IntroductionWhy all the noise from senior management about improved communication? Organizations need communication, in all sorts of relationships. When organizations focus on the professional relationships, the managers wants to communicate to be able to increase his or her employees' knowledge. In this paper, I will describes and elaborate on two types of communication: lateral and vertical. Furthermore, I will also compare the two types of communication and how they relate to my organization.Vertical CommunicationVertical communication can be described as the transfer of information, in the order from highest to the lowest, in an organizational structure, (Spillan, Mino, & Rowles, 2002). In my company, decisions are usually made at a divisional level and communicated vertically. The passing of information comes from the division, goes to the regional level, then to local management, and finally to staff. However, because of our organizational structure, e ...view middle of the document...
Effective listening, from upper and lower management, has created problems in my work environment. Furthermore, this is a problem because the majority of management's time is spent in meetings and not at their immediate work environment."The unity of command constrains the communication to specified vertical connections among management, departments, and staff," (Spillan, Mino, & Rowles, 2002). Individual departments, in my organization, have individual goals. Individual departmental goals have also created conflict. The conflict comes from not communicating individual departmental goals laterally. For example, the individual goals of a customer service representative need to be communicated to the all staff members in the other departments. This helps members, from all departments, understand individual job performance. Why would a customer service representative tell a customer who his or her cable will be back on in 2 hours when our goal is 24 hours?Lateral CommunicationLateral communication can be described as the transfer of information, in the order from highest to the lowest, in an organizational structure, but the information is shared among peers at similar levels, (Spillan, Mino, & Rowles, 2002). The purpose of lateral communication is to keep organization staff briefed with current policies, procedures, and changes. Managers, in my organization, lack the understanding and collaboration with other departments. Who is to blame for this? As a non-salary employee, I can not state fault. However, the type of managers who are able to communicate laterally, will allow my organization to keep up with our ever-changing business structure.ConclusionWhen a person understands the obstructions and advantages in his or her organization, that person's knowledge and professionalism will start the process of building support and developing creative paths for lateral communication. However, this process might only start at the departmental level. If more lateral communication is demonstrated at my organization, then customer and employee satisfaction will grow.References:Spillan, J. E., Mino, M., & Rowles, M. S. (2002). Sharing organizational messages through effective lateral communication. Communication Quarterly, 50(2), 96-102. Retrieved May 10, 2006, from ProQuest (299657901).
