The importance of communication for organisationaleffectiveness.

This chapter discusses the key contribution of communication to organisational success. There is now a host of studies to demonstrate the centrality of communication in the business world. The chapter reviews this work, to show how organisations that develop effective communication processes have more positive work environments and are more effective in achieving their goals. It also illustrates how communication contributes to increased job satisfaction for employees and better bottom line benefits for the organisation. We know the key constituents of effective organisational communication and the real surprise is why many organisations ignore these. Successful companies have skilled managers who communicate well with people at all levels. This leads to a range of positive outcomes. Working relationships are optimised, creativity is encouraged and employees feel an increased sense of belonging and commitment to the organisation. This has both psychological effects in terms of increased employee satisfaction and tangible bottom-line benefits in the form of increased company profits. This chapter provides a template with which to analyse organisational communication, in terms of the communicators involved, the goals they pursue, the messages sent and the channels used to send them, the attention paid to upwards feedback and the context within which all of this occurs. All of these make an important contribution to organisational success.