DIRECTING –

INTRODUCTION
This lesson on directing sets out to convey three aspects of management which when put
together constitute directing. These include motivation, leadership and communication, a short
review of corporate culture and Japanese management is also included.
Directing is an interesting and challenging managerial function because basically, there is no one
best way to lead, motivate or communicate. Directing is also of critical importance to
management because unless people are motivated, lead and effectively communicated to, not
much in the way of results can be achieved even with very good plans and organization
structures.

MOTIVATION
Understanding
Motivation is a key part of the managers job because through it the manager is able to make
people want to perform activities so that goals can be achieved.
Motivation has been defined as the set of processes that determine behavioural choices. That is
the processes which influence people to behave the way they do. Motivation is therefore
concerned with the reasons for human behaviour, it explains why people behave in a certain
manner.
Motivation is derived from motive which is an inner force that moves a person to behave in a
certain way. Motives may stem from both physiological and psychological needs.
Motivation is greatly affected by the environment in which the employee is operating, and
therefore management of the environmental factors that affect workers is one way to lighten the
function of motivation.

The Motivational Process

Human motivation is a complex process that begins with human needs. (Needs are drives or
forces that initiate behaviour).
When needs become very strong people engage in efforts to fulfil these needs. As a result of such
efforts people experience various levels of need satisfaction. The extent to which people find
their needs satisfied serves to influence the future choices to satisfy the same or similar needs.
The diagram illustrates:

NEEDS

FUTURE
EFFORTS
CHOICES
 LEVELS OF

SATISFACTION

Motivation is further complicated by the fact that it is not exactly clear who is responsible for
employee motivation i.e. whether the manager or the employee himself (is the individual
expected to provide his own motivation or is motivation a function of management?).

Motivation can either be external or internal.

External motivation emanates from management, and employees react either positively or
negatively to what their managers do. Managers must therefore use external motivation that
generates positive responses from employees.

Internal motivation originates from within the individual as he tries to satisfy his various needs.
It may be caused by factors within the individual e.g. personality or factors that are under the
control of management e.g. job context (salaries, policies, working conditions) and job content
(recognition, advancement, status and responsibility).

Theories of Motivation
Motivation theories are divided into two main categories:

i. Content Theories
ii. Process Theories

Content Theories attempt to explain the specific things that actually motivate an individual at
work. They are concerned mainly with identifying people's needs, their relative strengths and the
goals people pursue in order to satisfy these needs.

Included here is as follows

• Maslow hierarchy of needs

Maslow developed the hierarchy of needs theory of motivation based on the idea that human needs can be
arranged in order of importance from the most basic. Once a need is fairly well satisfied it no longer
motivates behaviour and man is then motivated by the next higher level of needs. Maslow divided human
needs into five levels:

(a)Physiological Needs
These are the most basic human needs for sustaining life e.g. food, air, shelter and clothing.
These needs have certain characteristics:
• they are relatively independent of each other
• they can be identified with specific location of the body
• to remain satisfied, they must be met repeatedly within a short time
• unless these needs are satisfied to the degree necessary to sustain life other needs will not motivate
people.

(b)Safety or Security Needs

These needs are expressed as desire for protection against danger, threat or deprivation. The desire may be
economic, physical or for social safety. Employees may for example desire economic security, orderly
working relationships etc.
(c)Social Needs
These include need for belonging, love, acceptance, friendship, association, and need to give and receive love.
Man being a social being will aspire for a place in his own group and will strive to achieve it.
Some managers who fear informal organizations may attempt to direct and control employee relationships in
ways that frustrate their natural grouping and employees may react by being antagonistic, hostile and
uncooperative.
(d)Esteem Needs (EGO)
According to Maslow these needs do not become motivators until the lower level needs have been reasonable
satisfied. These needs are rarely completely satisfied. Once these needs become important to an individual he
will continually seek satisfaction of them. The typical industrial organization offers only limited opportunity
for the satisfaction of these needs at the lower levels of employment. Esteem needs consist of both self
esteem and esteem by others. Self esteem needs include achievement, self confidence, self respect,
competence independence and freedom. Satisfaction of these needs leads to feelings of worth, power,
prestige, status, capability, strength and feelings of being useful and necessary in the world. Frustrating these
needs may lead to feelings of inferiority, weakness and helplessness.
(e)Self Actualization Needs
These needs according to Maslow emerge after all other needs have been satisfied. Self actualization needs
include the realization of one's potentialities, self fulfillment, self development and creativeness.
The form these needs take varies from person to person just as human personalities vary. Self actualization
can be satisfied through any of these ways, athletics, politics, academics, family, religion, hobbies or business.
A creative state is involved since creativity is realizing one's own potential to the fullest degree whatever it
may be. It is a feeling of accomplishment and attainment and being satisfied with one self.

