CH 15 Ed 6

Exploring Management
John R. Schermerhorn Jr. and Daniel G. Bachrach

Sixth Edition
Chapter 15
Communication
Kayak.com’s chief technology
officer Paul English bought a
two-foot-tall elephant toy,
Annabelle, for the conference
room.
This elephant can’t be
ignored. “So often at work,”
he says, “people have issues
that they can’t resolve
because they won’t talk about
it.”
Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2

Your Chapter 15 Takeaways
• Understand the nature of communication and
when it is effective. (15.1)
• Identify the major barriers to effective
communication. (15.2)
• Discuss ways to improve communication with
people at work. (15.3)

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION 15.1
Takeaway 15.1 – answers to come

• Communication helps to build social capital.
• Communication is a process of sending and
receiving messages with meanings attached.
• Communication is effective when the receiver
understands the sender’s messages.
• Communication is efficient when it is delivered at
low cost to the sender.
• Communication is persuasive when the receiver
acts as the sender intends.

Communication
Social capital
• The capacity to attract support and help from
others in order to get things done
• Managers need social capital and must be skilled
communicators to get and keep it.
• The best managers and team leaders thrive as
communication nerve centers whose social capital
grows while they gather information, process it,
use it for problem solving, and share it with others.

Communication Process
Communication
• Process of sending and receiving messages with meanings
attached
Communication Skills Self-Check
Convey positive image in communications.
Use e-mail and social media well.
Write clearly and concisely
Network with peers and mentors.
Run and contribute to meetings.

Give persuasive presentations.
Give and receive constructive feedback

Major Elements of Interpersonal

Communication
Figure 15.1 What Are the Major Elements of Interpersonal Communication?

• Effective Communication
• Receiver must understand the sender’s
message
• Efficient Communication
• Communication occurs at minimum cost in
terms of resources.
• These costs, time and convenience, in
particular, often become very influential in
how we choose to communicate.

• Persuasive communication
• Convincing others to accept, support, and act
consistent with the sender’s message.
• Credible communication
• Earns trust, respect, and integrity in the eyes of
others
• Charisma
• ability to inspirationally persuade and motivate
• Charismatic leadership tactics
• Communication techniques people use to make
themselves more “leader-like” and be perceived by
others as influential and trustworthy.
Study Guide for Takeaway 15.1

Rapid Review:
• Communication is the interpersonal process of sending
and receiving symbols with messages attached to them.
• Effective communication occurs when the sender and the
receiver of a message both interpret it in the same way.
• Efficient communication occurs when the sender conveys
the message at low cost.
• Persuasive communication results in the recipient acting
as the sender intends.
• Credibility earned by expertise and good relationships is
essential to persuasive communication.


Questions for Discussion:
1. Why do recruiters place so much emphasis on
the communications skills of job candidates?
2. Can you describe a work situation where it’s
okay to accept less communication
effectiveness in order to gain communication
efficiency?
3. What can a manager do to gain the credibility
needed for truly persuasive communication?

Be Sure You Can…for Takeaway 15.1

• describe the communication process and identify its
key components
• define and give an example of effective
communication
• define and give an example of efficient
communication
• explain why an effective communication is not always
efficient
• explain the role of credibility in persuasive
communication
COMMUNICATION BARRIERS 15.2

• Poor use of channels makes it hard to communicate
effectively.
• Poor written or oral expression makes it hard to
communicate effectively.
• Failure to spot nonverbal signals makes it hard to
• Information filtering makes it hard to communicate
effectively.
• Overloads and distractions make it hard to
Communication Channels
• Poor use of channels makes effective
communication difficult
• Noise interferes with the communication process
Figure 15.2 How Does Noise Interfere with the Communication Process?

• Communication channels
• Medium used to carry message
• Channel richness
• Ability of the channel to convey meaning

Effective Communication
• Poor written or oral expression makes it hard to
communicate effectively
• Communication will only be effective when the
sender expresses the message in a way that is
clearly understood by the receiver.
• Words must be well chosen and used properly,
something we all too often fail to do.

Effective Communication Tips

Essential Ingredients of Successful Presentations
Be prepared—Know what you want to say, how you want to say it, and rehearse saying it.
Do the housekeeping—Attend to details, and have room, materials, and arrangements ready
Check technology—Go over everything ahead of time, making sure it works
Be professional—Be on time; dress appropriately; act organized, confident, and enthusiastic.

Set the right tone—Focus on your audience, make eye contact, “speak” don’t “read,” and act
pleasant and confident.
Sequence your points—State your purpose, make important points, follow with details,
summarize.
Support your points—Give specific reasons for your points; state in understandable terms.
Accent the presentation—Use good visual aids, and provide handouts to add details and a
summary overview.
Finish strong—Pull everything together in a concise, clear, and enthusiastic conclusion, and
invite and welcome questions.

• Nonverbal communication
• Gestures, expressions, posture and interpersonal
space
• The ways we use nonverbal communication can
also work for or against our communication
effectiveness
• Mixed messages
• Words and nonverbal signals don’t match

• Information filtering
• Intentional distortion of information
to make it more favorable to the
recipient
• Physical distractions
• Plan message to minimize
distractions and interruptions


Rapid Review:
• Noise interferes with the effectiveness of
communication.
• Poor choice of channels can reduce communication
effectiveness.
• Poor written or oral expression can reduce
communication effectiveness.
• Failure to accurately read nonverbal signals can
reduce communication effectiveness.
• Filtering caused by status differences can reduce


1. When is texting not an appropriate way to
convey a message in a work situation?
2. If someone just isn’t a good writer or
speaker, what can he or she do to improve
communication skills?
3. How can a higher-level manager avoid the
problem of filtering when lower-level
staffers pass information upward to her?


