Transcript The Communication Process

Learning Outcomes
After reading this chapter, I will be able to:
1. Define communication and explain why it is
important to managers.
2. Describe the communication process.
3. List techniques for overcoming communication
barriers.
4. Describe the wired and wireless technologies
affecting organizational communications.
5. Identify behaviors related to effective active listening.
12–1
Learning Outcomes (cont’d)
After reading this chapter, I will be able to:
6. Explain what behaviors are necessary for providing
effective feedback.
7. Identify behaviors related to effective delegating.
8. Describe the steps in analyzing and resolving
conflict.
9. Explain why a manager might stimulate conflict.
10. Contrast distributive and integrative bargaining.
12–2
The Communication Process
• Communication process
 The transferring and understanding of meaning
Exhibit 12.1
12–3
Communication Process Terms
• Encoding
 The conversion of a
message into some
symbolic form
• Message
 A purpose to be conveyed
• Channel
 The medium by which a
message travels
• Feedback
 The degree to which
carrying out the work
activities require by a job
results in the individual’s
obtaining direct and clear
information about the
effectiveness of his her
performance
• Decoding
 A receiver’s translation of a
sender’s message
12–4
Written Versus Verbal Communications
• Written
 Tangible
 Verifiable
 More permanent
 More precise
 More care is taken
with the written
word
• Verbal
 Less secure
 Known receipt
 Quicker response
 Consumes less time
 Quicker feedback
12–5
The Grapevine
“The grapevine motto: Good
information passes among people
fairly rapidly—bad information,
even faster!”
•Grapevine
 An unofficial channel of
communication that is neither
authorized nor supported
by the organization.
12–6
Nonverbal Communications
• Body language
 Nonverbal communication cues such as facial
expressions, gestures, and other body movements
• Verbal intonation
 An emphasis given to word or phrases that
conveys meaning
12–7
Barriers to
Effective
Communication
Overcoming Barriers
to Effective
Communication
• Filtering
• Selective Perception
• Information Overload
• Emotions
• Language
• Gender
• National Culture
• Use Feedback
• Simplify Language
• Listen actively
• Constrain Emotions
• Watch Nonverbal
Cues
Exhibit 12.3
Exhibit 12.4
12–8
Communication Barriers
• Filtering
 The deliberate manipulation of information to make it
appear more favorable to the receiver
• Selective perception
 Selective hearing communications based on one’s
needs, motivations, experience, or other personal
characteristics
• Information overload
 The result of information exceeding processing
capacity
12–9
Communication Barriers (cont’d)
• Jargon
 Technical language that is not understood by
outsiders
• Gender
 Men communicate to emphasize status and
independence; whereas women talk to create
connections and intimacy.
• National culture
 Communication differences that arise from the
different languages and national cultures
12–10
Information Technology (IT)
• E-mail
 The instantaneous transmission of messages on
computers that are linked together.
• Instant messaging (IM)
 Interactive, real-time communication that takes place
among computer users who are logged on to the
computer network at the same time.
• Voice mail
 A system digitizes that a spoken massage, transmits it
over the network, and stores the message on a disk
for the receiver to retrieve later.
12–11
Information Technology (cont’d)
• Fax
 Machines allow the transmission of documents
containing both text and graphics over ordinary
telephone lines.
• Electronic data interchange EDI
 A way to exchange documents (invoices or purchase
orders) with vendors, suppliers, and customers using
direct, computer-to-computer networks.
• Teleconferencing
 Group can confer simultaneously using telephone or
e-mail group communications software.
12–12
Information Technology (cont’d)
• Video-conferencing
 A simultaneous conference during which meeting participants in
different locations can see each other over video screens.
• Intranets
 An organizational communication network that uses Internet
technology but is accessible only to organizational employees.
• Extranets
 An organizational communication network that uses Internet
technology and allows authorized users inside the organization
to communicate with certain outsiders such as customers or
vendors.
12–13
Information Technology (cont’d)
• Wireless communications
 Allow users to send and receive information from
anywhere as signals sent without a direct physical
connection to a hard-wired network system.
• Knowledge management
 Cultivating a learning culture in which employees
systematically gather knowledge and share it through
computer-based networks and community of interest
teams.
12–14
Developing Interpersonal Skills
• Listening requires:
 Paying attention
 Interpreting
 Remembering sound stimuli
• Active listening requires:
 Listening attentively (intensely) to the speaker.
 Developing empathy for what the speaker is saying.
 Accepting by listening without judging content.
 Taking responsibility for completeness in getting the
full meaning from the speaker’s communication.
12–15
Characteristics of Feedback
• Positive feedback
 Is more readily and accurately perceived than
negative feedback.
 Is almost always accepted, whereas negative
feedback often meets resistance.
• Negative feedback
 Is most likely to be accepted when it comes from a
credible source or if it is objective.
