Definitions of Organizational Communication

Like all forms of communication, organizational communication contains senders who encode messages and transmit them via channels to receivers who then decode the messages and offer feedback. Organizational communication, however, is not only comprised of the interactions of individuals. Shockley-Zalabak explains that we can best understand organizational communication as "a complex interaction of process, people, messages, meaning, and purpose"(p. 17).

• As process it creates and sustains the organization as a continuous and ongoing system.
• As people it involves the behavior of individuals within a collective social entity.
• As messages it consists of the specific messages created and circulated by its members.
• As meaning it connects members in shared understandings of the world.
• As constitutive of organizations, communication does not just describe organizations, but actually creates them—communication activities are the basic “stuff” of organizational life.

What sets organizational communication apart from interpersonal and other forms of communication is that it is a communicative process oriented toward coordinating the efforts of multiple individuals (usually, but not always organizational members) and groups in order to achieve a goal of an organization. Organizational communication is a highly complex process because it involves interpersonal and small group communication and coordinates the behaviors of many people and groups.