Communication and Decision Making

Communication and decision making in organizations are dependent on each other. Without good communication, there cannot be effective decision making at any level in the organization. Lapses in communication or ineffective communication will result in ineffective or incorrect decisions; if communication is ineffective or lacking in follow-up following the decision the decision may fail.
Communication within the BDC organization is primarily downward and takes many forms. Due to the nature of the work performed a majority of communication is in the form of SOP’s, policies, and manuals. Other forms of communication utilized include email and group meetings, with email being by far the most common method for communicating to all members of the staff.
It has been difficult to schedule regular ‘in person’ staff meetings. As a result there is little opportunity to get verbal and non-verbal feedback from staff, face to face, about issues, decisions being considered or that have been made. The following quote is relevant to the inability to effectively communicate with the BDC staff: “Great communicators are skilled at reading a person/group by sensing the moods, dynamics, attitudes, values and concerns of those being communicated with…. The message is not about the messenger; it has nothing to do with messenger; it is however 100% about meeting the needs and the expectations of those you’re communicating with.” (Myatt, 2012) Although email can be an acceptable communication, the lack of group meetings makes it difficult to be in tune with the BDC group as there is little opportunity to personally interact with each other. The lack of consistent face to face communication that allows for downward, upward and horizontal communication has created a lack of trust between and amongst staff and leadership, and exacerbated the use of the grapevine for information. The lack of trust has made upward communication and leadership is not receiving the real information needed to make good decisions! The grapevine spreads partial truths, untruths and misinformation which also impede communication and effective decision making by all members of the organization. Decision making in the BDC organization is generally programmed, again, due to the nature of the work being performed. As previously noted, effective communication is key to effective decision making. Decision making has been hindered, somewhat regularly, by the inability to identify exactly what the problem is! As discussed in the text identifying problems can be hindered by perceptual problems, defining problems in terms of solutions, and identifying symptoms as problems. (James L. Gibson, 2012) Non programmed decisions for this organization are being made often in order to solve problems that arise as the result of staff issues and concerns, or as the result of an error. Identifying the root cause is often hindered for the reasons detailed in the previous paragraph particularly perception and in identifying symptoms as problems. The decisions made are found to be inadequate on many occasions as the same issues keep popping up; this is because decisions are not being approached in an effective manner. ‘Leaders who demonstrate good judgment understand that judgment is a process, not an event’ (Bennis, 2007) Retrospectively considering decisions made by and for this organization, both programmed and non-programmed, it is clear that many are made as if these were events (‘putting out fires’?) rather than carefully considered and a process applied that allowed opportunity to ‘redo’ at defined points and come to a successful decision/solution.
References
Bennis, N. M. (2007, October). Making Judgment Calls. Harvard Business Review.
James L. Gibson, J. M. (2012). Organizations: Behavior, Structure and Processes. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Myatt, M. (2012, April 4). 10 Communication Secrets of Great Leaders. Retrieved February 5, 2013, from Forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemyatt/2012/04/04/10-communication-secrets-of-great-leaders/