Chapter 7: Communicating Effectively

Conversational Competence

• Storytelling as a core communication skill; effective use includes storytelling, contrasting ideas, drawing from pain, personal relevance, and repetition to create a "Wow" moment.

• Purpose: Mastering communication through engaging, authentic storytelling.

What is Communication?

• Definition: the $exchange\ of\ information$

• Organizational communication: the study of communication within organizations.

Communication Apprehension

• CA: an individual's level of fear or anxiety with real or anticipated communication.

• Related to audience judgment and self-image.

• Affects communication across contexts (between two people, in teams, during meetings, or when presenting).

$1$-Way vs $2$-Way Communication

• $1$-way: manager sends message; no mechanism for feedback.

• $2$-way: manager sends message and invites questions; feedback confirms understanding.

The Communication Process

• Core elements: Sender → Encoding → Channel → Decoding → Receiver (with Noise in the path)

• Feedback closes the loop and helps assess understanding.

Key Roles in the Communication Process

• Sender: initiates information transfer.

• Encoding: transforming message into signal.

• Channel: medium transmitting the message.

• Noise: any barrier that distorts decoding.

• Decoding: interpreting the received signal.

• Receiver: person(s) who receive the message.

Example of the Communication Process

• Manager announces a meeting; text disruption causes missing time detail (noise).

• Feedback from employee clarifies the time.

Communication Networks

• Wheel, Circle, All-channel, Chain, Y as network structures for messages.

Communication Flows

• External vs Internal communication.

• Downward, Lateral, Upward flows.

Feedback Loop

• Feedback assesses success or failure of the message.

• Essential for adapting and addressing gaps.

Barriers to Effective Communication

• Jargon: field-specific vocabulary.

• Trigger Words: phrases that freeze or shut down dialogue (e.g., Don't be stupid).

Improving Organizational Communication

• Training, Public Speaking, Writing Skills, Cross-Cultural Communication, Customer Service, Interpersonal Communication.

Active Listening

• Three components: $3$ components.

  1. Moderate-to-high nonverbal involvement.

  2. Reflects the speaker's message via paraphrasing.

  3. Asking questions to encourage elaboration.

Active Listening Guidelines

• Empathize: put yourself in the other person’s place.

• Be attentive; avoid daydreaming or interrupting.

• Demonstrate understanding with nonverbal cues: tone, facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, posture.

• Reflect back the key thoughts/feelings; paraphrase carefully.

• Do not interrupt, offer advice, or give unsolicited suggestions.

• Remain neutral; avoid taking sides.

• Ask open-ended questions (e.g., "Can you say more about that?").

Electronic Communication

• Channels: Email & Netiquette; Text Messages; Social Networking (Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn);

• Cyberslacking: using internet for personal use during work hours.

• Videoconferencing.

Communication Challenges

• Nonverbal Communication: body language, posture, distance, eye contact, facial expressions, touch, and voice.

Cross-Cultural Communication

• Definition: compares one culture to another.

• Examples of greetings across languages: CIAO, HOLA, HELLO, BONJOUR, HEJ, SHALOM, SALUT, ALOHA, こんにちは, HALLO, MERHABA, 你好, etc.

Cross-Cultural (Mis)Communication – IKEA

• Product-name misfires in Thailand: "Redalen" and "jatterbra" caused translation issues.

• Local linguists used to avoid translation faux pas.

Cross-Cultural (Mis)Communication – Bing

• Bing’s name in Mandarin could mean illness or pancake depending on dialect.

• Changed to "Biying" to convey a phrase meaning roughly "seek and ye shall find".

Cross-Cultural (Mis)Communication – Mountain Bell

• 1980s ad showing feet on desk offended Saudis; cultural norms prohibiting such behavior.

Guidelines for Cross Cultural Communication

• Nonjudgmental; allow people to explain themselves.

• Tolerance for ambiguity; adapt to uncertainty.

• Display of respect; express respect for other cultures.

• Personalizing knowledge and perception; recognize different worldviews.

• Displaying empathy; put oneself in another's shoes.

• Taking turns; manage interactions carefully.

MYTH-BUSTING

• Nonverbal cues do not have universal meanings across cultures.

• Examples of variability:

  • Eye Contact: what, who, and how long.

  • Touch: handshake, hug, kiss.

  • Par language: pitch, volume, articulation.

  • Gesture: OK sign may be offensive elsewhere.

  • Facial Expressions: meanings vary (e.g., wink).

  • Posture: conveys power, attitudes, civility.

  • Paralinguage: not only what you say, but how you say it (tone, emphasis).