‘Communication is the process of sharing information, ideas or feelings with other people.’ (Chua Joon Eng 2001, p. 241) In a company, communication is very important, because it is a channel which is used to transmit information and instructions in an organization. Through communication, decisions are made, information are shared among the employees. Effective communication is an essential component of organizational success whether it is at the interpersonal, organizational, or external levels.
HSBC’s new building has given them enough space for each department to be neatly located on each floor. It reduces the amount of interaction within the employees among the different departments. Employees restrict themselves in their closed office, spending less time interacting with others. The meaning of a given word can be interpreted differently by the listener. This in turn causes misconception.
Even before the employees interact with each other, they may have stereotyped others from the different department base on the group or department the employee belongs to, instead of the employee’s own attributes. The biasness, can affect the communication between the employees in the company, causing internal conflicts. (Steven Mashane & Tony Travaglione 2005, p.366)
HSBC being a large organization, it has multilevel of hierarchy. When messages are passed up or down the organizational structure, sometimes messages tend to get distorted and even delays in delivery. Everyone who processes the message views it selectively. Therefore, when it finally reaches the person, the message could have been leveled, condensed, or even sharpened. (Chua Joon Eng 2001, p. 247)
This is important, when the top level management decides to make changes to th ...