management theory and organizational communication l 3

Management Theory and Organizational Communication

L 3

Ing. Jiří Šnajdar 2013

Communication management

Communications management is the systematic planning, implementing, monitoring, and revision of all the channels of communication within an organization, and between organizations; it also includes the organization and dissemination of new communication directives connected with an organization, network, or communications technology.


Aspects of communications management include developing corporate communication strategies, designing internal and external communications directives, and managing the flow of information, including online communication. New technology forces constant innovation on the part of communications managers.


As a manager, one must take a contingency approach to communicating with their employees and communicate on a personal level. It’s the manager’s responsibility to determine if their employee’s personality falls under the following: Reactors, Workaholics, Persisters, Dreamers, Rebels, or Promoters.

Communication management and project management

In project management, communication management must address the following questions:

•What information needs to flow in and out of the project?•Who needs what information?•When is the information needed?•What is the format of the information?•Who will be responsible for transmitting and providing the information?

Communication planning is the art and science of reaching target audiences using marketing communication channels such as advertising, public relations, experiences or direct mail for example. It is concerned with deciding who to target, when, with what message and how.

The communication plan serves as a guide to the communication and sponsorship efforts throughout the duration of the project. It is a living and working document and is updated periodically as audience needs change. It explains how to convey the right message, from the right communicator, to the right audience, through the right channel, at the right time. It addresses the six basic elements of communications: communicator, message, communication channel, feedback mechanism, receiver/audience, and time frame.

A communication plan includes:

•“Who” - the target audiences•“What” – the key messages that are trying to be articulated•“When” – timing, it will specify the appropriate time of delivery for each message•“Why” – the desired outcomes•“How” - the communication vehicle (how the message will be delivered)•“By whom” - the sender (determining who will deliver the information and how he or she is chosen)

Is communication a tool used by management to maintain power?

Reason for examining organizational communication is based on theories of management and organizations. Exploring the evolution of these theories makes it clear that communication is essential and not periphelar to organizational success.

Clasical Theory of Management (Frederic Taylor).

The clasical theory is the assumption that an organization is alike to a machine. The best way to maximize organizatioal productivity, is to consider the most efficient ways to structure the machine and control the machine´s operations. The employees to be part of the machine that is the organization. An efficient employee would maximize organizational performance. Therefore managementwould need to consider how employees can do a job most productively.

The communications responsibilities for classical managers involved explaining the tasks to these human parts of the machine, and articulating the policies that governed the work of the machine.

One plank in the philosophy is that employees were essentially lazy and left without precise direction, would underperform.

Reason 1 - employees migth observe a slower worker recieving the same compensation and decide not to exert effort because there was no monetary motivation to do so.

Reason 2 – hourly compensation was based on the assumption that it took a certain period of time to complete the particluar task. If good employees could demonstrate that it could take less time, then the emloyers might reduce the rate. Tests could determine the most efficient way to complete a work-related task. Employees need to be aware of their tasks. Management needed to know the best way to do these tasks. Management would have to articulate the best way to do the job and the rules that governed their work.

In order toestablish authority, maintain discipline and create espirit de corps, management must effectively communicate with workforce.

Cocept: Scalar chain and the gangplank - refers to this hierarchy – centtralized authority.

Interdepartmental communication – each department should work in harmony with the rest and divisions must be precisly informed as to the share they must také. The appropriate communication channels must link the departments.

Written vs. Oral communication

Most classical theorists favored written communication as opposed to oral face to face interactions. Written messages could serve as records, and in this way establish authority and facilitate organizational control.

Nonverbal communication

An effective manager is obliged to get most from all subordinates toward the objectivnes of the organization. The spoken or written word can convey certain informationb. The nonverbally communicated messages present in modeling behavior can coplement or undermine these other verbalized messages.

Organizational assessment

An audit is essentially an assessment that provides picture of the communication quality in the organization, with periodic audits of the organization.

Money and motivation

A significant feature of classical theory is the assumption that employees are motivated strictly by money. Clasical theory belive that people come to work primarily because they must. I tis important to state that clasical theory consider money and other financial remuneration the primary, factor that motivates employees to work. The management needs to inform employees about what they must do and how they must do it. Employees needed to know about financial incentives so that they might work hard to obtain remuneration. Nearly all communication in classical organization is directed downward, from superior to subordinate. ( Do you see any merit in classical theory?)

Human relations theory.

