Chapter 11 Communication 134
Chapter 11
Communication
Chapter Overview
In order to be successful, managers must be able to communicate effectively. This chapter
Chapter Objectives
After studying this chapter, the student should be able to:
PPT 11.2
2. Contrast downward, upward, and lateral communication and provide examples of
each.
4. Identify common barriers to effective communication.
5. Show how to overcome the potential problems in cross-cultural communication.
Suggested Lecture Outline
I. INTRODUCTION
A. No individual, group or organization can exist without communication (the
transference and understanding of meaning).
II. THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS
A. Before communication can take place, it needs a purpose, expressed as a message to
be conveyed.
B. The message passes between a sender and receiver. The message is encoded
(converted to a symbolic form) and passed by way of some medium (channel) to the
receiver, who retranslates (decodes) the message. Successful communication
results in the transference of meaning from one person to
another.
C. Exhibit 11.1 Shows the Communication Process’s Key
Components
1. Sender: the person who initiates a message by encoding a
thought.
2. Encoding: converting the thought into symbols and language.
PPT 11.4
Exhibit 11.1
PPT 11.1
PPT 11.3
Chapter 11 Communication 136
b. Such communication can be good or bad depending on whether it conflicts
or enhances the formal vertical channels of communication.
IV. INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
A. There are three basic methods of communication: oral,
written, and nonverbal.
1. Oral Communication. This is the chief means of
conveying messages. It may be in the form of speeches,
formal one-on-one and group discussions, or talk along
the grapevine.
a. Advantages. Oral communications are quick and feedback can be received
just as quickly, making corrections relatively simple.
b. Disadvantages. Oral communications are subject to personal interpretation,
2. Written Communication. This form of communication
includes memos, letters, fax transmissions, e-mail, instant
messaging, periodicals, notices, or any other means by
3. Nonverbal Communication. This form of communication
includes body movements, the intonations or emphasis
given to words, facial expressions, and the physical
distance between the sender and the receiver.
a. Forms of Nonverbal Communication:
1) Body Movement. Any movement of the body can have meaning. Such
body language conveys two important messages:
2) Intonation. This is the emphasis given to words or
3) Facial Expressions. Similar to intonation, facial expressions can change
4) Physical Distance. While highly dependent on cultural norms, the space
between people can convey meaning. Typically, the closer two people
PPT 11.6
PPT 11.7
PPT 11.8
PPT 11.9
Chapter 11 Communication 137
are, the more intimate they are. Formal relationships and disinterest are
often demonstrated by a greater distance between two people.
V. ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION
A. Formal Small-Group Networks.
1. This text will demonstrate three basic types of networks:
the chain, wheel, and all-channel.
2. Effectiveness. The effectiveness of each network hinges
upon which dependent variable needs to be emphasized in
the organization. No single network structure is best for all
occasions.
B. The Grapevine.
1. In addition to the formal network systems of
2. One of the most famous studies of the grapevine investigated communication
patterns among 67 managers in a small manufacturing firm.
3. When one executive decided to resign to enter the insurance business, 81
4. Conditions that foster a Grapevine?
a. It’s frequently assumed rumors start because they make good gossip, but
this is rarely the case.
b. Rumors emerge as a response to situations that are
1) important to us,
3) under conditions that arouse anxiety.
6. The secrecy and competition that typically prevail in large organizations—
around the appointment of new bosses, the relocation of offices, downsizing
Exhibit 11.3
Exhibit 11.4
PPT 11.10
PPT 11.11
7. A rumor will persist either until the wants and expectations creating the
uncertainty are fulfilled or the anxiety has been reduced.
8. Certainly it’s an important part of any group or organization communication
network and is well worth understanding.
a. It gives managers a feel for the morale of their organization, identifies issues
employees consider important, and helps tap into employee anxieties.
b. The grapevine also serves employees’ needs:
2) Research suggests it often does so at the expense of those in the “out–
group.”
