• Communication is lifeblood of every organization

• Speaking and writing effectively across all areas of business including management, technical, clerk and social positions

• The ability to speak and write in ways that are sensitive to and mindful of the factors in different cultural context

Achieving Success Today

Component pf communication

• Context

• Sending

• Receiving

• Understanding or feedback

• Acting

• Medium

Effective Communication

• Quicker problem solving

• Stronger decision making

• Increased productivity

• Steadier work flow

• Stronger business relationships

• Clearer promotional materials

• Enhanced professional image

• Improved stakeholder response

What Employers Expect

• Organizing and presenting ideas

• Listening effectively

• Communicating across cultures

• Using communication technologies

• Practicing business etiquette

• Communicating ethically

Characteristics of Effective Messages

• Practicality - quality of being suitable

• Factual basis- based on or containing facts

• Clarity and conciseness

• Precision - Clarity and conciseness giving only information important

• Persuasion - quality of being exact accurate and careful

• Persuasion - particular set of belief

• Recommendations suggestion about best things

Internal Communication

• Official structure

– Chain of command

– Formal lines of power

• The grapevine (informal)

– Informal networking

– Unofficial lines of power

Internal communication refers to the exchange of information and ideas within an organization. Internal communication helps employees do their jobs, develop a clear sense of the organization’s mission, and identify and react quickly to potential problems.

The official structure (formal communication network) is typically shown as an organization chart that summarizes the lines of authority; each box represents a link in the chain of command; each line represents a formal channel for the transmission of official messages. Information can flow in three directions.

Downward flow. Organizational decisions are usually made at the top and then flow down to the people who will carry them out.

Upward flow. To solve problems and make intelligent decisions, managers must learn what’s going on in the organization.

Horizontal flow. Communication also flows from one department to another, either laterally or diagonally.

The grapevine (informal communication network) supplements official channels. People have casual conversations at work. Most deal with personal matters, but about 80 percent of the information on the grapevine pertains to business. Some executives are wary of the grapevine, possibly because it threatens their power to control the flow of information. Savvy managers tap into the grapevine, using it to spread and receive informal messages.

External Communication

• Formal contacts

– Marketing

– Public relations

• Informal contacts

– Employees

– Managers

External communication carries information into and out of the organization.

• Formal communication is the first step in creating a favorable impression. Carefully constructed letters, reports, memos, oral presentations, and websites convey an important message about the quality of your

organization. Messages such as statements to the press, letters to investors, advertisements, price increase announcements, and litigation updates require special care because of their delicate nature. Such documents are often drafted by a marketing or public relations team—a group of individuals whose sole job is creating and managing the flow of formal messages to outsiders.

• Informal contacts with outsiders are important for learning about customer needs. As a member of an organization, you are an important informal conduit for communicating with the outside world. Many outsiders may form their impression of your organization on the basis of the subtle clues you transmit through your tone of voice, facial expression, and general appearance. Top managers rely heavily on informal contacts with outsiders to gather information that might be useful to their companies, either by networking with fellow executives or talking with customers and frontline employees.

The Communication Process

• Sender has an idea

• Sender encodes the idea

• Sender transmits the message

• Receiver gets the message

• Receiver decodes the message

• Receiver sends feedback

Communication is a dynamic, transactional (two-way) process that can be broken into six phases. The communication process is repeated until both parties have finished expressing themselves

1. The sender has an idea. You conceive an idea and want to share it.

2. The sender encodes the idea. When you put your idea into a message that your receiver will understand, you are encoding it: that is, deciding on the form, length, organization, tone, and style—all of which depend on your idea, your audience, and your personal style or mood.

3. The sender transmits the message. To physically transmit your message to your receiver, you select a communication channel (verbal or nonverbal, spoken or written) and a medium (telephone, letter, memo, e-mail, report, face-to-face exchange).

4. The receiver gets the message. For communication to occur, your receiver must first get the message.

5. The receiver decodes the message. Your receiver must decode (absorb and understand) your message.

6. The receiver sends feedback. After decoding your message, the receiver responds in some way and signals that response to you.

