Chapter Outline
· Functions of communication
· The Communication processes
· Direction of Communication
· Interpersonal Communication
· Organizational Communication
· Choice of communication channel
· Persuasive communication
· Barriers to Effect Communication
· Global Implications
Four major functions of communication are Control, Motivation, emotional expression and information. Every function of communication is equally important. While communicating a person can perform one or more functions.
Control:
Communication plays important part to control members behavior in many ways. There are rules to which members are supposed to follow. When an employee wants to report something unusual to management, his communication acts as controlling function.
Motivation:
Motivation in communication can be taken as if some employee is telling his colleague about what is expected from him on job, what will reward him, what he should not do etc.
Emotional Expression:
When employees sitting in groups and sharing their problems or joys, its emotional expression.
Information:
Communication also provides information to employees, colleagues and even it helps managers in decision making.
There are eight key components of communication process, which are,
i) the sender, ii) encoding, iii) the message, iv) the channel, v) Decoding, vi) the receiver, vii) Noise, & viii) Feedback.
· The sender:
The sender is a person who initiates communication.
· Encoding:
Encoding can be termed as the conversion of thoughts into communication.
· The message:
When we speak, the speech is the message. When we pas gestures, then the movement of our arms and expressions are message.
· The channel:
Channel is a medium through which communication takes place. Sender selects the medium. It can be formal or informal, Formal channels are designed by organizations, for example, emails or flow of information in hierarchical manner. Informal channels can be when two people came across and start communicating randomly through waves.
· Decoding:
Decoding is the way the receiver perceives the message and how receiver understands the message.
· The receiver:
The receiver is the one to whom sender is sending the message.
· Noise:
Noise often becomes barriers to communication. It can cause distortion or hurdles in communication.
· Feedback:
Feedback is more than response here in this process. It is to say whether the purpose of communication is fulfilled or not. Do the sender has encode and receiver has decoded the message rightly or not.
Vertical Communication:
Vertical communication is further subdivided into downward and upward communication.
· Downward communication:
Flow of communication from higher level to lower level in the organization. It’s when manager provide information to his subordinates, pass them orders or provides them guidelines it is called as downward communication. If managers failed in downward communication, employees feel themselves as directionless and less motivated.
Benefits: If the tasks are properly conveyed and explained to subordinates, it is observed in surveys that employees become more committed with their work and support decisions.
Problems: One time communication is not sufficient to make sure that thing are properly understood by their employees, so, managers need to communicate it again and again to get them understand.
Another problem is that it often become one way process, managers don’t take advice from their subordinates and impose their decisions on them. People need to be respected and listened to.
Suggestions: Big companies like Nokia, takes advice and suggestion from junior employees as it is important for innovation.
· Upward Communication:
It is when employees give feedback to senior members of the organization.
Benefits: It keeps managers informed about what is happening in the organization and what needs to improve.
Problem: Upward communication sometimes become difficult, as managers are getting overburdened, so they hardly find time to listen what lower-level employees want to say.
Suggestions: Employees need to see engage managers in meeting rooms to avoid distractions and prepare complete agenda before asking for some time from managers.
Lateral Communication:
Its when communication takes place between same level of employees or we can term it as horizontal communication. For example: From manager to manager, etc.
Benefits: it saves time, as discussing with colleague may provide a solution for the problem. And no need to wait for senior employee.
Problem: when this communication become strong and employees start taking decisions themselves withing bringing in notice of manager and start ignoring managers. And manager got to know about the matter when decision is made.
Suggestions: Managers need show their participation and let their employees know that he is always there for their help, and listens employees call for help and suggestions.
Group members or individuals use oral, written and non-verbal communication to transfer meaning between and among each other.
Oral Communication:
Oral communication is the chief way of conveying messages. It can take several forms, which includes; speechless, formal one-on-one and group discussion or informal table talk etc.
Advantages: It’ major advantages are speed and feedback. Individuals can transfer a message and get the feedback in minimal possible time. As, if receiver didn’t get the message right, he can ask the sender to repeat.
Disadvantage: the major disadvantage of oral communication is observed, when message has to pass through number of people. In this case, information or message is distorted to great extent. Example: you would better understand if you have played the game “Telephone”, everyone interprets the message in his own way, and most of the times, at the end of game, message takes totally different meaning.
Written Communication:
It includes memos, fax transmissions, letters, e-mails, notices placed on bulletin boards and any other device which transmits words or symbols.
