Internal and external communications. Internal and external communications Establishing and maintaining internal communications

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Characteristics and barriers of intraorganizational communications

Intraorganizational communications should have a number of characteristics:

be clear and precise;
transparent, and the reported information is based on reliable facts;
should appeal to the best interests of the people and help fight the atmosphere of mistrust in the team.

Communication is considered successful if the recipient of information understands its content adequately to the meaning that the sender put into it. The scheme of intraorganizational communications is shown in fig. one.

Rice. 1. Manager as an information and communication center

However, often intra-organizational communications are neglected. This happens for several reasons, among which are the lack of time for managers (important projects, pressing deadlines, meetings, etc.), general overload of business information, and a long, if not centuries old tradition of one-way communication from top to bottom.

Rice. 2. Communication process

Factors that reduce the effectiveness of communication are called communication barriers. There are communication barriers at the macro and micro levels (see Fig. 3).

Rice. 3. Classification of communication channels by bandwidth

In addition to objective reasons, communications are also made difficult by subjective factors. For example, preconceived notions of people who reject new ideas because of their novelty, which at first glance seems doubtful, or because of stereotypes. As a result, the perception of the message is distorted and, as a result, its effectiveness decreases, and the feedback process slows down.

The effectiveness of communications can vary. According to foreign studies, the effectiveness of horizontal communications reaches 90%, vertical - 20-25% (such an amount of information coming from managers reaches employees and is correctly understood by them). In other words, performers are able to realize their functions with only a fifth of the information intended for them.

The insufficient effectiveness of vertical (both ascending and descending) communications is confirmed by the data that the nearest supervisor of workers (foreman), leaving the office of the first head of the enterprise, takes out only 30% of the information, and the shop manager about 40%. Bottom-up communication is even more inefficient, since no more than 10% of the information reaches the authorities. This convincingly indicates that not all possibilities in the organization of communications are used.

It is also important to remember that the success of communication processes is organically linked to the observance of ethical standards on the part of both the recipient and the sender of information. The effectiveness of communications also depends on how the message is constructed. When creating it, it is necessary to follow the following sequence: from attention to interest, from interest to the main provisions, from clarification of details to objections and questions, then to the conclusion and call to action.

Organizational values and employee needs

Analysts of the Russian labor market note: modern workers are not inclined to blindly obey the orders of the management. Professionals today have great independence: without hesitation, they leave the company if something does not suit them. For them, personal needs are very important. Ultimately, it depends only on them how much effort employees make in the performance of a particular job. They want to be sure that employers care about them. Unfortunately, this is not taken into account by some leaders. Attempts by management to cope with corporate problems with small funds, the introduction of performance-based pay, the development of a more effective goal, periodic team trainings do not always give the desired effect. People often lack a simple, human attitude.

But it is one thing to recognize that people need such an attitude towards them, and quite another to bring the idea to life. To do this, you need to have not only a formulated goal, but also clearly expressed principles, corporate values. By naming them, the company's management demonstrates to its employees exactly how it intends to win the trust of the staff.

The development of values should be carried out by the employees themselves, and not by a group of managers or an involved agency. If the company is not ready to implement all of the above and link its actions with the declared values, it is not worth wasting effort, money and time on this. In this case, it is better to go back to managing the old way and not inspire employees with the expected changes.

Effective and ineffective communications

The development of an internal communications program should begin with a general assessment of the management environment. Then study the organizational structure and type of already existing communications. To assess the current state of the team and the degree of employee satisfaction, it is necessary to conduct a small internal study and establish which forms of communication employees consider the most appropriate and effective. The results of the audit will show whether it is already possible to introduce new types of communications into the company now, or they will reveal some difficulties, tension in the team.

Suggestion boxes and general meetings are two of the most common ways for employees to communicate with management. But they become ineffective if the proposals coming from workers do not find a response. Often this happens due to the fact that there are quite a lot of messages and it is not possible to answer all of them. Sometimes the management of the enterprise refers formally to the very idea of \u200b\u200bboxes and does not bother to answer. For these methods to be effective, group (team) proposals should be initiated, which greatly simplifies the response procedure. It is also important not to turn general meetings into a farce: the dialogue of opponents should not develop into a monologue of one person. You should not force employees to attend such meetings and sit them out. Notes passed to the podium must not be censored.

In order for the chosen communication channel to be effective, a number of points should be taken into account:

it is useful for high-ranking leaders to come to meetings in advance, communicate with employees, mix with the team - this inspires and unites people;
the organizers of these events need to be able to engage the audience in a dialogue;
Meeting participants should prepare questions in advance, submit them in printed form.

It is also important to establish clear criteria for determining the information to be disseminated to staff. Such information can increase company satisfaction and stimulate productivity. Awareness about the affairs of the company and awareness of their role in it leads to the fact that employees support the goals of the company, they develop confidence, trust in management. On the contrary, withholding information or simply hushing it up leads to the appearance of rumors and destabilizes the work in the team.

How to improve communication within the company

So, what can the HR department do to create and implement an intracompany communications system? First of all, analyze the situation in the company. To do this, you need to define:

into what professional and social groups workers can be divided;
What is the average length of time an employee works for the company?
how to establish organizational communications with remote divisions of the company;
how they get information, etc.

Based on the findings, the development of a communications strategy can begin. Here it is important to understand what business goals you support, how the chosen strategy corresponds to these goals, which groups of employees need to receive information and what it should be, at what time and how to act on them. And finally, by what means are you going to achieve this.

You can test the effectiveness of communications by polling a random sample of employees. Another way to learn about people's ideas, assumptions, is through focus groups. The difficulty of such an assessment lies in the very tasks of observation - it is necessary to record and measure changes in the behavior of employees. For example, to determine whether people began to make more or less effort to complete the work and what changed in their perception of the company over a selected period of time.

It is also proposed to pay more attention to the emotional component, not to be limited to the "mission - strategy - goals - tactics - performance evaluation" scheme. People follow the mission, following the orders of the leadership, but you can expect a very different result if the leader has the talent to inspire employees. In addition, it is important for a person to know what is behind the chosen strategy, what are its prerequisites.

In large teams, top management, due to its remoteness from subordinates and the difference in nomenclature, is often not respected, not authoritative in the lower levels. In this regard, the most preferred way for employees to obtain information about the organizational goals of the business is a face-to-face meeting. It is not surprising that the role of middle managers in the overall chain is increasing: top management - middle managers - employees. Their task is to help employees understand how to implement the strategy developed “at the top”.

Communication should be carried out in at least several ways, such as:

personal conversation with employees;
distribution of circulars and memorandums;
distribution of information by e-mail;
use of video and cable television.

To form a positive image of the company in the minds of the staff and convey key messages to employees, the following forms of intra-organizational communications are used:

news sheet;
newsletter for managers;
annual reports of employees (similar to the annual report for shareholders);
bulletin boards;
company website on the Internet;
general meetings of employees.

During information interaction with employees, such key tasks as delegation of authority, fostering a sense of pride in one's company are solved.

The growth of confidence in the company is facilitated by:

timely and regular communication;
demonstrating trust in employees (for example, spreading both good and bad news);
involvement of employees in resolving problem situations, clarifying their opinions.

Delegation of authority is due to the need to quickly respond to all changes occurring in the company. Reducing the middle levels of management in organizations increases the responsibility of employees for their decisions.

Many companies seek to expand the autonomy of the various levels of the corporate structure. For example, managers are instructed to increase sales “by all means” and are paid bonuses and commissions for this.

Center for intracompany communications

How are intercompany communications established in Russian companies? What types are used? For example, Tomskneft has accumulated rich experience in this area: an electronic document management system has been developed and functions well, a management and evaluation system based on key performance indicators is being implemented, and a lot of work has been done to delegate authority at different levels of responsibility.

Due to its active participation in the affairs of the Tomsk region, information about the company's activities is distributed in all local media. All personnel of the enterprise are involved in the corporate communications system: the management company prepares and sends out a block of information messages about the company, the state of affairs in the industry, achievements and problems that have matured in the regions where the company operates; publishes the corporate newspaper “Oil Parallel”, creates and shows the corporate TV program “Watch”, which is broadcast on the air of local television companies.

But it turns out that these measures are not enough to inform the staff. The studies carried out, paradoxically, pointed to the lack of information on the ground. The problem is largely due to the peculiarity of the geographical location of the company. Most of Tomskneft's fields are located at a considerable distance from the city (up to 600 km), and people working on a rotational basis often do not have the opportunity to regularly receive newspapers, watch TV or follow events using the Internet.

Most of the Tomsk region is occupied by Vasyugan swamps - one of the largest in the world, so some deposits can only be reached by helicopter or by winter roads. Therefore, the company's management is actively using all the opportunities to organize meetings with local teams. Moreover, the company is confident that it is necessary to use all information channels and communication tools to inform employees. To solve this problem, the personnel department, together with the company's management, has developed a special project, the purpose of which is to timely and regularly inform all employees about the company's activities, its strategy, social policy, new projects and tasks, changes taking place in the company and society, and also provide feedback.

To establish communications within the company, information stands, booklets, posters, reports, feedback boxes, executives' speeches in the media, thematic pages in local newspapers (with questions and answers), a specialized TV program, round tables, direct lines and “ hotlines”, planning meetings and meetings, meetings with teams, intranet (company's internal unified website).

