Role of Communication in Management
Communication and management are closely linked with each other. Communication is directly related to the basic management functions of planning, organizing, leading and controlling. Evaluating business environment, preparing plans and making decisions require communication. Delegation, coordination, supervision and organizational development; all are done by means of communication. Developing reward system and interacting with subordinates as part of leading function would be impossible without communication. Establishing standards, monitoring performance and taking corrective actions as a part of control also requires communications. Therefore, communication is termed as the life-blood of an organization.
Managers perform a variety of roles such as interpersonal roles, decisional roles and informational roles for smooth running of their organization. It would be impossible to perform these roles without communication. Importance of communication in performing these managerial roles is discussed below:
Interpersonal role: Interpersonal role implies interacting with superiors, subordinates, peers and other outside parties of the organization. Performing interpersonal role requires continuous communication with these parties.
Decisional role: It requires mangers to seek out information to use in decision making and then communicate those decisions to others.
Informational role: Informational role focuses on acquiring and disseminating information.
In fine, it can be concluded that performing managerial roles and functions requires information from various internal and external sources. Therefore, managers must engage in communication. For this, it is said that none can perform management functions without communication.