 Carries weight only when it comes from a person with
high status and credibility.
12–16
Suggestions for Effective Feedback
• Focus on specific behavior
• Keep feedback impersonal
• Keep feedback goal oriented
• Make feedback well-timed
• Ensure understanding
• Direct negative feedback towards behavior that
the receiver can control
Exhibit 12.6
12–17
Empowerment Skills
• Delegation
 The assignment of authority to another person to
carry out specific activities while retaining the
ultimate responsibility for the activities.
• Proper delegation is not abdication and requires:
 Clarifying the exact job to be done
 Setting the range of the employee’s discretion
 Defining the expected level of performance
 Setting the time frame for the task to be completed
 Allowing employees to participate
 Establishing feedback controls
12–18
Effective
Delegation
Effective delegation pushes authority down
vertically through the ranks of an organization.
Exhibit 12.7
12–19
Contingency Factors in Delegation
• The Size of the Organization
• The Importance of the Duty or Decision
• Organizational Culture
• Task Complexity
• Qualities of Employees
Exhibit 12.8
12–20
Managing Conflict
• Conflict defined
 Perceived differences resulting in interference or
opposition
• Functional conflict
 Conflict that supports and organization’s goals
• Dysfunctional conflict
 Conflict that prevents and organization from achieving
its goals
12–21
Three Views of Conflict
• Traditional view
 Assumed that conflict was bad and would always
have a negative impact on an organization.
• Human relations view
 Argued that conflict was a natural and inevitable
occurrence in all organizations; rationalized the
existence of conflict and advocated its acceptance.
• Interactionist view
 Encourages mangers to maintain ongoing minimum
level of conflict sufficient to keep organizational units
viable, self-critical, and creative.
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Conflict and
Organizational
Performance
Exhibit 12.9
12–23
Sources of Conflict
• Communication differences
 Arising from semantic difficulties, misunderstandings,
and noise in the communication channels.
• Structural differences
 Horizontal and vertical differentiation creates
problems of integration leading to disagreements over
goals, decision alternatives, performance criteria, and
resource allocations in organizations.
• Personal differences
 Individual idiosyncrasies and personal value systems
create conflicts.
12–24
Dimensions of Conflict (Thomas)
• Cooperativeness
 The degree to which an individual will attempt to
rectify a conflict by satisfying the other person’s
concerns.
• Assertiveness
 The degree to which an individual will attempt to
rectify the conflict to satisfy his or her own concerns.
12–25
Dimensions of Conflict (cont’d)
• Conflict-handling techniques derived from
Thomas’ cooperative and assertiveness
dimensions:
 Competing (assertive but uncooperative)
 Collaborating (assertive and cooperative)
 Avoiding (unassertive and uncooperative)
 Accommodating (unassertive but cooperative)
 Compromising (midrange on assertiveness and
cooperativeness
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Conflict Management What Works Best and When
Strategy
Best Used When
Avoidance
Conflict is trivial, when emotions are running high and time
is needed to cool them down, or when the potential disruption
from an assertive action outweighs the benefits of resolution
Accommodation
The issue under dispute isn’t that important to you or when
you want to build up credits for later issues
Forcing
You need a quick resolution on important issues that require
unpopular actions to be taken and when commitment by
others to your solution is not critical
Compromise
Conflicting parties are about equal in power, when it is
desirable to achieve a temporary solution to a complex issue,
or when time pressures demand an expedient solution
Collaboration
Time pressures are minimal, when all parties seriously want a
win-win solution, and when the issue is too important to be
compromised
Exhibit 12.10
12–27
Stimulating Conflict
• Convey to employees the message that conflict has
its legitimate place.
• Use hot-button communications while maintaining
plausible deniability.
• Issue ambiguous or threatening messages.
• Centralize decisions, realign work groups, increase
formalization and interdependencies between units.
• Appoint a devil’s advocate to purposely present
arguments that run counter to those proposed by
the majority or against current practices.
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Negotiation
• A process in which two or more parties who
have different preference must make a joint
decision and come to an agreement
 Distributive bargaining
 Negotiation
under zero-sum conditions, in which the
gains by one party involve losses by the other party
 Integrative bargaining
 Negotiation
in which there is at least one settlement that
involves no loss to either party
12–29
Determining the Bargaining Zone
Exhibit 12.11
12–30
Developing Effective Negotiation Skills
• Research the individual with whom you’ll be
negotiating.
• Begin with a positive overture.
• Address problems, not personalities.
• Pay little attention to initial offers.
• Emphasize win-win solutions.
• Create an open and trusting climate.
• If needed, be open to accepting third-party
assistance.
12–31
How Do You Make an Effective
Presentation?
• Prepare for the presentation.
• Make your opening comments.
• Make your points.
• End the presentation.
• Answer questions.
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