Communicating in Management

PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT

Chapter 9 – Communicating

The Need to Communicate

          To gain acceptance of the organization’s and his policies, to win the cooperation of his employees, to get ideas and instructions clearly understood, and to bring about necessary changes in performance, a manager has to learn the fine points of communication.

Communicating Defined

 

          Communication is the exchange (sending and receiving) of intelligence, information, or emotions by two or more persons by writing, verbal or non-verbal means.  

Approaches to Communicating

1. Developmental Communication

- The manager assumes that two heads are better than one. He does not think that he is always right.

- He encourages the contribution in the form of suggestions and ideas from other people he works with.

- He strives for the joint understanding of problems and tasks.

- Desirable from the morale standpoint and for the solution of the problem.

- Speed is a negative factor.

2. Controlling Communication

- A manager believes that there are no alternatives to his ideas so he finds no need to consult others.

- He believes that his own ideas or solutions are best.

- Results in speedy action, especially when the manager has complete knowledge and experience of the situation.

- Not effective when there is high resistance to his ideas.

3. Relinquishing Communication

- The manager relinquishes his role as manager.

- He makes few contributions of his own ideas and tries to shift the burden to his employees.

4. Withdrawing Communication

- The manager completely withdraws. He avoids interaction with the people he works with and is simply in maintaining the status quo.

- He neither gives his ideas nor solicits any form others.

- He is not a manager, but simply a presence in the organization. When confronted with crisis, he simply withdraws from it.

Personal Factors Affecting the Quality of Communication

1. Self-Concept. A person with a poor opinion or a negative self-image of himself usually experiences difficulty in communicating with others. A positive self-image is needed for a healthy exchange of ideas and feelings.

2. Coping with Angry Feelings. Communication breakdown is usually the result of angry exchanges. Angry feelings should be expressed constructively rather than destructively.

3. Self-Disclosure. People find it difficult to talk honestly about themselves for fear of being branded too forward or rude. This is especially true among Asians who put a high premium on face-saving. To really communicate, people should learn to talk truthfully about their ideas and feelings.

Suggestions for Effective Communication

1. The message must be clear.

          It must be straight-forward and as logically stated as possible. Adopt the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) formula. The language must be simple and to the point. Use sketches or diagrams and other visual aids that will make the message more interesting and that may help clarify some of the things that are hard to express in words.

2. The message must be complete. 

          It must provide all the information needed, no more no less. Failure to impart complete information to perform a job can be devastating. Extremes – too little or too much information must be avoided.

3. The message must be concise. 

          It must be brief but interestingly presented.

4. The message must be concrete.

          It must not contain any word or phrase which might give rise to ambiguity.

5. The message must be correct.

          It must avoid exaggerations, generalizations or conclusions derived from premises that are far-fetched and secondary.

Improving Communication Climate in Organizations

1. Maintain a strong, decisive, and directional managerial style.

2. Observe an open, trusting, and honest communicative managerial style.

3. Foster close contact with employers and employees.

4. Consult the employers and employees and seek their opinions on issues which affect their working lives.

5. Improve the following:

a. Methods of upward, downward, and inter-departmental communication.

b. Procedures in regular departmental meetings.

c. Industrial relations procedures