Information stands are located in administrative buildings located both at the company's fields and in the city - in canteens, hostels, cultural centers, in a sports and cultural complex, at a bus station from which employees leave for work, in a training center. Next to them are places for handouts (booklets, newspapers, copies of collective agreements, etc.) and feedback boxes. The boxes are sealed, only specially appointed employees of the contractor company “Tomskneft” who are not interested in concealing or falsifying information can open them and send mail to the directorate for personnel policy of the company.

Information from the management apparatus, the production block and service companies, the directorate for personnel policy and the department of public relations and information flows to the internal communications sector of the directorate for personnel policy at the set time. Then the sector forms information blocks that are placed on the stands and sent through the internal network. The main news is sent to local newspapers and on TV. Another channel for transmitting information is printed non-periodical publications. The company issued booklets with information about mortgage and educational loans, a booklet about the company's activities.

In its work, the internal communications center pays special attention to receiving feedback, using feedback mailboxes, meetings at different levels, discussions, discussions of problems on the pages of the local press. In order to study the current situation, identify existing problems, monitor the attitude of employees towards the company, sociological research is carried out (different methods are used - from questionnaires to personal interviews). all major services and directorates). Cassettes with recordings of “straight lines” and releases of a specialized TV program are transferred to remote fields so that people who did not have time to watch them can do it at a convenient time for them. In addition, the materials of these "lines" are published on the pages of local newspapers and placed on information stands in the same way as the materials of meetings of managers with work teams.

Of course, the company has not yet done everything in order to fully solve the problem of employee awareness. New ideas and proposals are considered and actively discussed, the most promising of them will be implemented in the company.

An internal communications specialist is needed for a company in which several tens or hundreds of people work on projects. Such a person becomes especially necessary if employees work remotely, if offices are located in different parts of the world and time zones. The task of an internal communications specialist is to synchronize the work of different departments, monitor the microclimate in the team and organize joint leisure activities for colleagues. But there are other responsibilities as well. The Secret asked several internal communications experts to talk about their work.

Zlata Nikolaeva

Head of External Communications at Qlean, ex-RBC, ex-Afisha-Rambler

Let's imagine a company of ten people, including a CEO, a developer, and an accountant. The head of such a company probably does not need to come up with any special communications with the team. Everything is clear and so: people communicate with each other, learn news about the company and the market in which they work, celebrate holidays together and experience failures. No additional tools are needed here, except for mail and messenger, smoke breaks and corporate parties in the “Cover a clearing in the office” format. However, if several dozen people work in a team, and not everyone communicates with each other (which is absolutely normal), it is worth considering that all employees are informed about what is happening in the company, about its present and future. If this is a company of several hundred people, this can be very important.

There is no need to make a cargo cult out of the very concept of internal communication, they say, we will now hire a special manager, and he will do magic for us. First of all, it is important to understand what exactly you want to achieve with the help of internal communications. Do you want your employees to pray for you, be satisfied, happy and rush to work every day with butterflies in their stomachs? This is unrealistic, and no communication can achieve this.

It is important for everyone to achieve several goals: for the employee to be informed about what is happening in the company and its key projects, to be aware of the company's plans (product, marketing and others), to know by name and face the key people of the company. And ideally, he knew that the employer did not give a damn about him, that he was taken care of, because he was an important part of the mechanism. There are other tasks: so that the employee can relax and have fun with colleagues, no matter in what form, beer on Fridays, team building or corporate events. This is a great and useful thing, conversations in an informal setting bring people together. The main thing is not to overdo it and start forcing the team to sing the corporate anthem on Mondays at 10 am.

It is very important that people know what they are doing, why, and how this "what" and "why" is related to the overall direction of the company.

At Qlean, there is no big need for serious work on internal communications yet, we are not very big, and tools like Slack are enough. I didn’t have KPI at previous places of work, there were only tasks and deadlines. For example, every Friday it was necessary to send out a letter with the news of the company, if there is urgent news, it was necessary to quickly prepare and send it. It is not so easy to evaluate the result, in the end, someone may simply not read, not listen, not know and not want to know. All people are different, and so are your dear employees. When, in the event of a non-standard situation and with any incomprehensible question, employees turn to you as “knowing the answers to all questions, or knowing who to turn to” - this is the result.

We did not have such serious scandals that they caused a violent reaction within the team. Firstly, everyone is passionate about their work and often some things are noted later. Secondly, if someone wants to ask: “What is this, the position of the company?” or “Are you crazy?” - he (she) asks a question in the same Slack, for example. We quite calmly discuss, argue, even swear, and everyone can reasonably say to the other: “It seems to me that you behaved (behaved) yourself. *** ". Some disputable situations and their resolution lie mostly in the field of external communications.

Evgenia Shipova

Uber Communications Manager in Russia

At Uber, the internal communication system is well built and works, because it is very necessary in the company. The focus of our business is to improve the efficiency of processes, their scaling and simplification. That is why constant communication between team members, the transfer of experience based on the results of already implemented projects is very important. Internal communication and internal management help to make decisions faster and move forward.

Internal communications are very important for companies with high growth rates. If we talk about Uber and the scale of business growth, then on December 31, 2015, users around the world made a billion rides through the platform. In mid-June 2016, this figure doubled. At the same time, in order to make the first billion, it took us about six years (from the moment the company was founded in 2009 until the end of 2015), then to reach the second one - only six months.

There are about 7000 employees in our company. The application is available in more than 500 cities around the world, and each city has employees of the company. The selection of employees and the work of management with them is aimed at ensuring that people understand how their role affects the operation of the company - even in the most junior positions or in functions that companies traditionally perceive as a “support function”, that is, not core tasks.

It is very important in this sense to constantly exchange information - and not only with employees of your department, but with other departments and colleagues from different countries. This happens regularly at Uber. Each employee knows that such meetings are an opportunity to understand what his team has done over a certain period, how it differs from what teams in other countries have done. This helps to avoid situations where we reinvent the wheel. Using the experience of colleagues helps to improve what they have done, but in relation to local conditions, taking into account possible errors.

It is very important to break down tasks into several components, set goals for teams and plan their work for some short period of time (for example, a week or two) and report on the results. This helps to efficiently allocate resources and achieve results, even when there are several tasks and all require simultaneous response.

Among the tools: internal chats, teleconferences, planning tools, the ability to remotely access different documents from different offices. All these tools reduce bureaucracy, help increase the efficiency and transparency of processes, and make the exchange of information easier.

It is very important to be able to quickly find the information you need. To do this, Uber uses internal resources (where you can easily find certain documents). The company has cross-functional divisions that know what is happening on the ground, and can at any time find the right person in order to request the necessary information from him. As a rule, following the results of large projects, teams make up so-called playbooks, which then become available to all employees. The purpose of playbooks is to briefly describe the implemented project and results, indicate what difficulties have been encountered and what could be improved. This helps new teams start a new project with the experience of the previous one already behind them.

An important point: well-established internal communications help to get rid of bureaucracy. At Uber, the function of internal communications is performed by the employees themselves, but each in his own field. Almost every department has its own pages on internal resources, where you can find out information about the latest projects, find the right employee. There are no separate employees who deal exclusively with internal communications.

A situation where there are conflicts or misunderstandings between departments is rather unlikely, because everyone has their own KPIs that are part of the KPI of the global function or country. Working groups for projects are always created, especially when it comes to launching a new city, a new feature in an application, a new product. As a rule, in each situation, teams work together that are responsible for building processes for working with drivers, marketing, communications, lawyers and other departments.

Janis Dzenis

PR director of Aviasales

The fact that you do not know all your colleagues by name can be a definite signal to turn on internal communications. And the second point: it is much easier to work on something when all employees understand why and for whom they work.

In addition to Aviasales, we have three more brands, and the number of products cannot always be counted. Let's add geography to this: mobile development is located in St. Petersburg, some of the programmers leave for Moscow for the summer, support works from Vilnius, and most of the employees are in Phuket (there are 150 people in the company). As a result, we get a strong need to connect all these people.

Of course, we are not talking about corporate parties. Guys can leave for the whole weekend in a neighboring province simply because they are interested in being together, and in this a significant role of HR is to find people who are comfortable with each other. The task of internal communications is to identify "thin" places (where information is lost) and create situations for communication.

From the point of view of delivering messages, we broadcast from quarterly meetings from Phuket, where the CEO talks about what is happening in the company and what awaits her in the future. Watching these broadcasts, of course, is optional, however, according to my feeling, everyone who is online at the moment is watching them, because everyone is interested. In addition to the quarterly broadcast, there are monthly letters to all employees with a report: no brainwashing, only numbers and facts. If someone wants to talk about the "mission of the company", they will probably be thrown into the pool.

Internal research and interviews are good ways to understand if communications are working. It makes sense to include relevant questions in the Employee Survey / One-to-one Performance Appraisal and track projects that have appeared at the junction of different teams, if this was the goal. In fact, sometimes even a sticker on a laptop is an element of internal communication.

If the goal of internal communications is some kind of synergy, KPIs can be in projects that have appeared at the junction of different products and teams.

