Role of Workplace Interpersonal Communication: Management Communication

Management Communication - the Role of Workplace Interpersonal Communication

Communication, in simple terms, refers to "the process of sending and receiving messages" (Bovee & Thill, 2008, p. 2). Baack (2012); Bovee and Thill (2008) agree that there are two major facets of organizational communication -- internal communication (exchange of ideas and information within the boundaries of an organization) and external communication (exchange of information beyond an organization's borders). Internal communication can further be divided into interpersonal communication (between individuals) and communication within the organization; whereas external organization can be subdivided into communication across domestic borders and communication across international borders (Baack, 2012). Researchers and scholars alike contend that achieving success in the marketplace today is dependent upon one's ability to communicate effectively with different audiences.

Effective Communication in Business Settings

Numerous views have been put forth to explain what exactly constitutes effective communication. A widely-accepted view is that communication is only effective if a message reaches the intended recipient, and the recipient then interprets it correctly and gives the right feedback. In a business setting, this translates to a message being understood, and subsequently, stimulating action or encouraging "the audience to think in new ways" (Bovee & Thill, 2008, p. 3).

Researchers have split this model of effective communication into numerous rudiments, which are often summarized into a six-stage procedure as explained below.

Sender generates thought: the sender conceives an idea, perhaps about an inquiry production, an order, or a request, in their mind and wishes to share it.

Sender encodes thought: the thought conceived is ambiguous and cannot be communicated unless it is put into a receivable form. The sender encodes it by means of language, transforming it into a receivable message. If an employee, for instance, thinks of a proposal that could increase the organization's sales, he would encode his thought by putting it on paper in the form of a business proposal, which he would then present to his supervisor.

Sender transmits message: the sender selects a suitable communication channel, through which to transmit the message to the receiver. This could be anything, from a telephone, facial gesture, e-mail, etc.; the choice of media depends on a number of factors, including the degree of urgency, the formality required, the available media, the recipient's location, etc.

Noise and barriers: the sender faces numerous barriers in transmitting the message to the recipient;

i) On his side -- barriers during the process of encoding could be caused by anything from poor language to typing mistakes, lack of concentration, or distractions.

ii) In the medium - barriers during transmission could be caused by misprinting in newspapers, poor TV transmission, etc.

iii) On the sender's side -- the recipient could create barriers resulting from lack of concentration, emotions, poor reading ability, etc.

Receiver decodes message: the receiver interprets the sender's message by converting the language in which it is presented into thoughts, through the decoding process.

Receiver sends feedback: after decoding the message, the receiver responds to it to complete the communication process. The receiver's response, which can be negative or positive, is used to assess the effectiveness of the communication process. Whether the recipient interprets the message correctly, and hence, sends the correct feedback depends on, among other things, how the issue of noise has been addressed. Fig 1.1 summarizes this whole process

Fig 1: Diagrammatic Representation of the Communication Process

Feedback

Idea received

Decoding

Transmission via media

Encoding

Sender's thought

Noise/barriers

Themes of Effective Business Communication

Baack (2012) puts forth six trends that in his view shape the area of business and management communication, and which every communication practitioner ought to be familiar with. The six -- "diversity; globalization and outsourcing; pace of life and work; evolving workplace technologies; influence of social media; and ethical challenges," the author posits, "have reshaped the ways in which many jobs are performed and the management processes that guide employees" (p. 8).

Bovee and Thill (2008) integrate the six trends above to produce five themes that contribute to effective communication in the organizational/business setting:

1. Committing to ethical communication -- recognizing ethical dilemmas and ethical lapses and making ethical choices, guided by the organization's code of conduct

2. Adopting an audience-centered approach - caring about and focusing on one's audience; and making effort to pass a message across in a way that demonstrates respect.

3. Improving one's intercultural sensitivity -- recognizing and being sensitive to cultural differences by overcoming ethnocentrism and the tendency to judge others based on stereotypes or one's own standards.

