Clear communication is the engine of an organization’s performance. Communication has an impact on employees’ engagement, customers’ satisfaction, and overall public perception concerning a company. The inability to detect the dangers of poor communication within an organization can result in an organization's underperformance. The project aims to use a communication audit tool tosses the challenges within the company that poses threats when receiving information from others, and the strategies a human resource manager can put into place to fight the challenges.
It was a qualitative survey that aimed at assessing the flow of information to others within a company, and how best such challenges can be addressed or minimized within the organization. The setting is a reputable company with a total of one thousand employees. The recruitment criteria included an age limit of eighteen years and above, both genders and an employee of that organization. The target participants were fifteen. As a result, cluster and random sampling were used to come up with the target population number. Through cluster sampling, the firm flagged a total of four departments.
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A cluster sampling further provided six employees from each of the four departments. Random sampling was done among the twenty available participants to come up with fifteen participants. There were ten female and five male participants. The facilitators issued survey samples with numerous questions targeting the flow of communication within the organization to the participants. Each of the participants had a time limit of an hour to complete the survey. Before the data collection, the research facilitators briefed the participants about the objective of the project. Further, they were informed on their rights to participate and to withdraw from the research. The research facilitators completed a total of fifteen surveys. As a result, the survey return rate was a hundred percent. Content data analysis, as well as the narrative analysis, was put into use to analyze data findings.
There were different findings from the communication audit. First, the workers majorly used three types of communication within the organization. Verbal communication is the most used, followed by electronic communication, and then written communication. The pie chart below is a representation of types of communication used in the organization as per the communication audit report.
From the communication audit report, there were different communication challenges pinpointed by various participants. Further, it is also evident that the challenges vary in magnitude depending on the number of votes per challenge. The table below is a representation of the challenges and their magnitude as represented by the number of participants that votes per challenge.
| Type of challenge | Number of Male participants’ who responded yes | Number of Female participants’ Responded yes | Total Number of Yes Response |
| Device Chaos | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Language Barriers | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Lack of respect | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Overall lack of communication | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Lack of feedback | 5 | 9 | 14 |
From the table, it is evident that the lack of feedback is the primary communication problem in the company. From the table, a total of nine female participants and all male participants claimed that they are less satisfied with the manner at which the organization handles the flow of feedback from one department to next.
Feedback in an Organization
Feedback is a critical communication element that justifies the result of the communication process. Feedback is essential for both employees and employers. First, it is a motivational tool for both parties. Generally, employees feel the sense of enthusiasms when employers appreciate their effort by giving them positive feedback as asserted by Myer et al., (2018). It is also an indicator that serious work is on the process and thus acts as an important motivator. Further, feedback is an indicator of an area that needs improvements. Through feedback, an employee recognizes their mistakes and avoids them during a similar work.
Moreover, feedback helps them understand the areas which require improvements and strategies that can help to improve such areas. Other than that, LeClair-Smith et al., (2016) assert that feedback enhances performance . When an employee and an employee understood the mistakes and gave out feedback on areas that need adjustments, improvement in performance will become irresistible. As a result, the overall performance will be high. Finally, feedback elevates engagement within the company. It brings people together during a discussion and thus, enhances the sense of togetherness which brings a positive feeling within the company.
Recommendations on Improving Feedback in an Organization
Having understood the value of feedback in a company, here are some of the recommendable practices for human resource personnel to improve feedback in an organization. The first recommendable practice is creating and enhancing a culture of feedback in a company. Culture defines people's behavior within a selective setting. Creating a culture of feedback in an organization means placing feedback at the center of all communication process to the extent that it becomes a norm in an organization ( Serrat, 2017). The next action is to create a culture of discussion mostly when an issue involves a group or teamwork. It creates a situation where employees have a chance of providing their feedback, thoughts, and ideas concerning an issue. Also, feedback should focus on actions and plans rather than an individual. Lastly, providing employees’ training on how to provide feedback is another way of improving feedback in an organization.
From the communication audit report, it is evident that information flow in this company faces different challenges. Though there are various means of communication as documented in the findings, lack of feedback seems to be the major communication challenge in this organization. As a result, there are different recommendable practices discussed in the article that human resource managers can put in place to minimize the threats pose by lack of feedback in the organization.
References
LeClair-Smith, C., Branum, B., Bryant, L., Cornell, B., Martinez, H., Nash, E., & Phillips, L. (2016). Peer-to-Peer feedback: a novel approach to nursing quality, collaboration, and peer review. Journal of Nursing Administration , 46 (6), 321-328.
Myers, S. A., Cranmer, G. A., Goldman, Z. W., Sollitto, M., Gillen, H. G., & Ball, H. (2018). Differences in Information Seeking Among Organizational Peers: Perceptions of Appropriateness, Importance, and Frequency. International Journal of Business Communication , 55 (1), 30-43.
Serrat, O. (2017). Building a learning organization. Knowledge solutions (pp. 57-67). Springer, Singapore.
Appendix: Survey questions
Personal information
Participant’s Identification Number
Department
Gender
Questions
How do you pass information from one employee to another of the same level?
How do you pass information from one employee to another of a different level?
Which means of communication is mostly used while passing information from one person to next in the organization?
What are some of the challenges you experienced that hinders communication between employees in the company?
In your opinion, are you satisfied with the communication strategies put into use by the company? If yes, why and if No why?
What do you recommend the person in charge to address to solve the challenge mentioned?
