Submitted by: Artur Victoria

A major error can occur in the use of an open employee communications system: That is communications for communications sake or simply over communication.

Sometimes there is a fine line between what is enough information for employees to do their jobs effectively and what is too much. Some organizations get carried away. In their effort to be candid and open, the downward communications flow becomes more than the employee or supervisor can handle. Managers should not pour out information on the basis of the philosophy that the more they know the better off they are. This philosophy ignores the whole issue of effectiveness, and also may be an expensive exercise.

The staff communications specialist may be the biggest offender in situations where there is over communication. He or she, in good faith, sets out to do a very complete and thorough job, and slips into the trap of communicating everything that comes along or can be dug out.

Whoever is responsible, the unintended result of communications overkill is that supervisors and employees stop paying attention. If the information flow is too heavy or is not pertinent, it will eventually be ignored, and an informal scuttlebutt system will take over. Formal communications may have lost credibility and become practically valueless to management with over communication.

Two control mechanisms should be at work in an open communications system to prevent the error of over communication. These are:

Audit and review of objectives by management and staff specialist.

Feedback from employees and supervisors on the amount and kind of information they are receiving.

There has to be balance in the communications program. Therefore, asking employees and supervisors if they are getting the information they need should be coupled with a question as to whether they would have job difficulty if this information were discontinued. The ultimate error is to continue a program merely because it’s there, long after it has ceased to be effective in helping get the job done.

It is difficult to find an organization or business which failed solely because of lack of employee communication. It is even difficult to find studies which report failure of an organization due to poor employee communications. Yet, it is rather obvious that employee communications, when lacking, or poorly conceived and carried out, can be a major handicap to organizational effectiveness.

Researchers concluded that in these cases there were only five basic causes which led employees to unionize in the face of employer preference that they not do so. The causes, not all of which were present in each case, included:

I. Introducing changes in policy, products, or equipment without sufficient advance notice and explanation

1. Ignoring or mishandling employee complaints and concerns

2. Providing minimal information as to the organization’s health, financial situation, plans, and problems

3. Pressing for productivity without involving employees in the need for improvement

4. Failing to find out, or failing to allow, employee needs and desires before making management decisions.

All four of these management failures can be avoided or remedied by improved employee communications. Management of groups involved in the study had so overloaded their supervisors with duties such as overseeing production, record keeping, ordering raw materials, filling out reports, etc., that employee communications suffered. The lack of proper emphasis in employee communications is shown by this research to be a barrier to intended operational results.

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