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Unit 8: Communication and Conflict

situations quickly and professionally. Conflict can be very positive; if you deal with it openly, Notes
you can strengthen your work unit by solving problems. Conflicting views give you a chance
to learn more about yourself, explore views of others, and develop productive relationships.
Clear and open communication is the cornerstone of successful conflict resolution.

8.1 Purposes of Communication

Some important purposes which communication servers are as under:
1. It is needed in the recruitment process to persuade potential employees of the merits
of working for the enterprise. The recruits are told about the company’s organization
structure, its policies and practices.

2. It is needed in the area of orientation to make people acquainted with peers, superiors
and with company’s rules and regulations.
3. It is needed to enable employees to perform their functions effectively. Employees
need to know their job’s relationship and importance to the overall operation. This
knowledge makes it easy for them to identify with the organizational mission. If a
nurse in a hospital knows why she is to follow certain procedures with a patient and
how this relates to the total therapy programme for her, it is much easier for her to
develop an ideological commitment to the hospital.
4. It is needed to acquaint the subordinates with the evaluation of their contribution to
enterprise activity. It is a matter of some motivational importance for the subordinates
to know from their superiors how they stand and what the future may hold for them.
This appraisal, if intelligently carried out, boosts the subordinates’ morale and helps
them in building their career.
5. It is needed to teach employees about personal safety on the job. This is essential to
reduce accidents, to lower compensation and legal costs and to decrease recruitment
and training cost for replacements.
6. It is of vital importance in projecting the image of an enterprise in the society. The
amount of support which an enterprise receives from its social environment is affected
by the information which elite groups and the wider public have acquired about its
goals, activities and accomplishments.
7. It helps the manager in his decision making process. There is a spate of varied
information produced in an enterprise. The important question before manager is
“what do I need to know?” It should be remembered that no two successive managers
of the same plant will give the same answer to this question.
8. It helps in achieving coordination. In a large organization, working on the basis of
division of labour and specialisation, there is need for coordination among its
component parts. This can be achieved only through communication. A good
communication system is the basis of all interdependent activities which we find being
carried out in different departments of an organization. By providing information to
each unit about the relevant activities of others, a good system of communication
makes the interdependence of each unit acceptable to it. In the absence of
communication, no unit would tolerate this interdependence. This will make the
coordination difficult. In the words of March and Simon, “The greater the efficiency
of communication within the organization, the greater the tolerance of a unit for
interdependence.
9. It promotes cooperation and industrial peace. Most of the disputes in an enterprise take
place because of either lack of communication or improper communication.
Communication helps the management to tell the subordinates about the objectives
of the business and how they can help in achieving them. Similarly, communication

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