We have a common channel in Slack, where everyone can speak out quite calmly. If you remember

Director of the Communications Department of the Polytechnic Museum

In such large-scale projects as the Polytechnic Museum, a clear and well-thought-out system of internal communication is indispensable. I am now thinking about how to unite the Polytech teams scattered around Moscow. Before 2018, we will not find ourselves in the historical building on Lubyanka, and our exhibitions at VDNKh and other venues, scientific laboratories at ZIL, Open Funds in Tekstilshchiki continue to fully exist. It is important for employees to understand what certain departments of the museum are doing in order not to stray from the general course. Heads of departments should meet at least once a week. And the follow-up of such meetings is also necessary to write: always and not “on the table”. E-mail, workgroups and a clear corporate website should be actively used in work. And it is desirable to leave the minimum number of working chats on Facebook.

Meetings and a shared document in Google Docs help us a lot, a tool that everyone understands and is easy to use both online and offline. Trello and Slack are great programs for small workgroups. Now we are preparing for one of the biggest projects of the year, the Science and Technology Film Festival 360°. External curators and three of our departments are working on it. In order to synchronize and quickly resolve issues, everything is used - from Google Docs to instant messengers.

After the “Context” training (Business Relations course), I began to pay attention to how important it is to trust your team and to say as frankly as possible all the pros and cons of what was planned. The guys want to understand the main goal, see the interconnections of processes, and receive detailed briefs. And most importantly - feedback on the work done.

In addition, we need trips, matinees, meetings where ideas are discussed (and always in a friendly atmosphere, without the mood of “at school in front of a deuce”), the ethics of work correspondence, respect for personal space - everything seems to matter when it comes to the team. The result of such work is expressed, it seems to me, in greater enthusiasm of people, their dedication, and as a result, in better performance indicators. I like the lyrical approach here: all team members should be not indifferent to the final result. It is important to work together, not against each other.

Cover photo: Thinkstock

FEDERAL STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION OF HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF CIVIL SERVICE

UNDER THE PRESIDENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

VLADIMIR BRANCH

Department of Economics

COURSE WORK

On the course: "Fundamentals of Management"

On the topic "Interaction of internal and external communications in the organization"

Completed:

Shlyotov Dmitry Alexandrovich

3 course, group: VUP-210

specialty "Personnel Management"

Checked:

senior teacher Bedov G.A.

Vladimir 2011

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………3

1. Communications: entity, groups……………………………………………………………..4

1.1 Types of communications……………………………………………………….…………4

1.2. Internal and external communications……………………………………………..7

1.3 Methods of communication……………………………………………………………………………………17

2. Elements and stages of the communication process…………………………………………………………19

3. Ways to improve communication processes in the organization…………..24

4. Interpersonal and organizational communications, concept, barriers, their characteristics……………………………………………………………………………………….27

5. Effectiveness of communications in management…………………………………..………….29

6. The structure of communications on the example of Delta Management Company LLC…………………...32

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………..…….37

List of used literature………………………………………………………….38

Introduction

There is not a single company in the world that would be competitive, hold its position in the market and at the same time be able to do without a flexible dynamic system of communication links. There is also not a single company that could hold a leading position without long-term creative and purposeful work to "build bridges" with various circles of the business community and create a sufficient informatization system. Much also depends on the level of automation of information flow processing for commercial activities that carry the features of the computer age.

PR-communications, providing the involvement of extensive factual material on the formation of the business environment in foreign and Russian companies, act as one of the main components of marketing communications. Public relations is presented as a means of connecting the market, marketing strategy, the interests of the enterprise and buyers. Therefore, knowledge of the basics of PR is necessary for all participants in marketing activities.

Just as in the memory of a computer information is formed into formations of the "cluster" type, so in commerce, separate structures of competing firms form similar compounds that meet the needs of society. Such clusters (block, package, bundle) are actively formed in commerce, are born, expand, but at the same time can easily disintegrate, collapse and disappear from market interaction. Information and communication links and, of course, the levels of economic, political and social maturity of society directly affect the creation of the stability of their functioning. At the same time, the PR services play an important role in creating conditions for the harmonious interaction of elements of the mass communication system, including the subjects of market networks, the mass communication system itself, communication channels with information flows, the “Society” system and, finally, the entire “Humanity” system, therefore, this topic is currently relevant.

The theoretical value of this course work allows you to study the basics of building a communication system in an organization.

The practical significance lies in the development of a communication system at a particular enterprise.

The purpose of my work is to study the system of internal and external communications in the organization, object: Delta Management Company.

1. Communications: essence, groups

Communications- this is the exchange of information, on the basis of which the manager receives the information necessary for making effective decisions and brings the decisions made to the employees of the organization.

Main communication functions:

informative - the transmission of true or false information;

interactive (incentive) - organization of interaction between people (distribution of functions, influence on the mood, behavior of the interlocutor by using various forms of influence: suggestion, order, request);

perceptual function - the perception of each other by communication partners and the establishment of mutual understanding on this basis;

expressive - excitation or change in the nature of emotional experiences.

Organizational communications is a set of communications built on the basis of communication mediated by information about the organization itself, its goals and objectives.

Interpersonal communications- oral communication of people in one of the listed types. The nature of interpersonal relations differs significantly from the nature of social relations, since their most important specific feature is the emotional basis. Therefore, interpersonal relationships can be considered as a factor in the psychological climate of the group. The emotional basis of interpersonal relationships means that they arise and develop on the basis of certain feelings that people have in relation to each other.

External communications is the communication between the organization and the environment. The communication needs of the organization depend on environmental factors. If one were to analyze what people in an organization actually talk about, write and read, the focus would have to be on some issues that would be related to the needs of information interaction with the external environment that affects or will affect the organization.

Internal communications- communication within the organization between different levels and departments.

Formal communications- these are communications that are determined by the organizational structure of the enterprise, the relationship of management levels and functional departments. The more levels of management, the higher the probability of information distortion, because each level of control can correct and filter messages.

The channel of informal communications can be called a channel for spreading rumors. Since information is transmitted much faster through rumor channels than through formal communication channels, managers use the former for planned leaks and dissemination of certain information or “just between us” information.

The rumored reputation for inaccurate information persists to this day. However, studies show that informal communication, i.e. rumors, is more likely to be accurate rather than distorted. According to the study, 80-99% of rumors are accurate in terms of consistent information about the company itself. The level of accuracy cannot be as high when it comes to personal or highly emotional information. Moreover, regardless of accuracy, everything points to the power of rumors, whether their impact is positive or negative.

Information moves within the organization from level to level within vertical communications. It can be transmitted downstream, ie. from higher levels to lower ones. Thus, the subordinate levels of management are informed about current tasks, changes in priorities, specific tasks, recommended procedures, etc. For example, the VP of Manufacturing may inform the plant manager (mid-level manager) of upcoming changes in the production of a product. In turn, the plant manager must inform the managers subordinate to him about the features of the upcoming changes.

In addition to the downward exchange, the organization needs upward communication. The transfer of information from lower levels to higher levels can have a significant impact on performance. Upward communication, i.e. from bottom to top, also perform the function of alerting the top about what is being done at lower levels. In this way, management becomes aware of current or emerging problems and suggests possible options for correcting the state of affairs. The latest managerial innovation in bottom-up communications is the creation of groups of workers who meet regularly, usually once a week, to discuss and solve problems in production or customer service. These groups are called "quality circles". Upward exchange of information usually takes the form of reports, proposals and explanatory notes.

The most obvious component of vertical communication in an organization is the relationship between leader and subordinate. They constitute the main part of the communicative activity of the leader. Studies have shown that 2/3 of this activity is carried out between managers and managed.

Some of the many types of information exchange between a leader and a subordinate are related to the clarification of tasks, priorities and expected results; ensuring involvement in solving the tasks of the department; discussing performance issues; achieving recognition and rewards for the purpose of motivation; improving and developing the abilities of subordinates; with the collection of information about an emerging or real-life problem; informing the subordinate about the upcoming change, as well as receiving information about ideas, improvements and suggestions.

In addition to the exchange of information between the leader and the subordinate, there is an exchange between the leader and his work group. Communication with the working group as a whole allows the leader to increase the effectiveness of the group's actions.

Horizontal communications is communication between different departments of an organization. In addition to sharing information downstream or upstream, organizations need horizontal communications. The organization consists of many departments, so the exchange of information between them is necessary to coordinate tasks and actions. Since an organization is a system of interrelated elements, management must ensure that specialized elements work together to move the organization in the right direction.

Horizontal exchanges often involve committees or ad hoc groups that form peer-to-peer relationships that are an important component of organizational employee satisfaction.

1.2. Internal and external communications

Organizations have a variety of means of communicating with key elements of their external environment. So, for example, firms communicate with existing and potential consumers of goods and services produced, primarily through advertising and other means of promoting goods on the market, as well as conducting various sociological surveys.

Much attention is paid to creating a favorable image of the organization in public opinion, for which special public relations departments (“public relations”) are created in large firms, whose specialists, using a variety of means, disseminate the information necessary for this. This is not a complete list of examples of communications between an organization and its external environment.

Internal communications are understood as information exchanges carried out between elements of the organization. Within an organization, information is exchanged between levels of management (vertical communications) and between departments (horizontal communications).

