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Busi 240 lecture notes professor knowles
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Communication
The process by which information is transmitted and understood between two or more
people. We emphasize the word understood because communication is effective when
the receiver accurately deciphers the senders message.
Effective Communication
essential to organizations because it is needed for employees and work units to
synchronize their work
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Communication "codebooks"
Dictionaries of symbols that include languages, gestures, and idioms
Verbal Communication
To use words, so it includes spoken or written channels
Non-Verbal communication
Any part of communication that does not use words. Nonverbal gestures differ from one
culture to another
Wikis
Primarily focuses on forming communities and sharing information and has less
emphasis on revealing personal identity
Synchronicity
The extent to which they require or allow both sender and receiver to be actively
involved in the conversation at the same time
Social Presence
how much the communication channel creates psychological closeness to others,
awareness of their humanness, and appreciation of the interpersonal relationship
Social Acceptance
How well the communication channel is approved and supported for that purpose by the
organization, teams, and individuals involved in the exchange.
Important factors of Social Acceptance
The set of norms held by the organization, teams and culture
A symbolic meaning of a channel
Media Richness
The medium's data-carrying capacity(the volume and variety of information that can be
transmitted during a specific time
Synchronous is face-to-face, Asynchronous is more digital text communication
So synchronous is chosen when a complex issue needs to be solved/discussed, and
when info has high immediacy
When is Synchronous communication preferred over asynchronous communication?
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Busi 240 lecture notes professor knowles
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Persuasion
changing another persons beliefs and/or attitudes
Perception
The barrier that both sender and receiver have imperfect perceptual processes
Perception as Receivers
you don't listen as well as senders assume, and our needs and expectations influence
what signals get noticed and ignored
Perception as a Sender
based on some studies, you tend to have difficulty stepping out of our own perspectives
and stepping into the perspectives of others. So ... basically overestimate how well
other people understand the message we are communicating
Jargon
Specialized words and phrases for specific occupations or groups, in other words it is
usually designed to improve communication efficiency. BECOMES A
COMMUNICATION BARRIER when unfamiliar with it
Information Overload
Occurs whenever the job's information load exceeds the individual's capacity to get
through it
Creates noise in the communication system because information gets overlooked or
misinterpreted when people can't process it fast enough
Information-Processing Capacity
The amount of information that they are able to process in a fixed unit of time
Noise Barriers
Communication barriers, such as jargon, language ambiguities, or different codebooks
Report Talk
When you give advice, and assert power(MEN)
Rapport Talk
Focused more on relationship building(WOMEN)
Men in communication
View conversations as negotiations of relative status and power
Assert their power by directly giving advice to others and using combative language
Apologies less often
Women in communication
Use more tentative speech patters, including: Making more use of indirect requests,
modifiers, disclaimers, tag questions, women also tend to apologize more often, and
seek advice from others more
Effective Interpersonal Communication
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Busi 240 lecture notes professor knowles
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depends on the sender's ability to get the message across and the receivers
performance as an active listener
Empathize
a persons ability to understand and be sensitive to the feelings, thoughts, and situation
of others. In conversations it involves putting yourself in the receiver's shoes when
undoing this message
Repeat The Message
Rephrase the key points a couple of times. The saying "Tell them what you're going to
tell them; tell them what you've told them" reflects this need for redundancy
Use timing Effectively
Your message competes with other messages and noise, so find a time when the
receiver is likely to be distracted by these other matters
Be Descriptive
Focus on the problem, not the person, if you have negative information to convey.
People stop listening when the information attacks their self-concept. Also, suggest
things the listener can do to improve, rather than pointing to him or her as the problem
Listening
More than just hearing the other person making sounds; it is a process of actively
sensing the sender's signals, evaluating them accurately, and responding appropriately
Three concepts of listening
Sensing, evaluating, and responding
Active Listeners
Constantly cycle through sensing, evaluating, and responding during the conversation
and engage in various activities to improve these processes
Cross-Cultural Communication Barriers
Voice Intonation, Language, How people interpret silence
Voice Intonation
How loudly, deeply, and quickly people speak varies across cultures, and these voice
intonations send secondary messages that have different meanings in different societies
Language
Words are easily misunderstood in verbal communication, either because the receiver
has a limited vocabulary or the sender's accent distorts the usual sound of some words
How people interpret silence
Mainly revered in Japan because in their culture silence symbolizes respect.
strategies for improving communication flow
Workplace design, Internet/Digitally-based communication, and direct communication
with management
Workplace design
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Busi 240 lecture notes professor knowles
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The design to improve information sharing and create a more sociable work
environment, many organizations have torn down the cubicle walls. In addition, they
have incorporated informal spaces for small teams and happenstance gatherings
Internet/Digitally-based communication
Before the internet companies would hand out news about the company through hard
copy newsletters and magazines. Even though some companies stick to traditional
company magazines, most companies now use intranet(a company network for sharing
things) web pages or PDF formatted files. This allows company news being prepared
and distributed quickly
Direct communication With Management
Effective organizational communication includes interaction between senior executives
and employees further down the hierarchy.
Strategies of Direct Communication
between executives and employees helps improve empathy for decisions made higher
up the hierarchy, minimize filtering, and improve executives' understanding of problems
One form of ... is through town hall meetings, where executives brief a large gathering
of staff on the company's current strategy and results
senior executives to hold roundtable forums with a small representation of employees,
mainly to hear their opinions on various issues
Grapevine
an unstructured and informal communication network founded on social relationships
rather than organizational charts or job descriptions
Benefits of Grapevine
employees rely on grapevine when information is not available through formal channels
the main conduit through which organizational stories and other symbols of the
organization's culture are communicated
This social interaction relieves anxiety
It is associated with the drive to bond
Limitations of Grapevine
A limitation with Grapevine is that information is sometimes so distorted that it escalates
employee anxiety rather than reduce
Another limitation is that employees develop more negative attitudes toward the
organization when management is slower than the grapevine in communicating
information
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Busi 240 lecture notes professor knowles
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Management By Walking Around(MBWA)
A less-formal approach to direct communication with the top management involves
senior executives getting out of their offices and casually talking with employees on a
regular basis.
Media
Communication flows through one or more channels
emotional contagion
the process by which emotions are transferred from one person to another
Filtering
May involve deleting or delaying negative information or using less harsh words so the
message is more favorable
