Ch. 7 Communication Skills
Individual barriers
conflicting signals, credibility about subject, reluctance to communicate, poor listening skills, predispositions about subject
Personal information technology
corporate intranets, teleconferences, e-mail, smart phones, and instant messaging
1st step in communication process
decide to transmit a fact, idea, opinion to receiver
4th step in communication process
decode message back into form that has meaning to receiver
Individual skills
develop good listening skills, encourage two-way communication, be aware of language and meaning, maintain credibility, be sensitive to receiver's perspective, be sensitive to sender's perspective
Storytelling
emotionally charging, making something relatable, inspiring to focus on right now
2nd step in communication process
encode meaning into form appropriate to situation
Decisional roles/hats
entrepreneur, disturbance-handler, negotiator
Gossip chain
one person tells many
Advantages oral communication
promotes prompt feedback and interchange in the form of verbal questions and responses, easy to use and can be done with little preparation
Gossip
reinforces norms and behavioral expectations
Ambiguous symbols/words
same symbol can stand for multiple things (hot)
Organizational barriers
semantics, status differences, different perceptions, noise, overload, language differences
Disadvantages of personal IT
separation of work and personal life, lack of personal relationships, falling behind professionally, and losing out in office politics, threat of dysfunctional employee communication behaviors
Networks to identity to...
social capital
Informational roles/hats
spokesperson, monitor (share info about workplace issues), disseminator (says this is what is going on)
Disadvantages oral communication
suffers from problems with inaccuracy in meaning and details, leaves no time for thought and consideration and no permanent record of what was said
Types of informal communications
the grapevine, management by wandering around, nonverbal communication
Communication network
the pattern through which the members of a group or team communicate
Effective communication
the process of sending a message in such a way that the message received is as close in meaning as possible to the message intended
Communication
the process of transmitting information from one person to another
Only a small portion of the message is due to...
the words in the message (7%)
3rd step in communication process
transmission through appropriate channel
Social desirability
trying to influence and motivate by making disagreement less desirable in a social setting
Formal information systems
typically the responsibility of the Chief Information Offices
Communication pathways
upward, downward, horizontal
Types of communication networks
wheel, Y, circle, all channel, chain
Influences of decisions of sender to communicate effectively
a. education b. experiences c. knowledge
Effective communication: sender makes decisions about...
a. words b. method
Advantages written communication
accurate and leaves a permanent record of the exchange, leaves food for thought and consideration, can be referenced, easy to use and can be done with little preparation
Nonverbal communication
any communication exchange that does not use words, or uses words to carry more meaning than the strict definition of the words themselves (facial expressions 55%, inflection and tone of voice 38%)
Noise
anything disrupting communication process (all caps)
Abstract symbols/words
between what it represents and what it is (love)
Oral communication
face-to-face conversations, group discussions, telephone calls, and other situations in which the spoken work is used to express meaning
Interpersonal roles/hats
figurehead, leader, liaison (takes info back and forth between groups)
Effective listening skills
focused, pays attention, asks questions, keeps an open mind, assimilates info
Formal communications
follow the official reporting relationships between managers and subordinates and/or prescribed channels
Organizational skills
follow up, regulate information flows, understand richness of media
Social talk
illusion of communication messages not clearly sent
Kinds of nonverbal communication
images (tattoos on face), settings, body language
Disadvantages written communication
inhibits feedback and interchange due to burden of the process of preparing a physical document, considerable delay can occur in clarifying message meanings
Identity theory/loop
input to standard to comparison to behavior
Arbitrary symbols/words
language creates symbols (by people)-"groovy"
Cluster chain
many people tell a few
Informal communications
may or may not follow official reporting relationships and/or prescribed organizational channels, may have nothing to do with official organizational business
Written communication
memos, letters, reports, notes, and other methods in which the written word is used to transmit meaning