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203
Chapter 14
Managing Communication
Without communication, nothing would ever get done in organizations. Managers are
concerned with two types of communic9ation: interpersonal and organizational. We look
at both in this chapter and the role they play in a manager’s ability to be efficient and
effective. Focus on the following learning objectives as you read and study this chapter.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Define the nature and function of communication.
2. Describe methods and challenges of interpersonal communication.
3. Explain how communication can flow most effectively in organizations.
5. Summarize communication issues in today’s organizations.
6. Discuss how to become a better communicator.
It’s Your Career
I’m Listening!
Do you always hear what people are saying? Listening requires more than just hearing
2. Exhibit affirmative nods and appropriate facial expressions.
4. Ask questions and paraphrase what’s being said.
5. Make smooth transitions between the roles of speaker and listener.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
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INTRODUCTION
14.1 THE NATURE AND FUNCTION OF COMMUNICATION
The importance of effective communication cannot be overemphasized because
everything a manager does involves communicating.
A. What Is Communication?
2. For communication to be successful, the meaning must be
imparted and understood.
4. Communication encompasses both interpersonal
communication (between two or more people) and
14.2 METHODS AND CHALLENGES OF INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
Exhibit 14-1 illustrates the seven elements of the communication process: the
1. Feedback—How quickly can the receiver respond to the
message?
2. Complexity capacity—Can the method effectively process
complex messages?
3. Breadth potential—How many different messages can be
transmitted using this method?
4. Confidentiality—Can communicators be reasonably sure their
messages are received only by the intended audience?
5. Encoding ease—Can senders easily and quickly use this
channel?
6. Decoding ease—Can receivers easily and quickly decode
messages?
7. Time-space constraint—Do senders and receivers need to
communicate at the same time and in the same space?
8. Cost—How much does it cost to use this method?
9. Interpersonal warmth—How well does this method convey
interpersonal warmth?
10. Formality—Does this method have the needed amount of
formality?
11. Scanability—Does this method allow the message to be easily
12. Time of consumption—Does the sender or receiver exercise the
most control over when the message is dealt with?
1. Body language refers to gestures, facial expressions, and other
movements of the body that convey meaning.
2. Verbal intonation is an emphasis given to words or phrases that
conveys meaning.
LEADER MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Angela Ahrendts is senior vice president of retail and online stores for Apple. Ahrendts,
who was previously CEO of fashion house Burberry, was hired because she is a proven
leader. One of the skills Ahrendts believes is most important as a leader is good
communication. After visiting in 100 Apple stores and hearing about employee concerns
Ahrendts focused on better communication as an important tool to address problems
and move stores in the right direction. She now creates a weekly video that is sent to all
employees and has launched a site where employees can share their concerns and
ideas for the company.
What can you learn from this leader making a difference?
1. Receivers tend to select out, ignore, pass over, or
2. Alternatively, receivers may put off further
processing until the overload situation is over,
1. As information is communicated upward through
the organizational levels, senders condense and
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2. The more vertical layers present in the structure of
3. The more that organizational rewards emphasize
2. Emotions. Emotions influence how a receiver interprets a
3. Sociocultural. With a diverse workforce, different words mean
different things to different people, even when they speak the
4. National Culture. National culture can affect the way a manager
1. Use Feedback. The feedback might be verbal or nonverbal, or
both.
2. Simplify Language.
a. The manager should consider characteristics of the
3. Listen Actively.
a. In listening, two people are engaged in thinking: the
receiver as well as the sender. Listening is an active
5. Watch Nonverbal Cues. Actions speak louder than words, so the
14.3 EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION
A. Formal Versus Informal.
1. Formal communication is communication that follows the official
chain of command or is required to do one’s job.
