Posted: June 27th, 2015

How Effective Communication improves employee performance

How Effective Communication improves employee performance

Introduction

Communication is the act of passing messages from one person to another through a given medium. Communication in an organization is vital because it facilitates how decisions are passed from the top level management to the lowest level management. Communication is used to facilitate the delivery of guidelines and policies that necessitate the proper management of any given organization. Thus, communication is a crucial process in any organizational operation. In this case, it determines how guidelines are followed. It also establishes new ways to manage the resources and the human power in the organization (Murphy & Hildebrandt, 1988). This paper discusses communication and its impact on building relationships, professionalism, and motivating employees in an organization.

Building relationships with employees

For effective communication to be achieved in an organization, the management should create good relationships with the employees and clients. Good relationships create a good environment to make appropriate decisions. An organization deserves an excellent leader so that the decisions made are accurate. Therefore, the qualities of a leader are important in encouraging employees to perform their tasks. Leadership also helps to execute a good plan to make decisions and pass them to employees. Effective communication plays a major role in improving the performance and morale of employees in any given organization. A leader should possess effective communication skills that he or she uses to pass a message to the followers. Good communication skills are a necessary tool for a leader because people are influenced by the ability of the leader to express himself or herself to the people. A leader should communicate about the issues arising in an organization effectively and give proper advice on how to meet the set goals and objectives (Roodman & Roodman, 1973). A leader should possess management skill in the sense that the leader can manage human skills and talent. The leaders should inspire the followers to work towards achieving the goals. A manager should possess a good attitude to facilitate leadership of people. A leader should possess business skills in the execution of duties because they set how each decision plan is applied in the organization. Good business skills help in the management of finances and how to draw viable plans that are of great help to the whole team. Harnessing good business skills help the leader to assign and delegate duties and responsibilities to the subordinates. An excellent manager should create a good working relationship with people within and outside the organization. They should create friendship with all stakeholders so that people can approach the leaders for consultation (Adair, 2009). An example of a leader is Steve Jobs, the former CEO of Apple Inc. He built strong relationships with the employees, and this empowered employees to develop innovative products.

Creating a good relation with employees is of paramount importance as it helps the organisation to operate well and effectively without many interuptions which delay the operations. Creating a good working environment through proper communication helps the employees to perform better as their concerns are heard and attended to. The employees feel recognized and more motivated to work and thus their performance is greatly improved as a result. Communication channels should be improved so as the employees can contribute and be a part of the decision making process.

Motivation

Motivation is the drive that an employee has to achieve the goals of an organization. Motivation increases the efficiency of employees in any given organization. Motivating factors do not only have to be financial incentives, but non-monetary incentives may be offered to the employees to improve their performance. A good manager should improve the working conditions of employees in the workplace. Good communication in the organization facilitates how leaders know the complaints from the subordinates. In addition, good communication facilitates effective decision making because the employees contribute towards making appropriate decisions. When employees are trained in effective communication, they improve their communication in the workplace (DelPo, 2007).

A leader should lead by example because the followers’ progress is determined by how a leader performs. A leader should empower team members by setting attainable objectives for individuals and the whole team. A leader should ensure that team members have access to facilities and resources that help to attain the set goals and objectives. Rewarding employees who have effective communication encourages other employees to improve on their communication processes (Nelson & Quick, 2008). An example where motivation affected the performance of employees is the case of Wal-Mart. The company does not motivate its employees, and this has caused many strikes. The company has experienced lawsuits because employees have sought to get better working conditions.

Better motivated employees tend to perform better than lowly motivated employees. Motivation helps to compensate employees through the service they offer to the organisation. A good manager should make sure that the employees welfare is taken care of and this helps to lower instances of conflicts and slow work ethics which cause delay of company operations. Thus motivation is geared towards improving the welfare of both employees and as a result the operations of the organisation are improved.

Developing professionalism

Professionalism is the process of achieving goals of an organization according to the standards of the organization. It involves adhering to the standards of a certain work. Managers should be encouraged or trained to learn the emotions of their subordinates and the senior managers. Therefore, managers should have emotional intelligence in the workplace. They should apply this strategy when interacting with various people in the organization. Passing information in an organization is crucial because it helps to increase the productivity of the firm. When decisions are to made in the firm, managers should know how such changes affect the work ethics of the employees. This is important because it helps to lower the possibility of encountering resistance by fellow employees when the changes are implemented. Communication is an integral part of management because it incorporates changes in the organization. Professionalism is evident when the management chooses to use modern forms of communication that are effective.

Modern communication methods have improved the way people in an organization communicate and pass information. This is crucial because it establishes clear plans and goals for the organization. Information in the organization is critical because leaders and managers need to have a clear feedback of operations at the lowest level, and this helps in the continuation of services (Koźmiński & Cushman, 1993).

Feedback system will guide the employees on areas of weakness, and this helps them improve on the communication process. Providing feedback is important in solving the communication problems facing the workers. As a manager, one should formulate a good way to solve problems facing employees at the workplace. A leader may install suggestion boxes that act as information gathering tools in the organization. A leader may open a joint email where employees can send their suggestions and the leader should reply to mails. As a good manager, one should exercise professionalism when passing information across the organization. This facilitates proper decision making and execution of plans and goals for the organization. This strategy ensures that the business is monitored, and the performance of employees is improved over time (Garber, 2008).

Conclusion

Communication is an important process in an organization because it links various stakeholders. People understand the processes of an organization through communication. In addition, decisions are made through communication. The management of any organization should account for the economic importance of its workforce and the role that employees play in attaining organizational goals and objectives. This ensures that the performance of employees is improved. Motivation of employees may take the form of non-monetary incentives through recognition and offering training facilities. When communication is improved in an organization, the employees interact well. This helps to motivate employees, and the performance is improved. Therefore, managers should embrace good communication strategies to improve the performance.

References

Adair, J. E. (2009). Effective communication: The most important management skill of all. London: Pan Books.

DelPo, A. (2007). The performance appraisal handbook: Legal & practical rules for managers. Berkeley, Calif: NOLO.

Garber, P. R. (2008). Performance feedback. Amherst, Mass: HRD Press.

Koźmiński, A. K., & Cushman, D. P. (1993). Organizational communication and management: A global perspective. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Murphy, H. A., & Hildebrandt, H. W. (1988). Effective business communications. New York [etc.: McGraw-Hill.

Nelson, D. L., & Quick, J. C. (2008). Understanding organizational behavior. Mason, OH, USA: Thomson/South-Western.

Roodman, H., & Roodman, Z. (1973). Management of communication. Toronto [usw.: Methuen.