O.b. c 11 communication

COMMUNICATION
Dr. Rajesh Kamath
Assistant Professor,
Department of Public Health
Manipal University

COMMUNICATION
• “Constantly talking is not necessarily
communicating.”
• Poor communication is most probably the most
common source of interpersonal conflict.
• Individuals spend nearly 70% of their waking
hours communicating –
Writing, reading, speaking, listening.
• Recruiters rank Communication skills at the top of
their list of desired characteristics.

COMMUNICATION
• Communication is the Transfer and the
Understanding of meaning.
• What would perfect communication be?..
• When a thought or idea was transmitted so
the receiver perceived exactly the same
mental picture as the sender.
• Is perfect communication ever achieved?..

COMMUNICATION – Functions of
Communication
• 4 major functions within a group or
organisation :
• 1. Control
• 2. Motivation
• 3. Emotional expression
• 4. Information

COMMUNICATION - Functions of
Communication
• 1. Control :
• Organisations have authority hierarchies and formal
guidelines employees are required to follow.
• When employees are required to communicate any
job-related grievance to their immediate boss, to
follow their job description, or to comply with
company policies, communication is performing a
control function.
• Does Informal communication also control behaviour?
• When work groups harass a member who produces too
much..?..

Communication
• 2. Motivation :
• Communication motivates by clarifying what
needs to be done, how well they are
doing, and how to improve performance if it is
below par.

Communication
• 3. Emotional expression :
• For many employees, their work group is a
primary source of social interaction.
• The communication within the group is a
fundamental mechanism by which members
show their satisfaction and frustration.

Communication
• 4. Information :
• Communication provides the information
needed for decision making.
• All these 4 functions are equally important.

COMMUNICATION – The
Communication Process.
• Communication Process : The steps between a source and a
receiver that result in the transfer and understanding of meaning.
• The key parts of this process model are:
• 1. Sender – encodes the thought.
• 2. Encoding
• 3. Message – speech, writing, movements of arms, expression on
our faces.
• 4. Channel – Formal or Informal
• 5. Decoding -
• 6. Receiver
• 7. Noise – communication barriers
• 8. Feedback – tells us how successful we have been in transferring
our messages as originally intended.

COMMUNICATION – The
Communication Process.

COMMUNICATION –
Direction of Communication
• Direction of Communication :
• 1. Downward communication.
• 2. Upward communication.
• 3. Lateral communication.

COMMUNICATION –
• 1. Downward communication :
• Used by group leaders and managers communicating
with employees to assign goals, provide job
instructions, explain policies and procedures, point
out problems that need attention and offer feedback
about performance.
• As managers, one must explain why a decision was
made.
• Employees are twice as likely to be committed to
changes when the reasons behind them are fully
explained.
• It is one-way in nature. Managers inform employees
but rarely solicit their advice or opinions.

COMMUNICATION –
• 2. Upward communication :
• Feedback to higher ups, inform them about progress
towards goals, relay current problems.
• Keeps managers aware of how employees feel about
their jobs, co-workers, and the organisation in
general; how conditions can be improved.
• For effective upward communication, remove
distractions : Meet in a conference room rather than
the boss’s cubicle; Communicate in headlines;
Support your headlines with actionable items.

COMMUNICATION –
• 3. Lateral communication :
• Communication taking place among menbers of the
same work group, members of work groups at the
same level, managers at the same level, or any
horizontally equivalent workers.
• Saves time, facilitates communication.
• Some lateral relationships are formal, most are
informal.
• When done with management’s support, it can be
beneficial.
• When formal vertical channels are breached, it can
create dysfunctional conficts.

COMMUNICATION –
Interpersonal communication
• Interpersonal communication :
• 1. Oral communication.
• 2. Written communication.
• 3. Non verbal communication.

COMMUNICATION –
• 1. Oral communication :
• The chief means of conveying messages.
• Speeches, formal one-on-one and group
discussions, and the grapevine.
• Advantages : Speed, feedback.
• Rapid feedback allows sender to quickly detect
and correct it.
• Disadvantage : The more people the message has
to pass through, the greater the distortion.

COMMUNICATION –
• 2. Written communication :
• Memos, letters, faxes, e-mail, instant messaging, organisational
periodicals, notices placed on bulletin boards.
• Tangible and verifiable.
• Both the sender and the receiver have a record of the communication.
• The message can be stored for an indefinite period.
• Physically available for later reference.
• Particularly relevant for lengthy communication.
• Eg. : The Marketing plan for a new product may contain a number of
tasks spread over several months.
• Writing something down makes you think about it more, think
logically, and clearly.
• Disadvantages : Time-consuming, eg. Written exam vs Viva.
• No built-in feedback mechanism.

