Chapter 8 Communication

Chapter 8 Communication
1 Describe the interpersonal communication process and the role of listening in the process. 2 Describe the five communication skills of effective supervisors. 3 Explain five communication barriers and gateways through them. 4 Distinguish between defensive and nondefensive communication. 5 Explain the impact of nonverbal communication. 6 Explain positive, healthy communication. 7 Identify communication technologies and how they affect the communication process. Learning Outcomes © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

© 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
Learning Outcome 1 Describe the interpersonal communication process and the role of listening in the process. © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Communication Communication – the evoking of a shared or common meaning in another person Interpersonal Communication – communication between two or more people in an organization Communicator – the person originating the message Receiver – the person receiving a message Perceptual Screen – a window through which we interact with people that influences the quality, accuracy, and clarity of the communication © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 2

Communication Message – the thoughts and feelings that the communicator is attempting to elicit in the receiver Feedback Loop – the pathway that completes two-way communication Language – the words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a group of people © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 4

Communication Data – uninterpreted and unanalyzed facts Information – data that have been interpreted, analyzed, & and have meaning to some user Richness – the ability of a medium or channel to elicit or evoke meaning in the receiver © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 4

Basic Interpersonal Communication Model
Perceptual screens / Event X Communicator Receiver Message Context Affect Influence message quality, accuracy, clarity Include age, gender, values, beliefs, culture, experiences, needs 3

Information Richness & Data Capacity
MEDIA SOURCE: E. A. Gerloff in Research in Organizational Behavior : “Information Richness: A New Approach to Managerial Behavior and Organizational Design” by Richard L. Dalt and R. H. Lengel. Reprinted by permission of JAI Press Inc. © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

This complex process needs to be divided to be understood
Reflective Listening the skill of listening carefully to another person and repeating back to the speaker the heard message to correct any inaccuracies or misunderstandings This complex process needs to be divided to be understood What I heard you say was we will understand the process better if we break it into steps 6

Reflective Listening Emphasizes receiver’s role Helps the receiver and communicator clearly and fully understand the message sent Useful in problem solving © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 7

Reflective Listening Reflective listening emphasizes the personal elements of the communication process the feelings communicated in the message responding to the communicator, not leading the communicator the role or receiver or audience understanding people by reducing perceptual distortions and interpersonal barriers © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 8

Reflect “core” feelings
REFLECTIVE LISTENING VERBAL Affirm Contact Communicates attentiveness Provides reassurance in expressing thoughts and feelings Paraphrase Reflects back to speaker what has been heard; assures accuracy Builds empathy, openness, acceptance Clarify the Implicit Bring out unspoken (but evident) thoughts and feelings Builds greater awareness Reflect “core” feelings Restate important thoughts and feelings Exercise caution; danger of overreaching © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 9

REFLECTIVE LISTENING Silence Listener: Sort out thoughts and feelings Identify and isolate personal responses Speaker: Useful for thinking Determine how to express difficult ideas or feelings Eye Contact Useful to open a relationship Improves communication Be aware of cultural differences Use moderate eye contact Use times of no eye contact for privacy and control NONVERBAL © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 9

