Personal Communication With Other Co Workers example essay topic

Organizational Communication Organizational Communication is probably the most important type of interpersonal communication a person has to perform in his or her adult life. Communicating with others in the work environment is a process that can not be looked at as a small one, but as a very complex and of utmost significance to a person's life as a whole. We all know communication is a key factor in everyone's life, and communicating in the work place is just a larger key for cultural expectancy and normalcy. Everyone communicates with each other in all different aspects of society. When you are younger, school is the main agency for social communication and in later life it is the job you occupy.

It is socially stated and seen as a norm that in adult life you should have a job for means of survival. Therefore, another way to put it is the best way to survive in life is to work. Because of this sociological norm, you must be able to adapt to your job. This is the most important aspect of the work environment. And the only way to adapt to your surroundings and be able to participate in everyday work life is to communicate with others.

Organizational Communication is therefore basically broken up into two parts; The Socialization process of communicating, and the later communication between co-workers in everyday situations. First and foremost we will look at the more complex and significant process of communication socialization. Sociologist J. Van Maanen's definition of organizational communication is 'the process by which a person learns the values and norms and required behaviors which permit him or her to participate as a member of the organization' In other words, its learning the ropes of the occupation. Not only any skill you may need, but how co-workers communicate, and understanding the importance of the organization as well. One thing to understand is socialization in an organization is not a temporary process that stops after the first few months on the job, but it is fact a continues process that will change as the longer a person stays with that organization. All socialization process are broken up into stages, and organizational socialization is not any different.

Think back to when you were starting a new job and it will be very easy to see and understand these stages. Remember the first day on a new job, when you probably didn't know any one, and you didn't know how to act, or what actually must be done or expected of you. You knew very little if anything about your co-workers, so conversations must evolve to get to know them. The initial stage is called pre-arrival or anticipatory socialization, which doesn't rely too much on communication with others, except for maybe conversing with the employer.

Many times the interview phase of this stage can have a great effect on if the potential employee will take the job offered. More over, in this stage the person forms expectations about the job. Basically the potential new employee has to make a decision on what life would be like on an everyday bases in this organization. Though interpersonal communication is not largely thrown in the picture, much intra personal communication must take place by the individual. He or she must think and communicate to themselves on if taking this job will be fulfilling, and if the job is for them.

Sociologist J. Porter explained this stage that if the potential employee does in fact make the decision to enter the organization that the 'organization's socialization process does not construct a brand new individual so to speak, but rather attempts to reconstruct him's ome times in this stage introductory communication with potential co-workers can effect your decision. However the socialization process does not really begin into you can interact and communicate with others that will be in your group. I'm sure everyone remembers this stage. It's a tough decision to make on whether you want to enter the job. There is not much to base your expectancies on. Studies have shown, and more over all of you can understand that if the interview does not go well or you didn't fell comfortable communicating with the employer, most times you " ll think the job is not for you.

But lets move on from that stage into the second one. Let's say you decide to enter the job and proceed with the socialization process. The second stage is called the encounter stage, or the breaking in period. This is in most cases the most difficult stage to go through. This is the stage where you start to understand the attitude, behavior, and communication type in your work environment.

In early Socialization it's very tough to know what to expect. Go back to remembering that first day on the new job. You don't know how the people act, or how they communicate with each other. There are many factors to take into consideration. The only way to learn is time.

You not only have to learn how they communicate in business issues but personal issues as well. Face it, the work place is a social agent. Work is not always the number one thing on everyone's mind. Social personal communication behaviors are a very important part of the process of organizational communication. The major thing in the process is that a basic interest line is already set in the simple fact that you are co-workers, so you must communicate, and therefore will have a common issues to communicate about.

In early part of this stage you try to incorporate past job experiences to use as a communication link. That is what you originally try to base the pattern of communication on. However the change can be extremely different. An older job may have been very strict in the fact that rules are set, and a bending of the rules is met with punishment. There may have been very minimal free time to have personal communication with other co-workers, or perhaps the reverse.

