Marketing

A human resources manager announcing details about this year’s company picnic is an example of mostly downward communication, since the majority of people he is communicating to are employees. However, he is also letting other managers know the details of the company picnic and in this manner, this is also an example of horizontal communication. An appropriate type of communication would be a memo sent out to the firm. This is appropriate because it will reach everyone quickly and easily and it is not necessary to tell them the details face to face. Feedback and ideas from other managers or employees are not necessary since the details are already set, therefore, a type of communication in which people can respond is not necessary.

The director of internal communication convincing top management of the need for an internal executive blog is an example of upward communication. An appropriate type of communication for this conversation would be a meeting. A meeting would be best as it would allow the director to have top management’s undivided attention and would be a format that would let him share his ideas as well as demonstrate any supporting materials or presentations that help to convince his audience. Furthermore, a meeting would allow top management to give the director feedback that can be addressed immediately and therefore the director might be able to counter or explain away any arguments against his idea or confusion that it might arise in top management. These aspects of a meeting would more likely insure that the director’s idea is well received and correctly understood and thus would probably be accepted.

A production manager making sure that the sales and finance managers receive his scheduling estimates is an example of horizontal communication. An appropriate type of communication would be an email or casual conversation. In both these scenarios the production manager can make sure that the schedule is received, either by requesting a...