Note
• forever wanting, so all needs are never fully satisfied once the importance of a need diminishes another
need emerges to replace the already satisfied ones.
• The process of need satisfaction is never ending and it serves to continually motivate people to achieve
their needs.
• The needs are interdependent and over lapping since one need does not disappear when another need
emerges.
• Maslow's theory applies only to a typical healthy person. In most rich and developed countries, or
among the rich of society physiological and safety needs may not be motivators but for the poorly paid
low class workers and in poor economies physiological needs are strong motivators—for example in
regions hit by famine and/or epidemics physiological needs may remain the only motivation of
behaviour.
• Maslow's hierarchy theory has general and not specific application. One may deny himself one need so
as to satisfy another much better e.g. a student who denies himself sleep and social interaction in order
to attain higher grades in examinations, or a father may deny himself social needs by working on two
jobs in order to be able to send his children to school.
• Need theory claims that money can satisfy some needs but contends that the worker is motivated
primarily by intrinsic rewards which are provided by the worker himself.
• Maslow's theory is important to managers because it spells out the needs that people have. When
managers know what people need, they can know how to help them satisfy these needs. Knowledge of
each category of needs can help management in making management decisions especially those
regarding employees. The decisions made by management must show concern for people's needs.
Management can for example meet people's esteem needs by providing them with opportunities for
advancement.
It must however be realised that needs even the basic ones like clothing and shelter are elastic—its hard to
identify how much is enough! Research has also shown that even the lowliest employee has needs for esteem
and self-actualization. In practice therefore managers must take a situational or contingency approach to the
application of Maslow's theory. What needs they appeal to will depend on personality, wants, desires and
interests of individuals
• McGregor Theory X and Theory Y

McGregor idenfied two styles of managing:

Theory X = Autocratic Management
Theory Y = Participative Management

Theory X assumes the following:

• The average person dislikes work and will try to avoid it

• Because people dislike work, they must be coerced through threat and punishment if they have to
contribute to organizational objectives
• Above all, people want security, they prefer to be led and avoid responsibility.

Theory Y assumes:

• Work is as normal as play

• Threat of punishment is only one way to make people work
• Committed people are self motivated and self directed
• Under the right conditions the average person will seek and like responsibility
• The ability to think creatively, to innovate and solve problems are widely distributed among people.

McGregor felt that theory X assumptions were used in most industrial organization but were inadequate for
the full utilization of each worker's potential. Theory X advocates for external motivation mainly through
threat or punishment. Theory Y looks at employees as self fulfilling and highly internally motivated. With the
proper environment i.e one which employees can best achieve their own goals by committing themselves to
the organizational goals, employees will exercise a large degree of internal motivation.

The heavy emphasis on internal motivation (Y) implies that all employees will be motivated by self esteem
and self actualization needs while on the job. This is not always so—some people are uncomfortable with too
much freedom.
Managers must remember that each employee is unique and should be understood and treated as such.
Therefore external motivation should be flexible enough to accomodate each unique person in the
organization. People should not be forced to fit into rigid theory or into one manager's view point.