Therefore, learning these new norms and behaviors may be very difficult. Let's take a look at an example. Let's say Mark's former job was at a little store where there were only about 30 employees, however there was not to much free time to converse with any other co-workers. Just a simple conversation about the store. Mark gets the impression that personal communication is not important in the workplace.

Then Mark gets a new job at a big corporation where there are let's say 5000 people in the building. And oh lets say 100 people in his department. Do you think it will be easy for Mark to communicate with his fellow co-workers? I'm sure some of you went through a similar situation. Personally I know have, so I guess I actually should of just use the last example in first person then. Anyway, it's simply a tough thing to do.

Well the first thing to do of course is to what Sociologist J. T Hackman calls normalize the settings. Basically that is to discover what are normal and abnormal behaviors and communication patterns in the organization. Therefore the new employee is attempting to cope with the initial state in hope of learning it as a normal setting in the work environment. The normalizing process is essentially made up of commutative factors, both verbal and non-verbal.

The new employee interprets the surroundings and the culture of the organization primarily from formal and informal communication with others. The new employee learns role requirements and less personal and more business related topics formally usually from a supervisor, and usually the communication is not in person but more in writing. Therefore informal or unofficial expectations and conversations are learned primarily from interactions with members of his immediate work group. It's just like a child in school. You can understand this, you usually don't act or communicate the same around the boss as you do your co-workers, but of course there are exceptions. Primarily supervisors or managers are seen as more serious and business oriented that you learn the expectations from he or she, and learn basic communication socialization from workers that are on your level.

I'm sure everyone went thew this and can understand it. There are other types of communication patterns you are socialized to as well. Communication in meetings is also an important part of communicating in an organization. Most organizations have meetings to discuss business-related issues that are usually important. Since this is yet another important and required avenue in a business it is very important to be able to communicate with others. In this stage of the process when you attend your first meeting, you usually sit back and feel out how others are communicating.

This aspect may be tough because the first meeting you may attend might be of extremely importance and you have to speak about an issue. It can be especially difficult if it is your first experience in that atmosphere. Personally my first day on the job we had a meeting just like we do every morning to discuss current business related issues. Even though half the time we are BS-ing about what we did on the weekend and so forth. But when I first started there I didn't know how the meetings were going to be, so I just sat back and learned the normalcy of the group. I'll admit it was a pain staking and intimating process to sit in a conference room, with co-workers who you don't know and like wise they are unfamiliar with you.

I sat and listened on how the communication climate was in the room and tried to comprehend that this is normalcy and that I have to adapt to his type of communication if I want to be excepted in the group. Meetings are probably the most important part of Socialization of communicating in an organization because you are surrounded and encapsulated in the group that you will have to working with. After seeing how the group acts as a whole, you must then see how different people in your group act individually. This is also an important part of the process because this is when you start to select whom you will most closely be knitted to in your immediate group.

Working as a team is always important, but there are always times when work buddies seem closer than to you than do others. This process of beginning to communicate with individual is the same for any arena where communication with an individual is needed, just like in a school. It's like walking into class for the first time and you try to select the person or persons you think are most like you. Once you select them you try to have a conversation about a common interest, usually initially the job itself until you feel more comfortable to talk about more personal things.

Surface personal things like where you " re from, where did you go to school, and what family you have. This stage is where the new employee starts to learn how individuals communicate and therefore try to gain a work relationship with coworkers. Basically the encounter stage of organizational socialization is where the new employee begins to define, label, and socially map the new work environment. The new employee's construction of organizational reality or normalcy is a by-product of the communication with superiors, and fellow workers in both formal business communication and informal personal communication. Once you start to become aware of the way people act, communicate and the behaviors and attitudes in the encounter stage, you now begin to conform to those changes in the final stage of socialization called the metamorphic stage. Also known as the change and acquisition stage, the new employee completes the process of socialization by adapting to the way of the others in the organization.

