A communication channel refers either to a physical transmission medium such as a wire, or to a logical connection over a multiplexed medium such as a radio channel in telecommunications and computer networking.. https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhil-nkady/ https://www.slideshare.net/NikhilKadam66

1. Formal and Informal Channels of
Communication
- Presented by Nikhil Kadam

2. Communication

3. Communication
 In today’s turbulent environment, crisis communication is at the
top of everyone’s needed-skills list.
 Effective communication, both within the organization and with
people outside the company, is a major challenge and
responsibility for managers

4. Communication
 How manager’s job require communication
 Communication process model
 Interpersonal aspects of communication
 Organization as a whole
 Keeping channels open
 Manager’s role - keeping open; turbulent times
 Barriers to communication

5. What is Communication?
 Process by which information is exchanged and understood by two or
more people, usually with the intent to motivate or influence behavior
 Manager = 80% every working day in direct communication with others
– 48 min/hour
 Manager = 20% every work day in communication in the form of reading
and writing -12 min/hour

6. The Manager as
Communication Champion
External
Information
Internal
Information
Manager as
Communication Champion
Purpose-Directed
Direct attention to
vision, values,
desired outcomes
Influence employee
behavior
Strategic Conversations
Open communication
Listening
Dialogue
Feedback
Methods
Rich channels
Upward, downward, &
horizontal channels
Nonverbal
communication
Personal networks

7. Communication Process Model
Noise
Sender
Encodes
Message
Receiver
Decodes
Message
Channel
Feedback Loop
(Return message
decoded)
(Return message
encoded)
Channel

8. Channel Richness
Information amount can be transmitted during communication episode

9. Persuasion and Influence
 Businesses are run largely by cross-functional teams who are
actively involved in making decisions
 Ability to persuade and influence others is even more critical today
than ever before
 To persuade and influence, managers have to communicate
frequently and easily with others

10. Nonverbal Communications
 Messages transmitted human actions and
behaviors rather than through words
Occurs mostly face-to-face
Verbal Impact = 7 %
Vocal Impact = 38 %
Facial Impact = 55 %
Most nonverbal communication is unconscious or subconscious

11. Listening
 One of the most important tools of manager
communication – both to employees and to customers
 Listening = skill of receiving messages to accurately grasp
facts and feelings to interpret the genuine meaning
 75% of effective communication is listening – most
people spend only 30-40% listening

12. Keys to Effective Listening
 Listen actively
 Find areas of interest
 Resist distractions
 Capitalize on the fact
that thought is faster
tan speech
 Be responsive
 Judge content, not
delivery
 Hold one’s fire
 Listen for ideas
 Work at listening
 Exercise one’s mind

13. Formal Channels of Communication
Source: Adapted from Richard L. Daft and Richard M. Steers, Organizations: A Micro/Macro Approach, 538. Copyright © 1986 by Scott, and Company. Used by
permission.

14. Downward Communication
 Messages sent from top management down to subordinates...
 1. Implementation of goals and strategies
2. Job instructions and rationale
3. Procedures and practices
4. Performance feedback
5. Indoctrination
Most familiar and obvious flow of formal communication

15. Downward Communications Problem
 Drop Off
 Distortion
 Loss of message content
 Dealing with Drop Off
 Use right communication channel
 Consistency between verbal and nonverbal messages
 Active listening

16. Upward Communication
 Messages transmitted from the lower to the higher levels in the
organization’s hierarchy
1. Problems and exceptions
2. Suggestions for improvement
3. Performance reports
4. Grievances and disputes
5. Financial and accounting information

17. Upward Communication Problem
 Many organizations make a great effort to facilitate
upward communication
 Despite these efforts, barriers to accurate upward
communication exist
 Managers may resist hearing about employee problems
 Employees may not trust managers sufficiently to push
information upward

18. Horizontal Communications
 Lateral or diagonal exchange of messages among peers or
coworkers
 Horizontal communications categories
1. Intradepartmental problem solving
2. Interdepartmental coordination
3. Change initiatives and improvement
Inform and request support as well as coordinate activities

19. Team Communication Channels
 Team communication characteristics to consider
● The extent to which team
communication is centralized
● The nature of the team’s task
Special type of horizontal communication

