TOPIC INDIVIDUALS IN THE ORGANIZATION COMUNICAITON Ing. Pavel Adámek, Ph.D. adamek@opf.slu.cz Communication – key terms and learning outcomes • •Dimensions of social intelligence, and explain the importance of these capabilities, especially for manager • •The main components of the interpersonal communication process • •The main barriers to effective interpersonal communication • •Nature and significance of non-verbal communication • •Organizational communication • • • • • • • Content Communication is central to understanding organizational behaviour for several reasons: •communication affects organizational performance and individual career prospects; • •very few people work alone, and the job of most managers involves interacting with other people, often for more than 90 per cent of their time; • •communication is seen as a problem in many organizations; • •in an increasingly diverse multicultural society, sensitivity to the norms and expectations of other cultures is vital to effective cross-cultural communication; • •new technology is radically changing our patterns of communication. Why study communication? Why study communication? Why study communication? Why study communication? •Normally, as soon as one person stops talking, another takes their turn. • •The currency of conversation is information. We ask you the time. You tell us the time. Information has been transmitted. Interpersonal communication has been achieved. • •We do not receive communication passively. We have to interpret or decode the message. • •To the extent that we interpret communication from others in the manner they intended, and they in turn interpret our messages correctly, then communication is effective. However, communication is an error-prone process. Interpersonal communication Interpersonal communication Noise factors outside the communication process which interfere with or distract attention from the transmission and reception of the intended meaning. Interpersonal communication Troops were given the following advice to avoid causing offence in the Arab world: •gestures - Avoid the ‘OK’ sign which widely means the ‘evil eye’. •shaking hands - It is disrespectful for a man to offer his hand to a woman. •social interaction - There is no ‘personal space’; Arab culture stresses the need to ‘share the breath’ of a companion. •conversation - Men should not question other men about the women in their family. Interpersonal communication We assume that organizations function better where •communications are open, • •relationships are based on mutual understanding and trust, • •interactions are based on cooperation rather than competition, • •people work together in teams, and • •decisions are reached in a participative way. Interpersonal communication The main barriers to effective organizational communication are: •power differences - Research consistently shows that employees distort upward communication, and that superiors often have a limited understanding of subordinates’ roles, experiences and problems. •gender differences - Men and women use different conversational styles which can lead to misunderstanding; men tend to talk more and give information while women tend to listen and reflect more. •physical surroundings - Room size and layout influence our ability to see others and our readiness to participate in conversations and discussions. •language - Even within one country, variations in accent and dialect can make communication difficult. •cultural diversity - Different cultures have different norms and expectations concerning formal and informal conversations; lack of awareness of those norms creates misunderstanding. Interpersonal communication Maureen Guirdham (2002) offers this advice for improving our communications: •face-to-face - When we are able to speak with someone directly, we can use the feedback constantly to check the coding and decoding processes, and to correct mistakes and misunderstanding. •reality checks - We should not assume that others will necessarily decode our messages in the way we intended, and we should check the way in which our messages have been interpreted. •place and time - The right message delivered in the wrong place or at the wrong time is more likely to be decoded incorrectly, or even ignored, so choose the time and place with sensitivity and care. •empathetic listening- See things from the other person’s point of view, consider the thinking that may have led to their behaviour, decode the message the way they might decode it, listen attentively to feedback. Interpersonal communication •Verbal means ‘in words’, which can be either spoken or written. ‘Verbal agreement’ and ‘verbal warning’ can thus refer either to oral or to written communication, and both are contrasted with non-verbal communication. • •Most conversations involve exchanges of information or meaning. How do we get the information we want? We achieve this through a range of questioning techniques. • •The first basic distinction in questioning strategy is between closed and open questions. •Closed questions invite a factual statement in reply, or a simple yes or no response. •Open questions, in contrast, invite the person responding to disclose further information. Predict the differences in response to these two questions: •Will you have dinner with me