Basically, the new employee shifts his personality to a personality similar to his or her co-workers to be able to exist in the group. After all this whole process is to become 'normal' as seen by everyone else in the group. Conformity is the key in an organization. Not to say that everyone's personality is the same, and all have the exact same attitudes, behaviors, and communication patterns, but more to the fact that the organization kind of shapes or twists their personality to fit the organization. I'm sure you can relate, everyone's personality is different.

You may work with people that are very different, culturally, socially, ethnically, but in the organization a type of sub culture is formed that all the members are part of. And after you learn how each person acts, and communicates it is much easier to coexist and interact with them. Sociologist T. Cap low explained that there are four requirements that a person goes threw in this final stage. The new employee develops a new self-image that conforms with the norms of the others in the group.

The new employee establishes and modifies his interpersonal relationships through communication patterns. Acquires new values, and lastly modifies behavioral patterns. Basically after time of interpreting and analyzing what conforms to the normal reality of the organization, the employee is now seen as part of the group because he thinks acts, behaves and communicates similarly to the others in his work environment. This is the key stage because, basically it is very hard to be part of the organization without adapting to the way it lives. This stages also important because ii is where relationships are formed with co-workers.

Some times relationships that even go outside the work environment. Good relationships with your co-workers are important for satisfactory work habits both personally and for the organization it self. Let's face it; in your adult life work is the major agency for socializing. Great friendships and even interment relationships are formed from learning and finally conforming to others that you work with.

Personally, I have been at the same job for almost 2 years, and I met some great people, and have a great work relationship with all the people in my department. It's funny because we are very different. I am actually the youngest person in the whole site. Though I am very different from my co-workers we get along great and many times go out for a drink or something to eat. The way my department is set up is that we are all in a little room actually only my immediate group about 10 of us, and we all have our own cubicles and more often then not are hanging around just talking about stuff that has nothing to do with work. Just socializing between each other.

Well not actually more often than not, we do actually do work. But a lot of times it's at our desk, so we just have conversations with each other. Personally I think having good communication with your co-workers is the most important thing in an organization. And not only personal, its just that that's usually the best part of the day, but having good communication in business issues as well.

A bond is usually formed in communication do to the fact that employees want, or have to meet certain goals for the better of the corporation. Personally there is nothing better than being able to go to work and feel comfortable with interacting with your co-workers. I'm 21 years old and most of the people in my department are almost double my age, with some exceptions, and we all get along well. I know I'm probably being spoiled, because I, like you, have had jobs where you just cant stand the people you work with or your supervisor.

You can't communicate with them, it's just hopeless and it's a pretty bad feeling. You hate going to work, you hate having to put up with them. So you can see how important it is to be in good communication and have a good report with co-workers. I know you can't get along with everyone, and that's not the way life is. Not all jobs will the socialization process be fun and fulfilling, and easy. Basically good communication is always better, no matter whom it be, your spouse, your friend or your co-workers.

One thing that cannot be overlooked is the fact that the stages of socialization are to some extent a constant feature of all employees' lives. Things some times change in an organization just as they change in the real environment, and we must be able to change with them just as we try to do in that real environment. Moreover, communication is in all areas an important facet that we must be able to master if we want to have the ultimate experience in what we do. Lets face it we are all young and have or whole lives ahead of us. Most of that time is going to be occupied by the occupation we choose. In fact we may go through many jobs to find the one that we are most comfortable in.

But above all the ability to communicate well with important others are something we cannot easily pass by, but must use to make our lives satisfying. Wood, Julia T. (1998) Communication Mosaics: A New Introduction to the Field of Communication. Wadsworth Publishing CompanyRoloff, Michael E. & Berger, Charles R. (1982) Social Cognition and Communication Sage PublicationsDeveroux Ferguson, Sherry & Ferguson, Stewart (1988) Organizational Communication Transaction BooksMacionis, John R. (1998) Society: The Basics. Prentice Hall Inc. Berne, Eric (1963) The Structure and Dynamics of Organizations and Groups. B. Lippincott Company.