Perception can be defined as the process by which people translate sensory impressions into a coherent and unified view of the world around them. Though necessarily based on incomplete and unverified (or unreliable) information, perception is equated with reality for most practical human behaviour in general (Web Finance, 2011). It can be influenced by various factors including attitudes, past experiences, and backgrounds.
There have been many instances where I got to realise that, my initial perception about someone had been wrong. The most recent was during the period when I was working on part-time basis at Thistle Hotel. The incident happened on the first day I was to report to work. As I got off the bus and started walking on the pavement to the hotel, I was on the phone when all of a sudden I realised a guy was walking right behind me. I then decided to take caution by quickening my steps and also moved to the other side of the pavement knowing very well of how people get attacked on various streets across the United Kingdom. After making my way to the entrance of the hotel, I realised this guy was making way towards the same direction. Interestingly, he was wearing an all black attire just like I was wearing but that did not convince me enough of not suspecting him. I then decided to slow down my pace in order for him to get ahead of me. As he walked in front of me, he greeted and then quickly rushed into the hotel. I followed him closely and eventually realised he was a worker in the same Department I had been assigned to which was the Restaurant section. Immediately he entered the restaurant, he noticed I was standing at the entrance so he retraced his steps and asked if I was a new staff. I told him I was and he asked me to follow him. We later found ourselves in the closet assigned for workers to keep their personal items such as handbags before proceeding to work. After showing me a place to put my bag, he then pleaded with me to take out any valuables from my handbag since there have been incidences of theft reported among workers. I took out my phone but since I had no pocket on my uniform, he offered to keep it in his pocket. I hardly knew this guy but looking at the assistance he had offered me so far, I decided to give him my phone. As we entered into the working area, he took me to the Departmental Manager who then did a brief introduction to the team. The manager then asked me to understudy what goes on in the restaurant by asking another female staff to show me around. As the weeks went by, I made enquiries from other staffs from the restaurant about this guy and all of them praised him as being an honest and supportive staff. I then decided to verify this by getting to know him better. I started by exchanging greetings with him anytime I saw him at work, and as my work in the hotel progressed, he became my close friend. By the time I was ending my working days in the hotel, I realised that my initial perception about this guy as being a potential attacker on the street was wrong. After getting to know him better through communication, I realised he was rather a friendly, supportive and honest individual as he always made sure I was happy at work and offered me assistance whenever I consulted him or he saw that I needed help. From this experience, I decided not to form the wrong perception about people when I meet them for the first time but rather, get to know them personally through communication or other appropriate ways before making my judgements about them.
Communication can be defined as the process of giving, receiving or exchanging ideas, information, signals or messages through appropriate media, enabling individuals or groups to persuade, to seek information, to give information or to express emotions (Communication Dictionary, 2010). The importance of communication to an Organisation cannot be underestimated. As identified by Management Study Guide (2011), the importance of communication can be summarised as follows:
- Communication promotes motivation by informing and clarifying to employees about the task to be done, the manner they are performing the task, and how to improve their performance if it is not up to the mark.
- Communication is a source of information to the organisational members for decision-making process as it helps in identifying and assessing alternative course of actions.
- Communication also plays a crucial role in altering individual’s attitudes, that is, a well informed individual will have better attitude than a less-informed individual.
In a survey involving 2000 CIPD employees, Clark (2010) reported that, that fewer than half of the respondents felt either “fully” or “fairly well” informed about what was going on in their firms. Furthermore, there were also low levels of trust between employees and senior management. The findings therefore revealed that it was very important to improve communications within Organisations. Clark (2010) at the end of the study posited measures that could be adopted to ensure effective communication between employees and senior management in an organisation. The three measures are explored below to establish how best Buckinghamshire New University can improve communication with its students.
1. Authorities of the University must realise the importance of communication and take time to share the vision for the institution with students.