Beyond the Book: Listen Up!
Ways to improve your reflective listening skills: Stop talking Put the speaker at ease Show the speaker you want to listen Remove distractions Empathize with the speaker Be patient Hold your temper Go easy on criticism Ask questions, paraphrase, and clarify Stop talking! Be sure the speaker has finished before you talk. SOURCE: From “Steps to Better Listening” by C. Hamilton and B. H. Kleiner. Copyright © February Reprinted with permission, Personnel Journal, all rights reserved. SOURCE: J. Sandberg, “Bad at Complying? You Might Just Be a Very Bad Listener,” The Wall Street Journal Online (26 September 2007). Available at Are You an Active Listener? Y O U 8 . 1 Reflective listening is a skill that you can practice and learn. Here are ten tips to help you become a better listener. 1. Stop talking. You cannot listen if your mouth is moving. 2. Put the speaker at ease. Break the ice to help the speaker relax. Smile! 3. Show the speaker you want to listen. Put away your work. Do not look at your watch. Maintain good eye contact. 4. Remove distractions. Close your door. Do not answer the telephone. 5. Empathize with the speaker. Put yourself in the speaker’s shoes. 6. Be patient. Not everyone delivers messages at the same pace. 7. Hold your temper. Do not fly off the handle. 8. Go easy on criticism. Criticizing the speaker can stifle communication. 9. Ask questions. Paraphrase and clarify the speaker’s message. 10. Stop talking. By this stage, you are probably very tempted to start talking, but do not. Be sure the speaker has finished. Think of the last time you had a difficult communication with someone at work or school. Evaluate yourself in that situation against each of the ten items. Which one(s) do you need to improve on the most? Bad at Complying? You Might Just Be a Very Bad Listener By Jared Sandberg From The Wall Street Journal Online Whenever you enroll in soft-skills training for work -- leadership, conflict resolution, team-player -- there are aspects of the experience you can pretty much count on: You'll find yourself in a classroom with fluorescent lighting, unstainable carpet and motivational posters that invariably include puppies, elephants or monkeys. There will always be a bulky binder for course materials, a pull-down projection screen and some form of journal or note card on which you can write your "learnings." Your instructor will likely be unfailingly patient and well-informed. And there will be role playing -- a bummer for those of us just now getting used to ourselves. You almost always begin by exploding commonly held misconceptions and move on to a new set of skills that include some easier-said-than-done bullet points: "Clear your mind." And so it went last week during a visit to Cornell University's school of Industrial Labor Relations for a two-day class on "The Power of Listening." If you go in with the assumption that you will be fixed like a slipping transmission, it's not very long into the listening exercises, questionnaires and videos before you might think to yourself, I've heard enough. But, then, of course, you probably weren't listening. Some people here take the course because it helps with certification requirements for certain jobs. Most attendees, ranging from labor-relations managers to a police officer, take it for personal development. There's usually someone who takes it because their bosses are looking to fix them. It's a course I've been wanting to take -- almost as much as my family has wanted me to. Just an hour into the first morning, you're likely to understand the limitations of your listening skills. Bad listeners tend to tune out dry subjects, get into arguments, fake attention, react to emotional words and daydream. (Wow, do humans actually drink from that encrusted water tower on the building across the street?) While allegedly listening, bad listeners often are rehearsing what they're about to say, grab every conversational opening and scout for flaws in an argument. By the end of the first day, you're not simply looking at a second day of course work but a long, slow rehabilitation. The trick to listening better begins with readiness to listen, which, concedes instructor Jennifer Grau, isn't easy in an age of interruption abetted by call waiting and instant messages. It also helps a lot if you can set your judgments aside. Truth is, bad listening often is blamed falsely when a listener has chosen not to comply. But Ms. Grau, raised in Brooklyn, isn't going to put lipstick on that pig. "Sometimes the hardest part of listening is the mental part of getting yourself willing," she says. Assuming you've overcome the hurdles, the task of listening to understand rather than simply to reply has three key elements: Involved silence (eye contact, vocal encouragements), probes (supportive inquiry using questions like "what" as opposed to the aggressive "why") and paraphrasing ("What I think you said is..."). That last step shouldn't simply be spitting back what people say, but integrating information about the speaker's attitudes and feelings, 55% of which is communicated nonverbally in body language (only 7% of feelings are communicated with words, Ms. Grau says). When you consider that these skills are culled from a longer list (awareness, attending, perceiving, etc.) it's clear that listening takes an awful lot of time, which few of us have. "Efficiency and politeness are inversely correlated," concedes Ms. Grau. We spend much of Day Two practicing our involved silence as classmates take turns talking about something important and listening to someone else. That means no eye-wandering, eye-rolling or slouching boredom. The speaker in our little subgroup begins, "It's difficult to be green." It turns out to be a marketing executive's struggle to reduce his carbon footprint. Even one laid-back administrative staff manager who, judging from her ability to recall all of the instructor's directions is also a varsity listener, is having trouble being attentive and mustering probing questions. "There are no boring subjects -- just unskillful listeners," Ms. Grau reminds us. But the chips are stacked against the speaker -- and the rest of us. Humans speak at an average pace of between 110 to 200 words per minute, but they can understand in a range of 400 to 3,000 words per minute. "Human beings can't produce at the rate our brains find interesting," says Ms. Grau. The final bit of advice before the session ends is to try out our new soft skills at home. My wife, who had asked me to make sure I returned her bank card to her before she left for work the next morning, ended up stranded at the subway station several blocks away without it. Her nonverbal communications accused me of not listening, but now I know it was merely a failure to comply. Evaluate yourself: Which of these items do you most need to work on? Think of specific times you had a difficult communication with a coworker or peer. Jennifer Grau, communication skills instructor: “Sometimes the hardest part of listening is the mental part of getting yourself willing.” © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

One-way vs. Two-way Communication
One-Way Communication – a person sends a message to another person and no questions, feedback, or interaction follow Good for giving simple directions Fast but often less accurate than two-way communication Two-Way Communication – the communicator and receiver interact Good for problem solving © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 10

