ABSTRACT
Communications in management has become a central concern to students and practitioners in all institutions—business, the military, public administration, hospital, university, and research. Communication, in other words, always makes demands. It always demands that the recipient become somebody, do something, believe something. It always appeals to motivation. If, in other words, communication fits in with the aspirations, the values, the purposes of the recipient, it is powerful. Management by objectives is a prerequisite for functioning communication. It requires the subordinate to think through and present to the superior his own conclusions as to what major contribution to the organization—or to the unit within the organization—he should be expected to perform and should be held accountable for. The examples illustrate the main conclusion to which our experience with communications—largely an experience of failure—and all the work on learning, memory, perception, and motivation point: communication requires shared experience.
