Introduction
Communication refers to the different ways that information is passed from one point to another. On the other hand, group communication refers to the different ways that information is passed within a group. In dealing with this topic it is good to understand that there are two main types of communication in groups; structured communication and unstructured communication. Structured communication is the situation in which there are laid down methods of passing information while unstructured communication is a situation where the no methods that are laid out clearly.
Structured communication
Protocol
In most organizations, there are two main directions of communication. Upwards and down ward flow of information. In this kind of scenario, the downward flow of information is from the top management down to the staff at the lowest level. This is usually made up of commands and directions. The key decisions in an organization are made by the cream management; this information is passed down the line until all the persons who are affected by the decisions are reached by it. Each senior manager makes sure that all the concerned staff under his or her supervision is reached by the information (Wood, 91).
The upward flow of communication is the opposite of downward flow whereby the staff pass their massages using the same channels used in the downward communication to pass their messages. The messages that are common in upward flow are staff grievances the feedback from the external parties and also recommendations. Where the junior members of an organization are delegated some responsibility, the upward flow of communication may involve the report on the duties assigned to them. The main limitation in downward and upward flow of this information is sabotage at the middle of the information flow and also time consumption depending on the number of intermediaries between the source and the target (Cronin, 56).
Formal documents
Still in structured communication, there are formal documents and channels that the group may use to pass its information to the members. This in most cases refers to the internal memos. Internal memos are prominent in companies where the information has to be passed form one department to other department or officer in the group. The memos are usually made in triplicate; one copy is hanged on the notice board, another is kept at the source and the other is delivered to the department or officers to the information are intended. The main challenge in this mode is maintenance of secrets. The mode cannot be used to pass confidential information.
The other formal method is by use of websites where the members of a group can be able to view all the data that is provide at the internet. The method also suffers from lack of privacy and secrecy (Wood, 91).
Unstructured communication
Unstructured communication is present both in groups where structured communication is in place and where there are no clear structures of communication. After persons come together and become a group, whether in working place, academic institution or even commercial groups, there is a great tendency for them becoming friends. The information that these people share should not be ignored. The planning of staff strikes, management of unstructured groups, and also the major coups that have been witnessed world wide have been organized though unstructured communication. The major set back of this method is that it is dependent of the ability of all the persons to convey the same information. Thus cases of message distortion are high (Chatterjee, 23).
Meetings
This is the other method that is used by groups to pass information. Some groups have regular meetings while others do not have regular meetings but rather meet as the situations require. In the companies, it is a requirement for them to hold annual general meetings. In a meeting, the members of any group are expected to share a lot of information concerning the group. In formal meetings, the information that is shared is limited to the items that fall on the agenda list. This forms the limitation of this form of communication. The items not on the agendas list can only be discussed at the permission of the chairperson even though there may be of much importance. At times those persons chairing the meeting may deny some vital topics from being discussed for personal reasons (Cronin, 56).
In this category of group communication lie informal meetings like where persons who form part of a certain organization, institution or any other group meet incidentally. In such cases there are high possibilities of the small group sharing information concerning the larger group (Chatterjee, 23).
Conclusion
The communication in a group whether structured or unstructured has its own limitations. For any group to decide the channel of information to use, it must consider the issues of privacy, speed of information delivery and also the intended persons for the information sent. However, it is noteworthy that structured communication channels are always preferred to unstructured channels as the former have less chances of ineffectiveness.
Works cited
Chatterjee, Parge. Anderson’s Utopia’, diacritics. New York: The Johns Hopkins University Press, (1999).
Cronin, Brown. Annual Review of Information Science & Technology. New York: Information Today, Inc., (2007).
Wood, Johnson. Communication Mosaics: An Introduction to the Field of Communication. Sixth Edition. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, (2011).