Persuasion, Manipulation and Seduction

(Source: Google Images)

Communication is an essential aspect of the modern society. People use verbal communication for a number of purposes, for example, to inform, to entertain, and to persuade others. In fact, our attitudes and behaviors are shaped by communication. It is important, however, to discern between the communication purposes. While some persuasive communication might be used ethically, other types of persuasive communicating are designed to either  manipulate or to deceive a somewhat naive person. Although persuasion, manipulation, and seduction might seem like synonyms, these terms are different in their strategies and techniques, as well as in their purposes for influencing people. 

Persuasion

Persuasion is a form of communication that is purposefully aimed to cause mind changes and behaviors in people who are being persuaded. Aurel Codoban, PhD, defines persuasion as “the modification of convictions and attitudes through communication, with the purpose of influencing decisions, actions and behaviors corresponding to the intentions or interest of the persuading speaker – but only with the participation of consciousness, that is by assuming freely and consciously the responsibility” (2006, p. 152). When persuasion occurs, the person who is being persuaded has to be aware of the persuasion in order to be able to process the information and to make the right decision. When the person is being aware of persuasion, he or she can ask questions and receive all the necessary information to make a well-informed and responsible decision.

Persuasion, unlike other persuasive communication, requires presenting substantive arguments and evidence to support a certain position. Aristotle (cited in Rorty, 2011) once said that “The skilled Persuader must . . . be able to construct both the valid and the contextually effective arguments for his case, that is, both the argument that constitutes its logically sound proof and the argument that – considering the beliefs of his audience – successfully persuades them” (para. 8). For example, if a person goes to a car dealership to buy a car, he or she wants to know the reasons why a certain car is worth consideration. The potential reasons may be that the car gets a good mileage, has a newly engineered engine, and no down payment is required. A sales person, as the persuader, has a goal to successfully persuade the customer to buy a car.

Persuasion affects audiences of all demographics and cultures. Television advertising, the largest source of persuasion, targets both children and adults both here in the United States and abroad. For example, just like many people in the United States, people in Japan and Russia make their purchasing decisions based on the televised commercials. With the target audience being so large both domestically and internationally, it is hard to tell which population demographic is more affected by persuasive advertisement. Probably, all audiences are equally affected, because the advertisers target all the demographics in order to sell the product. A commercial with a specific product, thus, targets a specific audience. For example, a commercial with a new video game would probably appeal to teenagers, while an advertisement featuring a wheel chair would most likely appeal to seniors, yet a construction play set commercial would target both toddlers and their parents. Persuasion, thus, affects all generations, people from different cultures and ethnic groups.

Manipulation

(Source: Google Images)

Manipulation is a form of communication that differs from persuasion in the way that the person who is being manipulated is unaware that manipulation occurs. According to Robert B. Cialdini (cited in Codoban, 2006), manipulation is “the ability to produce a distinct kind of automatic, mindless compliance from people, that is, a willingness to say yes without thinking” (p. 154). Manipulators, thus, unlike persuaders, employ communication tactics in order to gain something from the receiver of manipulation. Codoban (2006) in his article describes the tactics or strategies that manipulators might use to influence their potential “victims”. These strategies include “the free sample” strategy, “the door-in-the face” strategy, “foot-in-the-door” strategy, and “the principle of social proof” strategy (p. 153-154). All these strategies are used to manipulate people in order for the manipulator to get what he or she desires.

The “free sample” strategy, as Codoban (2006) pointed out, is widely used in the supermarkets to influence the buyer to purchase the product based on receiving a small free sample of the product (p. 153). People are more likely to buy the product after trying a free sample to reciprocate the sales person for his or her kindness of offering the free sample. 

The “door-in-the-face” strategy, according to Codoban (2006) provides the manipulator with the opportunity to get what he or she desires by asking for something of significant value first. For example, if my neighbor asks me to loan her a $1,000, I might politely decline. Next, when she asks me to loan her $250 I might comply. Thus, I would be left without the money. 

The “foot-in-the-door” is another manipulative technique that is used to influence the target person to give something to the manipulator. One day, I have almost become a victim of this strategy. A young woman approached me in the gym parking lot where she asked me for directions how to get to the library. After having explained the directions to her, she asked me for money she claimed she needed to get there. I understood that I was being manipulated and told her I did not have cash, which was true. This strategy suggests that after asking for one request, the manipulator will ask for another, yet a more significant request.

