Overcoming Unethical Communication in Organizations

By Martin Hahn

WHAT IS UNETHICAL COMMUNICATION? Unethical communication enhances human worth and dignity by not fostering truthfulness, fairness, responsibility, personal integrity, and respect for self and others.

ETHICAL COMMUNICATION POLICY

One of the things that run through every class of communication study is how to communicate effectively, but also through ethical manner of communicating. Whether we are writing a press release or disclosing a help piece of personal history or reporting a research results in a newspaper, the goal is to craft a message that will be understood as intended and to be able to deliver the message in an ethical manner.

In most circumstances, we communicate in an unethical manner with little or no conscious thought, however there are times when life gets complicated with too much work and too little time, it is family or relationship pressures that makes it difficult or illness to make just a few examples these are circumstances which we think more conscious than our relationship behavior.

EXAMPLES OF UNETHICAL COMMUNICATION

Unethical communications in this category are broken into 3 main categories:
1. Plagiarism
2. Cheating
3. Lying.

PLAGIARISM

The main meaning of plagiarism is taking someone else work and presenting it as your own without consulting or taking permission from the original creator. In other words, plagiarism goes beyond taking or using another word from word.

EXAMPLES OF PLAGIARISM

Copying another person's word verbatim and presenting it as your own: while conducting research on the way we use social powers upon ourselves, we noticed many peoples work are being copied and written back word for word.
Changing the wording in another person work and presenting it as your own:

THE EFFECTS OF UNETHICAL COMMUNICATIONS IN A COMPANY

1. MISUSING COMPANY TIME: Whether it is covering for someone who shows up late or altering a time sheet, misusing company time tops the list. This category includes knowing that one of your co-workers is conducting personal business on company time. By "personal business" the survey recognizes the difference between making cold calls to advance your freelance business and calling your spouse to find out how your sick child is doing.

2. ABUSIVE BEHAVIOUR: Too many workplaces are filled with managers and supervisors who use their position and power to mistreat or disrespect others. Unfortunately, unless the situation you're in involves race, gender or ethnic origin, there is often no legal protection against abusive behavior in the workplace.

3. EMPLOYEE THEFT: This are the things caused by the employee in the company through theft, whether in the area of note recording the necessary documentation or check tampering or not recording sales in order to skim.

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Overcoming Physical Distractions

By Martin Hahn

What is the meaning of physical distractions? Physical distractions are the bodily things that get in the way of communication Distractions such as background noise, poor lighting, uncomfortable sitting, unhygienic room, or an environment that is too hot or cold can affect people's morale and concentration, which in turn interfere with effective communication.

DISTRACTIONS IN EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE

There can be physical distractions in every sphere of life. Distractions can be observed and seen through the following:

1. IN THE CAR: While distracted driving can be attributed to anything that diverts attention away from the road, it is often the cell phone that receives the blame for distracted driving incidents. Studies have shown that cell phone usage while driving has striking similarities to the effects of drinking while driving; Cell phones tend to take the driver's attention away from the road and onto itself. With drunk driving, drivers often experience the "looking but not seeing" phenomena. While their eyes do indeed view objects on the road, their brains do not comprehend the meaning behind the image. All levels of distraction while driving are dangerous, and potential drivers are cautioned to keep awareness of their surroundings.

2. IN THE CLASSROOM BY THE STUDENTS: School-aged students, with developing brains, are more apt to conflicting stimuli while trying to focus. Large classroom sizes, technology use in and outside the classroom, and less natural stimuli have been seen as contributing factors to deflating test scores and classroom participation.

3. IN THE WORK PLACE: could also be considered as distraction in situations requiring full attention on a single object (e.g., sports, academic tests, performance). The issue of distraction in the workplace is studied in interruption.

4. IN FRICTION: distraction is often used as a source of comedy, whether the amusement comes from the gullibility of those distracted or the strangeness of whatever is utilized to create the distraction. Examples of comedic distraction, also called comic relief.

5. IN MEDICINE: Distraction is useful in the management of pain and anxiety. Dentists, for example may intentionally hum an annoying tune or engage in small talk just to create a diversion from the dental surgery process. Topical ointments containing capsaicin provide a superficial burning sensation that can momentarily distract a patient's attention away from the more serious pain of arthritis or muscle strain. A similar effect is made by oil which produces a burning sensation on the gums, and distracts from toothache.

6. IN CRIME: Armed robbers may create a distraction after their robbery, such as pulling a fire alarm, to create confusion and aid in their getaway. In a more serious case of crime, the victims might be hurt or even killed in this horror scenario.