Why Is Business Communication Unique?

• Globalization and diversity

• Information value

• Pervasiveness of technology (existing in all parts)

• Reliance on teamwork

• New corporate structures

• Communication barriers

Globalization and Workforce Diversity

• Products and markets

• Business partnerships

• Employees and executives

Increasing Value of Business Information

• Knowledge workers

– Competitive insights

– Customer needs

– Regulations and guidelines

Pervasive Technology

• Voice systems

• Virtual agents

• Mobile communication

• Networking advances Pervasive

Evolving Organizations

• Tall structures

• Flatter structures

• Flexible structures

• Corporate cultures

Reliance on Teamwork

• Employee satisfaction

• Overall flexibility

• Responsiveness to competition

Communication Barriers

• Perception and language

• Restrictive environments

• Distractions (interruption)

• Information overload

• Deceptive tactics

Interference in the communication process is called noise which can be caused by a variety of communication barriers. Each person has a unique mental map that represents his perception of reality.

• Senders use selective perception to choose the details that seem important to them. Receivers can distort details that do not fit into their perception patterns. Language is an arbitrary code that depends on shared definitions. There is a limit to how completely any two people share the same meaning for a word.

• A restrictive environment can be a formal communication network that limits the flow of information, so communication becomes fragmented. Also, a directive and authoritarian leadership style, can block the flow of information.

• Physical distractions such as bad connections, poor acoustics, or illegible copy can block an otherwise effective message. Emotional distractions can also get in the way of your message.

• Deceptive communicators may exaggerate benefits, quote inaccurate statistics, or hide negative information. Unscrupulous communicators may seek personal gain by making others look better or worse than they are.

People constantly receive messages via e-mail, express couriers, fax machines, voice mail, websites, regular mail, pagers, and cell phones. Information overload caused by the sheer number of messages can be distracting, making it hard to discriminate between useful and useless information.

Overcoming Barriers

Effective communicators work hard at perfecting the messages they deliver. When they make mistakes, they learn from them.

The coming chapters present and analyze real-life examples of both good and bad communication. After a while you’ll begin to see that four themes keep surfacing: (1) adopting an audience-centered approach; (2) fostering an open communication climate; (3) committing to ethical communication; and (4) creating lean, efficient messages. Following these guidelines will help you overcome barriers and improve your communication.

Effective Communication

• Minimize distractions

• Consider the audience

• Improve your skills

• Give and get feedback

• Apply business etiquette

•

Audience-Centered Approach

Adopting an audience-centered approach means focusing on and caring about your audience, making every effort to get your message across in a way that is meaningful to them.

Learn as much as possible about the biases, education, age, status, and style of your audience to create an effective message. When you address strangers, try to find out more about them; if that’s impossible, try to project yourself into their position by using your common sense and imagination. By writing and speaking from your audience’s point of view, you can to help them understand and accept your message.

Using Business Communication Technology

• Maintaining perspective

• Improving productivity

• Investing wisely

• Reconnecting with people

Observing Business Communication Ethics

• Unethical practices

– Plagiarism

– Selective misquoting

– Misinterpreting numbers

– Distorting visuals

Efficient Messages

A good way to make your messages more effective is to send fewer of them. Think twice before sending one. Holding down the number of messages reduces the chance of information overload.

The key to overcoming distractions is control. For physical barriers, exercise as much control as possible over the physical transmission link. For emotional barriers, recognize the feelings that arise in yourself and in others as you communicate and try to control these emotions. You can overcome listening barriers by paraphrasing what you’ve heard, viewing the situation through the speaker’s eyes, and resisting jumping to conclusions. When speaking, you can help the audience by connecting the subject to their needs, using clear vivid language, and relating the subject to familiar ideas.

Many companies provide employees with opportunities for communication skills training. Even though you may receive training on the job, don’t wait. Start mastering business communication skills right now, in this course.

Lack of experience may be the only obstacle between you and effective messages, whether written or spoken. People aren’t “born” writers or speakers. Their skills improve the more they speak and write. Perhaps the best place to begin strengthening your communication skills is with an honest assessment of where you stand. Try to figure out what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. Then, as you progress through this course in the months ahead, focus on those areas in which you need the most work.

