Good communication between all members of a workforce guarantees that a given team will achieve success in any endeavor. Every company should have a human resource department (HR) that would work on improving the system of communication between employees.
Good communication between all members of a workforce guarantees that a given team will achieve success in any endeavor. Every company should have a human resource department (HR) that would work on improving the system of communication between employees. However, it is often the case that this particular body, which is responsible for the organization of the entire company, consists of people who have no idea how to fulfill this task and what is their role in the process of effective information exchange.
More and more often, human resource departments are considered essential to a company’s proper organization. Once we accept the rule which says that companies are made of people, not machines, the HR department gains in significance. In order to work effectively, branches of HR should be given specific tasks to complete. Communication between employees should be one of such tasks. However, it has to be emphasized that the HR department itself, with all its employees and supervisors, should change its approach towards its own functioning. It should change its policy so that it would aim at achieving long lasting improvements in communication. It should be mentioned that good intra-company communication and effective information management do not depend only on one or two departments; the whole company is responsible for communication, and the HR department is to simply provide extensive support in this field.
Intra-company communication
Communication within a company plays an important role in achieving effectiveness and good results. When it comes to the development of a given enterprise, good communication and the establishment of certain communicative patterns can be equaled to a well prepared strategic plan. Perfect communication is perceived as a valuable part of company resources. It is a great advantage and one of the cheapest means by which managers can effectively control a company. Therefore, it is highly advantageous to have an HR department that serves as a kind of bridge between communication and the effectiveness of a company. HR has to take on the responsibility for proper functioning of communication.
It is often the case that this responsibility is not given to members of an HR department but to those who are a part of Public Relations (PR). Of course, in this case, we mean PR on the intra-company level. PR members focus mainly on spreading information about their company outside its borders. It is up to them to create a positive image of the employer and to pass on information to employees about the changes that occur within their company.
It is the HR department that should work on the intra-company communication. Moreover, the inner life of the entire organization, i.e., the actions of team members, should be of interest to HR as well. The department should support communication not only on the same level in the company’s hierarchy, but also between employees and department directors or supervisors. The most important thing is to make communication effective on all levels. It has to work both ways. Employees, department directors, and higher ranking managers should all talk with each other and not only complain or assign tasks. If company employees do not talk with each other, it is impossible to achieve any level of organization; employees are unable to complete their assignments; any large-scale projects prove to be beyond a given company’s capabilities. Communication, to a minimal extent at least, must exist in any kind of business that consists of a number of employees, even if their numbers are small. Cooperation, so communication as well, is the main factor that increases the chances of a company on the market. Communication between members of a workforce is considered to be the easiest way to increase the effectiveness of functioning of every company.
The rules of communication in reference to the actions of the HR department:
Initiating cooperation
New employees first deal with a department that recruits them, so, generally, with the HR department. Those who want to become employees are verified on the basis of the documents they send, an interview, and the whole recruitment process. Every new employee is introduced to the HR department which analyzes how they behave, look, or gesticulate. Already during the recruitment process, the person responsible for accepting a new worker receives many useful pieces of information regarding a given candidate. It is advisable to make good use of such information in later stages of a given employee’s work and during his or her development. Specialists from the HR department can assemble a team of employees already during the early stage of the recruitment process. They focus on candidates’ personal qualities and how they fit the existing models of communication. People are far better at communicating if they feel comfortable among themselves.
Adding a new employee to the workforce
Proper addition of a new worker into our workforce is extremely important as he should quickly learn his responsibilities and become an integral part of the team. It is very important to make it easy for such a person to effectively communicate with his coworkers, therefore, we need to introduce him to other members of the team. Surely, this is an important stage, as its results will undoubtedly be mirrored by the new employee’s actions in the later stages of his career. This means that it will have a great impact on the effects and results of his work.
A new employee is introduced to the organization of a company by his immediate superior who is supported by HR. The department passes to a new employee the information concerning the rules of cooperation, the functioning, and the organization of a given working environment within the company. Furthermore, the process of introduction has to cover the information about the employee’s new post. At this point, it is good to present the company or its department from the best possible point of view, and to familiarize the employee with rules regarding communication which are applied throughout the whole enterprise.
By now, a new employee should be familiar with the course of his employment, the possibilities of promotion, the competencies of the HR department, the patterns of communication, and the responsibilities related to the cooperation with clients.
Evaluating the new employee
Workers, especially the newly employed, are subjected to regular evaluation. Such evaluation is carried out by the HR department with the help of the so called external consultants. The involvement of HR in the process of evaluation is very important as it makes possible to effectively verify the tools and skills of managers in this particular field. Many directors lack the ability to carry out periodical evaluations of their employees as they cannot detach themselves from subjectivity. Such situations have to be avoided because every employee deserves to be evaluated fairly. It is up to the people at HR to monitor this. In consequence, the department can prevent inadequate and negative results of evaluation from appearing. Of course, communication also plays an important role in the system of periodical employee evaluation. It allows for a better evaluation of employees’ tasks. Every worker should be aware of the results of such an evaluation.
The development of an employee
The path of the development of an employee should be clearly specified, and it should be supervised by managers, a given employee’s superiors, and the HR department. It is essential for all these groups to reach a consensus on this matter, and it is not an easy thing. It is up to HR to establish staff training programs, motivation systems, or career paths. However, the department should cooperate with people who occupy managing positions in the company because the aforementioned processes require some data on a given employee. During the process of project creation by members of the HR department, it is essential to communicate with managers about employees, their development, achievements, results, etc. Managers should be allowed to talk freely about employees. They should elaborate on the observations they made, provide information about the changes within the team, and they should verify the structural organization and the division of professional competences with reference to overall effectiveness. They should also play active roles in the process of their subordinates’ development.
The HR department should be regarded as a body that aims at improving the quality of functioning of all departments. Its second goal is to facilitate communication between employees. What is interesting is that while the communication between managers and HR should be something natural, it is often the case that managers are unaware of their possibility to discuss certain issues with the members of this department. The staff of HR should try to improve its communication with managers.
Dissolving cooperation
Sometimes, a company wishes to withdraw from cooperation with a given employee. How the message about dismissing somebody is passed influences how the whole organization is perceived. We have to remember that a former employee is in touch with the market, and, therefore, he or she can create a negative image of our company. We cannot allow that to happen.
The aim of the HR department is to work on improving the communication within a workforce, between employees and their superiors. Effective communication between departments within a company should not be perceived as a fairy tale – it should become the priority of every company that aims at achieving success. The HR department should be perceived as a tool that can be used to develop satisfying solutions for communication between departments and individual staff members. It should promote the idea of good communication as it has a great influence on the effectiveness of the entire enterprise. Generally, by improving intra-company communication, we simultaneously improve other company processes.
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