Communication
Communication is derived from the Latin word ‘Communico’ which means “to share”. Hence the word “communication” means: the process of sharing. One may ask, sharing what? Obviously – sharing information, which could be facts, ideas, thoughts, feelings, needs, etc. This sharing takes place from one person to another so that it is understood. This process involves systematic and continuous process of speaking, listening, and understanding. Therefore,
Communication is a process, which involves sharing of information between people through a continuous activity of speaking, listening, and understanding.
Why is Communication Important? Communication is a learned skill. Most people are born with the physical ability to talk. But in order to speak well and communicate effectively you have to learn the art and improve upon your ability to talk. Speaking, listening, and our ability to understand verbal and nonverbal meanings are the skills we develop in various ways. We learn basic communication skills by observing other people and changing our behaviors based on what we see. We also learn communication skills directly through education, practice and constant evaluation of the responses we get from people around us.
Importance of communication has always been realized in all times because it is the most vital means by which people are connected together in the society. However, today communication plays a crucial role in almost all aspects of life. Work in business, government or organizations are impossible without communication. People have to communicate with each other, exchange information, make decisions, talk about new ideas, plans, proposals etc. They also have to communicate externally with foreigners and people of other races and languages.
For a moment, turn your eyes inward and see how much of your waking hours you spend in communication. Nearly 70% – writing, reading, speaking, & listening. As a college student, 69 percent of your communication time is spent on speaking and listening. You spend 17 percent of your communication time on reading and 14 percent writing. Don’t forget, therefore, that communication is inevitable in one’s life. Today, in this age & world, a successful person is the one - who can communicate effectively. Pick up any newspaper and scan the jobs wanted advertisements. You will find that communication skills are one of the essential prerequisites in most of the occupations. Be it engineers, business managers, sales officers, operators, etc. Any vocation you choose- oral communication skills are identified as valuable for both obtaining employment and successful job performance. Big corporations and multinational organizations need better communication skills in their employees so that they are able to work in teams and with people from diverse backgrounds.
Remember we are living in a communications revolution; we are living in an age of increasing talk. When we have to talk, we might as well talk well, and talk wise.
The Communication Process or Cycle Many of the problems that occur in an organization are the direct result of people failing to communicate. Faulty communication causes the most problems. It leads to confusion and can cause a good plan to fail. Communication is the exchange and flow of information and ideas from one person to another. It involves a sender transmitting an idea to a receiver. And effective communication occurs only if the receiver understands the exact information or idea that the sender intends to transmit.
Studying the communication process is important because you coach, coordinate, counsel, evaluate, and supervise through this process. It is the chain of understanding that integrates the members of an organization from top to bottom, bottom to top, and side-to-side.
Let us look into the details and see:
What is involved in the communication process?
The steps involved in this process are:
1. Idea: Information exists in the mind of the sender (who is the source). This can be a concept, idea, information, or feelings.
2. Encoding: The source initiates a message by encoding the idea (or a thought) in words or symbols and sends it to a receiver.
The message is the actual physical product from the source encoding. When we speak, the speech is the message. When we write, the writing is the message. When we gesture, the movements of our arms and the expressions of our faces are the message. 3. The Channel: The channel in the communication process is the medium that the sender uses to transmit the message to the receiver. Care needs to be exercised in selecting the most effective channel for each message. Even though both an oral and a written medium may be appropriate to transmit a particular message, one medium may be more effective than the other. To illustrate, let’s assume that an individual desires an immediate reply to a question. Although the message could be in either an oral or a written form, the oral medium most likely will be more effective because of the immediacy, if required.
In selecting an appropriate channel, the sender must assess the following factors, as the situation demands:
-need for immediate transmission of message, (Fax instead of letter) -need for immediate feedback, (Phone instead of fax) -need for permanent record of the message, (Written rather than oral) -degree of negotiation and persuasion required, (Personal meeting – face-to face) -the destination of the message, and (Far flung area – letter only) -the nature of the content of the message. (Has to be a contract –written)
In addition, the sender should take into consideration his/her skill in using each of the alternative channels, as well as the receiver’s skill in using each of the channels.
Communication rarely takes place over only one channel; two or three even four channels are normally used simultaneously.
Example: in face-to-face interactions, we speak and listen but we also gesture and receive these signals visually.
4. Decoding: It is the act of understanding messages (words or symbols). This is known as Decoding. When the sound waves are translated into ideas, we are taking them out of the code they are in, hence decoding. Thus, listeners and readers are often regarded as Decoders.