The strategy of the “principle of social proof” is another subtle manipulative technique a person might use for his or her own gain. This technique is more likely to be employed in a social setting, where everyone is expected to follow certain social norms. For example, before going to a wedding, the guests usually discuss what gifts they will give to the bride and groom. They do this to compare the price-range of the gifts that other people are going to buy. Codoban (2006) in his article suggests that the “principle of social proof” works because “one important means people use for deciding what to believe or how to act is to look at what the others believe or do” (p. 154). To avoid being manipulated by others, a person should make her or his own decision, and disregard other people’s comments. In the above -mentioned example, thus, it would be a wise decision for a wedding guest not to discuss the wedding gift with others. 

The more people know about different manipulation strategies, the less likely they will become a victim of manipulation. The people who are the most likely to become manipulated, thus, are the people who are unaware of different manipulative techniques. The teenagers are more likely to be manipulated, because they are less familiar with the manipulation techniques.

The most important thing about manipulation is that people manipulate others for selfish reasons. In fact, as Codoban (2006), pointed out, one difference between manipulation and other persuasive communication, is that during manipulation, “the relationship between two subjects [turns into] a subject-object relationship” (p. 154). In order to reach his or her goal, the manipulator is willing to treat the receiver of the manipulation as an object. Because the manipulator treats the receiver as an object and the manipulation itself occurs on the subconscious level, manipulation is considered immoral. Sarah Buss (2005) writes: “it is morally wrong for us to . . . manipulate a competent adult human being because it is morally wrong for someone to “try to determine which levers to pull to get the desired results” from someone else” (The Effects of Manipulated and Deceived upon the Autonomy of the Manipulated and Deceived, para. 3). Since the manipulator intentionally desires to influence another person without the person’s knowledge, it is both unethical and immoral. 

Another important difference between manipulation and other persuasive communication, as Codoban (2006) points out, is that manipulation cannot be admitted to the receiver (p. 154). Should such a disclosure occur, according to Codoban (2006), the unconscious processing of manipulative information would turn into conscious awareness of manipulation (p. 154). The receiver, thus, becomes aware that he or she is being manipulated.

Seduction

(Source: Google Images)

Seduction is another persuasive communication that we encounter on a daily basis. Seduction differs from persuasion in the way that seduction happens without the person’s awareness. Paul Hamilton (2011), in his article Beyond the Traditional – Persuasion vs. Seduction, writes the following: “if you are conscious that someone is asking you for something, or trying to influence you to do something, you are being persuaded. If you do not know what is going on until later, then you are being seduced” (para. 7). Thus, in this regard seduction is similar to manipulation. Seduction resembles persuasion in the way that it, according to Codoban (2006), “focuses on the subject even if seducer becomes an object” (p. 155). For example, just like the persuader focuses to persuade a person by mentioning all the benefits the person will get if he or she buys a certain product, seducers also focus on the customer’s benefits by promising them the wonders a certain product will bring them.

Seduction has a widespread use in the advertisement industry. Television commercials use seduction to influence the potential customers to buy their products. Why people are so susceptible to seductive advertising? Because people are inclined to believe in any advertised product, that claims to make them look younger, healthier and more beautiful, or bring them more happiness. According to Codoban (2006), “Seduction is based on the promise of happiness or pleasure” (p. 155). Seduction works because everyone wants to be happier, healthier, or more loved. In my opinion, women are more susceptible to seduction than men are. The reason women are more likely to be seduced by advertising is because women care more about their appearance than men do. For example, women are more likely to buy weight loss products, or wrinkle treatments that promise almost instant results. However, after using these products that often do not work, consumers realize that they have been seduced. Such customers are more likely to learn from the seductive advertisements and will watch advertisements with more criticism in the future.

Persuasion, manipulation, and seduction although seem to be semantically close, are different. These three communication strategies employ different techniques in order to influence the receiver of the message. While persuasion can be considered the most ethical of the three strategies, manipulation and seduction use somewhat inappropriate, or even deceitful methods to influence others. The best way to avoid being manipulated or seduced is to be educated about the methods used to manipulate or seduce people. The more knowledge a person has about manipulation and seduction, the less likely he or she will become a victim of one of their strategies.

