Communication -Part of Lesson II

8/14/2019 Communication -Part of Lesson II

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MODULE 2: SupervisoryManagement

COMMUNICATION


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Definition

"Any act by which one person gives to orreceives from another person, informationabout that person's needs, desires,perceptions, knowledge, or affectivestates. Communication may be intentionalor unintentional, may involve conventionalor unconventional signals, may takelinguistic or non-linguistic forms, and mayoccur through spoken or other modes."( Julia Scherba de Valenzuela, Ph.D.,1992)


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Characteristics of Communication

communication is characterized byinformation transfer,

processing takes place in

communication systems, both the sender and the receiver

are actively involved in acommunication system, and

the quality of communicationsvaries.


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Communication

Communication skills includereading, speaking, writing, editing,listening, making presentations,

and interpersonal relations. Theseskills are critically important in theworkplace because they involve thetransmission of information among

people.


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CONVERSATIONAL COMMUNICATION

Communication is best achieved through simple planning and control; this unit looks at approacheswhich might help you to do this and specifically at meetings, where conversations need particular care.

Most conversations sort of drift along; in business, thisis wasteful; as a manager, you seek communicationrather than chatter. To ensure an efficient andeffective conversation, there are three considerations:

you must make your message understood you must receive/understand the intended message

sent to you you should exert some control over the flow of the

communication Thus you must learn to listen as well as to speak .


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AMBIGUITY AVOIDANCE

As a manager (concerned with gettingthings done) your view of words should bepragmatic rather than philosophical. Thus,words mean not what the dictionary saysthey do but rather what the speakerintended.

The greatest source of difficulty is thatwords often have different meaningsdepending upon context and/or culture.

So, the problem is this: the word hasmultiple meanings, it might not be the oneintended, and you may have misheard it inthe first place - how do you know what thespeaker meant?


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AMBIGUITY AVOIDANCEcontd

The following can be done:- Rule 1: PLAY BACK for confirmation Simple, you ask for confirmation. You say "let me see if I

have understood correctly, you are saying that ..." and yourephrase what the speaker said. If this "play back" version is

acknowledged as being correct by the original speaker, thenyou have a greater degree of confidence in you ownunderstanding.

Rule 2: WRITE BACK for confidence Rule 3: GIVE Background for context When speaking yourself, you can often counter for possible

problems by adding information, and so providing a broadercontext in which your words can be understood. Thus, thereis less scope for alternative interpretations since fewer areconsistent. When others are speaking, you shoulddeliberately ask questions yourself to establish the context inwhich they are thinking. When others are speaking, youshould deliberately ask questions yourself to establish thecontext in which they are thinking.


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PRACTICAL POINTS

As with all effective communication, youshould decide (in advance) on the purposeof the conversation and the plan forachieving it. There is no alternative to this.Some people are proficient at "thinking ontheir feet" - but this is generally becausethey already have clear understanding of the context and their own goals. You haveto plan; however, the following are a fewtechniques to help the conversation along.

Assertiveness The definition of to assert is: "to declare;

state clearly". This is your aim. If someoneargues against you, even loses their

temper, you should be quietly assertive.


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Effective Instances of how we cancommunicate

Thus we have something like: yes, Isee why you need the report bytomorrow; however, I have no time

today to prepare the documentbecause I am in a meeting with acustomer this afternoon; either Icould give you the raw data and

you could work on it yourself, oryou could make do with the interimreport from last week.


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Effective Instances of how we cancommunicatecontd You will have to make many personal

judgment calls when being assertive. There will certainly be times when a bit of quiet force from you will win the day butthere will be times when this will getnowhere, particularly with more senior(and unenlightened) management. In thelatter case, you must agree to abide bythe decision of the senior manager butyou should make your objection (andreasons) clearly known. For yourself,always be aware that your subordinatesmight be right when they disagree withyou and if events prove them so,acknowledge that fact gracefully.


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The Importance of EffectiveCommunication

People in organizations typically spendover 75% of their time in an interpersonal

situation; thus it is no surprise to find thatat the root of a large number of organizational problems is poorcommunications. Effective communicationis an essential component of

organizational success whether it is at theinterpersonal, inter-group, intra-group,organizational, or external levels.


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TheCommunication

Process


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The Communication Process

Although all of us have beencommunicating with others sinceour infancy, the process of

transmitting information from anindividual (or group) to another is avery complex process with manysources of potential error.


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Messageto besent

Decode:

Someerror

likely

EncodedbyReceiver:

Someerrorlikely

MessageReceived


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In any communication at least some of the"meaning" lost in simple transmission of a messagefrom the sender to the receiver. In many situations alot of the true message is lost and the message thatis heard is often far different than the one intended.

This is most obvious in cross-cultural situationswhere language is an issue. But it is also commonamong people of the same culture.

Communications is so difficult because at each stepin the process there major potential for error. By thetime a message gets from a sender to a receiver

there are four basic places where transmission errorscan take place and at each place, there are amultitude of potential sources of error. Thus it is nosurprise that social psychologists estimate that thereis usually a 40-60% loss of meaning in thetransmission of messages from sender to receiver.


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It is also very important tounderstand that a majoring of communication is non-verbal. This

means that when we attributemeaning to what someone else issaying, the verbal part of themessage actually means less than

the non-verbal part. The non-verbalpart includes such things as bodylanguage and tone.


