Communication Gap Essay

Decent Essays
1. The CIO of your company has received several complaints from other departments regarding the poor communication capabilities of the IT staff. It seems the IT people are using a lot of "techno speak" that the people in other parts of the organization don 't understand or find confusing when interacting with the IT staff. He has asked to meet with you to discuss this problem and share some thoughts on how to overcome this communication gap.
A large portion of the problem is that many people in IT overrate their abilities to communicate. This usually happens because they focus on the intentions and don 't explain thoroughly the desired outcomes. As a result, the outcome is not what was expected. This problem can be toggled by the person communicating
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Aspects such as "tone of voice, rate of speed, degree of loudness, and passing and pausing" (IT Strategy - McKeen & Smith) should be considered for effective communication. For example, if I say "I need these documents for tomorrow before noon" really quickly and not a really audible volume, the receiver might interpret it like "I need these documents for the day after tomorrow in the afternoon." Therefore, this will result in a undesired outcome particularly if time was of importance. The best way to avoid these problems is through practice. IT members should be encouraged to communicate with business employees in informal(low risk) scenarios where the outcome of the conversation will not affect the company. This way IT members can realize which factors might be preventing them from expressing their wants …show more content…
As a follow up meeting regarding obstacles to effective communication, the HR director has asked you identify some specific topics for training to help overcome the communication issues between IT and the rest of the company.
Converting IT into Business: There is two main objectives in this topic, the first one is eliminating tech talk which is unfamiliar to people outside of IT. Secondly, the IT staff needs to be able to communicate IT concepts in words that describe how they might affect the business. Since communication requires delivering and receiving a message, the IT staff should also be able to comprehend what the people from the business side want and convert into an IT proposal.
Customization of delivery: The IT staff needs to comprehend who is their audience as explained in IT Strategy by McKeen & Smith this requires to know their needs, their agendas, and their politics. Afterwards, IT members should choose the adequate method of delivery. For instance, an order to a supplier could be made by phone or e-mail, but when firing an employee face-to-face communication might be more

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