 References:

Buss, S. (2005, January). Valuing autonomy and respecting persons: Manipulation,

     seduction, and the basis of moral constraints. Ethics, vol. 115(2), pp. 195-235. Retrieved

     November 29, 2011, from JStor student database. (Document ID: 10.1086/426304).

Codoban, A. (2006). From persuasion to manipulation and seduction. (A very short history of

     global communication). SCIRI Conference. JSRI No.14, pp. 151-157. Retrieved

     November 23, 2011, from http://vizedhomlcontent.next.ecollege.com/pub/content/7303136c-1384-

     4799-959b55428afb6176/Aurel_Codoban_Article_Week_2.pdf?

     eclg_res=1356403&eclg_resver=2640695

Hamilton, P. (2011). Beyond the traditional – persuasion vs. seduction. Haystackonline.com.

     Retrieved November 28, 2011, from    
     http://www.haystackonline.com/page/49900/agencies/addicion-london/beyond-the-traditional-

     persuasion-vs-seduction

 Rorty, A. (2011). Aristotle on the virtues of rhetoric. The Review of Metaphysics, 64(4), 715-   

     733. Retrieved November 29, 2011, from ProQuest student database. (Document ID:

     2397691351).

Ethics and Persuasion

(Source: Google Images)

People find themselves in persuasive situations almost every day. Watching television commercials, reading through a newspaper, or listening to somebody speak about a public issue are just a few examples of persuasion. Some public speakers, advertisers, and journalists sometimes avoid presenting the whole truth to the audience if they have a certain bias, or in order to protect the company’s reputation, or if they have something to gain by presenting only partial truth. Distorting the facts on purpose, or concealing important information is considered unethical because such actions are designed to misinform, or deceive the public. Additionally, distorting or misrepresenting information would be considered unethical both by Kant’s theory of ethics and by the rule utilitarian ethical theory.

Unethical Persuasion and Propaganda

Purposefully distorting the facts is considered unethical because falsifying or exaggerating information misrepresents the truth. Misrepresentation of true facts is usually used in propaganda. Messina (2006) defines propaganda as “control, deception and disregard for truth which is deployed (or not) only as a means to achieve ends. And the ends serve the propagandist’s interests” (Defining Propaganda, para. 2). When the speaker is only concerned about his or her interest in the matter, he or she will distort the information to reflect those interests.
     

Propaganda is often used in election campaigns in order to influence the voters to vote for a particular candidate. The propagandists not only use television commercials to inaccurately portray the opponent’s position, but also push polls. A push poll is a disguised propaganda. Propagandists who use push polls as their tool, refer to this tactic as a “political survey” conducted over the phone that is specifically designed, according to Lorentzen (2006) “to attack another candidate, often with information containing little or no factual base” (para. 5). These so-called “surveys” are designed to slander the opponent and to influence voters not to vote for him or her. This tactic is unethical because the opponent is not present to correct the distorted information and to defend his or her position. Another reason why this tactic is unethical is because the voters often do not realize that they are being manipulated.

Kant's Ethics and Persuasion

(Immanuel Kant. Source: Google Images)

The eighteenth century German philosopher, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), would also condemn the practice of push polling as unethical. According to Kant’s theory of “categorical imperative,” (cited in Messina, 2007), people should “act so that [they] treat humanity . . . always as an end and never as a means only” (Defining Ethical Persuasion, para. 5). According to this theory, then, it would be morally wrong for an individual to use another person or people to reach his or her own goals. Moreover, Kant maintained, that as reasonable beings, people deserve to be correctly and adequately informed about an issue (Messina, 2007, Defining Ethical Persuasion, para.5). 

The drawback in Kant’s theory is that the moral principles, which people have to adhere to, such as “do not lie” and “do not steal,” must be absolute. For example, it would always be wrong to lie and to steal in all of the circumstances. This would not work in the real world, as people encounter situations, where telling only the truth would cost somebody’s life as in the example involving German soldiers and Jewish families during the World War II (Messina, 2007). Realizing that adhering to absolute norms is impossible, other ethical standards have to be employed to govern moral principles of what conducts can be considered either ethical or unethical in persuasive situations. Rule utilitarianism, as another theory of ethics, provides ethical standards that can be used in modern persuasion.