• Alderfer’s ERG theory

Alderder had certain propositions:

1. The less existence needs are satisfied the more they will be desired (like Maslow).
2. The less relatedness needs are satisfied the more existence needs will be desired (disagrees with
Maslow).
3. The less relatedness needs are satisfied the more they will be desired (agrees with Maslow).
4. The less growth needs are satisfied, the more relatedness needs will be desired (unlike Maslow).
By simplifying the class of needs Alderfer is subject to less misunderstanding. The result of Alderfers work
suggest that lower level needs do not need to be satisfied before higher level needs emerge as motivators
(unlike Maslow). His theory however agrees with Maslow in as far as that lower needs decrease in strength as
they become satisfied.

• Herzbergs motivators and hygiene factors

The two factor theory was developed by Fredrick Herzberg from his study of 200 accountants and
engineers. It is also known as the hygiene theory. It is a theory of external motivation because the
manager controls the factors that produce job satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
HE found out that satisfaction was influenced by one set of factors while dissatisfaction was influenced by
another set (hence the two factor theory).
Factors which influenced dissatisfaction he called them dissatisfiers (hygiene or maintenance factors).
These included;
company policy,
administration,
supervision,
working conditions,
salary, status,
job security and
interpersonal relations.
If these factors are present in high quality and quantity, people are simply not dissatisfied and not necessarily
satisfied. So presence of these factors does not motivate in the sense of yielding satisfaction.
When these factors were absent or deficient, people were dissatisfied yet when they were present people
were not necessarily satisfied—instead they were simply not dissatisfied.
Factors which affected satisfaction, he called them satisfiers or motivators.
Included here were;
✓ achievement,

✓ recognition,

✓ responsibility,

✓ growth and advancement.

When these factors fell below an acceptable level, they contributed very little to job dissatisfaction but they
did prevent satisfaction i.e. when they were present employees tended to be satisfied, but when they were
deficient employees were merely not satisfied, but were not necessarily dissatisfied.

If a job does not offer an employee advancement, challenging work, responsibility and recognition he will
not necessarily be dissatisfied with it but neither will he derive any satisfaction from it.
This theory has a clear message for managers in trying to motivate employees, the first step should be to
eliminate dissatisfaction by ensuring that pay, working conditions, company policies are reasonable. But pay
and those other improvements will not lead to motivation, so the next step would be for managers to
enhance motivation by improving factors that cause satisfaction. So managers should ensure there are
opportunities for advancement, achievement, authority, status and recognition. From the theory it can be
concluded that:

(a) The factors that cause job satisfaction are separate and distinct from the factors that cause
job dissatisfaction.
(b) The opposite of job satisfaction is no job satisfaction and not dissatisfaction.
(c) The opposite of job dissatisfaction is no dissatisfaction and not satisfaction.
The applicability of this theory has been questioned and it must be approached with caution and not treated
as a solution to motivational problems.
• McClelland—Need based motivation
He said that human beings have three basic needs (motivational) power, affiliation and achievement.
• Power is shown in strong desire to alter the course of events.
• Affiliation is need for friendship, love and group approval.
• Achievement is shown by desire to succeed not to fail.

He found out that scientists, business men and professionals have above average desire for achievement
motivation. He suggested that a person with high achievement motivation possesses certain characteristics.
• he prefers tasks in which he can take personal responsibility for the outcome.
• he sets moderate goals and takes calculated risks.
• wants precise feedback concerning his successes or failures.

He prefers co-workers who are competent despite his personal feelings about them. McClelland's theory is
important to the study of motivation because he maintains that the achievement motive can be taught. He
indicates that the achievement motive can be acquired through training by teaching a person to think and
behave in terms of the achievement motive.

• Skinner—motivation through positive reinforcement

Skinner said that all behaviour is as a result of stimulus.
In management a motivational stimulus can be anything that results in change of behaviour. It can be positive
such as promotion, pay rise or negative such as threat of demotion. Stimulus that causes positive motivation
are positive reinforcers and Skinner emphasized positive reinforcement. Managers who follow the Skinner
style of management emphasize praise, encouragement and assistance in solving problems at work.

