Communication Policies: An Instrumental Case Study about the Role of Policy in Achieving Effective Communications in Organizations

The focus of this study is to examine the role of policy in achieving effective communications in organizations, and to propose a communication policy to minimize miscommunication. In today's society, communication is much broader than a means to effectively transmit a message between two people. New digital devices have changed communication forever. The corporate world is in need of practical guidelines, to manage these changes. The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that the intended message from the sender has been successfully delivered to the receiver. The literature reflects that intended messages are not always successfully delivered, especially in certain settings. Church organizations are being used in this study because of their unique open communication platform, and the fact that they are people-oriented organizations tasked with effectively communicating messages. Failing to communicate effectively is a problem which can be detrimental to any organization. The greater the population, the more challenging it is to effectively communicate. As church organizations continue to grow, they too must consider using guidelines to better manage communication. This research is an instrumental case study seeking to extend pre-existing data by testing theories to improve communication identified in the literature. The case to be studied is effective communication. The results of the data collected confirm that implementing a policy is a practical solution to manage communication. As communication continues to become faster and easier to share; maintaining control becomes more challenging. The absence of regulatory measures limits a leader's ability to ensure an effective message exchange, and the ability to ensure all communications advance organizational goals.