Communication Importance

Communication Importance in sharing critical information

 Effective communication is significant for any Organization. It is the core to perform basic functions, failing to communication accordingly could result in a state of turmoil. In the article “Boston bombings: Concern over possible communication failures”. The article reports on how the Boston Bombing could may have been prevented, if a communication error hadn’t occurred (Roberts, 2013).

The FBI addresses the concerns that they did not thoroughly investigated a tip-off from Russian security services in 2011 about Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older of the two suspects (Roberts, 2013). These may seem like a poor effort from the FBI part, but a former CIA and Pentagon official ‘Bruce Riedel defended them, “But he said that agencies received so many tipoffs that it was hard to process them all (Roberts, 2013)”. This does not justify the fact that the communication error was the failure to share the information to other agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security, which manages border control. The suspect wasn’t flagged and left the US in 2012(Roberts, 2013).By the time he returns all investigation had been closed (Roberts, 2013).

The failure to effectively communicate may be the result of the common barriers of communication obstacles which are, bypassing, and different frames of reference lack of language skill and the most likely for this case is distractions (Guffey, & Loewy, 2010, p1-5a ).There is a strong sense of distraction, “ how are you going to boil the 10,000 people you interview down to that one case, and how are you going to deal with the 500 false positives? (Roberts, 2013).”, The FBI could have been facing a great deal of information overload as well as a great deal of decision making could have delay the process.

Because of the above discussion, it is even more of shock to discover that FBI once again failed to communicate effectively and share critical information immediately to the local law enforcer of New York or NYPD, in this day of age knowledge workers are expected to use their brains in thinking critically (Guffey, & Loewy, 2010, p1-2c). There is no valid reason for the FBI to delay the message, in fact it is more damaging to do so.

“The FBI’s dereliction in failing to instantly notify Police Commissioner Ray Kelly that the Boston Marathon bombers planned to attack New York was irresponsible, unforgivable, terrifying and grounds for overhauling its anti-terror protocols.” (YANA, 2013).

Both the FBI and NYPD mission is exactly the same, which are to deal with criminal activity; both of their level of clearance in accessing information should be in par.

In the context of failing to communicate, given the nature of the FBI and that the methods of conducting investigations as well as all the protocols they have to follow. Because of the recent trend and persistence in the barrier between other agencies, it is important to take steps toward the direction of better co-operation with other law enforcing agency. This is especially when information and time is the key in beating the immediate threat.

Roberts, Dan. (2013, April 24). Boston bombings: Concern over possible communication failures. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/24/boston-bombings 

 

Parascandola,Rocco. (2013, April 26). Raymond Kelly stresses need for communication after flap with FBI. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ray-kelly-reacts-fbi-info-flap-article-1.1328474

YANA, PASKOVA. (2013, April 26). Boston Marathon bombing has not been the FBI's finest hour. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/wrong-late-dangerous-article-1.1327734#commentpostform

Guffey, M. E., & Loewy, D. (2010). Business Communication: Process and Product (7th edn). Mason, OH: South Western Cengage Learning.