20. Team Communication Channels
 Organizational Implications
 With complex and difficult team activities, all members
should share information in a decentralized structure – all
information with all members
 With simple problems, centralized communication structure
– communicating through one individual to solve problems
or make decisions

21. Personal Communication Channels
 Exist outside formal authorized channels
 Do not adhere to organization’s hierarchy of authority
 Primary way information spreads and work gets
accomplished
Coexist with formal communication channels

22. Personal Communication Channels
 Three important types of channels
1. Personal Networks
2. Management By Wandering Around
3. Grapevine

23. Developing Personal
Communication Networks
 Build it before you need it
 Never eat lunch alone
 Make it win-win
 Make it win-win
 Focus on diversity

24. Two Grapevine Chains
Source: Based on Keith Davis and John W. Newstrom, Human Behavior at Work: Organizational Behavior, 7th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1985).

25. Open Communication
 Sharing all types of information throughout the company,
across functional and hierarchical levels
 Recent trend - reflects manager’s increased emphasis on
 Empowering employees
 Building trust and commitment
 Enhancing collaboration

26. Dialogue and Discussion: The Differences
Conversation
Lack of understanding, disagreement,
divergent points of viewDialogue Discussion
Result Result
Reveal feelings
Explore assumptions
Suspend convictions
Build common ground
Long-term, innovative solutions
Unified group
Shared meaning
Transformed mind-sets
State positions
Advocate convictions
Convince others
Build oppositions
Short-term resolution
Agreement by logic
Opposition beaten down
Mind-sets held onto

27. Crisis Communication
 Primary Skills
Maintain your focus
Be visible
Get the awful truth out
Communicate a vision for the
future

28. Feedback and Learning
 Feedback –
 Enables managers to determine whether they have been
successful in communicating with others
 Is often neglected
 Giving & receiving feedback is typically difficult –both for
managers & employees
 Successful managers focus their feedback
 To help develop the capacities of subordinates
 To teach the organization how to better reach its goals
Managers use evaluation & communication to help individuals

29. Ways to Overcome
Communication Barriers
Active listening
Selection of appropriate channel
Knowledge of other’s perspective
MBWA
Climate of Trust, dialogue
Development and use of formal channels
Changing organization or group structure to fit
communication needs
Encouragement of multiple channels, formal and
informal
Individual
Interpersonal dynamics
Channels and media
Semantics
Inconsistent cues
Organizational
Status and power differences
Departmental needs and goals
Communication network unsuited
Lack of formal channels
How to OvercomeBarriers

30. Semantics
 Meaning of words and the way they are used

31. The Role of Communication in
Organizations
key purposes:
 direct action: to get others to behave in desired fashion
 achieve coordinated action
 systematic sharing of information
+ interpersonal side with the focus on interpersonal
relations between people

32. Communication
 “the social glue … that continues to keep the organization
tied together”
 “the essence of organization”
 a key process underlying all aspects of organizational
operations
 properly managing communication processes is central
to organizational functioning

33. Organizational Structure: Directing
the Flow of Messages
Organizational structure:
 the formally prescribed pattern of interrelationships
existing between the various units of an organization
 dictating who may and may not communicate with whom
 abstract construction
 depicted in Organizational Charts

34. Organizational Charts

35. Formal Communication
 the process of sharing official information with others who
need to know it,
 according to the prescribed patterns depicted in an
organization chart

36. Formal Communication
President
Vice
President
Vice
President
Manager Manager Manager Manager
Efforts at coordination
Information
Instructionsanddirectives

37. Formal Communication
 downward communication:
 instructions, directions, orders
 feedback
 upward communication:
 data required to complete projects
 status reports
 suggestions for improvement, new ideas
 horizontal communication:
 coordination of cooperation

38. Centralized Networks
 One central person
 Unequal access to information
 Central person is at the “crossroads” of the information
flow

39. Communication Structures
Centralized

40. Communication Structures
Centralized
Wheel

41. Communication Structures
Centralized
Chain

42. Communication Structures
Decentralized
Circle

43. Decentralized Networks
 Information can flow freely
 No central person
 All members play an equal role in the transmittal of
information

44. Communication Structures
Decentralized
Comcon

45. Communication Networks

46. Network Performance

47. Gatekeepers

48. Informal Communication Structures
 Deviation from the planned communication structure
 Direction of the flow of information
 Leaving out people in the communication line
 Integrating people into the communication line

