ABSTRACT
Organizational communication includes the purpose, flow, and direction of messages and the media used for those messages. Such communication happens within the complex, interdependent social systems of organizations. Think of organizational communication as another view of behavior in organizations. This chapter calls such behavior “message behavior”—behavior that includes sending, receiving, and giving meaning to messages. Modern communication media provide senders many choices. Senders can choose to use telephones, e-mail, letters or memoranda, videoconferencing, and face-to-face meetings. The criteria for choosing a medium vary. Verbal and nonverbal communication is the two major types of communication found in organizational communication processes. Verbal communication includes oral, written, and electronic forms of communication. Nonverbal communication includes eye movements, gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, and the like. Oral and written messages are the two major forms of verbal communication. The chapter discusses many characteristics of the different forms of verbal communication one should likely find in organizations.
