The majority of a manager's job involves communicating with the people in his or her organization as well as individuals in other organizations. This interaction can have positive and negative outcomes, such as need satisfaction, social support and conflict. .
As many of you already know, communication is the process of transmitting information. No matter what level of management an individual is in, he or she will use different communication techniques on a daily basis. The two techniques that managers use most often are verbal and written communication. .
Some advantages of verbal communication are it's easy to use and it generates immediate feedback between individuals. Some disadvantages are that it can be difficult to choose the correct words to convey an idea, it leaves little time for the individual to respond and there is no written record of the communication. .
On the other hand, written communication has an advantage because it is usually more precise than verbal communication. Also, written communication can be tracked. A few disadvantages are that it can inhibit feedback between the individuals and it take more time and effort to prepare than verbal communication. .
There are several barriers to the communication process. Some individual barriers are related to personal characteristics and the manager's predisposition to the individual he or she is communicating with. Examples of those predispositions may be age, race, gender or religion. Organizational barriers within the workplace also affect communication. The armed forces is a good example of organizational barriers. As with any corporation, there is a chain of command that employees must follow. However, in the military, that chain of command is very strict and heavily enforced and this can inhibit communication between a supervisor and subordinate. This lack of communication can lead to problems in the workplace, such as decreased motivation and poor quality of work.