PROCESS THEORIES
Process Theories concern themselves with identification of the dynamic variables that make up
motivation. Mainly process theories focus on how behaviour is initiated, directed and sustained.
They include,

• Vroom model – A contingency view

Vroom looks at effective motivation as a result of three factors:

• The goals that a person wants to achieve
• These might include a higher salary, promotion, job security and more interesting work. Each
individual may have a different arrangement of goals. Vroom lays emphasis on what goals the
employee sees as important.

Relationship Between Productivity And Personal Goal Attainment

• Each person has a perception on how productivity is related to personal goal attainment. If a person
sees high productivity as leading to achievement of personal goals, then high productivity will be
desired. If not, not much value will be attached on productivity by that person. Here it is the
employees perception that counts.

• Extent to which a person can influence his/her own productivity

 • If an individual believes that there is little or nothing he can do to influence his output, then he may
not attempt to do so.

• Production and satisfaction – Porter and Lawler model

Basing their work on the assumption that a relationship existed between satisfaction and productivity, Lawler
and Porter developed their model of managerial motivation. Their model is based on the assumption that
rewards cause satisfaction and that sometimes performance produces rewards. They hypothesized that
satisfaction and performance are linked by rewards. They see good performance leading to rewards which
lead to satisfaction. According to them satisfaction performance leads to rewards which are either intrinsic or
extrinsic. Intrinsic rewards are given to the individual by himself for good performance and they include
feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction of higher level needs. Extrinsic rewards are given by the
organization and include pay, promotions, status, job security etc. and they mainly satisfy lower level needs.
This means that at times extrinsic rewards are not related to performance. To be considered a reward the
individual must value it positively so both the individual worker and the organization are responsible for
motivation. But despite the organization's influence the greater responsibility for motivation lies with the
individual. Therefore his motivation or satisfaction depends on his performance as it is affected by the value
he places on rewards, the probability that effort will result in rewards, his efforts, his abilities, his traits and his
role perception

Motivating Factors
Despite the fact that scholars of management have not agreed fully on what motivates people, there is a
general consensus that the listed factors do cause motivation.

(a) Participation in Planning—when employees are given a choice to plan their own work and contribute to organizational planning, the
plans are more acceptable to them—after all they have taken part in making them.

(b) Challenging Work—when work is not challenging boredom sets in and this is likely to cause
sluggishness and dissatisfaction at the place of work.
(c) Recognition and Status—most people want approval by peers, friends and bosses. Benefits that show status e.g. company car, credit card,
club membership may increase motivation.

Recognition is shown by items distinction e.g. a key to the executive lift, or washroom, carpeted offices,
reserved parking etc.

(d) Authority, Responsibility and Power—some people are motivated greatly by being responsible for the work of others. Many people stay in
organizations with a hope of rising to upper levels. Management should therefore devise plans for advancement and growth.

(e) Independence of Action—being allowed to work without close supervision.

(f) Security—especially financial security achieved mainly through secure and comprehensive labour contracts e.g. that involve medical covers
and insurance.

(g) Advancement—people could become demotivated if the organization has little room for upward mobility.

(h) Personal growth—people want to grow wholesomely both in aspects related to the job like skills and those outside the job like potentials in
such fields as sports.

I Good working conditions

 The environment in which people operate is very important to their importance. Excessively noisy,
congested, dirty or poorly arranged places may demotivate employees.

( j ) Money

A good salary is a basic motivator. In fact for some people money could be the greatest motivational
force. For example for people who are financially hard pressed money remains the biggest motivator.
However, people also look for other things in a job other than money and they may even accept lower
paying jobs that have those other things.

LEADERSHIP

Meaning of Leadership
In simple terms leadership could be described as getting others to follow or getting others to do things
willingly. In management leadership could be seen as the use of authority in decision making.
Leadership could be exercised as an attitude of position, or because of personal knowledge and wisdom, or as
a function of personality. So leadership could be looked at from many perspectives but what is clear is that it
is a relationship through which one person influences the behaviour of others

Leadership Versus Management

The question of whether leadership is synonymous with management has long been debated.
While they are similar in some ways, they are different in more ways.

People can be leaders without being managers, managers without being leaders or both leaders
and managers.

