Organizational communication: principles and practices

Communication

TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS MODEL

Communication plays an extremely important role in the success of any organizational culture. How employees and management communicate with and respond to each other is what determines the level and type of communication that exists in the organization. In this connection, Transactional Analysis Model can help in identification of problems/conflicts that exist in communication method and offer useful suggestions. In short TA model can be effectively used to understand and analyze behavior of different organizational members. Transactional analysis Model was developed by Dr. Eric Berne MD in 1960s and it ruled the world of communication theories during the next two decades. It is still used widely to remove communication blocks. Transactional Analysis Model works on two important concepts: a) every person has three sides to his personality and b) when two people communication, one of these sides is evoked leading to a transaction.

It is important to understand what these three sides are and how they interact with each other in order to assess the effectiveness of this model in organizational communication. These sides are: Parent, Adult and Child. Parent is that part of us which is rather controlling, nurturing or dominating in nature. Adult is the side of us, which is rational and assesses situation reasonably to develop accurate response to it. Child is the fun-loving immature side of us that can be impulsive, aggressive, stubborn or even manipulating depending on the situation. Apart from these three sides, there are certain other key concepts of communication that must be borne in mind to understand TA model. These concepts include strokes, games and conflict. Stroke refers to a gesture one makes to acknowledge the other person. "A pat on the shoulder, a caress on cheek or hair, a hug, a kiss, a back rub, a massage are samples" (Muriel, 43) Games are pre-recorded scripts that we act our during communicational transaction. These include pre-conceived notions about religion, sex, love, race etc. In our daily interaction, we use these scripts often but Berne believed they must be scarped if they appear to be negative in nature. Conflict is the situation that arises when wires get 'crossed' resulting in break down of communication.

This model can play an effective role in facilitation organizational communication because it addresses the key problems that occur when two people interact. Management must try not to evoke the controlling parent or adaptive child side of their employees' in order to keep communication channel opens and to avoid conflicts.

VERBAL AND NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

Verbal and nonverbal communication both form important parts of overall effective communication. While we are familiar with what is meant by verbal communication, it is the nonverbal communication that puzzles us since it can be ambiguous in nature causing conflict and confusion. Verbal communication refers to communication that makes use of a language that two people understand. Nonverbal on the other hand refers to cues, symbols and signals that people may make use of in place of verbal communication but mostly to augment verbal messages. LAUREL J. DUNN (1998) defines as the "mode for conveying messages without the use of verbal language. It may enhance or detract from a verbal communication. It regulates relationships by affecting the likelihood of introduction and continued interaction. We are able to infer emotion through nonverbal communication and influence other's perception of our competence, power and vulnerability. It also plays a role in the perception of the actual message we are trying to convey."