Role of Communication

Helps us understand:-

What factors are relevant to this situation.

Objective -

What do I want to accomplish in this situation.

Approach -

Which is the Better way of doing it.

Technique -

What specific methods should I use to solve it.

Communication Defined

“Communication is interchange of thoughts , opinions, information, by speech, writing or signs”

- Robert Anderson

(Professional Selling)

“Purposive interchange, resulting in workable understanding and agreement between the

sender and receiver of a message”

- George Vardman

(Effective Communication of Ideas)

Business Communication Defined

“Business communication is any communication used to build partnerships, intellectual

resources, to promote an idea, a product, service, or an organization – with the objective of

creating value for your business.”

Internal and External Communication

Business Communication encompasses a huge body of knowledge both internal and external for

any business.

Internal communication includes communication of corporate vision, strategies, plans,

corporate culture, shared values and guiding principles, employee motivation, cross pollination

of ideas etc…

External communication includes branding, marketing, advertising, customer relations, public

relations, media relations, business negotiations, etc.

Whatever form it takes, the objective remains the same – to create a business value

Major Classifications:-

Can be classified on basis of..…..

A) number of persons/ receivers to whom message is addressed:-

i) Intrapersonal:- talking to one’s own self.

E.g. Dramatic works.

ii) Interpersonal :-exchange of messages between two persons.

E.g. conversation, dialogue, an interview, some other cases like… an author, a letter etc.

iii) Group:-Can be among small groups like organization, club, class rooms where all individuals

retain their individual identity.

iv) Mass:- occurs when the message is sent to large groups of people

E.g. news paper, radio, T.V etc.

B) On basis of medium employed……

i) Verbal:- means communicating with words, written or spoken

ii) Non verbal :- includes using of pictures signs, gestures and facial expressions for exchanging

information between persons

E.g. personal space, touch, eyes, sense of smell and time.

iii) Meta communication:- the speaker’s choice of words unintentionally communicates

something more than what the actual words state.

Purpose of communication

We generally communicate to :

Inform – directed by desire to expose, develop, and explain the subject

E.g. A simple statement intending to convey the information like an ad on face creams etc.

Persuade – the focus is on the receiver and not the message

E.g. Home loans ad by banks.

We generally communicate to :

Inform – directed by desire to expose, develop, and explain the subject

E.g. A simple statement intending to convey the information like an ad on face creams etc.

Persuade – the focus is on the receiver and not the message

E.g. Home loans ad by banks.

The purpose of communication is to get your message across to others clearly and

unambiguously.

Doing this involves effort from both the sender of the message and the receiver. And it's a

process that can be fraught with error, with messages often misinterpreted by the recipient.

When this isn't detected, it can cause tremendous confusion, wasted effort and missed

opportunity.

Common Problems in Two way communication:

No perceived benefit to the audience

Noise, disturbances-hard to hold attention

Variations in listening skills

Complexity of subject matter/message

Time restraints

Personal biases, hostility

Responding to difficult questions

Sidestepping sensitive issues

Barriers to Communication

Noise

Selective perceptions

Filtering

Information overload

Loss by transmission

Poor retention

Poor listening

Emotions

Lack of planning

Unclarified assumptions

Semantic problems- interpretation of words.

e.g. ‘Run’ has 71 meanings as verbs, 35 as nouns, 4 as adjectives

Cultural barriers

Socio psychological barriers

Goal conflicts

Offensive style

Time and distance

Abstracting – preoccupation/ process of focusing attention on some details and omitting

others

Slanting- giving a particular bias or slant to the reality

Inferring- statements that go beyond facts and the conclusions based on these facts are called

inferences

Characteristics of successful communication

Candidness

Clarity

Completeness

Conciseness

Concreteness

Correctness

Courtesy

Importance of communication in management

Communication skills constitute an important aspect of effective management.

Some important functions of managing are -

forecasting , planning , organizing, instructing, coordinating, controlling.

Communication is the system by which these operations are led and coordinated and the

results fed back

Need for communication in management :- (Advantages)

To increase job performance and effectiveness

To promote employee commitment

To effect changes smoothly

Inform and persuade employees regarding certain decisions and reasons behind.

To help understand role of an individual in an organization

To update employees information about the developmental activities

Reasons facilitating need for corporate communication:-

Size of an organization

New developments in IT

The concept of human capital

Need to learn corporate etiquette - how to greet, shake hands, dress for success, listen

converse with seniors, clients, ladies etc…

Hence the need for man power equipped with these skills are necessary.

Why managers need communication skills

To perform the following roles-

Interpersonal role

Informational role

Decisional role

All these functions are performed with the knowledge of human needs

Communication can be divided into two types:

I) Formal:

a) Line relationship-

Line of authority sets down the path of communication ( general indication

can be “through proper channel” etc..)

b) Functional Relationship-

Occurs when departments inform work and related organizational matters to

each other

c) Staff relationship:-

Supports line management, marketing, and production. For e.g. communication relating to

personnel, public relations, administration etc.

II) Informal :-

Usually flows through ----

Chat :-

Grapevine:- can be attributed to a reliable source

Merits of informal communication:-

Uniting force

Speed

Creation of ideas

Good personal relations

Limitations:

Rumors

Inadequacy

Changing interpretations

Crisis Communication

“A crisis is unpredictable but not unexpected”

- Timothy Combs

Communication in crisis

Definition of a Crisis

Any situation that…

Threatens the operations of an organization

Negatively impacts the reputation of an organization

Affects the lives of beneficiaries, employees or other stakeholders

Can be a natural or man-made disaster

Weather-related, terrorist attacks, arson, IT theft, etc.

Nature of Crises

Incident is brief, but its impact is devastating

Long recovery periods

Response involves:

Reputation repair/communication

Disaster recovery

Continuation of business operations

Pre-crisis Planning

Objective - prevent or lessen the negative outcomes of a crisis and thereby protect the

organization, stakeholders, and/or industry from damage

$ loss

reputation loss

identity altered

Scanning

Definition - Looking out for potential sources of crises

Industry-wide issue analysis

Organization specific issue analysis

Risk assessment (“implicit issues”

Stakeholder relationships

Issue Sources

Newspapers

Business Magazines

TV News

Trade Journals

Public Opinion Polls

Medical/Science Journals

On-line (web pages, newsgroups, etc.

Risk Assessment Sources

Safety/accident records

Ethical climate surveys

Financial audits

Liability exposure

Workers Comp.

Product tampering

Risk audits (70-80%)

Sexual harassment exposure

Assessing situation

Evaluate issues in two dimensions

likelihood

impact

Evaluate risks with risk mgt. grid

Evaluate relational threats

Power(Leverage)

Legitimacy (Value driven)

Willingness (Desire for action)

Designing Tools & Systems

Select Crisis Management Team

Select Spokespersons

Develop Crisis Management Plan

Prepare Crisis Communication System

Crisis Communication Mission

Act in a decisive and timely manner

Educate those affected with accurate, up-to-date information (Proactive Approach)

Involve senior management

Manage reputation of organization

Establish Crisis Communication Team