TOPIC 8
COMMUNICATION
• Model of Communication
• Communication Channels
• Communication Barriers
• Cross cultural and gender communication
• Improving interpersonal communication
• Communication through grapevine
COMMUNICATION DEFINED
• The process by which
information is transmitted and
understood between two or
more people
• Effective communication
• Transmitting intended
meaning (not just symbols)
• Management of messages for
the purpose of creating
meaning
• Sharing
information through
verbal and non-verbal
communication. 9-3
IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION
1. Coordinating work activities
2. Organizational learning and decision
making
3. Employee well-being
4. People in organizations spend over 75%
of their time in an interpersonal situation
5. Managers spend 37.5 hrs communicating
6. Communication serves 4 functions –
control, motivation, emotional expression
and technology
7. Communication can change people
attitudes – the essence of ‘social behavior’
9-4
COMMUNICATION PROCESS MODEL
Sender Receiver
Transmit
Message
Encode
Message Receive Decode
Form encoded Message
message (The messages is message (retranslates
converted to
symbolic form) the message
initiated by the
sender)
Noise
Decode Receive Encode Form
feedback feedback feedback feedback
Transmit
Feedback
9-5
IMPROVING COMMUNICATION CODING/DECODING
1. Both parties have motivation and ability to
communicate through the channel
2. Both parties carry the same “codebook” – differences
create breakdown in communication, chaos
3. Both parties share similar mental models of the
communication context – views that guide individual
behavior and perception
4. Sender is experienced at communicating the message
topic
9-6
COMMUNICATION
CHANNELS
TYPES OF COMMUNICATION CHANNELS
• Verbal communication
• In average, we spend 70-80% of our active hours communicating
verbally
• Verbal communication – listening, speaking, reading and writing
• Non-verbal communication
• Unspoken messages or signal conveyed in different context
• Facial expression, body posture, eye contact and physical
appearance
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION –
WORKPLACE E-MAIL
HiWired executives introduced “Home Week” each month, in which
they must not travel. This initiative has helped them rediscover the
benefits of face-to-face rather than e-mail communication.
HOW E-MAIL HAS ALTERED COMMUNICATION
Now preferred medium for coordinating work
Tends to increase communication volume
Significantly alters communication flow
Reduces some selective attention biases – this channel hides our
race, age, weight, and other observable characteristics
9-10
PROBLEMS WITH E-MAIL
Communicates emotions poorly
Reduces politeness and respect – lack of diplomacy
Inefficient for ambiguous, complex, novel situations
Increases information overload – screening and cleaning the
message
9-11
OTHER COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATION-
SOCIAL NETWORKING COMMUNICATION
Social network communication clusters people around
interests/expertise
Several types of social network communication
• Facebook, MySpace (showcasing artists and their works;
designers, photographers, musicians to collaborate with their
audiences), LinkedIn (professional network)
• Online discussion forums
• Avatar sites (e.g. Second Life)
• Instant messaging
• Wikis – wikipedia, anyone in the group can write, edit, remove
material
9-12
NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
• Actions, facial gestures, etc.
• Influences meaning of verbal symbols
• Less rule bound than verbal communication
• Important part of emotional labor
• Most is automatic and nonconscious
9-13
EMOTIONAL CONTAGION
• The automatic process of sharing another person’s
emotions by mimicking their facial expressions and other
nonverbal behavior
• Serves three purposes:
1. Provides continuous feedback to speaker
2. Increases emotional understanding of the other person’s
experience
3. Communicates a collective sentiment -- sharing the experience
9-14
CHOOSING THE BEST COMMUNICATION
CHANNEL: SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE
How well the communication
channel is approved and
supported by the organization,
team, and individual:
1.Communication channel
norms
2. Individual communication
channel preferences
3. Symbolic meaning of the
communication channel –
determining events and best
channel to transmit
information
9-15
CHOOSING THE BEST COMMUNICATION
CHANNEL: MEDIA RICHNESS
The channel’s data-carrying capacity
needs to be aligned with the
communication activity
High richness when channel:
1. conveys multiple cues
2. allows timely feedback
3. allows customized message
(face-to-face conversation to
suit the situations)
4. permits complex symbols
Use rich communication media when
the situation is non-routine and
ambiguous
9-16
HIERARCHY OF MEDIA RICHNESS
Rich
Overloaded
Zone
Media
Richness
Oversimplified
Zone
Lean
Nonroutine/
Routine/clear Situation Ambiguous
9-17
COMMUNICATION BARRIERS (NOISE)
Barriers Explanation
Perception •Imperfect perceptual process of
both sender and receiver
•What messages we screen out
and select, and how the selected
messages is organized and
interpreted
•Shortcuts in organizing data –
biases, stereotyping, self-fulfilling
prophecy
COMMUNICATION BARRIERS (NOISE)
Barriers Explanation
Filtering Deleting or delaying negative information or using less harsh
words so that the message sound more favorable.