9. Can managers entirely eliminate rumors?
10. Exhibit 11.5 offers a few suggestions to reduce negative
effects of rumors.
C. Electronic Communications.
1. E-mail. Defined as the use of the Internet to transmit and
receive computer-generated text and documents, e-mail has
become a necessary component in modern organizations.
a. Limitations.
1) Misinterpreting the message.
2) Communicating negative messages.
3) Time-consuming nature of e-mail.
a) An estimated 62 trillion e-mails are sent every year, of which
approximately 60 percent, or 36 trillion, are non-spam messages,
and someone has to answer all those non-spam messages!
b) Some people, such as venture capitalist and Dallas Mavericks owner
Mark Cuban, receive more than a thousand messages a day (Cuban
says 10 percent are of the “I want” variety).
c) Although you probably don’t receive that many, most of us have
trouble keeping up with e-mail, especially as we advance in our
career.
d) Experts suggest the following strategies:
(2) Take care of important tasks before getting ensnared in e-mails.
Otherwise, you may never get to those tasks.
(3) Check e-mail in batches. Don’t check e-mail continually
EPPxhibit 10.5
PPT 11.12
PPT 11.13
Exhibit 11.5
(4) Unsubscribe. Stop newsletters and other subscriptions you don’t
really need.
(5) Stop sending e-mail. The best way to receive lots of e-mail is to
send lots of e-mail, so send less. Shorter e-mails garner shorter
4) Declare e-mail bankruptcy.
a) Some people, like recording artist Moby and venture capitalist Fred
Wilson, become so overwhelmed by e-mail they declare “e-mail
bankruptcy.”
b) They wipe out their entire inbox and start over.
5) Although some of these steps may not work for you, keep in mind that e-
mail can be less productive than it seems:
a) We often seem busy but get less accomplished through e-mail than
we might think.
6) E-mail emotions.
a) E-mail tends to have a disinhibiting effect on people: senders write
7) Privacy concerns. There are two privacy issues with e-mail.
a) First, your e-mails may be, and often are, monitored.
(1) You can’t always trust the recipient of your e-mail to keep it
confidential, either.
(2) For these reasons, you shouldn’t write anything you wouldn’t
want made public.
(1) These accounts often aren’t as secure as corporate accounts, so
(2) Many employers hire vendors to sift through e-mails, using
(3) Another survey revealed nearly 40 percent of companies have
2. Instant and Text Messaging.
device.
Chapter 11 Communication 140
b. These methods of communication are great for short messages that need
c. Advantages. IM and TM are fast and inexpensive.
d. Disadvantages.
1) IM and TM aren’t going to replace e-mail.
3) IM is preferable for one- or two-line messages that would just clutter up
an e-mail inbox.
5) Their continual presence can make it hard for employees to concentrate
and stay focused.
6) A survey of managers revealed that in 86 percent of meetings, at least
7) Finally, because instant messages can be intercepted easily, many
organizations are concerned about the security of IM and TM.
e. One other point: It’s important to not let the informality of text messaging
(“omg! ru serious? brb”) spill over into business e–mails. Many prefer to
keep business communication relatively formal.
2) By making sure your professional communications are, well,
professional, you’ll show yourself to be mature and serious.
3) Avoid jargon and slang, use formal titles, use formal e-mail addresses for
yourself (lose that partygirl@yahoo.com), take care to make your
3. Social Networking.
a. Nowhere has communication been more transformed than in the rise of
social networking like Facebook and LinkedIn.
b. In a desire to maintain control over employee use of social networking for
professional purposes, many organizations have developed their own in-
house social networking applications.
4. Blogs.
Chapter 11 Communication 141
a. A web site about a single person or company. Experts estimate that more
than 156 million blogs now exist.
5. Twitter.
a. A hybrid social networking service that allows users to post “micro–blog”
entries to their subscribers about any topic including work.
b. Many organizational leaders send Twitter messages, but they can also come
from any employee about any work topic, leaving organizations with less
control over the communication of important or sensitive information.