During the transmitting of the message, two processes will be received by the receiver. Content and Context. Content is the actual words or symbols of the message which is known as language – i.e. spoken and written words combined into phrases that make grammatical and semantic (meaning) sense. We all use
and interpret the meanings of words differently, so even simple messages can be misunderstood (Are you going to give me or not?). And many words have different meanings to confuse the issue even more (You are smart.). Context is the way the message is delivered and is known as Paralanguage - tone of voice, the look in the sender's eye's, body language, hand gestures, state of emotion (anger, fear, uncertainty, confidence, etc.). Paralanguage causes messages to be misunderstood as we believe what we see more than what we hear; we trust the accuracy of nonverbal behaviors more than verbal behaviors. Many managers think they have communicated once they told someone to do something, "I don't know why was not the work done?...I told my Secretary to do it." As a matter of fact, the secretary misunderstood the message.
Remember: A message is never communicated unless it is understood by the receiver.
Question arises then, how do you know a message has been properly received?
5. Feedback: By two-way communication or feedback. This feedback will tell the sender that the receiver understood the message, its level of importance, and what must be done with it.
So the feedback loop is the final link in the communication process. Feedback is the check on how successful we have been, in transferring our messages as originally intended. It determines whether understanding has been achieved or not.
The purpose of feedback is to change and alter messages so the intention of the original communicator is understood by the second communicator. It includes verbal and nonverbal responses to another person's message.
There are five main categories of feedback. They are listed in the order in which they occur most frequently in daily conversations.
1. Evaluation: Making a judgment about the worth, goodness, or appropriateness of the sender's statement.
2. Interpretation: Paraphrasing - attempting to explain what the sender's statement means.
3. Support: Attempting to assist or support the sender.
4. Probing: Attempting to gain additional information, continue the discussion, or clarify a point.
5. Understanding: Attempting to discover completely what the sender means by his/her statement. Noise: The presence of noise can result in fairly significant problems in the communication process. Unfortunately, communication is effected by noise, which is anything – whether in the sender, the transmission, on the receiver – that hinders communication. For example: o A noisy environment may hinder the development of a clear thought. o Encoding may be faulty because of the use of ambiguous symbols. o Transmission may be interrupted by noise in the channel, such as a poor telephone connection, misprinted text, or maybe a typographical mistake. o Inaccurate reception may be caused by inattention.
Lesson 02
Levels of Communication
There are five levels of communication:
1. Intrapersonal Communication
2. Interpersonal Communication
3. Mediated Communication
4. Person-to-Group Communication
5. Mass Communication
Intrapersonal Communication When you think, you use intrapersonal communication. You initiate, receive, and process messages within yourself. You are playing both the roles of: sending & receiving. Human growth depends on this internal communication. Through it you know yourself and develop your self-concept, selfdetermination, and self-motivation.
For example, each morning you decide how to dress, what to eat, where to go, etc. This kind of internal communication forms the foundation for the other four levels of communication.
The word - "Intrapersonal" - means within the person. Intrapersonal communication processes happen inside of you. Some people equate these processes with thinking. Although thinking is part of the process, intrapersonal communication includes more than what we think. More importantly intrapersonal processes include the way we think and the way we communicate with ourselves. Intrapersonal communication affects the way we receive messages from others and affects the way we send messages to others.
The Self: The role the self plays in communication is vital and complex. In order to be able to identify the complex levels of the self, you first need to understand how such complexity becomes such an intimate part of the communication process. We need to recognize the complex role of the self, and how the self plays into how we communicate.
At the center of how you communicate, is how you see yourself, or your sense of who you are. This sense of self is central to how you communicate with others. The term for that sense of self is self-concept.
Self-concept is your image of who you are. Put another way, self-concept is the total picture of who you are. Or how you see your whole self. It is your psychological self, your physical self, your spiritual self, your social self, and your intellectual self. Self-concept is how you perceive the different parts of yourself that combine to form a total picture. At the same time self-concept also means knowing how others see you, how your colleagues see you, how your parents see you. When you interact with different groups and individuals and they see you and react to you, you pick up signals and eventually you change yourself as a result of this feedback. In fact, what research reveals is that most of our sense of self, thus, comes from interactions with other people (family, friends, co-workers).