this evening? •What are you doing this evening? • • • Verbal communication • • Questioning techniques • • Conversation control signals Non-verbal communication Typical male courtship gestures involving non-verbal communication include: •preening (straightening tie, smoothing hair), • •thumbs-in-belt (pointing towards genitals), •turning his body to face a female, • •pointing his foot towards her, holding her gaze, • •hands on his hips, dilated pupils, and the ‘leg spread’ (crotch display). • • Non-verbal communication Women, on the other hand, have a much richer repertoire of non-verbal courtship behaviour which includes: • preening gestures such as touching hair, smoothing clothing; • one or both hands on hips; • foot and body pointing towards the male; • extended eye contact or ‘intimate gaze’; • thumbs-in-belt, but often only one, or thumb protruding from pocket or handbag; • flushed appearance; • the head toss, to flick hair away from face (used even by women with short hair); • exposing the soft smooth skin on the wrists to the male; • exposing the palms of the hands; Non-verbal communication Women, on the other hand, have a much richer repertoire of non-verbal courtship behaviour which includes: • the sideways glance with drooped eyelids (‘you caught me looking at you’); • wet lips, mouth slightly open; • fondling cylindrical objects (stem of wine glass, a finger); • the knee point, one leg tucked under the other, pointing to the male, thighs exposed; • the shoe fondle, pushing the foot in and out of a half-on half-off shoe; • crossing and uncrossing the legs slowly in front of the man; • gently stroking the thighs (indicating a desire to be touched). Non-verbal communication How many of these non-verbal courtship gestures, male and female, are illustrated here? •straightening tie, smoothing hair •leg spread • • •foot and body pointing towards the male •extended eye contact or ‘intimate gaze’ •the head toss, to flick hair away from face •the sideways glance with drooped eyelids •wet lips, mouth slightly open •the knee point, one leg tucked under the other, pointing to the male, thighs exposed •gently stroking the thighs (indicating a desire to be touched) • • • Aspect of non-verbal communication is ‘paralanguage’ Emotional intelligence • The five dimensions of emotional intelligence •Those are traditionally one-way-top-down modes of communication. • Organizations use a range of mechanisms for communicating with employees, such as • the management chain of command; • regular meetings with senior and/or middle managers; • in-house newspapers and magazines; • company intranet; • noticeboards; • videos and in-house television; • conferences and seminars; • employee reports; • team briefings; • email, intranet, blogs, podcasts. Organizational communication Two-way exchanges are more effectively achieved through methods such as: • ‘speak out’ programmes in which problems are taken to counsellors; • suggestion or ‘bright ideas’ schemes; • open door policies; • the appraisal system; • quality circles; • attitude surveys; • interactive email (where managers guarantee to reply). Organizational communication • Open and closed communication climates •The capabilities that make up social intelligence involve a combination of awareness – what we sense about others – and facility – how we act on that awareness. •Managers spend a lot of time interacting with others, and it becomes more important to understand the thoughts and feelings of others in a more culturally diverse population. •Communication involves an exchange of meaning, achieved through the processes of coding, transmission, decoding, and feedback. •Face-to-face communication allows instant feedback; coding and decoding problems arise with other forms of communication where feedback is delayed or absent. •The main barriers to effective communication include power and gender differences, physical surroundings, language variations, and cultural diversity. •Barriers can be overcome through face-to-face communication, by checking decoding, by paying attention to context, and by seeing things the way the other person does. RECAP •Getting appropriate information from someone else involves the effective use of different questioning methods: open, closed, probe, hypothetical, and reflective. •Effective communication involves the use of a range of simple conversation controls: lubricators, inhibitors, bridges, and pauses. • Active listening involves a range of verbal and nonverbal skills. •Communication methods differ between high context and low context cultures. •Non-verbal communication includes facial expressions, eye behaviour, gesture and posture, distance between ourselves and others, and paralanguage. •If the verbal and non-verbal messages which we are sending are inconsistent, the verbal will be discounted and the non-verbal accepted. •Emotional intelligence concerns the ability to identify, integrate, understand, and reflectively manage one’s own feelings and the feelings of other people. •As with social intelligence, understanding your own emotions and the emotions of others is a key skill for all of us, particularly for managers, and its importance is heightened in culturally diverse organizational settings. RECAP We can share our thoughts and ask questions J Pavel Adámek adamek@opf.slu.cz