6. Videoconferencing.
a. This technology permits employees in different
locations to exchange live audio and visual images of each other during
meetings.
B. Managing Information
1. DEALING WITH INFORMATION OVERLOAD
a. Do you find yourself bombarded with information—
from e-mail, blogs, Internet surfing, IMs, cell phones, and televisions?
1) Basex, a company that looks at worker efficiency, found the largest part
of an average worker’s day—43 percent—is spent on matters that are
2) Intel designed an 8-month experiment to see how limiting information
overload might aid productivity.
a) One group of employees was told to limit both digital and in person
3) More generally, as the Intel study shows, it may make sense to connect
to technology less frequently, to, in the words of one article, “avoid
PPT 11.16
PPT 11.17
3. Second are barriers caused by word connotations.
a. Words imply different things in different languages.
4. Third are barriers caused by tone differences.
a. In some cultures, language is formal; in others, it’s informal. In some
5. Fourth are differences in tolerance for conflict and methods for resolving
conflicts.
a. Individuals from individualist cultures tend to be more comfortable with
6. Cultural Context Cultures tend to differ in the degree to which context influences
the meaning individuals take from communication.
a. In high-context cultures such as China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, people
rely heavily on nonverbal and subtle situational cues in communicating with
others, and a person’s official status, place in society, and reputation carry
considerable weight.
2) In contrast, people from Europe and North America reflect their low-
context cultures.
3) They rely essentially on spoken and written words to convey meaning;
body language and formal titles are secondary.
b. These contextual differences actually mean quite a lot in terms of
communication.
7. Communication in high-context cultures implies considerably more trust by
both parties.
8. But in low-context cultures, enforceable contracts tend to be in writing,
precisely worded, and highly legalistic.
a. Similarly, low context cultures value directness.
9. It’s quite different in high–context cultures, in which managers tend to “make
suggestions” rather than give orders.
C. A Cultural Guide
1. When communicating with people from a different culture,
what can you do to reduce misinterpretations?
2. Begin by trying to assess the cultural context. You’re likely to have fewer
difficulties if it’s similar to yours.
3. The following rules can be helpful:
a. Assume differences until similarity is proven.
1) Most of us assume others are more similar to us than they actually are.
2) You are less likely to err if you assume they are different from you until
1) Interpreting or evaluating what someone has said or done draws more
4. Practice empathy.
a. Before sending a message, put yourself in the recipient’s shoes.
1) What are his or her values, experiences, and frames of reference?
2) What do you know about his or her education, upbringing, and
background that can give you added insight?
3) Try to see the other person as he or she really is.
5. Treat your interpretations as a working hypothesis.
a. Once you’ve developed an explanation for a new situation or think you
empathize with someone from a foreign culture, treat your interpretation as
a hypothesis that needs further testing rather than as a certainty.
b. Carefully assess the feedback recipients provide you, to see whether it
confirms your hypothesis.
VIII. IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGERS
A. There is a relationship between communication and employee
satisfaction: the less the uncertainty, the greater the satisfaction.
B. The less that distortion occurs in communication, the more
clearly the goals, feedback, and other management messages will be received by
employees.
C. The greater the use of communication channels, both formal and informal, the
greater the communication flow, thereby reducing uncertainty in improving the
performance and satisfaction.
D. Incongruities between verbal and nonverbal messages will increase uncertainty and
reduce satisfaction.
E. Electronic media, while rapid and pervasive, need to be used wisely or they will
decrease effectiveness.
PPT 11.20
PPT 11.11
Chapter 11 Communication 146
F. Barriers to communication, especially gender and cultural barriers, can be
overcome with understanding and sensitivity.
IX. KEEP IN MIND
A. Each communication direction has its own challenge that must
be overcome.
B. Each form of communication has an optimal purpose and specific limitations—use
appropriately.
