Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Table of Contents
1.0 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 3
2.0 COMMUNICATION................................................................................................................... 4
2.1 Communication Process............................................................................................................... 4
2.2 Importance of communication in business .................................................................................... 6
2.3 Types of Communication ............................................................................................................. 6
2.4 Flow of communication in an organization................................................................................... 8
3.0 COMMUNICATION STYLES.................................................................................................. 10
4.0 DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS .................................................... 12
4.1 Good communication skills for a manager ................................................................................. 13
4.2 How to communicate effectivelly in different situations ............................................................. 13
5.0 BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION .................................................................. 15
6.0 BENEFITS OF GOOD COMMUNICATION IN THE WORKPLACE ...................................... 16
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................ 17
1.0 INTRODUCTION
2.0 COMMUNICATION
In the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, the people of the world came together to build a
tower that would reach heaven. In a single stroke, their efforts came to naught because they
were besieged through communication, resulting in breakdown of coordination. Intended
message is frequently mis-communicated, misunderstood, mis-quoted or even missed
altogether because of ineffective interpersonal communication skills. The ability to
effectively communicate with other people is an important skill. Through communication,
people reach some understanding of each other, learn to like each other, influence one
another, build trust, and learn more about themselves and how people perceive them. People
who communicate effectively know how to interact with others flexibly, skillfully, and
responsibly, but without sacrificing their own needs and integrity.
Communication is the process of transferring information from one part of the business to
another that leads to some outcome, changed behaviour or changed practice. It is the social
glue that continues to keep the organization tied together. Communication is a transactional
process that involves an exchange of ideas, information, feelings, attitudes or beliefs and
impressions.
Communication is a significant part of a managers job. In todays team-oriented workplace,
the development of good interpersonal communication skills is an important key to success.
To build the competence and commitment of employees, a manager has to communicate
effectively. Through effective communication, a manager can mobilize the employees behind
an organizations vision and inspire a conscious and concerted team effort to attain the vision.
For communication to occur effectively, the ability and skills required are:
Must be able to communicate effectively with all levels of managements .
Must have substantial experiences, training in oral and written communication and
demonstrate good writing skills.
Be able to prepare special analysis, research reports, and proposals.
Must have ability to communicate and sell ideas, firm, and products.
Need ability to compare effective correspondence.
Must be able to cultivate and maintain good customer relationship.
Need skills in gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data and in writing analytical
reports.
2.1 Communication Process
The communication process for business organizations is much like the communication
process between other individuals and groups. Many of the fundamental processes involved
in successful communications in day-to-day life experiences are especially significant within
the business world.
The steps involved in this process are:
i.
Idea
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ii.
Encoding
iii.
The channel
iv.
Decoding
v.
2.1.1 Idea
Information exists in the mind of the sender (who is the source). This can be a concept, idea,
information, or feelings.
2.1.2 Encoding
The source initiates a message by encoding the idea (or a thought) in words or symbols and
sends it to a receiver. The message is the actual physical product from the source encoding.
When we speak, the speech is the message. When we write, the writing is the message. When
we gesture, the movements of our arms and the expressions of our faces are the message.
2.1.3 The Channel
The channel in the communication process is the medium that the sender uses to transmit the
message to the receiver. Care needs to be exercised in selecting the most effective channel for
each message. Even though both an oral and a written medium may be appropriate to transmit
a particular message, one medium may be more effective than the other.
2.1.4 Decoding
It is the act of understanding messages (words or symbols). This is known as Decoding.When
the sound waves are translated into ideas, we are taking them out of the code they are in,
hence decoding. Thus, listeners and readers are often regarded as Decoders. During the
transmitting of the message, two processes will be received by the receiver i.e. content and
Context. Content is the actual words or symbols of the message which is known as language
i.e. spoken and written words combined into phrases that make grammatical and semantic
(meaning) sense. We all use and interpret the meanings of words differently, so even simple
messages can be misunderstood (Are you going to give me or not?). And many words have
different meanings to confuse the issue even more (You are smart.). Context is the
environment in which communication takes place. It can be formal or informal. The
circumstances surrounding the communication also make up the context. Remember: A
message is never communicated unless it is understood by the receiver. Question arises then,
how do you know a message has been properly received?
2.1.5 Feedback
By two-way communication or feedback. This feedback will tell the sender that the receiver
understood the message, its level of importance, and what must be done with it. So the
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feedback loop is the final link in the communication process. Feedback is the check on how
successful we have been, in transferring our messages as originally intended. It determines
whether understanding has been achieved or not. The purpose of feedback is to change and
alter messages so the intention of the original communicator is understood by the second
communicator. It includes verbal and nonverbal responses to another person's message. There
are five main categories of feedback. They are listed in the order in which they occur most
frequently in daily conversations.
i.
Evaluation: Making a judgment about the worth, goodness, or appropriateness of the
sender's statement.
ii.
Interpretation: Paraphrasing - attempting to explain what the sender's statement
means.
iii.
Support: Attempting to assist or support the sender.
iv.
Probing: Attempting to gain additional information, continue the discussion, or
clarify a point.
v.
Understanding: Attempting to discover completely what the sender means by his/her
statement.
2.1.6 Noise
The presence of noise can result in fairly significant problems in the communication process.