Through feedback from the process of communicating with other people, or the sending of verbal and nonverbal indicators through involvement with friends and family, you acquire a sense of how others feel about you, how they perceive you, and what they like and what they don’t like about you. And as a result of this feedback, you develop a sense of self over the course of your life, this big picture of who you are, based on all of the human interactions that you’ve had in life. And you are also constantly modifying your sense of self. Until the day you die, you will constantly modify your self-concept. This is because we are always interacting with other people, and because we are always communicating with others, we are therefore always learning more about ourselves.
Self-concept is made up of two components, self-image, and self-esteem.
Self-image is literally a picture, or image, of who you are. Self-image describes you. If you take out a piece of paper and list the various roles that you play in life, you could come up at least six, eight, maybe ten different roles that you assume in your daily life. For example, the different roles that you play in life could include, you are a student, you are a son, you are a brother, you are a colleague, you are a friend……these are all different roles that you play in life.
Most of our roles can be categorized in one of two categories – either achieved roles, or ascribed roles. Achieved roles are roles that you work to accomplish or to achieve, such as, professor, honor student, etc. Ascribed roles are roles that you are born into, son, brother, and sister.
What’s important about identifying the different roles you play in life is that you communicate differently in each one of these roles. To be an effective communicator, you should.
So self-image is how you see yourself and how you describe the roles that you play in life. Self-esteem is also how you evaluate yourself in those roles. How do you see yourself as a brother, as a friend, as a best friend? How do you rate your performance in the various roles you play in life? On a scale of one to ten, are you good to bad, great to terrible, positive to negative, effective to ineffective? No matter what evaluative scale you want to use, self-image is measured by how you evaluate yourself in those roles. Self-esteem is the process of self-evaluation; it is how you feel about yourself in each of those roles.
Self-esteem is certainly affected by how others evaluate your performance in a particular role. To be found lacking in the performance of a particular role results in hurt feelings and diminished self-esteem.
Intrapersonal communication processes depend upon communicators':
1. Frame of reference
2. Creativity
3. Self-talk
4. Risk-taking behavior
1. Frame of Reference Your frame of reference refers to the way you view your world. Your frame of reference is your structure for encoding and decoding messages. Your frame of reference consists of all that you bring internally to the communication situation: your beliefs, attitudes, and values; your memory of experiences; your cultural background; your stereotypes and expectations; your self-concept; your feelings and level of stress; your thinking patterns; and other psychological factors. As a speaker, understanding the frames of reference of your listeners will allow you to adapt your message for high levels of clarity and/or persuasive impact. As a listener, attempting to understand the way the speaker's frame of reference may differ from your own can help you to better understand the speaker and your reaction to the speaker.
2. Creativity One of the most important skills you can shape is that of creativity. Basically, creative thinking involves visualizing something in an innovative, new, or unique way. Humans have long valued artists because their creativity provides new ways of imagining or conceptualizing our world. In our personal and work lives, creativity can be important to each of us, particularly when solving problems. You can increase your creativity by learning to think in less traditional ways. Habitual and routine thinking patterns and structures prevent free, open problem solving. The extent to which you have developed your creative thinking affects the way you send and receive messages, the way you interact with others, and your potential for success in new situations.
3. Self-talk Another key aspect of intrapersonal communication is sometimes called self-talk or imagined communication. In imagined communication, individuals talk to someone else or to themselves as if they were another person. However, the communication takes place in their minds (internally instead of externally).
Practical example of imagined conversations could be of students imagining communicating before it takes place. For example, while they plan their classroom presentations, they see themselves in front of the audience, imagine how fantastic they look, see some classmates listening attentively, and picture their instructor making a positive response.
This approach, by the way, can help most speakers to succeed in public communication situations by reducing their anxiety.
Imaginary communication is a phenomenon that most people avoid discussing. Most of us learned at an early age that people who talk to themselves are crazy. Yet, it happens with people often. Although you may not be taught to communicate interpersonally, you discover that it helps you to prepare for future communication, deal with your feelings, and learn from past communication. Imagined communication is an important aspect of your intrapersonal communication processes.
4. Risk-taking Behaviors Your willingness to take risks is largely dependent on your interpretation of past experience. If you have found risk-taking to be fun, adventure-some, or thrilling, then you are more inclined to make risky moves. At least a minimum amount of risk is necessary for growth and development.
