Communication

Important for: 1) vertical and horizontal

information movement; 2) atmosphere of
openness; 3) concern for the opinions of others

A banking executive said most managers

“cannot write a letter, make a compelling
presentation, or put together a speech that
doesn’t have half the audience looking at their
watches.”

It’s both oral and written!

 I. Communication Process Model
A. Sender needs skill and knowledge
B. Encoding – some are more effective at using
language symbols than others (e.g. syllabus)
C. Message – may have more than 1 meaning
D. Channel is medium – medium should match
message. Face-to-face enables feedback,
facial expression, and the intended message to
be more accurately sent.
I. Communication Process Model
(cont’d)
E. Decoding – receiver “translates”
message. What you attend to, encode,
store, and retrieve influences how you
perceive the message. Perception may not
be reality!
F. Feedback – comprehension check. Was
the intended message communicated?
G. Noise – interferes with the message
 II. Choosing media
A. Is it rich? Does the medium allow the
intended message to be communicated?
(face to face [2-way] is richest). Each
medium has “information carrying
capacity.”
B. Which medium is right? The message
complexity suggests a medium with a
particular richness. Use medium
contingent upon the message complexity.
Richness
Of
Communication
Medium

Problem Complexity
III. Nonverbal Communication
What does it look like?
How much is communicated?
 IV. Barriers to Effective
Communication
Filtering – information reduction by sender
Selective perception – what you attend to
Judging message
Not listening with understanding (Covey)
Information overload
Etc.
 V. Overcoming Barriers
A. Solicit feedback – request information
of message, restate in own words,
performance appraisals, look for
nonverbal cues
B. Simplified language
C. Active listening – including empathy
 VI. Developing interpersonal skills
Biggest reason for job failure is interpersonal skills. Study
showed graduates are most deficient in leadership and
interpersonal skills.
– Active listening
Listen intensely – eyes, head nods, avoid distractions, show interest, don’t
interrupt
Use empathy – adjust to your speaker’s world
Acceptance – don’t formulate response in mid-speak
Responsibility for completeness – paraphrase
 VII. Feedback
A. Must establish culture of trust and respect
before constructive feedback is accepted
– Effective feedback
Focus on behavior
Impersonal
Goal oriented
Timely – more than 1 time each year
Controllable (Deming?)