Human-Human Communication
in
Professional Environments
W. J. (Chris) Zhang, PhD, P. Eng
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Email: chris.zhang@usask.ca
Outline:
1. Background
2. Motivation
3. Principle of Human-Human Communication (HHC)
4. Case study
5. Summary
Background
Face-to-face communication
What is the goal
of human-human
communication?
Communication through a media
In professional environments, the goals: accuracy and easy to understand
Background
Aristotle’s theory, circa 220 BCE
Communicator
Creditability, etc.
Message
Logics, etc.
Background, etc.
Audience
H-H communication is not only to exchange information but also
involves the relationship between the communicator and audience
Background
Communication rheology
Communicator
Creditability, etc.
Message
Logics, etc.
Background, etc.
Audience
Background
A: Have you had lunch
B: I got up quite late
A’s mind: guess B has not had lunch; assuming that this
assumption is correct
A: Here there is a tomato, please help yourself
B: Thanks; tomato is a healthy food
A: I think so
Communication rheology
Motivation
1. My own experience as a PhD student 20 years ago in The
Netherlands
2. My own experience as a professor in North America:
Chinese student, Indian students, etc.
3. In the west, character -> intellectual -> communication
EX 1: NSERC scholarship competition: Research (40%),
Leadership (30%), Communication (30%)
Motivation
EX 2: Engineering programs across Canada have a class (3 c.u.) for
human-human communication. Chinese students get average of
60-65% while the class average is about 70%
EX 3: In the engineering program at the University of Saskatchewan,
human-human communication training includes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
one communication class (3rd year)
1st year, design team – peers and presentation
2nd year, design team –peers and presentation
4th year, design team – peers, companies, professors,
presentation
Motivation
EX 4: Employers such as Boeing, National Engineering Accreditation
Board such as CEAB in Canada and the corresponding organization
in the US, Europe all recognize: Communication is a skill that is
seriously missed in contemporary graduates.
Joseph Hoey, “Employer Satisfaction with Alumni Professional
Preparation.”
Three out of Four Say Better Communication Equals Greater
Employee Retention.”
Hudspith, R.D., “Education for Social Responsibility: Two
approaches.”
Motivation
Why does the western engineering education so stress on H-H communication?
1. Activities in business and manufacturing are featured more team work and thus
more human-human communication.
2. Poor communications may cause failures, ineffectiveness and inefficiency, more
seriously,
Human individual with human individual: fighting
Community with community: war
Remark 1: Chinese philosophy and culture on H-H communication:
1. Do more but say less
2. By doing, you show your contribution to audiences but not by saying
3. Asking questions or asking for clarification is discouraged
Motivation
Axiom I: Cannot not communicate
Axiom 2: Establish creditability through communication
Axiom 3: Exert influence through communication
Principle
1. Do not guess and just ask
2. Do not hide your mind and let audience know you
3. Top down development
4. Provide background
5. Always give introduction
Principle 1: Do not guess and just ask
If you are not sure if audience knows about what you said or if
you have a need to know audience’s background knowledge to
understand what you are going to say, you just ask audience:
Can you follow me?
Do I make sense to you?
Is that right?
If you have not understood what others said, you just ask but not
make assumption. For instance, you can always ask audience:
Can you please to rephrase what you said?
Excuse me?
Pardon me?
Principle 1: Do not guess and just ask
A’s mind: guess B has not had lunch; assuming that this
assumption is incorrect
A: Have you had lunch
B: I got up quite late
A: Here there is a tomato, please help yourself
B: Sorry, I have had lunch
Remark 2: In Chinese culture, guess is encouraged. Correct guess is
regarded as a smart behavior, while incorrect guess is neglected
Remark 3: In Chinese culture, asking question is considered as low
intelligent behavior; asking question means less knowledgeable
behavior
Principle 2: Do not hide your mind and let
audience know you
Starting
Audience
White box
End
Principle 2: Do not hide your mind and let
audience know you
Starting
Audience
Black box
End
Principle 2: Do not hide your mind and let
audience know you
Starting
Audience
Black box
End
Principle 2: Do not hide your mind and let
audience know you
Remark 5: Chinese culture generates black-box process – i.e., an
end result only
Remark 6: In Chinese culture, more exposures of minds may be
viewed more chances to make mistakes. Therefore, two options
need to be internally analyzed to present only the best one
Only one person’s view, which may not be the best one from a
team’s view, so the black-box is not helpful to team work
Principle 3: Top down development
Top
Down
Principle 3: Top down development
I saw a man who was my classmate in primary school and was a shy boy
Most important
Less important
Least important
Situation: A and B; B had a delicious lunch with a friend C.
