In the workplace, you will have to interact with the other people there. These people could either be your superiors, colleagues or even subordinates. The communication you maintain with these people can be of two types: official and unofficial communication.
What is official and unofficial communication?
Official communication is communication maintained from top superiors in the workplace, whether in the same department or in different departments. It follows a defined communication structure. For example, if you work in a company’s marketing department, the communication you maintain with the Head of Sales is an official communication; this can be in form of monthly meetings or letters and memos.
Unofficial communication, on the other hand, follows no predetermined or predefined structure for communication. This type of workplace communication has developed over time as a means to maintain relationship among colleagues. For example, coworkers can be chatting about the latest movies over lunch, or about a celebrity over texts or voice messages on their mobile phones.
Unofficial communication is a very useful tool in resolving conflicts between colleagues and between subordinates and superiors.
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What are the differences between official and unofficial communication?
There are some very obvious differences between the two types of communication within the workplace:
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Context/Environment:
There are predetermined rules and structures that guide official communication. These rules are not to be bypassed or broken. However, in the case of unofficial communication, there are no rules. For example, you could just walk up to your colleagues and begin casual gists, but this won’t be so acceptable if done with your boss.
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Relationship:
The relationship cultivated by official communication is strictly a work-based relationship. Unoffical communication cultivates friendship and team spirit between colleagues. For example, it is most likely that you are closer to your work colleagues than to your boss.
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Privacy of information shared:
There’s a tone of secrecy behind information shared through official communication. Such secrecy is not seen in informal or unofficial communications. For example, recieving a letter from your boss that your pay has just been increased for the month. Such information is deemed confidential between you and your boss.
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Level of time consumption:
The process of communicating officially can tend to be time consuming unlike that of an unofficial communication. For instance, it could take days to get an email response from your boss, whereas it would take only a few seconds to minutes to get a response from your colleague during casual talks.
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Reliability:
How do I know what type to use?
Drawing the line between official and unofficial communication will have to do with knowing when it is proper to communicate (or respond) officially or unofficially in a particular situation.
It is not possible to describe every situation where it is best to communicate officially, neither is it possible to describe every situation where it is best to communicate unofficially. The best type of communication to use will depend on that particular situation.
Having known the differences between the types of communication, it becomes easier to determine how best to respond (or communicate) in a particular situation; either officially or unofficially.
Generally:
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It is best to communicate officially when relaying work-related information to either a subordinate or a superior. In a business setting, official communication is best when communicating with another business.
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Unofficial communication is recommended when relaying information (whether work-related or not) to a colleague who has the same influence in the workplace as you do. You should know that official communication will be recommended here when the relaying that information was an instruction from your superior to do so on his behalf.
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