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Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
Define what is meant by communication
Identify and describe each element of the basic transactional model of communication
and how communication flows through an organization
1. Communication models have evolved.
2. Early one-way models evolved to circular models and then to transactional models.
B. The one-way model views communication as linear.
1. The sender and the receiver both encode and decode messages simultaneously.
2. The model does not include response or feedback and so is one-way.
C. The circular model views communication as an interactive process.
1. This model includes feedback but implies a step-by-step process, which is rare.
2. This model adds the frame of reference (individual experience and background).
1. Communication is viewed as a simultaneous transactional process between senders
and receivers.
2. This model adds environment and stimulus/motivation, which affect understanding.
IV. Basic Transaction Model Expanded
1. A stimulus can be either internal or external.
2. Motivation is produced by factors such as personal benefit or benefit analysis.
C. The communication process depends on encoding and decoding messages.
1. The encoding process puts a message into the form used to communicate it.
2. The receiver uses the decoding process to interpret the exact meaning of a message.
D. Frames of reference are the background and experiences of both sender and receiver.
1. Frames of reference include education, race, culture, gender, attitude, and
personality.
2. Everything experienced through the senses must pass through frames of reference.
3. Only overlapping frames of reference produce real understanding.
4. No two people have identical frames of reference.
5. Managers and employees have different frames of reference.
6. The message that counts is the one received.
7. 100 percent communication is a fallacy, so effective communicators prepare for
1. There are three basic communication codes.
a. Language (the verbal code) involves spoken or written words.
2. All three codes are needed for accurate interpretation of complex messages.
3. Message receivers rely more heavily on paralanguage and nonverbal cues.
4. All three codes must be consistent for effective communication.
1. Not all channels have the same capacity to carry information.
a. Channel richness is the amount of information a channel can convey.
2. Not all channels have the same capacity for speed.
a. Messages that are complicated or require immediate feedback are best
3. The choice of a business channel is affected by message importance, receiver needs,
4. When communicating with the public, choose the channel that is least expensive,
1. Feedback can be self-monitoring or external confirmation of the message received.
2. Feedback offers a number of advantages.
3. Feedback has a number of disadvantages.
a. People can feel under attack psychologically.
4. A number of approaches can improve the feedback received from others.
a. Tell people you want feedback.
b. Identify the areas in which you want feedback.
c. Set aside time for regular feedback sessions.
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
D. To avoid unethical practices and increase the likelihood of success, ethics theories
recommend four rules for ethical decisions by managers and employees.
of the company because the typical person would find them acceptable.
E. Companies should encourage discussion of ethical issues.
1. Some companies have rigorously written and implemented codes of ethics.
F. Ethics traps regularly tempt business and professional communicators.
1. The trap of necessity says there is no acceptable choice but the unethical one.
G. Being ethical is a shared responsibility that also is based on practical concerns.
1. If people lose faith in you or your company, failure is inevitable.
VII. Summary
A. Effective communication is not easy; it is hard work.
B. Developing good communication skills can help ensure success in the business setting.
1. Employers are looking for employees who can communicate and follow up
1.1 Pass out index cards to students and ask them to list the following on the card:
a. Their favorite television program.
1.2 Put the class in a circle so that everyone is facing each other. Instruct them to
clear their desks (no paper, pens, etc.). Next, tell them to think of a food that
, and
1.3 Although speech anxiety is discussed in Chapter 6 of the text, some teachers
address it at the beginning of the semester. This activity can be used in the
beginning of the course immediately following a pretest of Communication
1.4 Instruct students to work in groups of two, with each group creating a
1.5 Instruct students to work in groups of four or five. This experiment in feedback
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
requires a set of Playskool Bristle Blocks for the teacher and a set for each group.
The instructor must stick and stack a number of bristle blocks in some unique
1.6 Ask students to work in groups of two or three. Students should role-play a
customer in communication with Customer Service at a large clothing store,
1.7 Each student should first list as many definitions as possible for the words below.
Then organize the class in groups of four or five and have students compare their
lists. Which group found the most meanings for each word?
1.8 Use as both out-of-class and in-class assignment.
On the second
tell them to give an example under each of the characteristics they select.
Students will stand to deliver their 2 3 minute pitch. After completion, one at a
5-minute team presentation incorporating the above and answering the following
question: Why will your team be the best this semester?
MindTap support materials for Chapter 1 include the following:
Warm-up question activity that introduces chapter topics and concepts
webpages. Some sites are specifically suggested for corporate ethics and communication ethics:
The largest database of codes of ethics and guidelines in the world is available online.
http://ethics.iit.edu/ecodes/
Some websites specifically address Internet ethics:
Arlene Rinaldi, .
actually took it by the way they report it) and/or (2) students can be assigned to develop a code
of ethics (individually or in groups) appropriate for their class based on the researched webpages.
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
In addition, online sites provide useful videos that support Chapter 1 topics:
The URL for the Bentley College Center for Business Ethics current lists their videos,
2005 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. Ac t
examines the Enron accounting scandal and reveals the psychology of greed and
corporate corruption that facilit
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
1. _________is the process the receiver goes through in trying to create and send a message.
a. Encoding c. Decoding
b. Evaluative feedback d. Descriptive feedback
2. Breakdowns in communication often occur due to inaccurate encoding and decoding
because we use our own background and experience which is also referred to as:
a. Noise c. Channel richness
b. Frame of Reference d. Distorted feedback
3. If an organization is healthy, what type of information will be carried by its grapevine?
a. Anticipated changes in management c. Personal interest items
b. Pending layoffs of employees d. Salary cuts or increases for the next
pay period
4. Which of the following channel carries more than one of the basic communication codes?
a. Email c. Blogs
b. Text messages d. Radio
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
5. The term channel richness refers to:
a. The depth of information and research
c. The amount of information a channel
can carry
b. How expensive it is to use that channel
d. A high risk of miscommunication
6. When considering ethics, which rule says create the greatest good for the greatest number
of people?
a. Utilitarian rule c. Justice rule
b. Moral rights rule d. Practical rule
7. When considering ethics, which rule says that we should do unto others as you would have
them do unto you?
a. Utilitarian rule c. Justice rule
b. Moral rights rule d. Practical rule
8. If I justify my act based on the fact that other people have done far worse, I have fallen for
which ethics trap?
a. Trap of relative filth c. Trap of self-deception
b. Trap of necessity d. Trap of rationalization
3. Consider the transaction communication model and describe at least two places in the
model where your personal communication problems usually occur.
ANS:
While answers may vary, they may consider the influences of frame of reference, including
4. Compare formal and informal routes of communication in organizations. How are they
different? Why do informal networks exist? Formal communication flows in three
directions. What are those directions?
ANS:
Informal communication networks (also known as the grapevine) exists because of the
