The high frequency of communication

Just how much communicating a business organization needs depends on a number of

factors. The nature of the business certainly is one. Some have much greater need to

communicate than do others. The organization plan of the company also affects the

volume of communication, for much of the information flow is provided by the structure.

Also, the people who make up the organization affect the volume of communication. As

we shall point out later, every human being is different. Each has different

communication needs and abilities. Thus, varying combinations of people will produce

varying needs for communication.

Although the communication needs vary by company, people in organizations

communicate more than most of us suspect. According to one generally accepted

estimate, between 40 and 60 per cent of the work time spent in a typical manufacturing

plant involves some phase of communication. Of cours, these percentages are only

averages. Some employees spend much more of their time communicating. In fact, the

higher up the organization structure the employee is, the more communicating he or she

is likely to do. Typically, top executives spend from 75 to 95 per cent of their time

communicating. Unskilled labourers, on the other hand, need to communicate little to do

their work.

Without question, communication is imp0l1ant to the business organization. Because it

is important, it stands to reason that business wants its communication to be well done.

These problems are not so pronounced with radio

These problems are not so pronounced with radio

because of the absence of visual images which can have a dominating effect on

television programmes. In faimess it should be said that the problems of providing

balanced and sensitive TV coverage are immense. The awareness of this and of British

achievements in this area has led the TV critic Milton Shulman to desclibe British TV as

‘the least worst in the world’. Readers can judge for themselves the extent to which the

media have taken note of the cliticisms made

in the Annan report in particular. The topic has been stressed because of the increasing

importance of television as 4 medium for communication, particularly in view of the

increasing availability of video-cassettes. The point that needs stressing above’ all

others is that one needs actively to evaluate the information with which one is presented

when the easiest course of action may be passively to accept itIf you are like most of us,

you spend more time communicating than doing anything else. Probably you spend a

large part of each day talking and listening. And when you are not talking or listening you

are likely to be communicating in other ways-reading, WIiting, gesturing, drawing. Or

perhaps you are just taking a infonnation by being, or feeling, or smelling. All of these

activities are forms of communication; and certainly you do them throughout most of your

conscious moments.

University Media Study Group in their monitoring of news bulletins

The Glasgow

University Media Study Group in their monitoring of news bulletins has been particularly

critical of news reporting. In their analysis of news bulletins in January 1975 they found

that the five industrial disputes in vehicle building, accounting for 21 per cent of the days

lost through strikes in the month, received 125 out of a total of 130 news rep0l1s of

strikes in the UK. They also established that in 22 news reports of the Glasgow dustcart

drivers’ unofficial strike in

the same year, the unofficial snikers were not represented in any of the 21 interviews

shown on, the national news during the 13 weeks of the dispute. One mayor may not

have had sympathy for the unofficial snikers, but viewers were not likely to be able to

make that judgment for themselves if one side of the case was not presented.

The criticisms of television coverage of news and CUlTent affairs reponing received

some endorsement in the Annan report on the future of broadcasting published in 1977.

Comment was made about the variability of current affairs presentation and for the need

for improvement in news Television News bulletins. This included the

observation that ‘Both BBC Television News and ITN, but particularly the former, could

be improved. News is

presented in too stereotyped a fashion; there is too little vaIiety, too little punch and there

are too few attempts to give brief explanatory comments. Whilst the Annan rep011 did

not endorse all the criticisms made of television reporting, they did point out a large

number of other weaknesses in some areas. These included the lack of understanding

of industrial life by some producers, the preference by others for presenting cunent

affairs in the style of a boxing promoter, the dangers of social insularity of television

producers, and camera bias.

Television as a source of information and its evaluation

The need to eVMuate carefully the accuracy and quality of information is not confined to

data that is generated within an organisation. All organisations collect much of their

information from external sources which are also subject to distortion. Television is an

increasingly important sow.ce of information for managers and it is appropriate to

comment about the problems of distortion which are now becoming apparent in this

area. One have become particularly aware of this in teaching industrial relations, and

refer to some of the problems of reponing in this area in order to make the general point

about the need to evaluate television carefully as an information source.

Industrial relations is an area that has been seized upon by the media generally, and

television in particular, for extensive coverage. People’s views and knowledge about the

subject can be as much influenced by media sources as anything else. This presents

difficulties, as increasingly evidence is emerging to suggest that the profile of industrial

relations presented by television in particular is not very representative. The obstacles to

balanced rep0l1ing are considerable and to a large extent stem from the conflict

between the obligation of television producers to present fair programmes and the

pressures on

them to catch the attention of audiences and attain high viewing figures

A person once explained to a friend that he was sony that

A person once explained to a friend that he was sony that

he had written him. a long letter. This was because he had not had time to write a short

one. The point is that it may require considerable eff0l1 and concentration to write ina

clear and simple manner. It also involves the writer being prepared to state what he

really means instead of concealing his real thoughts, or lack of real thoughts, behind a

smokescreen of words. Unfortunately people can easily be taken in by verbose or

complex explanations, believing that their failure to understand is because of their own

limitations rather than those of the writer. It may often be a more appropriate and

accurate assumption that, if a person hasn’t explained something clearly, the fault is with

their thinking rather than with the reader’s comprehension.

Sometimes matters have to be expressed in a precise technical way. and the use of a

particular language is unavoidable. This can be the case with legal documents where the

only way of achieving the necessary clarity is to use precise legal expressions. However,

even when technical language is used, there are differences between good and bad

expression. Whether technical language is used or not, there would seem to be no virtue

in explaining matters in a more complicated way than is necessary.

Written communication

The emphasis in the chapter so far has been on oral and visual communication. ut

much communication is written, and some consideration of the special features of

written communication is necessary. The main point that needs stressing is that wlitten

communication is one-way and the recipient, or recipients, have, for the time being at

least, to rely on the writer’s accuracy of expression. The rectangles experiment,

described earlier in the chapter, indicated some of the problems with one-way

communication. The type of language chosen may not be

convenient to the reader, and enol’S, ambiguities and complicated explanations cannot

be questioned until later, if at all. This means that the writer needs to give considerable

thought as to how best to express himself. An explanation that seems clear to him may

be far from clear to a reader.

Body language

The expressions, gestures and other body language that people may use, without

necessarily realising it, can be important cues as to what they really think.

Communication is not just imparting information: if often involves, or needs to involve,

understanding people’s attitudes and feelings which are not always clearly

expressed in words. In some cases people may even feel obliged to say the opposite of

what they really think. It is not uncommon, for example, for a person to say ‘how

interesting’ but in a tone of voice which indicates that they are in fact bored. An adage

which makes the point that people sometimes accidentally misrepresent themselves is

‘listen to what I mean not what I say’. As words can be an inadequate, or even a

misleading, guide as to what people really think, it can be important to look for other

cues as to people’s thoughts. A catalogue could be prepared of what particular physical

cues could mean¬fidgeting, that a person has other things on his mind; a glazed

expression, that a person doesn’t understand, and so on.