Definitions of Organizational Communication
Furthermore, Shockley-Zalabak asserts that many different definitions of communication have evolved through the years. Organizational communication can be viewed as a process, people, messages, meaning, or purpose. It is important to understand the assumptions behind these definitions. The way in which one understands organization communication in these terms can have an effect on his or her behavior within the organization:
- as process it creates and sustains the organization as a continuous and on-going 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, intersubjective understandings of the world
- as purpose it is oriented toward coordinating and controlling the actions of members
The essential ingredient to a definition of organizational communication (as distinct from interpersonal and other forms of communication) is that organizational communication 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. Those goals may be an explicit or implicit. A notion of control is also required. Organizational communication involves controlling the activities of multiple individuals in order to accomplish a task or goal.