the standard leadership roles with a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and parliamentarian. However, there was one particular organization that was a little different. It was the Raising Student Voices and Participation (RSVP) panel. RSVP simply comprised of two faculty advisors, a student leadership team, and facilitators. RSVP is strongly student-based but is still overseen by some faculty for guidance.
The purpose of our organization is to help voice the opinions of our school’s general student body. This allows students who are not likely to be great involved with student affairs an opportunity to speak up about issues with our high school, our community, or our nation. As facilitators we split up into groups of six and go into different classrooms across campus. We would then break the class up and have small group discussions. These little meetings are also known as summits.
I was part of the leadership team made of six members. After each summit we held a meeting with facilitators and the leadership team. The first summit asks students to brainstorm the pros and cons regarding our school, our community, and our nation. Then at the meeting with the leadership team and facilitators we narrow down the results and find out the top three issues that came up. A second summit occurs in the classroom in which action plans are brainstormed and later proposed at the leadership team and facilitators’ meeting. Once the leadership team and facilitators touch base again and we hold a third summit that initiates the action plan and gets our peers involved in making a difference. These meetings demonstrated upward communication and horizontal communication.
With this type of organization, some things can go well and other times not. There were times when some students would not cooperate with their student facilitator or perhaps they would give ridiculous answers. Nevertheless, we use verbal communication in order find out what changes other students (our peers) truly want to happen. One of our successful projects was improving student dress tops because it was a school wide policy to wear a standardized top. Since many students did not like the design teachers sent many of them were sent to the office for going against the policy and teachers have said this delays their lesson plan. Through RSVP summits, we the facilitators and the leadership team made a student effort to change the designs and colors so that dealing with the students who don’t wear the dress top will no longer be an issue. The following school year, the new t-shirts (and their different variations) were sold out and more students consistently wore the uniforms. It was a challenge but it was a good starter project for RSVP especially with a public school of about 2,000 people. Organizational communication came into play and was effective in carrying out a satisfying, final product.

Organizational Communication - Application

On October 13, 2009, KnG “Kicks ‘n’ Giggles” Station was founded. As a group that had interests in entertainment, it inspired us to start a new American TV station that fell into the comedy genre. Our purpose is to provide quality television for the general public through means of comic sitcoms, movies, as well as dramedies. Our goal is to have higher primetime ratings than competing stations and we hope to have a target audience that includes adolescents, teenagers, and adults.

As a new incoming TV station, we have a “bet-your-company” type of culture. We are investing a lot of money in producing various programs but would have to wait for feedback as each show and movie make their premieres on TV. At first we thought we would have a “work-hard-play-hard” culture, as we want to be a fun organization and primarily have satisfied viewers. However, it does take a while to see the correlation between the types of programs we have and the number of viewings. KnG specifically aims to have a good primetime setup, as it is one of the most competitive time slots for television viewing.

A scene from The Office, an NBC sitcom.

Our organization is going to be run by a CEO followed by a Board of Directors and beneath them are supervisors and technicians. Downward communication will take place. However, we will also have representatives to extend horizontal communication across the chain of commands. There will be company meetings and department meetings, which will be open to new product proposals (new show ideas). Teams of technicians will be responsible for the production of their designated show. These teams can take advantage of open proposal meetings as KnG is all about having open-mindedness.
We want to utilize the relational function of communication as it calls for “creating and maintaining business and personal relationships with other members of the organization.” To be able to run a TV station calls for a great amount of team effort. Therefore, we encourage company social events and consistent monthly meetings to ensure that positive relationships can built and so people would feel more comfortable sharing their opinions with others whom they will become more familiar with.
In a case in which a problem may arise there will be a step-by-step procedure before letting go of an individual. From day one, KnG will make sure that the contract with a potential employee is clear and that the individual is aware of their personal role in the organization. Although we support creative freedom there will be guidelines to ensure that the material that KnG produces will be appropriate for our audience and it may be subject to change at any moment based on what would benefit our station in the long run. Nevertheless, conflicts will be handled through proper communication and facilitated by proper authority.

