LEARNING CIRCLE...HBO
Managing Communication Processes
Communication pervades organizational activity; it’s the process by which things get done in organizations. Every employee is continually involved in and affected by the communication process. For managers, effective communicating is a critical skill because the manager’s planning, organizing, and controlling functions become operationalized only through communicative activity.
Finding an aspect of a manager’s job that does not involve communication would be extremely difficult. Serious problems arise when directives are misunderstood when casual kidding in a work groupleads to angers, or when informal remarks reformal by a top-level manager are distorted. Each of these situations results from a breakdown somewhere in the process of the communication.
Managers engage in communication because communication is inherent to the functioning of an organization.
Communication among people depends not on technology but rather on forces in people their surroundings. It is a process that occurs within people.
The Communication Process
The general process of communication contains five elements: the communicator, the message the medium, the receiver and feedback (Figure 15.1). It can be simply summarized.
Experts tell us the effective communication is the results of the common understanding between the communicator and the receiver. Communication is successful only if the communicator transmits that understanding to the receiver . the common symbols may be verbal or nonverbal.
A Classic Model
The model that evolve from their work aids our understanding of communication. The basis elements include a communicator, an encoder, a message, a medium, a decoder, a receiver, feedback and noise (Figure 15.2). Each element in the model can be examined in the context of an organization.
Communicator
In an organizational framework, the communicator is an employee with ideas, intensions, information, and a purpose for communicating.
Encoding
Given the communicator, an encoding process must take place that translates that communicator’s ideas into a systematic set of symbols—into a language expressing the communicator’s purpose.
Message
The results of the encoding process is the message. The purpose of the communicator is expressed in the form of the message –either verbal or nonverbal. Manager have numerous purpose for communicating, such as to have others to understand their ideas, to understand the ideas of others, to gain acceptance of themselves or their ideas or to produce action.
Medium
The medium is the carrier of message—the means by which the message is sent. Organization provide information to members in a variety of ways, including face-to-face communication, telephone conservation, group meetings, fax message, memos, policy statements, rewards system, productions schedules, and video teleconferences.
Decoding/Receiver
For the process of communication to be completed., the message must be decoded so it’s relevant to the receiver. Decoding a technical term for the receiver through processes, involves interpretation. Receiver interpret (decode) the message in light of their own previous experiences and frames of reference.
Feedback
One way communication processes do not allow receiver-to-communicator feedback, increasing the potential for distortion between the intended message and the received message. A feedback loop provides a channel for receivers response that enables the communicator to determine weather the message has been received and has produced the intended response.
Noise
In the framework of human communication, noise can be thought of as all factors that distort the intended message. Noise may occur in each of the elements of communication.
Nonverbal message
The information a communicator send that is unrelated to the verbal information. That is nonverbal message, or nonverbal communication . one of the most interesting aspects of nonverbal communication is that is irrepressibility effective.
A research study examined the relationship between nonverbal behavior and speaker persuasiveness in a public speaking context. Speaker with greater vocal pleasantness, facial pleasantness, and facial expressiveness were judge by audiences to have greater perceived competence and composure than speakers exhibiting less appealing nonverbal behavior. As a results, these speakers were found to be more persuasive, even though message content for all speakers was identical.
Vocal inflection refers to how a message is transmitted: loudly or softly, quickly or slowly, with controlled or uncontrolled inflection, or with a high or low pitch. The method or transmission adds meaning to the receiver, who assesses these cues. Body expressions are another important source of nonverbal communication.
Words
Cultures differ in the amount of contextual information that is necessary when people interact with one another. Individuals from high context communication cultures do not require a detailed exchange of information, but rather rely on the knowledge they already have about the other individual prior to the interaction.
Problems can occur when an individual from a high-context culture must conduct business with a counterpart in a low-context culture.
Space
Every person has an invisible boundary of space that surroundings his/her person. In some cultures the boundaries are wide; whereas in other cultures this space can be quite narrow. The amount of personal space maintained by an individual can shift temporarily depending on his physical surroundings or the degree of intimacy with the person one is interacting with misunderstanding can occur when a businessman from a culture where men touch and embrace one another as part of normal everyday life initiates physical contact with his counterpart from a culture where touching between men is rare and only occurs with family members.
Time
Managers from polychromic time cultures do many things at once, are subject to interruptions, are committed to human relationship, change plans often , and base promptness on the relationship. However, managers from monochromic cultures do one thing at a time, take time commitments seriously, adhere to plans, follow rules of privacy and show respect for private property, and emphasize promptness. The most common example of misunderstandings occurs with regard to appointment times.
Commmunicating within Organizations
Directions of Communication
-Four distinct directions
Downward communication - communication that flows from higher to lower levels in an organization; includes management policies, instructions, and official memos.
Upward Communication – communication flowing from lower to higher levels in an organization; includes suggestion boxex, group meetings, and grievance procedures.
Horizontal communication – communication that flows across functions in an organization; necessary for coordinating and integrating diverse organizational functions.
