Managerial
Communications
Chapter 1 6
Objectives of the day
1. Understand and describe the communication process.
2. Define tact and discuss its importance in communications.
3. Know the types of communications that occur in organizations.
4. Understand how power, status, purpose, and interpersonal skills affect
communications in organizations.
5. Describe how corporate reputations are defined by how an organization
communicates to all its stakeholders.
6. Know why talking, listening, reading, and writing are vital to managing effectively.
Have you ever made someone
uncomfortable with something you said?
Has someone upset you with something
they said?
Tact
The ability to communicate
truthfully in a manner that
considers other people's
feelings and reactions.
▪ Avoids hurting others’ feelings
▪ Builds your reputation and credibility
▪ Maintains and build relationships
▪ Demonstrates good manners
▪ Helps to avoid conflict
How would you approacht his:
A colleague comes back to work after lunch, and visibly has food stuck to their front teeth.
Tips to be Tactful
▪ Think before you speak ▪ Watch your body language (i.e. crossed
arms)
▪ Practice active listening
▪ Never react emotionally
▪ Be empathetic
▪ remove yourself from the situation and calm
▪ Try to see from other's perspective down
▪ Avoid "you" statements but softer and
▪ Work to build trust
indirect language:
▪ Determine an appropriate time and place 1. You need to do better next time you were unprepared for
your presentation.
▪ Consider the situation and be discreet 2.If you did more research next time you would feel better
about your presentation?
Scenarios.
▪ 1 . A colleague invites you to see a movie ▪ 3. A colleague on your team involved in a
on the weekend, and you don’t want to go group project isn’t working as hard as
with them. they should, and you would like them to
put in more effort.
▪ 2. A colleague you work with does
not like to accept others’ opinions ▪ 4. A colleague asks you to do their work
when working in teams, believing that for them to help them catch up, but you
their ideas are the most important and know they are really wasting work hours
the best. You would like them to be more on an Internet site, so now they are behind
open-minded and consider in their tasks.
others’ opinions.
The Communications Model
1. Why is feedback a critical part of the communication process?
2. What are some things that managers can do to reduce noise in communication?
Video: A Thousand Words View the video from the film Coming to America and notice
how the character Eddie Murphy plays uses gestures in an
attempt to communicate non-verbally.
1. How would you rate the success of
this way of communicating, based
upon the scene in the video?
2. What advantages and disadvantages
are part of using gestures instead of
words?
3. How might nonverbal communication
be misunderstood?
Creating
Meaning
Managers across industries,
according to Deirdre Borden,
spend about 75% of their time
in verbal interaction.
Managerial Challenges
▪ Develop confidence under uncertainty, change, and challenge
▪ Assuming they are 'great' at it
▪ Difficult to admit flaws in their skills
▪ Recognize strengths and weaknesses
▪ Improve existing skills
▪ Be alert to develop new skills
▪ Speak and listen to others in the industry
▪ Read widely
Exhibit 16.4 Patterns of Managerial
Communication
(Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC-BY 4.0 license)
Know the types of communications
that occur in organizations.
1. What are the three major types of
communication?
2. How can you manage the inflow of electronic
communication?
3. What are the major influences on
organizational communication, and how can
organizational design affect communication?
Scenario # 1
Being Tactful – Kelly
You are a manager. It’s time for the yearly performance review of your employees. Today you
will meet with Kelly, one of your employees.
This is what you think of Kelly:
1. (s)he doesn’t work well with others (people don’t like to work with her really, she’s mean).
2. She works slowly compared to everyone else.
3. She doesn’t check her e-mail enough, so she often misses important announcements.
4. she says inappropriate things about other members of the team.
5. She often brags about her salary to her coworkers, whom all make less money
6. (s)he wears too much perfume (it stinks!)
You can’t fire her because she’s the daughter of the CEO, but you have to talk to her about these
issues today. Please discuss them with her tactfully.
Scenario #2
Being Tactful – Kai
You are a manager. It’s time for the yearly performance review of your employees. Today you will
meet with Kai, one of your employees.
This is what you think of Kai:
1. He eats strange fishy food for lunch every day. It stinks so bad that no one else can sit near him.
2. He sometimes falls asleep at his desk after lunch. (Wake up and work!)
3. He calls the female employees in the office ‘baby’ and ‘honey’, which isn’t appropriate (they have
complained)
4. There are way too many spelling mistakes in his writing/emails.
5. He spends too much time talking to coworkers about his personal problems (shut up and get to
work!)
6. He often wears inappropriate clothing to work (jeans, sandals)
You don’t want to fire him because he is going through a tough time in his life right now. His wife just
divorced him, and he’s having financial trouble. You don't want to drive him into depression. Have a
tactful meeting with him and try to get him to improve.