COMMUNICATION –
• 3. Non verbal communication :
• The 2 most important messages body language
conveys are :
• 1. The extent to which we like another and are
interested in his or her views. – We are more likely to
position ourselves closer to people we like.
• 2. The perceived status between a sender and
receiver. – If you feel you are of a higher status than
another, you are more likely to adopt a casual
approach- sit slouched or with crossed legs.
• Facial expessions, intonations, physical distance.

COMMUNICATION –
Organisational communication
• Formal small group networks :
• 1. Chain – rigidly follows the formal chain of command.
Eg. Rigid 3 level organisation.
• 2. Wheel – Central figure to act as the conduit for the
entire group’s communication. Eg. Team with a strong
leader.
• 3. All-channel – All group members to actively
communicate with each other. Eg: Self managed teams.
• Grapevine

COMMUNICATION –

COMMUNICATION –
• The Grapevine :
• It is the informal communication network in a
group or organisation.
• A survey found it is where 75% of employees
hear about matters first.
• Word-of-mouth has important effects on
whether job applicants join an organisation.

COMMUNICATION –
• 3 main characteristics :
• 1. Not controlled by management.
• 2. Most employees perceive it as more
believable and reliable than formal
communication from top management.
• 3. It is largely used to serve the interests of
the people within it.

COMMUNICATION –
• One interesting study:
• When on executive decided to resign, 81% of the
others knew about it, but only 11% had transmitted
the information to someone else.
• Research suggests about 75% of information that flows
along the grapevine is acurrate.
• As widely believed,
• Rumours do not arise because they make good gossip.
• Rumours arise when there is ambiguity in situations
that are important to us, when there is anxiety.

COMMUNICATION –
• As managers, it can give you a feel for the morale of your organisation
and identify issues your employees consider important.
• For employees, small talk creates a sense of closeness and friendship
among those who share information.
• As managers, try to minimise the negative consequences of rumours.
How?
• 1. Provide information.
• 2. Explain actions and decisions that may appear inconsistent, unfair, or
secretive.
• 3. Refrain from shooting the messenger – rumors are a natural byproduct
– respond calmly, rationally, respectfully.
• 4. Maintain open communication channels – encourage employees to
come to you with concerns and suggestions.

COMMUNICATION –
Electronic communication
• Electronic communication – Advantages and
challenges :
• 1. E mail.
• 2. Instant messaging and short messaging
service.
• 3.Networking software.
• 4. Blogs.
• 5. Video Conferencing.

COMMUNICATION –
• 1. Email :
• Advantages :
• Can be quickly written, edited, stored.
• They can be distributed to one person or
thousands with the click of a mouse.
• Recipients can read them at their own
convenience.
• Cost is minimal.

COMMUNICATION –
• Drawbacks :
• 1. Misinterpreting the message.
• 2. Communicating negative messages.
• 3. Time consuming nature of e-mail.
• 4. E-mail emotions.
• 5. Privacy concerns.

COMMUNICATION –
• 1. Misinterpreting the message :
• One research team at New York university found we can
accurately decode an e mail’s intent and tone only 50% of
the time.
• 2. Communicating negative messages :
• Email may not be the best way to communicate negative
messages.
• 3. Time consuming nature of e mail :
• An estimated 62 trillion e mails are sent every year.
60%, i.e. 36 million are non spam.
• A survey of Canadian managers revealed that 58% of them
spent 2-4 hours per day reading and responding to e mails.

COMMUNICATION –
• Strategies to deal with email overload:
• 1. Don’t check e mail in the morning. Take care of
other important tasks which might otherwise never get
done.
• 2. Check e mail in batches. Maybe twice a day. Don’t
log in 50 times a day.
• 3. Unsubscribe from newsletters and subscriptions that
you do not need.
• 4. Stop sending e mail that you do not need to send.
Shorter e mails get shorter responses.
• 5. Declare e-mail bankruptcy. Wipe out your entire
inbox and start over.

COMMUNICATION –
• 4. E mail emotions. The lack of visual and vocal cues means
emotionally positive messages, including praise, will be
seen as more emotionally neutral than the sender
intended.
• Without real time feedback from the receiver, senders
write things they would never be comfortable saying in
person.
• When writing an e mail when angry and upset, save it as a
draft and look at it again later.
• When others send flaming messages, remain calm and do
not respond in kind.
• Try to see the message from the other party’s point of view.