Some people consider as risk-taking behaviors only ones that are life-threatening, such as driving fast cars, or doing dangerous stunts. For our purposes, we are focusing on risk-taking in communication. When we communicate, we risk rejection by others. Additionally, behaviors that threaten our self-concept or intrapersonal processes are "risky." Often before you speak, you consider the communication in terms of risk. When you talk in class, express your ideas in a business meeting, give a presentation, or decide to communicate (or not communicate), your behaviors will be interpreted by others. Others may agree or disagree, be interested or bored, understand or misunderstand, be persuaded or argue. Because the frame of reference is different for every individual, you never really know completely how other people will react to you. But effort on your part to understand and adapt to your listeners will reduce the risk of rejection. The way we communicate is closely linked to our self-image. Most individuals find risky and threatening any efforts to change their self-image.
Your intrapersonal processes about risk-taking are influenced by your past experiences and interaction with others. Your decisions about whether or not you should, or how you will, choose to interact with others are major areas of your internal or intrapersonal communication processes.
Lesson 03
Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal Communication Interpersonal communication occurs when two (or a few) people talk face to face. Conversations, dialogues, and small group discussions are interpersonal exchanges. Each person also operates interpersonally during the exchange. Thus, an exchange with just two people involves at least three communication elements – the unique thinking done by each person and the overriding process created by the interpersonal exchange.
For example, imagine that you accidentally met your friend after a long time. You had a brief chat with him. But you think of meeting him again next evening. Your friend at the same time too thinks of having another meeting with you, in the afternoon, as he is leaving by the evening flight. After some discussion you agree to meet at the breakfast time as you have a busy schedule the whole afternoon.
Behavior and Interpersonal Communication In its simplest form, interpersonal relations are the interactions between two or more persons. We keep coming in contact with other people for personal, professional, social or business reasons. Whatever the context, there is an interaction between personalities in all these situations. Our perception about each other is based on the displayed behavior. The environment in which personal interaction takes place is largely determined by the behavior of the parties involved.
All behaviors are motivated. The motives however, may be known or unknown, clear or unclear, controlled or uncontrolled. The net result is the variety in behaviors. Behaviors determine the quality of interpersonal relationships by directly influencing every transaction in interaction. In the organizational context, interpersonal relations become extremely important for smooth functioning of the system, greater coherence, and convergence of effort and minimization of conflict.
To communicate well, we need to know our frames of reference and ourselves and to be able to assess other people. Only then can we hope to find the best ways in which to communicate effectively with them, both to pass information and build relationships. Some of the reasons we do not assess other people well are given below:
• We assume that people would behave the same way in every situation. • We try too hard to put everyone into consistent categories. • We are too influenced by first impressions. • We are positively influenced where we have common characteristics with other people, e.g. same school, same function. • We are too influenced by apparent negative points, e.g. if someone is not very good at short-term decision making, we might assume that he/she is not going to be good at long-term planning either. • We make constant errors because of our own limited frames of reference and self-concept.
The Contextual View Interpersonal communication differs from other forms of communication in that there are few participants involved. The interact-ants are in close physical proximity to each other, there are many sensory channels used, and feedback is immediate. An important point to note about the contextual definition is that it does not take into account the relationship between the interact-ants.
Interpersonal communication is contextual In other words, communication does not happen in isolation. There is:
• Psychological context, which is who you are and what you bring to the interaction. Your needs, desires, values, personality, etc., all form the psychological context. ("You" here refers to both participants in the interaction.) • Relational context, which concerns your reactions to the other person--the "mix." • Situational context deals with the psycho-social "where" you are communicating. An interaction that takes place in a classroom will be very different from one that takes place in a restaurant. • Environmental context deals with the physical "where" you are communicating. Furniture, location, noise level, temperature, season, time of day, all are examples of factors in the environmental context. • Cultural context includes all the learned behaviors and rules that affect the interaction. If you come from a culture (foreign or within your own country) where it is considered rude to make long, direct eye contact, you will out of politeness avoid eye contact. If the other person comes from a culture where long, direct eye contact signals trustworthiness, then we have in the cultural context a basis for misunderstanding.
The Developmental View We have many different relationships with people. Some researchers say that our definition of interpersonal communication must account for these differences. These researchers say that interacting with a sales clerk in a store is different than the relationship we have with our friends and family members. Thus, some researchers have proposed an alternative way of defining interpersonal communication. This is called the developmental view. From this view, interpersonal communication is defined as communication that occurs between people who have known each other for some time. Importantly, these people view each other as unique individuals, not as people who are simply acting out social situations.
Interpersonal channels include conversations and dialogues, interviews, and small groups.
