Communication within an Organization Term Paper

Communication within an Organization - Term Paper Example To achieve this, teamwork should be established between doctors, nurses and other health professionals concerned with the provision of health services. Such team work entails effective communication. However, due to organizational and personality factors that bring about more issues such as the hierarchal positioning of hospital personnel, scheduling, and the management of multiple tasks, among others, communication within the organization usually suffers. This is emphasized further in multidisciplinary cases wherein health professionals from various fields work on a case. Transfer of knowledge from one professional to another may be impaired due to a host of factors. Personal Communication Human beings communicate their thoughts and feelings to one another in verbal and non-verbal ways. Verbal communication, or speaking out to another person is often accompanied by non-verbal language which includes facial expressions, gestures, posture, body language and tone of voice. Sometimes, s uch non-verbal expressions say more than the verbalizations of a person. The way one communicates and receives information matters much in the quality of relationships he or she has with others. Effective communication takes practice and hard work especially for those who are not skilled in interpersonal relations. Several factors need to be considered when communicating: age, gender, relationship to the person, nature of the communication exchange, temperament and personality and even culture. The adage â€Å"Actions speak louder than words† rings true in a variety of situations. In the workplace, people manifest explicit verbal communication and implicit, non-verbal communication (Lee, 2008). Explicit verbal communication takes the form of direct reprimands or written memos to delinquent workers. Implicit, non-verbal communication is more action-oriented. An example is a boss deliberately showing a delinquent worker that he is taking over the tasks formerly assigned to the worker. The boss may not say anything, but the message comes across very clear to the worker that his inefficiency is noted by the boss. In times of conflict, the impact of implicit, nonverbal communication and explicit, verbal communication (that is, the written norm) is never equal. The more visible and stark the image, the more effective the message is delivered and received. Lee (2008) gives the example of a Fortune 500 chief executive choosing to lunch spontaneously in the cafeteria with employees he has never met. He approaches them and asks for their perspective on street-level obstacles to strategic execution. A little while later, he begins to take notes on the back of an old envelope. His action of lunching with ground-level employees communicates the message that he values ideas of his people no matter what position they have in the company. His non-verbal language goes way beyond body language, facial expression and vocal intonation. To sum up, verbal and nonverbal inter actions play a part in the effective exchange of ideas. LeFebvre (2008) advises that when speaking, one must also be aware of body language and tone and inflection of voice. She notes that different ideas may be conveyed by simply emphasizing different parts of the statement. Being an active listener helps one understand the message being