Communication
Thursday October 18th, 2007
Alex Hernandez
Summer Johnson
Sean Sullivan
Brent Snead
Class Telephone Demonstration
Lets play…
Explanation Of Demonstration
 And connection to Communication and
Conversational styles
Brent Snead
 Conversational Styles and Conceptual
Background Of Communication
Conversational Styles
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Each individual has their own distinct style of communication.
There are seven different major conversational styles:
1.)
Dominant
2.)
Interruptive
3.)
Manipulative
4.)
Polite
5.)
Creative
6.)
Sarcastic
7.)
Passive
Conceptual Background Of
Elements
 There are SIX elements:
1) Decision
 - Deciding to speak and choosing what
thoughts the individual would like to put
forth in conversation.
2) Encoding
 - The process in which the speaker attempts
to translate his or her thoughts and
perceptions into words.
3)Sending
 - The articulation of the words the
individual would like to convey
4)Channel
 - The message sent travels to the receiver
via a channel, (i.e. sound waves, sign
language, or video recording, and so forth).
5)Decoding
 - A process in which the listener attempts to
understand and interpret what the speaker
has encoded in his or her message.
6)Internal Response
 - The receiver contemplates the message
and has an internal response, (i.e. angry,
upset, relieved, and uninterested).
‘Noise’
 - Factors that negatively influence the effectiveness
of the communication and the interpretation of the
conversation.
 - There are four common sources of ‘noise’
1)Personality
 - The senders past experience provides a frame of
reference for sending the message such as beliefs,
attitudes, and personality.
 -These factors may vary from person to
person and can distort the message
2)Lack Of Skills
 - The sender lacks sufficient skills in encoding. (Can
not put their thoughts into words).
3)External Factors
 - The communication can have noise, such as other
people making a lot of noise, a bad telephone
connection, as well as speech impediments
(stuttering), or distracting mannerisms.
Receivers Past Experiences
 - The receiver’s past experiences form a frame of
reference for receiving and interpreting the message
which can affect the decoding process.
Sean Sullivan
Non Verbal Communication
Non-Verbal Communication
 All aspects of communication other than words themselves.
It includes how we utter words, features of environments that
affect interactions and that influence personal images &
interaction patterns.
Three Types Of Non Verbal
Communication
 1. Kinesics
 2.Proxemics
 3.Paralanguage
Kinesics
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Body language- Shows peoples feelings without
communicating them verbally.
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Physical Appearance- in each culture stereotypes
develop that are based on physical appearance.
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Posture- Slumped posture is a sign of feeling low, fatigued
and inferior whereas and upright posture reflects confidence,
openness and energy. Also the way people walk communicates how
they feel. When people are sad they shuffle along slowly with their
hands in their pockets where as if your happy you walk energized.
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Gestures- many people communicate with gestures
and various body movements. This allows for a person
to show different feelings such as anger, sadness,
sincerity and etc.
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Touching- is a common form of body language. Used to
express affection, to calm, or to interrupt. Hand shakes, hugs,
kissing, pats on back.
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Facial expressions- our face is our most
expressive body part. Eye contact shows interest and
shows that you are listening. Loping looks into another
persons eyes conveys either romantic notions or conflict
and anger.
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Proxemics
 Is the study of how we communicate by the way we use
space- The distance between you and others, how you
arrange furniture, and other objects for social interaction, and
how you respond to the invasion of territory.
A Little Too Close?
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Not Close Enough
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Paralanguage
 * refers to all vocal components of speech. Reflects what a
person is feeling
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* Pitch-the highness or lowness of the sound of your voice
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* Resonance- the richness or thinness of your voice.
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* Articulation- the way you enunciate.
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* Tempo- the speed at which words are spoken
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* Volume- the loudness or softness with which you speak.
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* Rhythm- the emphasis placed on different words and the
cadence of the speech.
Got To Go
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 Importance of Nonverbal Communication
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* Non Verbal communication is essential to fully
understand a message when two or more people are
communicating.
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* Albert Mehrabian (1968) analyzed typical
communication between two people and concluded that the
total impact of the message was divided in this way:
 Verbal (words)
7%
 Paralanguage
38%
 Body Language
55%
Summer
 Listening, Attending, and Responding Skills
Listening Skills Test
Listening…
There is more to it then
hearing
Listening
Attending
Responding
Listening, Attending & Responding
1. Assume the role of the listener
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Listening, Attending & Responding
2. Maintaining eye contact
Eye Contact
No Eye Contact
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Listening, Attending & Responding
3. Avoid word prejudice
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Listening, Attending & Responding
4. Use “minimal encouragers”
(ex: “oh?” and “uh-huh?”)
