Understanding Communication Methods and Types

• Communication is sharing ideas, experiences, knowledge, and feelings through symbolic messages.
• Communication is typically via spoken or written words, pictures, or symbols.
• Body language, gestures, looks, and facial expressions also convey information and feelings.

Common Ways to Communicate

• Spoken Word
• Written Word
• Visual Images
• Body Language

Types of Communication

• Downwards Communication: Directive communication from seniors to subordinates to assign duties, give instructions, provide feedback, and highlight problems.
• Upwards Communication: Non-directive communication from lower levels to inform about progress/problems and seek approvals.
• Both upwards and downwards communication is known as vertical communication.
• Lateral or Horizontal Communication: Occurs among colleagues at the same level for information sharing and coordination, saving time.
• Crosswise/Diagonal Communication: Communication across all levels and functional departments in an organization.

Conceptual Background Elements

• There are six elements to the conceptual background of communication
• Decision
• Encoding
• Sending
• Channel
• Decoding
• Internal Response

Decision

• Involves deciding to speak and choosing the thoughts to express in a conversation.

Encoding

• A speaker translates thoughts and perceptions into words.

Sending

• Articulating the chosen words to convey a message.

Channel

• The means by which the message travels to the receiver, such as sound waves, sign language, or video recording.

Decoding

• The listener attempts to understand and interpret the speaker's encoded message.

Internal Response

• The receiver contemplates the message and has an emotional reaction.

Noise

• Factors negatively influencing communication effectiveness and interpretation.
• Includes personality, lack of skills, external factors, and receivers past experiences

Noise - Personality

• A sender's past experiences shape their beliefs, attitudes, and personality, which can distort the message.

Noise - Lack of Skills

• The sender lacks sufficient encoding skills and has difficulty to put thier thoughts into words

Noise - External Factors

• Communication may be affected by external noise, bad connections, speech impediments or distracting mannerisms.

Noise - Recievers Past Experience

• Past experiences shape how a receiver interprets messages, potentially affecting the decoding process.

Non-Verbal Communication

• Includes all communication aspects other than the words themselves.
• Encompasses tone, environmental features, and personal image effects on interactions.

Types of Non-Verbal Communication

• Kinesics
• Proxemics
• Paralanguage
• Haptics
• Objectics
• Chronemics
• Oculesics
• Olfactics

Non-Verbal Communication - Kinesics

• Body language that shows feelings without verbalizing them.
• Slumped posture can indicate feeling low, while upright posture shows confidence.
• Gestures and body movements are used to communicate various emotions like anger, sadness, and sincerity.

Non-Verbal Communication - Haptics

• Communication through touch to express affection, calm someone, or interrupt.
• Examples include handshakes, hugs, kissing, and pats on the back.

Non-Verbal Communication - Facial expressions

• Eye contact indicates interest and attentiveness.
• Looking into someone's eyes can convey romance, conflict, or anger

Non-Verbal Communication - Proxemics

• Study of communication through the use of space.
• Considers distance between individuals, furniture arrangement, and responses to territorial invasion.

Non-Verbal Communication - Chronemics

• Study of the communicative function of time in nonverbal communication.
• An individual's perception, structure, and reaction to time serves as a communication tool.
• Cultural time perception affects nonverbal communication, punctuality, willingness to wait, and interactions.
• Time perceptions can impact lifestyles, agendas, speech speed, movements, and listening duration.

Non-Verbal Communication - Oculesics

• Involves the transmission and reception of meaning through eye contact without words.
• Also the study of eye movement, eye behavior, gaze, and eye-related nonverbal communication.

Non-Verbal Communication - Paralanguage

• Paralanguage (Vocalics) refers to all vocal components of speech and reflects feelings

Non-Verbal Communication - Olfactics

• Use of smell, where different cultures vary in their approach to natural and artificial body odors.

Importance of Nonverbal Communication

• Essential for fully understanding a message.
• Albert Mehrabian's 1968 analysis indicates message impact is distributed as follows:
  • Verbal (words): 7%
  • Paralanguage: 38%
  • Body Language: 55%

Listening, Attending, and Responding

• There is more to listening than just hearing

Key Elements in Effective Listening

• Listening
• Attending
• Responding

Steps in Responding

• Assume the role of the listener
• Maintain eye contact
• Avoid word prejudice
• Use "minimal encouragers"
• Paraphrase what was said to ensure understanding
• Ask questions to improve clarity of statement
• Use empathy to reflect and share feelings
• Provide feedback
• Summarize the content of what was said.

Research Journal Article

• Measurement of communication skills by Nichols, Ralph, Brown, James I., and Keller, Robert J.

Research Journal Article - Methods

• Directly trained 2 sections of College students for 6 weeks (This group had the lowest pre-test scores)
• Incidentally trained 2 sections of College students (This group had the highest pre-test scores)

Research Journal Article - Results

• Directly trained group had significant gains in scores during the period of training
• Incidentally trained group did not

Research Journal Article - Findings

• No significant differences were noted between the groups on the post-test results
• Listening skills can be improved by training

Conflict Resolution

• A disagreement over the perception of information
• Value Conflict: When a person has conflicting values within their value system.
• Ego Conflict: A win-lose mentality that is the hardest type of conflict to resolve

Conflict Management Styles

• Withdrawal: Avoiding conflict when it seems overwhelming.
• Surrender: Habitually giving to avoid constued conflict
• Hostile Aggression: Using intimidation to manipulate others into submissive agreement.
• Persuasion: Altering another person's attitude or behavior.
• Dialogue: Exchange of opinions, attitudes, facts, and perceptions to understand the problem.

Steps to Enhance Communication Skills

• Speak with precision and directness
• Enhance vocabulary
• Use Language Appropriate For Your Listening Audience
• Attack Issue Not People
• Avoid Putting Others On The Defensive
• Avoid Asking Someone To Pass On Your Thoughts Or Feelings To A Third Party
• Avoid Information Overload
• Validate Your Assumptions
• Resolve Problems When They Arise

Enhancing Communication - Speak with Precision and Directness

• Select words that accurately describe your thoughts and feelings.

Enhancing Communication - Enhance Vocabulary

• A larger vocabulary enhances the ability to express more greater flexibility.
• This sounds more professional, classy, educated.

Enhancing Communication - Use Appropriate Language

• Assess which words, expressions, and gestures are most conductive to getting your point across.

Enhancing Communication - Attack the Issue, Not People

• Avoid Character Assassination. As attacking people clouds the issue, making it harder to resolve.
• Attacking people not good for effective arguments

Enhancing Communication - avoid putting others on the defensive

• Placing the responsibility of understanding on yourself rather than blaming others minimizes defensiveness.

Enhancing Communication - Avoid Third Party

• Most effective communication involves talking with someone face to face.
• This is very effective in the workplace

Enhancing Communication - avoid information overload

• Attention span is limited, as is the amount of information that can be received and processed.

Enhancing Communication - Validate Assumptions

• Confirm what you think to be true with those that have given you this impression.

Enhancing Communication - Resolve Problems

• If you feel there is a misunderstanding, there probably is.
• As the first step try to deal with issues as they surface by talking it out with those involved.
• Keep it drama free

Skills Efficacy

• Practicing the said skills regulary is the key to for skills to be effective