4. Improving one's workplace sensitivity -- the workforce today is largely diverse; it is composed of people of different educational backgrounds, religions, family structures, cultures, ages, genders, and races. The only way to work with such diversity is to recognize them, be flexible, look beyond superficial differences, and withhold judgment.

5. Using communication technology effectively

The Seven C's of Business Communication

Seven best practices that form the basis of effective business communication:

Correctness: correctness in communication is achieved through use of correct language level and accurate facts/figures, as well as the maintenance of acceptable communication mechanics, including grammar rules, spelling, punctuation, composition, and sentence structure. The communicator should paint a complete picture so that all circumstances and facts are understood. It is better to accept that you do not know something than give inaccurate figures (Goldberg, 2012).

Clarity: communication should embrace logic; it should eliminate irrelevance and "be focused -- with no question about the intention or the objective" (Goldberg, 2012, p. 1). Clarity is achieved through use of short, familiar, and conversational words.

Conciseness: communication should focus on useful words; conciseness keeps the audience interested and engaged (Goldberg, 2012). Concise communication is free from unnecessary repetition, trite expressions, and irrelevant facts.

Completeness: communication is complete if it satisfies the 5W's to Where, When, What, Who, and Why. If for, instance, we are placing an order for merchandise, it has to specify What we want, When we want it, Where it is to be delivered, and How payment will be made.

Concreteness: communication should be specific and certain; this adds conviction to the message and increases the sender's credibility. One way to achieve concreteness is by quoting actual/specific facts and figures.

Consideration: a communicator should "talk to the audience, rather than with the audience" (Goldberg, 2012, p. 1). Talking to the audience makes listeners connect with the speaker, engaged, and comfortable enough to speak their minds out. Consideration is achieved by adopting a 'You' attitude, showing interest in the customer, applying integrity to the message, and emphasizing the positive.

Courtesy: to be effective, communication has to be two-way; it should be professional, yet approachable and friendly. Courtesy in communication is particularly crucial to business settings; the slogan the 'Customer is Always Right' only depicts that a discourteous service provider cannot succeed in the buyer market today. Courtesy is demonstrated through handling customers with the right technique; apologizing to the customer in case expectations are not met; and replying to mails/queries in a timely fashion.

Interpersonal Communication

Sethi and Seth (2009) define interpersonal communication as "the procedure by which people swap information, feelings, and impart through verbal and non-verbal messages" (p. 32). It has three fundamental characteristics; i) communication is face-to-face; ii) communication is from one person to another; and iii) the content and the communication form are reflective of the personal characteristics, social roles, and relationships of the individuals (Sethi & Seth, 2009). In an organizational setting, interpersonal communication could be supervisor-employee, employee to employee, or supervisor-team of employees (Baack, 2012). The role of such communication, however, differs between managers and employees, particularly because the two publics carry out different roles.

The Role of Interpersonal Communication

i) To the Manager

Managers need to communicate with their employees as well as with each other for there to be cohesion at the workplace. Interpersonal communication is crucial to a manager in a number of ways, including:

Goal-Setting: organizations often have goals, both formal and informal, that they seek to accomplish over a certain period of time. These objectives may be anything from improving service to customers, increasing employee satisfaction, achieving market dominance, improving product quality, or achieving certain pre-determined financial results. Interpersonal communication helps to make such objectives known to employees, and consequently, to get all members working towards their achievement.

Strategy Formulation and Decision-Making: in order for the objectives to be achieved, strategies have to be formulated. Strategy-formulation involves collecting facts, weighing alternatives, and asking questions, all of which require consultations with other managers, and top-down communication with employees.

Appraisal: once strategies have been implemented, management has to determine whether or not the desired outcome is being achieved. This involves evaluating such measures as inventory levels, productivity, market share, sales, costs, etc., and compiling reports that have to be communicated to members though AGMs, manual papers, memos, etc.