Making Business Choices

• Ethical dilemma

– Stakeholders

• Conflicting loyalties

• Difficult tradeoffs

• Ethical lapse

– Business pressures

• Illegal choices

• Unethical choices

Ensuring Ethical Communication

• Individual employees

• Corporate management

• Policies and procedures

Ethics are the principles of conduct that govern a person or a group. Ethical communication includes all relevant information, is true in every sense, and is not deceptive in any way. By contrast, unethical communication can include falsehoods and misleading information (or withhold important information).

Every company has responsibilities to various groups. However, what’s right for one group may be wrong for another. When people must choose between conflicting loyalties and weigh difficult trade-offs, they are facing a dilemma. An ethical dilemma involves choosing among alternatives that aren’t clear-cut (perhaps two conflicting alternatives are both ethical and valid, or perhaps the alternatives lie somewhere in the vast gray area between right and wrong). An ethical lapse is making a clearly unethical or illegal choice. How do you decide between what’s ethical and what is not? You might ask yourself:

• Is this message legal?

• Is this message balanced?

• Is it a message you can live with?

• Is this message feasible?

Some companies lay out an explicit ethical policy by using a written code of ethics to help employees determine what is acceptable. In addition, many managers use ethics audits to monitor ethical progress and to point up any weaknesses that need to be addressed.

Communicating in Teams and Mastering Listening and Nonverbal Communication

Chapter 2

Working in Teams

A team is a unit of two or more people who work together to achieve a goal. Members share a mission and the responsibility for working to achieve it.

A team is a unit of two or more people who work together to achieve a goal. Team members share a mission and the responsibility for working to achieve it.

Workplace Teams

A team is a unit of two or more people who work together to achieve a goal. Members share a mission and the responsibility for working to achieve it.

The type, structure, and composition of individual teams varies within an organization. Companies can create formal teams that become part of the organization’s structure, or they can establish informal teams, which aren’t part of the formal organization but are formed to solve a problem, work on a specific activity, or encourage employee participation.

Problem-solving teams and task forces are informal teams that assemble to resolve specific issues and then disband once their goal has been accomplished. Team members often include representatives of many departments so that those who have a stake in the outcome are allowed to provide input.

In contrast to problem-solving teams and task forces, a committee usually has a long life span and can become a permanent part of the organizational structure. Committees typically deal with regularly recurring tasks.

Virtual teams bring together geographically distant employees to interact, share information, and accomplish goals. Virtual teams can use computer networks, teleconferencing, e-mail, video conferencing, and Web technology to build teams that are as effective as those in organizations functioning under a single roof.

Improving Your Performance in Teams

• Formal

– Permanent committees

• Informal

– Task forces and problem-solving teams

Overview of Teams

Team Communication

• Select members carefully

• Agree on project goals

• Take time to bond (link)

• Clarify individual responsibilities

Team Communication

• Set clear processes

• Select tools and techniques

• Avoid group writing

• Check progress often

Group Dynamic

The interactions and processes that take place in a team are called group dynamics

The interactions and processes that take place in a team are called group dynamics. Some teams are more effective than others simply because the dynamics of the group facilitate member input and the resolution of differences. To keep things moving forward, productive teams also tend to develop rules that are conducive to

business. Often these rules are unstated; they just become standard group practice, or norms—informal standards of conduct that members share and that guide member behavior.

When a team has a strong identity, the members observe team rules religiously: They’re upset by any deviation and feel a great deal of pressure to conform. This loyalty can be positive, giving members a strong commitment to one another and highly motivating them to see that the team succeeds. However, an overly strong identity could lead to negative conditions such as groupthink.

Team-Member Roles

Members of a team can play various roles, which fall into three categories.

The following are self-oriented roles:

• Controlling or dominating others.

• Withdrawing from the group by becoming silent or refusing to work.

• Attention seeking and demanding recognition.

• Diverting discussions to topics of personal interest.

