Knowledge Objectives

1. Knowledge Objectives • Identify each major link in the communication process. • Explain the concept of media richness and the Lengel-Daft contingency model of media selection. • Explain process and physical barriers to communication • Discuss why it is important for managers to know about grapevine communication.

2. The Communication Process • Communication • The interpersonal transfer of information and understanding from one person to another. • A linked social process of sender, encoding, medium, decoding, receiver, and feedback.

3. The Communication Process Sender Noise Receiver 2 Encoding 4 Decoding 3 Transmission through channels 5 Meaning 1 Meaning Start 7 Transmission through channels 8 Decoding 6 Encoding (Receiver) Noise (Sender) Numbers are sequential steps

4. The Communication Process (cont’d) • Encoding • Translating internal thought patterns into a language or code the intended receiver of the message will likely understand and/or pay attention to. • Choice of words, gestures, or other symbols for encoding depends on the nature of the message. • Technical or nontechnical • Emotional or factual • Visual or auditory • Cultural diversity can create encoding challenges.

5. The Communication Process (cont’d) • Noise • Noise: any interference with the normal flow of communication. • Understanding decreases as noise increases. • Dealing with noise • Make messages more understandable. • Minimize and neutralize sources of interference.

6. The Communication Process (cont’d) • Decoding • Successful decoding depends on the receiver having • a willingness to receive the message • ability to overcome perceptual “screening in” and “screening out”). • knowledge of the language and terminology used in the message. • an understanding of the sender’s purpose and background situation.

7. The Communication Process (cont’d) • Feedback • The choice factors for the form to provide feedback are the same factors governing the encoding process. • Feedback affects the form and content of follow-up communication. • Effective feedback is timely, relevant, and personal.

8. Selecting a Medium Face-to-face conversations Telephone calls E-mails Memorandums Letters Computer reports Photographs Bulletin boards Meetings Organizational publications News releases Press conferences Advertising The Communication Process (cont’d)

9. The Communication Process (cont’d) • Selecting a Medium (cont’d) • Moving between low- and high-context cultures can create appropriate media selection problems. • In low-context cultures, the verbal content of the message is more important than the medium through which it is delivered. • In high-context cultures, the context (setting) in which the message is delivered is more important than the literal words of the message.

10. The Communication Process (cont’d) • A Contingency Approach (Lengel and Daft) • Media richness: a given medium’s capacity to convey information and promote learning. • Characteristics of rich mediums • Provide simultaneous multiple information cues. • Facilitate immediate feedback. • Have a personal focus. • Characteristics of lean mediums • Convey limited information (few cues). • Provide no immediate feedback. • Are impersonal.

11. Information Richness of Channels Information Channel Information Richness RICH Face-to-facediscussion Highest Telephoneconversations High Written letters/memos(individually addressed) Moderate Formal written documents(unaddressed bulletins orreports) Low Formal numericdocuments (printouts,budget reports) Lowest LEAN Source: Adapted from Daft, Richard L., and Lengel, Robert H. “Information richness: A new approach to managerial behavior and organization design.” In Barry M. Staw and Larry L. Cummings (eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior, vol. 6. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press, 1984, 191–233.

12. Nonverbal Communication • Body Language • Nonverbal communication based on facial expressions, posture, and appearance. • Types of Body Language • Facial • Gestural • Postural • Receiving Nonverbal Communication • Awareness of nonverbal cues can give insight into deep-seated emotions.

13. Nonverbal Communication (cont’d) • Giving Nonverbal Feedback • Nonverbal feedback from authority figures significantly affects employee behavior. • Positive feedback builds good interpersonal relations • Sensitivity and cross-cultural training can reduce nonverbal errors when working with individuals from other cultures.

14. Dynamics of Organizational Communication (cont’d) • The Grapevine • The unofficial and informal communication system in an organization • Managerial Attitudes Toward the Grapevine • Managers have predominately negative feelings about the grapevine. • The grapevine is more prevalent at lower-levels of the managerial hierarchy. • The grapevine appears to be more influential in larger organizations.

15. Dynamics of Organizational Communication (cont’d) • Coping with the Grapevine • The grapevine cannot be extinguished. • Attempts to stifle the grapevine as likely to stimulate it instead. • Monitoring and officially correcting grapevine information is perhaps the best strategy for coping with the grapevine.

16. Upward Communication • Upward Communication • The process of encouraging employees to share their feelings and ideas with management. • Options for improving upward communication • Formal grievance procedures • Employee attitude and opinion surveys • Suggestion systems • Open-door policy • Informal meetings • Internet chat rooms • Exit interviews

17. Communication Problems and Promises in the Internet Age (cont’d) • Barriers to Communication (cont’d) • Semantic Barriers • Misinterpretation of the meaning of words and phrases by individuals. • Specialized occupational languages can create communication problems with outsiders. • Psychosocial Barriers • Differing backgrounds, perceptions, values, biases, needs, and expectations of individuals can block communications.

18. Communication Problems and Promises in the Internet Age (cont’d) • Barriers to Communication (cont’d) • Sexist and Racist Communication • Progressive and ethical managers are weeding sexist and racist language out of their vocabularies and correspondence to eliminate the demeaning of women and racial minorities.

19. Becoming a Better Communicator • Effective Listening • Tolerate silence; keep listening. • Ask stimulating, open-ended questions. • Encourage the speaker with attentive eye contact, alert posture, and verbal encouragers. • Paraphrase what you have just heard. • Show emotion to show your sympathy with speaker. • Know your biases and prejudices. • Avoid premature judgments. • Summarize by reiterating what the speaker said.

20. Communication Problems and Promises in the Internet Age • Barriers to Communication • Process barriers • Sender barrier • Encoding barrier • Medium barrier • Decoding barrier • Receiver barrier • Feedback barrier • Physical barriers • Devices and distance