The findings of the studies provided a new way to think about management which was called human relations theory. The studies argued that under right conditions work could be enjoyable and that employees were motivated by observation and recognition.

Therefore in order to motivate employees, managers need to communicate not only information about job tasks and policies, but also information that recognizes worker´s accomplishments, respect their sencitivitiesand essentially, acknowledges that they are feeling animate entities.

Human resources theory.

Raymond Miles suggested that a new conceptualization of the employee as a resource who could, should, and desired to be productive would be more valuble. Human resourse theory would argue that not only employees need to be recognized for what they do, but management must recognize that employees can contribute in the ways that are untapped.


•Employees feel useful and important, because this sense of participation will act as lubricant that will get employees to do what management wants them to do.

•Managers consider employees capable of making meaningful contributions. Management has the responsibility to create communication channels and cultivate a climate that will facilitate employee participation.


•Managers wish their supervisors practiced human resources theory, but actually manage human relations approaches. Most managers actually doubt that their emploxees can make meaningful contributions while considering themselves as capable as their supervisors.

•Therefore the human resources model may have merit if the managers acknowledge that their subordinates are as capable as the managers themselves. The management need to believe that employees can be a resource.

Theory X and theory Y

Theory X tenets are similar to classical theory principals. Specifically a theory X manager would assume that employees do not want to work and only seek employment for the financial benefits that work provides.

A theory X manager would assume that employees would certainly not naturally seek out resposibility. If you are supporter of theory X you would think:

Theory X

•Students who are not compelled to attend class would stay away.•Construction workers who were not supervised would be less than diligent regarding meeting code specifications for safety.•Office workeres who were not threatened with financial punishment for coming in late would regularly tardy.•Salespeople who are not on commission would sell less aggressively and successfully than those who were on commission.

Theory Y

Advocates of theory Y would argue that under the right circumstances work could be enjoyable and even desirable. Proponents of theory Y assume that employees naturally seek out work and are motivated not only by money, but by recognition and job satisfaction. If you are suporter of theory Y you would believe that:

•If a class was interesting and challenging students would come to class even if they were not required to do so.•Unsupervised construction workers would still be diligent because people také pride in doing work well.

Theory Y

•Office workers would be punctual rgardless of penalties because they would want to be perceived as resposible and professional.•Salespeople will work diligently regardless of whether they would get paid per sale because selling is what thjey do and they would want excel at their work for personal fulfillment.

Which theory do you think is correct?

Problems with theory Y

Let´s consider some of the reasons why human relations, human resources and theory Y approaches might not work. There are some related reasons.

1.Problem with human relations and human resources theory is that they are too short sighted to be sound. They make an assumption about workers that could not be universally true. The assumption that people under the right circumstances enjoy work as much as play might be true for the majority of us, but there are still many individuals who are delighted by a life of absolute leisure.

Problems with theory Y

2.A reason why the human resources theory is flawed is related to the first. It may be true that under

the right conditions people will enjoy work as much as play. Many of us are likely not to be working under right conditions.

A principal of human resources theory is that employees are motivated by recognition and acknowledgement. In order for the theory to work, then management needs to be effective at communicating recognition. Consider some likely factors that could interfere with successful communication of recognition.

Credibility – if all employees receive the same message of recognition i tis likely to assume that the message will loose credibility.

Skill level - some people have difficulty orally expressing praise and criticism.

Choice of channel – if an employer posts a bulletin thanking employees, or sends an e-mail, it may have less of an impact than a visit to that staff member´s office and a face-to-face conversation.

Selecting an inappropriate channel for communicating can affect the value of the message. Theory Y has meaningful components.

To be successful, management has to understand that many individuals desire to do something meaningful with their hours at work. In many companies, only marginal managerial attention is focused on the problems of employee capibility and motivation.

System theory

According to systems theory, an organization is a composite of interdependant units that must work cooperatively in order to effectively survive.

The theory holds that organizations should be viewed as open systems. This means that an organization cannot live nor thrive without interacting with both its internal and external enviroment.

These interdependant units must communicate with each other in order for the organization to be effective and thrive. In addition for the organization to succed, it mustinteract effectively with external audiences.

Systems theory does not disregard principles of classical or human relations theory. In systems theory questions of job duty, chain of command, span of control, and decision making, classical principels are equal in importance to questions of attitude, morale behavior, role and personality, human relations concerns.

The relationship between systems theory and organizational communication is obvious., in belive in systems theory, interdepartmental communication bocomes a prerequisite for survival.

The language of systems theory.

