team briefing

team briefing

a form of COMMUNICATION in which supervisors or managers pass information about company affairs to their subordinates (who in turn brief their subordinates) via the medium of a regular meeting. In this way information can be cascaded down the organization. Advocates of team briefing maintain that, as well as providing information useful to job performance, communication of this sort results in employees feeling more involved. As a result they become more committed to their organizations, with the benefit that performance may improve further. Team briefing can therefore be said to embody a HUMAN RELATIONS philosophy The efficacy of team briefing, however, can be questioned. Mechanisms for transmitting employee recommendations up the organization hierarchy are generally absent, with the result that employees may soon question whether team briefing permits genuine involvement. Some also maintain that team briefing is an attempt to weaken TRADE UNIONS in the organization, by providing alternative channels of communication to those provided by SHOP STEWARDS. See EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT.

Collins Dictionary of Business, 3rd ed. © 2002, 2005 C Pass, B Lowes, A Pendleton, L Chadwick, D O’Reilly and M Afferson