Although they might not know it, when people are at work they engage in the process of communication all the time. For example, they may be contacting others by sending an e-mail or talking to a colleague by a photocopier machine. They might be answering a phone or putting forward ideas and thoughts at a meeting.
In other settings, they could be receiving communications. They might be reading an e-mail, listening to a staff briefing or looking at a document sent by someone else.
Why is effective communication so important?
Communications are at the very heart of all business activity. So it is essential that people in a company assess such practices to ensure they are working well. Effective communications help to create a direction and basis for everyone’s activities.
According to the communication theorist Wilbur Schramm (1955), communication ‘is the process of establishing a commonness or oneness of thought between a sender and a receiver. In other words, it helps employees to work towards the same goals, giving them a similar direction and purpose. In doing so, effective communications help to create a direction and basis for everyone’s activities.
What does UNISON do?
UNISON has 1.3 million members, a headquarters in London and 12 regional offices including one in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It has 1,200 staff and 1,300 branches. There are conferences to sort out and members to represent and support across a range of issues. So it needs good communication.
This case study looks at the communication activities of UNISON, Britain’s biggest trade union. It shows how it uses a range of methods to help its members deal with the many issues they face within their workplaces, through the Head Office, regions and local branches.
Each branch has a branch secretary who is elected by his or her colleagues. These people need the data and the skills of others in UNISON to help them act as best as they can.
UNISON acts for its members from the public services and utilities across a wide range of jobs. These can be in local authorities, the NHS, police, electricity, gas, water, colleges and schools, transport and the voluntary sector.
Internal and external communication
In order to know how UNISON makes sure that it communicates well within the company and to the outside world, the process is best revealed through the Shannon-Weaver model (1947).
People working within UNISON try to reduce all the barriers or ‘noise’ to make sure they communicate clearly. This involves a transmitter sending messages to receivers. A transmitter should put data into a form the receiver can understand, such as a written or visual point. This is known as encoding. The medium is then chosen this might be a letter, e-mail or website. The receivers then translate the message through a process of decoding.
Though a message flows from the sender to receivers, there is no guarantee the receivers will either get or even understand it. This is because the process may involve communication difficulties. These problems are known as ‘noise’ and they may weaken or destroy the message that is being sent. For example, the noise would occur if a message was hard to understand or used badly chosen language.
Within a trade union, a policy or plan comes from the members. The role of employees at UNISON is to take it forward and put it into action. It is through helpful contact, both internally and externally, that this is able to happen.
Internal communication
Whereas internal communication takes place between employees within an organisation, external communication occurs between those within the company and those in the outside world.
There are many forms of internal communication. For example:
- workshops help people to become involved
- project groups at UNISON look at issues and help to put policy into action
- a key way in which UNISON communicates internally is through its in-house magazine called InsideOut. This is sent to all UNISON staff members. It highlights a range of challenges and issues for staff. These include details about their new headquarters, facts about equal pay issues for UNISON members and other news within the organisation.
Such communications may be carried out by the use of e-mail, posters, staff briefings, documents or meetings. More information is on the intranet, which can only be accessed by staff and members.
External communications
External communications are also important for UNISON. With more than 1,300 local branches, it may need to convey issues to receivers and stakeholders in many different areas. These issues could include legal matters, pensions and discussions, as well as disputes.
UNISON’s website is a vital link with the outside world. To support issues such as collective bargaining, health and safety and to provide legal advice, there are leaflets, booklets and other information. These can be ordered from a communication catalogue or by downloading a pdf from the website.
For example, Welcome to UNISON is a full guide for members, covering topics from health and safety to building skills. DVDs have also become a popular way of making contact with members. Another example, 10 Good Reasons to Join UNISON, is designed to help local branches recruit new members.
Formal and informal communications
Formal communications
Formal communications within an organisation are those that take place through well-known channels. For example, the expansion of policy at UNISON comes from a formal procedure where it is dictated from the members upwards. Members discuss policy issues in their branches. Delegates from the branches then meet at the Annual Conference and debate and agree with the policy.
Formal communications would also include all of the paper-based and electronic communications that are available to members as well as the meetings that take place. The expansion of policy at UNISON comes from a formal procedure where it is dictated from the members upwards.
Informal communications
Informal communications are those that are not based upon any set measures. This does not mean that such relations are outside the networks of the organisation. They allow people to take the initiative into their own hands. This enables them to come up with ideas and plans. For example, UNISON helps to share facts and skills through the publication of a communications catalogue this is a system of formal relations. These formal communications help to empower members who are dealing day-to-day with problems and issues in the branches. This then leads to a new process.
Through informal communications with employers and their representatives, members feel that they are being supported. This helps them to take ownership of many problems as they work towards resolving them.
Benefits of effective communication
Everyone in the country is touched in one way or another by topics that are related to energy, the public services, local government, schools and hospitals. Many issues and disputes arise that are based upon ethics and beliefs about what is right or what is wrong.
Effective communication helps to give:
- a direction for those involved in a dispute or issue
- an understanding to the varying groups of what these issues involve
- help and support for those who need it
- the ability to change opinion about a dispute in a way that leads to it being resolved.
Communication in action
UNISON recently coordinated a National Health Service day of action. It was held to support hospitals and secure the future of the NHS by influencing government policy. The campaign involved writing to local newspapers and providing leaflets for people that described some of the problems in their local hospitals. UNISON also needed to be in touch with the media. This included newspapers as well as television and radio stations.
The website was used to manage activities. It encouraged members of UNISON to lobby their MPs. On the day of action, an open-top bus was driven around Parliament Square in London. The day got huge coverage across the media. The campaign was supported by several unions and other key bodies including the British Medical Association the professional association for doctors. Public meetings helped to provide awareness for the campaign. Balloons, hats and other forms of promotional items helped to advertise the event and offer publicity.
All of this enables a dispute to become visible. It means that members feel they are being truly supported by their union and that they are all contributing together to resolve something they feel strongly about.
Overcoming the barriers to communication
The Shannon-Weaver model refers to the process of ‘noise’. This can weaken messages that are being sent and offer some real barriers to contact.
Types of ‘noise’
To use an example, many members of UNISON may not have access to a computer and might not understand the communications technologies that are being used. For some, English might not be their first language. To overcome this problem, UNISON has to create a means by which members can access and use the technology. This has been carried out at a local level through each branch.
Another blockage to interaction is where people are lone workers. There are many expert lone workers, for example, meat hygienists and lock-keepers – who aren’t easy to get hold of. UNISON has come up with diverse ways of communicating with such employees by carefully targeting its messages to individuals rather than groups.
Adapting communications
Being in touch with varied groups of employees and individuals from the health services to the utility industries has not been easy. UNISON has had to be flexible and adapt its communications. This is so it can support its members in a way that shows an understanding of the needs of each group.
Conclusion
This case study shows just how vital it is for a large trade union such as UNISON to share a sense of oneness.
In doing so, UNISON is able to support its 1,300 branches and its 1.3 million members. The policies put forward by the members at the Annual Conference help to provide a course of action that can then be followed in practice.
In doing this, UNISON is able to sort out issues and control campaigns on key issues that affect its members as well as the public at large.
About this case study:
This case study helps students understand communication processes and the benefits for an organisation of effective communication.
Click HERE to download this case study »
