social science.......

There have been numerous studies and articles written about communication in the workplace. Without good communication, an organization cannot reach its potential productivity. However, if an organization can manage to communicate well it is likely to be prosperous. I will look at a survey done by employees of a public psychiatric hospital and an ethnography done in a symphony and examine how employers can foster the best communication possible in the workplace.

Tim A. Grice, Cynthia Gallois, Elizabeth Jones, Neil Paulsen & Victor J. Callan surveyed 450 employees at a large public psychiatric hospital which was undergoing drastic changes which included having more communication between employees of different occupations. The results showed that the employees felt like they were communicating equally well to other employees of their own group as to other groups. However, they also feel like they get better communication from their own group then from other groups. The article also suggests that the feeling of having an identity within a sub group was important in a positive way to the employees. Grice et al concluded that employers ought to “recognize the importance of employees’ group memberships and group identifications when designing communicative strategies” (13).

Similarly, Gary Ruud employed ethnographic research on a symphony examining the communication between two groups (the artists, and the administrators) within that organization. Each group had their own codes which competitor for acceptance in the organization. Ruud suggests that the organization ought to become more aware of the conflicting codes and have some sort of discussion between to the groups in order to resolve conflict.

The work of these two studies is not completely novel. Those who come from different backgrounds and who have different outlooks are likely to have trouble communicating with each other. However, most companies spend most of their energy and time improving communication with customers rather then improving communication inside their own organization. Many businesses would prosper by paying close attention to what groups exist in the organization and being aware of how those groups communicate with each other. It is difficult, however, to fix internal communication. It requires identifying what subgroups exist within the company and then resolve conflict between the subgroups. As Ruud showed in his report, each group has their own code or language. A good communication system would require a universal code in the organization. However, Grice et al showed that retaining the subgroups inside the organization is healthy. Therefore, the employer must be careful to create a company language harmonizing different areas of the company with out destroying the different areas. If a company can improve communication in this way the organization will run smoother and the management will be free to place more concern on serving customers which ought to be the focus of any business.

Good communication with the workplace does not mean destroying the subgroups, but instead creating a universal language or code. Solving the problem of bad communication in a professional setting will continue to be a major topic of conversation. A lot of solutions must be personalized for the specific situation in the company, but there are still basic principles of communication that employers must study.