Communication Skills (Organizational and Interpersonal)

Organizational communication can include:

• Flow (up, down, and sideways)
• Key opportunities or times (e.g., new employee orientation)
• Channels (e.g., face-to-face, e-mails)
• Meetings and how they’re conducted (small and large group)
• Interviews (e.g., hiring, informational)

We look at not only the mechanics of organizational communication (e.g., information moving from a sender to a receiver) but also the persistent, norm-setting, and taken-for-granted ways in which organizational communication processes affect how we think about ourselves and our organization.

Interpersonal communication work can include exploring the human needs behind the process. As a process, communication has synonyms such as expressing feelings, conversing, speaking, corresponding, writing, listening and exchanging. Communication is often formed around the principles of respect, promises and the want for social improvement. People communicate to satisfy needs in both their work and non-work lives. People want to be heard, to be appreciated and to be wanted. They also want to accomplish tasks and to achieve goals. Obviously, then, a major purpose of communication is to help people feel good about themselves and about their friends, groups, and organizations. For these types of communication, there must be a transmission of thoughts, ideas and feelings from one mind to another.

Typical presenting issues that suggest  Communication should be explored

• Complaints about feeling ‘out of the loop’ or underinformed
• Staff report receiving different messages during communication process
• Interpersonal conflicts
• Redundant efforts OR tasks/activities overlooked (slipping through the cracks)
• Intergroup conflicts