A: Have you had lunch;
B: I had a friend C to visit me and he helped me to cook lunch; we
cooked tomato which is a healthy food. ………?
Not quite clear about whether B had a lunch or not; he had lunch
but he told to A something about how he made lunch
Principle 3: Top down development
Top
Take lunch
Cook food
With a friend C
Tomato
Down
Bottom-up approach is never efficient, as it takes too much
attention from audience, and when it runs to top, audience may not
have enough attention
Principle 4: Provide background
Wang
Top
Wang has no
knowledge of A
Down
Zhang
C
B
A
Zhang has full knowledge
of A, B, C as well as their
aggregation into a
building
Zhang: This building is built upon A, then B and C, etc. In this case, Wang does not have
any idea about A, so his understanding involves a deficient here. Therefore, A should
first give some knowledge of A to Wang
Principle 5: Always give introduction
1
1
2
Introduction
I am sorry, I need to
leave 1 but to 2. I will
be back to 1 very soon
Principle 5: Always give introduction
1
2
3
I met a man who was my classmate in primary school. I want to introduce him
today to you guys.
Before I continue to describe him, let me first explain the
situation where I met him.
It was a yesterday evening, there was a big rain in that area. ……..
He was a shy boy, …..
There is a missing introduction sentence between 1 and 2. In fact, 1
and 3 are connected, while 2 is not connected. Therefore, we can
view 2 as another branch other than 1-3 branch.
Principle
1. Do not guess and just ask
2. Do not hide your mind and let audience know you
3. Top down development
4. Provide background
5. Always give introduction
Case study (e-mail communication)
Example 1:
A: I have completed a report. Please read it.
B: no response (as B thinks: after I completed the reading, I will then respond to A’s)
B fails to follow ‘Do not hide you and let audience know you’ principle. After A
sent the email to B. B does not respond, causing an uncertainty in A’s, as there
are many possible situations: (1) B has not received A’s email, (2) B has received
but B will not read it because B is not interested in it, (3) B has received but B
will read it and will respond to only after reading and B has some comment, etc.
Unless reading it causes no time, B may write to A:
I have got your report and I will read it and give you my comment if any
Remark 7: Chinese culture is such that there is no response. The
first situation is that B will never read it, just forget about it, so no
response. The second situation is that B will need time to read, but
there will be no response until B has completed the reading
Case study (e-mail communication)
Example 2:
A: I have completed a report. Please read it.
B: respond to A as follows:
“I will read it and get back to you with my comments.
Suppose A is very busy and a manager. As a manager, A has communication with
C, D in addition to B. B has made a mistake by violating ‘provide background’
principle. This is because B’s sentence ‘I will read it. ….” is not presented with the
context which is known to B but not necessarily known to A, as he or she may
have forgetten it. Therefore, in B’s response, B should keep A’s message. As such,
it should be
B’s response:
I will read it …..
> I have completed a report. …..
Remark 8: Chinese approach usually
does not include other’s message, e.g.,
cell phone message system
Case study (e-mail communication)
Example 3: Continue Example 2:
B’s response:
> I have completed a report. …..
I will read it …..
B’s response violates ‘top down’ principle. The problem is that A will have to read
his or her past email, which will take him or her extra time. It may be possible
that we they glance their email or read a little bit response of B, they can recall
what they wrote in the past. That is to say, there is no need to ask A to review his
or her past email.
Remark 9: Chinese approach usually puts response at the end.
Case study (e-mail communication)
Example 4:
Situation: A wrote a paper which needs to be revised and submitted to a conference by
August 19. B is A’s supervisor. However, A did not clearly remember this deadline
A wrote to B on a day before the deadline:
Here is a new version of the paper.
A violates the principle of ‘Do not hide your mind and let audience know’ and the
principle of ‘Do not guess and just ask’. In composing A’s email, A assumed that B
knows the deadline. A may have several intentions by sending the revised paper
to B: (a) Please read it again and give me feedback before August 19, (b) Keep it
as a future reference. To B, which one is correct, a or b, is uncertain. So the
correct one is (assuming A has (a) in mind):
I have revised paper, see the attached file. Please read it and revise it if any
before the deadline of August 19.
Case study (e-mail communication)
Example 5:
The role of carbon copy in the email system. The most important benefit with the email
system is that it can allow a group of people to be distributed by message, that is through
cc or Bcc.
Remark 10: Chinese approach seldom uses CC or BCC function in
email communication
Summary
1. What is communication
2. Why communication is important
3. Five principles for effective communication
4. Specific knowledge of email communication
End
Thanks and Questions