COMMUNICATION –
• 5. Privacy concerns :
• 2 privacy issues with e-mails:
• 1. E mails may be monitored.
• 2. You can’t always trust the recipient of the e-
mail to keep it confidential.
• Never write anything that you would not want
made public.

COMMUNICATION –
• 2. Instant messaging and short messaging service :
• Pros:
• Flexible, one can be reached anywhere, anytime.
• Preferable for 1 or 2 line messages that would
otherwise clutter up an e-mail inbox.
• Cons:
• Can disturb concentration and focus. Eg. During
meetings.
• Security risk:Can be intercepted.
• Informality of text messaging may spill over into
business e mails. Eg.: omg, wth..

COMMUNICATION –
• 3. Networking software :
• Facebook, Myspace.
• To get the most out of social networks and to
avoid irritating your contacts, use them for
high-value items only.
• A prospective employer might check your
Facebook or Myspace profiles.

COMMUNICATION –
• 4.Blogs:
• A website where entries are written, and generally displayed in reverse
chronological order, about news, events and personal diary entries.
• 112 million blogs and 350 million blog entries are written everyday.
• Millions of employees have blogs.
• Many organisations and organisational leaders have blogs that speak for
the organisation.
• TWITTER : A free blogging and networking service where users send and
read messages known as tweets, may of which concern OB issues.
• “Micro-blog”
• Tweets can come from any employee about any work topic, with
organisations having less control over it.
• Can invite action against employees.

COMMUNICATION –
• 5. Video Conferencing :
• Permits employees in an organisation to have
meetings with people at different locations.
• Travel savings.
• Important for everyone to be informed of the
agenda beforehand and equal time to be
provided to people at all locations, or remote
participants can feel left out.

COMMUNICATION –
Managing information
• Managing information :
• 1. Dealing with information overload.
• 2. Always on call.
• 3. Information security.

COMMUNICATION –
• 1. Dealing with information overload :
• Intel designed an 8 month experiment to see how
limiting information overload might aid
productivity.
• One group of employees was told to limit both
digital and in-person contact for 4 hours on
Tuesdays, while another group followed its usual
routine.
• The first group was more productive and 75% of
its members suggested the program be
expanded.

COMMUNICATION –
• 2. Always on call :
• Some business travellers were disappointed when
airlines began offering wireless internet
connections in flight because they could no
longer use their time in flight as a rare
opportunity to relax without a constant barrage
of organisational communications.
• Both workers and their spouses relate the use of
electronic communication technologies outside
work to higher levels of work-life conflict.
• Risk of burnout from being on call 24 hours a day.

COMMUNICATION –
• 3. Information security :
• A Merrill Lynch survey of 50 executives found 52% rated leaks
of company information as their number one information
security concern, topping viruses and hackers.
• In response, most companies actively monitor employee
internet use and e mail records, and some even use video
surveillance and record phone conversations.
• Such practices may seem invasive to employees.
• As managers, you can address their concerns by involving
them in the creation of information-security policies and
giving them some control over how their personal information
is used.

COMMUNICATION –
Choice of Communication channel
• Channel richness : The amount of information
that can be transmitted during a
communication episode.
• Why do people choose one channel of
communication over another-say a phone call
instead of a face to face talk?
• A model of media richness helps explain
channel selection among managers.

COMMUNICATION –
• Home work : Diagram : Information richness
of Communication channels.

COMMUNICATION –
• Channels differ in their capacity to convey information.
Some are rich in that they can
• 1. Handle multiple cues simultaneously.
• 2. Facilitate rapid feedback.
• 3. Be very personal.
• Others are lean in that they score low on these factors.
• Face to face conversation scores the highest in channel
richness, because it transmits the most information per
communication episode – multiple information cues
(words, postures, facial
expressions, gestures, intonations), immediate
feedback(both verbal and nonverbal), and the personal
touch of being present.

COMMUNICATION –
• The choice of channel depends on whether the message is
routine or non routine.
• Routine messages tend to be straightforward and have
minimal ambiguity;channels low in richness can carry them
efficiently.
• Non-routine communications are likely to be complicated
and have the potential for misunderstanding. Managers can
communicate them effectively only by selecting rich
channels.
• Evidence indicates high performing managers tend to be
more media sensitive than low performing managers.
• They are better able to match appropriate media richness
with the ambiguity level in the message.