For a long time, internal communications in an organization were seen as the "foster" of PR, but now everything has changed - now PR and corporate communications departments in organizations follow the old adage: "good PR starts at home."

External communications system

External communications are the exchanges of information between an organization and its external environment. Any organization does not exist in isolation, but in interaction with its external environment. And on what factors of this environment (consumers, competitors, government regulatory bodies, public opinion, etc.) have the greatest influence on the work of the organization and its results, the nature and methods of its communications depend.

The task of external communications is to transform the desired strategic position into the behavior of the organization, its communication messages and symbols at the organizational, production and functional levels. Managers must clearly decide how they want to represent the organization and its products, clearly identifying key public groups, and understand what the image of their organization is. Then they must develop a set of corporate image tools that can communicate it to the public while keeping a close eye on competitors' corporate image development and changes. An acceptable set of such tools should include:

Definition of communication tasks;

Selection of target groups (customers and members of the public relevant to the organization);

Formulation of the appropriate message(s);

Choice of funds and planning;

Organization (coordination) of actions.

The task of corporate communications is to reduce the gap between the desired and actual image of the company; creation of a consistent holistic portrait of her, development and application of recommendations for the coordination of all internal and external communications, as well as control and management of communications. To achieve the goals of the company among the external public, PR also includes marketing communications.

A corporate feature (personality) is a strategically planned and tactically (at a practical level) applied self-presentation of an organization (corporate "I") based on the desired image. A strong corporate identity contributes to:

Increasing the motivation of employees;

Creates a sense of confidence among representatives of key groups of the external public;

Recognized as vital to an organization based on a good knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of both its own and other suppliers. Managers must decide where and how to compete. Now on to external communications related to strategic PR. Probably the most obvious activity is media relations to create popularity and positive interest in the company. And managers must win their respect, show an understanding of the essence of the news, be constructive, go towards journalists and producers, and create media confidence in the company. As a rule, journalists expect: quick response to inquiries; an open and honest policy towards the media; readiness to deal with negative news; accessibility of managers, and not of the press and media department in general; an object easily understood by another can be recognized, and with the help of which people describe, remember and form their attitude towards it. It is the result of the interaction of human beliefs, ideas, feelings and impressions about the object.

Impression management is the policy of presenting an organization to key groups in order to create a favorable image for them or prevent them from developing an unfavorable image.

Corporate reputation is what people think and say about an organization, its products/services, and the behavior of those people.

Strategic positioning is essentially the conscious choice of a specific basis for building a competitive advantage. It is a combination of appeal to a customer or stakeholder and competitive considerations that can endow a company or brand with a distinct identity as perceived by those people. Thus, a company in the mind of its target group must be better than its competitors, regardless of what its members themselves consider important. The company must appear better than it really is, and therefore must sell its products to the "right" customers, based on a good knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of both its own and other suppliers. Managers must decide where and how to compete.

Now let's move on to external communications related to strategic PR.

Probably the most obvious activity is media relations to create popularity and positive interest in the company. And managers must win their respect, show an understanding of the essence of the news, be constructive, go towards journalists and producers, and create media confidence in the company. As a rule, journalists expect:

Quick response to requests;

An open and honest policy towards the media;

Willingness to deal with negative news;

Availability of managers, and not of the press and media department in general;

Easily understood and easily used information (not overloaded with unnecessary technical or other details);

A proactive policy of maintaining contacts (regular, consistent, personal).

The main topics of media coverage include marketing news, company policy coverage, news of general interest, personalities, current events. Messages should be intended primarily for articles on specific topics and not just for self-promotion of the company.

Publicity is the dissemination of deliberately pre-planned and high-level executed messages through selected (unpaid) media in order to arouse public interest in an organization or individual.

Press relations activities differ significantly from promotional and sales activities in that they are aimed at gaining publicity or satisfying public interest in an organization and/or its product(s). On the other hand, propaganda is an attempt to influence public opinion in order to spread a particular desired belief.

Financial relations are aimed at creating relationships of support and management of communications with shareholders (both current and potential) during the financial year, as well as with investors, representatives of the business community (in particular, with analysts, stock market brokers, merchant banks) and financial journalists. magazines.

Preparing public events can include planning strategic communications and dealing at a corporate level with a variety of audiences - government and business representatives, the press, civil society organizations, shareholders and trade unions, and the general public.

Lobbying (government events) occurs and operates among legislators and government agencies in the specific interests of the organization at the local, national and international levels. In fact, to really present any issue that needs lobbying to ensure constant strong pressure on legislators, a wide-ranging study, even intelligence, is required. This is a more complex process than simple monitoring of parliamentary activity. The purpose of lobbying is to influence government circles and the legislature and thereby push through decisions beneficial to the organization that can seriously affect the effectiveness of its activities in the present and future.

Industry links include communications with various organizations within the same industry in which the company operates, such as trade associations, research (expert) agencies.

Corporate advertising sees the company as a product and is the "face and voice of the company". Managers often have little understanding of corporate advertising and are wary of this high technology public communications that does not directly increase sales or market share and is therefore often difficult to justify. Research has shown that despite being expensive, corporate advertising can enhance a company's image.

Corporate social responsibility is by far the most important item on the agenda of any PR manager. In the field of corporate social responsibility, the key for managers is the concept of beneficiaries as individuals or groups with legally secured property rights (or participation). They interact with the company in some of its activities. Their participation is essential if the company is to succeed and prosper. Beneficiary relationship management can be seen as an investment and as one of the core areas of business planning and management.

Sponsorship - a company acquires the exclusive right to any event or sports competition or lends its name to any product in order to promote itself through media coverage and / or instill in the minds of citizens a positive association of its name with an interesting or significant event. By supporting any event or activity, company managers can expect to receive a material return on the money and effort expended - for example, in the form of the notional value of business relationships, i.e. the price of accumulated business relationships, the company's intangible assets, say, brand prestige, experience in business relationships, acquiring the ability to influence customers, creating a high reputation for the organization, its product or trademark.

Information services are an essential part of the process of building mutual trust and understanding between a company and other groups in the public. The PR department must take the lead in coordinating the delivery of information to the media about the company's activities, and this often requires accompanying explanatory material to help the public learn more about the company and its scope.

Advice and consulting is also one of the most important activities of PR teams in many companies. PR professionals are increasingly being called upon to provide advice and guidance on organizational management and policy issues. As communications management is taken more seriously and is increasingly recognized as an important competency in business, PR professionals are increasingly being brought in to advise managers on communications with the "outside world", also to provide the technical side of the relevant PR communications chosen by the specialist.

Crisis management looks at the future in terms of anticipating and preparing for likely events that could destroy relationships that are important to the organization. Here, the responsibilities of a PR specialist can extend to a wide range of activities, including contingency planning, limiting damage, taking into account the lessons of previous crises, streamlining and managing managers' ideas about the crisis and their attitude towards them, up to managing the crisis itself.

Problem management is the systematic identification of possible problems that cause concern to the company, and actions aimed at adjusting its policies in the conditions of their occurrence. Problem management differs from crisis management only in time frames and a sense of panic. Managers must learn to view problems from the perspective of different groups of the public. PR in its activities must anticipate the possibility of these problems and be able to manage the organization's response to them.

Designing and writing printed materials is also one of the responsibilities of the PR department for external communications. These are special literature on PR, brochures and booklets published by the company (annual report and history of the company, as well as a story about the main products of the company). Increasingly, the preparation of audio and video materials is required. Much of this work is planned to be promotional, and therefore close collaboration between marketing and PR professionals is needed to ensure consistency in creating and maintaining corporate identity. Analyze the communication needs of the organization and the coverage of all its key public groups. Planning is an essential part of the PR manager's role.

Internal communications system

There are a number of reasons to consider internal communications as the most important task of PR. While in a broader context, PR provides an opportunity to create a less conflicted, more harmony-oriented society, internal communications are a means of creating a more democratic, harmony-oriented organization. From this point of view, internal communications are closely related to the concept of human relations discussed earlier. The main idea is that only then can employees work with full dedication. The department also organizes special events such as cash donation ceremonies, sponsorship of sports and creative events.

Exhibitions, conferences and other special events are also the face of the company. As a consultant, the PR manager can participate in the design of exhibition stands and the selection of special social events.

Corporate hospitality allows managers to receive guests - customers, distributors, suppliers, journalists, investors and other members of the public who can be useful to the company in its endeavors. The humanism of the company, its activities and its employees can also be revealed to the public through free discussions. For example, BNFL hosts a series of roundtables in which stakeholders are invited to meet with managers and discuss issues of common interest.

Another useful aspect of the problem under consideration is the importance of communications for the management style that the leaders of the organization adhere to. For example, a participatory leadership style involves using the ideas and suggestions of employees in the decision-making process, as well as feedback, i.e. informing these employees on the results of the decisions made. Personnel who have the opportunity to take part in solving corporate issues and see that opinions are listened to are more motivated and effective in the work they do.

The task of helping employees assess the goals and direction in which the organization is moving, provide free access to the necessary information and establish a communication system in the organization is a priority. Employee publications, bulletin boards, meetings, staff handbooks, electronic communications are the most commonly used means of communication directed to employees. Direct communication (individual communication) along with an open door policy is the best way to establish vertical channels of communication in the hierarchical structure of the organization, in which information flows from the bottom up, and to establish good working relationships with employees.