• A manager usually directs others because of formal authority and power.

• A manager is by essence required to perform the four functions of planning, organizing,
directing and controlling.
• leadership is a little of management but not all of it—it involves ability to persuade others to
seek set goals willingly.
• Leadership binds a group together and motivates it towards agreed goals.
• A leader needs only to influence his followers or their behaviour in whatever direction he
chooses.
• Unlike the manager a leader does not rely on any formal authority, because while a manager
can force people to comply by using formal authority a leader has no such power. (. If for
example your friend convinces you to try a new product in the market, he is leading.)

However, people can be both and effective leadership does increase a person's managerial
capabilities.

Need for Leadership

Effective leadership gives direction to the efforts of workers.

• leadership guides organizational efforts towards achievement of organizational goals.

• It has been said that without leadership an organization is a muddle of men and machines.
• Leadership is the ability to persuade others to seek defined goals enthusiastically, and it is the
leader who triggers the power of motivation in people and guides them towards goals.

• Leadership transforms potential into reality.

• Leadership is indispensable if an organization is to be successful.
• workers need to know how they can contribute to organizational goals.

Power and Leadership

The foundation of leadership is power. Leaders have power over their followers and they wield
this power to exert their influence. There are five basic types of power that can be used by
leaders.

i. Legitimate Power
This is based on the perception that the leader has the right to exercise influence because
of his position and roles. It is power created and conveyed by the organization.

ii. Reward Power

The power to grant and withhold various types of rewards. These rewards may include
pay increases, promotion, praise, recognition, etc. The greater and the more important the
reward, the more power a leader has.

iii. Coercive Power

The power to force compliance through psychological, emotional or physical threat. In
industrial organizations coercion may be subtle through oral reprimands, fines, layoffs,
demotion. In military organizations coercion could actually be physical.

iv. Expert Power

Power based on knowledge and expertise. The more knowledge one has and the fewer the
people who are aware of it, the more power he has.

v. Referent Power
Power based on subordinates identification with the leader, it usually distinguishes
leaders from non leaders. The leader exerts influence because of charisma and reputation.
The follower wishes to be like the leader or to be associated with him.

Note:
Most leaders use several different types of power at the same time. However, regardless of the
manager's skills power always has its limits. Generally people can only be influenced up to a
point and willingness to follow usually is limited. Few leaders can maintain a long term support
for their ideas and programs.

Employees usually react to attempts to influence them either by showing commitment,

compliance, or resistance.
Leadership Styles
The method or style of leadership a manager chooses to use greatly influences his effectiveness
as a leader. An appropriate leadership style coupled with a proper external motivational
technique can lead to the achievement of both individual and organizational goals. If the style is
inappropriate goals could suffer and workers may feel resentful, aggressive, insecure and
dissatisfied.

There are three main styles of leadership:

(a) Autocratic Style

All authority and decision making is centered in the leader. He makes all
decisions, exercises total control by use of rewards and punishment. An autocratic
leader requires conformity from his subordinates and always considers his
decision to be superior to those of his subordinates. One advantage of autocratic
leadership is that it allows faster decision making but it can easily cause workers
to experience dissatisfaction, dependence on the leader or passiveness towards
organizational goals.

(b) Democratic or Participative Style

This style of leadership seeks to obtain cooperation of workers in achieving
organizational goals by allowing them to participate in decision-making.
It does not relieve the leader of his decision-making responsibilities or of his
power over subordinates, but it requires that he recognise subordinates as capable
of contributing positively to decision making. Participative decision-making can
lead to improved manager-worker relations, higher morale and job satisfaction,
decreased dependence on the leader and better acceptance of decisions. However,
it also has certain limitations, delayed decision-making, `group think', time
consuming and diluted decisions due to compromising.

(c) Laissez Faire Style (Free Reign)

This style does not depend on the leader to provide external motivation but, the
workers motivate themselves based on their needs, wants and desires. They are
given goals and left on their own to achieve them. The leader assumes the role of
a group member.