Conversations involve unstructured, informal, and slightly purposive communication transactions. They may not relate directly to business, but nonetheless contribute to smooth business functioning. Dialogues introduce purpose in relatively structured and formal transactions. The interview is a special type of dialogue. It involves purposes such as appraising an applicant for a job or disseminating information to the media.
In the directive interview, the interviewer commands the transaction. In the nondirective interview, both parties give direction to the interview. The stress interviewer uses emotion-laden questions to determine how well the stress interviewer handles stress. The depth interview involves a directive probe into the topic.
Small groups include four to ten people, with location, time, topic, purpose, formality, designation, and cohesion having an impact on the transaction. Methods for conducting group meetings include problemsolving, educating, brain storming, and role-playing.
Functions of Interpersonal Communication Interpersonal communication is important because of the functions it achieves. Whenever we engage in communication with another person, we seek to gain information about them. We also give off information through a wide variety of verbal and nonverbal cues. The various functions of interpersonal communication are:
Gaining Information One reason we engage in interpersonal communication is that we can gain knowledge about another individual. Social Penetration Theory says that we attempt to gain information about others so that we can interact with them more effectively. We can better predict how they will think, feel, and act if we know
who they are. We gain this information passively, by observing them; actively, by having others engage them; or interactively, by engaging them ourselves. Self-disclosure is often used to get information from another person.
Building a Context of Understanding We also engage in interpersonal communication to help us better understand what someone says in a given context. The words we say can mean very different things depending on how they are said or in what context. Content Messages refer to the surface level meaning of a message. Relationship Messages refer to how a message is said. The two are sent simultaneously, but each affects the meaning assigned to the communication. Interpersonal communication helps us understand each other better.
Establishing Identity Another reason we engage in interpersonal communication is to establish an identity. The roles we play in our relationships help us establish identity. So too does the face, the public self-image we present to others. Both roles and face are constructed based on how we interact with others.
Interpersonal Needs Finally, we engage in interpersonal communication because we need to express and receive interpersonal needs.
The three identified needs are:
1. Inclusion: the need to establish identity with others. 2. Control: the need to exercise leadership and prove one's abilities. Groups provide outlets for this need. Some individuals do not want to be a leader. For them, groups provide the necessary control over aspects of their lives. 3. Affection: the need to develop relationships with people. Groups are an excellent way to make friends and establish relationships.
Lesson 04
Communication in the Organization Guiding Principles
1. People are not mind readers. They judge you by their behavior & not by your intent We cannot communicate. The very attempt not to communicate communicates something. Through not only words, but through tone of voice and through gesture, posture, facial expression, etc., we constantly communicate to those around us. Through these channels, we constantly receive communication from others.
2. A word is like an arrow, once out of the bow never returns You can't really take back something once it has been said. The effect must inevitably remain. Despite the instructions from a judge to a jury to "disregard that last statement the witness made," the lawyer knows that it can't help but make an impression on the jury.
3. We don’t exchange ideas; we exchange symbols that stand for ideas Words (symbols) do not have inherent meaning; we simply use them in certain ways, and no two people use the same word exactly alike.
Mediated communication This level of communication occurs when two (or a few) people use some intermediate means for carrying their messages. They do not communicate face to face and thus do not have direct feedback. Mediated communication often uses a mechanical or electrical device to transmit or receive messages. Examples include the telephone, closed-circuit television, radio, radar, and the communication satellite. Mediated communication also occurs through letters, reports, forms, and interoffice memoranda.
Person-to-Group Communication The person-to-group level involves one speaker and audience. The speaker usually faces the audience, and the audience usually contains people with similar interests. A small, private person-to-group situation often has some of the characteristics of interpersonal communication. However, for large public groups, the person-to-group level lacks the benefits provided by interpersonal exchanges.
The traditional speaker and audience setting may include microphones, projectors, and tape player.
Mass Communication Mass communication includes messages sent to large, public, dissimilar, anonymous, distant audiences using some intermediate instrument of transfer. The instruments include electronic (for example, radio, television, tape, and film) and print (for example, newspaper, magazine, book, pamphlet, brochure, directmail campaign). The restricted opportunity for feedback is the most serious barrier to effective mass communication.
The "mass media," as they are often called, have grown to include the print media of books, newspapers and magazines, the electronic media of television, radio, and audio/video recording, and the new media of computers and computer networks. While these media differ in many ways, they all share the characteristics by which scholars define mass communication.
