INFORMATIVE “BLOCKAGES” IN TOP MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION: AN INTERPRETIVE AND PRESCRIPTIVE MODEL

The paper considers internal communication with specific regard to information flows, as well as the values and competencies of those who make up the organisation, connected by a continuous and strategic relationship. The approach embraces both formal aspects and the more spontaneous mechanisms. Pasquale Saraceno emphasised in his Italian introduction to Stafford Beer’s The Company as Cybernetic System (1973) that the vitality of a business system depends on the efficiency of the connections it has succeeded in establishing between those participating in the system itself. Taking this as a starting point and with it the importance of the role of internal communications, much recognised in the literature which has seen a proliferation of positions on the subject in the ensuing years, this work focuses on communication problems that can arise in the area of top management information flows. The problems that frequently afflict this area are many and various. They include the lack of or incompleteness of the information itself, ambiguous and redundant information, forms of protection and appropriation, a lack of coherence, reliability, uniformity and clarity of language, problems of coordination, the pressures of speed and time limits, fears of results, haste-driven errors and the fear of disciplinary action that all impact on relationships to produce distrust, inability or unwillingness to listen, problems of respect and the generation of misunderstandings and conflict. Such problems seem to be surfacing in ever more aggravated forms as the business environment becomes increasingly unpredictable in ways that frequently lead to intuitive and lacking of information decision-making, also due to the viscosity of the information flow. Starting from the view that communication problems are generally approached in ways that often fail to get to their roots, this work offers an alternative method that aims to shed light on the communication openness, reactivity, effectiveness and efficiency within the company higher levels. The nodal components of the model are visual representation of the circulation of information within top management and the actual involvement of the responsible persons. The work’s underlying hypothesis is that this model can help restore fluidity to information flows within top management and hence create the conditions in which the organisation is able to respond and move in environments dominated by the need for speed of reactions. The scientific objective is therefore to test the hypothesis by empirical application of the model to a dozen or so organisations operating in different private and public sectors. As regards value to management, the aim is to put forward a model capable of suggesting how communication problems that impact on the ability to make decisions can be effectively addressed. The model may be considered innovative with respect to similar methods that have been employed (company atmosphere studies, anthropological investigations and so forth) because of its simplicity, its immediate visualisation and perception of connections between components of the organisation and their associated problems, as well as its quantification of certain intangibles (such as the cost of communication and the level of satisfaction of the internal customer). The construction of the model in particular involves a conscious effort to prompt creative applications of listening and participation on the basis of total quality management, also looking into possible contaminating factors through the visualisation of business intelligence (visual analytics), as originally constructed for neural network technology.