Why sender choose Written Communication:
· It is often tangible and verifiable.
· Both the sender and the receiver have the record of communication.
· Message can be stored for indefinite period of time.
· If there are any questions about the message, then message is available in the record.
· People use to think a lot while writing down the message than in spoken one.
Drawbacks:
· These are time consuming.
· Instant feedback is not an option.
· No surety of, if the message is received or not.
· There is confusion, whether the recipient will interpret the message as the sender intended.
Non-verbal Communication:
Every time when we communicate verbally, we also impart a non-verbal message with it. It is when you glance at you, a stare, a smile or a proactive body movement conveys message. We rub our noses for puzzlement, slap our forehead for forgetfulness.
Body language conveys two important messages; (i) the extent to which we like another and are interested in his or her views. (ii) the perceived status between sender and receiver.
Non-verbal communication includes;
· Body movements: Body language adds and often complicates the verbal communication. Body position and movement communicates with emotions behind a message, when it is linked with spoken language it gives complete meaning to sender’ message.
· Intonations: Giving emphasis to words. Intonations can change the meaning of a message.
· Facial expressions: It also conveys message; a snarling face communicates different message from a smiling face.
· Physical distance between sender and receiver: Physical distance also has meaning. a proper distance between people largely depends on cultural norms. Standing too closer may indicate aggressiveness or sexual instinct.
To understand the message right, it is important to be aware of these non-verbal aspects of communication and look for non-verbal cues as well as the literal meaning of sender’ words.
Formal Small Group Networks:
Formal organizational networks can take several forms. We will discuss three common small groups, which include chain, wheel and all channel. As shown in below mentioned picture.
Chain: This is formal chain of command; it is found in rigid three-level organization.
Wheel: Wheel relies on central figure to act as bridge for all the group’ communication. This type of network, we can find in a team with a strong leader.
All channel: this is the most flexible network among all, it lets all the team members to actively communicate with each other. It can be seen in self-managed teams, where no one person takes on leadership role.
Below mentioned picture highlights the effectiveness of each network depends upon dependent variable that concerns us. This will lead to the conclusion that no single network will be best for all occasions.
The Grapevine:
The Grapevine is defined as the informal communication network in a group or organization. though the rumors and gossip transmitted through grapevine may be informal but still it’s an important source of information.
One survey suggested that Grapevine is a place where 75 percent of employees hear news first. Another survey shows, when a manager decided to resign, around 81 percent of employees already knew this.
It is assumed that rumors emerge because they make good gossip, where in fact, rumors emerge in a response to Situations which are Important to us, when there is Ambiguity and under conditions that rise Anxiety. Our working conditions frequently contain these three elements. It is why rumors flourish in organizations.
A rumor will stay, until the wants and expectations creating the uncertainty are fulfilled or the anxiety is reduced.
Why Grapevine is Important:
· Still, it is important part of every organization and is well worth understanding. It helps managers to identify issues employees consider important.
· It helps to tap into employee anxieties.
· It also serves the needs of employees; small talks create a sense of closeness and friendship.
· Managers can use sources to know how positive and negative information is flowing through their organization.
· A grapevine cannot be sanctioned and controlled by the organization; it can be understood.
Do managers can eliminate rumors? Answer is “no”. What managers should do to minimize the negative consequences of rumors, some suggestions are given in the figure below;
Electronic Communications:
Around 71 percent of communication in today’ organizations take place through electronic mediums, which includes; e-mail, text messaging, networking software, blogs and video conferencing. Let’s discuss each;
E-mail:
E-mail uses the internet to receive and transmit computer-generated text and documents. it is so much involved in our lives that, it’s hard to imagine life without it. These messages are easy to write, edit and store. We can distribute messages to one or
thousands of people with one click.
Drawbacks:
I. Risk of misinterpreting the message:
We often misinterpret the verbal messages even, so the chances to misinterpret the e-mail is even greater. As per one research, we fully understand the meaning and tone of e-mail text only 50 percent of the time. So, while sending something important through e-mail reread it carefully and use easy language.
II. Drawbacks for communicating negative messages:
E-mail is not the best way to communicate negative information. As it is stored in record or somewhere in cloud, The e-mail can with negative comments or information can be recovered and used against the sender at any point. Many employees lose their jobs due to this mistake.