COMMUNICATION IN THE ORGANIZATION Communication is used extensively in the managerial functions of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. Virtually every task that a manager performs requires the use of communication in one form or another.
The nature of communication in the modern organization can be studied by examining the direction of communication flow and the destination of the communication. While communication in the modern organization flows downward, upward, and the horizontal, its destination can be either internal or external.
Downward Communication Downward communication flows from people at higher levels to those at lower levels in the organizational hierarchy. The primary function of downward communication is to inform employees about things important to them such as:
ƒ Information about their jobs ƒ Organizational policies and procedures ƒ Feedback about their performance ƒ Organizational goals and objectives
The types of downwards communication may include instructions, speeches, meetings, announcements, memos, notifications, letters, hand-books, pamphlets, company newsletters and periodicals, bulletin boards (notice boards) policy statements, and procedures.
For downward communication some use written communication, others use oral communication.
Why is this needed?
When employees receive appropriate downward communication from management, they can be better motivated and become more efficient.
While the employees need clear job directions and safety rules, they also need to know facts about organizational strategy, products, and viewpoints on important controversial issues.
Employees want to know about their benefits - health care, insurance, promotions, pensions, training, work environment, retirement, etc. etc.
In a way the employees, through their collective pressure, force their employers to be accountable for their decisions through effective downward communication.
Upward Communication Upward communication travels from subordinates to superiors and continues up the organizational ladder.
Upward communication is extremely important, as upper management needs to know specifically about:
Production performance, marketing information, financial data, what lower-level employees are thinking, and so on.
The better the quality of information they receive, the more useful and effective it will be in their decision-making efforts.
Unfortunately, this flow is often hindered by people in the communication link who filter the messages and do not transmit all the information, especially unfavorable news to their bosses.
Types of media used to direct information upward are reports, interoffice memos, supervisor subordinate conferences, suggestion systems, and grievance procedures.
Upward internal communication is becoming increasingly important day by day. Today many executives sincerely seek frank comments from employees, in addition to the usual periodic reports. Successful managers listen closely to opinions, complaints, problems, and suggestions especially when they are
clearly and effectively stated. As a response to increasing global competition, some companies are developing new management styles, which make input form employees an integral part of important decisions affecting the company.
Lateral Communication It includes horizontal flow of information, with people on the same or similar organizational levels, and diagonal flow, with people at different levels who have no direct reporting relationships. The lateral communication is used to speed up information flow, to improve understanding, and to coordinate efforts for the achievement of organizational objectives.
Effective lateral communication between peers is essential in organizations to solve problems, perform job duties, prepare for meetings, listening to and making requests, writing notes and memos, and discussing and writing about projects.
Most lateral communication is of an oral nature, involving a conference between the participants. In some instances the conference is conducted by telephone.
Lesson 05
Communication Destination
The destination of communication is either internal or external. The ratio between internal and external communication varies from organization to organization. As the size of the organization increase, the amount of internal communication tends to increase at a faster rate than the amount of external communication.
Internal Communication Each of the communication mediums discussed earlier in the downward, upward, and lateral communication sections is also classified as an internal medium. Interoffice memos, reports, and conferences are the most commonly used internal mediums within the modern organization.
Effective internal communication—downward, upward, and horizontal helps increase job satisfaction, safety, productivity, and profits and decreases absenteeism, grievances, and turnover.
External Communication Because most modern organizations have close ties with various publics – in fact they often depend on these publics for economic survival - external communication plays a significant role in their operations. Examples of publics that organizations communicate with are consumers, stockholders, governmental agencies, foreign suppliers, wholesalers, and retailers.
Types of media used to communicate externally are: letters, reports, stockholder reports, proposals, stockholder meetings, telephone conversations, and conferences.
While informal reports tend to be used commonly within the organizations, formal reports are more commonly use externally. Employees in many organizations are now finding that their responsibility for report preparation is increasing. Organizations that have stockholders hold annual stockholder meetings to conduct official business— such as electing individuals to the board of directors—as well as to present information of interest to the stockholders. These meetings, although comprised mostly of oral communication, also use some written communication.
An increasing amount of organizational business is conducted over the telephone. Although the use of the telephone should result in the effective use of time, many employees are now finding that the telephone has been a fairly significant time waster, especially when several calls have to be made before the caller is reached. Excessive amounts of small talk during phone conversations can also waste time. Especially wasteful of time, human resources, and monetary resources is the practice of providing a written document to confirm the substance of the phone conversation. When this happens, the primary reason for using the phone in the first place—to save time—actually takes more time because of the duplicate effort involved in making the phone call and then preparing the written documentation.