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2. Informal communication is communication that is not defined by
the organization’s structural hierarchy.
a. Informal communication systems permit employees to
1. Downward. Downward communication is communication that
flows downward from a manager to employees. It is used to
2. Upward Communication. Upward communication is
communication that flows upward from employees to managers.
a. Upward communication can be used to keep managers
3. Lateral Communication. Lateral communication is
4. Diagonal Communication. Diagonal communication is
communication that cuts across work areas and organizational
levels.
2. Types of Communication Networks.
a. The chain network represents communication flowing
according to the formal chain of command, both downward
and upward.
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2. The grapevine is the informal organizational communication
network.
1. How office workspace is designed and configured can affect the
2. Research shows that a workplace design should successfully
3. As managers design the physical work environment, two common
design elements have the greatest impact on communication.
14.4 COMMUNICATION IN THE INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA AGE
Technology is changing the way be work and communicate. Information
1. Thanks to advances in IT employees are now connected 24/7
1. There are more than 50 million “mobile workers” in the United
1. Various social media platforms like YouTube and Twitter have
2. Technology is significantly affecting the way organizations
1. Managers must remember to address the possibility of
psychological drawbacks. For example: What is the psychological
cost of an employee being continuously accessible? Would
employees feel pressured to “check in” even during off hours?
What is the importance of maintaining a separation between work
lives and personal lives?
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E. Choosing the Right Media.
1. Managers need to understand the situations in which one or more
media facilitates effective communication.
a. Electronic media —social media, e-mail, and instant
messaging—are all effective and efficient methods for
communicating relatively straightforward information to
FUTURE VISION: No Longer Lost in Translation
Have you ever travelled to a foreign country where you couldn’t understand what was
being said? As globalization continues to shrink the world and companies adopt English
as their official business language, challenges emerge for those who don’t speak the
local language or the company’s language. Those days may be coming to an end
thanks to advances in translation services like Google Translate and Logbar’s Ili.
Markets that have been considered too difficult because of language difficulties could
very soon be very real opportunities.
The following discussion questions are posed:
Talk About It 1: Why is communication across different languages important for the
global marketplace?
Talk About It 2: Would you feel comfortable traveling to a country where you do not
speak the language if you had a mobile translator?
14.5 COMMUNICATION ISSUES IN TODAY’S ORGANIZATIONS
Effectively communicating means being connected to employees and customers
1. Legal and Security Issues. Managers must be knowledgeable
2. Personal Interaction. Software that enables real-time collaboration
can be chosen to ameliorate the lack of personal interaction posed
1. Create online information databases.
C. The Role of Communication in Customer Service.
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1. The quality of the company’s personal interaction between
1. Organizations need to get input from employees, even if all they
2. Exhibit 14-5 lists some suggestions for letting employees know
1. Ethical communication includes all relevant information, is true
in every sense, and is not deceptive in any way.
2. Unethical communication can take several forms including:
3. In a global survey by the International Association of Business
4. If companies have no clear guidelines, then they should answer
the following questions:
a. Has the situation been defined fairly and accurately?
b. Why is the message being communicated?
c. How will the people who may be affected by the message
or who receive the message be impacted?
d. Does the message help achieve the greatest possible
good while minimizing possible harm?
14.6 BECOMING A BETTER COMMUNICATOR
You should always take the opportunity to improve your communication skills.
1. Persuasion skills enable a person to influence others to change
1. Speaking skills refer to the ability to communicate information
2. Effective speakers speak with authenticity, humility, brevity, and a
clear understanding of the audience.
C. Sharpening Your Writing Skills.
1. Writing skills entail communicating effectively in text that is most
2. Some tips:
a. Don’t be in a rush to press the send button or drop the
memo in the mail.
1. Reading skills entail an understanding of written sentences and
paragraphs in work-related documents.
ANSWERS TO REVIEW AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
14-1. Define communication, interpersonal communication, and organizational
communication. Why isn’t effective communication synonymous with agreement?
14-2. What are the functions of communication?
14-3. Explain the components in the communication process.