Five Keys to Effective Supervisory Communication
Expressive speaking Empathetic listening Persuasive leadership Sensitivity to feelings Informative management © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 11

Barriers to Communication
Physical separation Status differences Gender differences Cultural diversity Language Communication Barriers – factors that block or significantly distort successful communication Copyright ©2006 by South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning. All rights reserved 23 23 12

Gateways to Communication
Communication Gateways – factors that are antidotes to communication problems Physical separation gateways Periodic face-to-face interactions Regular meetings for interrelated units Status differences gateways Effective supervisory skills Feelings of security for employees Informational technology communication methods © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 23 12 23

Gateways to Communication
[Gender differences gateways] Awareness of gender-specific differences in communication [Cultural diversity gateways] Increased awareness and sensitivity [Language gateways] Simple, direct, declarative language Use brief sentences Speak in the language of the listener Avoid jargon or technical language © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 23 12 23

Defensive Communication
communication that can be aggressive, attacking and angry, or passive and withdrawing © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 13

Defensive Communication
[Leads to] injured feelings communication breakdowns alienation retaliatory behaviors nonproductive efforts problem solving failures © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Nondefensive Communication
communication that is assertive, direct, and powerful © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Nondefensive Communication
[Provides] basis for defense when attacked restores order, balance, and effectiveness © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 14

Two Defensiveness Patterns
Subordinate Defensiveness – characterized by passive, submissive, withdrawing behavior Dominant Defensiveness – characterized by active, aggressive, attacking behavior © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 15

Defensive Tactics: Boss
Example Power Play “Finish this report by month’s end or lose your promotion.” Put-Down “A capable manager would already be done with this report.” Labeling “You must be a slow learner. Your report is still not done?” Raising Doubts “How can I trust you, Chris, if you can’t finish an easy report?” © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 16

Defensive Tactics: Employee
Example Misleading Information “Morgan has not gone over with me the information I need for the report.” [Morgan left Chris with a copy of the report.] Scapegoating “Morgan did not give me input until just today.” Hostile Jokes “You can’t be serious! The report isn’t that important.” Deception “I gave it to the secretary. Did she lose it?” © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 16

Nondefensive Communication: A Powerful Tool
Speaker seen as centered, assertive, controlled, informative, realistic, and honest Speaker exhibits self-control and self possession Enhances relationship building Listener feels accepted rather than rejected © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 17

Types of Nonverbal Communication
Proxemics – an individual’s perception and use of space Kinesics – study of body movements, including posture Facial and Eye Behavior – movements that add cues for the receiver Paralanguage – variations in speech, such as pitch, loudness, tempo, tone, duration, laughing, and crying © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Proxemics: Territorial Space
Territorial Space – bands of space extending outward from the body; territorial space differs from culture to culture c c = social 4-12’ a a = intimate <1.5’ b b = personal 1.5-4’ d d = public >12’ © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 19

Proxemics: Seating Dynamics
Seating Dynamics – seating people in certain positions according to the person’s purpose in communication Cooperation X O X Communication O Competition X O O X O Non- Communication © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 20

Examples of DECODING NONVERBAL CUES
He’s unapproachable! He’s angry! I’ll stay out of his way! Boss fails to acknowledge employee’s greeting Boss breathes heavily and waves arms I wonder what he’s hiding? My opinion doesn’t count No eye contact while communicating Manager sighs deeply SOURCE: Adapted from “Steps to Better Listening” by C. Hamilton and B. H. Kleiner. Copyright © February Reprinted with permission, Personnel Journal, all rights reserved. 21

Information Communication Technology (ICT)
Informational databases Electronic mail systems Voice mail systems Fax machine systems Cellular phone systems © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 22

Characteristics of ICT
Instant exchange of information across geographic boundaries and time zones Schedules and office hours become irrelevant Normal considerations of time and distance less important © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

How ITC Affects Behavior
Interpersonal skills—tact and graciousness Nonverbal cues—emotional element Clues to power, organizational position, departmental membership Impersonal—interaction with a machine Flaming, rude, or obscene outbursts Bluntness Intimacy Uninhibitedness © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Other Ways ICT Affect Behavior
Alters group interaction Equalize participation Less influence from dominant people Information overload Overwhelmed feelings Can’t get away from work Multi-tasking Increases impatience with face-to-face communication © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 23

EFFECTIVE USE OF ITC TIPS FOR Strive for message completeness Build in opportunities for feedback Do not anticipate immediate response “Is the communication really necessary?” “Disconnect” from technology Provide workplace social interactions © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Chapter 8 Communication

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