The following are group-maintenance roles:

• Encouraging others with verbal and nonverbal support.

• Harmonizing or reconciling differences via mediation or humor.

• Compromising on a point in order to reach a mutually agreeable decision.

The following are task-facilitating roles:

• Initiating a line of inquiry.

• Seeking or giving information relevant to the group.

• Coordinating relationships, clarifying issues, summarizing activity.

• Suggesting goal-oriented, decision-making procedures.

The roles that individuals assume often depend on whether they joined the group voluntarily or involuntarily and their status in that group. Until roles and status have stabilized, a team may have trouble accomplishing its goals.

Team Decision Making

Whenever teams tackle a decision-making tasks, they typically pass through five phases:

1. Orientation. Team members socialize, establish their roles, and begin to define their task or purpose.

2. Conflict. Team members begin to discuss their positions and become more assertive in establishing their roles. If members have been carefully selected to represent a variety of viewpoints and expertise, disagreements are a natural part of this phase.

3. Brainstorm. Team members air all the options and discuss the pros and cons fully. At the end of this phase, members begin to settle on a single solution to the problem.

4. Emergence. Team members reach a decision. Consensus is reached when the team finds a solution that is acceptable enough for all members to support (even if they have reservations). This consensus happens only after members have had an opportunity to communicate their positions and feel that they have been listened to.

Reinforcement. Group feeling is rebuilt and the solution is summarized. Members receive their assignments for carrying out the group’s decision, and they make arrangements for following up on those assignments.

Conflict in Teams

• Scarce resources

• Task responsibilities

• Poor communication

• Attitudes and values

• Power struggles

• Conflicting goals

• Teams and individuals may believe they are competing for scarce or declining resources, such as money, information, and supplies. Team members may disagree about who is responsible for a specific task (usually the result of poorly defined responsibilities and job boundaries). Poor communication can lead to misunderstandings and withholding information can undermine trust. Basic differences in values,

attitudes, and personalities may lead to arguments. Power struggles may result when one party questions the authority of another or when people or teams with limited authority attempt to increase their power or exert more influence. Conflict can also arise because individuals or teams are pursuing different goals.

Types of Conflict

Conflict can be both constructive and destructive. Conflict is constructive if it forces important issues into the open, increases involvement of team members, and generates creative solutions. Conflict is destructive if it diverts energy from more important issues, destroys the morale of teams or individual team members, or polarizes or divides the team.

Resolving Conflict

• Proaction

• Communication

• Opennessproaction

• Research

• Flexibility

• Fair play

• Alliance

Conflict Resolution Strategies

Win-Lose Win-Win Lose-Lose

In a win-lose strategy, the only solution is for one party to win and the other party to lose. The outcome will surely make someone unhappy. Some conflicts degenerate to the point that both parties would rather lose than see the other party win (lose-lose strategy). The idea that both parties can satisfy their goals at least to some extent is a win-win strategy, where no one loses.

Overcome Resistance

• Express understanding

• Raise awareness

• Evaluate others objections fairly

• Hold your arguments until the other person is ready for them

Part of dealing with conflict is learning how to persuade other people to accept your point of view. In a business situation, reason usually prevails. However, you sometimes encounter people who react emotionally. When you face irrational resistance, try to remain calm and detached so that you can avoid destructive confrontations and present your position in a convincing manner.

Express understanding. Most people are ashamed of reacting emotionally in business situations. Help the other person relax and talk about his or her anxiety so that you have a chance to offer reassurance.

Make people aware of their resistance. When people are noncommittal and silent, they may be tuning you out without even knowing why. Continuing with your argument is futile. Deal directly with the resistance, without being accusing.

Evaluate others’ objections fairly. Focus on what the person is expressing, both the words and the feelings. Get the person to open up so that you can understand the basis for the resistance.

Hold your arguments until the other person is ready for them. Getting your point across depends as much on the other person’s frame of mind as it does on your arguments. You can’t assume that a strong argument will speak for itself. Address the other person’s emotional needs first.