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Overcoming Inefficient Communication in Organizations

By Martin Hahn

What is an inefficient / ineffective communication? Ineffective communication can create short- and long-term hostilities as well as decreased work productivity. We often don't think about the process of communicating while we are doing it, but paying closer attention to how you both send and receive information can eliminate problems and improve relationships.

Any disruption or failure in the process can create ineffective communication. Language is an obvious example; if you as a sender speak in a language the receiver doesn't understand, the communication fails. Writing a message to a person who has difficulties reading is also ineffective communication. These are called barriers, and they are not all so obvious. For example, if you have an idea but lack confidence to speak up, that is a barrier. Body language, such as slouching in a chair so that it looks like you are bored, is also a barrier.

REMOVING BARRIERS

Removing barriers will increase your odds of communicating effectively. Both senders and receivers should pay attention to others in the process, making eye contact, listening intently and avoiding distractions. By being empathetic, you are imagining what it is like to be in the other person's situation, which helps the communication process. Stereotypes, generalizations and inaccurate perceptions are also barriers, and are harder to remove since you must be aware of them. Watching and listening to others can help you gauge your stereotypes and perceptions in relation to others and help you improve your communication.

THE EFFECTS OF INEFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS IN BUSINESS

Communication is a fact of life, especially in the workplace, where teamwork, technology and remote work are increasingly common. For a business to thrive meet deadlines and exceed goals, solid communication systems and relationships must be in place. When communication breaks down, so does the business. When stress, unmet expectations, relational breakdown, low morale, dissatisfied clients, family problems, health concerns and a smaller bottom line become chronic workplace issues, poor communication could at the root of the problem. The effects of ineffective communications in the work place are as follows:

1. STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE: high-stress levels in the workplace are a huge sign that there are communication problems. Poor communication can create a feeling that everything on your to-do list is urgent, causing you and others to hurry, feel tense, overworked and have little-to-no sense of humor. Good communication causes a sense of stability and predictability, but lack of communication or unhealthy communication introduces a sense of fear that causes tension, which is counterproductive to efficiency.

2. UNMET EXPECTATIONS: lack of communication causes unmet expectations. Teams miss deadlines, clients miss appointments, and people on a project do not seem to know what their roles are. When employees have trouble figuring out what their priorities should be, they often choose the wrong thing and end up disappointing their superiors. Without clearly communicated expectations and priorities, it is impossible to know where to start and how to complete a project efficiently.

3. RELATIONSHIP BREAKDOWN: your previously positive relationship might feel strained, so when you pass your co-worker's or boss's cubicle, you are likely to want to hide, rather than sit down and have a friendly solution-finding conversation. You may even feel a sense of uncertainty about seeking conflict resolution for fear of how it might affect your job security. It is also common to feel a sense of insecurity or lack of fulfillment in completing your daily tasks, and all of these emotions slow down productivity in the workplace.

4. LOW MORALE: when people are dealing with intense emotions, they spend more time than normal on emotional management. Productivity goes down, and morale is replaced by a sense of relief of making it through the day. Workplace survival mode can be a real problem. When business relationships are wounded and there is no repair, trust goes out the window, making it difficult to work together to meet deadlines. When people miss deadlines, they tend to feel poorly about performance. This vicious cycle prevents teams and businesses from reaching their true potential.

5. DISSATISFIED CLIENTS: dissatisfied clients can be a sign of poor communication. When teams miss deadlines or appointments, superiors tend to be frustrated and stressed, but so do clients. If your client was counting on phone service to begin before its grand opening and your installation team missed the deadline, your client could be out of money. If your legal team is not fully prepared to present a case in court and is winging it at the last minute, the ruling might not be in your client's favor. When nursing staff misses a deadline, it could mean that a patient does not receive medication or a bath on time.

6. FAMILY STRESS: employees who are stressed all day go home stressed and worn out, which impacts their families. Instead of having a spouse or parent who is energetic and thankful to be home, the family is stuck with someone who has so many emotions to unload from the workday that an evening is barely enough time to get it all out. Employees may begin to feel guilty or even to experience conflict at home because of their tension and stress level. This stress stays with them as they start the next workday and it can be hard, if not impossible, to get ahead.

7. HEALTH: Employees who are stressed all day go home stressed and worn out, which impacts their families. Instead of having a spouse or parent who is energetic and thankful to be home, the family is stuck with someone who has so many emotions to unload from the workday that an evening is barely enough time to get it all out. Employees may begin to feel guilty or even to experience conflict at home because of their tension and stress level. This stress stays with them as they start the next workday and it can be hard, if not impossible, to get along.