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Listening, Attending & Responding
5. Paraphrase what was said to
ensure understanding
An elaboration of minimal
encourager
Key phrase plus personal
observation
Listening, Attending & Responding
6. Ask questions to improve clarity of
statement
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Listening, Attending & Responding
7. Use empathy to reflect and share
feelings
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Listening, Attending & Responding
8. Provide feedback
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Listening, Attending & Responding
9. Summarize the content of what
was said
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Research Journal Article:
Title:
Measurement of communication skills.
Journal: International Journal of Listening
Author: Nichols, Ralph
Brown, James I.
Keller, Robert J.
Purpose: Discover if listening skills can be taught
Research Journal Article:
Title:
Measurement of communication skills.
1. Basic methods used:
• Directly trained 2 sections of College students for 6
weeks (This group had the lowest pre-test scores)
• Incidentally trained 2 sections of College students
(This group had the highest pre-test scores)
2. Results:
• Directly trained group made significant gains in scores
during the period of training
• Incidentally trained group did not
3. Major findings:
• No significant differences were noted between
the groups on the post-test results
Research Journal Article:
Title:
Measurement of communication skills
Discussion of results:
oThe findings indicated that listening skills could
be improved by training
What does that mean for us…
…We can improve our listening skills !
•lead to better communication skills
~better listeners to friends / family
~better employees
~better students
~better in many areas of our life
•Help us reach our Peak Performance all around
“The key to being an outstanding communicator is
not so much the words of wisdom that come out
of your mouth, but how well you listen to the words
of wisdom that come out of the mouths of others.”
-Della Menechella
Alex
Steps To Enhance Communication Skills
And Conflict Resolution
Conflict Resolution
 Content Conflict: Disagreement occurs over the perception of
information available
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 Value Conflict: When a person has conflicting values within his or her
own value system.
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Ego Conflict: Ego Conflict is based on win-lose mentality. Hardest type
to resolve.
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Conflict Management Styles
 Withdrawal:When Conflict seems overwhelming, the first reaction is usually
avoidance.
 Surrender:To habitually give into a situation or problem is also construed as a
negative conflict management style.
 Hostile Aggression: Aggression is often used as a form of intimidation to
manipulate others into submissive agreement.
 Persuasion: An attempt to alter another persons attitude or behavior.
 Dialogue: A verbal exchange of opinions, attitudes, facts and perceptions
that opens the doors to greater understandings of the nature of the problem.
Steps To Enhance Communication Skills
From
Negative
To
Positive
1. Speak With Precision And Directness
Select words that accurately describe your thoughts
and feelings.
How are you today?….I’m OK
2.Enhance Your vocabulary
 A small vocabulary decreases the ability to
express yourself, whereas a greater number
of words to choose from provides you with
with greater flexibility to say what you want
to say.
 Sound more professional, classy, educated.
3.Use Language Appropriate For Your
Listening Audience
 Assess which words, expressions, and
gestures are most conductive to getting your
point across.
 Child or Adult
4.Attack Issue Not People
 Avoid Character Assassination. Attacking
people clouds the issue and makes it harder,
if not impossible to resolve issues.
 Not good for effective arguments
5.Avoid Putting Others On The Defensive
 Placing the responsibility of understanding
on yourself rather than blaming others
minimizes defensiveness.
 “I perceive….”
6.Avoid Asking Someone To Pass On Your
Thoughts Or Feelings To A Third Party
 The most effective communication involves
talking with someone face to face.*
 Effective in the workplace.
*But you can still Myspace me and
get a faster response.
7.Avoid Information Overload
 Attention span is limited, as is the amount
of information that can be received and
processed.*
*Like 65 slides on Communication
8.Validate Your Assumptions
 Confirm what you think to be true with
those that have given you this impression.
9.Resolve Problems When They Arise
 If you feel there is a misunderstanding,
there probably is.
 Try to deal with issues as they surface by
talking it out with those involved.
 Drama free zone.
For Skills To Be
Effective, They
Must Be Practiced
Regularly
Fin
Thank You
 The more we remind ourselves of these skills, the more likely we will
use them