Unit 9 Flashcards
Explain why communication is important in organizations and discuss four influences on effective communication encoding and decoding.
Communication refers to the process by which information is transmitted and understood between two or more people. Communication supports work coordination, organizational learning, decision making, changing others’ behaviour, and employee well-being. The communication process involves forming, encoding, and transmitting the intended message to a receiver, who then decodes the message and provides feedback to the sender. Effective communication occurs when the sender’s thoughts are transmitted to and understood by the intended receiver. The effectiveness of this process depends on whether the sender and receiver have similar code- books, the sender’s proficiency at encoding that message to the audience, the sender’s and receiver’s motivation and ability to transmit messages through that particular communication channel, and their common mental models of the communication context
Compare and contrast the advantages of and problems with electronic mail, other verbal communication media, and nonverbal communication.
The two main types of communication channels are verbal and nonverbal. Various forms of Internet-based communication are widely used in organizations, with email the most popular. Although efficient and a useful filing cabinet, email is relatively poor at communicating emotions; it tends to reduce politeness and respect; it is an inefficient medium for communicating in ambiguous, complex, and novel situations; and it con- tributes to information overload. Social media provide an emerging set of communication channels which are Internet- or mobile-based and allow users to generate and interactively share information. Social media are more conversational and reciprocally interactive than traditional channels. They are “social” by encouraging collabora- tion and the formation of virtual communities. Nonverbal communication includes facial gestures, voice intona- tion, physical distance, and even silence. Unlike verbal communication, nonverbal communication is less rule-bound and is mostly automatic and nonconscious. Some nonverbal communication is automatic through a process called emotional contagion
Explain how social acceptance and media richness influence the preferred communication channel.
The most appropriate communication medium partly depends on its social acceptance and media richness. Social acceptance refers to how well the communication medium is approved and supported by the orga- nization, teams, and individuals. This contingency includes organization and team norms, individual preferences for specific communication channels, and the symbolic meaning of a channel. A communication medium should also be chosen for its data-carrying capacity (media richness). Nonroutine and ambiguous situations require rich media. However, technology-based lean media might be almost as effective as rich media for transferring informa- tion. This particularly occurs where users can multi-communicate and have high proficiency with that technology, and where social distractions of high media richness channels reduce the efficient processing of information through those channels. These contingencies are also considered when selecting the best channels for persuasion
Discuss various barriers (noise) to effective communication, including cross-cultural and gender-based differences in communication.
Several barriers create noise in the communication process. People misinterpret messages because of misaligned codebooks due to different languages, jargon, and use of ambiguous phrases. Filtering messages and information overload are two other communication barriers. These problems are often amplified in cross-cultural settings where the above problems occur along with differences in meaning of nonverbal cues, silence, and conver- sational overlaps. There are also some communication differences between men and women, such as the tendency for men to exert status and engage in report talk in conversations, and for women to use more rapport talk and be more sensitive than men to nonverbal cues.
Explain how to get your message across more effectively, and summarize the elements of active listening
To get a message across, the sender must learn to empathize with the receiver, repeat the message, choose an appropriate time for the conversation, and be descriptive rather than evaluative. Listening includes sens- ing, evaluating, and responding. Active listeners support these processes by postponing evaluation, avoiding inter- ruptions, maintaining interest, empathizing, organizing information, showing interest, and clarifying the message
Summarize effective communication strategies in organizational hierarchies, and review the role and relevance of the organizational grapevine
Some companies try to encourage communication through workspace design, as well as through Internet-based communication channels. Some executives also meet directly with employees, such as through man- agement by walking around (MBWA) and town-hall meetings, to facilitate communication across the organization. In any organization, employees rely on the grapevine, particularly during times of uncertainty. The grapevine is an unstructured and informal network founded on social relationships rather than organizational charts or job descriptions. Although early research identified several unique features of the grapevine, some of these features may be changing as the Internet plays an increasing role in grapevine communication.
