Communication serves as a key foundation stone to the success of failure of any organization. Good communication skills in and organization assist in shaping and defining an organization’s culture. The culture prevalent within an organization then distinguishes it from other rival firms and may act as a source of competitive advantage for the firm by improving the communication networks prevalent in the firm.

Communication skills are a must for any organization in the 21st century. These skills are not only essential to the top level of management but are equally important to each and every level in an organization. Top level managers need good communication skills to assist them in the decision making process. They have to consult with the BOD of a firm and their juniors before reaching a decision as to what the company wants to achieve in the short and long run. Middle level managers and business executives may have to communicate through paperwork in the form of portfolios and files. As such, they must communicate in a polite and sincere manner to gain the respect and trust of their superiors and must possess good communication skills to have influencing power over their juniors so that tasks are completed in a timely manner. For instance, consider an intern who has just started working in a commercial bank. If his immediate supervisor is unable to communicate the intern as to what tasks are to be done and in which manner, the credibility of the superior would be in jeopardy due to his ineffectiveness in relating the task at hand to the newly joined intern.

The importance of communication could not be highlighted more than by assessing the role communication skills play in the day-to-day tasks carried out by business executives or managers. Business executives have a different role to perform in comparison with business managers. The differing tasks performed by these two set of managers means that their communication skills will vary according to the need and circumstances. For instance, consider a new recruit by a manager who adopts an autocratic style of leadership in a firm. The new recruit and the manager don’t get along with one another and this result in conflict among the two individuals from time. Over time, this has the effect of halting important tasks on a daily basis. In such a situation, the conflict management style adopted by the manager is very crucial. Irrespective of which conflict management style chosen, the way the manager tries to resolve the conflict-ridden situation portraying his effective communication prowess will prove to be beneficial in resolving the conflict and also gaining respect and trust from his junior counterparts in the firm.

Managers are more inclined towards designing the strategy of an organization and think more about long-term goals. As such, they will need to take part in meetings, both internal and external to the organization. Designing the strategy of a firm is a very lengthy and difficult process as it must consider the organization’s mission and vision and the image it wants to portray to the rest of the world. The goals an organization wants to achieve must be specific, measurable, accurate, realistic, and time-bound. It is up to the top level manager to convey these SMART goals to the BOD and seek their approval. For instance, consider a company seeking to achieve 10% growth in sales within the next 1 year. The manager in charge of making a business plan of achieving this target must be in touch with a variety of people from statisticians to experts to seek their advice and assistance on how theta growth

may be possible within the give timeframe. The manager will have to communicate to the statistician in a different manner than he would to the expert. The statistician may be more receptive if he is shown a directive communication style but a different approach would be needed for the expert. The manager may need to communicate to the expert in a polite and courteous manner for the communication to be effective.

Business deals often rely on how a manager is able to convince his counterpart in accepting the business proposal in hand. Communication skills can prove to be very beneficial in making or breaking the deal. Before a business deal is prepared, a lot of behind-the-scenes preparation work has to be done. This may range from designing the proposal and also assigning the various tasks to different staffs in charge of preparing the business proposal. Staffs within an organization will respond to different situations differently. For instance, if an aggressive stance is adopted by a manager while assigning, some submissive staff may just keep on continuing the work without any complaints. On the other hand, some staffs may be offended by such a stance and show anger towards the manager in the form of a revolt by not completing the task put forward. So, the tone of the sender can act as a hindrance to completion of a task within an organization.

Communication forms the backbone of each and every organization by providing a framework of trust and support among the managers and their seniors as well as juniors. Therefore, communication can be termed effective in an organization when the sender has properly relayed the message to the receiver and also the feedback mechanism is in place to evaluate the effectiveness of the message.