This approach increases worker independence and expression and forces him to function as a
member of a group. The main disadvantage is that, without a strong leader the group could lack
direction or control, which may result into frustration in the workers. For laissez faire to work the
subordinates must be competent, reliable and well versed with the goals of the organization.

Personal Qualities of Leaders

i. Ability to inspire others

ii. Ability to understand human behaviour
iii. Similarity with the group
iv. Verbal assertiveness
v. Willingness to communicate honestly
 vi. Dedication to the goals of the organization
vii. Ability to inspire through example
ix. Willingness to take risk
x. Willingness to assume full responsibility for the group
xi. Skill in the art of compromise
xii. Ability to tolerate criticism

Factors Influencing Leadership effectiveness

Identification of situational factors within the work environs and the choice of appropriate
leadership style is the essence of effective leadership.
The following factors influences leader effectiveness in different work situations: -

1. Leader personality and past experiences:- managers value background and experiences
will affect his or her choice of leadership styles. A manager who has had success in
exercising little supervision or values the self-fulfilment needs of subordinates may adopt
an employee-oriented style of leadership. A manger who distrusts subordinates or who
simply likes to manage all work activities may adopt a more authoritarian role.

2. Expectation of superiors:- a superior who favours task oriented leadership may cause a
manager to adopt that style of leadership. A superior who favours an employee-oriented
style on the other hand may encourage the manager to adopt the employee-oriented
leadership.

3. Subordinates characteristics and expectations:- the response of subordinates to managers

will be subordinates characteristics in terms of skills and training influence the mangers
choice of style. Highly capable employee would normally require less directly approach.
The expectation of subordinates is another factor in determining how appropriate a
particular style will be. Subordinates who have employee centred managers in the past
may expect a new manager to have similar style and may react negatively to authoritarian
leadership.
4. Tasks requirements: Jobs that precise instructions are to be followed demand more task
oriented style than jobs whose operating procedures can be left largely to the individual
employees e.g. University teaching.

5. Organisational climate and policy the “personality” or climate of an organisation

influences the expectations and behaviours of organisation members.

In organisations where climate and policies encourage strict accountability for expenses
and results, managers usually supervise and control subordinates tightly.

6. Peer expectation and behaviours: - Ones fellow managers so as not to appear odd. Also
conformance to their expectations is required.
COMMUNICATION
Meaning of Communication
Communication is an integral part of managing because it is only through communication that a
manager can make himself understood by his employees.

Communication is needed to:

(a) Establish and disseminate goals of an enterprise

(b) Develop plans for their achievement
(c) Organize human and non human resources
(d) Select, develop and appraise staff
(e) Control performance
(f) Direct, lead and motivate employees

Communication is a two way process where everyone is both a receiver and sender of
information. Effective communication must involve transfer of meaning from the sender to the
receiver i.e. the information received must be understood by the receiver. If the receiver does not
understand the meaning of the message then communication is not effective.

The Communication Process

The process traces the movement of information from the sender to the receiver. The process has
the following elements.

1. Sender
Any one who wants to communicate something to someone else. The sender has a
thought or idea. The thought or idea must be put into a language understood by the
receiver and the sender (this is called encoding).

2. Message
The information the sender wants to communicate.

3. Channel (vehicle/media)
The link between the sender and the receiver of the message. i.e. the mode of
transmission of the message e.g. letter, telephone or gesture. Choice of the channel is
affected by the following factors.

i. Urgency —when the message is very urgent a telephone call may be the most
appropriate.
ii. Importance — mportant messages are better communicated face to face.
iii. Need for documentation
iv. Delicacy of the message
 v. Costs involvedIf sender is constrained by cost the mass media may be the most
appropriate.
vi. Future reference —Where future reference is required then written messages must
be used.
vii. Noise—Anything whether in the sender, channel or receiver that hinders
communication e.g. a noisy or confined environment may affect thinking by
clogging the mind. Ambiguous symbols and words may distort meaning.

4. Receiver
The person the sender wants to reach with the message. Once the receiver gets the
message he/she must decode it. This is the process by which the receiver interprets the
message and attaches meaning to it. If communication has to be complete (understood)
the receiver and the sender must attach the same meaning to the message.