Building Strong Manager-Employee Work Relations: employees who relate well with their managers are often more satisfied with their jobs and organizations by extension; and feel more comfortable giving their views on how the organization could be improved.

ii) To the Employee

Teamwork: interpersonal communication helps to build positive work relations among colleagues, and consequently, making it easier for them to work together in a team.

On-the-Job Promotions: finding a job may not be as difficult as trying to win a promotion. In order for one to be promoted, they must demonstrate some extra skills. Bovee and Thill (2008) express that effective communication is one of those skills. An employee who reports properly, and speaks well during presentation and interactive sessions stands a high chance of winning an on-the-job promotion should an opportunity present itself.

Interpersonal communication, evidently, is of great relevance in the operation of organizational and business settings. However, as Baack (2012) points out, its significance is only relevant if barriers are overcome, and subsequently, effectiveness is achieved. The author posits that "both senders and receivers have a responsibility to overcome any barriers" that may pose hindrance to the communication process (Baack, 2012, p. 24). I personally value communication, because it gives me an opportunity to share my views with others and at the same time, gain knowledge from them. Interpersonal communication has formed the basis of my social life, and this far, I can describe myself as a good communicator, although there still is room for improvement.

As a sender, I reduce noise by first acknowledging the existence of barriers, and then trying to fit into the receiver's situation. This helps me to connect with my audience, and in the process, understand their perspectives and points-of-view. From the position of receiver, I try to minimize the extent of noise through both empathy and active listening. Some of the strategies I employ to optimize listening include ignoring phone calls during conversations, maintaining eye contact with the speaker to keep focus on the conversation, keeping an open mind and going easy on criticism, only making follow-ups when opportunity arises; and most importantly, concentrating on the flow of the "conversation rather than focusing on bits of information or past parts of the conversation" (Goldberg, 2012, p. 3).

The Effect of Diversity on Interpersonal Communication

Bovee & Thill (2008) express that international business is in a transition thanks to the growing global economy and the fast-developing technology. Businesses are working across borders to meet environmental demand, and are in the process increasing the complexity of the workplace through high degrees of employee interaction and interdependence in the form of virtual and physical work teams (Bovee & Thill, 2008). The workforce is becoming increasingly diverse; organizational teams are made up of individuals of different religions, ethnicities, knowledge and education levels, skills, expertise, cultures, and so on. Researchers contend that teams that incorporate such diversity often have high levels of talent and effectiveness. However, whether or not this talent contributes towards the accomplishment of organizational goals depends on how well an organization can respond to the inter-cultural differences.

International and Intercultural Interpersonal Communications

Organizations adopt different techniques of responding to issues posed by cultural diversity in the modern workplace. Cultural sensitivity training and cultural assimilation are among the most common intercultural strategies (Baack, 2012). Cultural sensitivity training programs seek to heighten intercultural interpersonal communication skills in managers and employees by increasing awareness in one's own worldview, increasing knowledge about international cultural practices, helping members analyze their reactions to cultural differences, and building/refining cross-cultural skills among members (Baack, 2012).

Assimilation programs, on the other hand, are meant to help expatriate employees adapt to new cultural environments (Baack, 2012). Cultural assimilators prepare such employees for new environments by increasing their knowledge on the customs and cultural practices of the people in the proposed host countries (Baack, 2012). For instance, whereas it is normal to open a gift presented to you by someone during an official meeting before the end of the session in the U.S.; the practice is insulting and totally unacceptable in the Korean culture (Baack, 2012). This is the kind of information a cultural assimilator acquaints expatriate employees with. This text explores the role/importance of international and intercultural interpersonal communications within the context of conflict resolution

Responding to Cultural Diversity: Conflict Resolution

As mentioned earlier on, the workplace is becoming increasingly diverse; when people with different values, priorities, and preferences come together, disagreements and conflicts are deemed to arise. Resolution of workplace conflicts "is an important management communication activity" (Baack, 2012 p. 48). Job satisfaction and employee retention depend, to a substantial extent, on the effectiveness of management's conflict resolution procedures.

