What Do You Mean I’m Not Getting a Raise?

Shockley-Zalabak define organizational communication messages as the “creation and exchange of messages”, while meaning is more the perception of that message.
In the case study, “What do you mean I’m not getting a raise?” at the end of Chapter 1 in Shocklyey-Zalabak (pg 25) are shown how messages are communicated within organizations. After reading you quickly learn that although one message may be sent or intended, the same message or intended is not received. You have several different players; Jane Jackson, a division manager; the section managers; and the employees. All receivers were giving the exact same message, one reason why Mrs. Jackson read it instead of just speaking to the group. All of the parties form the human communication process within AMC, Inc. Ms Jackson had a message that she encoded for the employees to decode. Although Ms Jackson felt fairly confident that her message would be transferred favorable, there was still much confusion on the issue. This shows that although the same message was given, the meaning was different based on the receiver. People only hear what they understand and just because the same message was sent out, it doesn’t’ mean that everyone understand it to have the same meaning as the person sitting beside them. Other factors to consider are that Ms Jackson is very different than the people that she delivered the message to. Both parties bring not only different experiences and communication competencies, but they also bring their own impressions of the others’. This would greatly effect how the employees may decode the message. The communication process began with the message from corporate headquarters, then given to the manufacturing shifts through the cafeteria meeting. It was then later given back up to the section managers from the employees, back to Mrs. Jackson. The result of this path is that somewhere within the communication process understanding was lost on some.
I would advise Ms Jackson to revisit the issue with the employees. Since many employees understood the message given, or at least the part stating that layoffs wouldn’t be happening, there would be a limited amount of resolution needed. Through the section managers she could find out specific concerns and questions. Once that information is collected, she has two options. First she could hold another meeting and address the questions herself. Due to there being three different working shifts, this would again take an entire day to complete. Due to time constraints this option may not be convenient for her. The second option would be to spend all feedback back done the pipe. By addressing all concerns with the section managers she has given them the knowledge needed to take the information back to the employees. Although I feel that this solution should be adequate; you also run into the problem that each section manager may interpret and deliver the message in unintended ways. Then you again have an organizational message with multiple meanings.
This case was interesting and believable. I have seen similar situations happen at my own workplace. It would have been better if Mrs. Jackson had opened the floor for questions. I’m sure there were many people but many could have the same concern answering several questions at once.