Communication
Communication
No group can exist without communication: the transference of meaning among its members. It is only through transmitting meaning from one person to another that information and ideas can be conveyed. Communication, however, is more than merely imparting meaning. It must also be understood. In a group in which one member speaks only German and the others do not know German, the individual speaking German will not be fully understood. Therefore, communication must include both the transference and the understanding of meaning.
Functions of communication
Communication serves four major functions within a group or organization: control, motivation, emotional expression, and information.
Communication acts to control member behavior in several ways. Organizations have authority hierarchies and formal guidelines that employees are required to follow. When employees, for instance, are required to first communicate any job-related grievance to their immediate boss, to follow their job description, or to comply with company policies, communication is performing a control function. But informal communication also controls behavior. When work groups tease or harass a member who produces too much (and makes the rest of the group look bad), they are informally communicating with, and controlling, the member's behavior.
Communication fosters motivation by clarifying to employees what is to be done, how well they are doing, and what can be done to improve performance if it's subpar. The formation of specific goals, and reinforcement of desired behavior all stimulate motivation and require communication.
For many employees, their work group is a primary source for social interaction. The communication that takes place within the group is a fundamental mechanism by which members show frustrations and feelings of satisfaction. Communication, therefore, provides a release for the emotional expression of feelings and for fulfillment of social needs.
The final function that communication performs relates to its role in facilitating decision making. it provides the information that individuals and groups need to make decisions by transmitting the data to identify and evaluate alternative choices.
You can assume that almost every communication interaction that takes place in a group or organization performs one or more of these functions.
Communication Process
Communication can be thought of as a process or flow. Communication problems occure when there are deviations or blockages in that flow. Here we describe the process in terms of a communication model, consider how distortions can disrupt the process, and introduce the concept of communication apprehension as another potential disruption.
A Communication Model
Before communication take place, a purpose, expressed as a message to be conveyed, is needed. It passes between a source (the sender) and a receiver. The message is encoded (converted to symbolic form) and is passed by way of some medium (channel) to the receiver, who retranslates (decodes) the message initiated by the sender. The result is transference of meaning from one person to another.
The communication process is made up of seven parts: (1) the communication source, (2) encoding, (3) the message, (4) the channel, (5) decoding, (6) the receiver, (7) feedback.
The source initiates a message by encoding a thought. Four conditions have been described that affect the encoded message: skill, attitude, knowledge, and the social cultural system.
My success in communicating with you depends on my writing skills; one’s total communicative success includes speaking, reading, listening, and reasoning skills as well.
Our attitudes also influence our behavior. We hold predisposed ideas on numerous topics, and our communications are affected by these attitudes. Furthermore, we are restricted to our communicative activity by the extent of our knowledge of the particular topic. We can not communicate what we do not know, and should our knowledge be too extensive, it’s possible that our receiver will not understand our message. Clearly, the amount of knowledge that source holds about his or her subject will affect the message he or she seeks to transfer. And finally, just as attitudes influence our behavior, so does our position in the social cultural system in which we exist. Your beliefs and values, all part of your culture, act to influence you as a communicative source.
The message is the actual physical product from the source encoding “when we speak, the speech is the message. When we write, the write is the message. When we paint, the picture is the message, when we gesture, the movements of our arms, the expressions of our face, are the message.” Our message is affected by the code or group of symbols we use to transfer meaning, the content of the message itself, and the decisions that we make in selecting and arranging both codes and content.
The channel is the medium through which the message travels. It is selected by the source, who must determine which channel is formal and which one is informal. Formal channels are established by the organization and transmit messages that pertain to the job-related activities of members. They traditionally follow the authority network within the organization. Other forms of messages, such as personal or social, follow the informal channels in organization.
The receiver is the object to whom the message is directed. But before the message can be received, the symbols in it must be translated into a form that can be understood by the receiver. This is the decoding of the message. Just as the encoder was limited by his or her skills, attitudes, knowledge and social cultural system, the receiver is equally restricted. Just as the source must be skillful in writing or speaking, the receiver must be skillful
In reading or listening. And both must be able to reason. One’s knowledge, attitudes, and cultural background influence one’s ability to receive, just as they do the ability to send.
The final link in the communication process is a feedback loop. “If a communication source decodes the message that he encodes, if the message is put back to his system, we have feedback.” Feedback is the check on how successful we have been in transferring our message as originally intended. It determines whether or not understanding has been achieved.