COMMUNICATION –
Barriers to Effective communication
• 1. Filtering
• 2. Selective perception
• 3. Information overload
• 4. Emotions
• 5. Language
• 6. Silence
• 7. Communication Apprehension
• 8. Gender differences
• 9. “Politically correct” communication

COMMUNICATION –
• 1. Filtering :
• A sender’s manipulation of information so that it
will be seen more favourably by the receiver.
• Eg: A manager who tells his boss what he feels his
boss wants to hear.
• The more the levels, the more the filtering.
• Status differences increase filtering.
• Fear, eagerness to please.

COMMUNICATION –
• 2. Selective perception :
• Receivers in the communication process
selectively see and hear based on their
needs, motivations, experience, background, inte
rests and expectations.
• Eg: An interviewer who expects a female job
applicant to put her family ahead of her career is
likely to see that in all female
applicants, regardless of whether they actually
feel that way.
• We do not see Reality
• We interpret what we see and call it reality.

COMMUNICATION –
• 3. Information overload :
• When the information we have to work with exceeds
our processing capacity, the result is information
overload.
• When this condition strikes, what do individuals do?
• They tend to select, ignore, pass over, or forget
information.
• Or they may put off further processing until the
overload situation is over.
• The result is lost information and less effective
communication.

COMMUNICATION –
• 4. Emotions :
• You may interpret the same message
differently when you are angry or distraught
than when you are happy.
• Extreme emotions such as jubilation or
depression are most likely to hinder effective
communication.
• The rational and objective thinking process is
disregarded.

COMMUNICATION –
• 5. Language :
• Words can mean different things to different
people.
• Age and context are the 2 biggest factors.
• Our use of language is far from uniform.

COMMUNICATION –
• 6. Silence :
• Absence of information.
• One survey found over 85% of managers reported remaining silent on
atleast one issue of significant concern.
• Employee silence means managers lack information about ongoing
operational problems.
• Silence regarding discrimination, harassment, corruption and misconduct
means top management cannot take action to eliminate this behaviour.
• Employees who are silent may also experience psychological stress.
• As managers, you must make sure you behave in a supportive manner
when employees voice divergent opinions or express concerns.
• One act of ignoring or belittling an employee for expressing concerns
may well lead the employee to withhold important future
communication.

COMMUNICATION –
• 7. Communication Apprehension :
• 5 to 20 % of the population.
• Also called Social anxiety.
• Undue tension and anxiety in oral
communication, written comunication, or both.
• May rely on faxes or memos when a phone call would
be faster and more appropriate.
• As managers, be aware that oral communication
apprehensives may severely limit their oral
communication and rationalise this practice by telling
themselves it is not necessary for them to do their job
effectively.

COMMUNICATION –
• 8. Gender differences :
• Research shows men tend to talk to
emphasize status.
• Whereas women tend to use it to create
connections.
• Men – status, power, independence.
• Women – connection, intimacy.

COMMUNICATION –
• Men frequently complain that women talk on and on about
their problems.
• Women criticise men for not listening.
• What’s happening is that when men hear a poblem, they
assert their desire for independence and control by offering
solutions. Many women, on the other hand, view telling a
problem as a means to promote closeness and gain support
and connection, not to get advice.
• Mutual understanding is symmetrical. But giving advice is
asymmetrical. Its sets up the advice giver as more
knowledgeble, more reasonable, and more in control. This
creates distance.

COMMUNICATION –
• 9. “Politically correct” communication :
• Communication that is so concerned with being
inoffensive, that meaning and simplicity are lost or free
expression is hampered.
• Eg:
• 1. The Los Angeles times allows its journalists to use the
term “old age” but cautions that the onset of old age varies
from “person to person”, so individuals in a group of 75
year olds are not necessarily all old.
• 2. CNN has fined its broadcasters for using the word
“foreign” instead of “international”.
• 3. The Little People of America (LPA) association prefers the
term “little people” to “dwarfs” or “midgets”.

COMMUNICATION –
• Downside :
• It can complicate our vocabulary and make it
harder to communicate accurately.
• Garbage – Postconsumer waste materials
• Quotas – Educational equity
• Women – People of gender

COMMUNICATION
• HOME WORK:
• GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS.
• SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS FOR
MANAGERS.

• References :
• ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR - STEPHEN
ROBBINS – 14TH EDITION

O.b. c 11 communication

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