Diagonal Communication – communication that cuts across functions and levels in an organization; important when members cannot communicate through upward, downward or horizontal channels.
Communication and Technology
The World Wide Web and E-business
The Internet is a global network of integrated computers that provides computer users with information and documents. A subset of the Internet, the World Wide Web, is a retrieval system for a vast amount of information and documents that are found on individual web sites or home pages. Global companies are now using the Internet to build electronic business (e-business) divisions, reduce operating costs, reach more customers, and improve overall efficiencies.
Intranets
An Intranet allows certain stakeholders to gain access to internal organizational information. The company also uses its intranet for internal communications with regard to cross-department and cross-functional operations.
Voice-Mail
Voice-mail messages are an important aspect of organizational communication, employees are encourgaed to develop the ability to leave concise, professional, and courteous voice-mail messages.
-Best practices for effective use of voice-mail
• Before calling, organize your thoughts and write down the points you want to cover.
• Identify a specific, brief request that can be delivered via voice-mail.
• State and spell your name, give the time and date, your company name, and the purpose of your call.
• Speak a little slower that usual and annunciate clearly.
• Be precise and keep the message simple.
• Say what you would like the receiver to do.
• Give a reason for the request.
• Say “thank you.”
• Listen to your message and edit it, if possible.
• Finish by stating your name and telephone number again, as well as when you can be rached for the return call.
Conferencing
With the recent decline in business travel and cost-cutting pressure brought on by global competition, many companies are increasingly truning to conferencing technologies like teleconferencing, videoconferencing, web conferencing, as they attempt to increase the connectivity among employees and alliance partners, while dealing with concerns about airline safety, longer lines in airport terminals, and canceled flights.
Electronic Mail and Instant Messaging
The most heavily used feature of the Internet, e-mail allows a user to send messages to any one who is connected to the Internet or connected to a computer network that has a connection to the Internet.
Mobile Telephones, Pagers, and Personal Digital Assistants
These three wireless devices will continue to gain in popularity as business people attempt to stay connected to the Internet 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Anotherway in which business people stay connected is through the use of alphaneumeric pagers. Because many people do not turn off their pagers when no in the office, this amounts to being accessible seven days a week.
There are many different ways to communicate within an organization, to supervisors and co-workers, and externally, to customers, and vendors. Communication media differ in their Information richness.
Information Richness – refers to the amount of information that can be transmitted in an effective manner.
The Grapevine: An Informal Communication Channel
The grapevine is a powerful means of communication that cuts across formal channel of communication.
Some grapevine rumors are true; some are not. Rumors can be divided into four categories.
1. Pipe dreams or wish fulfillment. These express the wishes and hopes of those who circulate rumors.
2. The Bogie rumor. This type of rumor comes from employees’ fears and anxieties.
3. Wedge drivers. This is the most aggressive and damaging type of rumor.
4. Home-stretches. These are anticipatory rumors. They occur after employees have been waiting a long time for an announcement.
INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
§ Communications that flow between individuals in face-to-face and group situations.
§ It can be vary from direct orders to casual expressions
§ Is the primary means of managerial communications; on a typical day? Over three fourths of a manager’s communications occur in face-to-face interactions.
§ The problems that arise when managers attempt to communicate with the other people can be traced to perceptual differences and interpersonal style differences. We know that each manager perceives the world according to his background, experiences, personality, frame of reference, and attitude. Managers relate to learn from the environment primarily through information received and transmitted. And how managers receive and transmit information depends in part on how they relate to two very important senders of information: themselves and others.
INTERPERSONAL STYLE:
§ Manners in which we relate to the other persons.
Figure 15.3: popularly known as the Johari Window, identifies the four combinations, or regions, of information known and unknown by the self and others.
The arena. The region most conductive to effective interpersonal relationships and communication id termed the adrenalin this setting, both communicator (self) and the receiver (others) know all the information necessary to carry on effective communication.
Feedback
Less More
Less Known Unknown
Known
Arena Blind spot Known
by others
Unknown Façade Unknown Unknown
By others
More Known Unknown
by self by self
The blind spot. When relevant information ids known to others but not to the self, a blind spot result.
The façade. When information id known to the result but unknown to others, a person (self) may resort to superficial communications- that is, present a “false font”, or façade.
The unknown. This region constitutes that portion of relationship were relevant information id known by neither the self nor other parties.
INTERPERSONAL STRATEGIES:
Figure 15.3 indicates that an individual can improve interpersonal communication by utilizing two strategies: exposure and feedback.
Exposure. Increasing the arena by redu7cing the façade area requires that the individual be open and honest in sharing information with others. The process that the self uses to increase the information known to others is termed exposure because it sometimes leaves the self in a vulnerable position
Feedback. When the self doesn’t know or understand, more effective communication can be developed through feedback from those who do know.
