Succeed with others

Teamwork and Ethics

De Janasz, S. C., Dowd, K. O., & Schneider, B. Z. (2022).

Lecture 5
Communicating Effectively
Interpersonal skills in organizations (7th edition). Chapter 7
McGraw-Hill Education. 5-1
 Learning Objectives
How to:

• Improve one's ability to send clear messages.

• Reduce ineffective communication.
• Determine which communication medium will best serve one's needs in varying
situations.
• Send messages that express and address one's thoughts directly.
• Get one's message across in a way that does not cause defensiveness on the part
of the receiver.

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 Communication

• Act of exchanging thoughts, messages, or information.

• Facilitates collaboration and cooperation.

Importance of Communication Effective communications:

• Quality of an organization's • Protect the bottom line.
communication directly impacts its • Improve performance issues.
bottom line. • Reduce errors.
• Decrease stress.
• Improve morale.
• Reduce turnover.

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 Communication Channel
Improves communication competence.

Sender encodes a message according to her or his own perceptions,

experiences, and abilities and determines the communication medium.

Receiver decodes the message according to his or her own perceptions,

abilities, and experiences and gives feedback to the sender.

Feedback: Verbal or nonverbal response to a sender's behavior.

Essential component of two-way communication.
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The Communication Channel

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Effective Media Selection
Medium selected to transmit a message affects the effectiveness of the
message.

Available forms of communication.

• Oral or spoken communication.
• Written communication.
• Electronic communication.

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 Oral Communication
Preferred form of communication to:
• Engage in a discussion and come to a consensus with one or more
persons.
Oral
• Communicate an explanation and an emotion.

Can be improved by using a written component to keep track of one's agenda.

• Examples.
• Notes about follow-up actions.
• E-mails summarizing agreed-upon action steps and deadlines.

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 Advantages and Disadvantages of
Oral Communication
Advantages. Disadvantages.
• Provides an automatic two-way • People participating in the
Oral
exchange. information exchange might be
• Facilitates immediate unprepared to respond.
feedback. • Major points might be forgotten
• Helps avoid communication after an exchange.
pitfalls. • Promises made might not be
• Enables communication followed up.
through multiple channels. • Might result in information
• Aids one in speaking overload.
personally and using a natural
style of language. • Inappropriate when delivering
large amounts of information.

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 Written Communication
Most effective method for sending precise or complex information.
Written
Appropriate when making an announcement that does not require two-way
dialogue.

Can be improved by:

• Evaluating messages to determine bias, misinterpreted connotations, and
hidden agendas.
• Seeking clarification to accurately encode or decode messages.

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 Advantages and Disadvantages of
Written Communication
Advantages. Disadvantages.
Written
• Delivers messages to a large • Prevents a two-way dialogue.
number of people in a time- • Results in a lengthy exchange
and cost-efficient manner. if two-way communication is
• Far more binding than an oral desired.
exchange. • Does not have a provision for
• Provides a record and a decoding the nonverbal cues.
reference for later use.
• Prone to misinterpretation and
inaccuracy.

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 Electronic Communication
Effective for sending brief messages quickly to one or more persons.
Electronic
Should not be used as the primary medium when the message that needs to
be sent is negative, controversial, or requires additional dialogue.

Should carry the same amount of professionalism as traditional

communication forms.

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 Advantages and Disadvantages of
Electronic Electronic Communication
Advantages. Disadvantages.
• Helps clarify agreements that • Makes audience evaluation
have already been reached. difficult.
• Effective when fast turnaround • Need for careful execution of
time is required. communication is neglected.
• Makes working in a virtual • Emotional aspect of a message
environment easy. might be lost.
• Leads to miscommunication or
offensive communication.
• Promotes nonpersonal
communication.

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 Professional Communication:
Dos and Don'ts
One should:

1. Keep one's address list up-to-date.

2. Write concisely, use a clear subject line, and identify goals in the first paragraph.

3. Have a personal e-mail account separate from one's work account.

4. Send appreciative notes to people with copies to their supervisors.

5. Keep a hard copy of important documents.

6. Clarify important details verbally.

7. Use a polite tone.

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 Professional Communication:
Dos and Don'ts
One should not:

1. Send or receive personal messages during work hours.

2. Mix personal matters with business-focused content.

3. Send lengthy messages when face-to-face discussion would be more effective.

4. Leave one's boss out of the loop.

5. Send mass e-mails or type in all caps.

6. Substitute casual language for business vocabulary.

7. Say anything that is personally negative about a person in an email.

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 Information Richness and
Media Selection
Complexity of a message should determine the medium to be used.

Information richness: Potential information-carrying capacity of data.

• Richer channels of media are effective in conveying complicated or
nonroutine information.
• Face-to face communication is the richest form of communication.
• Leaner channels are more effective in conveying routine or straightforward
information.
• Written announcements or reports are the lowest channels of richness.