III. Time-consuming nature:
As per an estimate, around 62 trillion e-mails are sent every year, out which approximately 60 percent are non-spam messages, that means, someone has to answer. Now in busy routine most of the people don’t find time to read all the messages or e-mails. Famous people receive so many e-mails daily, they can’t all e-mails and so can’t answer every email. Because, if they will start reading and answering e-mails, they can’t give time to other important routine work.
Experts have suggested some following strategies;
· Don’t check e-mail in the morning: don’t check e-mails in the morning, first complete your routine task.
· Check e-mail in batches: don’t check all emails at once, experts suggest to check e-mails twice a day.
· Unsubscribe: Unsubscribe all the newsletters or other subscriptions you don’t need.
· Stop sending e-mail: when you send so many e-mails, in response you receive so many e-mails, so stop sending e-mails or write message as concise as possible.
· Declare e-mail bankruptcy: famous people declare “e-mail bankruptcy” they wipe out all their inbox and start again.
IV. Limited Expressions of emotions:
We often assume that e-mail messages are not emotional. But some researchers concluded that, lack of visual and vocal cues means emotionally positive message. As reader can’t see the facial expressions and voice tone, so the words can have more emotional effect on the minds of reader than the writer intended.
V. Privacy concerns:
There are two privacy issues with e-mails, First, e-mails are often monitored, and you cannot trust the recipient to keep it confidential. So don’t put anything that you don’t want to make public. Second, don’t forward any sensitive information from organizational e-mail to your personal e-mail (Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook), as these are not as secure as corporate accounts, so it can be taken by the employer as violation of organization’ policy and put you in trouble.
Instant Messaging and Test Messaging:
Like e-mails, instant messaging (IM) and text messaging (TM) use electronic media. Whether you are sending IM or TM, you are messaging someone. Both IM and TM occur in real time and gets quick response. There is little difference in both;
· Instant Messaging: It uses internet to send messages via an application. (WhatsApp, IMO, Telegram etc.)
· Text Messaging: Texting uses cellular phone services.
Their common drawback is that, both cause distraction in work. Managers complain that, they often find employees wasting their work time in IM or TM. Another important point is, both IM and TM has promoted informality, so, employees need to stop informality to spill into business e-mails. Everyone must understand and need to maintain the difference between the way they communicate with friends and the way to communicate professionally.
Social Networking:
Communication has transformed a lot with the rise of social networking, including Facebook, LinkedIn. Just Facebook have 2.96 billion users worldwide as of Q3 2022. Its users are composed of different networks based on schools, companies or regions etc. To have some control over employees, some big companies have developed their own in-house social networking applications.
Blogs:
A blog (Web log) is a website about a single person or company. For example; Twitter allows users to create “micro blog” about any topic, including work.
Some employees unknowingly post secret information about companies. So, to control and prevent employees from sharing confidential data, companies have made strict policies. So many employees have been sacked under this compliance policy.
Video Conferencing:
Video conferencing allows employees of an organizations to have real-time meetings with people located at different locations. Live audio and video images allow participants to see, hear and talk with each other. It saves travel costs as well as time.
Managing Information:
There is so much information available around us. This so much information comes up with many benefits as well as two important challenges., which are (i) Information overloaded and (ii) Threats to information security. Let’s discuss each;
Information overloaded:
We are bombarded with information from e-mails, IMs, cell phones, internet, blogs or television etc., and we find no escape. Basex, a company who that looks at workers efficiency, employee’ 43% of working time is spent on matters which are often not important nor urgent, like web surfing or responding to noncrucial emails. It also found that 25% of employee’ time was spent on composing and responding to important e-mails.
Intel designed an 8-month experiments to see, how limiting information overloaded might enhance productivity. They make two groups. One group was told to limit digital and in-person contact for 4 hours on Tuesdays, and other group followed the same usual routine. Results show that, first group was more productive. This experiment was conducted by Nathan Zeldes, an engineer at Intel.
It also raises work-life conflict. Employees must balance the need for constant communication with their own personal need for breaks from work.
Threats to Information Security:
Security is a big concern for all the organizations regarding private or business information about clients, suppliers and employees. Most of the big companies use to monitor employees use of internet and e-mail record and some even use video surveillance and record phone conversations. This practice is not ethically good, but need of time as well.
Organizations can relieve employee concerns by engaging them in the making of information security policies.
Why do people prefer one channel over the other, for example, people prefer to call rather than text message. It depends upon the richness of channel. Channel being rich includes;
· Handle multiple cues simultaneously.
· Facilitate rapid feedback.
· Be very personal.
Lean channels are those, which score low on above mentioned factors.
