Chapter 8

Communication
Content:
• 1. Communication process
• 2. Formal and informal organization's
communication
• 3. Barriers to effective communication and how
to overcome
• 4. Categories of interpersonal communication
Definition of communication:

Bovee and Thill (2005, p.4)

define communication as
the process of sending and
receiving message.
 Why we communicate?

Control Motivation

Emotional
Information
Expression
Communication Process Components
 Social Context and Sender
• Social context
 The setting in which the communication takes place.
 Will give an impact to the components of the
communication process.
 E.g communication at the health club vs meeting room.

• Sender
 Those who has an idea or concept and wants that
information known to someone else.
 The sender initiates the communication process by
encoding his or her meaning and sending the message
through a channel.
 Encoding and Messages
• Encoding
 A process of converting sender’s ideas or concept into
symbols.
 By encoding, a sender translates his ideas, thoughts and
feelings through languages, words, symbols or gestures that
receivers able to understand.

• Messages
 The tangible forms of coded symbols that give meaning to the
information.
 Channel, Decoding and
Receiver
• Channel
 The carrier of the message or the medium by which the message
is sent.
 Message can be sent through variety of channels, e.g face to
face communication, web sites, telephone, bulletin boards, memo
and fax.
• Decoding
 A process by which receivers interpret and translate the received
message into meaningful information.

• Receiver
 The person to whom the sender directs or send the message.
 Noise and Feedback

• Noise
 Any internal or external interference that distract the
communication.
 Can occur in any part of the communication process.
 E.g message is written in an unclear way, weather is too hot/cold

• Feedback
 The receiver’s response or reaction to sender’s message.
 Feedback helps sender to verify whether the message decoded
by receiver is what the sender really meant to relay.
 EXAMPLE OF THE COMMUNICATIONS MODEL

• Source: Mary
• Encoder: The processing that takes Mary’s thought and converts that to
words and then into the pressing of keys on the computer keyboard
• Message: The text of the email sent . E.g: “Jane, can you meet me for
lunch on Tuesday? Regards, Mary.”
• Channel: The email system
• Receiver: Jane
• Decoder: Jane’s conversion of symbols seen on her
computer screen into an understanding that Mary
wants to know if Jane can meet her for lunch on
Tuesday
 Types of Channel Communication

• 1. Formal Channel Communication

• 2. Informal Channel Communication

• Formal: an official communication network that follows the

chain of command and used by an organization to transmit
information within and outside organization.
2 types: vertical and horizontal (lateral) communication

• Informal: also knowns as grapevines, describe as the

wandering of message throughout the organization
 4 types
 Formal Communication in
Organizations

• Vertical Communication
• Horizontal/Lateral Communication
Formal Communication in Organizations

Vertical communication
Horizontal communication
Formal Communication Flows
 Vertical Communication
• The flow of information both up and down the
chain of command
• i. Downward communication
 Messages sent from individuals at higher levels of the
organization to those at lower levels.
 E.g job instructions and new policy sent through
meeting and official memos
• 2. Upward communication
 Messages sent up the line from subordinates to
managers.
 E.g suggestion from subordinates sent through
suggestion box or group meeting.
 Horizontal / Lateral Communication
• The flow of information that occurs both within
and between departments.
• It enable information to be shared among people on the same
hierarchical level.
• Mostly used among co-workers to share information.
• E.g Production Manager request sales info from Sales
Manager
• Effective organizations encourage horizontal communication
because it increases:
 Coordination, Collaboration and Cooperation
Informal Communication in
Organization/ Grapevines
Informal Communication
in Organizations

Informal communication
Formal communication
Informal Communication / The Grapevine
The Grapevine
 An informal method of transmitting information
depicted as the wandering of messages
throughout the organization
 Flourished from the social relationships that
evolve in the organization
 4 types
Grapevine patterns.
Source: John W. Newstrom and Keith Davis, Organizational Behavior: Human behavior at Work, 9th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993), p. 445. Reprinted with permission.
 Informal Communication / The Grapevine

SINGLE STRAND
• Represent how one person passes a message on to
another, who passes it to another.
• In fact, this chain of communication is the least accurate
in channeling information because information that move
from one to another are added, filtered and passed in the
way the sender would find it interesting and juicy to
convey.
• In this grapevine, Mr. Ali tells Mr. Ben something about
the organization. Mr. Ben then tells it to Chris, Don, Eve
and everyone else in the line. As the information reaches
Jamil, the news is already inaccurate.
 Informal Communication / The Grapevine

GOSSIP
• One person search for information and informs everyone
the information he or she gets.