Rule Utilitarianism and Persuasion

     
Unlike Kant’s theory of absolute moral principles, rule utilitarianism provides practical ethical principles that can be applied to any persuasion situation. According to Messina (2007), rule utilitarianism “allows ascertainably justifiable exceptions at extremes where harm overrides strict application of the rule” (A Utilitarian Approach, para. 15). These exceptions do not mean that lying should be permitted. The exceptions refer only to those situations when lying can save somebody’s life, or produce more good than harm. According to this theory, as Messina (2007) writes, people should “Act so that [they] treat humanity always as an end and never as a means, unless justifiably outweighed by ascertainable good that would accrue or harm averted” (Respect, para. 5). According to this principle, breaking an established universal rule like lying or stealing is permitted only in extreme circumstances. For example, stealing a weapon from a person who is planning a murder would be justified, since it would save human lives.

Rule utilitarianism, although providing exceptions to absolute norms, would also agree with Kant’s theory that misrepresenting information, and treating a person as a means to reach one’s own goals is unethical. For example, people who conduct push poll propaganda tell voters what to think and what to do, without letting the voters think and make their own reasonable and autonomous judgments. Using voters as a means to win votes for their candidate, propagandists undermine certain ethical standards, such as “truthfulness,” “veracity,” “honesty,” “fairness,” and “respect” (Messina, 2007). According to Palmer (1999), rule utilitarianism “is concerned” about what makes one’s action morally “right or wrong” (p. 33). Persuaders, who purposefully misinform people and use them for their own goals, demonstrate their unethical behavior by distorting facts or by not presenting complete information. Such persuasion practice can be referred to as purposeful deception and manipulation, and is considered morally wrong. Ethical persuasion, on the other hand, is considered morally right, because persuaders use verifiable information, and take the audience’s ability to make decisions into consideration.

The Importance of Ethical Persuasion

Ethical persuasion practices increase the speaker’s credibility and respect, while demonstrating his or her high ethical standards. Cameron, Wilcox, Reber, and Shin (2008) write that, “A person’s conduct is measured not only against his or her conscience but also against some norm of acceptability that has been determined by society, professional groups, or even a person’s employer” (p. 203). Thus, the overall concept of ethics can refer to personal, social, and professional ethical standards.

If a person is willing to be ethical in his or her private life, then he or she will also adhere to ethical standards both in social and professional environments. Messina (2007) defined ethical persuasion as “An attempt through communication to influence knowledge, attitude or behavior of an audience through presentation of a view that addresses and allows the audience to make voluntary, informed, rational and reflective judgments (Defining Ethical Persuasion, para. 2). Providing adequate information and supporting evidence increases the speaker’s credibility. Thus, informing the audience, and providing people with an opportunity to make their own judgments constitutes ethical practice of persuasion.

Ethical persuasion is based on trust, adequate information, and the ability of the persuaded people to make their own autonomous judgments. Propaganda, on the other hand, is designed to misinform and manipulate others. Both Kant’s ethical theory and the rule utilitarian theory would regard the practice of propaganda as unethical, because propagandists treat the persuaded audience as tools to reach their own goals, and manipulate them to make a choices and judgments in favor of the propaganda. The theory of rule utilitarian ethics provides reasonable ethical standards for persuaders to use when making good moral and ethical decisions and judgments.
     
           

       References:

Cameron, G.T., Wilcox, D.L., Reber, B.H., & Shin, J.H. (2008). Public relations today:
     Managing competition and conflict. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Publishing.
Lorentzen, L.E. (2006, October 16). Disguised as a poll, it pushed poison; Compass: Points
     of view from the community. Anchorage Daily News, p. B4. Retrieved December 4,
     2011, from ProQuest student database. (Document ID: 1146212561).
Messina, A. (2007). Public Relations, the public interest and persuasion: An ethical
     approach. Journal of Communication Management, 11(1), 29. Retrieved December 3,
     2011, from ProQuest student database. (Document ID: 1210421519).
Palmer, D. E. (1999). On the viability of a rule utilitarianism. Journal of Value Inquiry,
     33(1), p. 31. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from ProQuest student database. (Document
     ID: 395722051).

A Proposal for a New Communication Structure

The purpose of the proposal is to enhance organizational communication by implementing an innovative communication structure that would improve organizational communication.