5. Feedback
The action taken by the message receiver once the message has been conveyed. It is only
through feedback that the sender can know whether the process was successful.

A SIMPLE COMMUNICATION MODEL

NOISE

SENDER MESSAGE CHANNEL RECEIVER

FEEDBACK

Types of Communication
Communication in an organization is either external or internal.
Internal communication takes place between people within the organization while external
communication occurs between people in the organization and others outside the organization.
Today's organizations are complex and big and the amount of information handled is very large.
Therefore a lot of efficiency in communication is required. All organizations generate internal
communication and the communication flow is multidirectional.

It could either be:

 (a) Vertically upward—from lower to higher level through the chain of command.
(b) Vertically downward—from higher to lower levels.
(c) Direct horizontal—when an individual from one department communicates to
another in another department but at the same organizational level.

(d) Indirect horizontal—occurs between people of different organizational levels and

in different departments.
(e) Depending on the nature of the firm zigzagging or diagnosing of messages cannot
be ruled out.

The informal group through the grapevine forms an important communication channel. All
organizations have a "grapevine" or informal communication channel. News flow through the
grapevine with or without the approval of the management. The information that flows through
the grapevine is rarely ever true as it is based on gossip and half truths. Where management has
not devised ways of passing information promptly the "grapevine" thrives. So the more fully and
accurately management keeps people informed, the weaker the grapevine.

The firm also invites communication with groups outside and as the organization grows external
communication grows. These groups include customers, suppliers, government, competitors etc.

Written Communication
Written communication is in form of letters, memos, manuals or minutes. It has the advantage of
providing records and references. Written messages are to a large extent uniform.

However, written communication may:

• increase paperwork
• provide no immediate feedback
• one is never sure the receiver got the written document
• it can be made ineffective by poor writing
• involves danger of using technical jargon not understood by the receiver.

Oral Communication
Most communication in organizations is oral. It provides immediate feedback and unclear issues
can be classified immediately. The communicator knows the effects of communication
immediately. It can easily be altered or adjusted to suit the receiver. Face to face communication
when used by managers gives the subordinates a feeling of importance and self worth.

Non Verbal Communication

Includes facial expression, body gestures, eye movements, distance maintained etc. These can
either reinforce what we say or contradict it. Communicators must know that its actions that
count finally so a manager must be able to supplement what he says with actions.

Barriers to Communication
Communication barriers can arise from either sender, channel, receiver or from the surroundings.

(a) Lack of planning to communicate—good communication is not by chance. Clear thinking

must precede talking or writing. Often people talk or write without clear thinking and
without a clear purpose for their work.
(b) Unclarified assumptions—most messages have an underlying assumption. For a message
to be clearly understood both the sender and the receiver must understand the underlying
assumption.
(c) Semantic distortion (language)—where words are not clearly understood because they are
ambiguous. Besides some words have several meanings and when used in a message they
may mean different things to different people.
(d) Poor expression (language)—caused by poorly chosen words, omissions, lack of
coherence, awkward sentence structure and unfamiliar jargon.
(e) Loss of transmission—as the message is passed around people insert their own words or
they paraphrase the message and this distorts the original message.
(f) Poor retention—few people retain things for a long period. People forget too fast.
(g) Poor listening—human minds keep wandering and as a message is being passed people
keep pondering their own things. Some use the opportunity to make impressions on
others and such people give ideas and comments totally unrelated to the message.
(h) Hasty (premature) evaluation—people have a common tendency to judge, approve or
disapprove what is being said rather than trying to understand the speaker.
(i) Distrust, threat and fear—in an organization plagued by fear and distrust communication
is difficult as each message is viewed sceptically.

(j) Insufficient period for adjustment to change—the essence of communication is to effect

change. Change usually disrupts the way people have been carrying on their work and
usually people need enough time to adjust to change.
(k) Noise—noise or interruptions from without the communication e.g. giving instructions in
a noisy environment, disease, weather etc.

How Can Communication Be Improved?