The basic principles that any organization should be guided by when creating internal relationships are as follows:

Mutual respect, representing the most important principle, but also in all interpersonal relationships;

Objective assessment of employees. Honestly, objectively discussing with his employees their strengths and weaknesses, the manager assesses each and positions him on the scale of the organization's values. Objective evaluation is the strongest incentive for self-improvement;

Recognition of the positive contribution of employees to the success of the enterprise. It is necessary to promote a mechanism for stimulating distinguished specialists and create motivational factors that contribute to the development of initiative in the company;

Encouragement, approval. Each employee seeks to earn the trust and respect of the team in which he works. Encouragement is an indicator of respect.

Among the most important aspects of internal communication in an organization are the following:

The desire to express their own opinion;

- “accessibility” and trust of top management;

Priority of internal communications over external ones;

Accuracy in internal communications. All materials intended for internal communications must be presented in clear language;

In order to succeed, the team must be friendly and work well together;

Keep a sense of humor, use this quality.

Various aspects of the formation of a favorable, conducive atmosphere for communication between employees come down to observing the principle of confidential communication. The goal of management is not just to convince employees that communication is necessary, that management wants to communicate with them, but to convince them that communication should take place in an atmosphere of mutual trust.

In practice, three types of internal communications are usually distinguished, fundamentally different from one another in the nature of information perception: printed, verbal and verbal-visual. The development of new technologies has led to the emergence of more advanced forms of communication, but print publications still remain the primary means of internal communication in most organizations. In this case, the following goals are realized:

Informing employees about the goals, objectives and directions of development of the organization;

Providing employees with the information they need to do their job professionally and efficiently;

The development of higher social responsibility among employees, as well as the desire to maintain and improve the standards of the organization, improve the quality and efficiency of their work;

Recognition of the achievements of employees. Every publication, every printed word is part of the company's communication program, designed to achieve specific goals in relation to the fixed attitudes and rules of the organization. Because of their influence and value, publications within the enterprise are referred to as "workhorses".

The company's internal publications are universal in nature. They can be edited to suit the interests of her sponsor. On the other hand, they can be presented in such a way as to highlight issues that are important to a certain contact audience, etc. The organization's internal publications are therefore a fully controlled means of communication.

The most commonly used form of internal periodic publication is the newsletter. Newsletters are widely used by organizations. Due to the inexpensive and simplified technological process of creation, they are produced very quickly, accessible to everyone and inexpensive. Many organizations use them on a regular basis and when they need to quickly bring information to the team on specific issues.

Recently, the importance of verbal communications has been growing. So your own boss is the most preferred source of information, studies show, for more than 90% of employees.

So in some companies, meetings are practiced, at which both employees and their immediate supervisors are present. Many effectively use multi-level meetings, in which the gap between the participants in the hierarchical structure of the company is two or more steps. As with other communication methods, the effectiveness of such meetings lies in their regularity and direct communication between employees with different levels of responsibility. In any communication, the key to improving internal communications is constant direct interaction between the leader and the subordinate.

Conferences and meetings of company employees play a special role. By bringing people together, providing them with the ability to speak and the ability to listen, they ensure two-way communication. Working group meetings, discussion of the results of the work of the quality control department, sessions with the participation of management - all these are examples of small meetings focused on solving certain problems.

At the same time, the development of information technology calls into question the need for such meetings. Audio-video tools, computer communication systems, satellite connections, electronic bulletin boards, facsimile and other products of new technologies are replacing these methods of communication. To make group decisions, many organizations are already using the latest advances in new telecommunications technologies to bring people and ideas together.

For example, internal video. This is an effective tool for disseminating information, but it must be approached with caution, trusting the creation of video materials only to Professionals. As with any responsible process, the creation of video materials should be started only after an in-depth study of the goals and objectives set by the company. If an organization is unable to produce high quality video, it should not be done at all.

Teleconferencing is becoming more and more common. The technological advantages of satellite communications have expanded the possibilities for various meetings and performances. Thus, the speeches of the main speakers who do not have time to personally come and attend the meeting can be broadcast via satellite telecommunications. Simultaneous business meetings in several cities can be connected in the same way with speakers whose presentations are shown on large-screen television equipment. The savings in time and cost of communication, meeting arrangements and accommodation of participants can be many times greater than the cost of using such technology.

In conclusion, we note that soon all communications will be carried out through the use of electronic means of communication, which in the end may completely replace live communication. Even today, organizations are increasingly making extensive use of internal computer networks in order to communicate quickly and efficiently. However, any form of internal communication is nevertheless a supplement to, not a substitute for, the straightforward personal communication required for successful business relationships.

Today we can safely say that the economy of a modern enterprise, its dynamics and performance depend, first of all, on how the whole set of people employed in it acts in this respect. Practice has proven that well-established activities in the field of internal relations at the enterprise is an indispensable condition for the successful solution of any economic task facing it.

1.3 Methods of communication.

colloquial (oral, verbal);

written (letters, orders, articles, announcements);

non-verbal (tone of speech, pause, focusing attention, body movements)

Verbal communication uses human speech, natural sound language as a sign system, i.e. a system of phonetic signs, including two principles: lexical and syntactic. Speech is the most universal means of communication, since when information is transmitted through speech, the meaning of the message is least of all lost. True, this should be accompanied by a high degree of common understanding of the situation by all participants in the communicative process.

The exchange of information is possible not only through speech, but also through other sign systems, which together constitute the means of non-verbal communication.

Modern social psychology offers a complete scheme of all sign systems used in non-verbal communication. The main ones are the following:

optical-kinetic;

para- and extralinguistic;

organization of space and time of the communication process;

visual contact.

The totality of these tools is designed to perform the following functions: supplementing speech, replacing speech, representing the emotional states of partners in the communicative process.

The optical-kinetic system of signs includes gestures, facial expressions, pantomimics. In general, the optical-kinetic system appears as a more or less clearly perceived property of the general motor skills of various parts of the body (hands, and then we have gestures; faces, and then we have facial expressions; postures, and then we have pantomime).

The paralinguistic and extralinguistic sign system (sometimes referred to as prosody) is also an "addition" to verbal communication.

Paralinguistics is a vocalization system, i.e. voice quality, its range, tonality. These characteristics of the voice contribute to the expression of the emotional state of the communicator (anger is accompanied by an increase in the strength and height of the voice, sharpness of sounds; sadness, on the contrary, is accompanied by a decrease in strength, height, sonority of the voice), as well as some characteristics of his personality (energy, determination or uncertainty). The timbre of the voice is often associated with the cuteness, education of a person.

Extralinguistics - the inclusion of pauses in speech, other inclusions (coughing, crying, laughter, the very pace of speech, pauses). All these manifestations increase semantically significant information, but not through additional speech inclusions, but by “near-speech” techniques.

The organization of space and time of the communicative process also acts as a special sign system, carries a semantic load as a component of the communicative situation. So, for example, placing partners facing each other contributes to the emergence of contact, symbolizes attention to the speaker, while a shout in the back can also have a certain negative value.

Proxemics, as a special area dealing with the norms of the spatial and temporal organization of communication, currently has a large amount of experimental material. Currently, the problems of proxemics are included in a special area of psychology called "environmental psychology" or "environmental psychology". Among other problems, the norms of the optimal location of communication partners, approaching the interlocutor, features of "personal space", etc. are studied here.

The next specific sign system used in the communication process is “eye contact”, or visual communication. Research in this area is closely related to a general psychological phenomenon in the field of visual perception - eye movement. In socio-psychological research, the frequency of exchange of glances, their duration, the change in the statics and dynamics of the gaze, its avoidance, etc. are studied.

Visual contact performs numerous functions: information search, the desire to hide or reveal one’s “I”, signal readiness to support and continue communication, demonstrate the degree of psychological closeness, etc. Like all non-verbal means, eye contact has the value of supplementing verbal communication. And just like other means of non-verbal communication, its manifestations vary in different cultures. Thus, the degree of permissibility of staring - "eye to eye" - differs, for example, in the UK and Japan, different meanings are attached to such a phenomenon as blinking.

For all four systems of non-verbal communication, one common question of a methodological nature arises. Each of them uses its own sign system, which can be considered as a specific code. As already noted, any information must be encoded, and in such a way that the system of codification and decodification is known to all participants in the communication process. But if in the case of speech this system of codification is more or less well known, then in non-verbal communication it is important in each case to determine what can be considered a code here and, most importantly, how to ensure that the other communication partner owns the same code. Otherwise, the described systems will not give any semantic addition to verbal communication.

2. Elements and stages of the communication process.

The communication process is the process of exchanging information between two or more people. Its purpose is to ensure the transmission and understanding of the information being exchanged. If mutual understanding is not achieved, then communication has not taken place, which implies that both parties play an active role in it.

The communication process is the interaction of a set of elements. There are four basic elements of the communication process:

Sender - a person who generates an idea or collects information and transmits it;

The message is directly information;

Channel - a means of transmitting information (oral transmission, meetings, telephone conversations, written transmission, memos, reports, e-mail, computer networks);

Recipient (addressee) - the person to whom the information is intended and who interprets it.