The Executive Summary

Due to the inefficiency of the current organizational communication structure, there is a need to extensively improve the communication structure. The main areas of improvement include interpersonal organization communication, active listening, conflict solving. Also, the project will focus on effective organizational leadership and the importance of strong organizational culture. The proposal also outlines the benefits, costs, and timeline of the project.

The Background Information

Organizational communication plays an important role in our organization. Because the organizational participants in our company come from various cultural, ethnic, religious, and educational backgrounds, communication among the organizational participants can become extremely complicated and unproductive, which usually leads to a decline in productivity, organizational conflicts, and employee dissatisfaction. Therefore, the time has come to improve organizational communication by implementing a new communication structure. Trenholm (2011) writes that, “When communication succeeds, the organization is likely to be effective and efficient and workers satisfied and committed. When it fails, both the organization and its individual members suffer” (p. 202). Although most of the employees exhibit adequate communication skills while communicating with one other and with the organization’s leaders, all organizational participants will benefit from an improved communication structure outlined in this proposal.

 The Statement of Need

The quality of organizational communication is very important in our organization. It is mainly through communication that the organizational participants accomplish organizational tasks to meet the organization’s goals. The quality of our current communication system is inadequate due to the organizational members frequent abuse of informal communication, unwillingness to provide feedback to management, and inability to manage and resolve organizational conflicts.

The organizational participants often abuse informal organizational communication by spreading rumors and gossiping about other organizational participants. Such communication is inappropriate in the workplace and is considered to be unethical. According to Kreps (2011) “unethical communication behaviors will undermine interpersonal relationships, destroy trust between relational partners, and decrease cooperation and coordination” (p. 4.4). In order for organizational participants to collaborate with one another, informal communication has to be limited only to appropriate topics and exclude spreading gossip about other members.

The organization’s performance also suffers as result of the lack of effective leadership skills among the management team members. As I have noticed in our organization, managers often compete for power, which results in giving mixed messages to the employees. This, in turn, leads to poor work performance and inability to accomplish important organizational tasks. That is why training in leadership skills will be essential to improve organizational performance and increase employee satisfaction.

After a thorough examination of the current structure of the organizational communication, I have identified the following areas of communication that will benefit from an improved communication structure:

• Organizational leaders need to encourage feedback from other employees
• Organizational participants need to focus on the active listening skills
• The leaders have to enhance their leadership skills.
• The company employees need to learn how to manage an interpersonal conflict.
• The organization’s leaders have to enhance the understanding of the organizational culture.

The Project Description

In order to enhance basic interpersonal organizational communication skills, first we need to focus on improving the formal and informal lines of communication among the members of the organization. Formal organizational communication is important because it is the main channel for the organizational members to share work-related information. The main reason to improve formal communication is to encourage employees to provide feedback to the organization’s leaders. Feedback is essential in organizational communication, because, according to Spaho (2010), it is the “lifeline of effective communication. Without [feedback], senders and receivers are far less likely to achieve mutual understanding about the message” (p. 1374). Because of the frequent misunderstandings occurring within the organization, it is essential to encourage feedback.

In order to implement feedback in organizational communication structure, the organization’s leaders have to reward the employees for providing honest and timely feedback. One way to implement this strategy is through a reward program. Employees who provide the most relevant feedback can be rewarded with a monetary bonus of $5.00.
  
Another way to promote feedback is though establishing an open communication between the leaders and the employees. For example, the leaders have to make themselves available to listen and respond to the messages of other organizational members. In order to establish an open communication, leaders need to exhibit active listening skills to fully understand the information that other members are trying to communicate to them.

In order to improve informal communication, organizational leaders will have to inform the organizational participants that unethical communication will not be tolerated in the organization. Organizational participants will have an opportunity to report any instances of unethical communication anonymously to a manager. The manager, then, will have to take a disciplinary action against the employee distributing rumors. A disciplinary action may include watching a video about the company’s ethics. Although it can be hard to control informal communication, the organizational leaders have to insure the quality of information flowing through the organizational grapevine.

Organizational members have to possess excellent active listening skills in order to professionally communicate with one another. Active listening, according to Kreps (2011), “involves paying close attention to your partner’s verbal and nonverbal behaviors, taking into consideration the full extent of what they are trying to communicate to you as well as what they may be communicating to you inadvertently” (p. 4.3). Active listening skills enable an organizational participant to hear another person out and to ask relevant questions to make sure that he or she has understood the information in its entirety.

