Communication

Bunga Aprigati Iskandar, SEI., MSc.

Communication

 The process of transferring information from one person to another person. It

is way of reaching others by transmitting ideas, thoughts, feelings, and value.
 Three aspects of communication: it must have subjects, sender must consider
the receiver, understanding the same sense.
Functions of Communications

Control

Motivation

Emotional
Expression

Information
Communication Process
Communication Channels

 Formal
 Information process following traditional authority chain within an organization
 Non-Formal
 Forms of personal or social messages.
Communication Direction - Upward

 It is used by employees or group members to give feedback to higher ups, or

to inform the progress towards goals.
 It is important to keep managers aware about the situation in the
organization in general.
Communication Direction - Downward

 It is used by managers or group leaders in communicating with members or

employees to assign goals, point out problem, provide instruction etc.
 It is important as a leader to explain why a decision was made
 It is one-way in nature. Managers inform employees but rarely solicit their
opinions.
Communication Direction - Lateral

 Communication taking place between horizontally equivalent workers or

members.
 Most of them are informal.
 When done with managerial support it can be beneficial.
Interpersonal Communication

Oral Written

Non-
Verbal
Oral Communication

 Forms: speech, formal one-on-one, group discussion

 Advantages: speed feedback
 Disadvantages: potential distortion when it get through a lot of people
Written Communication

 Forms: memos, e-mail, text messages, bulletin boards.

 Advantage: documentation for references,
 Disadvantage: time consuming compared to oral communication
Non-Verbal Communication

 Body language: Body movement that conveys certain message along with
verbal message.
 Important message body language conveys:
 the extent to which we like another and are interested in his or her views
 the perceived status between a sender and receiver
Organizational Communication – Formal
Small Group Networks
Organizational Communication - The
Grapevine
 An organization’s informal communication network.
 Word of mouth has important effect on whether job applicants would join an
organization
 It is not controlled by management
 More employees perceive it as more reliable than formal communication
 Largely used to serve the interest of people within it
Electronic Communications

 Forms of electronic communication:

 E-mail
 Instant messaging service
 Video conference
 Network software
Electronic Communication – Pros and
Cons
Tools Advantage Disadvantage
E-mail Quickly written, edited, Risk of misinterpretation,
and stored. limited expression of
emotion, privacy
concerns.
Instant Messaging Service Conveys short message, Prone to informality,
flexible. distract concentration.
Video Conference Travel savings, allows Lack of engagements.
organizations to have
meetings with people at
various locations.
Networking Software Able to reach largest Prone to content that is
society members harmful to company’s
reputation.
Barriers to Effective Communication

 Filtering
 Form of information manipulation by sender to make it more favorable for receiver
 Selective Perception
 Receivers selectively see and hear based on their own interest and belief.
 Information Overload
 When information given exceeds one’s processing capacity.
 Emotions
 Interpret the same information differently depends on current emotions.
Barriers to Effective Communication

 Language
 The use of language is far from uniform
 Silence
 Absence of information
 Communication Apprehension
 Also known as social anxiety
 Lying
 Outright misrepresentation of information
Global Implication

 Cultural Barriers
 Language barriers
 Connotation interpretation
 Tone differences
 Different tolerance and problem resolving
 Cultural Context
 High-context cultures - cultures that rely heavily on nonverbal and subtle
situational cues in communication.
 Low-context cultures - cultures that rely heavily on words to convey meaning in
communication.
Global Implication – Cultural Guide

 Assume differences until similarity is proven.

 Emphasize description rather than interpretation or evaluation.
 Practice empathy.
 Treat your interpretations as a working hypothesis.