The communication process of information exchange includes interrelated steps:

Origin of an idea or selection of information;

The choice of information transmission channel;

Sending a message;

Message interpretation.

When exchanging information, the sender and recipient go through several interrelated stages. Their task is to compose a message and use a channel to convey it in such a way that both parties understand and share the original idea.

This is difficult, because each stage is at the same time a point at which the meaning can be distorted or completely lost. These interrelated steps are:

the birth of an idea;

coding and channel selection;

broadcast;

decoding;

Feedback;

These steps are illustrated in Fig. 1 as a model of the communication process.

Rice. 1. The process of information exchange as a feedback system.

Although the entire communication process is often completed in a few seconds, making it difficult to isolate its stages, we will analyze these stages to show what problems can arise at different points.

The birth of an idea

The exchange of information begins with the formulation of an idea or the selection of information. The sender decides what meaningful idea or message should be exchanged. His role is to design and encode information with subsequent transfer to other participants in the process. It is very important to correctly and carefully formulate your idea, to make it more specific so that it becomes interesting and attractive to the recipient. The sender must first identify himself as part of the communication process.

Unfortunately, many communication attempts fail at this first stage because the sender does not spend enough time thinking about the idea.

It is important to remember that the idea has not yet been translated into words or taken on another form in which it will serve the exchange of information. The sender has only decided which concept he wants to make the subject of the exchange of information. To carry out an exchange effectively, it must take into account many factors.

There is a connection between perception and communication. A leader who considers subordinates capable of development and improvement, and therefore in need of information with an assessment of the results of their work, is likely to have good positive ideas for exchanging information on a specified topic in essence. A manager who perceives subordinates as children waiting to be corrected and directed is likely to inject into his ideas the negative quality of criticism inherent in this way of thinking.

Encoding and channel selection.

Before conveying an idea, the sender must use symbols to encode it using words, intonations and gestures (body language). This coding turns an idea into a message.

The sender must also select a channel that is compatible with the character type used for encoding. Some well-known channels include the transmission of speech and written materials, as well as electronic communications, including computer networks, e-mail, videotapes and videoconferencing. If the channel is not suitable for the physical embodiment of the symbols, transmission is not possible.

If the channel is not very consistent with the idea that was born in the first stage, the exchange of information will be less effective.

The choice of means of communication should not be limited to a single channel. It is often desirable to use two or more communication media in combination. The process becomes more complicated because the sender has to establish the sequence of use of these means and determine the time intervals in the sequence of information transmission. Nevertheless, studies show that the simultaneous use of oral and written information exchange is usually more effective than, say, only the exchange of written information.

Broadcast

In the third step, the sender uses a channel to deliver a message (an encoded idea or set of ideas) to the recipient. It is about the physical transmission of a message, which many people mistakenly take for the process of communication itself. At the same time, the transfer is only one of the most important stages that must be passed through in order to convey the idea to another person.

The transfer of information is carried out using sign systems. There are several sign systems used in the communication process. When classifying communicative processes, it is conditionally possible to single out verbal communication, where speech is used as a sign system, and non-verbal communication, when various non-speech sign systems are used.

Verbal communication as a sign system, he uses a system of phonetic signs, which includes two principles: lexical and syntactic. Speech is the most universal means of communication, since when information is transmitted through speech, the meaning of the message is least of all lost. With the help of speech, information is encoded and decoded. The structure of speech communication includes the meaning and meaning of words, phrases. An important role is played by the accuracy of the use of the word, its expressiveness and accessibility, the correct construction of the phrase and its intelligibility, the correct pronunciation of sounds, words, the expressiveness and meaning of intonation.

At the core non-verbal communication is information sent by the sender without the use of words, instead of which any characters are used. The main functions of non-verbal means are the addition and replacement of speech, the reflection of the emotional states of partners in the communicative process.

Although speech is a universal means of communication, it acquires meaning only in conjunction with the use of non-verbal symbols to convey messages. Studies have shown that 55% of messages are perceived through facial expressions, postures and gestures, and 38% through intonation and voice modulation. This indicates the importance and necessity of studying non-verbal signals.

Decoding

After the message is transmitted by the sender, the receiver decodes it. Decoding is the translation of the sender's characters into the recipient's thoughts. If the characters chosen by the sender have exactly the same meaning for the recipient, the latter will know exactly what the sender had in mind when his idea was formulated. If no reaction to the idea is required, the communication process should end there.

From the point of view of the transmission and perception of the meaning of the message, the communicative scheme is asymmetric. For the sender, the meaning of the message precedes the encoding process, since a certain thought is embodied in a system of signs. For the recipient, the meaning of the message is revealed simultaneously with decoding.

Feedback

The accuracy of the recipient's understanding of the meaning of the statement will become apparent to the sender only when the communicative roles change and the recipient turns into a sender and, by his statements, will let you know how he understood the meaning of the received information. This is the essence of another important element of the communication process - feedback.

An effective exchange of information must be two-way: feedback is needed to understand the extent to which the message has been received and understood. A manager who does not provide feedback to the recipient of information will find that the effectiveness of his managerial actions is drastically reduced. Likewise, if employee feedback is blocked, the manager will eventually be isolated or deceived.

Feedback can contribute to a significant increase in the effectiveness of the exchange of management information. According to a number of studies, two-way information exchange (with opportunities for feedback) compared to one-way (no feedback), although slower, relieves stress more effectively, is more accurate and increases confidence in the correct interpretation of messages.

Noise

Although noise is not exactly a stage of communication, it simply cannot be ignored, as it has a very significant impact on the quality of communication. Noise is any interference in the communication process that distorts the meaning of the message. Sources of noise that can create barriers to communication range from language (whether verbal or non-verbal) and perceptual differences that can change meaning in encoding and decoding processes, to differences in organizational status between supervisor and subordinate. , which can make it difficult to accurately convey information.

It must be taken into account that noise is always present, therefore, at all stages of the communication process, there is some distortion of the meaning of the transmitted message.

A high level of noise will definitely lead to a noticeable loss of meaning and may completely block the attempt to establish information exchange. From the standpoint of the manager, this should lead to a decrease in the degree of achievement of goals in accordance with the information transmitted.

3. Ways to improve communication processes in the organization.

The following principles are useful for organizing effective communication as they focus on four critical areas: message quality, receiving conditions, maintaining the integrity of organized efforts, and taking advantage of informal organization.

The principle of clarity.

Although communication is often thought of simply as a message, in order for it to have any value, it must pass the test of the principle of clarity: a message is lucid if it is expressed in such language and delivered in such a way that it can be understood by the recipient.

The principle of integrity.

Management messages are means rather than ends.

The principle of integrity is as follows: the purpose of management messages is to promote understanding between people in the process of their cooperation aimed at achieving the goals of the enterprise.

The principle of strategic use of information organization.

The nature of this key principle is this: Communication is most effective when leaders use the informal organization in addition to the communication of the formal organization.

Let's try to consider ways to improve the communication process from the point of view of interpersonal (informal) and organizational (formal) communications. These types of communications are very different from each other and, therefore, the ways to improve them are also different.

In interpersonal communications, the main thing is the improvement of the science of communication. There are a few simple principles, the observance of which will help the leader become more sociable.

The ability to listen. Effective communication is impossible without the ability to listen.

Clarity of ideas. Clarifying ideas before communicating them means that you need to systematically think about and analyze the questions, problems, and ideas that you want to communicate.

Body language and intonation. Body language, posture and intonation must be monitored so as not to send conflicting signals. By sending harmonious signs that do not contain conflicting messages, you achieve greater clarity and understanding of your words.

Empathy and openness. Empathy is attention to the feelings of other people, empathy. The successful application of empathy can significantly reduce the possibility of misunderstanding when the message is decoded by the receiving party. Empathy in the exchange of information also involves maintaining openness in the conversation.

Establishing feedback. Feedback is important because it allows you to establish whether your message, received by the recipient, is really interpreted in the sense that you originally gave it. There are a number of ways to provide feedback. One of them is to ask questions. Another way to get feedback is to evaluate the language of the person's postures, gestures, and intonations, which seem to indicate confusion or misunderstanding.

Feedback can also be established by monitoring the first results of the work. Relevant information will allow you to assess the extent to which what you intended to communicate is being embodied.

In organizational communications, the main thing is to improve the information flow. Here are some specific ways to improve communication in organizations that any manager should know.

Regulation of information flows

Managers at all levels of the organization must represent their own information needs, their superiors, colleagues and subordinates. The leader must learn to evaluate the qualitative and quantitative aspects of their information needs, as well as other consumers of information in the organization. He should try to define what is "too much" and "too little" in information exchanges.

management actions.

Managing the flow of information is just one example of a leader's actions to improve communication. There are others. For example, a manager may practice short meetings with one or more subordinates to discuss upcoming changes, new priorities, work allocation, and so on. The manager may also, at his discretion, prefer the option of periodic meetings with the participation of all subordinates to consider the same issues. Planning, organization and control form additional opportunities for managerial action in the direction of improving information exchange.

Feedback systems.

