Horizontal communication: basic concepts, types, management methods in an organization

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Communication is commonly referred to as a variety of forms of information transfer. As for the business environment, it is customary to distinguish between vertical and horizontal communications. Each of them is distinguished by its own characteristics, characteristic features of the interaction of participants. This article will explore this in more detail. Let's highlight the main differences between these types of communication.

What is this?

First, consider the key concept. So, communication is the process of information transfer used by people. It can appear in several forms:

• Explicit. This is the use of speech, text or some kind of graphic images, visuals, etc.
• Implicit. Communication through non-verbal gestures, facial expressions, certain facial expressions.

As for the main means of business communication, they are the following:

• Meeting.
• Video conference.
• Email.
• Telephone conversations.
• Transmission of memos.
• Personalconversation.
• Use of Internet technologies (chats, instant messengers).
• Submission of reports.

It is customary to single out the following communication elements:

• Senders. These are persons who form, encode data and transfer it to other participants in the process.
• Messages. Sender-specific coded information.
• Channels. Here the means of communication stand out, the environments in which information can be disseminated.
• Recipient. The person to whom the information was sent. An element that interprets information.

Internal and external groups

Vertical and horizontal communications in an organization are subcategories in nature.

Business communications are generally divided into external and internal. The latter are represented by the communication that takes place directly within the organization, in particular, between individual employees, departments, workshops, divisions of the company. External communication is communication with outside entities. They can be contractors, suppliers, customers, service organizations, representatives of government agencies, etc.

In turn, internal communications in the organization are represented by horizontal and vertical, as well as communication networks. Vertical ones are further divided into two more categories:

• Reverse (bottom-up principle).
• Hierarchical (top-down principle).

Features of thesepresented varieties will be discussed in detail in the article.

Horizontal communication

What do you mean? Horizontal communication is the exchange of official, business information between employees occupying the same, equal position in the company. Here, communication can be relevant both between workers of the same workshop, division, branch, and between workers of equivalent departments of workshops and branches.

Horizontal communication is communication between managers who have the same scope of competencies, as well as between employees who have the same category, are in equivalent positions, have an equal set of powers and responsibilities.

Horizontal communications in an organization are necessary first of all to create a he althy, friendly, comfortable working atmosphere. This is the organization of a full-fledged, fruitful business communication. A properly organized system of horizontal communications allows you to achieve positive results based on the results of the work of each member of the team.

Possible problems

This kind of business communication can be overshadowed by certain problems. Here are the main ones that are characteristic of horizontal communications in management:

• Using professional jargon. It may be incomprehensible to newly hired employees, employees of another department.
• Disputes about the importance of their particular site, their particular type of activity.
• Reducing business communication tohousehold, discussion of personal problems. The emergence on this basis of rumors, conversations behind your back, discussions that distract from the labor process.
• The effectiveness of business communication may decrease due to the appearance of likes, personal dislikes, etc.

Problem Solving

To keep internal horizontal communications in the company from such problems, the manager should do the following:

• Ask subordinates, colleagues to communicate in a language understandable to everyone, to decipher professional terms.
• Regulate communication between your subordinates, neutralize disputes and misunderstandings between them.
• Hold general meetings, including informal ones, so that employees can communicate with each other.

Vertical type

Horizontal communications are communications between employees of the same organization, business communication between workers of the same department, workshop, occupying equal positions. Vertical communication in a business environment is the transfer of information between management and subordinates. It includes the following forms:

• Orders.
• Recommendations.
• Orders.

This is sent from the boss to his subordinates. Employees send reports, messages, reports, etc. in response to the manager.

Vertical communication is divided into two types:

• Between departments, divisions, workshops located at different hierarchical levelsin the company.
• Directly between subordinates and leadership corps.

Transfer of information here is available in two forms - downstream (hierarchical) and upstream (reverse). Let's introduce them specifically.

Top-down group

Here the information will come from the higher levels of the hierarchy to the lower ones. That is, from the boss to his subordinates. Within this group, the following forms of business communication can be distinguished:

• Orders and orders. May be accompanied by explanations about achieving goals, implementing tasks, applying certain techniques and methods.
• Documents-assessments of the efforts of subordinates.
• Support and control.
• Incentives for employees.

Hierarchical subtype issues

Problems of top-down business communication (communication between a manager and his subordinates) include the following:

• Misunderstanding. There may be a situation that bosses and performers speak different languages - both literally and figuratively. Even if Russian is clearly chosen as the language of communication, the different levels of professional training will still leave room for misunderstanding. For example, if the boss abuses professional, technical vocabulary in communication with low-skilled personnel. Another example: the head of an international company cannot always find a common language with employees who are representatives of a different national culture. They, even knowing a foreign language, may not understand the peculiarities of the speech of its native speaker - the same abbreviations, jargon, word play.
• Amount of information. Managers do not always send the necessary information in the proper amount. In some situations, the assigned task is difficult for a subordinate to complete due to a lack of necessary information. And in other cases, the performer suffers from the need to study redundant, useless, irrelevant information.

Bottom-Up Group

This is information that is sent from subordinates to the leader. The following forms stand out here:

• Memorials.
• Reports.
• Messages on the stages of the work done.
• Reports about unforeseen problems during the performance of a service task.
• Proposals with innovative ideas, ways to improve production, introduce new technologies and methods of activity in the company.

Such feedback is no less important for managers than giving them orders themselves. It is from subordinates that you can get the latest information about the state of affairs in the company. This information allows us to assess the collective mood, to identify the growing dissatisfaction of employees in the bud.

Reverse subtype problems

Feedback between performers and management can be marred by the following issues:

• Subordinates rarely send negative feedback, complaints to their management even about those aspects that are quiteserious. The reason is simple - the fear of being fired.
• Often, even comments and suggestions sent by employees remain unanswered. The reason is either the excessive employment of the manager, or his lack of respect for his own employees. He considers it not important to parse their messages. In response, workers are convinced that such feedback is useless.
• Submitted criticism may not reach its final destination at all. For example, in the case when an employee sends a letter to the CEO with a complaint about his direct management. The subordinate boss may prevent such feedback, as it will result in negative consequences for him.
• For clarification of obscure topics, help in solving problems that have suddenly arisen, in most cases, employees prefer to turn to colleagues rather than managers. The reason may be that they do not hope to receive full-fledged, qualified help, they are afraid that they will be accused of incompetence.
• Often there is a territorial, geographical reason for the impossibility of such a connection. Offices where subordinates and commanding staff are located can be located in different areas of the settlement, and even in different cities, states.

Ways to solve problems

All of the above problems can be solved as follows:

• Define anonymous mail and email boxes where employeeswill be able to send incognito complaints and suggestions.
• Develop a system to reward employees who use feedback from management.
• Create communication schemes between a simple worker and a high-ranking boss without intermediate barriers in the form of direct employee guidance.
• Introduce registration of all appeals received by managers from subordinates with the need to report on the measures taken in response.