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Information Richness
and Media Selection

Potential media choices can be evaluated using the following factors:

• Feedback.
• Channel.
• Type of communication.
• Language source.

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Barriers to Effective Communication
Noise.
Any distortion factor that blocks, disrupts, or distorts the message sent to the
receiver, interfering with the communication process.

Interpersonal barriers.
Perceptions, semantics, media selection, and inconsistent verbal slash
nonverbal cues.

Organizational barriers.
Physical distraction, information overload, time pressure, overly technical
language, or the absence of established communication channels.
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 Barriers to Effective Communication:
Information Overload
Occurs when the volume of information a person receives exceeds his or
Barriers

her capacity to process it.

Happens when the receiver is presented:

• Too much material.
• Information that is overly complex.
• Information too quickly.
• Information at a level beyond his or her understanding.
• Information but not enough time to process it.

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 Barriers to Effective Communication:
Lack of Trust and Credibility
Lack of trust is a huge barrier to effective communication.
Barriers

• Trust can be built by listening to others' concerns and emphasizing the

importance of the long-term relationship.

Lack of credibility prevents a listener from fully receiving a message.

• Best way to build credibility is to be prepared.

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 Barriers to Effective Communication:
Lack of Time
Leads to poor communication.
Barriers

Can be resolved by refraining from multitasking and focusing on one

communication at a time.

Expectation of speedy response has increased the number of messages

that need to be handled simultaneously.
• Grouping responses by category might help.

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Filtering
• Intentional manipulation of information to make it more favorable to the
receiver.
• Way information is sent, the tone, and the framing of the material distort
a message to serve an individual's or a group's needs.
• Objective decision making is difficult as the true message is not
accurately sent or received.
• Can be resisted by presenting information based on relevant facts while
speaking.
• Can be prevented while receiving information by asking probing
questions about a situation that's being presented.

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Message Incongruency
• Arises from one's impressions about others based on many factors.

• Factors include the various forms of direct and indirect information

available.

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Assertive Communication
One speaks up for his or her rights and takes into account the rights
and feelings of others.

Purpose is to keep contact lines open and show respect for others
while affirming one's own beliefs and preferences.

• Includes:
• Fairness, directness, and honesty.
• Tact and sensitivity.

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Assertive Communication
Most appropriate communication style.

Helps:
• Pass on information accurately and intelligently.
• Accomplish objectives while ensuring other people do not feel put
down.

An assertive statement is made up of one's:

• Perspective and perception of and feelings about a situation.
• Wants regarding the situation or outcome.

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Passive Communication
Includes: Used when one:
• Indirectness. • Is fearful of losing someone's
• Avoiding conflict. affection.
• Being easily persuaded • Has low self-esteem.
or bullied. • Is in a situation where one has little
• Being overly concerned control.
about pleasing others. • Has decided the issue is not worth
• Screening or withholding taking a stand.
one's thoughts so that
the receiver has no idea Primary purpose is to avoid
of one's real opinion on a confrontation at all costs.
matter.
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Aggressive Communication
Includes: Used when one:
• Exerting control over others, • Wants to be in control.
humiliating others, and • Is insecure or afraid.
dominating.
• Does not value the opinions of
• Being pushy and needing to be others.
right all the time.
• Has unresolved anger.
• Using absolute terms and
blaming others.
Purpose is to win or to dominate.

Unclear as it is emotionally charged,

reactive, and sometimes irrational.
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 Ways to Take Responsibility and
Clarify Assumptions
Specify the behavior on which the assumption is based.

If the assumption:
• Is based on one's own expectation of the listener's behavior, state that
expectation specifically.
• Compares the listener's behavior with that of other members of a reference
group, clarify that group and exactly how the behavior compares.

Elicit feedback about your assumptions.

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"I" Messages
Allow a person affected by the behavior of another to:
• Express the impact it has on him or her.
• Leave the responsibility for modifying the behavior with the person
who demonstrated that behavior.
Consist of:
• Specific behavior.
• Resulting feeling a person experienced because of the behavior.
• Tangible effect on the person affected by the behavior.
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Tips for Sending
Effective Verbal Messages
• Be direct and clear.
• Consider one's audience.
• Be clear.
• Watch the nonverbal aspects of communicating.
• Pay attention to the receivers.
• As necessary, be redundant.
• Communicate bit by bit.
• Cover one's bases.
• Build in feedback and check for understanding.
• Be straightforward with no hidden agenda or lies.
• Be supportive.

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Tips for Sending
Effective Verbal Messages
• Use varying techniques to send messages to people with varying
learning styles.

• People with:
• Auditory style will have to hear it to learn it.
• Visual style will need to read it or see it on paper.
• Kinesthetic style will need to have hands-on use or personal
practice to learn.
• Didactic style will ask questions and get full background information
before processing what others are saying.

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