Selective attention
COMMUNICATION BARRIERS (NOISE)
Barriers Explanation
Language Jargon
Technical language and acronyms as well as recognized words
with specialized meaning in specific organizations or social group
( to understand the other party need to have the codebook –
mutual understanding)
Ambiguity
Words and phrases can create confusion. e.g. Can you close the
door. You might assume the sender is asking whether shutting
door is permitted. The way you interpret the words….
COMMUNICATION BARRIERS (NOISE)-2
Barriers Explanation
Information •A condition in which the volume of information received
overload exceeds a person’s capacity to get through it.
•It will create noise in communication system because
information gets overlooked or misinterpreted when
people can’t process it fast.
•As a result, poor quality decisions and high level of
stress.
INFORMATION OVERLOAD
Episodes of
information
overload
Employee’s
information
processing
capacity
Information Load
Time 9-22
MANAGING INFORMATION OVERLOAD
• Solution 1: Increase info processing capacity
• Learn to read faster
• Scan through documents more efficiently
• Remove distractions
• Time management
• Temporarily work longer hours
• Solution 2: Reduce information load
• Buffering
• Omitting
• Summarizing
9-23
SOLUTION 2: REDUCE INFORMATION LOAD
Strategies Explanation
Buffering Involves having incoming communication
filtered usually by assistant/PA
Omitting When we decide to overlook messages
such as using software to redirect emails
from distribution list to folders that we
never look at.
Summarizing Where we read an executive summary or
the abstract rather than the full report.
CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Thumbs Up to the Boss!
In Australia, a co-worker asked
Patricia Oliveira why she laughed
when he gave the thumbs up that
everything is OK. She explained
that this gesture “means
something not very nice” in her
home country of Brazil. After
hearing this, several co-workers
gave the boss a lot more thumbs
up signs!
©Mark M. Lawrence/Corbis
9-25
CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
• Verbal differences
• Language
• Voice intonation
• Silence/conversational overlaps
(empathy, respect vs lack of
communication)
• Nonverbal differences
• Interpreting nonverbal meaning
• Importance of verbal versus
nonverbal
©Mark M. Lawrence/Corbis
9-26
GENDER COMMUNICATION DIFFERENCES
Men Women
Report talk Rapport talk
Gives advice Gives advice indirectly
quickly and and reluctantly
directly
Conversations are Conversations are
negotiations of status bonding events
Less sensitive to More sensitive to
nonverbal cues nonverbal cues
9-27
GETTING YOUR MESSAGE ACROSS
1. Empathize
2. Repeat the message
3. Use timing effectively
4. Be descriptive
Courtesy of Microsoft.
9-28
ACTIVE LISTENING PROCESS & STRATEGIES
Sensing
• Postpone evaluation
• Avoid interruptions
• Maintain interest
Active
Listening
Responding Evaluating
• Show interest • Empathize
• Clarify the message • Organize information
9-29
ORGANIZATIONAL GRAPEVINE
• Definition: An unstructured and informal network founded on social
relationship rather than organizational charts or job description
• Transmits information rapidly in all directions
• Follows a cluster chain pattern
• More active in homogeneous groups
• Transmits some degree of truth
• Changes due to internet
• Email becoming the main grapevine medium
• Social networks are now global
• Public blogs and forums extends gossip to everyone
9-30
Grapevine Benefits/Limitations
• Benefits
• Fills in missing information from formal sources
• Strengthens corporate culture
• Relieves anxiety
• Signals that problems exist
• Limitations
• Distortions might escalate anxiety
• Perceived lack of concern for employees when company info is
slower than grapevine
9-31
END OF PRESENTATION
