MASTERS PROGRAM

KAMPALA UNIVERSITY-HOPE UNIVERSITY

MOGADISHU, GARROWE and HARGEISA SOMALILAND

COMMUNICATION SKILLS
• MBA, MDS, MPA ,MEPM & MIRD

Lecturer: Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud.

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 Follow this Learning Outline as you read and study this chapter.

Understanding Communications
• Differentiate between interpersonal and organizational
communication.
• Discuss the functions of communication.

The Process of Interpersonal Communications

• Explain all the components of the communication process.
• List the communication methods managers might use.
• Describe nonverbal communication and how it takes place.
• Explain the barriers to effective interpersonal communication and
how to overcome them.
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 Follow this Learning Outline as you read and study this chapter.

Organizational Communication
• Explain how communication can flow in an organization.
• Describe the three common communication networks.
• Discuss how managers should handle the grapevine.
Understanding Information Technology
• Describe how technology affects managerial communication.
• Define e-mail, instant messaging, blogs and wikis, voice-mail, fax,
EDI, teleconferencing, videoconferencing, web conferencing,
intranet, and extranet.
• Explain how information technology affects organizations.

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 Follow this Learning Outline as you read and study this chapter.

Communication Issues in Today’s Organization

• Discuss the challenges of managing communication in an Internet

world.
• Explain how organizations can manage knowledge.
• Explain why communicating with customers is an important
managerial issue.
• Explain how political correctness is affecting communication.

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 What Is Communication?
• Communication
– The transfer and understanding of meaning.
• Transfer means the message was received in a form that can be
interpreted by the receiver.
• Understanding the message is not the same as the receiver
agreeing with the message.
– Interpersonal Communication
• Communication between two or more people
– Organizational Communication
• All the patterns, network, and systems of communications within
an organization

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What is communication?/highlight skills!

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Listening for Understanding

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Four Functions of Communication

Control
Control Motivation
Motivation

Functions
Functionsof
of
Communication
Communication

Emotional
Emotional
Information
Information Expression
Expression

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 Functions of Communication

• Control
– Formal and informal communications act to control
individuals’ behaviors in organizations.

• Motivation
– Communications clarify for employees what they
have done, how well they have done it, and what
can be done to improve performance.
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 Functions of Communication (cont’d)

• Emotional Expression
– Social interaction in the form of work group
communications provides a way for employees to
express themselves.

• Information
– Individuals and work groups need information to
make decisions or to do their work.
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 Interpersonal Communication
• Message
– Source: sender’s intended meaning
• Encoding
– The message converted to symbolic form
• Channel
– The medium through which the message travels
• Decoding
– The receiver’s retranslation of the message
• Noise
– Disturbances that interfere with communications

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Exhibit 11–1 The Interpersonal Communication Process

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 Distortions in Communications
• Message Encoding
– The effect of the skills, attitudes, and knowledge of the
sender on the process of encoding the message
– The social-cultural system of the sender
• The Message
– Symbols used to convey the message’s meaning
– The content of the message itself
– The choice of message format
– Noise interfering with the message

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 Distortions in Communications
(cont’d)
• The Channel
– The sender’s choice of the appropriate channel or multiple
channels for conveying the message
• Receiver
– The effect of skills, attitudes, and knowledge of the receiver on
the process of decoding the message
– The social-cultural system of the receiver
• Feedback Loop
– Communication channel distortions affecting the return message
from receiver to sender

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Interpersonal Communication Methods
• Face-to-face
• Telephone • Hotlines
• Group meetings • E-mail
• Formal presentations • Computer conferencing
• Memos • Voice mail
• Traditional Mail • Teleconferences
• Fax machines
• Videoconferences
• Employee publications
• Bulletin boards
• Audio- and videotapes

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 Lecture III

• Lecture III and IV

• This is slides are Lectures 3 and 4

• I have also included lecture 2 in case
you missed it
 IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION
 Communication is the means by which people are linked
together in an organization to achieve a common
purpose.

 It is process by which ideas are remitted to other for the

purpose of affecting a desired result.

 Communication relates the organization with the

external environment.

 Communication facilitates managerial functions such as

planning, organizing, directing and controlling.
 Objectives of communication:

 Communication enables to give and receive information,

advice, order, suggestions, persuasion, education, warning,
motivation, etc.

 without communication not even the firs steps can be

taken toward human cooperation, and it is impossible to
speak about organizations without speaking about
communication.

 Communication is indispensable in every managerial

function:
Objectives of communication (Cont”)
• --to develop the plans, to disseminate any information
down in the form of orders, policies, procedures, and then
to get information from bottom up reports, it is necessary
to establish an effective communication system.

 In business, management is principally getting things done

through and with people; this is achieved by carrying out
managerial functions.

 Managers perform different roles such as interpersonal,

informational and decisional.
 Objectives of communication (Cont”)
 Although communication applies to all phases of
managing.
• It is particularly vital in the function of leading. In their
leadership role, managers give orders, motivate
employees, give instructions, consul, and reprimand and
negotiate.

 Effective communication has become extremely vital in

today’s business as a result of:
• a) Business has grown in size
• b) Business activities have become complex and specialized
 Objectives of communication (Cont”)
• c) Business has become very competitive

• d) Human relation function has become complex,

understanding and cooperation, highly depend on effective
communication.

• Principles of Effective Communication

• The following are vital principles of communication.

