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Chapter10 Com m unicati The N erveSystemof Construction on: 10.2 COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY ORGANIZATIONS Constru ction companies are organizations or production systems that depend on managers and workers to achieve their goals. Achieving a strategic goal with a spe- cialized workforce requires organizing people into department s and forming an information network that lets people know what to do and how to carry out the mission of the company. This top-down bureaucratic method of disseminating in- formation is the traditional view of organizational commu nication, a view that, more recently, has lost its importance due primarily to the availability of highly efficient modern tools and technol ogies. 10.2.1 Main Functions Communication of

The role and meaning of communi cation went through major transitions in the twentieth century. As the sidebar shows, at least six concepts have been identified and studied by sociologists, behavioral and computer scientists, and many others. The engineering profession treats

The management of projects has always depended on some lateral commu nication to solve difficult problems, commu nication that involves more than one participat- ing entity. The complexities of todays projects typically re-quire that designers, engineers, constructio n managers, and owners all participate, along with lower-level craftspeople. communication as the means to present professional material (1), usually in writ- ing and/or verbally. Sociologists and, most recently, computer scientists modeled communication as a transmission process, using transmitters and receivers, which can, however, produce errors in communicating (2). Now it has also been generally acknowledged that commu nication plays a key role in creating social networks of trusting people within their own and exter- nal organizations (3). Managing information (4), reempha- sizes the fact that commu nication and information sharing are not the same. Commun ication is more than just a transmission

process; information is associated with an extensive set of re-

lated issues (e.g., processing, storing, securing, retrieving). Knowledge manage- ment, teaching, and training (5) comprise another area that has gained importance of late, and is being studied. Finally, discussing and negotiating (6) are critical traits of teamwork that also are necessary for consensus building within an organizati on. 10.2.2 Communication Managerial Functions as the Enabler of

The overall objective of management in a for-profit organiz ation is to create value for its shareholders. As businesses grow from mom-and-pop operations to larger enterprises, management is distributed among specialized individuals or teams, which belong either to the top management (strategic), middle