The importance of sharing the vision of an organisation with its members cannot be underestimated. This is because, when people are made aware of the overall goal of the organisation, it makes them appreciate the difference they can make. Additionally, employees feel a part of the company when authorities share the vision with them. Applying this to the way Buckinghamshire New University can improve communication with its students, it is imperative that, lecturers for example, make time to make known to their students, the learning outcomes of the courses they teach. This would give the students appreciate the need of working hard to make sure they get the best out of the courses offered at the University. Also, there is the need for the senior management of the University to make efforts to communicate the University’s vision to the students in person instead of using other channels such as sending out general information to students using the University’s website. This puts a face to management and offers the opportunity for students to approach them whenever the need arises. It is also important that, delegation of other personnel to communicate issues to students should be kept low as much as possible in order for the students to get to know the authorities of the University on a more personal basis. In my opinion, I think it is just not satisfactory that, the only time students get to see those in authority such as the Vice Chancellor of the University only during matriculation and graduation throughout their stay in the institution. Authorities must therefore take time off their busy schedules to meet with students at least once a term to relay any important vision or information. This would make students feel more involved and better understand what is going on within the university.
2. Create communication that is two-way.
Clark (2010) noted that, another way to improve communication is to ensure that communication is two-way process, not only top-down. A two- way communication offers a feedback mechanism which ensures that communication is effective (see Figure 1 below).
Figure 1: Diagrammatic representation of a two-way communication
Source: Community Eye Health Journal (2011)
Authorities should therefore ensure that, they do not always pass down information to students without allowing them to make contributions or react to what has been relayed to them.
The University should create avenues that would enable students express their views, resentments or observations about any information passed on to them by authorities. For example, lecturers should give students the opportunity to have their say about the rules governing their mode of teaching. A two-way communication process also offers an opportunity for negotiation between students and the University regarding pertinent issues. When students feel their views are always welcome, they would be satisfied with changes or developments made knowing very well that their views formed part of the final decision. This would also encourage the University and students to work as a team to meet the goals of Buckinghamshire New University. A two-way communication would mean that, both parties are active within the communication process. It is also worth mentioning that, the key component of any real two-way communication is the clear indication that both parties are listening to each other (Meyer, 2011).
3. Measure the success of actions.
The third way in which Buckinghamshire New University can better communication with its students would be to measure the success of its actions. According to Clark (2010), it is necessary for an organisation to establish mechanisms that would enable it assess the effectiveness of their communication structures. Applying this to ways in which Buckinghamshire New University can improve communication with its students, it would be appropriate for the university to engage the students in surveys soliciting for their views about how effective their communication strategies have been. Apart from such measures allowing the University to measure the success of its communication strategies, it would also offer the chance to identify loopholes in the existing strategy while allowing students to make suggestions for its improvements.
In conclusion, it must be said that a good perception is very important to understand others. Conflicts occur because we fail to perceive others correctly. Perception also forms the underlying basis for decision making in Organisations. Thus, it is important that the management of institutions make every effort to promote a positive perception of their businesses.
Communication is easily overlooked, but the ability to communicate effectively is necessary to carry out the thoughts and visions of an Organisation to people (Kam, 2009). An effective and efficient communication system requires managerial proficiency in delivering and receiving messages. A manager or leader of an organisation must discover various barriers to communication, analyse the reasons for their occurrence and take preventive steps to avoid those barriers. Thus, the primary responsibility of a manager is to develop and maintain an effective communication system in the organisation (Management Study Guide, 2011).
REFERENCES
Clark, R. (2010) How to improve staff communication [online]. Available from: http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2010/07/how-to-improve-staff-communication.htm [Accessed 23 November 2011].
Communication Dictionary (2010) Communication Theory [online]. Available from: http://communicationtheory.org/definitions-of-communication/ [Accessed 20 November 2011].
Community Eye Health Journal (2011) Two-way communication [online]. Available from: http://www.cehjournal.org/extra/et_015.2.html [Accessed 20 November 2011].
Kam, D. (2009) The Importance of Communication [online]. Available from: http://marketingdeviant.com/the-importance-of-communication/ [Accessed 24 November 2011].
Management Study Guide, (2011) Importance of Communication in an Organisation [online]. Available from: http://www.managementstudyguide.com/importance-of-communication.html [Accessed 21 November 2011].
Meyer, D. (2011) What is two-way communication [online]. Available from: http://ecilearning.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-is-two-way-communication.html[Accessed 18 November 2011].