Open and closed systems – in open systém in which material continually enteres from and leaves onto the outside enviroment. A closed organizational systém is separated from the outside enviroment, would eventually be unable to sustain itself.

Hierarchical ordering – any organization can be cosidered a systém that functions within a suprasystem and is dependant on the quality of its subsystem.


Relevant environment – relevant environment is that part of the external environment that is relevant to the system.

Permeability – input/output in order for systém to operate efficiently the boundries of each unit within systém should be permable. That is information must be able to get from one subsytem to other and from relevant environment to the focal systém. The word permeable typically referes to substance that can be penetrated.


Entropy and negative entropy – a closed systém will eventually become disabled because of the disorder that results from not interacting with its relevant environment and its related subsytems. That state of disorder is refered to as entropy. Negative entropy that results from interactions with the environment, is systém that hold organizations cannot function without permable boundries.

Requisite variety – this principle of systém asserts that the complexity of the relevant environment has to be met with similar requisite complexity by the systém.


Homeostasis – an organization must achive balance by responding to the communicated input that enters the systém through permeable boundries. This balance or state of homeostasis is necessary in order for the organization to survive.

Equifinality – the principle of equifinality is in direct contrast to the classical theory, that there i sone way to the job. Equifinality suggests that there are multiple methods that can result in the same outcome. The final result may be equal despite diverse methods that were used to arrive at the same results.

Cultural theory

Cultural theory as applied to organization referes to the perspective that there is a phenomenon that can be called organizational culture and that this phenomenon is a factor affecting organizational life and success. This perspective is relevant to organizational communication study because cultural theory assert that communication is central to evolution of organizational culture.

Critical theory

Critical theory deals with the abuse of power. It derives its name because the theory advocates relentles criticism of all those institutions that abuse power and consequently oppres others.

Critical theory consider organizations as site domination and cosider communication within organization as ideological and power laden, not as a nutral medium for transmitting information.

Critical theory

The management can:

•Privilege certain organizational players input and ignore others.•Control access to technology and stipulate the rules that govern the use of websites and individual expression on the website.•Determine the communicative processes that are employed for decision making.•Prescribe the chain of command, thereby legislating who should talk to whom.•Use language as sematic kryptonite that debilitates employees.

Critical theory appears to divide the organization into three discrete groups:

The oppresors, the oppresed and the enlightened. In fact most of us, if we were willing to do some introspection, might see that we have often both been oppresed and oppresors, and we have certain roles which compelled us to behave in ways that others consider oppresive.

People do abuse power in organization and that abuse is facilitated by communication practices. The abuse of power can affect employee morale and organizational success.

Crisis communication

Organizations that are exceptionally profitable and well managed can encounter sudden problems that may rock their entreprise.

When crisis occur, organization are compelled to communicate to various audiences. The quality of these communications is crucial for the success of the organization.

Effective communication during this times can transform potential disasteres into positive situation for the company.

What is crisis communication?

Crisis communication involves identifying internal and external recievers who must recieve information during times of crisis.

What is a crisis?

L.Barton defines a crisis as a major, unpredictable event. that has potentially negative results. The event. and its aftermath may significantly damage an organization and its employees, products, services, financial condition, and reputation.

Communicators concieve, create and disseminate messages to these internal and external recievers, and are ready to recieve and respond to feedback from these audiences.

Crisis management involves communication, but is not only about communicating.

Crisis communication is a very real problem for contempory organization. Not reacting to a crisis can result in the generation of employee rumors, plummeting stock values, a lack of employee confidence, and reduction in consumer trust.

Crisis communication planning.

Proactive planning referes to preparetion before the fact. Proactive planning is sometimes done in anticipation or in preparation for the phenomenon.

Steps to crisis planning

•Secure commitment fro top management to be open and honest during crises•Establish crisis communication team•Braistorm regarding crises•Identify stakeholders and prepare appropriate messages•Choose methods for communicating messages•Sequence messages

Steps to crisis planning

•Identify spokespersons and establish a communicating center•Record the plan•Simulate and coach•Update periodically

Recommendations for crisis communicators

•Respond quickly•Use your plan•Be accessible•Remember your internal stakeholders•Avoid silence and „no comments“•Be truthful

Crisis communication is an important element of effective organizational communication.

There is a cliche that suggests that the only thing one can be sure of are „deth and taxes“.

An organization might be wise to add crisis to the list of inevitable eventualities.

management theory and organizational communication l 3

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