To the extent that feedback can help improve interpersonal communication, so can feedback systems that are created in the organization. Such systems form part of the control and management information system in the organization. One option for a feedback system is to move people from one part of the organization to another in order to discuss certain issues.

Employee surveys are another option for a feedback system. Such surveys can be conducted to obtain information from managers and workers on literally hundreds of questions.

Systems for collecting proposals.

Suggestion collection systems are designed to facilitate the flow of information to the top. At the same time, all employees get the opportunity to generate ideas regarding the improvement of any aspect of the organization's activities. The purpose of such systems is to reduce the severity of the tendency to filter or ignore ideas on the way from the bottom up. Most often, such a system is implemented in the form of suggestion boxes, where employees of the company can anonymously submit their proposals.

The system for collecting proposals can be organized in a different way. An organization may deploy a private telephone network through which employees can make anonymous calls and inquire about appointments and promotions.

Another variant of the feedback system provides for the creation of a group of managers and ordinary workers who meet and discuss issues of mutual interest.

Another approach is based on quality circles, as well as groups of non-managerial workers who meet weekly to discuss suggestions for improvements.

Newsletters, publications and videos of the organization.

Relatively large organizations usually publish monthly newsletters that contain information for all employees. Such monthly newsletters may include articles reviewing management proposals, employee health topics, a new contract, a new product or service that is about to be offered to customers, management responses to questions from employees.

Modern information technology.

Recent advances in information technology can help improve the exchange of information within organizations. The personal computer has already had a huge impact on the information that managers, support staff and workers send and receive. E-mail gives employees the ability to send written messages to anyone in the organization. This should reduce the traditionally inexhaustible flow of telephone conversations. In addition, the global Internet plays a huge role in the dissemination of information.

4. Interpersonal and organizational communications, concept, barriers, their characteristics.

Interpersonal communications are communications between people.

Organizational communications are the communications that take place within an organization between its employees.

Interpersonal communications can be both between employees of one firm and between employees of different firms, for example, partner firms.

Organizational communications affect only one particular firm and include part of the interpersonal communications that occur between employees of a given firm.

At the same time, interpersonal communications include organizational communications.

Thus, the barriers that arise during interpersonal and organizational communications, in their essence, practically do not differ from each other.

Communication is considered successful if the recipient of the information understands its content adequately to the meaning that the sender, i.e., the Manager, puts into it. Otherwise, unsuccessful communication takes place.

Factors that reduce the chances of successful communication are called communication barriers(barriers).

There are communication barriers at the macro and micro levels.

Macro-barriers to communication hinder successful communication in general.

These barriers include:

overload of information networks and distortion of information;

the need for more and more complex information;

internationalization of business contacts and the increasing role of foreign languages, etc.

Communication micro-barriers impede successful communication in specific narrow areas. These include:

relation of the source (sender) of information to the recipient (addressee);

relation of the addressee to the source of information;

perception by the recipient of information of ambiguous words;

lack of feedback.

All the barriers that arise in the process of interpersonal and organizational communications can also be represented in the form of a diagram. (Scheme 1)

Communication is also hampered by preconceived ideas of people who reject new ideas because of their novelty, which at first glance seems doubtful or because of a stable opinion generated by certain conditions (stereotypes).

As a result, the perception of the message is distorted, the feedback process is slowed down and distorted, and the effectiveness of this message is reduced.

Scheme 1.

Classification of obstacles in the communication process.

5. The effectiveness of communications in management.

The data of foreign studies show that the effectiveness of horizontal communications reaches 90%, vertical - 20-25% (i.e., such an amount of information coming from the management reaches the workers and is correctly understood by them). In other words, performers are able to realize their functions with only a fifth of the information intended for them.

The insufficient efficiency of vertical, both ascending and descending communications, is confirmed by the data that the nearest supervisor of workers (foreman), leaving the office of the first head of the enterprise, takes out only 30% of the information, and the shop manager - about 40%. Communication from the bottom up is even more ineffective, since no more than 10% of the information reaches the authorities. This convincingly testifies to the existing untapped reserves in the organization of communications, the possibilities of their qualitative improvement.

The success of communication processes is organically linked to the norms of ethical behavior, both on the part of the recipient and the sender of information.

Also, the construction of messages plays a special role in the effectiveness of communications. It is necessary to observe the following sequence when building a message: from attention to interest, from interest to the main provisions, from them to objections and questions, then to the conclusion and call to action.

To avoid the situation of being misunderstood by the interlocutor, one should strive for simplicity of communication, use the vocabulary of everyday speech, even when communicating with an educated and insightful person. At the same time, it must be taken into account that one's self-confidence can be undermined if one cites only one false or distorted fact out of a hundred, although 99 may correspond to reality.

Russian managers identify ten commandments for successful communication.

Before communication, clearly define the ideas to be put into the message.

Analyze the true purpose of each communication.

Analyze the entire physical and human environment in any communication.

Consult with others when planning communications.

Pay close attention to intonation and the main content of the message.

Take advantage of opportunities, when presented, to include in the message something useful and valuable to its recipient.

Always keep an eye on how the communication works.

Establish communication not only for today, but also for tomorrow.

Ensure that the deeds of the installation do not contradict the words.

Learn to listen to others.

It should be noted that the unsatisfactory state of intra-organizational communications is fraught with serious consequences, in particular, of a psychological nature, both for the administration and for ordinary workers. The experience of outstanding managers, the practice of functioning of successful companies indicates that effective management is impossible without well-functioning communications. Decision-making, innovation policy, creating a favorable psychological climate, stimulating people - all this requires detailed information. And when it is not there, when information chaos reigns, the organization is threatened with collapse..

6. The structure of communications on the example of Delta Management Company LLC.

Structure of intracompany communications

OOO MC "Delta" is the managing company of the Torgovye Ryady complex. The firm employs 6 leading managers. Every month (at the end of the month), senior managers report in writing on the work done to the head of the organization. Also in this report, suggestions, wishes, requests of both the senior managers themselves and those managers who are brought under their control are possible. Previously, the requests and wishes of junior managers are discussed with their superiors - leading (senior) managers. Thus, ascending vertical communications are organized in the company.

The manager, having considered the reports of the managers, organizes a meeting with the help of the secretary in the first days of the next month, at which he gives instructions for further work on each item of the reports, and also manages and transmits information received from the external environment. At the same meeting, the chief accountant of the company is present to obtain information about the expenses incurred or upcoming expenses, income, etc. Thus, vertical downward communications are established.

Informal communications extend to birthday celebrations, meetings of the New Year, March 8, collective congratulations on a newborn child. Every year, the organization celebrates the “birthday of LLC MC Delta” - the date of registration. It is customary for the whole team to gather for these events. The company also organizes joint trips on sightseeing tours around Russia, where half of the cost of the ticket is paid by the company.

With such a communication system, the manager protected himself from unnecessary gossip and gossip, organized the effective transfer of formal (business) information between departments, and reduced information leakage as much as possible. At the same time, he provided attention to his subordinates and provided all sorts of ways for “feedback”. Also, with the help of such an organization of communications, subordinates can see in their bosses not only ordering leaders, but also just people; this is achieved through collective celebrations.

The main office of the company, as well as all divisions have their own pages on the Internet. On the main website of the company you can find information about the company, its history, divisions, the latest information about trainings, exhibitions and events of the company.

In addition to the Internet and e-mail, they have the ability to exchange information through the SAP corporate computer network. It is the standard, most commonly used management computer program worldwide. SAP allows you to improve intra-company information flows and significantly reduce daily paperwork. All departments using it have access to basic information common to all employees. For individual departments (for example, sales planning, personnel) SAP offers special applications.

A corporate magazine is sent monthly to all divisions of the company. The magazine is a channel for transmitting information both from management to subordinates, and from employees to management. Its pages contain information about changes in the strategy, the structure of the corporation, about new appointments, and not only to senior management positions, but to everything, including secretaries and other employees.

Periodically, with the help of the magazine, the company's managers hold various kinds of competitions. The purpose of some competitions is to test and "refresh" the employees' understanding of the main directions of the enterprise's strategy; the goal of others is to use the creative potential of employees to develop the most original and characterizing the spirit of the company, the attributes of the corporate image. So the company's slogan was invented, the name of the company's mascot was given, and a number of other actions were held. The winners of such competitions are awarded valuable prizes, and a separate article about them is published in the magazine.

Despite the seemingly successful functioning of a modern system of intracompany communications with numerous channels of information flow both vertically and horizontally, improving the efficiency of information exchange is one of the key problems that is constantly raised by both the head of the company and employees. There are constant problems with telephone communication, it can be difficult to get through to the central office. In addition, very often during the most "telephone hours" (from two to five in the afternoon) the staff of the central office is often absent from their workplaces due to various kinds of urgent assignments. The use of answering machines has not yet become a habit for central office employees.

Thus, not only the service personnel of the shopping complex, but also the customers of the stores cannot get through to the company, which negatively affects the corporate image.

Relationship between superior and subordinate

LLC UK "Delta" is an innovative and dynamic company, highly qualified and creative people work here. The specificity of the activity leaves its mark on the relationship between the boss and the subordinate. These relations are, in general, informal in nature, built on the basis of partnership and trust, which is also fixed in the philosophy of the organization.

