COMM80(COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT)

UNIT 1- OVERVIEW OF COMMUNICATION

 What is communication? --derived from the Latin word

‘communicare’ --Meaning to share to exchange to impart to
transmit to participate to make common --information, ideas,
messages
 What is communication? An exchange of… ideas messages
information --between two or more persons --through a medium --in
a manner that the sender and the receiver understand the message
in the common sense --develop common understanding of the
message.
 What is communication? --the transfer of information from a
sender to a receiver, with the information being understood by
the receiver”. — Koontz and Weihrich
 What is communication? --the art of developing and attaining
understanding between people. It is the process of exchanging
information and feelings between two or more people and it is
essential to effective management.” — Terry and Franklin
 What is communication? It involves a systematic and continuous
process of telling, listening and understanding.” — Louis Allen
What is communication? --the process by which people attempt to
share meaning via the transmission of symbolic messages.” —
Stoner and Wankel

Nature of Communication

Communication is a process.
 two-way process
 continuous process
 dynamic process
  Symbolic  Creation of meaning 
 An exchange  Pervasive 
 Verbal and non-verbal 
 Situational and Contextual 
 Transactional 
 Key to mutual understanding 
 Human activity 
 Goal-oriented 
 Means of unifying organizational activities

IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION IN ORGANIZATION

 Planning  Motivating people  Developing job/work satisfaction
 Cultivating commitment to organizational objectives Importance
of Communication  Coordinating organization’s resources 
 Adapting to external environment  Running the organization
smoothly  Creating healthy/harmonious working relationship
Importance of Communication  Performing managerial roles 
Facilitating leadership  Facilitating control  Training and
developing the skills of members  Maintaining the existence of
the organization

The 7Cs of Effective Communication

Clear (Clarity)
 be clear about your goal or message.
 know your purpose in communicating with this person
 minimize the number of ideas in each sentence.
 Do not let the receivers "read between the lines" and make
assumptions on their own to understand what you're trying to say.

Concise (Conciseness)
 Stick to the point and keep the message short.
 Delete unnecessary adjectives and fillers.
 You can often eliminate words like "for instance," "you see,"
"definitely," "kind of," "literally," "basically," or "I mean."
 Are there any unnecessary sentences?
 Have you repeated the point several times, in different ways?

Concrete (Concreteness)
• Specific, definite, and vivid rather than vague and general.
• Uses specific facts and figures.

Correct (Correctness)
• Error-free communication.
• Make sure your message is correct by asking yourself the following
questions:
• Do the technical terms you use fit your audience's level of
education or knowledge?
• Have you checked your writing for grammatical errors?
• Are all names and titles spelled correctly?

Coherent (Coherence)
• is achieved when sentences and ideas are connected and flow
together smoothly.
• lack of coherence in communication can inhibit a reader’s ability
to understand the ideas and main points of the message.
• allows the reader to move easily from one idea to the next, from
one sentence to the next, and from one paragraph to the next.

Complete (Completeness)
• Include all relevant information and necessary details.

Courteous (Courtesy)
• 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.

Unit 1-Lesson 2: Process and Channels of Communication

COMMUNICATION AS A PROCESS
 a sequence of activities where message sent is understood by the
receiver in its intended meaning 
 connects the sender with the receiver of the message.

ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Source/Sender 
 Person who initiates, generates, and sends the message 
 One who represents the source of the message

Message 
 Idea or information the sender wants to convey 
 It should be clear to accomplish the desired objective

Encoding 
 Converting message into codes or tangible forms, or symbols
 Translating message into words, symbols, or gestures to make it
meaningful or combination of theses 
 Codes should be appropriate to the situation, familiar to the
receiver for right interpretation.

Transmission 
 Sending of the message through channel/s 
 Involves selecting the medium or channel of communication

CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION
• Face to Face
• Video conference
• Phone calls
• E-mails
• Text message
• Online message
• Social media

Choice of channel 
 depends on the message to be conveyed 
 biases of the sender, and 
 nature of information (immediacy and confidentiality)
Receiver 
 the person or a group of persons to whom the message is conveyed.
 listener, viewer or a reader.

Decoding 
 giving meaningful interpretation to the message 
 translating the symbols into meaningful information

Noise 
 disturbing factor in the process of communication 
 interferes with effective communication and reduces clarity of
the message

Feedback 
 receiver’s response to sender’s message. 
 It may be through words, symbols or gestures or combination of
these

BENEFITS OF FEEDBACK

• It allows senders to improve communication with the receiver.

• It allows receiver to clarify doubts on the message and, therefore,
perform better.
• Allowing receivers to ask questions builds confidence and they are
more confident of their performance.
• It enables the sender to know efficiency of his message; whether or
not the receiver has understood the message in its right meaning.
Feedback makes the communication process complete.
• In response to receiver’s understanding and suggestions on the
message, sender can adjust the subsequent messages.

CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION

Formal Communication Channel

• It is the official channel of communication controlled by managers
in their official capacity.
• Official information and decisions follow this channel of
communication.
• This channel is officially recognised by the organization
structure, follows the formal chain of command for passing
information, suggestions, orders etc. and defines authority-
responsibility relationships amongst members of the organisation.
•It is a deliberately created path of communication.
•Information flows vertically, horizontally and diagonally along this
path of communication ‘through proper channel’, that is, through
various levels in the organisational hierarchy.

VERTICAL COMMUNICATION
 From one level to the other level
 Downward flow 
 Upward flow
DOWNWARD VERTICAL COMMUNICATION
 From top level manager to middle-level manager to lower-level.
 manager Information communicated 
 goals, policies, directions, instructions
UPWARD VERTICAL COMMUNICATION
 From lower-levels to upper levels 
 Information communicated 
 Reports 
 Problems and concerns 
 Suggestions
 Horizontal Communication 
 Same level 
 Diagonal Communication
 Hybrid between vertical and horizontal communication
 Communication between people of different ranks who are not in
the same chain of command

ADVANTAGES OF FORMAL COMMUNICATION

•Authentic information
 It is an officially recognised path of communication and,
therefore, whatever information flows in whatever direction
(vertical, horizontal or lateral), it is presumed to be
authentic.
•Large geographical area
 Large organizations have branches spread over wide geographical
areas. Formal communication channels spread information over wide
geographical areas.
•Justify organizational hierarchy
 Who is to receive information from whom, where, when and to what
extent is clearly specified in the formal channels.
•Coordination
 Formal channels coordinate the work of other functional areas and
facilitate smooth functioning of the organization.
•Control
 It helps in receiving right information at the right time and
facilitates control of organizational activities.
•Filtering of information
 Only important information which top managers must know flows to
them. They do not have to, therefore, scan every information,
relevant and irrelevant. This saves time which can be spent on
strategic issues.

LIMITATION OF INFORMAL COMMUNICATION

•Information distortion
 When information passes through a number of levels, some of the
information is lost in transit and gets filled by some unintended
information. There may be, thus, information distortion. In some
cases, information up to eighty per cent gets lost on the way.
•Time-consuming
 As information passes through a number of levels, it is a time-
consuming channel of communication.
• Expensive
 It is an expensive channel of communication as it requires a lot
of paper and administrative work.
•Lack of personal touch
 People at the top and bottom communicate with each other through
formal channels only. They do not get to talk to each other
personally. Lack of personal touch restricts free flow of
information in the organization.
 Since formal communication channel cannot be avoided, efforts
should be made to reduce its limitations and make it an effective
channel of communication.

INFORMAL COMMUNICATION
•It is an unofficial channel of communication that arises out of
socio-psychological needs of people to interact with each other.
•It is an important and spontaneous outgrowth of formal channels of
communication.
•It emphasizes more on the person than position.
•It arises when people of common nationality, caste or religion
interact with each other or when they share a car pool or meet each
other regularly in canteens, libraries, bus stands etc.

GRAPEVINE COMMUNICATION
•It is an informal communication network where information flows
freely throughout the organisation.
•It is the most common form of informal communication.
•It connects people in the organisation and transmits information in
every direction: vertical, horizontal and diagonal.
•It cuts across formal positions and facilitates social, personal and
psychological interaction amongst people.
•Though it travels faster than formal communication channel, it also
carries gossips and rumours with it.
•Grapevine communication normally occurs when some change is
introduced in organizational policies (change in office, automation
etc.) and people are located close to each other (as individuals or
groups) in order to discuss matters

FEATURES OF GRAPEVINE COMMUNICATION

•It connects almost everybody in the organization.
•It flows in every direction – vertical, horizontal and diagonal.
•It does not follow the official chain of command.
•It is a fast channel of communication.
•It generally occurs at the work site, though it may occur outside
the organization also.
•It arises out of social and personal interaction amongst people in
the organization.
•It is based on people than task.
•It generally occurs orally.
•It occurs in various forms known as communication chains.

TYPES OF COMMUNICATION CHAIN

Single-strand chain:
•In this chain, information passes from one person to the other in a
sequential order.
•A tells something to B who tells it to C, C to D and so on till the
information finally reaches the person concerned.

Gossip chain
•In this chain, one person passes information to everyone else in
the organization.
•He is not selective about passing the information.
•This information may not be related to work but is of interest to
all.

Probability chain
•In this chain, information is passed randomly by one person to
others.
•These persons further pass information in the same random fashion.
•This information is not significant but is somewhat interesting.

Cluster chain
•In this chain, one person passes information to a selected few
confidentially, that is, communication is done with people whom the
sender trusts.
• Some of them keep the information to themselves and others pass it
to other selected few whom they trust.
•Information of interest is transmitted further and rest is retained
by members.
•It is the most common pattern of grapevine or informal
communication.