• This chain is often use to convey information that is

interesting and is non-job-related. The news must be
interesting to hear. As such as Mr. Ali hears it, he quickly
conveys it to as many people, to friends, relatives, and
even to boss.
 Informal Communication / The Grapevine

PROBABILITY

• In this grapevine an individual may have some

information that may not be interesting but useful to
some people.
• He will only relate the information to an individual or
groups who need to know and will benefit from the news.
• The other people who gets the news may tell others at
random, or may not convey it to other people.
• E.g news on increment for the clerical staff is only
conveyed to the clerks
 Informal Communication / The Grapevine

CLUSTER

• In this chain of communication, a person may convey

information to a few chosen individuals. These individual
then pass on the information to a few more selected
individual whom they trust or from specially chosen
individual who they are trying to obtain some favor.
• The information that is conveyed is usually interesting,
job-related and most up to date.
 Barriers to Effective Communication

1. Poor listening
• People spend a lot of time communicating with one
another and yet many individuals are poor listeners.
• This includes the manager himself and employees.

2. Semantic problems
• The usage of words can be a barrier to effective
communication.
• Semantic is the various meaning people attach to
words.
• Certain words maybe interpreted differently by different
people because of individuals past experiences,
educational background, attitudes and perception.
3. Filtering
• it refer to an alteration of information to make it
interesting, positive and acceptable to the receiver.

4. Credibility of the sender

• This means how trustworthy the sender, the source
of the message.
• If the sender is known to be trustworthy, the
information will get to the receiver clearly.
• Where else if the sender has low credibility, the
receiver may ignore the information conveyed to
them.
5.Emotionality
• Emotionality is associated with a person’s feeling of
love, anger, hate, jealousy and fear.
• Ex: A person, who is in an angry mood because of
a family problem, may still look and sound angry
when he is conveying information.
• The receiver who receives the message may also
get upset because he may feel the sender is angry
with him.

6. Noise
• Noise relates to any factor that interferes, confuse
and disturb the message from reaching the
receiver in the way it is intended.
7. Inconsistent verbal and non-verbal communication
• A person conveying information is always said to be
effective when he speaks.
• But the message conveyed are strangely influenced
by his non-verbal actions such as body movement
and gesture.

8. Cross-cultural diversity
• Ethnocentrism, the tendency to consider one’s own
culture and it values as being superior to others.
• Cultural cliff may arise between people from different
geographical/ethic groups within one country as well
as between people from different national cultures.
9. Trust and credibility
• Without trust the communicating process
concentrate their energies on defensive tactics,
rather than on conveying and understanding
meaning.

10. Information overload

• Individuals can experience information overload
when they are asked to handle too much
information at one time.

11. Language characteristics

• Many words/phrases are imprecise. Individuals
often use different meanings or interpretations of
the same word and do not realize it.
12. Gender differences
• Since males and females are often treated
differently from childhood they tend to develop
different perspectives, attitude about life and
communication style.

13.Other factors
• Time pressures, physical distractions, differing
perceptions and noise can all interfere with good
communication.
 OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO EFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION
 1. Obtain feedback- Managers or individual could
encourage receiver by asking them to ask
questions, repeat the message or express action.

 2. Use simple language- It will be good for

managers to use simple language & words that
are common & can easily be understood by all.

 3. Recognized emotions- Managers must be able

to pin-point the feelings of employees behind
words & statement they said.
 OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO EFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION~continue…
• 4. Do not make own conclusion- Manager or individual
need to listen to the full story before making any
conclusion.
• 5. Avoid noise- To avoid noise, one must identify its cause
or sources. Example, a phone should not be placed in a
crowded, noisy area.
• 6. Understand verbal &non-verbal communication-
Managers should understand individuals’ facial
expression, clothes, postures & gesture.
OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO EFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION~continue…

• 7. Create openness, rational & trust-

Subordinates always have fear & a feeling of
insecurity to share their problems.
• So, managers should create an openness
atmosphere, rational & trust so that employees
could talk freely about themselves, their work &
other problems.
Interpersonal Communication
Categories

1. Oral communication: all forms of spoken

information- most preferred type because
allow immediate feedback.
2. Written: written documents, e.g letters, memos
3. Nonverbal: messages that are non-language
responses.
4. Technological: used an electronic device as
the medium, e.g telecommunicating, email,
video conferencing, internet
 Interpersonal Communication Categories

• Face-to-face • Hotlines
• Telephone • E-mail
• Group meetings • Computer conferencing
• Formal presentations • Voice mail
• Memos • Teleconferences
• Traditional Mail • Videoconferences
• Fax machines
• Employee publications
• Bulletin boards
• Audio- and videotapes
THE END