One way to improve the organizational participants’ active listening skills is to conduct an interpersonal training sessions involving all the members of the organization. For example, all the employees can be divided into several small groups. Then, in a small group session, the selected speaker should tell a somewhat “complicated” story with many twists and turns. Once the story is told, the employees can ask the speaker questions to make sure they have understood the narrative correctly. Then, ask someone in the group to summarize or paraphrase the story.
 
Another way to improve active listening skills is to develop and conduct an interactive computer training for all of the organizational participants. This method, however, may be more time consuming and more costly for the organization than the previously suggested approach.

Active listening skills are not only helpful in organizational communication, but also in conflict management. It is through active listening that the conflicting parties are able to listen to each other’s side of the story without interrupting each other. Although organizational interpersonal conflicts are inevitable, there are communication strategies for managing interpersonal organizational conflicts. Abigail and Cahn (2011) write that, “whether the presence of conflict in organizations becomes productive or destructive, improves functioning or derails the organization from its task depends upon team members response to it” (p. 255). Because organizational conflict can either have productive or destructive results, it is important for all of the organizational participants to learn effective conflict management strategies.

In order to implement conflict management strategies into the organizational life, first the organization has to conduct three 30-minute conflict management sessions with the employees. During each session, the participants will discuss and practice effective group conflict management strategies. Such strategies, according to Kreps (2011) include “maintaining open minds toward other points of view,” focusing on the “ideational conflict” in stead of personal issues, and “encourag[ing] group members to look for productive areas of compromise between their own positions and the positions expressed by others” (p. 5.8). At the end of the third session, each participant will be required to write a two-page paper describing what he or she has learned during the sessions, and how the employee is planning to use this knowledge at work.

In order to improve their leadership skills, the organizational managers will have to take an hour-long leadership training class, where they will learn how to develop and maintain credibility, which, according to Kresp (2011) can be established and maintained through such qualities as “expertise, trustworthiness, and charisma” (p. 7.4). Establishing credibility will enable the organization’s leaders to improve interpersonal organizational relationships with the organizational participants and to advance their overall interpersonal communication skills. Also, the leaders will learn how to use both formal and informal channels of communication to distribute important information to the organizational participants. The goal of this training program is to enable the organizational leaders to become better communicators within the interorganizational field.
 
Organizational culture plays an important role in organization. It is through the organizational culture that the organizational employees learn about the norms, values, and traditions of the organization and are able to share this information with the external organizational members. Organizational participants who believe in their organization’s values and mission are more likely to put more effort into their job, because they are proud and committed to the organization they work for.

Organizational culture training will provide necessary information about the history and the development of the organization, as well as the goals and mission of the organization. Employees, who are aware about their company’s culture, are not only able to share this culture among each other, but also with the external organizational members, such as customers and investors. According to a study cited in Rogers and Meehan (2007), “nearly 70% of business leaders agree: culture provides the greatest source of competitive advantage. In fact, more than 80% believe an organization lacking a high-performance culture is doomed to mediocrity” (p. 254). Organizations who have strong cultures are often more successful and prosperous than the organizations with weak cultures.

In order to learn about the company’s culture, all of the organizational members will be required to watch and discuss an educational one-hour video called “Company history: From start to present.” This video provides the information about the company’s history, traditions, values, mission, and vision.

The Timeline of the Project

The implementation of this project is expected to take maximum three months, during which the training and workplace adjustment will take place. During the project implementation, the company has to keep records regarding the progress of the project. The project’s progress might take less or more than three months depending on the volume of the participants involved in the project, constraints imposed by the organizational operations, and the issues that may arise during the implementation of the project.

The Budget Information

Although a new communication structure will be beneficial for the organization, the cost of the project might be the primary concern that may hinder its implementation. In order to provide the organizational participants with the best training in communication, I have developed a cost-efficient budget plan:

1. The interpersonal training sessions to improve active listening will cost the company around $100.00, because the training is going to take place on the company’s premises without involving a third-party speaker. The second option of the training video, however, would cost the company $200.00. It will also take longer time to implement this training, because we will have to order the video from the corporate headquarters.

2. The conflict-management sessions will cost the company $300.00 to cover the cost of the training materials and shipping.

