Designing Strong and Resilient Communication Channels in Human Resources

Each organizational structure creates natural communication channels and barriers for the communication among employees, managers, internal and external clients. Employees and internal clients follow the structure, if they find the right person to make a decision. The communication flow follows the organizational structure and each level filters, changes and enriches the message.

The organizational structure can support the effective communication, but it can build significant obstacles for the communication among employees in Human Resources. The effective design of the organization structure, clear decision points and logical structuring of jobs is the best tool for the speed and effective communication.

The organizational structure is efficient, if it follows the natural decision lines. The responsibilities of job positions grow naturally and the key and strategic decisions are made on the top of the organizational structure. This is the theory of the effective management. The HR Management has to follow such a practice.

However, the HR organizational structure has to be supported by additional communication rules for the internal communication. The external communication rules have to be defined as well. The rules for the communication are necessary as the HR Model defines the communication channels to be used internally and externally. Not all employees of HR are allowed to start the communication with internal clients. They have to follow simple communication rules as internal clients are not confused.

The Internal communication rules and principles should be about:

Front Office, Back Office and Centers of Excellence Communication Rules
Cooperation Rules within HR Department
Internal Communication Style

The modern HR Model and HR Organization does not allow all employees to communicate with internal and external clients. The Front Office is the department responsible for dealing with internal clients of HR. The employees in HR have to respect the communication rules, otherwise the communication chaos starts and line managers are confused.

The internal cooperation of employees is usually supported by the informal and formal internal communication rules. Everyone has to stick to defined rules as mailboxes are not overloaded by useless mails.

The job profiles and the HR Organizational Structure make the communication easier. The employees can find the person responsible for the task and they can send the message directly. The internal rules define the way of transferring the task to a different employee in the team. The involvement of managers have to be minimized. Managers raise issues. They make the reaction slower.

The external communication is even simpler with the right HR Organizational Structure. No employee is allowed to communicate externally but the HR Director. The external communication is sensitive and has to be managed centrally. The employees can communicate freely with the vendors and external partners. They should not communicate with anyone else. Each external question should be sent up the organizational structure to find the right employee with the permission to answer the question.

HR Organization Structure Section Content

General

HR Front Office