Barriers to Effective Communication
There are a number of interpersonal and intrapersonal barriers that help to explain why the message that is decoded by a receiver is often different than that which the sender intended.
Filtering Filtering refers to a sender manipulating information so that it will be seen more favorably by the receiver. For example, when a manager tells his boss what he feels his boss wants to hear, he is filtering information.
Selective Perception Selecting perceptions appears because the receivers in the communication process selectively see and hear based on their needs, motivations, experience, background, and other personal characteristics. Receivers also project their interests and expectations into communications as they decode them.
Information Overload Individuals have a finite capacity for processing data. For instance, research indicates that most of us have difficulty working with more than about seven pieces of information. When the information we have to work with exceeds our processing capacity, the result is the information overload. What happens when individuals have more information than they can sort out and use? They tend to select out, ignore, pass over, or forget information. Or they may put off processing until the overload situation is over. Regardless the result is lost information and less effective communication.
Defensiveness When people fee that they’re being threatened, they tend to react in ways that reduce their ability to achieve mutual understanding. That is, they become defensive—engaging in behaviors such as verbally attacking others, making sarcastic remarks, being overly judgmental, and questioning others, motives. So when individuals interpret another’s message as threatening, they often respond in ways that retard effective communication.
Languages Words means different things to different people. “The meanings of words are not in the words; they are in us.” Age, education, and cultural background are three of the more obvious variables that influence the language of a person uses and the definitions he or she gives to words.
In an organization, employees usually come from diverse backgrounds and, therefore, have different patterns of speech. Additionally, the grouping of employees into departments creates specialists who develop their own jargon or technical language.
Communication Apprehension
Another major roadblock to effective communication is that some people—ad estimated 5 to 20 percent of the population—from debilitating communication apprehension or anxiety. Although lots of people dread speaking in front of a group, communication apprehension is a more serious problem because it affects a whole category of communication techniques. People who suffer from it from experience undue tension and anxiety in oral communication, written communication, or both. For example, oral apprehensive may find it extremely difficult to talk with others face to face or become extremely anxious when they have to use the telephone. As a result, they may rely on memos or faxes to convey messages when a phone call would not only be faster but more appropriate.
Studies demonstrates that oral-communication apprehensive avoid situations that require them to engage in oral communication. We should expect to some self-selection in jobs so that such individuals don't take positions, such as a teacher, in which oral communication is a dominant requirement. But almost all jobs require oral communication. And of greater concern is the evidence that high-oral-communication apprehensives distort the communication demands of their jobs in order to minimize the need for communication. So we need to be aware that there is a set of people in organizations who severely limit their oral communication and rationalize this practice by telling themselves that more communication isn't necessary for them to do their job effectively.
Direction of Communication
Communication can flow vertically or laterally. The vertical dimension can be further divided into downward and upward directions.
Downward Communication that flows from one level of a group or organization to a lower level is a downward communication. When we think of managers communicating with employees, the downward pattern is the one we usually think of. It is used by group leaders and managers to assign goals, provide job instructions, inform underlings, of policies and procedures, point out problems that need attention, and offer feedback about performance. But downward communication doesn't have to be oral or face-to-face contact.
Upward Upward communication flows to a higher level in the group or organization. It is used to provide feedback to higher-ups, inform them of progress toward goals, and relay current problems. Upward communication keeps managers aware of how employees feel about their jobs, co-workers, and the organization in general. Managers also rely on upward communication for ideas on how things can be improved.
Lateral When communication takes place among members of the same work group, among members of the work groups at the same level, or among any horizontally equivalent personnel, we describe it as lateral communications.
Formal vs. Informal Communication
Communication networks define the channel by which information flows. These channels are one of the two varieties—either formal or informal. Formal networks are typically vertical, follow the authority chain, and are limited to task related communications. In contrast, the informal network—usually better known as a grapevine—is free to move in any direction, skip authority levels, and is as likely as safety group members' social needs as it is to facilitate task accomplishments.
Nonverbal Communication
Anyone who has ever paid a visit to a singles bar or a nightclub is a ware that communication need not be verbal in order to convey a message. A glance, a stare, a smile, a frown, a provocative, body movement—they all convey meaning. This example illustrates that no discussion of communication would be complete without a discussion of nonverbal communications. This includes body language and para -linguistics.
Body language, expressed through body motions and facial expressions, as a significant part of any face-to-face communication. The two most important messages that body language conveys are (1) the context to which an individual likes another and is interested in his or her views and (2) the relative perceived status between a sender and a receiver.
