Communication:
Groups & Teams
HRT 383
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Thank You to…
• Noel Cullen, author of Life Beyond the Line
• Gary Yukl, author of Leadership in
Organizations
• Carol Roberts, presenter of Keys to Powerful
Writing and Interviewing Appreciatively
• Robert Woods and Judy King, authors of
Quality Leadership and Management in the
Hospitality Industry
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Works Cited
 Brownell, Judi. 1987. Listening: The toughest management
skill. The Cornell H.R.A. Quarterly, February 1987: 65-71.
 Decker, Bert. 1992. You’ve got to be believed to be heard:
Reach the first brain to communicate in business and life.
New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
 Decker, Bert. 1996. The art of communicating: Achieving
interpersonal impact in business. Revised edition. Menlo
Park, CA: Crisp Learning.
 www.Quotegarden.com : Listening. Accessed 10/31/03.
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HRT 383 Learning Objective
 Understand the process of communication
and its impact on a system. Identify
techniques of effective communication and
factors that act as barriers.

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What processes?
What system?
What is a barrier?
What is effective communication?
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Common Definitions
 Communicate: to give, share, impart, reveal;
to have something in common with another;
to succeed in conveying one’s meaning to
others
 Communication: transmission, imparting;
giving of information or messages
 Communicating: system of transmitting
messages
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The Basic Process of
Communication
1.
2.
3.
4.
Sender has a message
Sender decides how to express the message
The sender gets the message to a receiver
Receiver hears, sees and/or reads, and
interprets
5. Receiver responds with feedback


Action / Reaction
Questions / Comments
6. Sender gets a message from the receiver
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RKR as a Set of Systems

Recognize the restaurant as a set of systems
and subsystems; analyze the system’s
interrelationships. Be able to diagnose system
breakdowns and prescribe changes.
RKR is a set of systems
A basic subsystem of RKR is
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HOH
FOH
Communication is one subsystem
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Communication:
Subsystem Examples
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Hostess/Host ↔ Guest
Manager ↔ Guest
Server ↔ Guest
Server ↔ Expo
Expo ↔ Line
Manager ↔ Staff (HOH, FOH, All)
Manager ↔ Manager
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Some Possible Barriers
 LANGUAGE BARRIER

avoid long words, jargon, local dialect
 HABIT BARRIER

don’t do everything the same
 DISTRACTION BARRIER

try to remove them or make allowances
 MISUNDERSTANDING BARRIER

slow down and double check.
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Other Barriers:
These May Cause Conflict
 Lack of true dialogue: get to know people, then facts!
 Confusion: unclear terms, goals, or objectives
 Perception: interpretation based on past experiences
(perception is their reality)
 Emotions: confusing facts with feelings (messages get out
of proportion or context)
 Egos: can cloud judgment; may affect what is said and what
is heard
 Feedback is not allowed or ignored: the communication
loop can not / does not close
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What is effective communication?
 How would you define?
 How do you know?
 When is it not?
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Why is communication important?
 Developing KSAs




General Educations
Major Course
Work
Where else?
 In what way?

Verbal & Non-Verbal

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 Discussion
 Debate
 Dialogue
 With whom?
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Dyad
Group
Team
Organization

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Internal
External
Formal presentations
Formal conversation
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Informal conversation
Interpersonal relationships
Written Communication

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Professional
Personal
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Verbal Communication:
Key Points - Discussion
 KEEP TO THE POINT

be as precise as possible
 KEEP IT SIMPLE

use easy words
 SAY OR WRITE WHAT YOU MEAN

there will still be questions
 PLAN YOUR CAMPAIGN

choose best time, mode (e.g. one-on-one vs. group)
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Verbal Communication:
Key Points - Dialogue
 KEEP THE FOCUS ON OTHERS

Your role is to listen without judgment
 WHEN YOU SPEAK, ASK QUESTIONS

Your role is to know more
 DIALOGUE BEFORE “DISCUSSING”

