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Chapter8PPT.pptAdministration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 8: Communication
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Communication Basics
- Definition
- “process by which ideas, thoughts, and information are exchanged and understood between two or more entities” (pg. 250)
- Communication process (see next slide)
- Sender encodes information/idea into message
- Sends it via a channel to a receiver
- Receiver decodes message and interprets its meaning
- Feedback may be offered to let the sender know if message was received as intended
- One-way communication: no feedback provided
- Two-way communication: feedback provided
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 8: Communication
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 8: Communication
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The Communication Process
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 8: Communication
Allen & Sawhney, 2010, pg. 251
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 8: Communication
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The Importance of Communication to Organizations
- Provide information
- 911 dispatchers provide updates to responding officers
- Warden appraises correctional officer’s performance
- Motivate others
- Poor communication may affect motivation and lead to organizational pathology such as absenteeism and turnover
- Coordinate tasks
- SWAT team leader can assign tasks and roles to team members before serving a high-risk warrant
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 8: Communication
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 8: Communication
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Interpersonal Communication
- Oral or verbal communication
- Includes face-to-face and telephone communication
- Example: A crime victim stands up in open court and explains the pains caused by the offender
- Written communication
- Includes letters, memos, reports, manuals, etc.
- Example: An officer produces a written probable cause affidavit to send to a judge
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 8: Communication
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 8: Communication
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Interpersonal Communication (cont’d)
- Nonverbal communication
- Includes actions, gestures, symbols, and behaviors
- Example: Airline security personal decide to administer extra screening to a person due to his nervous behavior and actions which suggest attempts to hide something
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 8: Communication
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 8: Communication
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Communication Channels
- Can be organized according to “channel richness”
- Three elements of channel richness
- Channel can handle multiple cues at the same time: face-to-face allows receiver to decode verbal, non-verbal, and even written cues
- Channel allows for rapid, two-way communication: face-to-face allows for this, letters do not
- Channel allows for personal focus of communication: letters may not be viewed by a single receiver
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 8: Communication
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 8: Communication
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The Channel Richness Hierarchy
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 8: Communication
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 8: Communication
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Organizational Communication: Formal
- Communication networks flow according to the chain of command visible in organizational charts
- Vertical from supervisors to subordinates or vice versa
- Horizontal across units
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 8: Communication
Source: Allen & Sawhney, 2010, p. 259
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 8: Communication
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Communication Networks
- Recurring patterns of communication in groups
- Four types of horizontal communication networks
- Wheel
- One person distributes messages to all others
- Other group members have no direct contact with each other, only indirect contact through a single person
- Examples: 911 dispatcher; correctional officer in control booth
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 8: Communication
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 8: Communication
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Communication Networks (cont’d)
- Four types of horizontal communication networks
- Chain
- Visible in sequential tasks
- Communication is with group members either immediately before or after in the process
- Example: multiple prosecutors handle a single case with one handling pretrial procedures, another handling trial work, and another addressing appeals
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 8: Communication
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 8: Communication
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Communication Networks (cont’d)
- Four types of horizontal communication networks
- Circle
- Occurs among individuals similar on some dimension such as seating arrangements or expertise
- Example: Legal team members meet with one another according to the actual case
- All-channel
- Every group member communicates with every other
- Example: SWAT team members
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 8: Communication
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 8: Communication
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Informal Communication
- Communication occurs outside of the paths prescribed in organizational charts
- Examples
- Management by wandering around
- Talk directly to front-line workers, avoiding the restrictions of formal vertical and horizontal channels
- The grapevine
- Spontaneous communication that arises from social interactions
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 8: Communication
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 8: Communication
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Individual Barriers to Effective Communication
- Use of jargon
- Lack of consensus on definition of terminology
- Example: A police department communicates the number of burglaries to the FBI for inclusion in the Uniform Crime Reports yet definitions of burglary vary
- Use of an incorrect channel
- Noise in channel can lead to challenges
- Example: static on radios prevents two officers from talking to one another
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 8: Communication
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 8: Communication
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Individual Barriers to Effective Communication (cont’d)
- Filtering/Information distortion
- Sender does not communicate entire message/alters the message
- Example: An officer does not pass along the whereabouts of suspect to detective in the hopes of making the arrest himself
- Lack of appropriate feedback
- No ability to send quality feedback after message is decoded
- Example: Dispatcher does not know whether call was received by officer who does not reply
- Poor listening
- Receiver fails to grasp verbal and nonverbal components of message
- Example: A distracted correctional officer ignores radio communications
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 8: Communication
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 8: Communication
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Organizational Barriers to Effective Communication
- Individual insensitivity to cultural diversity
- Ethnocentrism: belief that one’s own cultural components are superior to those of others
- Linguistic style: person’s way of speaking (tone, speed, choice of words)
- Organizational culture of mistrust
- When workers distrust one another, communications are marked by difficulties and defensiveness
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 8: Communication
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 8: Communication
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Communication in Learning Organizations
- For-profit companies tend to embrace the view that ideas can come from anywhere in the organization
- Criminal justice organizations have not generally adopted this view– they assume that ideas come from within the formal communication network
- There is a slow movement toward more openness of communications in criminal justice agencies
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice
Chapter 8: Communication
Administration and Management in Criminal Justice Chapter 8: Communication
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