Development of relations with society

The main problem that the creators of the corporate image solve is the continuous and significant expansion of the number of friends and the increase in the scale of the corporate house. The challenge is to create a favorable impression among the general public of all that the enterprise as such does for society as a whole and for each of its members individually.

The main criteria of the company's prestige, which, if possible, should be reflected in the informative part of PR campaigns that contribute to the growth of the company's reputation are:

The level of responsibility in relation to consumers and the local community, to environmental protection;

Financial stability;

Active innovation activity;

Personnel care;

High professional level and competence of managers.

The most common ways to develop relationships with society are:

Preparation and publication in specialized magazines of editorial (non-advertising) materials on the latest achievements of the company in the introduction of new technologies in servicing the complex of organizing new socially significant areas of activity;

Organization of press conferences, inviting not only the press, but also members of the public, politicians, celebrities, from various fields of science, culture, sports, etc.;

Distribution of own printed matter in the form of company magazines, brochures, booklets, etc., which presents the history of the company, its achievements, socially useful activities, concern for the welfare of consumers;

Participation in broadcast charitable events (contributions to charitable foundations, participation in "charity marathons", other events in support of the poor, sick children, disabled people, pensioners, etc.);

Support for public benefit organizations of healthcare, culture, sports, education, education, etc.

Conclusion

Summing up, we can say with confidence; that the implementation of communications is a connecting process necessary for any important managerial action, in which the role of the manager is one of the most important. First of all, the manager must be an excellent psychologist who can predict the slightest changes in the mood of the team. The psychological factor is one of the most important factors in successful communications. Secondly, the manager must have oratory skills and the ability to convince. The rhetoric of communication in developed companies is one of the leading places in the development of communications. The future of the enterprise, and with it the future of each individual employee, depends primarily on the ability to communicate with subordinates. . The manager must be able to find a common language with closed and uncommunicative people, as well as at the right time to stop the flow of chatterboxes to let other employees speak.

So, we can conclude that without mutual assistance and cooperation of management and staff it is impossible to establish an effective interaction of communications in the enterprise.

As recommendations, I can offer the famous statement of L. Iacocca: “All business transactions can ultimately be reduced to a designation in three words: people, product, profit. People come first. If you don't have a solid team, there's not much you can do about other factors." Also, in my opinion, in domestic organizations it is necessary to develop and improve top-down formal vertical communications, to increase the effectiveness of informal communications between managers and subordinates.

List of used literature.

Aleshina, I.V. Public Relations for Managers / I. V. Aleshina. – M.: Ekmos, 2003. – 480 p.

Korolko, V.G. Fundamentals of public relations / V.G.Korolko. - M.: Refl-book: Vakler, 2005. - 312 p.

Pocheptsov, G.G. Public relations for professionals / G.G.Pocheptsov. - 2nd ed. - M.: Refl-book: Vakler, 2005. - 227 p.

Batarshev A.V. "Organizational and communicative qualities of a person" (For business people). - Tallinn: Center for Information and Social Technologies "Regalis", 1998.

Vikhansky O.S., Naumov A.I. Management: Textbook m: "Higher School", 2000

Zharkovskaya E.P. Anti-crisis management. - M.: Omega-L, 2004

Krichevsky R.L. "If you are a leader" - M .: Publishing house "DELO", 1999

Lukicheva L.I. Organization management. - M. - 2004.

Meskon M.Kh., Albert M., Hedouri F. Fundamentals of management. - M.: Delo, 1999.

Taylor S. Social psychology. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2004.

Cialdini R. Social psychology. Influence. - St. Petersburg: Prime-EUROZNAK, 2002.

Ladanov I.D. "Practical Management" - M.; Publishing house "Elnik", 1995.

Matveeva A., Khoroshavina N. "Seven notes of management": Handbook of the leader / Ed. V. Krasnova and A. Privalov. - 2nd ed. - M.: CJSC "Journal Expert", 1997.

"Management of the organization": Textbook / Ed. 3.P. Rumyantseva, N.A. Salomatina. - M.: INFRA-M, 1997.

"Fundamentals of Management": Study Guide - 2nd ed. - M .: Publishing House "Dashkov and Co", 2000.

"Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship": Textbook / Ed. V.M. Vlasova. - M.: "Finance and statistics", 1995.

"Management of the organization": Textbook for universities / Ed. A.G. Porshneva and others - 2nd ed. - M.: INFRA-M, 1998.

Aliyev V.G., Dokholyan S.V. Organizational behavior. - Makhachkala: IPC of Daggos University, 1998.

Doblaev V.L. Organization theory. - M.: Youth Institute, 1995.

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Human resources and information are, perhaps, the main components of the organization of any field of activity. Production, sale of goods or provision of services: no matter what you do, employees, managers and subordinates constantly share a variety of information.

But how to evaluate the effectiveness of internal communications in a company? What are her weak points? How to "strengthen" them? Your employees can answer these questions. But how to effectively collect their opinions and draw the right conclusions is another post from the HR series.

Communications management

Any information that is in the company, as well as ways to transfer it, is an important component of management, namely, communication management. Communications are divided into external - the company's interaction with partners, suppliers, competitors, customers - and internal. Usually, external communications are handled by the PR department of the company, if it exists, as well as by the manager himself and the employees who are in charge of this interaction. All employees, without exception, take part in internal communications.

Internal communications in an organization can be vertical (transfer of information from managers to subordinates and vice versa) and horizontal (transfer of information within departments, among colleagues or between departments). These are formal internal communications, which are usually supported by official documents, such as the “Regulations on structural divisions”. Separately, informal communications can be singled out - in the "smoking room", at lunch or in the corridor, information is distributed quite actively and quickly, which cannot but affect the entire communication system as a whole.

What media are commonly used for corporate communications? This, of course, is e-mail, Skype, telephone, corporate information systems, corporate newspapers and boards, planning meetings and meetings, general meetings and individual conversations.

The state of affairs in the company, goals, objectives, problems of department heads and specific employees, information about new services, products, customers, regulations and prices, orders, reporting forms, data on successes and failures - all this information, important or not very urgent or the one that can wait is passed from employee to employee. And, of course, especially when the company is large and there is a lot of information, errors and shortcomings can occur if the system of internal communications in the organization is imperfect. “They didn’t say”, “Not everyone reported”, “They didn’t fully explain”, “I didn’t understand”, “I didn’t attend” - the price of all these errors is directly proportional to the value of the content of the communication.

A simple example. In a company trading in industrial equipment, the prices for related services for its installation have changed. Heads of departments recorded the information for themselves, but did not bring it to their subordinates. Clients were billed at the old price, and then they had to urgently amend the service contracts and issue new bills. All this, of course, does not have the best effect on the company's reputation, customer reviews and, as a result, profits.

After such a situation, it would seem that the most logical thing for the director is to “scold” the heads of departments and control the delivery of information to each subordinate. But it is wiser to think about conducting an audit of internal communications in the company, for which it is useful to ask yourself a few questions. How well does information flow vertically and horizontally within each department and across the company as a whole? What information is not enough? Which distribution channels perform worse? How to fix it? The clearer the picture of a company's communications, the more effective communication recommendations can be developed and implemented.

Thus, the purpose of the audit (research, diagnostics) of the company's internal communications system is to identify weak and strong points in the transfer of information among employees. To conduct an audit, it is most convenient to use a matrix questionnaire, which can be compiled on the basis of a typical variant. In the lines of the matrix, you can place the main characteristics of information (its essence), and in the columns - the main sources, or channels for disseminating information. Below is an example of such a table.

When filling out the matrix, you can use simple notation (“Tick, cross”) or enter a special scale (“Rate from 1 to 5, where 1 is very poorly disseminated and 5 is very good”).

In addition to the matrix, a number of additional questions can be used, for example, “How satisfied are you with the situation with the movement of information in the company?”, “What other information would you like to receive?”, Which can also be answered using a scale, or, more informatively, a form free answer.

Audit principles

First, when conducting almost any research in a company, it is very important to convey the goals of the events to the participants. Briefly and concisely inform everyone about what and why you are doing, answer questions from employees. Secondly, this audit may well be conducted anonymously, but it may make sense to simply sign the forms by department so that the picture of communications is more detailed.

If you oblige employees to sign forms, you can get unreliable results: as a rule, only marks of 5 points and answers “Everything suits me”, which is basically uninformative, and such a study will have a negative emotional response from employees. Thirdly, it is better to do everything on the same day at the same time in all departments - employees will not have time to discuss details with each other and the picture of the results will be more believable. By the way, such diagnostics can be carried out regularly; this is especially important when changes occur in the company - this method will allow timely tracking of serious errors in the dissemination of information.

Audit results can be processed both qualitatively and quantitatively. There is room for your imagination here - you can calculate the average scores for each channel of information or conduct a free-form cluster analysis of answers. In the course of analyzing the results of the study, conclusions and recommendations for optimizing the system of internal communications in the company will be formed.

This can be expanding information distribution channels (introducing general meetings or corporate mailings), working to control the assimilation of information by employees (does everyone, for example, use updated product descriptions) and even organizing corporate events so that employees can discuss company news more openly and informally.

Internal and external communications. Internal and external communications Establishing and maintaining internal communications

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