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Practice Being a Manager
COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN
Exercise Overview and Objective
In this role-play students are placed in a rather ambiguous situation. One of the wait staff in a luxury
students the opportunity to practice communicating effectively in a coaching/disciplining situation.
Preparation
No student preparation is required for this exercise. You may want to assign students in advance to small
In-Class Use
Encourage students to carefully read the facts of the scenario (Step 1) before they engage in the role-play.
Communication consultant(s) should be prepared to take notes on the interaction between the wait staff
person and the restaurant manager. These consultant/observers should use the chapter reading as a
framework for their observations/recommendations, and they should make specific observation notes
regarding body language, listening, and degree to which communication is two-way (vs. one-way).
• What challenges face the communication in this scenario?
• Which role was most difficult for you, and why?
• Why is it important for managers to coach and discipline effectively?
• Why might managers avoid (or under-utilize) this form of communication?
Students should recognize that the situation described in Step 1 of this exercise is ambiguous regarding
the wait staff’s behavior and performance. Thus, the manager is taking a risk by moving directly to a one-
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performance. Despite the importance of coaching and discipline, managers may avoid it for a number of
reasons, including a desire to avoid conflict and a desire to be liked and/or admired by employees.
Develop Your Career Potential
I DON’T AGREE, BUT I’M LISTENING
Purpose
To give students the chance to practice active listening skills.
Setting It Up
This assignment works well as a private journal assignment or as an in-class exercise. Active listening
means assuming half the responsibility for successful communication by actively giving the speaker
nonjudgmental feedback that shows you’ve accurately heard what he or she said. Active listeners make it
clear from their behavior that they are listening carefully to what the speaker has to say. Active listeners
put the speaker at ease, maintain eye contact, and show the speaker that they are listening by nodding and
making short statements.
summarize what has been said.
EXHIBIT 15.10 CLARIFYING, PARAPHRASING AND SUMMARIZING
RESPONSES FOR ACTIVE LISTENERS
CLARIFYING
RESPONSES
PARAPHRASING
RESPONSES
SUMMARIZING
RESPONSES
Could you explain that again?
I don’t understand what you
mean.
What you’re really saying is….
If I understand you correctly….
So your perspective is that….
Let me summarize….
Ok, your main concerns are….
Thus far, you’ve discussed….
Source: E. Atwater, I Hear You, revised ed. (New York: Walker, 1992).
Active listeners also avoid evaluating the message or being critical until the message is complete. They
recognize that their only responsibility during the transmission of a message is to accurately receive it and
derive the intended meaning from it. Evaluation and criticism can take place after the message is
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Reflecting feelings is also an important part of empathetic listening, because it demonstrates that you
understand the speaker’s emotions. But unlike active listening, in which you would restate or summarize
the informational content of what had been said, the focus is on the affective part of the message. As an
empathetic listener, you can use the following statements to reflect the speaker’s emotions:
So, right now you’re feeling…
It seems as if you’re…
Do you feel a bit…?
I could be wrong, but I’m sensing that you’re feeling…
Questions
1. Was this discussion different from the way you normally discuss contentious topics with other
people? Why or why not?
Most people are very poor listeners; so having to restate or paraphrase what others have said before
2. Was it difficult to reflect or paraphrase your listening partner’s perspectives? Explain and give an
example.
This is usually much harder than it looks. I demonstrate this to the class by having one listening
couple do a demonstration for the rest of the class in which person A makes a statement which person
3. Did active listening techniques or empathetic listening techniques lead to more effective listening for
you? Explain.
Simply ask your students for their responses and thoughts. The key point here, however, is that as a
Reel to Real – Biz Flix
Because they are so short, the Biz Flix videos are best used to supplement your lesson plans. They are
designed to illustrate the content rather than convey all of the chapter concepts.
Video: Friday Night Lights
Segment Summary:
In the small town of Odessa, Texas, everyone lives for Friday nights when the high school football team,
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Discussion Questions from Text:
1. Both the speaker and the listener(s) are necessary components in the communication process. Coach
Gaines is the speaker and each team member and the assistant coaches are listeners. Only Gaines
spoke. Did he still meet the basic requirements of effective communication? Draw examples from his
speech to support your conclusions.
The communication process involves transmitting information from one person or place to another.
The process begins when the sender, in this case, Coach Gaines, thinks of a message he or she wants
even if he was the only speaker.
2. How well do the members of the team and the assistant coaches seem to be listening to the message
the coach is communicating to them? How can you tell?
3. Assess the effectiveness of the coach’s communication to the team. How do you expect the team to
play in the second half of the game as a result?
This scene demonstrates how communication occurs between a coach and his players and assistant
Additional Discussion Questions:
1. Which type of communication channel is occurring in this scene: upward, downward, horizontal, or
grapevine?
Downward communication flows from higher to lower levels in an organization. Upward
communication flows from lower levels to higher levels in an organization. Horizontal
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2. In your opinion, is Coach Gaines coaching or counseling his players during this scene? Provide
examples to justify your response.
Coaching is communicating with someone for the direct purpose of improving the person’s on-the-job
Reel to Real – Management Workplace
Management Workplace videos can support several in-class uses. In most cases you can build an entire
Video: Plant Fantasies
Managing Communication
Summary:
In a day when companies use Twitter and Facebook to communicate, Teresa Carleo of Plant Fantasies is
agenuine throwback. She doesn’t use social media or email. At first glance, Carleo’s preference for
traditional communication methods seems out of touch with twenty-first century technologies. Far from
Discussion Questions from Text:
1. Why would Teresa Carleo and Steve Martucci favor face-to-face communication over email when
dealing with customers?
