After completing this chapter, students should be able to:

 Describe the communication process

 Differentiate between formal & informal organization
communication
 Explain the barriers to effective communication and how to
overcome them
 Identify how effective communication could be achieved
 Discuss the categories of interpersonal communication
 “The process by which people seek to share meaning via the
transmission of symbolic messages” (Stoner & Gilber, 1986)

 “The exchange of messages between people for the purpose of

achieving common meanings” (Bartol & Martin)

 Communication is simply means the process of exchanging

information which involves the process of sending & receiving
information.
 Another kind of communication occur in organization
communication is “interpersonal communication”

 Interpersonal communication- involves the process of sending

& receiving messages among individuals & groups when people
talk, write & use body language in exchanging information.
 Face-to-face  Hotlines
 Telephone  E-mail
 Group meetings  Computer conferencing
 Formal presentations  Voice mail
 Memos  Teleconferences
 Traditional Mail  Videoconferences
 Fax machines  FB
 Employee publications
 Bulletin boards
 Audio- and videotapes
 Managers communicate for various
purposes:
 Providing information to conduct &
perform tasks
 Giving instruction or commanding action
 Assist managers in coordinating the work
so that the organization goals can be
achieved
Source: Adapted from Stoner
 Sender: Anyone who wants to convey or seek
information, idea or concept to another
person. In an organization, the sender can be
the manager, subordinates, customers,
suppliers.

 Receiver: The person to whom the sender

directs or sends the message. The number o
receiver to the message can be one, two or
many people.
 Message: An idea, concept or information
formulated by the sender to be sent to a
receiver. Example: a message may be in
spoken words, written.

 Channel/Medium: The medium carrier which

a message travels. For example, telephone &
paper can be use as a channel to send
information.
 Encoding: Selecting the symbols to compose
a message. It involves the sender translating
the information into a symbol or series of
symbols before transmitting them to the
receiver.

 Decoding: Translating the symbols used in a

message with the aim of interpreting its
meaning.
 Feedback: It is the receiver’s response or
reaction to the sender’s message. This means
upon receiving a message, the receiver will
have to response by giving some action.

 Noise: Disturbances that interferes or

become a barrier to the message reaching
the receiver.
Forms or types of communication

2 types of communication:

 Verbal communication

 Non-Verbal communication
• Is a way of transmitting message by means of
spoken words, writing letters, memo, newsletter,
bulletin board, etc

• In organization, verbal communication is the normal

and formal form of communicating

• Managers send information either by letters, memo,

newsletter, phone calls, fax or email

• They do this to make sure the message is received

and understood by the receiver, by setting feedback
from the receiver
1. It is forms a record and evidence.

2. If the messages need to be referred to in the

future, the information that is well kept can
easily be retrieved (recover).

3. Verbal communication through a face to face

meeting does not only speed up the
exchanges of ideas and information but it
also fast in getting direct feedback.
 Non-verbal Communication

• It is the exchange of information or transmission of

message by means of gestures and to express
feeling and emotion of individual.

• All messages that are non-language responses.

Non-verbal communications category:

1. Facial expression and movement

The movement of the person’s head and a
particular look on the individuals face.

2. Voice Tone
The volume, pitch, quality and speech rate of an
individual may transmit nervousness, confidence,
enthusiasm and excitement.

3. Posture
The positioning of the body line standing, straight
and opening of the arm can indicate confidence or
in confidence.
 Cont’d…
4. Hand gesture
It includes movement of the hand.

5. Body Placement
It refers to an individual’s placement of one’s body
relative to another individual.

6. Clothing, dress and appearance

The way a person dresses and sets her appearance
may convey a message as to how she feels.
 There are 2 main channels of communication:
 Vertical communication- A communication system in
which messages or information move upward &
downward.
 Upward communication-Information move from
lower level to higher level members.
 Downward communication- Managers pass the
information down to all employees.

 Lateral/ Horizontal communication- Movement or flow

of information between individuals at the same level.
 Informal communication- also known as “grapevines”.
 The messages passed among the members are likely to be
inaccurate (tidak tepat) & also distorted (putar belit).
 There are 4 types of grapevines chains which managers
should know:
 Single Strand – Information passes along a chain from one
person to another (least used)
 Gossip Chain – One person telling all the others
 Probability Chain – Passing information on a random basis
 Cluster Chain – One person passing the information to a
group of people (most used)
Single Strand
 This grapevine, Mr. (A) tells Mr. (B) something about
the organization. Mr. (B) then tells it to (C), (D), (E)
and everyone else in the line.
 As the information reaches (J), the news is already
inaccurate/incorrect.
 In fact, this chain of command is the least accurate in
channeling information because information that
move from one another, are added, filtered and
passed in the way the sender would find it interesting
and ‘juicy’ to convey.
 Single strand – Straight Line Travel
Gossips

 This chain is often using to convey information

that is interesting and is non-job-related.
 The news must be interesting to hear.
 As such when Mr. A hears it, he quickly
conveys it to be as many people, to friends,
relatives and even to the boss.
 One person tells many.
 Gossip – originates at single source
Probability

 Individuals may have some information that may

not be interesting but useful to some people.
 He will not only relate the information to
individual/groups that 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.
 Information is mildly interesting but significant.
 Probability – Random Passing
Cluster
 A person may convey information to a few
chosen individuals.
 These individual then pass on the
information to a few more selected
individuals 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.
 The dominant grapevine pattern.
 Cluster – selective - most common
 Barrier 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 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.
 Obtain feedback- Managers or individual could
encourage receiver by asking them to ask
questions, repeat the message or express action.
 Use simple language- It will be good for
managers to use simple language & words that
are common & can easily be understood by all.
 Recognized emotions- Managers must be able
to pin-point the feelings of employees behind
words & statement they said.
 Do not make own conclusion- Manager or individual need to listen
to the full story before making any conclusion.
 Avoid noise- To avoid noise, one must identify its cause or sources.
Example, a phone should not be placed in a crowded, noisy area.
 Understand verbal &non-verbal communication- Managers should
understand individuals’ facial expression, clothes, postures &
gesture.
 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.
 Achieving Effective Communication

Individual Skill Organization Skill

Develop good listening skills Follow Up
Encourage two way Regulate information flow
communication
Be aware of language and Understand the richness of
Meaning media
Maintain credibility
Be sensitive to receivers
perspective
Be sensitive to sender
perspective
 Achieving Effective Communication

More Effective Listening Less Effective Listening

Active and Focused Passive and Laid back
Pay attention Easily Distracted
Ask Questions Ask No Questions
Keep Open Mind Keep Close Mind
Assimilates Information Disregards Information
Griffin
WALLAHUA’LA
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