C. Communication barriers often retard or distort communication
X. SUMMARY
Discussion Questions
1. Describe the communication process.
2. Describe the possible directions that formal communication can take in an
organization and provide examples of each.
3. Compare and contrast oral, written, and nonverbal communication.
Answer: Oral communication is the chief means of conveying messages. It may be
in the form of speeches, formal one-on-one and group discussions, or talk along the
grapevine. Written communication includes memos, letters, fax transmissions, e-
mail, instant messaging, periodicals, notices, or any other means by which ideas are
PPT 11.22
PPT 11.23
4. Identify which organizational outcomes (dependent variables) are most effectively
achieved by each type of formal small group communication network.
5. Describe the conditions that foster the growth of a grapevine in an organization.
(2) Ambiguity. Grapevines often occur when there does not seem to be a clear
understanding of how the organization or managers will react in a given situation.
(3) Anxiety. When the situation is important and ambiguous, employees are often
6. Identify and describe common barriers to effective communication.
Answer: (1) Filtering. Refers to senders purposely manipulating information so it
will be seen more favorably by the receiver. (2) Selective Perception. Receivers in
the communication process selectively see and hear based on their own needs,
7. Describe the causes of potential problems in cross-cultural communication.
Answer: Miscommunication can occur because of cultural barriers: (1) Barriers
Caused by Semantics. Some culture-specific words have no literal translation in
Exercises
1. Self-analysis. Have you ever been misinterpreted in an email, TM, or IM because the
receiver could not see your facial expressions or hear your tone of voice? If so,
2. Web Crawling. Using your favorite search engine, enter the phrase “communication
tests,” identify and take three of the free communications tests offered. What did
the tests tell you about your communication style? Write up your results and
compare the tests’ and suggestions with those of the textbook.
3. Teamwork.
a. Telephone I: Line the class up and pass a hard copy of the following message
to the first student in line. That student is to read the message silently, and
then whisper the message into the ear of the student next in line. No
questions are allowed during the course of this activity and the message can
only be passed on (said) once – no repeating.
b. Telephone II: Use whichever of the two messages not used in Phase I and
pass it along in a similar manner. This time however, allow each recipient to
Compare the results of the two Phases. What might account for the
differences?
4. Analyzing Your Organization (Cumulative Project). Discuss with various members of
your organization where they think the communication breakdowns occur, either in
their department or in the organization itself. Analyze their answers in the context
Suggested Assignment
The Importance of Nonverbal Communication. Ask a couple of student volunteers to
participate in a role-playing communication exercise. Print these role scenarios on sheets
Chapter 11 Communication 149
are beginning to wonder (and talk about) why Roger is given the preferential
treatment of being able to come in late and yet still leave on time. You have called
Roger into your office to have a visit with him and indicate that he must come to
work on time, or you will be forced to let him go. Your overall nonverbal messages
need to convey a professional attitude of concern and authority; you must convey to
Roger that his behavior is not acceptable, and must be changed. So how is he to
change it?
5. The Power of Punctuation. Write the following six words on the board without any
punctuation: WOMAN WITHOUT HER MAN IS NOTHING. Ask the students to share
what they believe the sentence to mean. Once the discussion has gone on for a
while, offer to punctuate it this way.
Woman, without her man, is nothing.
Resume the discussion and then change the punctuation to read:
Woman, without her, man is nothing!
Punctuation is the way we place tone and emphasis into writing—can the class see
why nonverbal communication can be problematic?
6. Emoticons. To try to overcome the nonverbal communications problems in emails,
many people have resorted to the use of typographic faces (or “smiley faces”) to
convey the emotion behind their words. How many of these can your class identify?
Chapter 11 Communication 150
Emoticons
#:–o Shocked
%*} Inebriated
%-( Confused
%-6 Brain-dead
>>:–<< Furious
( ) Hugging
/\/\/\ Laughter
8-) Wide-eyed