As shown in the picture below, face-to-face conversation scores highest in channel richness. As it transmits information quicker per communication episode. Cues including words, facial expressions, postures, gestures and intonations and personal touch is also present.
Impersonal written media, including formal reports and bulletins rate lowest in channel richness.
If the message is routine, then managers choose channel low in richness, as routine messages are straightforward and have minimal ambiguity in them.
If the message is complex and have potential of being miss interpret then, managers should choose rich channels to make things clearer to audience.
In this section we will see how to make message more or less persuasive to audience.
Automatic and controlled processing:
· Automatic processing is relatively superficial consideration of evidence and information making use of heuristics. It takes little time and low effort to decide. Automatic processing is used for processing persuasive message related to topics which we don’t care about. For example: while buying any pack of biscuits. Its disadvantage is that, it lets us easily be fooled by variety of tricks, like glamourous photo or cute jingle.
· Controlled processing a detailed consideration of evidence and information relying on facts and logic. It requires effort and energy so it is difficult to make such people fool. For example, it is used while buying a car.
Interest level:
Interest level better predict whether people will use an automatic or controlled process for reacting to a persuasive message. When people are much interested in the outcome of a decision, they process information more carefully.
So, that is why, people gather so much information while deciding something important or when the decision have great impact on person’ life than something relatively unimportant.
Prior Knowledge:
People who already have some knowledge about the subject area, they go with controlled processing strategies. As these people have already so much research, so they won’t change their mind or decision without strong argument or logical reasonings.
Where people who have poor knowledge about the topic can change their minds more readily. We can say, a well-informed audience is likely to be much harder to persuade.
Personality:
People who conduct research before take a decision, such people are high in need for cognition. For example, before watching a movie, reading at least four or five reviews about the movie, of searching for a movie with same characters or directors as of last watched movie. These people are mostly persuaded by evidence and facts.
People who are low in need for cognition use automatic processing strategies. Relying on intuition and emotions to guide their evaluation of persuasive message.
Message characteristics:
Message characteristics also influence people whether to use automatic or controlled processing strategies. Messages which are transmitted through lean channels, in which listeners have little opportunity to interact with content of message, tend to encourage automatic processing. For example; TV advertisements. They go too fast, don’t let the listeners to process deliberatively, so listeners automatically process these.
Messages transmitted through rich communication channel, like long magazine articles, tend to encourage more deliberative processing.
Conclusion:
Now in the end, let’s match the persuasive message to the type of processing the audience will likely use.
Automatic processing Strategies are applied when;
· Audience is not interested in persuasive message.
· Audience is poorly informed.
· Are low in need for cognition.
· And when information is transmitted though relatively lean channels.
Controlled processing strategies are applied when;
· Audience is interested in persuasive message.
· Audience is well informed.
· Are high in need for cognition.
· And when information is transmitted though relatively rich channels.
Following are the important barriers that can retard or distort effective communication.
Filtering:
Sender purposely manipulates the information to make it more favorable for the receiver. Managers do it, when they know exactly what their bosses want to listen.
The more vertical levels in the organization’s hierarchy, more are the opportunities for filtering. This filtering may occur due to status difference or due to the fear of telling the truth. This filtering distorts the communication.
Selective Perception:
It means, receivers in the communication process selectively see and hear based on their needs, experience, motivation, background and other personal characteristics. Receivers also put all the interests and expectations into communications as they decode the message.
Information Overloaded:
People have limited capacity of processing data, when the information we are working with, exceeds that limit or processing capacity then it results in information overloaded.
What do people do, when they have more information than they can sort and use, they obviously select, ignore, pass-over or forget. Or they may put extra effort and further processing until the overload situation ends to avoid the information lost and make the communication more effective.
Emotions:
We interpret the message differently when we are depressed or in angry mood than when we are happy. When we are happy, we are more positive while decoding a message. Extreme emotions such as jubilation or depression mostly hinder the effective communication.
Language:
Even if we are communicating in same language, we often use such terminologies, or proverbs which everyone don’t understand.
For example, in corporate offices, following terms are used, which are not understandable to so many people outside the organizations.
· KPIs (key performance indicators),
· Second example; get the low hanging fruit (deal with easiest part first)
People often assume that the words and terms they use mean the same to the receiver as to them. This assumption is often incorrect and cause problems. So, use easy and understandable language to make the communication more effective.
Silence:
Silence is defined as the absence of information. Research suggests that silence and withholding communication are both common and problematic.