Organizational Communication - Definitional

In an organization, exist several different roles. Effective communication between the roles is essential in order for an organization to thrive. Needless to say, there are a wide variety of communication channels in an organization leading to different messages.

Some fundamentals that an organization should first establish include having a purpose, setting goals, and having a good sense of its “culture” and leadership. Deal and Kennedy are communication scholars who came up with four general types of organizational cultures: “Tough-Guy-Macho,” “Work-Hard-Play-Hard,” “Bet-Your-Company,” and “Process.” The settings of these cultures range from dealing with high risks or low risks and immediate feedback or slow feedback. Altogether having knowledge of these foundations helps set a theme and the desired work environment for any type of organization.

According to statistics, 96% of executives believe in a linkage between communication and productivity. In fact, having communication skills is highly expected out of graduates entering the workforce. It allows for better teamwork and also portrays the effectiveness of leadership within the organization. Conrad’s three communication functions in organizations include command, relationship, and ambiguity management leading to outcomes of coordination, satisfaction, clarity, and explanation. Keeping these functions in mind allow individuals within an organization to relay intended messages more effectively especially when it comes to delegating work or meeting customer needs. It is also critical for individuals at work to consider do I know what is expected of me at work? This mainly has to do with the two-way relationship between leaders and employees in which supportive communication or non-controlling communication is established. This also means building trust based on integrity, sharing control, openness, consistency, and demonstration of concern. These characteristics constitutes to a trusting relationship and effective use of communication for a general organization.

In order to make progress there’s actually different “directions” of communication that make take place. Downward communication is the relay of messages from upper management going down through the chain of command. Unfortunately, this may lead to information overload but scholars have recognized seven ways on how people adapt to it: omission, error, queuing, filtering, approximations, multiple channels, and escape. Unfortunately, these ways may not necessarily mean that the information has been taken into consideration or if has even been fully processed to one’s expectation. Another form of communication is upward communication, which allows for the delivery of messages from lower to higher levels of authority. This means employees can have their voice be heard by supervisors, managers, executives, etc. However, this is not always practiced in every organization as NASA has been used as an example. Nevertheless, upward communication demonstrates a management’s willingness to hear from secondary staff. There is also horizontal communication in which messages flow across levels and it involves task coordination, problem solving, information sharing, and conflict resolution. Through these different forms of communication, an organization is able to keep track of their productivity and ability to delegate work in different departments as they utilize the four functions of horizontal communication and being able to send and receive messages through the chain of command.

Tubbs, Stewart, and Sylvia Moss. Human Communication. 11th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.

Nonverbal Communication - Personal Entry

In high school, I was part of the student council. When it comes to meeting with peers and planning things for an entire student body I found it essential to have a good understanding of nonverbal communication. Every month of the school year we always had general meetings with all class councils. With the great amount of people it was helpful that we did a “temperature check” before making decisions. A temperature check requires every individual to raise their whole hand, a fist, or two fingers. A whole hand means “Go ahead. I’m all for it,” a fist means, “I’m putting a stop to it. It's not the great idea,” and two fingers mean “I don't know" or "it doesn’t matter." This system quickly performed a survey before finalizing decisions without having to go around in circles of debate right away. Instead it identifies the people who disagree with the motion in question and opens the floor of discussion. I saw it as an effective democratic process.

Also, part of being in council was sharing ideas. Of course not everyone may like one idea and a compromise had to be reached. There were times in which I sensed some sarcasm between people as one person would try to degrade another person's suggestion. Sometimes, I would see our advisors shake their heads in disappointment that our council meetings were not always being ran productively. Then, there also times when each council member took turns making proposals and people would nod in agreement or acceptance and acknowledge whether they think a particular activity sounded like fun with a smile or a "ho-hum" type of reaction.

Being part of the student council required strong communication skills and it doesn't only include verbal communication. I took notice of nonverbal communication too and it helped me initiate conversations for any concerns individual people may have with something or help certain members feel more comfortable to throw in their own ideas.

Nonverbal Communication - Application Entry

Speak (2004) - A film based on the novel by Laurie Halse Anderson.