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Overcoming Incorrect Choice of Medium in Organizations

By Martin Hahn

A wrong medium or an inappropriate medium chosen for communicating a message will act as a barrier to communication. On a shop floor, you cannot use a long written memo of instructions whereas your information on a new product in the market could be only through an effective and attractive advertisement.

Complementing one medium of communication with another appropriately can help overcome communication barrier caused by the medium chosen. An oral reminder in person or over the telephone followed up with a written letter can easily produce the desired response or expected reaction.

Furthermore, through the wrong choice of communication media, For example, two people are interacting, and suddenly one starts to use jargons, this will create a barrier to the receiver of the message because he/she might not know the meaning of those words. The same goes with texting on the phone or sending an email, people always use abbreviations, and this always lead to miscommunication.

Most of us desire to communicate effectively, but do not have a keen appreciation of the communication barriers to be faced. Because of these barriers, there is ample opportunity for something to go wrong in any communication. Competent managers develop an awareness of the barriers and learn to cope with them.

How effectively does it happen as a manager, communicate with your superiors, subordinates, and peers? Do you recognize the barriers to effective communication? Have you learned to cope with them? In the discussion that follows, the principal barriers to communicating effectively in today's working environment are identified, and proven techniques for coping with them are considered,

The principal barriers to effective communication are: noise, poor feedback, selection of inappropriate media, a wrong mental attitude, insufficient or lack of attention to work selection, delay in message transmittal, physical separation of the sender and receiver, and lack of empathy or a good relationship between the sender and receiver.

FACTORS THAT DETERMINE OVERCOMING INCORRECT CHOICE OF MEDIUM.

1. AGE: Many companies decide channel split by looking at customer demographics, particularly age. Lots of research in terms of using social media and real-time messaging such as web chat and text. And there's a belief in many circles that the older Baby Boomer generation has a stereotyped preference for talking on the phone compared to newer digital channels. While those in the middle - Generation X - are happy using the phone and email but perhaps still not totally comfortable with real-time messaging. This is a definite factor in choice, but not the only one.

2. CONTEXT: In an emergency where we need a fast answer, we pick up the phone, irrespective of our demographic group. However, if you are then told you'll be on hold for 15 minutes and chat is available, you may hang up and switch to this channel. In contrast, for less time-critical interactions sending an email provides the security, therefore companies need to look at why consumers are contacting them, particularly how urgent their query is, when balancing resources between channels.

3. PERSONALITY: Another perspective is to examine how the personality types of customers might drive their preferences for customer service channels. Extroverts, with confident and outgoing personalities, will be happier getting on the phone and might even enjoy some chitchat and putting their point across to a contact center agent. In contrast those with a reserved and introverted personality might prefer non-verbal/real-time channels such as email contact for customer service. This means they don't need to talk to someone and they can avoid the need to think on their feet when communicating with an agent on the phone. Email gives them plenty of time to consider and get across what they want to say. And they can avoid being put on the spot with difficult questions while on the phone or in a real-time dialogue on text or web chat.

4. TYPE OF BUSINESS: Obviously it can be difficult to analyze your customer base by personality without asking intrusive questions. However if you look at the type of business you are, it is possible to build a picture of the sort of customers you'll attract. A youth fashion retailer is obviously going to attract a different demographic than a provider of holidays to the over 50s. Understand your customers and use this information to assist in planning your multi-channel strategy. Run focus groups and research to help form this picture.

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Overcoming Message Competitions in Organizations

By Martin Hahn

Competitive message can be defined as an essential component of an effective marketing strategy that separates your business from your competitors. This advantage over competitors is gained by either providing greater value to customers or by offering greater benefits and services that justify higher prices. Competitive advantage is what keeps your business alive and growing, and it is the reason why the business is alive.

Unfortunately, very few senior managers can accurately communicate their company's unique value to their customers. Typically, when asked, a company's leaders can spit off generalized statements indicating where their company stands within the marketplace, but many times those statements do not truly resonate with prospects and customers.

Competitive messaging doesn't always reflect your company's strengths or product features, as those types of statements may only explain why you exist. Often, prospects and customers don't really care why you exist, it's your job to find out what they do care about and craft messages that will speak to those concerns, making prospects and customers want to learn more and eventually buy your product. The best messages are typically based on specific characteristics, actions, or behavior that set you apart, and the only way they will separate you is if your prospects and customers believe your messages and believe you offer unique value.