• Clarity of thought-what, why, how, when, where;

 Principles of Effective Communication
• The following are vital principles of
communication.

a) Clarity of thought-what, why, how, when, where;

b) Clarity of expression- simple words, correct expressions,
avoid jargons and ambiguity.
c) Completeness
d) Correctness
e) Brevet
f) Attentiveness-both in sending and receiving
g) Integrity-be in conformity with organizational objectives
and policies
 Principles of Effective Communication
• h) Timeliness- outdated information has no importance
• i) Objectivity-be factual, avoid emotions and prejudice
• j) Adaptability-suit it to the audience
• Since the majority of our communication is face-to-face
verbal communication, the most effective way in this
type of communication is LISTENING
 The communication process
• The major variables in the communication process include:
• a) Stimulus and motivation
• a) Encoding
• b) Choosing media / channel
• c) Decoding
• d) Feedback

a) Stimulus and motivation:

 A bodily or mental activity has to be started in order to be in
need of communication idea.
 Doubts, ambition curiosity, etc stimulate thought and then
that trigger communication.
 The communication process
• The stimulated person has to be motivated to
communicate.

b) Encoding:
• after being stimulated and motivated to communicate,
the sender must decide how best to convey a message.

 Encoding is the process of putting a message into a form

in which it is to be transferred.
 It is translating and idea into a message.
 The communication process
c) Choosing media / channel:
• The channel is a vital factor for the success of communicating
a message.

 Face to face discussion, memorandum, magazines, radio,

newspaper, telephone, television, is among vital media of
communication.

 Which channel or medium to use is determined by: the need

for an immediate feedback, degree of importance of the
message, need for a permanent record, need for formality,
required degree of accuracy, cost of the medium, etc?
 The communication process
d) Decoding:
• When the encoder message is picked up, the receiver
tries to make sense out of it; that is to decode it.

 This is process by which the receiver assigns meaning

to the symbols transmitted by the sender.

 It is a process of translating a message into and idea.

 The communication process
e) Feedback:
Feedback is the reaction that the receiver has to message.

It helps to evaluate the effectiveness of communication.

That is, it shows whether the message has been transmitted accurately
and completely.

 Feedback helps to improve future communication process because it

helps to understand existing problems.

• The communication process will also be affected by other factors as

well. These include: -
 The communication process
1) The code of the transmission of the message, i.e. the symbols
that carry the message is a vital part. It can be verbal,
nonverbal or paralanguage.

2) The frame of reference, i.e., the people attitudes, culture,

background, race, sex, etc. all interfere with the communication
process.

3) Noise is also another factor. It refers to anything that interferes

with the communication process and distorts and blocks the
message. It can be external such as phone ringing, talk of
people, heat, etc. or internal such as receiver mental and
physical conditions as daydreaming, preoccupation, health
problem
 Types of communication

 Communication can be classified based on a number of

dimensions such as direction of flow, media of
transmission, and channel use.

 Based on the direction of flow in the organization

hierarchy communication can be classified into:
• Downward communication
• Upward communication
• Horizontal communication
 Types of communication
A)Downward communication.
Here, messages flow from people at higher levels in the
organizational hierarchy down to the subordinates.

 It has s an objective of giving directions, orders disseminating

policies, procedures, appraise of performance, or giving other
information.

 It can be oral-instructions, speeches, meetings, telephone, etc.

 written, memoranda, letters handbooks, pamphlets, policy

statements, etc.
 Types of communication
B) Upward communication.
 Here, messages travel from subordinates to superiors and continue
up the organizational hierarchy.

 This includes reports, suggestions, complaints, grievances, etc.

C) Horizontal or crosswise communication:

It includes the horizontal flow of information with people on the
same or similar organizational levels, and diagonal flow, with
persons at different levels who have no direct reporting relations.

It is used to speed information flow to improve understanding and

to coordinate effort.
 Evaluating Communication Methods

• Feedback • Time-space constraint

• Complexity capacity • Cost
• Breadth potential • Interpersonal warmth
• Confidentiality • Formality
• Encoding ease • Scan ability
• Decoding ease • Time consumption
Interpersonal Communication (cont’d)
• Nonverbal Communication
– Communication that is transmitted without words.
• Sounds with specific meanings or warnings
• Images that control or encourage behaviors
• Situational behaviors that convey meanings
• Clothing and physical surroundings that imply
status
Interpersonal Communication (cont’d)
– Nonverbal Communication
– Body language: gestures, facial expressions, and other
body movements that convey meaning.
– Verbal intonation: emphasis that a speaker gives to
certain words or phrases that conveys meaning .
– Note: these change with cultures and the same
body/sign language could have a complete different
meaning between different cultures.
Interpersonal Communication Barriers

National
Culture Emotions

Language Interpersonal Information

Communication Overload

Defensiveness
 Barriers to Effective Interpersonal
Communication
• Filtering
– The deliberate manipulation of information to make it appear
more favorable to the receiver.
– For instance, politicians usually manipulate their speeches to
their advantage.
• Emotions
– Disregarding rational and objective thinking processes and
substituting emotional judgments when interpreting
messages.
– For instance, if you are upset with someone, sentences that
are usually normal to you will seem negative, because of your
anger towards that person
 Barriers to Effective Interpersonal
Communication (cont’d)
• Information Overload
– Being confronted with a quantity of information that
exceeds an individual’s capacity to process it.
• Defensiveness
– When threatened, reacting in a way that reduces the
ability to achieve mutual understanding.
• Language
– The different meanings of and specialized ways (jargon)
in which senders use words can cause receivers to
misinterpret their messages.
 Barriers to Effective Interpersonal
Communication (cont’d)
• National Culture
– Culture influences the form, formality, openness,
patterns and use of information in
communications.

• Think about at times when you experienced

such barriers and how you can overcome it!
Overcoming the Barriers to Effective
Interpersonal Communications
• Use Feedback

• Simplify Language

• Listen Actively

• Constrain Emotions

• Watch Nonverbal Cues