2. Objective
• Define and understand Communication and the
Communication process at Workplace
• Importance of Communication
• Principles of Communication
• Forms of Communication
• List and overcome the filters/barriers in a Communication
process
• Practice active listening
• Tips to improve Communication skills
3. • Sending & Receiving of message
through a variety of mediums viz. written,
verbal, signals, behavior, etc.
• Effective Communication occurs only if
receivers understand the exact message the
sender intended to transmit & feel the
information at the end of the exchange is
clear.
What is Communication?
4. Essence of Communication
Personal process
Occurs between people
Involves change in behavior
Means to influence others
Expression of thoughts and emotions through
words & actions.
Tools for controlling and motivating people.
It is a social and emotional process.
6. Need?
Ch. 1, Slide 6
• Top skill sought by employers.
• Essential for effective job performance.
• Empowers to influence others.
• Indicator of ability & intelligence.
• Critical for promotion.
• More important now as a result of:
– Changing technology.
– Heightened global competition
– Flattened management hierarchies
– Expanded team-based management
– Increasingly diverse workforce
• 80% of problems in the workplace are communication
related
9. Communication at Workplace
• WORKPLACE: A physical, concrete thing, that is tangible
& holds people, relationships & goals.
• WORKPLACE COMMUNICATION: Involves speaking,
listening, observing & the ability to understand verbal &
nonverbal meanings in the communication process.
• According to the National Communication
Association(NCA), 75% of a person’s day is spent
communicating in some way.
12. • A FORMAL Communication Structure
utilizes specific authorized channels for
information to flow between positions
within the organization.
• The three categories in a formal
communication structure are:
» Downward
» Upward
» Horizontal/Lateral
13. Information Flow in Organizations -
Formal Channels
Mary Ellen Guffey, Business
Communication: Process and Product, 6e Ch. 1, Slide 13
DOWNWARD FLOW
UPWARD FLOW
Managers Supervisors
Subordinates Supervisees
Coworkers
Coworkers
HORIZONTAL FLOW HORIZONTAL FLOW
14. Mary Ellen Guffey, Business
Communication: Process and Product, 6e Ch. 1, Slide 14
Managers Supervisors
Subordinates Supervisees
• Job plans
• Policies
• Instructions
• Procedures
Flows from
decision makers
to workers
DOWNWARD
15. Downward Workplace Communication:
Enabling
• Downward forms of workplace communication:
– A manager explains a task to an employee
– A customer gives an order to a supplier
– Shareholders instruct management.
• When a manager instructs an employee, s/he
enables the employee to do his/her job, & makes
it possible for him to earn a living by doing
something that has value for the employer.
16. • At each stage people receive information to help them
do their jobs
• At each stage information become less abstract, more
specific & more detailed.
Make a Budget
report
Make a Budget report for the month
to include the following
Make sure the report includes the
exact amount and the qty.
17. Mary Ellen Guffey, Business
Communication: Process and Product, 6e Ch. 1, Slide 17
Managers Supervisors
Subordinates Supervisees
• Feedback
• Progress
• Problems
• Suggestions
Flows from
employees to
decision makers
UPWARD
18. Upward Communication:
Compliance
• From employee to supervisor, supervisor
to department head, department head to
vice president, and so on.
• Less detailed as it goes up the chain of
command
19. Mary Ellen Guffey, Business
Communication: Process and Product, 6e Ch. 1, Slide 19
Shared information to coordinate
tasks, solve problems, resolve conflict
Flows among workers
at the same level
Coworker
s
Coworkers
HORIZONTAL / LATERAL
20. Lateral communication:
Coordination
• Information that flows back & forth between
peers
• Voluntary & discretionary since two people with
roughly equal amounts of power & prestige are
involved
• Reciprocating: the quality and quantity of
information we provide to our peers generally
reflects what we get back from them.
21. Team Communication
• Special form of lateral communication
• Communication for team building &
teamwork
• Members must communicate with each
other & with peers outside their immediate
group.
• Leaders will need to keep these
communication flows in mind that connect
them directly to their co-employees.
22. Formal Channels Communication
Mary Ellen Guffey, Business
Communication: Process and Product, 6e Ch. 1, Slide 22
Written
• Memos
• Agenda
• Proceedings
• Letters
• Reports
• Newsletter
Electronic
• E-mail
• Instant messaging
• Voicemail
• Videoconferencing
• Intranet
Oral
• Meetings
• Presentations
• Telephone
23. Information Flows in Organizations -
Informal Channels
Mary Ellen Guffey, Business
Communication: Process and Product, 6e Ch. 1, Slide 23
• The grapevine, gossip from the break room
to the water cooler
• Carries unofficial messages
• Flows haphazardly
• Can be remarkably accurate
• Thrives where official information is limited
• Disliked by management
24. Grapevine:
Filling the Gaps
• A place & function in all organizations.
• Fills in gaps left behind by conventional & official
communication
• Provides answers to unaddressed questions.
• Goes through multiple channels & versions
• No one owns
• No one controls
• We might complain about gossips & busybodies,
we all use it sooner or later.
25. New tools of Grapevine
• Traditionally, grapevine revolved around mouth-to-mouth
communication
• New technologies mean change
• The Internet opened up all kinds of new opportunities for
unofficial communication
• Email, it's true, may be monitored, but that's easily circumvented
• Cell phones provide an alternate means of mouth-to-mouth
communication, even when you're at the office.
• While technologies enabling the grapevine may change, the same
human traits natural curiosity & our desire to influence the way
others think & behave continue to fuel this communication
channel.
26. CHALLENGES IN COMMUNICATION
• ONE WAY COMMUNICATION – Not giving chance to other’s to talk.
• PESTERED – Being pushy.
• DICTATED – Controlling.
• IMPOSED – Giving one-sided point of view.
• INSISTED – No choices.
• MANIPULATION– Salesmen, bad leaders
• Feeling only themselves to be right
• No ethics in discussion
• No good intentions
• Arguments just for fun –no objective, waste of time
• Provoke heated arguments, hurtful