• list common sources of noise that can interfere
with effective communication.
• discuss how the choice of channels influences
• give examples of poor language choices in written
and oral expression.
• clarify the notion of mixed messages and how
nonverbals affect communication.
• explain how filtering operates in upward
communication.

• Active listening helps people say what they really
mean.
• Constructive feedback is specific, timely, and relevant.
• Office spaces can encourage interaction and
communication.
• Transparency and openness ensure that accurate
information is shared.
• Appropriate online behavior can facilitate better
communication.
• Sensitivity and etiquette can improve cross-cultural
communication.
IMPROVING COMMUNICATION 15.3
Improving Communication
• Active listening helps people to say what they really
mean.
• Constructive feedback is specific, timely, and relevant.
• Office spaces can be designed to encourage interaction
and communication.
• Transparency and openness ensure that accurate
information is shared.
• Appropriate use of technology can facilitate more and
better communication.
• Sensitivity and etiquette can improve cross-cultural
communication.
Active Listening
• Active listening
• Helps the source of a message say what he or she
really means
Active Listening Skills
Listen for message content:
Try to hear exactly what content is being conveyed in the message.
Listen for feelings:
Try to identify how the source feels about the content in the message.
Respond to feelings:
Let the source know that her or his feelings are being recognized.
Note all cues:
Be sensitive to nonverbal and verbal messages; be alert for mixed messages.
Paraphrase and restate:
State back to the source what you think you are hearing.
Constructive Feedback
Process of telling someone else how you feel about
something that person did or said
How to Give Constructive Feedback
Choose the right time—Give feedback at a time when the receiver seems
most willing or able to accept it.
Be genuine—Give feedback directly and with real feeling, based on trust
between you and the receiver.
Be specific—Make feedback specific rather than general; use clear and
recent examples to make points.
Stick to the essentials—Make sure the feedback is valid; limit it to things
the receiver can be expected to do something about.
Keep it manageable—Give feedback in small doses; never give more than
the receiver can handle at any particular time.

Openness
• Communication transparency
• Honest, open, accurate, and complete
information
• Open-book management
• Employees are given essential financial
information about their employers

Physical Setting
• Proxemics
• Work spaces designed to encourage
interaction and communication.
• The way people use and
communicate with space
• Physical distance between people
conveys intensions in terms of
intimacy, openness, and status
• The physical layout of work and
leisure spaces are part of the
nonverbal signals we send to others.

Technology
• Appropriate use of technology can facilitate more and
better communication
• E-mail
• Text
• Social networking
• Web posting pitfalls and strategies
• Comments part of our public profile
• Personal brand
• Make technology work for us rather than against us
• Privacy at Risk
Cross-Cultural Communication
• Ethnocentrism
• Consider one’s own culture to be
superior
• Cultural etiquette
• Appropriate manners and behavior
when communicating with people
from other cultures


Rapid Review:
• Active listening, through reflecting back and
paraphrasing, can help overcome barriers and improve
communication.
• Organizations can design and use office architecture
and physical space to improve communication.
• Information technology, such as e-mail, instant
messaging, and intranets, can improve communication
in organizations, but it must be well used.
• Ethnocentrism, a feeling of cultural superiority, can
interfere with cross-cultural communication; with
sensitivity and cultural etiquette it can be improved.


1. Which rules for active listening do you think
most people break?
2. Is transparency in communications a sure
winner, or could a manager have problems with
it?
3. How could you redesign your office space, or
that of your instructor or boss, to make it more
communication-friendly?


• role play the practice of active listening.
• list the rules for giving constructive feedback.
• explain how space design influences
communication.
• identify ways technology utilization influences
communication.
• explain the concept of cultural etiquette.

Copyright
Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation of this work beyond that permitted in
Section 117 of the 1976 United States Act without the express written permission of the
copyright owner is unlawful. Request for further information should be addressed to the
Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The purchaser may make back-up
copies for his/her own use only and not for distribution or resale. The Publisher assumes
no responsibility for errors, omissions, or damages, caused by the use of these programs
or from the use of the information contained herein.
Copyright ©2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 34

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Exploring Management

John R. Schermerhorn Jr. and Daniel G. Bachrach

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 3

Takeaway 15.1 – answers to come

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 4

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 5

Network with peers and mentors.

Run and contribute to meetings.

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 6

Major Elements of Interpersonal

Figure 15.1 What Are the Major Elements of Interpersonal Communication?

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 7

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 8

Study Guide for Takeaway 15.1

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 10

Study Guide for Takeaway 15.1

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 11

Be Sure You Can…for Takeaway 15.1

Takeaway 15.2 – answers to come

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 14

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 15

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 16

Effective Communication Tips

Be professional—Be on time; dress appropriately; act organized, confident, and enthusiastic.

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 17

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 18

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 19

Study Guide for Takeaway 15.2

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 20

Study Guide for Takeaway 15.2

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 21

Be Sure You Can…for Takeaway 15.2

Takeaway 15.3 – answers to come

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 26

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 27

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 28

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 30

Study Guide for Takeaway 15.3

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 31

Study Guide for Takeaway 15.3

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 32

Be Sure You Can…for Takeaway 15.3

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 33

Copyright ©2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 34

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