Before communication can take place, a purpose, expressed as a message to be
conveyed, must exist. It passes between a source (the sender) and a receiver. The
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14-4. What are the various communication methods managers can use? What criteria
can managers use to evaluate those communication methods?
14-5. Contrast formal and informal communication.
Formal communication is communication that takes place within prescribed
14-6. Explain communication flow, the three common communication networks, and how
managers should handle the grapevine.
Communication in an organization can flow downward, upward, laterally, and diagonally.
14-7. How have the Internet and social media changed organizational communication?
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PERSONAL INVENTORY ASSESSMENTS
Student answers to these questions will vary.
214
ETHICS DILEMMA
Student answers to these questions will vary.
In this chapter’s ethical dilemma, students are to consider what happens when
colleagues or even your boss wants to “friend” you on a social network site. Is it okay to
provide people you know in a professional sense a “window into your personal life”?
What ethical issues might arise in such a situation? In this chapter, the distinction is
14-11. What do you think? Is it okay to provide people you know in a professional sense
a “window into your personal life”?
14-12. What ethical issues might arise in such a situation?
(LO: 4, Describe how technology affects managerial communication and organizations,
AACSB: Ethical understanding and reasoning)
SKILLS EXERCISE: DEVELOPING YOUR PRESENTATION SKILL
WORKING TOGETHER: TEAM EXERCISE
In this exercise, students are asked selecting the right medium to communicate different
kinds of messages. Students are asked to review the comparisons of communication
methods in Exhibit 14-2 and then working in groups of three or four select the
appropriate medium for communicating the following messages:
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• Executive management has asked you to communicate a company downsizing.
You must notify those employees affected as well as the remaining employees.
Thirty of the company’s 200 employees will be laid off.
• You need to respond to a customer who left a valid complaint on one of the
company’s social media sites.
(LO: 6, Discuss how to become a better communicator, AACSB: Written and oral
communication)
MY TURN TO BE A MANAGER
• For one day, track nonverbal communication that you notice in others. What
types did you observe? Was the nonverbal communication always consistent
with the verbal communication taking place? Describe. (LO: 2, Describe methods
and challenges of interpersonal communication, AACSB: Written and oral
communication)
• Improve your oral speaking skills by joining a Toastmasters Club
(www.toastmasters.org). Toastmasters technology is a nonprofit organization that
teaches public speaking through a network of clubs where you can practice
giving speeches to an audience that provides feedback to help you improve your
skills. (LO: 6, Discuss how to become a better communicator, AACSB: Written
and oral communication)
• Given that e-mail is still a primary method of communication within most
organizations, it is important to practice using it effectively. Research e-mail
etiquette and create a list of “do’s” and “don’ts” for using e-mail. (LO: 4, Describe
how the Internet and social media affect managerial communication and
organizations, AACSB: Written and oral communication)
Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc.
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• There are many software applications on the market to help organizations
manage their knowledge resources. Research knowledge management software
and create a list of different software applications available and the key features
of each product.(LO: 5, Summarize communication issues in today’s
organization, AACSB: Analytical thinking)
ANSWERS TO CASE APPLICATION 1
QUESTIONS
Student answers to these questions will vary.
Is Anytime Feedback Too Much?
14-13. Can a manager provide honest feedback to employees without being
confrontational?
14-14. Do you think the Anytime Feedback Tool is a useful communication tool for an
organization? Why or why not?
14-15. How could Amazon eliminate concerns with employees using the tool to sabotage
other employees?
14-16. Would you like to work in a competitive organization like Amazon? Why or why
not?
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14-17. Beyond its being vulgar and disgusting, what do you think of this situation from
the perspective of managing communications?
14-18. Why do you think Domino’s executives took a wait-and-see attitude? Why was
this response a problem?
14-19. How could this type of communication problem be prevented at other Domino’s
Pizza restaurants?
14-20. Do incidents like this one and the possibility of them happening anywhere,
anytime, mean that all forms of social media should be banned from workplaces? What
are the implications for policies regarding communication technology? Discuss.
