Transcript Informal Oral Communication

Informal Oral
Communication
You will spend more time than writing in
business.
Most of your oral communication will be
informal.
But some of it will be formal, as in
meeting, telephone cells, dictation,
speeches, and oral reports.
This and the following chapter cover these
types of oral communication.
Informal Talking
We often take talking for granted and
overlook the need for improving our talking
ability.
We need to be aware of its nature and
qualities, in order to improve it.
We need to assess our abilities and work
to overcome our shortcomings.
Definition of Talking
• Think about having no words to speak. If you try to
express yourself, you probably become frustrated.
• Words enable one to communicate with others more
exactly and relate better to the world about you and
to some extent to control it.
The definition would be derived as:
Talking is the oral expression of
knowledge, viewpoints, and emotions through
words.
Also we can see that talking replaces many of the
body movements we made before we were able to
talk.
As a first step in improving your talking
ability, think about the quality you like ina
good talker.
1. One with whom you would enjoy talking in
ordinary conversation.
Then think about the opposite.
2. The worst conversationalist you can
imagine.
Now you will have a good picture of the
characteristics of good talking. The mental
picture includes good voice quality,
excellence in talking style, accuracy of word
choice, and adaptation.
Elements of Good Talking
The techniques of good talking may be
summarized by four basic elements:
(1) Voice quality
(2) Style
(3) Word choice
(4) Adaptation
Voice Quality
By voice quality we mean the vocal sounds
one hears when another speaks.
Good voice quality helps one communicate.
It involves pitch, delivery speed, and volume.
Study the quality of your voice and compare
it with what experience tells you is good.
Fit what you hear into impressions you have
gained from your life experiences. Then do
what you can to improve.
It will take conscious effort.
Style
Style is the blending of pitch, speed. And
volume to form unique talking personality.
A self-analysis of your talking should show
you your talking style and the image it
projects.
Word Choice
Choose words in your listener’s vocabulary.
Select those that appropriately convey the
morality and courtesy you intend and respect
the listener’s knowledge.
Adaptation
Adaptation is fitting the message to the
listener.
It includes word selection, but here we refer
to the combined effect of words, voice, and
style.
Courtesy in Talking
• Good talkers are courteous. They don’t
attempt to dominate.
•They are aggressive, but they treat others as
they want to be treated.
CONDUCTING AND
PARTICIPATING IN MEETINGS
Meeting involve oral communication.
These meeting range from extreme
formalities to extreme informality.
In a meeting you will be either a leader or
a participant.
Techniques of Conducting Meetings
To lead some formal meetings, you should
know generally accepted rules of conduct
called parliamentary procedure.
Keep in mind that every meeting has goals
and that such departures should never hinder
you from reaching them.
Plan the Meeting
Develop and arrange an agenda by selecting
the items that need to be covered to achieve
the goals of the meeting.
Follow the plan
Follow the plan item by item, new item may
tend to come up.
Keep the discussion track. The new items
should be taken up at the end or postpone
them to a future meeting.
Move the Discussion Along
The agenda should be in control and
proceeded item by item.
The goal is to permit complete discussion
and to avoid repetition, excessive details,
and useless comments on the others.
Control Those Who Talk Too Much
A few people tends to dominate and talk
too much, your task is to control them as a
leader.
Encourage Participation from
Those Who talk Too little
As a leader your job is to encourage the
people who talk less and are at lower than
those of other group members.
Control Time
You should know that how much time will
be needed to cover each item, if time is
limited.
Summarize at Appropriate
Places
After an item is discussed it should be
summarize that what the group has
covered and concluded.
Techniques for participating in a
Meeting
As a participant in a meeting you should:
(1) Follow the agenda
(2) Participate
(3) Do Not Talk Too Much
(4) Cooperate
(5) Be Courteous
USING THE TELEPHONE
Many business People are discourteous
and inefficient in telephone
communication.
Need for favorable Voice Quality
Telephone conversation is a unique form
of oral communication.
Because only sound is involved, friendly
voices are important.
So one should talk as if you were in a
face-to-face conversation.
Techniques of Courtesy
 Be courteous
 When calling, immediately introduce yourself and ask
for the person you want or explain your purpose.