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Some Barriers to EffectiveCommunication

There are a wide number of sources of noise or interference that can enter intothe communication process. This canoccur when people know each other very

well and should understand the sources of error. In a work setting, it is even morecommon since interactions involve peoplewho not only don't have years of experience with each other, butcommunication is complicated by thecomplex and often conflictual relationshipsthat exist at work. In a work setting, thefollowing suggests a number of sources of noise:


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Language: The choice of words or language in which asender encodes a message will influence the quality of communication.

defensiveness, distorted perceptions, guilt, project,transference, distortions from the past

misreading of body language, tone and other non-verbalforms of communication (see section below)

noisy transmission (unreliable messages, inconsistency) receiver distortion: selective hearing, ignoring non-verbal

cues power struggles

Assumptions-eg. assuming others see situation same asyou, has same feelings as you

distrusted source, erroneous translation, value judgment,state of mind of two people

Cultural Differences: Given some dramatic differencesacross cultures in approaches to such areas as time, space,and privacy, the opportunities for miscommunication whilewe are in cross-cultural situations are plentiful.


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You work in a Japanese company inthe US. You have noticed that the

Japanese staff explains only the

conclusion to Americans when they address a problem, rather thandiscussing the steps to theconclusion. Also, the Japanese staff

sends reports directly to Japanwithout showing them to you.


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Reading NonverbalCommunication Cues

A large percentage (studies suggest over90%) of the meaning we derive fromcommunication, we derive from the non-verbal cues that the other person gives. Oftena person says one thing but communicatessomething totally different through vocalintonation and body language. These mixedsignals force the receiver to choose betweenthe verbal and nonverbal parts of themessage. Most often, the receiver choosesthe nonverbal aspects. Mixed messagescreate tension and distrust because thereceiver senses that the communicator ishiding something or is being less than candid.


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Nonverbal communication ismade up of the following parts:

Visual

Tactile

Vocal Use of time, space, and image


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Use of Time as NonverbalCommunication:

Nonverbal Communication: The use of gestures, movements, material things, time, and space can

clarify or confuse the meaning of verbal communication.

A "majority" of the meaning we attribute to words comes not from thewords themselves, but from nonverbal factors such as gestures, facialexpressions, tone, body language, etc. Nonverbal cues can play fiveroles:

Repetition: they can repeat the message the person is making verbally Contradiction: they can contradict a message the individual is trying to

convey Substitution: they can substitute for a verbal message. For example, a

person's eyes can often convey a far more vivid message than wordsand often do

Complementing: they may add to or complement a verbal message. Aboss who pats a person on the back in addition to giving praise canincrease the impact of the message

Accenting: non-verbal communication may accept or underline a verbalmessage. Pounding the table, for example, can underline a message.


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Use of Time as NonverbalCommunication:

Nonverbal Communication:

Skillful communicators understand theimportance of nonverbal communicationand use it to increase their effectiveness,as well as use it to understand more

clearly what someone else is really saying. A word of warning: Nonverbal cues can

differ dramatically from culture to culture.An American hand gesture meaning "A-

OK" would be viewed as obscene in someSouth American countries. Be careful.


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Developing Communication Skills:Listening Skills

There are a number of situations whenyou need to solicit good information fromothers; these situations includeinterviewing candidates, solving work

problems, seeking to help an employee onwork performance, and finding outreasons for performance discrepancies.

Skill in communication involves a number

of specific strengths. The first we willdiscuss involves listening skills.


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The following lists suggest some for effectivelistening when confronted with a problem atwork:

Listen openly and with empathy to the other person Judge the content, not the messenger or delivery;

comprehend before you judge Use multiple techniques to fully comprehend (ask,

repeat, rephrase, etc.)

Active body state; fight distractions Ask the other person for as much detail as he/she can

provide; paraphrase what the other is saying to makesure you understand it and check for understanding

Respond in an interested way that shows youunderstand the problem and the employee's concern

Attend to non-verbal cues, body language, not justwords; listen between the lines

Ask the other for his views or suggestions


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The following lists suggest some for effectivelistening when confronted with a problem atwork contd:

State your position openly; be specific, not global Communicate your feelings but don't act them out (e.g. tell a

person that his behaviour really upsets you; don't get angry) Be descriptive, not evaluative-describe objectively, your

reactions, consequences

Be conjunctive, not disjunctive (not "I want to discuss thisregardless of what you want to discuss"); Don't totally control conversation; acknowledge what was said Own up: use "I", not "They"... not "I've heard you are non-

cooperative" Don't react to emotional words, but interpret their purpose Practice supportive listening, not one way listening Decide on specific follow-up actions and specific follow up dates


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A major source of problem incommunication is defensiveness.Effective communicators are aware

that defensiveness is a typicalresponse in a work situationespecially when negativeinformation or criticism is involved.

Be aware that defensiveness iscommon, particularly withsubordinates when you are dealingwith a problem.


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A Short Example of EffectiveCommunication

Example:

Maria : My typewriting student, Judy, is in a slump; she's just not

producing her usual caliber of work.I need to find out what the problemis.

On the surface, it would seem that

getting good information is easy.But like other forms of communication, it takes planningand experience to develop skills inthis area.


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Documents

Communication -Part of Lesson II