Introduction
Organizations or any other set up that requires interaction between individuals will similarly pose the need for communication among the individual personalities or groups of people. Communication requires the availability of three elements: a message to be passed across, the party to send the message as well as the party to whom the message is being sent. Such communications that are conveyed without the use of words are called non verbal communication. This paper seeks to look at an organizational case study. The paper will give a review of the study, determine whether or not an identified behavior was appropriate and highlight some of the non verbal communications that ought not to exist in organizations.
Review of Case Study
The case study is based on an organizational set up in which a conflict ensues between one of the employees and the organization’s management leading to the employee’s dismissal. Dawson was recruited by the organization, KJVM Radio station by its founder. Though he had no skill in the field, he was taken in and trained after which he turned out to become one of the organization’s most influential and well paid personalities. Situation however changed when the founder of the company, the one who recruited and molded Dawson, died and his place was taken over by his son as the new owner. A new management was then injected into the firm resulting to some new consequences which affected Dawson. Dawson and Junior, the new owner of the organization, had enjoyed a more of friendly relationship that was evidenced by their interactions.
Though they never formally pronounced themselves as friends, they shared light moments together such as sharing breakfast meals together during breaks. As time went by under the new management, things changed in the entire environment of the organization and the whole management structure. Dawson became a victim of a cold war in which his working conditions were being changed without any form of direct communication. He is, for example, was moved to a lower profile level of duty without a clear communication of his demotion.
Similarly, his immediate work environment was being transformed with harsh treatments that involved redistribution of Dawson’s accounts to other workers requiring him to establish and develop new accounts and maintain and even increase his overall returns on accounts. There were a lot of frustrating moments for Dawson which were either directly or verbally communicated to him such as being restrained from sharing his work related information with co workers while other advances such as distortion of his communications with his clients were never communicated to him.
It was however revealed that all these moves were not sincere but were meant to force Dawson out of the company by making fabrications against him subjecting him to harsh environment that would portray him as a non performing lazy employee, making ground for his dismissal.
The Behavior
The case study reveals developed behavior by the management in the organization in order to dismiss one of the employees from the organization’s system. Revelations by other workers in the organization pointed out to the fact that all the negative advances that were made towards Dawson by the management were planned to ensure that he was eliminated.
It was further revealed that his elimination from the firm was based on the jealousy that the newly injected managers in the organization had over his earnings and influence in the organization. This behavior however do not seem to be an appropriate as is required in management communications. A consideration of the treatment accorded to the employee actually contravenes communications standards in management in terms of both ethical and legal determinations.
Ethical issues are matters that relates to morality within an environment of coexistence. Issue like self discipline in matters that pertains to honesty, sincerity and responsibility among others. Ethical issues, whether in a business environment or in any other place, are based on self consciousness. A number of issues are necessary in considering ethical aspects in a business environment.
An issue like the legality of a subject matter should always be a critical consideration in any undertaking in a business activity. Cases such as decision making in any department of an organization should be based on legal requirements of the jurisdiction in which the business is located. Steps should for this reason be taken by every member of an organization to ensure that influence is not yielded into, no matter the source of the influence, while undertaking any duty.
Empathetic consideration is another fundamental aspect of ethics. Individuals in a business organization are supposed to understand each other by imagining what these other people could be going through. A decision by a leader, such as a supervisor or a manager, regarding a junior employee should be considerate of the employee’s state of affairs. A decision maker should at least presume the effects that the decision could have on him, if he was in the position of the subject. Solution of problems in organizational set ups should also be given a wide approach before conclusions are arrived at. Possibilities and all available alternatives into a solution should be considered by any decision making individual or body before any verdict is given.
At the level of management in the organization, the two new managers are expected to understand their ethical responsibility to employees. Dawson having been in top management position is similarly expected to understand the basis of ethics in communication. A deliberate breach of these values and the use of unfair treatment on Dawson was a significant move to explain to him that a message was being passed to him.
General laws and principles of communications require leaders to undertake effective and efficient communications with their subjects in order to develop productivity of their organization. With this regard, a leader is expected to undertake the responsibility of communicating to his juniors, information that is deemed to have the capacity of increasing the productivity of the junior workers and the business entity in general. On the contrary, the company failed to relay its need for hard work on the employee or presenting a formal request to him.
Younger managers are introduced into the system and Dawson only told by Junior upon his demand for an explanation that fresh blood was needed in the firm. The introduction of the younger managers was thus a non verbal communication that his old age was not needed in the organization. The management is thus seen to have settled for non verbal communication approach to influence the final dismissal of the employee.
Organizations are further expected to handle their employees in a dignified manner that upholds the rule of law as well as any other regulations over the relationship between employer and the employee. The treatment that the subject employee was offered in terms of difference in consideration such as being required to perform extra tasks that were not required of other employees was a discriminatory message to inform him that he was an odd one out. The discrimination was later revealed to be a tool towards his dismissal. The general behavior towards the employee was thus not appropriate because it was in direct violation of ethical and even legal requirements that that makes provision for communications and protection of employees. It also failed to communicate the message as Dawson only realized the actual motive of the managers after his dismissal.
Inappropriate non Verbal Communications
The functionality of non verbal communication as a supplement to verbal communication puts restriction to the applications of such communication techniques. The fact that some verbal communications are rendered inappropriate in an organizational set up due to ethical values or legal requirements implies that non verbal communications that supplements such restricted verbal communications will as well be regarded as inappropriate. Facial expression behaviors are usually meant to pass some message across in a non verbal manner. Such facial expression may be a show of anger, displeasure etc and is usually inappropriate in organizational set up in which self control is a necessity to promote interpersonal relations.
Conclusion
The case study reveals a behavior towards humiliating an employee to establish a basis for his dismissal. In their approach, the management employed both verbal and non verbal communication strategies that were both inappropriate in handling the employee. Non verbal communication is however significant in its general terms of supplementing verbal communication.