How can we increase the effectiveness of communication?

An effective communication is said to have take place when the information to be communicated from source to destination reaches correctly and the message is convey in the exact way the sender desired. If this does not happen the communication is ineffective or defunct. Ineffective communication can have serious implications. While effective communication helps a great deal in the achievement of organizational goals, ineffective communication fails to do so. Hence it become necessary that proper guidelines are devised to guide effective communication. There are certain guides that help in effective communication. These are :

(i) Clarity : By clarity we mean any thing that is clear that can be seen or heard easily. Similarly clear directions can be followed with least trouble. If a message has not been understood clearly it can result in confusion, misunderstanding and ambiguity. But such a thing never happens if the message has been communicated clearly. Hence the message should be clear and in simple language which can be understood by any person with average knowledge.

(ii) Consistency: The information communicated should be consistent and there should be no contradiction in it. For example if a supervisor has been directed to manufacture thread of 10 lbs strength and he says to manufacture threads of one and half lbs. Capacity, such kind of order would be inconsistent. The message communicated would be ineffective, because the employees will fail to have clear instruction to a specific kind of job.

(iii) Adequacy: The information communicated should be adequate neither too less nor too much. It will be difficult to understand if it is too short and will become confusing if too much detail is given. Hence adequacy should be ensured if we want the communication to be effective.

(iv) Timing: Timing is an important factor that increases the effectiveness of communication. Any information communicated at an odd hour will have less effectiveness. In the same manner the information communicated should be up to date. The communication would become ineffective if out of date information is provided in it.

(v) Distribution: There are different levels of authority in any organization. The orders should move in their proper directions so that they reach the desired destination and do not bypass any layer of authority. Any such by passing could affect the efficiency of the communication and could also result in work spoilage, disturbance and indiscipline.

(vi) Adaptability and uniformity: The information conveyed in the communication should be adaptable. This means that there should be flexibility of action to meet the requirements of the situation and condition. Similarly there must be uniformity in communication. Uniformity means that a uniform pattern should be followed and there should not be any deviation from the pre determined standards.

(vii) Interest and acceptance: The message communicated must coincide with the interests and acceptance of the person to whom the message is communicated. The message could become ineffective if it has not been accepted or it contains such an order which is contrary to the objective of the communique and he refuses to accept that order.

Thus we see that effective communication goes a long way in the achievement of organizational goals. We can increase the effectiveness of communication by adapting the above mention methods.