Chap 1:intro Flashcards
What skills do you think businesspeople need to succeed in today’s marketplace?
Business people today need good reading, listening, nonverbal, speaking, and writing skills. In addition to good written and oral communication skills, employees need teamwork skills, critical thinking, and analytical reasoning skills. Written skills are particularly important because technology enables us to transmit messages more rapidly, more often, and to a greater number of people regardless of their physical location. Many people are promoted within organizations because they have good writing skills.
Downward Information Flow
Flows from decision makers, including the CEO and managers, through a chain of command to the workers.
Upward Information Flow
Provides feedback from non-management employees to management.
Horizontal Information Flow
Includes lateral channels that transmit information horizontally among workers at the same level.
What kinds of barriers block the flow of communication in any organization undergoing massive changes?
Having a top-heavy organization structure; long lines of communication; lack of trust between management and employees; competition for power, status, and rewards; turf wars and ego involvement; differing frames of reference, fear of reprisal for honest communication; and lack of communication skills.
What kind of digital-age literacy does the hyperconnected workplace of today require?
Not only using multimedia applications and the latest technological gadgets but also thinking critically about new media. It means using technology thoughtfully and in a professional manner to achieve success in a hyperconnected digital world.
How are tech-savvy companies using social media and other digital tools?
Tech-savvy companies are embracing digital tools to connect with consumers, invite feedback, and improve their products and services. They may announce promotions and events in blog posts, in tweets, on their company websites, and in online communities. To manage public perceptions, particularly when a crisis hits, businesses know they must be proactive but also respond promptly within social media networks.
Why do fewer layers of management mean greater communication challenges for frontline workers?
Frontline employees must participate in decision making, which requires skill in collecting, organizing, and disseminating information. Higher levels of communication skills are necessary when fewer layers of management remain. Nearly everyone is a writer and a communicator.
Describe the five steps in the process of communication.
The sender has an idea. The sender encodes a message. A channel carries the message. The receiver decodes the message. Feedback returns to the sender.
Name four barriers to communication and be prepared to explain each. What other barriers have you experienced?
Bypassing. People misunderstand because words have different meanings for individuals.
Frame of Reference. Everyone screens perception through different cultural, educational, and social filters.
Lack of Language Skill. Individuals without adequate language skills have difficulty encoding and decoding messages.
Distractions. Emotional distractions include such feelings as happiness, anger, and sadness. Physical distractions include acoustics, noisy surroundings, poor printing, careless formatting, sloppy appearance, and poor proofreading. All distractions create noise in the communication process and disrupt transmission.
How has technology changed the way businesses communicate internally and externally?
One major shift is away from one-sided, slow forms of communication, such as hard-copy memos and letters, to interactive, instant, less paper-based communication. Speeding up the flow of communication in organizations are e-mail, instant messaging (IM), texting, and interacting with social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. To stay connected on the go, business communicators rely on smart electronic devices.
Compare formal and informal channels of communication within organizations. Which is more valuable to employees?
Formal channels of communication include such tools as staff meetings, intranet announcements and posts, e-mail, newsletters, public announcements, voice mail, videos, blogs, and podcasts. Informal channels of communication include the grapevine, which carries unofficial information. Employees prefer to receive organization news through formal channels, which are more credible and reliable.
What are seven goals of ethical business communicators?
Abide by the law. Tell the truth. Label opinions. Be objective. Communicate clearly. Use inclusive language. Give credit.
When you are faced with a difficult ethical decision, what questions should you ask yourself?
Is the action legal?
How would I see the problem if I were on the opposite side?
What are alternative solutions?
Can I discuss the problem with someone whose advice I trust?
How would I feel if my family, friends, employer, or coworkers learned of my action?
What could be the career fallout for someone who is unwilling or unable to train to become a better communicator? Can workers today be successful if their writing is and remains poor?
Surveys of employers find over and over again that woefully unprepared young job applicants fall behind in their careers and are not promoted if they are even hired in the first place.