49. Informal Networks
Y
D
C
B
A
Chain
A
JB
D H I
K
F
G
E
C
Gossip
A
F B D
J
H
C
E
K
G I
X
Probability
A
C
D
F
J
IB
Cluster

50. Formal Structure vs Informal
Networks
Communities of practice:
informal collaborative networks
???

51. Informal Organization

52. Informal Communication
information shared without any formally imposed
obligations or restrictions
if an organization’s formal communication represents its
skeleton, its informal communication constitutes its
central nervous system
(Behavior in Organizations, p. 307)
eng. “grapevine“
 An organization’s informal channels of communication,
based mainly on friendship or acquaintance
 origin: American Civil War [grapevine telegraphs]

53. “Grapevine“
1. a secret means of spreading or receiving
information
2. the informal transmission of (unofficial)
information, gossip or rumor from person-to-
person -> "to hear about s.th. through the
grapevine"
3. a rumor: unfounded report; hearsay

54. Grapevine Characteristics
 oral  mostly undocumented
 open to change
 fast (hours instead of days)
 crossing organizational boundaries

55. Grapevine Characteristics
 inaccuracy:
 levelling
deletion of crucial details
 sharpening
exaggeration of the most dramatic details
while the grapevine generally carries the truth it seldom
carries the whole truth

56. Grapevine Figures
 70% of all organizational communication occurs at the
grapevine level
 estimated accuracy rates: 75-90%
 the incorrect part might change the meaning of the
whole message though
 an estimated 80% of grapevine information is oriented
toward the individual while 20% concerns the company

57. Factors Influencing Grapevine Activity
I
According to Gordon Allport:
 importance of the subject for both listener and
speaker
 ambiguousness of the facts
Formula:
R = i x a
“R“: intensity of the rumor
“i“: importance of the rumor to the persons
“a“: ambiguity of the facts associated with the rumor

58. Factors influencing Grapevine Activity
II
Employees rely on the grapevine when:
 they feel threatened,
 insecure,
 under stress
 when there is pending change
 when communication from management is limited

59. Positive Aspects of the Grapevine
 social function
 reduction of anxiety
 release mechanism for stress
 identification of pending problems
 early warning system for organizational change
 vehicle for creating a common organizational
culture
 desired information can be circulated quickly to a
large group of subordinates (inofficially!)

60. Coping or Managing the
Grapevine
“the grapevine cannot be abolished, rubbed out, hidden
under a basket, chopped down, tied up, or stopped“
(Managing the Grapevine, p.222)
 don‘t try to control or restrict it
 use it to supplement formal channels

61. “Tapping“ the Grapevine
 identify and make use of key communicators (
bridgers)
 monitor what is happening in the organization
 use the grapevine to give new ideas a “trial run“

62. Preventing Rumors
 provide information through the formal system of
communication on the issues important to the employees
 supply employees with a steady flow of clear, accurate
and timely information
 present full facts
 keep formal communication lines open and the process
as short as possible

63. Formal Media
 Company newsletters
 Employee handbooks
 Company magazines
 Formal meetings

64. Formal Media
 Letters
 Flyers and bulletins
 Memos
 Faxes
 All-employees mailings

65. Informal Media
 Face-to-face discussions
 Telephone
 Voice messaging (voice mail)
 E-mail
 Instant messaging (chat)

66. Informal Dialogues
Characteristics:
 often no formal opening or closing
 first utterance often assumes a common reference to a previous interaction
or issue
 conversations generally last only a few minutes

67. Informal Communication and Physical
Proximity
physical proximity
is crucial for
informal
communication
trends towards
telework, mobile
work and the
globalisation of
business are
geographically
separating workers

68. The Nature of Informal
Communication I
 mostly brief interactions
 mainly opportunistic ( coordination, initiation)
 often time-lags between informal interactions (
maintenance and re-establishment of context)
 occur between frequent interactants who often share
large amounts of background knowledge

69. The Nature of Informal
Communication II
 communications in offices more frequent than in
public areas
 majority of “roaming“ interactions self-initiated
 interruptability (importance of prior activity)
 interactions are very often terminated by a third
party joining an existing conversation
 role of deixis
 documents involved in 53% of all Own Office
interactions

70. THANK YOU