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Business and Professional Communication, 3rd edition
Kelly M. Quintanilla, Shawn T. Wahl
Chapter 6: Interpersonal Communication at Work
Lecture Notes
Learning Objectives:
6-1 Define interpersonal communication
6-2 Describe dierent kinds of workplace relationships
6-3 Explain the dierence between professional and personal communication
6-4 Discuss professional etique"e in the workplace
Outline:
I. Introduction and Example of Microsof
A. Microsof is listed as best multinational company to work for in Europe in 2013.
i. The company listens to feedback from employees and helps to foster open
communication from the top down.
B. Interpersonal communication is the co-creation of meaning as people interact in dyadic
communication.
II. Exploring Relationship Types at Work
A. Superior-Subordinate Relationships
i. Communicating Information
a. In the workplace, the superior is typically the higher-status person and
the subordinate is the lower-status person.
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b. Interpersonal communication in the workplace is not limited to the
relational layer or only conveying status.
c. Semantic information distance refers to the dierence in how
employees and employers view organizational issues or duties.
e. Messages are altered in one of four ways:
1. Gatekeeping occurs when some, but not all, of the information
is passed on to the supervisor.
2. Summarization occurs when the employee summarizes the
messages in a way that emphasis is placed on certain aspects of
the message.
3. Withholding occurs when information is not passed on to the
supervisor.
4. General distortion occurs when the message is changed to
serve the subordinate’s purposes.
f. Supervisors should limit the number of people a message travels
through, go to source of message for clarification, keep communication
channels open with subordinates and customers, and never “shoot the
messenger.”
ii. Communicating with your supervisor can be accomplished using two
techniques: ingratiation and advocacy.
a. Ingratiation occurs when an employee acts warm and friendly toward
the supervisor; this can be an eective strategy.
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arguments, and proposals that line up with those needs and
preferences.
B. Coworker Relationships
i. The basis for coworker relationships is shared communication networks.
a. A communication network is defined as “a group of individuals who
regularly share a line of communication.”
b. An organizational chart might show that certain employees are to
report to a specific supervisor.
c. Formal communication networks that utilize organizational charts are
so named because they are formally prescribed by the organization.
d. The majority of communication happens in the “white space,” the part
of the organizational chart that has not been prescribed.
ii. Coworkers may be thought of as customers.
a. External customers are external to the company.
b. Internal customers are the employees who need products and services
from other parts of the organization.
C. Customer/Client Relationships
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a. Customer relations, or customer service, is the interaction between
employees or representatives of an organization or business and the
people the organization sells to or serves.
b. All organizations claiming to have professional excellence must excel at
communicating with these individuals.
III. The Line Between Professional and Personal
A. Romance or intimacy, the feeling of closeness and trust that is shared with other
people, can arise because of the amount of time spent together in the workplace, and is
discouraged due to distractions and favoritism.
B. Sexual harassment is tied to communicative behaviors and sense making, resulting in
hostile environments.
C. Communication privacy management in the workplace includes decisions about what
we choose to keep private, share, or self-disclose about ourselves at work.
i. Communication privacy management has an impact on communication about
sexual identity in the workplace.
IV. Professional Etique"e
A. Professional etique"e is a ma"er of displaying social etique"e or good manners in a
professional se?ng.
B. Displaying professional etique"e is a critical component of professional excellence.
V. KEYS to Excellence in Interpersonal Communication in the Workplace
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A. Know yourself and decide if you want to achieve professional excellence by improving
your interpersonal communication skills with coworkers and clients.
B. Evaluate the professional context to become more audience centered and aware of how
you come across to coworkers and clients.
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