Why Is Effective Communication Important in Management?
In today's business climate, employers are looking for management candidates with stellar communication skills. This is because they have realized that the ability to effectively communicate is essential for successful managers. Cultivation of these skills can lead to greater professional success.
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Productivity
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Effective managerial communication can lead to higher levels of productivity in a labor force. Effective communication will clearly outline expectations for workers, which allows for greater comprehension of directives, requirements and goals. In turn, employees are better able to deliver on these needs. Moreover, if workers can communicate with management, they are more likely to be able to gain clarification on points of potential confusion, further amplifying these results.
Employee Relationships
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Managers who practice effective communication understand the importance of transparency in communication with employees. Straight forward communication and disclosure with employees does a couple of things. First, it allows employees to have a full view of the situation when addressing a problem or potential conflict, resulting in more comprehensive and creative solutions. Second, it inspires trust and loyalty in the labor force. Loyalty often translates into higher retention rates and productivity, saving a company thousands of dollars.
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Legal Culpability
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Management must communicate effectively in order to adhere to different legal codes. If words are not carefully chosen, management may find themselves the target of a lawsuit for discrimination. As such, managers must be careful to keep their communication clear, concise or professional. Laws regarding sexual harassment, racial and sexual discrimination, and cultural tolerance have made this a larger issue in the past several decades.
Company Reputation
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People are often defined by their words, and the same goes for companies. Individuals in a position of management frequently find themselves representing the company they work for. As such, the words they choose and the manner in which they communicate can either negatively or positively reflect the company. An example of this might be what bank management communicated to the public when they accepted millions of dollars in bonuses after having to be bailed out by the American taxpayer. Despite verbal protests of these managers, their actions spoke louder than words, damaging their companies' images and reputations on Capitol Hill and in the public.
Intercultural Dealings
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With globalization bringing businesspeople of different cultures closer together at a rapid rate, the ability of management to effectively communicate interculturally is of great significance. Managers are often responsible for interacting with international partners and clients, meaning that they must be adept at communicating with people from different cultures. Geert Hofstede, a leading intercultural communication scholar, argues that different cultures place different emphasis on things like timeliness, respect for authority, assertive communication, risk calculation and concern for the collective or individual. A successful manager must take this differences into account and accommodate for them in their communication approach.
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