EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

A Model of Communication Process and an Explanation of the Respective Roles of Its Key Components



A Model of Communication Process and an Explanation of the Respective Roles of Its Key Components

Introduction

Effective organizational communication, from an HR viewpoint of IBM, focuses on openness in communication between senior management and employees, resulting in improved employee engagement and productivity. In a cross-cultural environment, building and maintaining rapport for business relationships depends on the effective use of language and understanding differing communication styles (Adler & Elmhorst, 2002). These and other aspects are discussed to bring awareness to opportunities to foster better communication at all levels of the organization.

In today's global business environment effective organizational communication--internal and external--has a significant impact on IBM. Reasons for the increasing importance of organizational communication are many, with workplace change front and center. Overall, the world of work has become more complex More than ever before, knowledge, learning and innovation are critical to an organization's sustainability, Further, with employees often being widely distributed geographically, communication technologies and networks arc essential for the accomplishment of a company's strategy.

Therefore, effective organizational communication is critical to actively engage employees, foster trust and respect, and promote productivity' at IBM (Adler & Elmhorst, 2002). In fact, SHRM's 2008 job Satisfaction survey report notes that communication between employees and senior management is among the top five very important aspects of employee job satisfaction. While not inclusive of all possible communication issues, this article focuses on selected key aspects of effective organizational communication from a human resources perspective. This paper discusses a model of communication process and an explanation of the respective roles of its key components in a concise and comprehensive way.

Historical Background of the Organization Selected

Although IBM holds many patents in computer-related technology, it did not invent the computer. IBM did, however, play a significant role in the development of commercial applications for emerging computer technology.

The history of the IBM Corporation can be traced to the year 1890, when a new process to record census information was developed by German immigrant Herman Hollerith (1860-1929). He developed a code that could be punched into holes in cardboard cards to represent data (Simmons and Richard, 2000). These holes could then be sensed electrically by his punched card tabulating machine to sort or total the data represented by the punched cards. Hollerith's code was adopted by the U.S. Census Bureau and was still widely used into the 1960s. In 1896 Hollerith created the Tabulating Machine Company to market his product.

Hollerith's company merged with the Computing Scale Company of America and the International Time Recording Company in 1911 to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company or C-T-R. In addition to Hollerith's tabulating machine, the new company also made time clocks, meat and cheese slicers, and a unique new calculating scale. This paper discusses the effective organizational communications within the context of the this organization (Pugh, 1995).

Business Case

Organizational communication encompasses many aspects at IBM. It spans a wide range, from formal and informal internal communication practices to externally directed communications ...