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