Melinda Sardino's life took a sharp turn into a completely different direction after an unpleasant incident that happened at a summer party. Regardless, of what specifically happen it seemed like the rest of the study body shunned her because they thought she called off the biggest bash of the summer. As this teenage girl begins a new school year she cannot find to be her outgoing self. Inside she feels trapped with guilt, shamefulness, and loneliness. The audience will noticed that Melinda presents herself in a cold way, appearing to be precautious of her surroundings, stiff, and reserved. Whenever, she encounters the guy that did the wrongdoing at school she tries to push him off when he gets too close for comfort because he interfered with her personal space. Pushing him off and backing away are forms of nonverbal communication showing uneasiness.
Her art teacher was the only one that gained enough trust from her to have a better understanding of the emotional roller coaster she's experiencing. Other than that, her refusal to speak up then ending up screaming in a closet was just one way she let out a frustration that she had with the world around her and her own life. She eventually turned to art and it helped her become more open and expressive through painting. Art helped Melinda find her "voice" again and later let people know that she was hurt that summer and she did not want it to happen again especially to her best friends who at one point did not believe her. One could see that she was unhappy for a long period of time until she gained the courage to stand up against the guy and feel liberated.

Nonverbal Communication - Definitonal Entry

Nonverbal communication simultaneously occurs while verbal communication is taking place. Messages can vary from verbal/nonvocal, nonverbal/vocal, and nonverbal/nonvocal. Verbal/nonvocal refers to the use of words without any actual speaking. An example of this would be signs like a stop sign or the symbol for men or women on a restroom door. It could also be incorporated on graphic designs that contain words like t-shirts or billboards and banners. Another type of message is nonverbal/vocal in which vocalizations do exist but do not necessarily contribute specific statements such as sighing in boredom or groaning in disagreement. Again, the third type of message is nonverbal/nonvocal, which involves gestures like hailing a cab or a baseball umpire’s hand signals. All in all, these types of messages allow for communication with or without actual speaking and yet use physical movements, sounds, or written text.
Generally, there are three cues for nonverbal communication: spatial, visual, and vocal. There’s always a time and a place for things to occur. In a physical sense, there are only so much people who feel comfortable with someone hovering over their shoulder or speaking to another person closely face-to-face. The interpersonal distance zones vary from intimate distance, personal distance, social distance, and public distance. Timing should also be taken into consideration; a person can be monochronic or polychronic. Though multi-taskers think they are getting more done at the same time they tend to take a lot longer rather than thoroughly focusing on one thing at a time. When it comes to studying visual cues this is when others practice kinesics, “the study of body movements in communication.” Investigators are experts in reading people’s facial expressions and body behavior because it could give away clues on whether the person in question may be guilty or not. It could even come down to noticing even the slightest eye movement or lack of eye contact (also known as oculesics). The way a person dresses can also set a strong impression, which is often why it is important to dress appropriately for things like job interviews. Thirdly, there are vocal cues and the study of “vocal phenomena” is known as paralinguistics. The volume, quality, pitch, and rate of speaking can tell a listener something that may contradict the actual contents of the dialogue. For example, a person may say they are ecstatic but says it in a sarcastic matter. Tones like sarcasm can sometimes be over the heads of some people but those who can recognize it are much more aware of a person’s different tones for saying things.
Altogether, nonverbal communication is like a whole other language that does require spoken words. People react to the unspoken, as much (if not more) to how something is said as to what are the explicit meaning of the words. Misunderstandings can often be clarified if the people involved have the ability to notice and comment on the nonverbal communications in an interaction. People will benefit from learning the range of nonverbal behaviors in order to clarify the often subtle dynamics of the situations they find themselves in. In other words, it can be powerful enough to deceive people and they may not be aware of it. The use of signs, text messages, certain “looks,” etc. are often used and can confuse the receiver of the message. Nevertheless, without nonverbal communication certain things would probably not be able to be presented in a discreet matter and the whole world may be considered too loud and noisy if everything had to be said verbally.

Tubbs, Stewart, and Sylvia Moss. Human Communication. 11th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.