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COMMUNICATION
Developing Communication Skills
Chapter 9
COMMUNICATON
What is communication?
Communication is the act of exchanging
information. It serves the following
functions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
To inform
To instruct
To assess
To influence
To persuade
Communication as a
Management Skill
As communicators, managers must be able to:
• Give direction to the people who work for
them.
• Motivate people.
• Convince customers that they should do
business with them.
• Absorb the ideas of others.
• Persuade other people.
Learning to Communicate
• Managers communicate in writing and
verbally. Before they can master either
form of communication, they must be able
to:
– Identify the audience
– Develop good listening skills
– Understand the importance of nonverbal
communication
Understanding the Audience
Business managers communicate with many
different kinds of business people. For
example, hotel managers must communicate
with hotel guests, beverage managers,
restaurant managers, housekeepers,
maintenance, architects, travel agents,
furniture salespeople, and many other types
of people.
To communicate effectively…
Managers need to determine their audience and be
able to answer the following questions:
1. What does the audience already know?
2. What does it want to know?
3. What is its capacity for absorbing information?
4. What does it hope to gain by listening? Is it
hoping to be motivated, informed, convinced?
5. Is the audience friendly or hostile?
Developing Good Listening
Skills
• The ability to listen is one of the most
important skills a manager can develop.
• Good listening skills enable managers to:
– absorb the information they need
– recognize problems, and
– understand other peoples’ viewpoints.
Active Listening
• Managers need to learn to listen actively,
which involves absorbing what another
person is saying and responding to the
person’s concerns.
• Learning to listen actively is the key to
becoming a good communicator.
Most People
Do Not Listen Actively.
• Tests indicate that immediately after listening to a
ten-minute oral presentation, the average has
heard, comprehended, accurately evaluated, and
retained about half of what was said.
• Within 48 hours, the effectiveness level drops to
just 25%.
• By the end of a week, listeners recall only about
10% or less of what they heard.
Managers need to work
at being active listeners.
• Many people daydream or think about an
unrelated topic when someone else is
talking.
• Some people become angry by a speaker’s
remarks and fail to fully absorb what the
person is saying.
• Others become impatient and interrupt,
preferring to talk rather than listen.
Learning to Listen Actively
Involves the following steps:
Identify the speaker’s purpose.
1.
2.
3.
• What is the speaker trying to achieve?
•
Why is the speaker speaking?
Identify the speaker’s main ideas.
• Which of the points are the key points?
Note the speaker’s tone as well as his/her body language.
• Is the speaker angry? Nervous? Confident?
Respond to the speaker with appropriate comments, questions, and
body language.
• Use facial expressions and body language to express emotions you
want to express. Establish eye contact, sit up straight, and lean
toward the speaker to show interest.
Nonverbal Communication
• Nonverbal cues (sign, signal, prompt) are
pieces of information acquired by observing
rather than listening to other people.
• Nonverbal cues sometimes provide more
information that verbal cues.
• Eye contact, facial expressions, and the way
someone dresses or walks communicates
information about him/her.
Questions for Review
1. Why is it important for business managers to
listen actively?
2. What may happen if a manager fails to identify
the audience correctly?
3. What would nonverbal communication be a
factor in a manager’s marketing presentation?
4. Define active listening.
5. Name three things a speaker or writer needs to
know before addressing an audience.
6. Name two reasons why it is important for
managers to be able to communicate effectively?