Paralinguistics describes the nonverbal aspects of communication that encompass tone of voice, pacing, pitch, and similar aspects that go beyond the spoken word. Paralinguistics reminds us that we extract meaning from both the words that are used and how those words are expressed.
Choice of Communication Channel
Why do people choose one channel of communication over another—for instance, a phone call instead of a face to face talk? One answer might be: anxiety! As you will remember, some people are apprehensive about certain type of communication.
Recent research has found that channels differ in their capacity to convey information. some are rich in that they have the ability to (1) handle multiple cues simultaneously, (2) facilitate rapid feedback, and (3) be very personal.
Face-to-face talk scores highest in terms of channel richness because it provides for the maximum amount of information to be transmitted during a communication episode. That is, it offers multiple information cues (words, postures, facial expressions, gestures, intonations), immediate feedback (both verbal and nonverbal), and the personal touch of "being there." impersonal written such as bulletins and general reports rate lowest in richness.
The choice of one channel over another depends on weather a message is routine or nonroutine. The former types of messages tend to be straightforward and have minimum of ambiguity. The latter are likely to be complicated and have the potential for misunderstanding.
Current Issues in Communication
We discuss four current issues related to communication in organizations: why do men and women often have difficulty communicating with each other? What are the implications of the "politically correct" movement on communications in organizations? How can individuals improve their cross cultural communications? And how is electronics changing the way people communicate with each other in organizations?
Communication Barriers between Women and Men
Research provides us with some important insights into the differences between men and women in terms of their conversational styles. In particular, to explain why gender often creates oral communication barriers. Research is that men use talk to emphasize status, while women use it to create connection. The conclusion, of course doesn't apply to every man and woman. Communication is a continual balancing act, juggling the conflicting needs for intimacy and independence. Intimacy emphasizes closeness and commonalities. Independence emphasizes separateness and differences. But here is a kick: women speak and hear a language of connection and intimacy; men speak and hear a language of status, power, and independence. So for many men, conversations are primarily a means to preserve independence and maintain status in a hierarchical social order. For many women, conversations are negotiations for closeness in which people try to seek and confirmation and support.
Politically Correct Communication
Most of us are actually aware of how our vocabulary has been modified to reflect political correctedness. We must be sensitive to others' feelings. Certain words can and do stereotype, intimidate, and insult individuals. In an increasingly diverse workforce, we must be sensitive to how words might offend others. But there's a downside to political correctness. It's shrinking our vocabulary and making it more difficult for people to communicate.
Some critics, for humor's sake, enjoy carrying political correctness to the extreme. even those of us with thinking scalps, who aren't too thrilled at being labeled "bald," have to smirk when we're referred to as "follically challenged." but our concern here is with how politically correct language is contributing a new barrier to effective communication.
Words are primary means by which people communicate. When we eliminate words from usage because they are politically incorrect, we reduce our options for conveying messages in the clearest and most accurate form.
Cross-Cultural Communication
Effective communication is difficult under the best of conditions. Cross-cultural factors clearly create the potential for increased communication problems. a gesture that is well understood and acceptable in one culture can be meaningless or lewd in another.
cultural barriers one author has identified four specific problems related to languages difficulties in cross cultural communications.
first there are barriers caused by semantics. As we've noted previously, words means different things to different people. This is particularly true for people from different national cultures. Some words for instance don't translate between cultures.
Second there are barriers caused by word connotations. Words imply different things in different languages.
Third are barriers caused by tone differences. In some cultures, language is formal, in others it's informal. In some cultures, the tone changes depending on the context: people speaking differently at home, in social situations, and at work.
Forth there are barriers caused by differences among perceptions. People who speak different languages actually view the world different ways.
Cultural context A better understanding of these cultural barriers and their implications for communicating across cultures can be achieved by considering the concept of high- and low-context cultures.
Cultures tend to differ in the importance to which context influences the meaning that individuals take from what is actually said and written versus who the other person is. Countries like china, Vietnam, and Saudi Arabia are high context cultures. They rely heavily on nonverbal and subtle situational cues when communicating with others. In contrast people from Europe and North America reflect their low-context cultures. They rely essentially on words to convey meaning. Body language or formal titles are secondary to spoken and written words.
A cultural guide When communicating with people from a different culture, what can you do to reduce the misperceptions misinterpretation and misevaluations? You can begin
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