A certain number of employees in most organizations spend part of their time engaged in face-to-face conferences with individuals outside the organization. Included among these individuals are purchasing agents, sales representatives, upper-level managers, and department managers. Considerable good will can be lost easily—which may be very costly to the organization and to the outsider—unless both parties treat each other with courtesy and respect.
Benefit of Communication: Employees Specific communication skills that a person may require in any organization will vary from job to job. The possession of a certain degree of communication skills will, however, pay rich dividends throughout one’s career. Not only will it lead to a more satisfying employment experience, but also increase the chances of promotions throughout one’s working life.
The following list identifies a number of communication and related skills that will greatly benefit the employees of an organization:
1. Conflict resolution Conflict is a normal part of doing business because organizational members have different and often opposing goals. However, these differing goals keep the organization vital by stimulating creativity, promoting innovation, and bringing about change. Organizations totally devoid of conflict would become apathetic, stagnant, and unresponsive to change.
Conflict resolution is a process whereby individuals resolve issues in an informal or formal atmosphere, or where issues are resolved as part of the ongoing interaction between individuals. Effective resolutions of conflict, which involves good communication, result in fewer formal grievances, improved morale, and more effective use of human resources. Conflicts are inevitable; however anger, grudges, hurt and blame do not have to be. While unmanaged conflicts, disagreements and out-of-control emotions can harm important work and professional relationships, effectively managed conflict can actually promote cooperation and build stronger relationships. Most conflicts can be resolved fairly and in a way that actually benefits all concerned. An effective conflict resolution process leads to unity by addressing concerns or issues rather than suppressing them; can get people talking to each other (instead of about each other); and enable people to be part of a team that cares. This process promotes compromise or collaboration as people learn how to work harmoniously, develop creative solutions to problems and reach outcomes that mutually benefit those involved.
2. Motivation Motivation is the process of satisfying internal needs through actions and behaviors. Motivation is not something a person is born with or without, but rather is something that can be enhanced or developed. Motivation affects individuals differently, so one must understand the process, theories, and fundamental components of motivation in order to motivate effectively. To understand motivation, it is also necessary to recognize differences among people and be cautious not to assume they share similar preferences.
Motivation comes from within, from a person's own psyche, secret desires and deep-rooted needs which motivate us towards their satisfaction. To increase organizational productivity and employee performance, there are several motivational techniques that one needs to learn & use. And communication is the needed tool.
3. Problem solving In a business set up you need to work with other employees as well as get people working together in a friendly smooth environment. Coming from different backgrounds, having different experiences, beliefs, and expectations it is not always easily achieved. People working together are bound to develop differences & have problems working together. An objective and practical way out to such a situation is to identify the real problem and find an amicable way to correct it. Unfortunately, as is the case for most of the work we do, it can be very difficult to establish criteria that aren't subjective. But if one can reach a consensus on the perceived problem and establish how to measure the results of the steps one takes to address the problem, then there is a sound basis for solving the problem. Regular communication, active feedback, and carefully monitoring of the results are all what constitutes creating such a consensus.
4. Public relations Good public relations help an organization and its employees adapt mutually to each other. Often, it is termed as an indicator of an organization's performance and a program of activities.
The public relations function takes many forms in different organizations, including public information, investor relations, public affairs, corporate communications, employee relations, marketing or product publicity, and consumer service or customer relations.
Basic to all public relations, however, is communicating. Well-planned, effectively handled communications are increasingly seen as essential to the success and even existence of organizations in today's changing world. Every organization - government, business, labor, professional, trade, health, cultural, financial, recreational, educational and public service - depends on people. Their attitudes, attention, understanding, and motivation can be critical to the success or failure of an organization or idea.
Benefits of Communication: Organization Effective communication benefits the organization by:
1. Creating positive image,
2. Reducing cost,
3. Improving employee moral, and
4. Increasing employee productivity.
In many instances, putting a little more effort into the communication process provides rich dividends for the organization.
Positive Image The image outsiders have of many organizations is negative because of ineffective communication by employees. In some cases, employees knowingly use ineffective communication, but in other cases they do not realize that what they say or write produces damaging results. Employees, when using either a written or oral communication medium, have an almost infinite number of opportunities for spoiling the organizational image. The damaging situations can range from failing to answer a question to an outsider or communicating totally incorrect information.