MANAGERIAL STYLES:
The day-to-day activities of managers are closely tied to effective interpersonal communications. Managers provide information (which must be understood), they give commands and instructions (which must be obeyed and learned), and they make efforts to influence and persuade (which must be accepted and acted on). Thus, managers communicate, both bas senders and receivers, is crucial to effective performance. Theoretically, managers who desire to communicate effectively can use both exposure and feedback to enlarge the area of common understanding, the arena. As a practical; matter, such is not the case. Managers differ in their ability and willingness to use exposure and feedback. At least four different managerial styles can be identified.
TYPE A
Managers who are autocratic leaders, typically aloof and cold; often poor interpersonal communicators.
TYPE B
Managers who seek good relationships with subordinates but are unable to openly express feelings; often ineffective interpersonal communicators.
TYPE C
Managers interested only in their ideas and opinions of others; usually not effective communicators.
TYPE D
Managers who feel free to express feelings; most effective interpersonal communicators.
Barriers Created by the Sender and/or Receiver
Sender and /or a receivers also create barriers in organizational communication.
Flame of Reference
Different individuals can interpret the same communication differently, depending on previous experiences that the result in variations in the encoding process. Communication specialists agree that this is the most important factor that breaks down the “commonness” in communication.
The “same language” as the receiver the message conflicts with how the receiver “catalogs” the world. The interior areas in this diagram represent the accumulated experiences of the participants in the communication process. If they share a large area, effective communication is facilitated. If a large area is not shared if there has been on common experience-then communication becomes impossible or, at best, highly distorted. Communicators can encode and receivers can decode only in terms of their experiences.
Effective managerial problem solving depends on the managers adopting the appropriate frame of reference to guide the search for solutions.
Proxemic Behavior
An important but often overlooked element of nonverbal communication is proxemics, defined as an individual’s use of space when interpersonally communicating with others.
Proxemics creates a significant communication barrier when the proxemics behaviors of the sender and receiver differ. For example, assume that, like most American’s , u stand in the social zone while interacting at asocial gathering such as a cocktail party.
Conflicting proxemic behavior can also affect each individual’s.
Preparations of the-other.
Communication Overload
One of the necessary factors in effective decisions is information. The development and use of intranets, technology has great potential to improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of a organizational communication. Because of the advances, the difficulty does not lie in generating information. Rather, managers often feel buried by a deluge of information and data. As a result, people can’t absorb or adequately respond to all of the message directed to them.
Following Up
This technique is used when you assume that you’re misunderstood and, whenever possible, attempt to determine whether your intended meaning was actually received. As we’ve seen, meaning is often in the mind of the receiver.
Regulating Information Law
Regulating communication can ensure an optimum flow of information to managers, there by eliminating the barrier of communication overload. Communication can be regulated in both quality and quantity. The idea is based on the exception principle of management, which states that only significant deviations from policies and procedures should be brought to the attention of superiors.
Utilizing Feedback
It provides a channel for receiver response that enables the communicator to determine whether the message has been receive and has produced the intended response. In face to face communication direct feedback is possible. A healthy organization needs effective upward communication if its downward communication is to have any chance of being effective. The point is that developing and supporting mechanisms for feedback involved far more than following up on communication. Rather, to be effective, feedback needs to be engaging, responsive, and directed toward a desired outcome.
Empathy
Empathy is the ability to put oneself in the other person role and to assume that individuals viewpoints and emotions. This involves being receiver – oriented rather than communicator-oriented. The form of communication should depend on what is known about the receiver. Empathy requires communicators replace themselves in the shoes the receiver to anticipate how the message is likely to be decoded.
Repetitions
Repetition is an accepted principle of learning. introducing repetition or redundancy into communication (specially that of a technical nature) ensures that if one part of the message is not understood, other parts carry the same message.
Encouraging Mutual Trust
Time pressures often means that managers cannot follow up communication and encourage feedback or upward communication every time they communicate. Under such circumstances, an atmosphere of mutual confidence and trust between managers and their subordinates and facilitates communication. Subordinates judge for themselves the quality of their perceived relationship with their superiors.
Effective Timing
Individuals are exposed to thousands of messages daily. Because of the impossibility of taking in all the messages, many are never decoded and received. Managers must realize that while they are attempting to communicate with a receiver, other messages are being received simultaneously.
Simplifying Language
Complex language has been identified as major barrier to effective communicate. Manager must remember that effective communication involves transmitting understanding as well as information. Managers must encode messages in words, appeals, and symbols that are meaningful to the receiver.
Effective Listening
To improved communication, managers must seek not only to be understood but also to understand. This involves listening. One method of encouraging someone to express true feelings, desires, and emotions is to listen. Just listening just not enough; one must listen with understanding. Can managers developed listening skills? Numerous pointers have been given for effective listening in ortganizational settings.
SUBMITTED BY: BSOAD III-B
GROUP C2
AGUSTIN, MICHELLE
ANA, MONA GRACE
AZORES, RACHEL ANN
BAYUTAS, TRACIE ANNE JANINE
