Download Chapter 14 Communication

Chapter 14
Communication
Interact before you act
Chapter 14 Study Questions
• What is the nature of communication in
organizations?
• What are the essentials of interpersonal
communication?
• What are the barriers to effective
communication?
• What are current issues in organizational
communication?
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Figure 14.1
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What is the nature of
communication in organizations?
• Communication
– process of sending and receiving messages
with attached meanings
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What is the nature of
communication in organizations?
• Source
– encodes an intended meaning into a message
• Receiver
– decodes the message into a perceived
meaning
• Noise
– any disturbance that disrupts and interferes
with the transference of messages
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What is the nature of
communication in organizations?
Communication channels
• Face-to-face meetings
• Email
• Online discussions
• Written letters
• Telephone
• Voice mail
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What is the nature of
communication in organizations?
• Feedback
– the process through which the receiver
communicates with the sender by returning
another message
• 360-degree feedback
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What is the nature of
communication in organizations?
Guidelines for effective constructive feedback
•
•
•
•
•
•
Give it directly and in a spirit of mutual trust
Be specific, not general; use clear examples
Give it when the receiver is most ready to accept
Be accurate; check its validity with others
Focus on things the receiver can control
Limit how much receiver gets at one time
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What is the nature of
communication in organizations?
• Formal channels
– Follow the chain of command established by an
organization’s hierarchy of authority
• Informal channels
– Diverge from formal channels by skipping
levels in the hierarchy or cutting across vertical
chains of command
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What is the nature of
communication in organizations?
• Grapevine
– network of friendships and acquaintances
through which rumors and other unofficial
information get passed from person to person
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What is the nature of
communication in organizations?
• Channel richness
– The capacity of a communication channel to
convey information effectively.
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Figure 14.2
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What is the nature of
communication in organizations?
• Organizational communication
– the specific process through which information
moves and is exchanged throughout an
organization
• Information flows:
– Through formal and informal structures
– Downward, upward, and laterally
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Figure 14.3
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What are the essentials of
interpersonal communication?
• Effective communication
– Occurs when the intended meaning of the
source and the perceived meaning of the
receiver are virtually the same
• Efficient communication
– Occurs at minimum cost in terms of resources
expended
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What are the essentials of
interpersonal communication?
• Nonverbal communication
– Takes place through facial expressions, body
position, eye contact, and other physical
gestures
– The act of speaking without using words
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What are the essentials of
interpersonal communication?
• Kinesics
– study of gestures and body postures
• Proxemics
– study of the way space is utilized
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Figure 14.4
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What are the essentials of
interpersonal communication?
• Active listening
– the ability to help the source of a message say
what he or she really means
– Ability to listen well is a distinct asset
– Everyone needs to develop good skills in active
listening
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What are the essentials of
interpersonal communication?
Guidelines for active listening
•
•
•
•
•
Listen for content
Listen for feelings
Respond to feelings
Note all cues
Reflect back
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What are the essentials of
interpersonal communication?
• Ethnocentrism
– The tendency to believe that one’s culture and
its values are superior to those of others
– Cross-cultural communication challenges
• Language differences
• Use of gestures
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What are the essentials of
interpersonal communication?
• Low-context cultures
– very explicit in using the spoken and written
word
• High-context cultures
– use words to convey only a limited part of the
message
– the rest must be inferred or interpreted from the
context
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What are the barriers to
effective communication?
• Physical distractions
– Any aspect of the physical setting in which
communication takes place
– Can interfere with communication effectiveness
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What are the barriers to
effective communication?
• Semantic problems
– Involves a poor choice or use of words and
mixed messages
– Use the KISS principle of communication
• “Keep it short and simple”
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What are the barriers to
effective communication?
• Mixed messages
– Occur when a person’s words communicate
one thing while actions or body language
communicates another
– Nonverbals add important insights in face-toface meetings
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What are the barriers to
effective communication?
• Absence of feedback
– One-way communication flows from sender to
receiver only, with no direct and immediate
feedback
– Two-way communication goes from sender to
receiver and back again
– Two-way communication is more effective than
one-way communication
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What are the barriers to
effective communication?
• Status effects
– Status differences create potential
communication barriers between persons of
higher and lower ranks
– Mum effect
• tendency to keep “mum” from a desire to be polite
and a reluctance to transmit bad news
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What are current issues in
organizational communication?
• Advances in information technologies
enable organizations to:
– Distribute information much faster
– Make more information available
– Allow broader and more immediate access to
information
– Encourage participation in the sharing and use
of information
– Integrate systems and functions, and use
information to link with the environment
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What are current issues in
organizational communication?
• Potential disadvantages of electronic
communications
– Technologies are impersonal
– Nonverbal communication is removed from
situation
– Can unduly influence the emotional aspects of
communication
– Information overload
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What are current issues in
organizational communication?
• Workplace privacy
– Eavesdropping by employers on employee use
of electronic messaging in corporate facilities
– Most organizations develop internal policies
regarding employee privacy
– Likely to remain controversial
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What are current issues in
organizational communication?
• Communication and social context
– Men and women are socialized into different
communication styles
– Women are socialized to be more sensitive to
interpersonal relationships in communication
– Men are socialized to be competitive,
aggressive, and individualistic, which may
cause communication problems
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