MANAGEMENT- COMMUNICATION

Communication

The exchange of ideas, messages, or information by speech, signals, or writing.

Communication Skills

Communication skills are the tools that we use to remove the barriers to effective communication.

Goal

·         The goal of communication is to convey information &

·         the understanding of that information

from one person or group to another person or group.

THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS

The main components of communication process are as follows:

1.         Context - Communication is affected by the context in which it takes place. This context may be physical, social, chronological or cultural. Every communication proceeds with context. The sender chooses the message to communicate within a context.

2.         Sender / Encoder - Sender / Encoder is a person who sends the message. A sender makes use of symbols (words or graphic or visual aids) to convey the message and produce the required response. Sender may be an individual or a group or an organization. The views, background, approach, skills, competencies, and knowledge of the sender have a great impact on the message.

3.         Message - Message is a key idea that the sender wants to communicate. It is a sign that elicits the response of recipient. It must be ensured that the main objective of the message is clear.

4.         Medium - Medium is a means used to exchange / transmit the message. The choice of communication medium varies depending upon the features of communication.

5.         Recipient / Decoder - Recipient / Decoder is a person for whom the message is intended / aimed / targeted. The degree to which the decoder understands the message is dependent upon various factors such as knowledge of recipient, their responsiveness to the message, and the reliance of encoder on decoder.

6.         Feedback - Feedback is the main component of communication process as it permits the sender to analyze the efficacy of the message. It helps the sender in confirming the correct interpretation of message by the decoder. Feedback may be verbal (through words) or non-verbal (in form of smiles, sighs, etc.). It may take written form also in form of memos, reports, etc

FORMS OF COMMUNICATION:

Oral

Oral communication makes up the bulk of business communication today. Effectively communicating orally requires knowledge of the topic at hand, critical thinking ability and great interpersonal skills. Those skilled with oral communication are also typically good listeners who pay attention to verbal and nonverbal communication clues.

Nonverbal

People communicate nonverbally via body language and facial expressions. Eye contact, gestures and proximity to the speaker are all examples of nonverbal communication.  It's important to pay attention to your body language and posture when speaking or listening to someone else.

Written

Written communication in today's workplace commonly takes the form of email. Effective communication and proper etiquette are no less important in electronic form than they are on the written page. Keep business correspondence professional. Use correct grammar, punctuation and spell check every message before sending. Follow the same rules of etiquette in email that you would in any other business setting. Many employees consider email the most effective form of office communication.

  

COMMUNICATION BARRIERS

Communication Barriers are the various obstacles and hurdles which arise in between of an effective communication leading to misunderstandings and misinterpretations by the receiver. They result in distortion of the message and the goal is never accomplished.

Impatient Listener

The listener should be patient enough to absorb the complete information and then respond accordingly. Always jot down your points and start off with your queries once the sender is through with the communication. Don’t jump in between the conversation.

           

Misinterpretation

This can stem from poor communication efforts by the message sender. Language and communication differences are common as companies become more diverse. Additionally, noises and distractions in the work environment can cause confusion during the reception and interpretation of messages.

Low pitch and tone

Sometimes even the pitch and tone can play a communication barrier. Your content might be accurate and related, but if your pitch is low your information will never reach the listeners. The tone has to be very clear and loud for delivering correct information.

Ignoring the content

One should lay emphasis on the content of his speech. The content has to be clear and above all interesting. Don’t just speak; take some time to find out what you are speaking. Don’t make your speech monotonous otherwise the listeners after sometime will definitely fall asleep or bored.

Unorganized Thought

Unorganized and haphazard thoughts also are instrumental in poor communication and a very important barrier to effective communication.

Cultural level

In any organization, an individual can never think on the same line as his boss does. There is always a difference in their thought process.

Lack of Knowledge

 Employees generally lack knowledge about the company, its products and their jobs. This can contribute to poor production, creativity and results within the organization. It can also lead to poor communication and ineffective results during interactions with clients or customers.

7Cs OF COMMUNICATION

The 7 Cs provide a checklist for making sure that your meetings  , emails  , conference calls  , reports  , and presentations   are well constructed and clear ,so your audience gets your message.

According to the 7 Cs, communication needs to be:

Clear.

Concise.

Concrete.

Correct.

Coherent.

Complete.

Courteous.

1. Clear

Your messages need to be clear if they are to be effective. When writing or speaking to someone, be clear about your goal or message. What is your purpose in communicating with this person? If you're not sure, then your audience won't be sure either.

To be clear, try to minimize the number of ideas in each sentence. Make sure that it's easy for your reader to understand your meaning. People shouldn't have to make assumptions on their own to understand what you're trying to say.

2. Concise

If you want your messages to be read by busy people, make them brief. Remove all words phrases and sentences that serve no purpose. You can also eliminate wordiness by substituting one word for wordy, overused expressions.When you're concise in your communication, you stick to the point and keep it brief. Make sure to check,

Are there any unnecessary sentences?

Have you repeated the point several times, in different ways?

3. Concrete

When your message is concrete, then your audience has a clear picture of what you're telling them. There are details (but not too many) and vivid facts, Your message is solid. You have a choice in your writing to use concrete (specific) or abstract (vague) words. However, concrete items terms are typically mare accurate and, in some cases, more believable.

4. Correct

Correctness includes proposes spelling, grammar, punctuation, and format. For spelling, punctuation and grammar.

When your communication is correct, it fits your audience. And correct communication is also error-free communication.

5. Coherent

When your communication is coherent, it's logical. All points are connected and relevant to the main topic, and the tone and flow of the text is consistent. Ideas need to flow from on to the next through smooth transitions. You can achieve this by outlining your messages, writing simple sentences ad focusing each paragraph on one idea.

6. Complete

In a complete message, the audience has everything they need to be informed and, if applicable, take action. Make sure that you included all relevant information, contact names, dates, times and locations etc.

7. Courteous

Your message should be positive i.e. building goodwill and focused upon the reader. Courteous communication is friendly, open, and honest. There are no hidden insults or passive-aggressive tones. You keep your reader's viewpoint in mind, and you're empathetic to their needs.

 IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS:

Communication skills are very important for all managers and leaders.

Good communication skills allow managers and leaders to perform their role more effectively. Their role requires that they communicate. They must communicate many things to many people: they must communicate effectively to the team, to their suppliers, to their customers and financiers.

So it is important that leaders and managers are good communicators.

Communication skills for managers and leaders consist, mainly, of six subset skills:

1.         The ability to set out the goal or the target to be hit.

2.         The ability to communicate the plan of action that, it is hoped will describe successful action, capable of achieving the goal.

3.         The ability to communicate delegated actions: who is going to do which task?

4.         The ability to give corrective critical feedback to the people who are not performing in the proper manner and, in addition, to be able to get them to correct their performance and get "back on track".

5.         The ability to give praise and appreciation to those who are doing a good job.

6.         The ability to communicate the need for constant change, adaptation, refinement and flexibility to the conditions, whilst still remaining faithful to the overall goal and plan.