Effective communicators are concerned about the impact of what they say or write to the listener or reader. In many cases, the implication of what was said – rather than what was actually said – produces damaging results. (e.g. I have not received your cheaque vs. your cheaque is not received by me. It is with someone else in the office.)
An unfortunate situation arises when the listener or reader receives a totally incorrect perception of what the speaker/writer intended.
Cost Reduction Effective communication skills make a significant contribution to organizational cost reduction. To illustrate, consider the cost of preparing a typical business letter. Supposing it is rupees 50. If an employee prepares a letter that is not effective – one that results in the need for additional correspondence – the organization’s profitability is reduced.
Let’s take another example. Consider an organization with 10,000 employees. If each employee on the average wastes 10% of his/her daily working hours in inefficient communication, and if that 10% is equivalent to 100 rupees, then the total amount lost would be of around one million rupees per annum. Employees Morale
In many instances, managers unknowingly contribute to employee morale problems because they fail to communicate effectively with their subordinates. Managers frequently underestimate the amount of communication employee’s desire from them. As a result, information that employees would find useful simply does not get communicated. This lack of communication, in turn, creates an impression among the employees that their managers are not concerned about them or the positions they hold. When this impression is created, employee morale deteriorates. Essential for Employee Productivity Many organizations are presently concerned about their inability to improve their productivity, a necessity for their economic well-being. A variety of factors can be identified that negatively affect organizational productivity, including ineffective communication.
In some organizations, employees are not as productive as they might be because management fails to communicate its expectations to them. Some employees have difficulty improving their productivity when they have not been made aware of what management expects of them or when they have not been fully informed how certain job tasks are to be performed. Management’s failure to communicate its goals and objectives to employees is another factor that may contribute to decrease productivity.
Misconceptions about Communication
The imprecise way people use the word “communication has given rise to many misconceptions, which are:
We need more communication One of the most common complaints we have heard working with organizational personnel is that there is not enough communication in the organization. Top managers complaint that they seldom hear from middle managers, middle managers complain that they have been isolated from the top executives and so on.
More often than not, these complaints are justified. But is the problem one of not enough communication or one of quality? The truth of the mater is that most of us are confronted by too much rather than too little communication. From the moment we awaken, we are bombarded with messages from those with whom we live, those with whom we come in contact at college, people at work, and the mass media. The problem is that we are not psychologically equipped to handle all of these messages. While the eye is capable of processing somewhere in the neighborhood of 500-million bits of information per second, the brain only can compute about 500 bits of information per second. As a result, the probability of misinterpreting communication or communicating in an inappropriate manner is quite high.
The point is that the quantity of communication that characterizes an environment has little to do with the quantity of communication in an environment. While there can be little doubt that we need to improve the quality of communication in our lives, we do not necessarily need more communication. Communication solves all problems
Communication is not a cure-all for the problems we experience. If we are properly skilled in communication, it can be a highly effective medium for the resolution of problems or conflicts. Unfortunately, many of us have failed to acquire sufficient skill in this regard. To assume we can eliminate problems effectively simply by being open and candid communicators, therefore, may be a mistake because communication has the potential for creating or intensifying problems, as well as the potential for eliminating problems.
Communication breakdowns
The idea that communication can break down is widely accepted. Generally, people assume that communication has broken down when one person has failed to accurately interpret the communication behavior of another person. While this frequently happens, it does not mean communication has physically broken down. Rather, it means that we have been ineffective in communicating.
Ineffectual communication usually is symptomatic of some deep-seated problem between the communicators. When we accept the idea that communication can break down, however, we assume that communication is the problem. As a result, we are apt to try to treat the symptom of the problem – ineffective communication – rather than directly confront the problem. Trying the symptom instead of the real problem may accomplish little in the way of making us more effective communicators.
Meanings are in words
One of the most common mistakes that we make as communicators is to assume that the meaning we attach to a word will be the meaning everyone else attaches to the word. This is not always the case. The meanings we associate with words are a function of our individual backgrounds and experiences with other people. Because we cannot duplicate another’s background or experiences with people, the meanings we have for the same words sometimes are quite different. To assume a word has only one meaning, therefore, may affect negatively our communication with people.
“Words don’t mean – people mean.” This is to say, meaning can be subjective. Consequently, you should not automatically assume that the meaning you associate with a word will be shared by those with whom you communicate. The degree to which you and others share common meanings for words will depend on the extent to which you share common backgrounds and experiences.
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