Communication and Decision-Making: Functions of Organizational Communication
Communication and Decision-Making: Functions of Organizational Communication
Communication and Decision-Making: Functions of Organizational Communication
DECISION-MAKING
MODULE 8
Pillars of Communication
Communication is happening between individuals when all parties are engaged in
uncovering and understanding the meaning behind the words. It’s not something that
one person does alone. When business professionals make their contribution to the
uncovering and understanding process, they should strive to be:
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2. Concise. Messages should feature only necessary information.
3. Objective. Messages should be impartial.
4. Consistent. Messages, when communicated more than once, should always be the
same.
5. Complete. Messages should feature all the necessary information.
6. Relevant. Messages should have meaning to their receiver.
7. Understanding of Audience Knowledge. Messages should consider what the
receiver already knows about the situation, and not assume too much or too little.
Communication Process
The communication process involves a series of actions done by individuals who
want to share information with each other.
Verbal Communication
● It is the type of communication that involves the use of sounds and words. It can
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be delivered either through oral or written means by the sender.
○ Oral Communication. It is the most effective way of communicating with
others. Its primary advantage is the speed of exchange of information and
feedback from sender to receiver and vice versa. But a major disadvantage
of it is the possible distortion of the message. Another is the language
barrier between the sender and the receiver.
○ Written Communication. This form includes memos, emails, text
messages, and anything that is done through writing or typing. Written
communication does not only involve written words but also drawn
symbols. Unlike oral communication, these are verifiable or tangible forms
that the receiver can use as a reference at a later date. However, it is
time-consuming and most have a lack of feedback.
Non-Verbal Communication
● It is the use of movements, facial expressions, personal appearances, eye contact,
and all other non-words to communicate. It helps a conversation to be more
interesting.
● In a classroom, a teacher uses this to call his/ her students’ attention.
● In an office, it is visible in their general appearance, personal hygiene, and dress
codes or uniforms.
Interpersonal Communication
● It is the exchange between two or more individuals or groups.
Importance of Feedback
● It is an important part of the communication process.
● Used to assess if the message decoded the way it was intended.
● Help improve employees’ productivity and manager’s effectiveness since there is
a proper exchange of information from the two individuals.
● There are fewer misunderstandings and more flow of ideas present in the
employee-employer relationship.
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3. Lack of Credibility of the Sender. Communicate feelings behind facts and do not
be afraid to repeat the message and ask for their feedback.
4. Information or Communication Overload. This happens when people are so
overloaded with information from various sources that they begin to question the
relevance of each piece of information.
5. Poor Communication. This involves mispronunciations of words, lack of
attentiveness, strong dependence on standard expressions, and all other ways or
skills that limit the ability to send or receive information.
Ethics in Communication
1. Honesty. It should always prevail when presenting facts and figures regarding
goals, expectations, and other relevant company information.
2. Refrain from Doing Harm. the communication, either incorporated to individual
level or internal to external parties, should always make every effort to refrain
from doing harm.
3. Fairness to All Stakeholders. They should disclose both to their employees and
their surrounding community how their wastes are disposed of.
CONCEPTS OF DECISION-MAKING
● It refers to choosing among alternative courses of action which may even include
procrastination.
● Management is often seen as synonymous with decision-making but it should be
clarified that not all forms of management can be solely attributable to
decision-making.
Types of Decisions
1. Programmed Decision. Monotonous and repetitive process wherein the
individual making decision/s considers certain SOPs, guidelines, and company
policies.
2. Nonprogrammed Decision. These decisions are taken in unstructured
situations-nonrecurring situations.
Decision-Making Models
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1. Rational Decision-Making Model. It uses objective, logical, and designed
information gathering and analysis.
2. Bounded Rationality Model. It assumes that various factors found in an
individual or in an organization limit rational decision-making.
3. Linear Model of Decision-Making. This involves listing the pros and cons of each
alternative that the decision-maker finds.
4. Intuitive Decision-Making. It is often used when encountering problems with
high levels of uncertainty or complexity, or when the decision is unusual and the
managers don’t have past experience with this kind of problem.
5. Garbage Can Model. It assumes that the managers use information about
problems, members, solutions, and opportunities randomly in generating new
ideas and possible decisions.
Bias in Decision-Making
1. Overconfidence Bias. This is when people think highly of themselves that they
tend to be overly optimistic about being right all the time.
2. Anchoring Bias. this is the tendency to decide based on the initial information
only and fail to adjust for succeeding information as it is gathered.
3. Confirmation Bias. This is the tendency of selecting and gathering information that
only supports one’s initial conclusions to reaffirm past choices.
4. Hindsight Bias. This is when an individual believes that he/she has accurately
predicted a particular occurrence after the outcome of such an event becomes known.
5. Representative Bias. This kind of bias occurs when an individual wrongly compares
two situations due to their similarity, or when he or she impulsively evaluates a
happening without comparing it to similar situations.
6. Availability Bias. This form of bias suggests that individuals tend to use readily
available information when making a decision rather than conducting proper observation
and research.
7. Commitment Errors. When a decision-maker insists on being committed to a previous
decision in spite of negative information, he/she commits this error.
8. Randomness Errors. The kind of error or bias wherein impaired decisions are made
because of creating meaning from random events.
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● Nominal Group Technique. It is a structured process of generating and ranking ideas
because the technique helps reduce interaction among members at some stages in
group decision-making.
● The Delphi Technique. This technique suggests the use of a series of formal surveys
and rating scales to obtain various opinions about an issue. A facilitator or a small group
may form a questionnaire to ask for the opinions of others on a particular problem or
topic and then gather and summarize the responses to develop a more focused
questionnaire. This can be repeated several times until they have identified the primary
cause of the issue. This technique can be done in larger groups and be conducted