Know the feelings before dealing with the facts
 REQUIRES THINKING AHEAD

Choose best time for both; have the proper mind-set
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Verbal Communication:
Other Aspects
Whether formal or informal:
1. Build rapport with others
2. Listen actively
3. Ask good questions
4. Paraphrase sincerely
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Verbal Communication:
Rapport
Being in sync with other people,
verbally and non-verbally,
so they are comfortable
and have trust and confidence in you
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Verbal Communication:
Active Listening
 Be engaged
 Truly hear and process the message
 Avoid distractions
 More detail to follow…
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Verbal Communication:
Good Questions
 Show sincere interest
 Deliver questions with “life”
 Types of questions:
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Positive questions
Behavioral questions
Situational questions
Probing questions
(The way you ask)
(How would you…)
(In this situation…)
(Elaborate/clarify)
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Verbal Communication:
Paraphrasing
 Listen carefully
 Determine what the message means to you
 Restate the message in your own words to show the
meaning you received from the message
 This is not about your opinion or interpretation –
it’s about what they said!
 Your Goal: “I hear, I understand, I care”
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Verbal Communication:
Sincere Paraphrasing
 This is NOT “What I hear you saying is…”
 State in your own words your understanding of
what another person says or feels
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You feel that…
You mean that…
You think that…
As I understand it…
 Is that right?
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Non-Verbal Communication
 Bert Decker’s book is titled “You’ve got to be
believed to be heard” for a reason!
 He discussed factors

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Eye factors
Energy factors
 What do you see?
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Written Communication
“I never saw a person
who could cram so small an idea
into so many words.”
Abraham Lincoln
From Quotegarden.com
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What?
 Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it
deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod
are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat
ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl
mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.
 Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey
lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Amzanig huh?
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Written Communication:
The Goal in Business
Be Clear
&
Be Concise
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Written Communication:
Hints
 Cut unnecessary words


Few in number
Serve to make reductions in
Few
Reduce
 Use short and powerful words
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Of the 701 words in Lincoln’s Second Inaugural
Address, 505 are one-syllable and 122 are twosyllable
Think about the word “house”
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Written Communication:
Hints
 Do not overuse


That, would, was
Very, quite
 Avoid redundant adverbs and adjectives
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The radio blared loudly
He clenched his teeth tightly
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Written Communication:
Hints
 Prune out qualifiers


Pretty much, kind of, sort of
A bit, a little, rather
 Use the active voice – avoid passive voice

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This paper was written by me vs. I wrote the
paper (passive = 7 words; active = 4 words)
The manager was hesitant to approve vs. The
manager hesitated to approve
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Written Communication:
Hints
 Paragraphs - Topic Sentence

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Clear, concise paragraphs are expected
One topic per paragraph; in the lead sentence
Other sentences offer supporting points: illustrate,
explain, clarify
Final sentence is the spring board to the next paragraph
 When writing, consider the audience

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Who are they?
What are their needs?
What are their expectations and preferences?
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Listening Actively:
The Receiver’s Challenge
"Wisdom is the reward you get
for a lifetime of listening when
you'd have preferred to talk."
- Doug Larson
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Listening
 The most challenging of all communication skills

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Requires focus
Requires practice
 Different degrees
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Passive at one end of the scale
Deeply involved – “Active Listening” – at the other
 Different Ways
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Fact (Discussion or Debate)
Feeling (Debate or Dialogue)
You’ve Got to be Believed to be Heard, pg. 190-192
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Maslow’s Four Stages of Learning
 Unconscious Incompetence
We don’t know what we don’t know
 Conscious Incompetence
We know what we don’t know
 Conscious Competence
We work at what we don’t know
 Unconscious Competence
We don’t have to think about knowing it
The Art of Communicating, pg. 48-49
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The Typical Executive
 Spends 80% of his or her time communicating
 Of that time:

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Listening
Speaking
Reading
Writing
45%
30%
16%
9%
You’ve Got to be Believed to be Heard, pg. 191
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Listening Capacity
 We use only about ¼ of our listening
capacity
 Listening capacity is difficult to measure
 Even without using quantifiable measures,
what if each of us doubled our individual
listening capacity?
You’ve Got to be Believed to be Heard, pg. 191
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Brownell’s Model
 HURIED
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Hearing
Understanding
Remembering
Interpreting
Evaluating
Listening: The Toughest Management Skill, pg. 65-66
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Hearing
 Essential Actions:


Concentrate on what the speaker is saying
Allow the entire message to be delivered without
interruption
 Sender and receiver must be comfortable with
silence
 Avoid Distractions
 “It’s about them, not you!”
Listening: The Toughest Management Skill, pg. 66-67
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Something to ponder…
 Speaking: 130-160 words per minute
 We can process aural information at a rate of
up to 700 words per minute
 On average, we listen three times faster than
most people talk
 What can we do with that unused mental
time?
Listening: The Toughest Management Skill, pg. 66-67
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Effective Team
Communication
 An effective team accomplishes their shared goals
 Building an effective team involves, among other
things:
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Establishing and maintaining mutual trust
A feeling of membership – “sense of belonging”
Sharing or roles and responsibilities
Mutual ownership and accountability
Developing camaraderie
 In part, these are aided by effective communication
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In Closing…
“The most important thing in communication
is to hear what isn't being said.”
Peter F. Drucker
from Quotegarden.com
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