Furthermore, we are to look at the most important benefits of competitive messaging and how it works as a company -level strategy for business expansion, thereby we are going to look at the steps that are involved in developing a competitive messaging:

STEPS INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING COMPETITIVE MESSAGES

1. Examine your company's deliverables and develop a list of candidate statements that you believe might be good messages.
2. Conduct market research (preferably through an independent third-party) to test the statements for your target market.
3. Finalize the statements.
4. Roll out the statements throughout the company and incorporate them into marketing materials.
5. Adjust the messages over time.

WAYS TO OVERCOME MESSAGE COMPETITIONS

In order to overcome message competitions, the following approaches or ways can be adopted:

1. KNOW YOUR COMPETITORS: Find out who your competitors are, what they are offering and what their unique selling point (USP) is. This will identify the areas you need to compete in, as well as giving you a platform for knowing how they communicate, what yardstick do they use in their communication skills.
2. KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER: Customer expectations can change dramatically when economic conditions are unstable. Find out what matters to your customers now - is it lowers price, more flexible or premium service, the latest products? Revise your sales and marketing strategy accordingly.
3. STEP UP YOUR COMMUNICATION STRATEGY: Improve your market positioning statement. Make more effort to tell people who you are, what you sell and why they should buy from you. It doesn't have to be expensive; marketing can range from posters, leaflets and campaign.
4 LOOK AFTER YOUR EXISTING CUSTOMER: They will be your competitors' target market. Provide better customer service by being more responsive to their needs and expectations. If feasible, consider offering low-cost extras such as improved credit terms, discounts or loyalty schemes - remember, it's cheaper and easier to keep customers than to find new ones.
5. EXPAND YOUR OFFER: What related products or services might your customers is interested in? You might even consider diversifying into another area - many bars and restaurants have successfully offered business networking events, for example.
6. LOOK TO THE FUTURE: Businesses that plan for growth are more successful than those that are happy to stay still. Keep up with developments in your sector, follow consumer trends, invest in new technology and - crucially - have a clear idea of where you want to be in one, three and five years' time.

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Overcoming Inadequate Communication Structures in Organizations

By Martin Hahn

Meaning of communication structures? A communication structure is an instructional approach that provides a simulated dialogue between an author of instructional materials and the students. It can also be called an interactive technique for communicating understanding.

COMMUNICATION STRUCTURES
A communication structure is the pattern of interaction that exists in every social system. In families, mothers tend to interact with children more than fathers do, especially when the children are young, but this pattern may shift as the children get older.

TIPS TO OVERCOME INADEQUATE COMMUNICATION STRUCTURES:

We can simply say that there are some hurdles that bring about inadequate communication structures & how it can be perfectly overcome:

1. EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS: receiver is least likely to get the meaning of the message if the sender is not able to select the right words. Usage of the wrong and difficult words might send the wrong impression in the eyes of the customers.
2. LACK OF SUFFICIENT KNOWLEDGE: If we start communicating about something without knowledge of the subject, the barriers of communication are bound to occur. In fact, there are many sale people who cannot explain many completed words or ideas in a simple way.
3. OVERLOADED KNOWLEDGE: Conveying too much information is a great setback to communication why as firstly people might not be ready to grasp too much information. Secondly the information might be coming too fast that interpreting it becomes difficult.
4. EMOTIONAL TURBULENCE: Your emotional aggression in any form be it anger, hostility, fear, resentment etc. can be misconstrued and misinterpreted You will not be able to convey your thoughts well as you feel severely engrossed in emotional turmoil.
5. NOISY DISTRACTIONS/ SLOPPY STYLE: If you are communicating something in a noisy environment, it can distraught your communicative thoughts. Trouble in your mobile lines or a noise in surroundings like in restaurant can create barriers of communication.
6. WHEN COMMUNICATION CHAIN IS LONG: longer the communication chain means more chances in barriers of communication. If a message is sent through many receivers, it could get distorted, distilled and altered. A final receiver might not be able to get the complete message
7. NO FEEDBACK: in fact even a lack of feedback can deter effective communication. In your organization your supervisor is delivering instructions in long and complex sentences without giving you a chance to speak, you might pretend to listen, but the same won't give you result as you are not able to understand instructions.
8. IMPOLITE LANGUAGE: Communication means conveying your message to the people concerned. In whatever way it is delivered either through spoken, written or electronic communication distorted is not communication at all. This entails theoretical assumptions and knowledge to ensure effective communication process is followed.
9. INAPPROPRIATE MODE OF COMMUNICATION: Inappropriate way of communication simply means your message is not being delivered how much you try. For instance, if the detailed instruction is given on telephone it would be a sheer wastage for both the deliverer and a receiver.Sending a message through a wrong way creates trouble for the listener as it would be frustrating as well time-consuming.

