COMMUNICATION (Part II):Downward Communication, Stereotyping Problems

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Organizational Psychology (PSY510)

LESSON 28

COMMUNICATION

(Part II)

Downward Communication

Any communication that flows downward from a manager to employees is downward communication.

Downward communication is used to inform, direct, coordinate and evaluate employees. When mangers

assign goals to their employees, they are using downward communication. Managers are also using

downward communication by providing employees with job descriptions, informing them of organizational

policies and procedures, pointing out problems that need attention, or evaluating their performance.

Downward communication does not have to be oral or face-to-face contact. When management sends

letters to employees' homes to advise them organization's new policy, it is using downward communication.

Usually organizational media is used for this purpose: newsletter, gazettes, Hotlines, etc.

Katz and Kahn have described the following as the purposes of downward communication:

1. It is used to give directives

When managers give orders to the employees, it is basically downward communication. Therefore,

downward communication is used to give directives.

2. It is used to give information

Organizational procedures, practices, policies etc. are all conveyed to the employees using downward

communication channels.

3. It is used to give feedback to employees

Managers give feedback to employees using the channels of downward communication.

4. It is used to provide ideological information

Ideological information and organizational vision and mission are communicated to the employees

through downward communication channels. Therefore, it also serves as a means to communicate the

organizational goals.

Following are some of the ways to improve downward communication in organizations:

1. People tend to ignore useful information

2. People follow paths of least resistance, so information must be tailored accordingly

3. They accept message consonant to their values

4. They reject messages incongruent to their beliefs

5. Need fulfilling messages are accepted

6. Total situation of organization affects flow of messages

Upward Communication

Upward communication flows to a higher level in the group or organization. It is used to provide feedback

to higher-ups, inform them of progress towards goals, and relay current problems. Upward communication

keeps managers aware of how employees feel about their jobs, coworkers, and the organization in general.

Managers also rely on upward communication for ideas on how things can be improved.

Some organizational examples of upward communication are performance reports prepared by lower

management for review by middle and top management, suggestion boxes, employee attitude surveys,

grievance procedures, superior-subordinate discussions, and informal gripe sessions where employees have

the opportunity to identify and discuss problems with their boss or representatives of higher management.

Upward communication keeps managers aware of how employees feel about their jobs and the

organization. The extent of upward communication depends on the organizational culture. If manager have

created a climate of trust and respect and use participative-decisions-making or empowerment, there will be

considerable upward communication as employees provide input to decisions. However, in a highly

mechanistic and authoritarian environment, upward communication still takes place but will be limited both

in style and content.

Ways to improve:

1. Allow employees to appeal beyond immediate boss

Procedures should be developed to allow employees to appeal beyond the immediate boss, i.e. develop

procedures to communicate grievances.

2. Boss should have open doors

Organizational Psychology (PSY510)

Another method to improve upward communication is that the managers should have open doors

policy, i.e. employees should be allowed to directly walk up to the mangers and discuss their problems.

There should be no gap between the employees and the managers.

3. Opportunity for counseling exit (interviews those leaving organization)

The human resource department can have valuable information by interviewing those people who are

leaving the organization. This is also a means to improve upwards communication.

4. Participative decision making

Decision making in the organization can be participative, i.e. employees should be involved in decision

making in the organization. This is also an improvement in upward communication.

5. Ombudsperson

An ombudsman is a person with the task of investigating complaints from the employees. If the

management appoints an ombudsman, it would allow complaints of the employees to be communicated

effectively to the top managers and hence be helpful in removing grievances.

7. Managers to develop listening skills

Managers need to develop listening skills which do not make the employee feel uncomfortable when

communicating with the manger. This shall also improve upward communication in the organization.

The ability to be an effective listener is often taken for granted. We confuse hearing with active

listening. Hearing is merely picking up sound vibrations. Listening is making sense of what is heard.

Listening requires paying attention, interpreting and remembering sound stimuli.

Following are some of the factors to be taken into account in order to be an active listener:

a) Maintain attention

b) Use restatement

c) Show empathy

d) Draw out

e) Encourage suggestion

f) Know when to speak and when to be quite

Interactive communication

Communication is vertical and horizontal, but the new stress is to see it as interactive rather than vertical or

horizontal. Interactive communication is the generation of meaning through exchanges using a range of

contemporary tools, transmissions, and processes. It involves communication that takes place between

groups on the same organizational level. It today's chaotic and rapidly changing environment, horizontal

teams, for instance, rely heavily on this form of communication interaction.

Interactive communication is useful for the organization and leads to:

· Task coordination

Groups and departments may communicate easily to each other about the tasks and performances of

their entity.

· Problem solving

Groups and departments involved in such communication can leverage ideas, expertise and help from

each other in problem solving.

· Information sharing

It is a useful way of sharing information laterally and immediately.

· Conflict resolving

It can be used to resolve conflicts between employees, group etc.

Communication Across Cultures

Effective communication is difficult under the best of conditions. Cross-cultural factors clearly create the

potential for increased communication problems. The need arises because of shrinking world, world market;

emergence of MNCs etc.

Problems in cross-cultural communication arise because of the following reasons:

· Perceptual Problems

Perception of people is influenced by their cultural training. Different things may be perceived

differently across different cultures. For example, opening comments about family/wife may be like in

one culture while they may not be liked in another. Therefore, perceptual problems dominate cross-

cultural communication.

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Organizational Psychology (PSY510)

Stereotyping Problems

It is the problem of considering another person belonging to a particular class which is either deemed

inferior or is disliked. Therefore, across cultures, communication is also likely to be affected by

stereotyping.

· Halo effecting problems

Halo effect is considering all related to one as similar to him or her. It is also a problem while

communicating across cultures.

· Ethnocentric problems

This may be defined as considering the practices of your own culture as superior while considering

other inferior. This is often a problem while communicating across cultures.

Improving Communication Across Cultures

Communication across cultures can be improved in the following ways:

· Cultural training programs

People who have to communicate across cultures can be given special cross cultural training programs

to sensitize them with the practices of the client cultures.

· Provide historical/social/cultural reading/taped material to employees to know the other culture

It is similar to cultural training, but involves less formalized efforts. Employees again need to be

sensitized to the culture they are dealing with.

· Training/exposure of both husband and wife is better than only one person alone

Research shows that whenever a family is to be sent to another country, training of both husband and

wife is necessary in order for the employee to deal effectively with culture of the new country.

REFERENCES

· Luthans, Fred. (2005). Organizational Behaviour (Tenth Edition). United States: McGraw Hill Irwin.

· Mejia, Gomez. Balkin, David & Cardy, Rober. (2006). Managing Human Resources (Fourth Edition).

India: Dorling Kidersley Pvt. Ltd., licensee of Pearson Education in South Asia.

· Robbins, P., Stephen. (1996). Organizational Behaviour (Seventh Edition). India: Prentice Hall, Delhi.

· Huczynski, Andrzej & Buchanan, David. (1991). Organizational Behaviour: An Introductory Text

(Second Edition). Prentice Hall. New York.

· Moorhead, Gregory & Griffin, Ricky. (2001). Organizational Behaviour (First Edition). A.I.T.B.S.

Publishers & Distributors. Delhi.

· Tapscott, D. (1997). Growing up digital: The rise of the net generation. New York: McGraw-Hill.

FURTHER READING

Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. (2001). Essential academic learning

requirements: http://www.k12.wa.us/CurriculumInstruct/default.aspx

21st Century Skills; effective communication: http://www.ncrel.org/engauge/skills/effcomm5.htm

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