Download Communications

Managerial and Organizational
Communications
Funny weird or funny “ha-ha”?
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Managerial communications is full
of land mines
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Communications failures abound
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Airline crashes, cultural faux pas are dramatic examples
Less dramatic communication failures are extremely
common and costly.
We communicate constantly. What makes effective
communication hard? Some reasons:
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We take communication for granted and we assume others play by
the same rules we do.
Communications are highly interpreted, yet those interpretations are
often not visible.
Today’s Objective
To enhance your understanding of
(managerial) communication:
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Interpersonal communication process
Choosing communication medium
Barriers to communication & overcoming them
Organizational communication processes
Communication
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Communication
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Managerial Communication encompasses
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Transfer and understanding of meaning
Meaning is broader than the specific information content of
the message.
Effective communication does not equal agreement, it
equals understanding
Interpersonal communication - occurs between people
Organizational communication - the patterns, networks, and
systems of communication in an organization
Interpersonal Communication
Process
Message
Medium
Encoding
Receiver
Decoding
Noise
Sender
Message
Feedback
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Mediums Vary On….
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Information richness
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Complexity, ease, warmth
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Phone vs Face-to-face
The amount of information a medium can carry
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The degree to which the medium enables a common
understanding to be reached by sender and receiver
Cost and time required
Communication mediums vary in
information richness
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In order of descending information richness
– Face-to-face
– Other spoken communication
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Personally addressed written communication
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phone & voicemail
Includes email
Impersonal written communication
High information richness mediums
– Tend to have higher cost /time
– Tend to lack a paper trail.
Choosing the right medium
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Choose high information richness when
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Message is important or likely to be emotionally laden
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E.g. evaluative, critical, disappointing.
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Message is complex and/or easy to misunderstand
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Follow up with written communication if paper trail
necessary
What communication medium
would you use?
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You need to inform your group of a new, somewhat
more restrictive travel expense reimbursement policy.
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A valued, highly experienced member of your
management team consistently tends to open up
issues with a negative spin while you, the CEO, are
trying to build positive momentum and move on. You
want them to stop doing that.
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Why?
Barriers to effective interpersonal
communication
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Filtering
– Deliberate manipulation of information to make it appear more
favorable to the receiver
Selective Perception
– People see and hear differently because of attitudes,
background, and experience
Information overload
– Information exceeds our processing capacity (e.g., 100 emails a
day)
Linguistic styles
– Meaning of the same words differs among people with diverse
backgrounds (gender, culture, region, industry)
Examples
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You don’t believe that your product development group is going to
meet an important target or deadline. If they don’t, your job, or at
least your bonus, is on the line. Why tell your manager before you
are sure? Because you did so, marketing doesn’t find out in time.
They make expensive advertising commitments that can’t easily be
changed.
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A manufacturing manager believes the company’s sales force is
incompetent. When the sales vice-president accurately reports a
new product is not meeting targets because it is unreliable, the
manufacturing manager hears them trying to distract blame from
their own incompetence.
Nonverbal communication has
great impact
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Nonverbal communication
has great impact
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Nonverbal communication
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Communication without words
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Body language - gestures, facial expressions, and other
body movements that convey meaning
Verbal intonation - emphasis someone gives to words or
phrases that conveys meaning
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Verbal communication is always accompanied by a
nonverbal message
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Nonverbal component usually carries the greatest impact!
Linguistic Styles
Gender Differences
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Gina shares an innovative idea with other members of her selfmanaged team.
Harry, another team member, enthusiastically supports her
idea.
Gina is quietly pleased by Harry’s reaction.
What happens?
The group implements “Harry’s” suggestion and it is written up
as such in the company newsletter.
Linguistic Styles
Cross-Cultural Differences
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A team of American managers presents a proposal for a joint
venture to Japanese managers.
The Japanese managers are silent after the presentation while
they think carefully about it.
The silence makes the American managers uncomfortable;
they interpret the silence as a sign the Japanese want more
information, so they go into more detail.
When they finish, the Japanese are silent again.
The Americans, now frustrated, conclude the Japanese are not
interested and suggest that if the Japanese have already
decided not to go ahead, there is no reason for the meeting to
continue.
Overcoming Barriers
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Choose appropriate channels and language
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Build in feedback mechanisms
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For example, ask receivers to restate the message in their
own words; schedule meeting to discuss; ask for comments.
Listen actively - listen for full meaning (pay attention!)
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Consider message and receiver attributes
Tailor the language to the audience (use or don’t use jargon;
consider linguistic style)
restrain premature judgments or interpretations
develop empathy with sender
Manage emotions and non-verbal cues
Active Listening Techniques
Avoid interrupting
the speaker
Don’t over-talk
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No distracting
actions or
gestures
Be empathetic
Active
Listening
Ask questions
Exh. 11.4
Make eye
contact
Paraphrase
Head nods and
appropriate
facial expressions
Grapevine
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An informal network that is active in almost
every organization
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important source of information
identifies issues that employees consider important
and anxiety producing
grapevine cannot be abolished, but it can be
managed.
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Rumors can never be eliminated entirely, but managers
can monitor grapevine and provide accurate information.
Major Points
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There are numerous barriers to effective communication, driven by
interests, expectations, differences (gender, culture), emotions,
etc.
Overcome these barriers by:
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Choosing the right medium – don’t overuse email!
Communicating directly and simply
Recognizing differences
Developing empathy and manage emotions
Listening actively – be a good listener, watch non-verbals, be
interactive (e.g., questions)
Ensuring feedback
Pruning the grapevine: give trustworthy, complete information