BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION (part B)
STATUS
by
Charles Lamson
 |
Status can be a deterrent to effective interpersonal communication, between managers and employees. Status is defined as one's position in a group or. organization. Status differential is the distance between one person's status and another person's status. Significant, status differential might exist between a supervisor and a subordinate. The higher one's status in an organization, the less likely he or she is to have effective interpersonal relationships with people a few steps removed. The people who have higher status, generally receive more communication from others. For example, the president of a college receives more communication than the typical professor, secretary, or student. The president gets messages from external sources, as well as internal sources, and the messages come from all directions. The typical employee gets messages from one or two major sources, They often have to limit their interpersonal contacts to those who have a direct impact on them, or those who are of equal or higher status. Many high status persons delegate their communication responsibilities to other persons, such as secretaries, junior employees, and assistants. This does not mean that higher status persons forget or neglect their employees; it simply means there is less time to spend with them, and others have to handle some of the communication.
Communication between higher status and lower status persons tend to be limited, and the higher status person has control over the communication. In addition, most subordinates with any common sense, know they should communicate with a higher status person only when necessary, and should always try to make the communication positive. After all, no subordinate wants a supervisor to think negative things about him or her. In conclusion, status can be a barrier, but not always a permanent barrier.
COMMUNICATION OVERLOAD
Barbara Jones is hard at work. The phone rings, and it is the public relations office, asking if she has time to see a client. She says, "I suppose. Send him up." She glances at the pile of morning mail that is still in its box, and the number of phone messages her secretary had given her from the previous day. She remembers she needs to contact the daycare center about her child, who had a slight fever when she dropped her off that morning. She quickly realizes there will be no lunch break for the day, and will probably have to take work home, or come in early for several days.
This is a somewhat typical start for the day for many employees across the country. Whether we like it or not, the majority of us have to deal with communication overload on a regular basis. Communication overload is when there is more communication (or information) coming into a unit, or system, than the system can cope with or handle effectively. It seems many of us (supervisors and and subordinates alike) are prone to communication overload. It can greatly interfere with communication, and make our communication with others less effective.
Overload occurs when there is too much communication coming from too many directions, when we are being bombarded with communication. This is one of the primary reasons many managers have learned to limit their interpersonal contacts to those people who are necessary for them to function. An individual can only handle so much communication effectively. When individuals become overloaded, they do not function well. The problem is similar to overload of electronic communications systems. For instance, phone lines can effectively handle only a certain number of calls on special holidays (for example, Christmas). The phone lines often are bombarded with so many calls, they get more than they can handle, and the system ceases to function appropriately. People are the same way, when overload becomes too great and unmanageable. Both managers and employees have devised several ways for coping with management, or handling overload. Some of these ways are not effective, but they help control the situation. In the next article, we will discuss ways people try to handle overload. To be continued...
*SOURCE: ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION FOR SURVIVAL THIRD EDITION*
END
|
No comments:
Post a Comment