MERITS OF GRAPEVINE COMMUNICATION

 Speed 
 Supports formal communication channel 
 Nature of information
 Feedback 
 Human relations 
 Socio-psychological needs
LIMITATION OF GRAPEVINE COMMUNICATION
 Information distortion
 Lack of authenticity
 Holding responsibility Origin of information cannot be known in
this channel. It is, therefore, difficult to hold responsibility
for spreading false information. 
 Incomplete information 
 Lack of evidence

EFFECTIVE USE OF GRAPEVINE COMMUNICATION

•Managers should personally inform employees about organizational

goals, plans, policies, etc. besides communicating them through the
formal channel.
•This will avoid spreading rumours and gossips.
•While communicating with subordinates, managers should maintain
closeness with them.
•Enhance group discussions and activities so that people openly
discuss their formal and informal problems.
•Managers should fix some time, in a week or month, to personally
meet the employees and discuss various formal and informal problems
with them.
•Managers should win the confidence of group leaders so that group
goals are not contrary to individual goals.
•As much as possible, decision-making should be participative in
nature.
•Managers should keep asking the employees about organizational plans
and policies. Regular feedback can improve the organization’s state
of affairs.
•Managers should be good listeners. If they want to be listened to,
they should also listen to others.

UNIT 2 COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT

What is CM?
• Communications Management is the systematic planning, implementing,
monitoring, and revision of all the channels of communication within
an organization and between organizations.
What is CM?
• It is a systematic planning and realization of information flow,
communication, media development and image care in a long-term
horizon.
• It conveys deliberate messages through the most suitable media to
the designated audience at the appropriate time to contribute to and
achieve the desired long-term effect.
• It is a process creation. It has to bring into balance the message,
media, and the audience. It accounts for three processes:
 Plan communications management
 Manage communications,
 and Control communications
• It is a systematic plan which implements and monitors the channels
and contents of communication.
• Communications management, if effective, is considered to be a
lifeline for many projects that an organization undertakes as well as
any department of the organization.

Is the concept of communications management new?

Background of Comm management

• Communications management—any type of communication activity
undertaken by an organization to inform, persuade or otherwise relate
to individuals and groups in its outside environment—is not really
new.
 The act of organizing, at first in clans, families, feudal
structures, required people to communicate with other members of
the organization, as well as those outside the organization.

What created the need to institutionalize communications management

in the 20th century?

Why is it needed?

 The modernization of society, first through farming and trade,

and later through industrialization, created ever more complex
organizations with more complicated communication needs.
 The large industrial corporations that emerged with the
Industrial Revolution—predominantly at the turn of the 20th
century, first in the United States and the United Kingdom, then
spreading out over the rest of the western world, in particular,
required professional communications officers and a more
organized forms of handling publicity and promotions.
 These large and complex industrial firms, and the support of the
society that they have sought, made clear that effective
communication techniques and campaigns needed to be developed by
expert professionals to gain and maintain that support.

Who performed the role of communications manager in the early part of

the 20th century?
What was their role/function?

 Walter Lippmann, in his famed book Public Opinion, wrote in the

early years of the 20th century about this need of modern
industrial organizations for publicity makers and press agents to
inform and persuade the general public and to sell their wares
(goods and services)

What was the initial role of communications management in the early

20th century?
 The development of a publicity man is a clear sign that the facts
of modern life do not spontaneously take a shape in which they
can be known.
 They must be given a shape by somebody, and since in the daily
routine reporters cannot give a shape to facts, and since there
is a little disinterested organization of intelligence, the need
for some formulation is being met by those interested parties.
 Until the early 1900s, organizations hired publicists, press
agents, promoters, and propagandists to this end.

How were the advertisements and press releases made in the early
1900s described?

 These press agents played on the credulity of the general public

in its longing to be entertained, whether deceived or not, and
many advertisements and press releases in those days were in fact
exaggerated to the point where they were outright lies.

What brought about the change/s in the role and functions of

communications management?
What are these changes?

 The age of unchecked industrial growth soon ended, and industrial

organizations in the Western world faced new challenges to their
established ways of doing business.
 The new century began with a cry from ‘muckrakers’- -
investigative journalists who exposed scandals associated with
power, capitalism and government corruption, and raised public
awareness of the unethical and sometimes harmful practices of
business.
 To heed these muckrakers, many large organizations hired writers
and publicists to become spokesperson for the organization, and
to disseminate general information to these muckraking groups and
the public at large so as to gain public approval of its
decisions and behaviour.
 At the same time, while demand still outweighed production, the
growth of many markets stabilized and even curtailed, and
organizations started to hire advertising agents to promote their
products to existing and prospective customers in an effort to
consolidate their overall sales.
 In the following decade, economic reform in the US and UK and
intensified public scepticism brought it home to organizations
that these writers, publicists and advertising agents were needed
on a more continuous basis, and should not just be hired ‘on and
off’ as press agents had been in the past.
 These practitioners were brought ‘in house’, and communication
activities to both the general public and the markets served by
the organization, as a result, became credited as a more full-
fledged functions, rather than just as fragmentary, ad hoc
publicity stunts.
 This development effectively brought the first inkling of
expertise in the area of communications and planted the seeds for
the two professional functions that were to define, for the
majority of the 20th century, how communications management was
approached and understood in organization: public relations and
marketing