Both Carleo and Martucci feel that face-to-face communnucation is ideal for reaching out to
2. Why would Carleo and Martucci prefer to use electronic communication methods for certain types
of communication within the company.
Email is often the best method for transmitting basic information. At Plant Fanatsies, most of the
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3. In the video, Carleo says that she worries that at times she communicates too much. What steps
could she take to confirm that her messages are being heard and understood by others?
As mentioned in the text, there a number of things that Carelo can do to do a better job of managing
one-on-one communication. First, she can choose the right communication medium. She should
Workplace Video Quiz
Video Segment 1
Video segment title
Start time (in sec)
Stop time (in sec)
Quiz Question 1
Option a
Option b
Option c
Option d
Correct option
Feedback for option a
Feedback for option b
Feedback for option c
Feedback for option d
Option b
Option c
Option d
Correct option
Feedback for option a
Feedback for option b
Feedback for option d
Quiz Question 3
Option a
Option b
Option c
Option d
Correct option
Feedback for option a
Feedback for option b
Feedback for option d
Video Segment 2
Video segment title
Start time (in sec)
Stop time (in sec)
Quiz Question 1
Option a
Option b
Option c
Option d
Correct option
Feedback for option a
Feedback for option b
Feedback for option d
Quiz Question 2
Option a
Routine information and tasks
Option c
Hiring and firing decisions
Option d
Interactions with customers
Correct option
a: Routine information and tasks
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Feedback for option a
Quiz Question 3
Option a
Option b
Option d
Correct option
Feedback for option a
Feedback for option b
Feedback for option c
Video Segment 3
Video segment title
Start time (in sec)
Stop time (in sec)
Quiz Question 1
Option a
Option b
Option c
Option d
Correct option
Feedback for option b
Feedback for option d
Incorrect. Email and other forms of digital communication are best suited
Quiz Question 2
Option a
Option b
Option c
Option d
Correct option
Quiz Question 3
Option a
Option b
Option c
Option d
Correct option
Review Questions
1. Describe the perception process.
Perception is the process by which people attend to, organize, interpret, and retain information from
their environments. The stages of the perception process are: 1) attention; 2) organization; 3)
2. What role do perceptions (of oneself and others) play in the communication process?
Perception-based differences can lead to differences in the attributions (internal or external) that
managers and workers make when explaining workplace behavior. In general, workers are more
3. Outline the communication process.
The communication process begins when the sender thinks of a message to convey, encodes the
message (putting a message into a written, verbal, or symbolic form), and then transmits the message
4. Compare formal and informal communication channels.
Formal communication is the communication of organizationally approved messages and
information. The three types of formal communication channels are downward, upward, and
horizontal communication.
5. Explain the difference between coaching and counseling.
Coaching and counseling are two kinds of one-on-one communication. Coaching is communicating
6. What types of communication media can managers use? When is it appropriate to use each medium?
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7. What differentiates constructive feedback from destructive feedback?
Constructive feedback is intended to be helpful, corrective, and/or encouraging.
Destructive feedback conveys disapproval without any intention of being helpful and almost always
8. How can managers increase their chances for successful cross-cultural communication?
Cross-cultural communication involves transmitting information from a person in one country or
culture to a person from another country or culture. To increase the chances for successful cross–
9. How can managers best communicate with people throughout their organization?
Managers can improve organizational communication by getting the message out and improving
reception by finding ways to hear what others think and feel.
To improve transmission, managers need to know how to use a variety of methods in their
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10. Explain how managers can encourage broad-based upward communication.
By contrast, anonymous company hotlines, survey feedback, frequent informal meetings, and surprise
visits help managers avoid organizational silence and improve reception by hearing what others in the
Additional Activities and Assignments
Out-of-Class Project: “Communication Channels.” Divide the class into small groups. Each group
should research a particular organization’s various communication channels and how it uses each channel.
Out-of-Class Project: “Cross–Cultural Communication.” Divide the class into small groups. Each
group should be assigned a particular country and research how people in this country communicate.
In–Class Activity: “Filtering.” The objective of this exercise is to understand how filtering can affect
communication. The exercise will take only 10 minutes and involves an old children’s game called
“telephone.” Divide the class in half. Whisper a phrase or rather complex message (one idea is to recite a
short poem or limerick) into the ear of one person on each team. That person will whisper what he/she
remembers to the next person, and so forth. The last person on each team will then recite what he/she
remembers from that message aloud to the class. This exercise can accompany the discussion of
perceptual filters.
and read about one of the case studies about how coaching and mentoring helped particular individuals.
Summarize the findings of the case and how it demonstrates good one-on-one communication.
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providing feedback. Summarize the article in a one-page paper. Be sure to include your own thoughts or
insights about the topics and whether you agree or disagree with what the article has to say.
business with other countries. Select one country and research how communication styles may differ from
that of your own country. Write a two-page paper highlighting your findings. (Hint: You may not find an
exact link called “communication” and will have to read all the different sections, such as negotiating, to
find information about communication. Since communication pervades many aspects of doing business in
that culture, you can find relevant items in each area.)
Corporate Communication. Go into the Web site of any well-known company and evaluate its external