Example: Employee silence means there is something significant about company operations that the manager doesn’t know. This silence will surely cause problem for the company in the long run.
Communication Apprehension:
It refers towards the person’ fear or anxiety associated with oral communication, written communication or both. They become very tensed when they have to communicate with others face to face or may become anxious when they have to use phone. They may rely on memos e-mails even when the phone call would be more appropriate and faster.
Almost every job requires little oral communication. People avoid facing colleagues, this cause problem in communication and even hinder in the way of career success.
Causes of Communication apprehension:
Following are the main causes of communication apprehension;
· Fear of failure; they imagine that, they will forget part of speech.
· Fear of audience.
· High stakes.
· Uncertainty.
· Being the center of attention.
Lying:
The final barrier to effective communication is misrepresentation or lying. People have different definitions of lying;
· Withholding information about a mistake is a lie?
· Actively denying the role in mistake to pass the threshold of deceit, is a lie?
As per a study, an average person tells one or two lies per day, with some individuals telling considerably more. We experience so much deception around us in daily life. Sometimes we detect the liar and sometimes we believe in him.
People are more comfortable in telling lie over phone, than face to face. And more comfortable lying in e-mails than with pen and paper.
Can we Detect Liars;
It is not easy to detect liars, as;
· there no specific nonverbal or verbal cues which are unique of lying.
· People who lye, take protective measures to guard themselves against being detected.
· Many lies embedded in truths.
Cross-cultural factors create the potential for increased communication problems. One gesture which is well understood in one culture can be lewd or meaningless in another culture. As per the reports, only 18 percent of companies have documented strategies for communicating with employees across cultures.
Procter & Gamble seems to be an exception, more than half of employees don’t speak English as their first language, so the company focuses on simple messages to make sure everyone knows what’ important.
Cultural Barriers:
Researchers have identified many problems associated with language; some are as follows,
· Barriers caused by semantics: This is the barrier that occurs when a word is used in native language but is not translatable in other language. English words “efficiency”, “free market” and “regulations” don’t have direct Russian equivalents.
· Barriers caused by word connotations: Words imply different things in different languages. For example; Japanese word “hai” translates as “yes”, but its connotation is “Yes, I am listening” rather than “Yes, I agree”
· Barriers caused by tone differences: in some cultures, language is formal while in other cultures, its informal. We use different tones at home, with friends, in society or in office. Using informal tone where formal tone is expected can be embarrassing.
· Differences in tolerance for conflict and methods for resolving conflicts: This varies in individualistic culture and in collectivistic cultures. People from Individualist culture are more comfortable with direct conflicts, they prefer accepting responsibility for conflicts and public apologies for restoring relationships. Whereas collectivists acknowledge conflicts only implicitly and avoid emotional charged disputes. They often don’t require explicit apologies to restore the relationship.
Cultural Context:
Cultural context influences the meaning individuals take from communication. In the picture given below, we can see the countries with high and low context cultures.
High-Context Cultures:
Countries follow high-context cultures heavily rely on non-verbal and subtle situational cues in communicating with others, and person’ official status, place in society and reputation carry considerable weight.
· What is not said is of more importance than what is said.
· Trust level is high.
· Oral agreements imply strong commitments.
· Age, seniority and rank in organization is highly valued.
· Managers give suggestions rather than giving direct orders.
Low-Context Cultures:
These people rely on spoken and written words to convey meaning, body language and formal titles are secondary.
· Enforceable contracts are written, precisely worded and highly legalistic.
· They value directness.
· Managers are explicit and precise in conveying intended meaning.
A Cultural Guide:
While communicating with people from other cultures, what strategies can be used to reduce misinterpretations. Try to assess the cultural context first. There will be fewer difficulty if it’s similar to yours.
Assume Differences Until Similarity is Proven:
We often assume others as similar to us, this cause problem. So, assume they are different from you until similarity is proven.
Emphasize Description Rather than Interpretation or Evaluation.
Interpretations and evaluations come when both the persons have background knowledge about the situation. So, put more emphasis on describing things from initial level.
Practice Empathy:
Before sending a message, put yourself in the recipient’ shoes. Keep in mind the other person’ values, experience and frames of reference. Try to know about his or her qualifications. Finally try to see the other person as he or she actually is.
Treat your Interpretations as a Working Hypothesis:
Once you have prepared the explanations about the situation or think you will empathize with the person from foreign culture, treat your interpretations as hypotheses that need further testing rather than as certainty.