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Chapter Objectives
 Identify each major link in the communication
process.
 Explain the concept of media richness and the LengelDaft contingency model of media selection.
 Identify the five communication strategies and specify
guidelines for using them.
 Discuss why it is important for managers to know
about grapevine and nonverbal communication.
 Explain at least four ways managers can encourage
upward communication.
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Chapter Objectives (cont’d)
 Explain how to deal with information overload and
outline a workplace policy for social networking sites.
 List two practical tips for each of the three modern
communication technologies (e-mail, cell phones, and
videoconferences) and summarize the pros and cons of
telecommuting.
 Specify at least three practical tips for improving each
of the following communication skills: listening,
writing, and running a meeting.
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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The Communication Process
 Communication
 The interpersonal transfer of information and
understanding from one person to another

Links in this social process include sender, encoding,
medium, decoding, receiver, and feedback
 The communication process is only as strong as its
weakest link
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Figure 11.1:
The Basic Communication Process
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Encoding
 Translating internal thought patterns into a language
or code the intended receiver of the message will likely
understand and/or pay attention to
 Choice of words, gestures, or other symbols for
encoding depends on the nature of the message.



Technical or nontechnical
Emotional or factual
Visual or auditory
 Cultural diversity can create encoding challenges.
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Selecting a Medium
• Face-to-face
conversations
• Bulletin boards
• Telephone calls
• Organizational
• E-mails
publications
• News releases
• Press conferences
• Advertising
• Memos
• Letters
• Computer reports
• Meetings
• Photographs
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Selecting a Medium
(cont’d)
 Moving between low- and high-context cultures can
create appropriate media selection problems.
 In low-context cultures, the verbal content of the
message is more important than the medium through
which it is delivered.
 In high-context cultures, the context (setting) in which
the message is delivered is more important than the
literal words of the message.
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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A Contingency Approach (Lengel and Daft)
 Media richness: A given medium’s capacity to convey
information and promote learning
 Characteristics of rich mediums
 Provide simultaneous multiple information cues
 Facilitate immediate feedback
 Have a personal focus
 Characteristics of lean mediums
 Convey limited information (few cues)
 Provide no immediate feedback
 Impersonal in nature
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Figure 11.2: The Lengel-Daft
Contingency Model of Media Selection
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Decoding
 Successful decoding depends on the receiver having:
 A willingness to receive the message
 Knowledge of the jargon and terminology used in the
message
 An understanding of the sender’s purpose and
background situation
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Feedback
 Appropriate forms of feedback are determined by the
same factors that govern the sender’s encoding
decision.
 Feedback affects the form and content of follow-up
communication.
 Effective feedback is timely, relevant, and personal.
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Noise
 Noise is any interference with the normal flow of
communication.
 A speech impairment, garbled technical transmission,
negative attitudes, lies, misperception, illegible print or
pictures, telephone static, partial loss of hearing, and
poor eyesight all qualify as noise.
 Understanding decreases as noise increases.
 To deal with noise:
 Make messages more understandable.
 Minimize and neutralize sources of interference.
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Communication Strategies
 Spray & Pray
 Passive receivers are showered with information
 Tell & Sell
 A restricted set of messages with explanations for importance
and relevance
 Underscore & Explore
 Give-and-take strategy for communicating key issues
 Identify & Reply
 Responding to employee concerns about prior
communications
 Withhold & Uphold
 Telling employees only what they need to know when you
think they need to know it
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Figure 11.3:
Clampitt’s
Communication
Strategy
Continuum
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Communication Strategies
(cont’d)
 Seeking a Middle-Ground Communication Strategy
 Avoid Spray & Pray and Withhold & Uphold.
 Use Tell & Sell and Identify & Reply sparingly.
 Use Underscore & Explore as much as possible.
 Merging Communication Strategies and Media
Richness
 Managers need to select the richest medium possible
when employing Tell & Sell, Identify & Reply, and
Underscore & Explore strategies.
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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The Grapevine
 The grapevine is the unofficial and informal
communication system in an organization.
 Words of Caution About the E-Grapevine and “Blogs”
 Web logs (“blogs,” or online diaries) vastly and
instantly extend the reach of the grapevine.
 Writers of blogs and senders of e-gossip leave
electronic trails that may prove embarrassing or worse
at a later date.
 Lawmakers, ethics specialists, and company policy
makers are racing to catch up with new technology.
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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The Grapevine
(cont’d)
 The Grapevine has a Positive Side Despite It’s Bad
Reputation
 Managers have predominately negative feelings about
the grapevine.
 The grapevine is more prevalent at lower levels of the
managerial hierarchy.
 The grapevine is likely to be more influential in larger
organizations.
 Grapevine communication is usually accurate and can
help managers learn how employees truly feel about
policies and programs.
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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The Grapevine
(cont’d)
 Coping with the Grapevine
 The grapevine cannot be extinguished.
 Attempts to stifle the grapevine are likely to stimulate
it instead.
 Monitoring and officially correcting grapevine
information is perhaps the best strategy for coping
with the grapevine.
 “Management by walking around” is an excellent way
to monitor the grapevine in a nonthreatening manner.
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Nonverbal Communication
 Body Language
 Nonverbal communication based on facial expressions,
posture, and appearance
 Types of Body Language
 Facial
 Gestural
 Postural
 Appearance
 Receiving Nonverbal Communication
 Awareness of nonverbal cues can give insight into
deep-seated emotions.
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Table 11.1: Reading Body Language
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Nonverbal Communication
(cont’d)
 Giving Nonverbal Feedback
 Nonverbal feedback from authority figures
significantly affects employee behavior.
 Positive feedback builds good interpersonal relations.
 Sensitivity and cross-cultural training can reduce
nonverbal errors when working with individuals from
other cultures.
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Upward Communication
 Upward Communication
 The process of encouraging employees to share their
feelings and ideas with management.
 Options for improving upward communication:







Formal grievance procedures
Employee attitude and opinion surveys
Suggestion systems
Open-door policy
Informal meetings
Social media
Exit interviews
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Communicating in the Digital Workplace
 Digital technology has been revolutionary for the
computer, telecommunications, consumer electronics,
publishing, defense, and entertainment industries
 Communication objectives:
 Effectively use the communication technologies at our
disposal
 Prepare for those technologies to come
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Communicating in the
Digital Workplace
(cont’d)
 Dealing with Information Overload
 Clear objectives and priorities sharpen one’s focus and
foster selective perception amid clutter and noise
 Developing a Workplace Policy for Social Networking
 Online social networking by employees is common,
controversial, and poorly controlled
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Table 11.2: Policy Guidelines for Using
Social Networking Sites at Work
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Communicating in the Digital
Workplace
(cont’d)
 Getting a Handle on E-Mail
 Put short messages in the subject line.
 Be sparse with graphics and attachments.
 Hello! Can We Talk About Cell Phone Etiquette?
 Advantages = mobility and convenience
 Disadvantages = distracted drivers and disturbing calls
in public places, with the risk of disclosing private
information
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Table 11.3: How to Compose
a CLEAR E-Mail Message
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Table 11.4: Five Commandments
of Cell Phone Etiquette
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Communicating in the
Digital Workplace (cont’d)
 Videoconferences
 A live television exchange between people in different
locations
 Can reduce costly and possibly dangerous travel time
 Telecommuting
 Sending work to and from one’s office via a computer
modem while working at home
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Table 11.5: Telecommuting
Promises and Problems
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Becoming a Better Communicator
 Effective Listening
 Tolerate silence; keep listening.
 Ask stimulating, open-ended questions.
 Encourage the speaker with attentive eye contact, alert





posture, and verbal encouragers.
Paraphrase what you have just heard.
Show emotion to show your sympathy with the speaker.
Know your biases and prejudices.
Avoid premature judgments.
Summarize by reiterating what the speaker said.
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Becoming a Better Communicator
(cont’d)
 Effective Writing
 Keep words simple
 Don’t sacrifice communication to rules of composition
 Write concisely
 Be specific
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Becoming a Better Communicator
(cont’d)
 Purposes of Meetings
 Categories of Meetings
 Find facts.
 Daily check-in
 Solve problems.
 Weekly tactical
 Pass along information.
 Monthly strategic
 Quarterly off-site
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Becoming a Better Communicator
(cont’d)
 Conducting Successful Meetings










Meet for a specific purpose
Distribute the agenda in advance of the meeting
Communicate preparation expectations to attendees
Limit attendance to essential personnel
Open with a brief overview; review important items first
Deal with the most difficult/challenging items early in the
meeting
Encourage participation but keep to the agenda
Limit use of visual aids
Clarify after-meeting action items
Follow a specific start and end time and follow up
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Summary
 Modern technology has made communicating easier
and less costly, with the unintended side effect of
information overload.
 Media richness is determined by the amount of
information conveyed and the amount of learning
promoted.
 Organizational communication is typically too
haphazard.
 The unofficial and informal communication system
that sometimes complements and sometimes disrupts
the formal communication system is the grapevine.
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Summary
(cont’d)
 Upward communication can be stimulated by using
formal grievance procedures, employee attitude and
opinion surveys, suggestion systems, an open-door
policy, informal meetings, Internet chat rooms, and
exit interviews.
 Information overload is a by-product of the digital
communication age.
 E-mail, supposedly a real time saver, has quickly
become a major time waster.
 Listening, writing, and running a meeting are essential
skills for managers.
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Terms to Understand
 Communication
 Upward communication
 Media richness
 Exit interview
 Noise
 Videoconference
 Grapevine
 Teleworking
 Body language
© 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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