Effective Teams

In effective teams, members recognize that each person brings knowledge and skills to the team. They exchange information, examine issues, and work through conflicts that arise. In short, effective teams:

• Clear purpose. Team members clearly understand the task at hand, what is expected of them, and their role on the team.

• Open and honest communication. The team culture encourages discussion and debate. Team members speak openly and honestly, without the threat of anger, resentment, or retribution. They listen to and value feedback from others. As a result, all team members participate.

• Consensus decision making. All decisions are arrived at by consensus. No easy, quick votes are taken. Instead, all members express their opinions and engage in debate. The decision that emerges is generally supported by all team members.

• Creative thinking. Effective teams encourage original thinking, considering options beyond the usual.

• Focused efforts. Team members get to the core issues of the problem and stay focused on key issues.

• Conflict resolution. The ability to handle conflict—clashes over ideas, opinions, goals, or procedures—is a key contributing factor to a team’s overall effectiveness.

Collaborative Writing

Team Members

Strong Leadership

Cooperation

Clear Goals

Solid Commitment

Clear Responsibility

Prompt (set time lines for Action

Appropriate Technology

Ensure technological compatibility, and apply technology wisely

Team members often jointly produce a single document or presentation known as a collaborative message. The following nine guidelines will help team to produce messages that are clear, seamless, and successful:

• Select team members wisely. Choose team members who have strong interpersonal skills, understand team dynamics, and care about the project.

• Select a responsible leader. Identify a group leader who will keep members informed and intervene when necessary.

• Promote cooperation. Establish communication standards that motivate accuracy, openness, and trust.

• Clarify goals. Make sure team goals are aligned with individual expectations. • Elicit commitment. Create a sense of ownership and shared responsibility for the document.

• Clarify responsibilities. Assign specific roles and clear lines of reporting.

• Instill prompt action. Set timelines and deadlines for the project.

• Ensure technological compatibility, and apply technology wisely.

Critiquing Writing

• Clear assignment instructions

• Purpose of the document

• Correct factual material

• Unambiguous language

You will sometimes need to critique the writing of another. When you do, be sure to provide specific, constructive comments. To help the writer make meaningful changes, you must say more than: “This doesn’t work” or “I don’t see what you’re trying to say.” When critiquing a document, concentrate on four elements:

• Are the assignment instructions clear? Be sure to determine whether the directions given with the initial assignment were clear and complete.

• Does the document accomplish the intended purpose? Is the purpose clearly stated? Does the body support the stated purpose? Is the conclusion supported by the data? Are the arguments presented logically?

• Is the factual material correct? A proposal to provide nationwide computer-training services for $15 million would be disastrous if your intention was to provide those services for $150 million.

• Does the document use unambiguous language? If you interpret a message differently from what a writer intended, the document must be revised.

Once these elements are deemed satisfactory, the question is whether to request other changes. Minor changes can be made at any time. But if these criteria are in fact met, consider these additional points before requesting a major revision: (1) Can the document truly be improved? (2) Can you justify the time needed for a rewrite or revision? (3) Will your request have a negative impact on morale?

PRODUCTIVE MEETINGS

The key to productive meetings is careful planning of purpose, participants, location, and agenda.

Most meetings have either an informational or a decision-making purpose. Informational meetings allow participants to share information and perhaps coordinate action. Decision-making meetings involve persuasion, analysis, and problem solving.

Try to invite only participants whose presence is essential. The more people who attend, the more comments and confusion you’re likely to get, and the longer the whole thing will take. But even as you try to limit participation, be sure to include key decision makers and those who can contribute. Holding a meeting is pointless if the people with necessary information aren’t there.

Decide where you’ll hold the meeting, and reserve the location. For work sessions, morning meetings are usually more productive than afternoon sessions. Also, consider the seating arrangements. Are rows of chairs suitable, or do you need a conference table? Plus, give some attention to details such as room temperature, lighting, ventilation, acoustics, and refreshments. You might also consider calling a meeting in cyberspace.

The success of any meeting depends on the preparation of the participants. An agenda will aid this process by putting the meeting plan into a permanent, written form. Distribute the agenda to participants several days before the meeting so that they will know what to expect and can come prepared.