 When receiving a call, identify your company or office;
then offer assistance.
 Assistants should avoid offending callers by asking
misleading questions, by making misleading
comments.
 Being inconsiderate in placing caller on bold. Let the
callers choose, and check on te hold status
continually.
 Assistants often screen calls. They should do this
courtesy and honestly.
Effective Telephone Procedures
When calling, state your purpose early.
Then cover your points systematically.
Plan important calls.
Be considerate, listen and do not
dominate. Use time efficiently.
Courteous procedure is much the same in
a telephone conversation as in a face-toface conversation.
You listen when the other person is talking.
Effective Voice Mail Techniques
Voice mail is becoming common in business.
Use it much as you would any other
telephone call.
Wireless Telephones and Their
Courteous Use
Wireless telephones are widely used But
there use can be annoying.
You can reduce these annoyances by
following these suggestions.
DICTATING MESSAGES AND REPORTS
 Dictation is an underutilized input
method.
 Today’s software make this process easy
and inexpensive.
Techniques of Dictating
(1) Gather the facts
(2) Plan the Message
(3) Make the words Flow
(4) Speak Clearly
(5) Give paragraphing, Punctuation, and
Other Instructions as Needed
(6) Play Back Intelligently
(7) Proofread for a Accuracy
Illustration
LISTENING
 Poor listening is a major cause of
miscommunication.
The Nature of Listening
 Listening involves sensing, filtering, and
remembering.
Sensing
 Our sense of sensing spoken words is
determined by:
(1) Our ability to sense sounds
(2) Our attentiveness
Filtering
Filtering is the process of giving symbols
meaning through the unique contents of
each person’s mind.
Remembering
Remembering what we hear is a part of
listening.
According to the authorities, we even
quickly forget most of the message in
formal oral communication.
Improving Your Listening Ability
To improve your listening, you must want to
improve it.
Be alert. Force yourself to pay attention.
Concentrate on improving your mental
filtering.
Think from the speaker’s viewpoint.
In addition, follow these practical guidelines:
1. Stop talking
2. Put the talker at ease
3. Show the talker you want to listen
4. Remove distraction
5. Empathize with the talker
6. Be patient
7. Hold your temper
8. Go easy on argument and criticism
9. Ask questions
10. Stop talking
THE REINFORCING ROLE OF
NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
•Nonverbal communication accounts for more
of a total message than words do.
•The nature of nonverbal communication and
some types of it.
Nature of Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication means all
communication without words. It is board
and imprecise.
Cross-cultural aspects give many
meanings to nonverbal communication.
Be sensitive to intended nonverbal
meanings. Go beyond the obvious.
Realize that nonverbal symbols can have
many meanings.
Types of Nonverbal Communication
We will look at the four common types of
Nonverbal Communication:
(1) Body language
(2) Space
(3) Time
(4) Paralanguage
Body Language
Our bodies send nonword message through
arms, fingers, expressions, posture, and so
on.
The face and eyes are the most important.
Gestures (physical movements) send
nonword messages.
Physical appearance- clothing, hair, jewelry.
Cosmetics, and so on- also communicates.
Remember that appearance is an important
part of the body message that are sent and
received in oral communication.
Space
Space is another type of nonverbal
language.
There are four further types of Space
1. Intimate
2. Personal
3.Social
4.Public
Communication behavior differs in each.
Communication behaviors are learned
from cultures.
Time
There is also a time language.
Time orientations are not always the same
especially in the cross-cultural arena but
they do communicate.
Monochronic people tend to view time as
linear and always moving ahead.
Polychronic people has more indefinite
view of time.
Paralanguage
Paralanguage meaning “like language”.
It is the closest to communication with word
symbols.
You can change the meaning of spoken
sentences by accenting different words in
each.
Paralanguage creates meanings because of
speed, pitch, volume, and connection of
words.
Degrees of consistency between what and
how someone says something convey
meaning.
 Expectancies about background,
appearance, and personality are part of
paralanguage.
Other Types of Nonverbal
Communication
 Two other nonverbal types exist, but they
are minor. One is color.
 Another is physical context-Office, carpeting,
decorations, and such.
End