Have you ever asked yourself how did Google Company succeed?
I know you did, but do you really know the answer? As we all know the principal concurrent of Google is Microsoft with Bing. Both have had a high level of innovation had attracted scientific minds. They were following exactly the same goals but only Google company became the leader. What made Google special was not their ability to think differently, nor their ability to build such a huge company, what have made Google special is the use of ultra-modern ways to communicate in the organization, the company gives employees freedom to express their point of view and contribute to innovation; any employee can directly talk to the ultimate boss too; also employees can work 24*7 even when they are at home, they can receive work emails from their superiors and do video conferencing to discuss project.
In contrast great companies should all have a good business communication, they should encourage exchanging information; boost their employees’ and managers’ communication to achieve their organizational goals. It seems normal however, studies show that 60% of companies don’t have a long-term strategy for their internal communications (workforce) in fact, 74% of employees have the feeling they are missing out on company news (Tribal impact), 57% of employees report not being given clear directions and 69% of managers are not comfortable communicating with the employees in general. (HR Technologist) and only 5.9% of companies communicate goals daily. Aren’t you surprised?
Since effective communication between workers is a key part for any company’s success, it is obviously necessary for business leaders to recognize its importance in making the objectives clear for everyone, and to know the different basic forms of communication to implement in the workplace. Besides, business communication includes external communication between the company and its stakeholders that needs to be concise under a stated purpose to ensure better sales, better performance and maintain a good relationship. After all, business communication can be seen from three different angles. Tackling the first description, the structure of communication is bifurcated into two categories which are formal and informal communication.
Regarding the second description which is related to the medium, we distinguish between verbal communication whether it’s written or spoken words, and non-verbal form which occurs in actions as the following saying states “action speak louder than words”. In my opinion, a communication cannot be completed if non-verbal means are included! The third description is based on the way information flow within a formal set up in the organization. In fact, we distinguish between downward communication which involves the communication from a superior to a subordinate, the upward form where messages flow from the bottom level of the hierarchy to the upper level, and finally the lateral or horizontal form of internal communication where communications occur between persons within the same level of organizational hierarchy.
As standard as its presence may seem, business communication has a crucial role in the realization of company’s objectives and goals. Goals are smaller things that could be planned on a day to day basis which can make up for objectives that are considered in long term. Both of them are important in all aspects of life, although they are paramount in managing successful organization and to ensure its survival. With clear and measurable ones, the company can measure its progress and can know where it is going. Many companies fail to execute strategy because of the lack of goals and objectives, since goals help the building blocks of the overall strategy, which leads to an objective. For each company, both managers and employees need to know company’s needs and what they are supposed to accomplish, in order to make it much easier for them to contribute.
The objectives of an organization are classified into four categories, firstly the financial objectives which aims at the maximization of the profit and the growth of the company. Secondly, social objectives such as good working conditions and the participation of employees in making decisions. Thirdly, environmental objectives, such as production methods that preserve the environment and natural resources. Finally, the societal objectives. Therefore, spending time discussing the strategy and all business affairs could help companies with the goals they strive for and help them to achieve their long-term objectives. After defining its internal communication objectives, the company must invest in external communication, especially to improve its image.
A brand image policy seeks to trace a territory and to impose it on the various expressions of the company. Business Communication is about creating conditions of independency. Everybody must participate in the same institutional message. To ensure this homogeneity, the most effective thing for the enterprise is to consider a certain value and bypass it to the following acts of communication of institutional message, publicity-product, visual communication, sponsoring action, etc. If we consider “Slogans” that companies use to express a message about their brand we will find for example:” Refresh the world. Make a difference” Coca-Cola’s, “Create more smiles with every sip and every bite” Pepsi’s.
They have crossed the boundaries, conquered hearts and minds thanks to a good communication. You certainly know these two brands, no one has ever been spared by their notoriety neither their influence. In the field of refreshments; it became evident to ask people about their favorite coke and be sure that they will say one of those. It became a history, an experience a memento talking about those two American giants. Coca-Cola and Pepsi, an endless communication war, but which brings a lot of money-37 billion Euros of annual turnover in the account of Coca-Cola, and more than 50 billion Euros in the account of Pepsi which is more diversified than Coca-Cola. In final, they teach us that communication is the key to success for any business company to achieve a vast amount of clients and earn their loyalty, and more, to realize their goals and objectives.
In the age of technological revolution, organizations are living in an environment characterized by a strong technological potential which leads them to set up new ways of working involving a change in the way how employees communicate. That is to say technology is used by organizations in many ways, it is a vicious circle of which purpose is improving communication and the flow of information between the various departments of an enterprise, HR relies on technology to select, train and develop employees. Accounting employees rely on technology to record and control the different transactions realized by the company. Management relies on technology to communicate with those they supervise; it is done by using new technological platforms that enable employees to communicate easily with each other as Google hangouts, slack which are so easy to handle.
I’d like to point out that technology is a blessing, especially in business; to illustrate this, let’s take an example of an organization of which employees are spread over different regions, imagine the situation if there was no technology, the company wouldn’t success to coordinate with all the employees. But we can’t simply overlook the negative aspects and effects of a misuse of technology, we mean by that employees who spend their working time surfing in social media and other useless applications, the harmful effect of this fact, you can waste much of your time without being aware, because it takes you to another world you have imagined that it is less boring, it interrupts your working time, reduces your productivity. “In a recent study using a NASA workload scale which measures stress, they found that people who were interrupted during their working time with phone calls and messages had higher levels of stress, frustration, feeling of time pressure and mental workload.
From these facts, to succeed in your organization, you have to set up a great internal communication strategy that enhances collaboration across your organization!
Authors
- El machrouhi Zineb
- El Faizi Fatima Ezzahra
- Nouhaila Bouziane
- Aboubakrine Diallo
- Ibtissam Beradi