Explain the media of the communication?

Communication plays an important role in the management of organizations and the achievement of their goals. A manager passes information to employees working at different levels orally and in writing also. He receives the replies in the same manner.

The different media of communication used in an organization are :
(i) Oral Communication
(ii) Written Communication
(iii) Visual Communication
(iv) Non-Verbal Communication.

What ever be the media of communication it should maintain the clarity of facts, opinion and information. It should presented in a decent manner with proper wording and timing. The information must be clear without any confusion and ambiguity. The communication of information must be well worded, properly timed and transmitted in decent manner. It is also necessary that the message must be consistent i.e. the action must coincide with saying. It the supervisor makes a lot of promises, but not fulfill them in such a case it would be called that consistency does not exit. Feedback of information is necessary to adjust the action to desired objective.

Oral communication:
In most of the cases oral communication is more effective than any other method of communication. Managers, supervisors and executives use oral communication with their subordinates. As it is more informal in nature it is like by the employees. But oral communication can not be used in some cases; like for legal purposes and for maintaining records.

Different forms of oral communication are discussed below:
(i) Talking: Talking is the most common form of communication. It is the easiest, quickest and the most economical way of communication. A person can talk to another person or to a large number of a person. Talking is very helpful in situations like when a supervisor is talking to the employees while resolving a dispute. Such disputes can be solved through oral or verbal communication only and written communication can not provide speedy solution to such disputes.

(ii) Interview: An interview is also a form of oral communication. It serves three purposes. (i) to obtain information (ii) to provide information and (iii) to motivate people. Interviews provide and appraisal of the training, educational qualifications, working experience and personality of the interviewee. It helps in checking the responsiveness, alertness, presence of mind and manners and poise of the persons being interview.

(iii) Tours: Business organization commonly send their representatives like salesmen, advertising agents, market surveyors and research personnel to get quick information. During these tours the representatives discuss the matter, provide information and also collect information for the organization. The dealers may ask several questions or certain matters regarding their commission on sales or the acceptability of the products of the company are also discussed during these tours.

There are some other forms of oral communication: These are group discussion, seminars and telephone.
Group discussion: A group of trainees is assigned a problem much in advance together with necessary reference of books to be consulted. The group prepares a paper for discussion. The leader of the groups discussion the problem and the rest of the trainees can contribute come ideas during the course of discussion which is controlled by the leader of the class. Group discussion is possible along persons of equal status. In that case the chairman of the group shall act as group leader. Most of the time the attitude of the leader is passive and most of the discussion is made by group members.

Seminars: Oral discussions are a main part of seminars also. The seminars are used to collect information to deal with a problem. Usually the research scholars are informed in advance about the research methodology. The familiarity with the proper methodology of research helps in dealing with the problem in hand quickly and accurately. The names of the participants and their assignments are announced well in advance.

Telephone: Telephone is the quickest and easiest method of conveying information to persons within the organization and outside also. The organization has to pay to the service provider for the use of external telephone service.

Other than these oral communication can also take place through a public address system, radio telephone, speaker tubes, tele-printer and messengers.

Written Communication:
In a business organization written communication is sent to following persons, organizations or agencies. These could be the employees, consumers, management, labor, suppliers, distributors or the stock holders of the company. Written communication is also sent to government departments, bankers, insurance companies and security agencies. The different forms of written communication are:-
(i) Reports: Reports are prepared to show the working results of the organization, department, factory, plant or any other institution. These are also prepared to show the result of an enquiry. Many institutions like banks, insurance companies, educational institutions and other business enterprises prepare annual reports which show their achievements in the past year an also the obstacles, the impact of economic conditions, working results and the plans for the future. Some reports are of confidential nature also. A report must be based on facts and cover a specific period of time. It must serve an objective and suggests the future course of action.

(ii) Business Letters: The business letters are also an important form of written communication. A business letter should be written in a formal way and in simple language without any scope for confusion. It should be polite and courteous but should also convey and idea impressively. Usually business letters are written on printed paper containing the name and address of the company along with the date and reference number. As business letters can be used for legal purposes also, these should be written with grate care.

(iii) News letters: Business houses often use business letters to inform their customers about new products, change in channel of distribution, enhancement of commission for distributors, improvement in the quality of the produce, reduction in price, improvement in packaging, increase in weight and a new use of their product etc. News letters are used for promotional activity. They must be lucid, impressive, forceful simple convincing and precise.

(iv) Advertisements : Advertisements are meant to inform the people, of company products and service ; The more a company carries on advertising campaign, the more it succeeds in increasing its sales Advertisements are made in newspapers, magazines, periodicals, evening issues, radio commercials, T.V. programmes, cinema slides and sales demonstrations. All advertisements must be appealing, attractive, convincing and should succeed in achieving the objectives of the company i.e., increase in sales. Advertising is not a waste of money but it helps both the company as well as the customers. By advertising the sales of the products and services of the company increase, providing the company with economies of large scale production consequently the profits increase, cost of production falls down and the company enjoys ability to complete.

(v) Manuals : Job manuals are a form of written communication and help in defining duties and responsibilities of the employees. All big companies have job manuals. In the absence, they follow standard job manuals. The specific duties of an executives or high officials of the company can be ascertained, through job manual. A job manual denotes exactly what are the powers and duties of the person. How many people would work under him? What would be the reporting relations and who would be responsible to whom ? Job manuals also mention the levels of structure of wage and salaries.

(vi) Signs : Signs are also used to communicate information. If a van with ‘+’ sign in red colour passes on the road it indicates that it belongs to hospital or Red Cross. A signal over the railway track also indicates the arrival or non-arrival of the train. If the signal is down passengers shall get ready and wait anxiously for the arrival of the train.

(vii) Annual Reports:Usually all the companies publish their annual reports for the consumption of their shareholders, employees, public and government agencies. These reports consist of working results, information about public liking and admiration of company products and services. Annual reports also mention the economic problems faced by the company and efforts of the directions to solve them. What company’s plans are for future action?

(i) Bulletins :
Some companies publish their bulletins informing people about the products and services provided by the company, the standard of workmanship and technical know-how, place of the company in reaction to share of the market, future plans and efforts of the company to fulfill its obligations towards social responsibility. Universities also publish bulletins mentioning their educational progrmames, areas of specialization, names of degrees, diplomas, tuition fee for each programme, other charges, hostel facilities provided, scholarships and fellow-ships offered and mode of admissions.

(ii) Charts, Graphs and Diagrams
Charts, graphs and diagrams are also used for written communication. Doctors use graphs to indicate the changing temperatures of the patient in morning, noon and evening. Statisticians use graphs to show the results over a period of few years like India’s exports and imports as compared to those of last year. Banks use charts for public consumption and to invite more bank deposits. Banks provide charts showing the amount invested, duration covered and the amount of interest to be earned etc.

Memoranda:
Memoranda are of a great use to the executives. These are sent to the concern executives so that they are well informed and their decisions may be appropriate under the circumstances. The memoranda also called memo could contain information concerning the industry or the industrial enterprise, employees, laour productivity, cost of production and such other matters. Other than the technical information the memo’s could also contain information about the employees. This could be regarding a fring benefit or a revision in wages or any other matter concerning the employees. The memos supply upto date information to the executives and also make them aware of the on going trends in the business. This is a low cost of method of keeping the executives well informed.