Communication Process Paper

Communication Process Paper The importance in being able to effectively communicate with others is essential in our everyday lives. Although everyone participates in some process of communication, not everyone knows how to communicate well. Communication is a process involving the encoding and decoding of messages being sent and received by a source and receiver, respectively. Messages are sent through various channels, such as face-to-face interaction, electronic mail, or telephone. Depending upon the channel used to communicate a message, it may allow for the communication to be transactional or unilateral. All of this occurs within a certain context, and it may also include noise factors, such as cultural differences or physical distractions, that may disrupt the effectiveness of the message being communicated. The more knowledgeable one is of the multiple factors involved in the communication process, the better the chances of effective and efficient communication.
In Organizational Behavior, John Schermerhorn et al believes that "it is useful to think of communication as a process of sending and receiving messages with attached meanings" (190). Mission Hospital is where I work, vast amounts of messages are sent and received daily, and depending on its availability, certain channels will be utilized. Due to the high volume of different messages, there is always the chance that some messages will be successful while others are not.
An example of an unsuccessful message, where the source of the message was unable to effectively communicate the tasks that were to be completed, involved a voicemail that my manager left for the supervisor to relay to the staff. My supervisor left due to a family emergency, she will be out the rest of the week, and my manager is now on vacation. It is now a week later and the message was not passed on. This is why effective communication is so important. In this certain situation, the manager had called and left a message listing about 30 tasks that needed to be completed and she did so by leaving a message on the voicemail. We, my co-workers and I, were required to transcribe her encoded directions before performing the tasks. However, some of the directions were unclear and we were unable to decode them. There were times when the reception on the phone she called from was filled with static, preventing us to clearly decode her message. There were also times when she asked us to fax out information regarding a property listing, yet she did not specify which details were to be included and which details were to be excluded.
Since (my boss) message was through the voicemail, we were unable to ask for clarification or give her feedback. We tried calling her on her cell phone, but it was off. Nevertheless, we proceeded to perform the tasks only to find out later that some were not done to her liking. Some of her intended messages were perceived incorrectly by us. In one instance when she asked us to fax out some information to a client, we misinterpreted the name "Thompson" with "Johnson." Thus, Thompson did not receive the time sensitive information he needed and instead we incorrectly faxed out unnecessary information to Johnson. To this misunderstanding, we lost a one million dollar contact.
In another instance, we were to prepare disclosure packages. However, it was not clear what (My boss) wanted us to include in it. Unable to ask her to specify which documents, we just included everything regarding the property. When (my boss) checked it the following day, she informed us that it was done incorrectly because we included more than was needed. Thus, we had to go back and remove the extra documents, which was ineffective time spent and lost.
On the other hand, an example of a successful communication process at work was when my boss was present at the office and delegated work to us verbally. (My boss) announced to all of the employees that she needed us to work together to help her with advertising. She effectively and efficiently communicated what she wanted in the ad. Schermerhorn et al states that effective communication "occurs when the intended meaning of the source and the perceived meaning of the receiver are virtually the same" whereas efficient communication "is low cost in its use of resources" (192). Having (my boss) present made such a difference. She effectively communicated to us that work needed to be done by telling us step by step instructions of what needed to be done. Also, we were able to ask her any questions if we were not clear about the issue. Furthermore, by having all of the employees present and her explaining the tasks to us as a group, she efficiently communicated to us what needed to be completed. Messages are constantly being sent back and forth within every organization. Thus, effective communication is an essential part of every organization. Undoubtedly, there will always be some sort of miscommunication that may occur. To combat this problem, or at least to minimize it as much as possible, all members within the organization should understand the basics of the communication process.

Works Cited
Schermerhorn, John, James Hunt, and Richard Osborn. Organizational Behavior 7th Edition. New York: Wiley & Sons Inc., 2002.

Cited: Schermerhorn, John, James Hunt, and Richard Osborn. Organizational Behavior 7th Edition. New York: Wiley & Sons Inc., 2002.