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Internal Communication in Organizations

By Martin Hahn

Internal communications is the function responsible for effective communications among participants within an organization. The scope of the function varies by organization and practitioner, from producing and delivering messages and campaign on behalf of management to facilitating two- way dialogue and developing the communication skills of the organizations participants.

Modern understanding of internal communications is a field of its own and draws on the theory and practice of related professions,not least journalism, knowledge management, public relations e.g. media relations, marketing and human resources as well as wider organizational studies.

INTERNAL COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

There are two sides to strategy in internal communications. In the first instance there is the organization strategy that focuses on what is hoped to achieve and how it plans to go about achieving it. That strategy will be supported and, to some extent, delivered through effective internal communications. Therefore, internal communication can help on several different levels:

TELL- This deals with simply informing people of the direction, non-negotiable
SELL-This is a process or method of anticipating some form of backlash, requiring some persuasion.
CONSULT- This is a process of specific areas of input to the decision-making process.

Secondly, and more importantly, internal communications needs a strategy of its own. It should be positioned more than a simple plan of tactical interventions in support of business activities. Thereby the strategy should consider the following:

1. Market - This has to do with what the organization knows about its audience's needs. And how audiences should will be segmented.
2. Message - What is the organizations message trying to achieve? In what tone should it be conveyed.
3. Media - Which channels work best for the different audience segments? How will it maximize reach out and cut-through? Are there clear editorials guidelines for each?
4. Measurement - Are there clearly defined success criteria? What are the leading and lagging measures? As well as informing all the other three Ms it should be used to demonstrate value and measure performances (ROI, message penetration, hit rates quality of feedback, etc. This strategy will inform the best way to organize effective communication.

MESSAGE DISTRIBUTION

Message distribution can be categorized into the four categories:

1. Electronic: communications that are divided or accessed electronically, either by computer, telephone, television or other devices. Examples include email, intranet, video and webcasts, DVD, electronic newsletters, & SMS text messages.
2. Print: paper based communications which are examples that includes magazines, newsletters, brochures, postcards, and other desk drops, posters, memos, communications packs or tool kits for line managers.
3. Face-to-face - one-to-one: Too many forums where people are physically present. Examples include a cascade of team meetings or briefings, conferences, sites visits, back to the floor.
4 Workplace: The working environment, examples include notice boards, plasma and LCD screens, accessories, window decals.

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External Communication in Organizations

By Martin Hahn

External communication is the transmission of information between a business and another person or entity in the company's external environment. Examples of these people and entities include customers, potential customers, suppliers, investors, shareholders and the society at large.

A business typically engages in managing its external communications. The approach used will vary by circumstances, purpose, and the intended recipient. A business will communicate differently if it is communicating with potential customers. Every organization is required to maintain a relation with other organizations or people with a view to achieve goals. So when a business organization exchanges information with other business organizations, government offices, banks, insurance companies, customers, suppliers, leaders and general people, it is known as external communication.

This type of communication covers how a provider interacts with those outside their own organization. The goals of this type of communication are to facilitate cooperation with groups such as suppliers,investors and stockholders and to present a favorable image of an organization and its product or services to potential and actual customers and to the society at large. A variety of channels may be used for this type of communications, including face to face meetings, prints or broadcast media and electronic communication technologies such as internet.

So therefore, communication with those outside the organization is an informal exchange of information and message between an organization and other organizations, groups or individual outside its formal structure.

OBJECTIVE OF EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION

The objectives of external communication are as follows:

1. Community relations: Every business organization has to maintain a relation with the common people of the society so as to achieve the organizational goals.
2. Collection of information: The main objective of the communication is to collect the information from outside the organization.
3. Contracts with customers: Every organization should know the taste, liking and disliking of its customers to increase the sale of its products or services. So this communication is necessary to contract with customers
4. Relationship with suppliers: Every organization has many suppliers form that it collects raw material or finished goods to run the business. So there must be a good relationship between the firm and the suppliers.
5. Relationship with institutions: One of the most important objectives of communications is to keep a link with banks, insurance and other financial institutions.
6. Relationship with the government: Every organization should obey the rules and regulations of the government. So, through communication it can keep the relation with government agencies.

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