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EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

The Role of Communication in Total Quality

Effective communication is fundamental in facilitating the following key elements of the total quality
concept:

• Customer Focus. Effective communication is vital to determine the needs of customers through
listening, asking, observing, and probing, while simultaneously being mindful of the details and
the delivery of message to the customers.
• Total employee involvement and empowerment. Effective communication is essential in
establishing a workplace environment that promotes open and frank communication.
• Leadership. Effective communication is important in effective leadership since managers must
communicate with employees about the organization’s goals and how accomplishing these goals
will help employees accomplish their own personal goals.
• Teamwork. Effective communication is significant in forming effective teams since team members
must continually communicate team goals among themselves, with managers and other teams.

Understanding Communication as a Process

Communication – it is a two-way process wherein the message in the form of ideas, thoughts, feelings,
opinions is transmitted between two (2) or more persons with the intent of creating a shared
understanding. The components of communication are as follows:

• Sender. It refers to the originator or source of the message.

• Receiver. It is the person or group for whom the message is intended.
• Message. It refers to the information, idea, feeling, or intent that is to be conveyed, understood,
accepted, and acted on.
• Medium. It is the vehicle used to convey the message. There are four (4) basic categories of media:
o Verbal category – it includes face-to-face conversations, telephone conversations, speeches,
public address announcements, press conferences, and other approaches for conveying the
spoken word.
o Nonverbal category – it includes gestures, facial expressions, and body language.
o Written category – it includes letters, memorandums, billboards, bulletin boards, manuals,
books, and any other method of conveying the written word.
o Electronic category – it includes the transmission of digital data as well as any other form of
electronic transmission that can be converted into a message understood by humans.

Recognizing Inhibitors of Communication

The most common inhibitors of effective communication are as follows:

• Differences in meaning. It can cause problems in communication because people have different
backgrounds, levels of education, and cultures. As a result, words, gestures, and facial expressions
could have different meanings to different people.
EXAMPLE: In the Philippines, a headshake is a sign of disagreement and a nod is a sign of
agreement while in India, a headshake during a conversation is a sign of agreement and a nod is
a sign of disagreement to a particular condition.

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• Lack of Trust. It can cause problems in communication when receivers do not trust senders
because they may be overly sensitive and guarded. As a result, they might concentrate so hard on
reading between the lines and looking for hidden agendas that they miss the message.
EXAMPLE: An employee has a history of making up stories every time he will be absent for work.
In return, the next time the employee will not be able to report to work, his boss would assume
that he is lying even if he is already telling the truth.
• Premature judgments. It can cause problems in communication when either the sender or the
receiver makes premature judgement. As a result, they will not be able to maintain an open mind
and will stop listening at the point after they make the judgment.
EXAMPLE: A student is reporting a topic about religion. Another student disagrees about a point
in the middle of the discussion. As result, he already stopped listening after that point in the
reporting.
• Interference. It can cause problems in communication when a simple background noise or
complex atmospheric interference with satellite communications distorts or completely blocks
out the message.
EXAMPLE: A noise of an air conditioning unit during a classroom discussion or a weak signal from
the satellite that causes static line on a phone conversation.
• Poor listening skills. It can cause problems in communication when the sender does not listen to
the receiver and vice versa.
EXAMPLE: An employee has a habit of not listening to the details of his boss’ orders.
Consequently, the employee produces an incomplete output all the time.

Establishing a Conducive Communication Climate

The following strategies will help organizational leaders establish and maintain a climate that is conducive
to effective communication:
• Communicate with condense form of words so that the recipient will easily absorb, understand,
and remember the information. Avoid using highfalutin words to convey the information.
• Communicate with everyone who can benefit from the information. Avoid leaving people out of
the loop.
• Communicate by encouraging questions, comments, different perspectives, opposing opinions,
and better ideas. Avoid one-way communication.
• Communicate by listening assertively and objectively. Avoid interrupting the sender when the
news being communicated is unpleasant.

Management Strategies for Interpersonal Relationships

The following are the steps that managers can take to ensure that members of the workforce have
sufficient interpersonal relations to be effective communicators:

• Recognition of the need. Managers must recognize the need for the employees to have good
interpersonal skills. Managers must include having good interpersonal skills as part of the staffing
requirements of the organization aside from the traditional technical skills and paper credentials.
• Careful selection. Managers must carefully screen new employees to determine whether they
have interpersonal skills such as listening, patience, empathy, open-mindedness, friendliness,
ability to get along in a diverse workplace, and also to be positive agents in helping other
employees get along with each other.

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• Training. Managers must initiate skills development for the employees to acquire interpersonal
skills to listen better, empathize with different types of people, and facilitate positive interaction
among fellow employees.
• Measurement and reward. Managers must consider interpersonal skills to be measured as part
of the normal performance-appraisal process in order to recognize and reward employees with
good interpersonal skills.

Personality and Communication

The different personality traits that affect communication are as follows:

• Introversion versus extroversion. These traits describe the extent to which an introvert is more
likely to be silent while an extrovert is more likely to be a conversationalist. When trying to
communicate with an extrovert, it might be difficult to interject. On the other hand, conversations
with introverts are unreciprocated since they do not volunteer much information.
• Neuroticism versus emotional stability. These traits describe the extent to which a neurotic
individual tends to feel more negative emotions such as sadness, anger, and resentment while an
emotionally stable individual tends to have a more realistic perspective. When trying to
communicate with neurotic people, it is necessary to be patient and calm while conversations
with emotionally stable people tend to be much moderate.
• Open to experience versus traditional individual. These traits describe the extent to which an
“open” individual is capable of creative thinking while a traditional individual tends to be
predictable and conforming to customs. When trying to communicate with “open people,” it is
necessary to keep them focused on the task at hand while conversations with traditional people
require making them think “outside the box.”

References
Business jargons – communication process. (n.d.) Retrieved on May 22, 2018 from
https://businessjargons.com/communication-process.html

Cook, S. (2018). What is the meaning of the Indian head shake? Retrieved on May 24, 2018 from
https://www.tripsavvy.com/meaning-of-the-indian-head-shake-1539322

Human metrics - communication strategies for different personality types. (n.d.) Retrieved on May 18,
2018 from http://www.humanmetrics.com/personality/communication-strategies-for-different-
types

Smart marketing - creating an effective communication climate. (2011). Retrieved on May 18, 2018 from
https:// smartamarketing.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/creating-an-effective-communication-
climate

Stevenson, J. (2015). Operations management (12th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education

Management study guide - understanding communication and the communication process. (n.d.).
Retrieved on May 18, 2018 from https://www.managementstudyguide.com/understanding-
communication.htm

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