Hendel, Fish and Gallon (2005) posit that conflict is an inevitable component of human existence; and that people can only understand and manage it, but not avoid it. They identify three strategies that conflicting parties can adopt in dealing with disagreements and misunderstandings; the win-lose strategy; the lose-lose strategy; and the win-win strategy.

The win-lose strategy: this approach is based on the 'fixed pie' assumption; what one party benefits from is exactly what the other fails to benefit from or loses. It works by compelling one side to capitulate. It is very often done through secret techniques, threat, and innuendo, though there always is room for socially-accepted mechanisms such as authority of the leader, majority vote, or determination by a judge. The approach often culminates in a victor, who is seen as superior; and a disgruntled loser, who withdraws unsatisfied and prepares heavily for round 2; the organization suffers in the end, and therefore, this cannot be termed a very effective method.

The lose-lose approach: conflict is resolved through the easiest of compromises; each party gets their needs partly satisfied, and resigns itself to that, unaware that a more satisfying solution may have been reached had the conflict been confronted more cooperatively.

The win-win approach: the goals of both parties are maximized through collaborative problem-solving. The parties somehow come together in agreement to fight against a common enemy, which is the conflict. In this case, attention is paid to maintaining the long-term relationship of the parties rather than achieving short-term satisfactions. To this end, the strategy often requires a high degree of patience and sharp problem-solving skills. Negotiation, arbitration, and mediation are the most common methods under this approach (Goltsman, Horner, Pavlov & Squintani, 2009).

Negotiation: in this case, the conflicting parties sit together and settle differences on their own (Goltsman et al., 2009).

Arbitration: the conflicting parties appoint a person of integrity, a neutral third party to help them resolve their differences (Goltsman et al., 2009).

Mediation: the conflicting parties designate a mediator to assist them to not only resolve their differences, but also come up with common ground for mutual satisfaction (Goltsman et al., 2009). A mediator, unlike any arbitrator, offers solutions and sees the opposing parties through the process of drafting their final settlements (Goltsman et al., 2009).

Verbal and Non-Verbal Interpersonal Communication

Organizations make use of both verbal and non-verbal communication to pass messages across (Zeki, 2008). Verbal communication is communication that takes place by means of words or a language; whereas non-verbal communication makes no use of words or language and instead relies on facial expressions, movements, postures and gestures. Verbal communication can either be written, involving speaking and listening; or oral, involving reading and writing. Bull (2001) points out that the use of non-verbal communication in organizational settings is increasing because non-verbal messages are sometimes clearer and more accurate than verbal messages. For this reason, this text will focus more on non-verbal communication.

In addition to being more accurate than verbal communication, non-verbal communication enjoys three fundamental advantages (adopted from Bull, 2001);

i) Reliability -- non-verbal cues are higher in reliability than verbal forms of communication; it is difficult to hide facial expressions such as joy and sadness, but it is relatively easy to control words.

ii) It complements verbal communication - a speaker's appearance and body language support their verbal communication. A smile, for instance, goes a long way in getting the audience to connect with a speaker, as well as the message they are passing across.

iii) Speed -- using a nod to express acceptance takes less time than using words, written or spoken, to communicate the same; non-verbal communication, in this case, saves time.

Six functions of non-verbal communication can be drawn from Bull's analysis (Bull, 2001);

i) Providing information, either unconsciously or consciously

ii) Facilitating specific tasks for instance, teaching a person

iii) Expanding, contradicting, complementing, and qualifying spoken word

iv) Expressing emotion

v) Regulating conversational flow

vi) Influencing or controlling others.

The Effect of Technology on Interpersonal Communication

As mentioned earlier on, technology is transforming the area of business and management interpersonal communication; and changing among other things, the way formal meetings are conducted and work teams governed. Presentations are now a common way of passing ideas across in formal interactive sessions, including meetings and conferences. Developing an effective presentation is the first step towards catching management's attention and winning on-the-job promotion should an opportunity arise.