3. The leadership training will cost $300.00 and cover the cost of a textbook, a video, and other educational materials.

4. Organizational culture training will cost the company $200.00, which will cover the cost of video and video equipment.

5. The cost of the implementation of the “Reward for feedback” program is estimated to be $500.00 to cover the cost of small monetary rewards ($5.00 each) to the employees providing a feedback.

The total estimated cost for the project is between $1400.00 and $1500.00, which is significantly lower than the cost of similar programs provided by the third-party companies. This low cost is due to providing an in-house training without involving any third-party speakers or lecturers. Although some individuals may regard this cost as high, the benefits of this program (described below) outweigh its costs.

The Benefits

The benefits of the innovative communication structure will include improvement in the organization’s productivity, ability to resolve interpersonal conflicts, and improvement in communication among the employees and the organization’s leaders. Implementation of such communication strategies as formal and informal communication, active listening, effective leadership, successful conflict management and resolution, as well as focusing on the organizational culture will enhance organizational communication while improving the interpersonal communication skills of the organizational participants.

Conclusion

 The goal of this proposal is to offer a feasible and cost-efficient plan to implement a new organizational communication structure. The given communication structure is expected to meet the organization’s communication needs in the areas of formal and informal communication, active listening, conflict management, organizational leadership, and organizational culture.
     
Because the timing is important, I would encourage the organization’s management team to carefully review this proposal and decide to take an action to improve the organizational communication. The estimated cost of the program is worth the company’s investment into its leaders and employees. The improved organizational structure will enable the organization to become more effective in accomplishing its tasks and goals, and to effectively share its culture and mission with the external organization’s environment.

References:

Abigail, R.A., & Cahn, D.D. (2011). Managing conflict through communication. (4th ed.).
     Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Kreps, G.L. (2011). Communication in organizations. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint
       Education, Inc.lik
Rogers, P., & Meehan, P. (2007). Building a winning culture. Business Strategy Series, 8(4),
       p. 254-261. Retrieved April 16, 2012, from ProQuest student database. (Document ID:
       1374488681).
Spaho, K. (2010, May 26). Organizational communication as key factor of company success.
       An Enterprise Odyssey. International Conference Proceedings, pp. 1372-1382, 18.
       Retrieved April 16, 2012, from ProQuest student database. (Document ID: 2098096501).
Trenholm, S. (2011). Thinking through communication. (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn &
       Bacon.

Business Communication

(Source: Google Images)

Communication plays a vital role in business. It is through communication that successful job applicants get the desired jobs, create and maintain productive relationships with their new managers and co-workers, solve interpersonal conflicts that may arise, participate in teamwork, and collaborate with others on how to accomplish organizational goals. The ability to communicate well is an essential trait of a competent member of an organization. Strong communication skills are necessary in any organization.

Strong communication skills are necessary in every type of organization. Strategic communicators use communication skills to promote the organization’s goals and mission. In order to accomplish organizational goals, the organization’s management relies on the members’ collaboration and teamwork. That is why organizations tend to hire people who are able to communicate well in writing and in speech, to participate in teamwork, and to build productive relationships with others. According to McCulloch (cited in Motluk, 2011), “Those who are not able to engage with others and market themselves will not be successful in the commercial world.” Hiring process often involves meeting the job applicant face-to-face to determine whether he or she can demonstrate strong communication skills. Job applicants who demonstrate effective communication skills during the job interview are more likely to get hired than the applicants who lack these important skills.

Communication skills are essential in any profession. The ability to communicate well in any organizational setting will demonstrate one’s competency in human interaction process. Kreps (2011) writes that, “To be successful in our interaction with others, we must provide clear and compelling information about what we want from them and why it is in their best interest to cooperate with us” (Chapter 1, para. 1). Competent organizational communicators build strong relationships with the members of their organization, customers, investors, and other interested publics. They also use their communication skills to elicit teamwork in order to accomplish organizational goals or to solve interpersonal conflicts. Because organizations cannot exist without effective communication, competent strategic communicators are always going to be in high demand.

References:
Kreps, G.L. (2011). Communication in organizations. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Motluk, A. (2011). A tool kit for the real world. New Scientist, 209, 5. Retrieved April 2, 2012, from
     http://.newscientist.com/article/dn19969-a-tool-kit-for-the-real-world.html?full=true