Unfortunately, communication is effected by noise, which is anything whether in the
sender, the transmission, on the receiver that hinders communication. For example: A noisy
environment may hinder the development of a clear thought. Encoding may be faulty because
of the use of ambiguous symbols. Transmission may be interrupted by noise in the channel,
such as a poor telephone connection, misprinted text, or maybe a typographical mistake.
Inaccurate reception may be caused by inattention.
2.2 Importance of communication in business
Communication is important because it is about how information is sent and received within
firms. The way information is communicated is often governed by how firms are structured.
Communication enhances the ability to speak, listen, convince, negotiation and have
interactive writing skills. Communicating effectively will help in saving time because tasks
will be performed conclusively without repetition because the instructions and information
are well understood by all parties. Effective communication will also aid in effective
utilization of resources and effective coordination of tasks.
2.3 Types of Communication
Communication can be classified in the following different ways.
2.3.1 Intrapersonal Communication
When people talk to themselves, communication takes place within the brain. It embraces
their thoughts, experiences and perceptions during a communication event. Behavior
responses on all other levels of communication essentially begin on intrapersonal level. On
this level, the individual forms personal rules and patterns of communication.
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Downward
Upward
Lateral
Diagonal
External
higher levels. The managers get to know about the employees feelings towards their jobs,
peers, supervisor and organization in general. Managers can thus accordingly take actions for
improving things. Grievance Redressal System, Complaint and Suggestion Box, Job
Satisfaction surveys etc all help in improving upward communication. Other examples of
Upward Communication are -performance reports made by low level management for
reviewing by higher level management, employee attitude surveys, letters from employees,
employee-manager discussions etc.
2.4.3 Lateral / Horizontal Communication
Communication that takes place at same levels of hierarchy in an organization is called lateral
communication, i.e., communication between peers, between managers at same levels or
between any horizontally equivalent organizational member. The advantages of horizontal
communication are as follows:
It is time saving
It facilitates co-ordination tasks
It facilitates co-operation among team members.
It provides emotional and social assistance to the organizational members.
It helps in solving various organizational problems.
It is a means of information sharing.
It can also be used for resolving conflicts of a department with other departments or
conflicts within a department.
Understanding the four basic types of communication will help managers learn how to react
most effectively when confronted with a difficult person. It will also help them recognize
when they are using manipulative behavior to get their own needs met. They should
remember that they always have a choice as to which communication style to use. If they are
serious about taking control of their life, they should practice being more assertive. It will
help them diffuse anger, reduce guilt and build relationships-both personally and
professionally.
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everybody speaks everyday and is able to express ideas, thoughts, or requests, not everybody
can do it well. Some people are difficult to follow, some explain their thoughts in a
complicated manner, and some are simply boring to listen to. Avoid these mistakes.
Use plain and simple words unless the audience is specialized in the subject area.
Use complete simple sentences for the message to be easier to comprehend.
Do not speak too fast. It is difficult to comprehend information if much of it is
presented in a short period of time.
Make pauses. Pauses between sentences and ideas will give a listener some space to
think the words over, to understand the message.
Structure and connect ideas. Major points should be presented in a logical manner.
Otherwise it is difficult to follow the speaker. So, make sure that each next thought
expressed expands on the subject and on the previous point.
Support ideas not only with words, but with intonation and nonverbal means of
communication as well. Proper intonation can stress certain ideas you want to draw
attention to. Nonverbal means of communication, such as gestures and facial
expression, establish a closer connection with the audience, and enhance the message
being communicated.
4.1 Good communication skills for a manager
Acknowledge others communicating with you verbally and non-verbally.
Give examples: Using personal experiences is a helpful way to communicate your
ideas.
Maintain a positive attitude: communicate with a positive attitude whenever you
speak. People will be more interested in what you say.
Listen actively: Listening is the key in developing any type of relationship.
Interpret: Read between the lines of what is being said. Some people have a hard time
expressing themselves. You can help them by trying to interpret what they mean.
4.2 How to communicate effectivelly in different situations
Face-to-face
Public Speaking
Prepare, if you have the time, with good research and mentally organize your
thoughts.
Use audio-visual aids to support what you want to say.
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Make eye contact with different members of the audience but do not stay focused on
one person.
Avoid long winded sentences. If reading from a prepared speech, practice to get right
pause and modulate your voice. Underline the key points and emphasize them when
you read them out.
Do not show impatience even if the audience asks simple questions to issues that you
may have discussed in your speech.
Treat the audience with respect.
Meetings
Whether you are chairing a meeting or participating in it, follow certain protocol to
ensure that the meeting achieves its objective.
First you must understand the objective of the meeting.
If chairing, it is your responsibility to ensure that the objective is clearly articulated.
Explain why the participants are present and their role in the meeting. You will also
have to act as a moderator and ensure that everyone gets a fair chance to speak.
As a participant, you must use active listening skills and demonstrate your interest in
the topic with appropriate body language. Do not get too personal.
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REFERENCES
Daniels, B. D. (1994). Communicate With Confidence! - How to Say It Right the First Time
and Every Time. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Patti, H. (1998). Giving and Receiving Feedback: Building Constructive Communication.
Menlo Park: Crisp Learning, 1998.
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