Week 3: Topic 1: Organisational Communication Challenges

In this week lecture, I have learned on the definition of communication and organisation as well as the challenges that comes along with it. Communication itself is simply sending messages to one or more receivers. 

Source: http://www.learnmanagement2.com/comsmodel.jpg

While organisation is a company or a social collectivity that is brought together by a goal or a specific interest. Thus, organisational communication is a complex interaction of process, people, messages, meaning and purposes (Shockley-Zalabak, 2009). Weick (1979) explains that communication is a core process of organizing within an organisation. Miller (2009) looks into four aspects of communication:

1. Content: Task, innovation and relationship within each member of organisation.
2. Direction: Communication flows vertically (classical top-down or new bottom-up) or horizontal (pier communication or flat communication with all members)
3. Channel: Face-to-face, written, mediated and etc.
4. Style: Formal or informal.

Contemporary communication in organisation becomes complex when issues such as globalisation, media, cultural diversity, changing in demographics and economic liberalism exist. This became a challenge due to how complicated this world have become. The three main issues that we are facing this era are globalization, climate change and change in demographics. The stakeholders involved are separated into internal which includes staff, employees, or members, and external Source: includes customer, suppliers or media. The stakeholders are the people that are either affected directly or indirectly on the way an organisational behave.

Side note, lecturer talks about how so much information can be found on the internet that literally allows us to ‘goggle it’ in time of uncertainties as well as for research purposes. It is said that babies born in the year 2010 and above are called Generation Alpha or Google Kids.

Source: google images

For week one and two, there was classes were mainly introducing the course and discussion on the assignments work throughout the course.

If you hate reading or just scrolled down my prior written summary without reading a single word, watch this video for more information on Communication challenges facing these days.

Reference:

Miller. K 2009, Organisational communication: approaches and process, 5^th edition, Wadsworth, United States of America.

Shockley-Zalabak. P 2009, Fundamentals of organisational communication: knowledge, sensitivity, skills, values, 7^th edition, Pearson Education, United States of America.

Weick. K. E 1979, The social phychology of organizing, Addison-Wesley Publishing, Reading, Massachusetts.