SESSION 11

Critical Thinking and

Communication for Managers
(Term 1)

By: Dr. Rinki Dahiya

Assistant Professor
Indian Institute of Management Sirmaur
CONTENTS:

Communication- basics:

• Concepts of communication

• Overview of popular theories (Weber’s classic organizational theory of fixed

structures, Tompkins and Cheney’s organizational control and communication theory
and Deetz’s managerialism theory)

• Essential components of communication process

• Self-assessment of communication skills

Lisa works as a Brand Executive with a reputed multinational firm. She
was asked to deliver a presentation on her assignments and
achievements. Her appraisal was due that month, and she did not get her
promotion. No points for guessing, her presentation played the culprit.
Her thoughts were not at all clear and she could not express her views in
front of her boss and the top management.

Such is the importance of communication or to be very precise effective

communication.

Let us first try to find out what communication actually is ?

Understanding Communication:

A famous quote says - “The way we communicate with others and with ourselves
ultimately determines the quality of our lives”

The process of passing any information from one person to the other person with the
aid of some medium is termed as communication.

Sender ----------------------------------- Receiver

  Information  

Chester Barnard believes that “in the exhaustive theory of organization, communication
would occupy a central place because the structure, extensiveness and scope of
organizations are almost entirely determined by communication techniques”

The essence of communication is sharing— providing data, information, insights, and

inspiration in an exchange that benefits both you and the people with whom you are
communicating.
Definitions of Communication:

Some popular definitions of communication are given below:

1. “Communication is a way that one organisation member shares meaning and

understanding with another.” -Koontz and O’Donnell

2. “Communication is the process of passing information and understanding from

one person to another.” -Keith Davis

3. “Communication is the sum of the things one person does when he wants to
create understanding in the mind of another. It is a bridge of meaning. It involves
a systematic and continuous process of telling, listening and understanding.”
Louis A. Allen

Communication might be defined as the transfer of – facts, information, ideas,

suggestions, orders, requests, grievances etc. from one person to another so as to
impart a complete understanding of the subject matter of communication to the
recipient thereof; the desired response from the recipient to such communication.
Understanding Why Communication Matters:

• Important to career

• Important for the organization

Communication is Important to Your Career:

• Your career will give you the opportunity to communicate, collaborate

and share ideas with many people, both inside and outside your
organization

• You may be an employee, executive, consultant or freelancer to a

company

• You may become an entrepreneur

• In all these roles, communication skills may be the single most

important skill you possess
Communication is Important to Your Organization:

 Building Trust

 Closer Ties to the Community

 Client Relations

 Increased Productivity

 Marketing and Sales

 Employee Relations
What makes business communication effective?

Give facts rather than vague impressions

Present information in a concise, efficient manner

Clarify expectations and responsibilities

Offer compelling, persuasive arguments and

recommendations
Communicating as a Professional:
Communicating as a Professional:

Consider also the remarks of Linda Hudson, former president and CEO of BAE
Systems:

“I find new business school graduates come in here thinking that, first of all,
they’re going to run the company overnight. Many of them are convinced they’ve
never made a mistake. They’re not accustomed to encountering the kinds of
roadblocks or disappointments that often come with the way decisions get made
in a corporate environment, and they have almost no people skills. So I think an
important part of teaching business ought to be focused more on realistic
expectations and the people-skill part of business. . .”
Understanding what employers expect from you (cntd.):

• Digital Information Fluency

• Ability to Organize Ideas
• Ability to Express Ideas Concisely,
Coherently and Persuasively
• Active Listening Skills
• Excellent Communication with People
from Diverse Backgrounds
• Effective and Efficient Use of
Communication Technologies
• High Quality Writing and Speaking
Standards
• Maintaining Business Etiquette at all
times
• Communicating Ethically at all times
• Time Management and Critical Thinking
 Basic Communication Process:

Essential Components of Communication Process

Barrier in the communication

environment:

• Noise and distractions (external &

internal)
• Competing messages
• Filters (intentional and unintentional)
Understanding the Interpersonal Communication Process:
Understanding the interpersonal communication process:
Understanding the interpersonal communication process:
Barriers to shared meaning:
Barriers to shared meaning:
Developing Emotional Intelligence:
Domains of Emotional Intelligence:
Domains of Emotional Intelligence:
Domains of Emotional Intelligence:
Domains of Emotional Intelligence:
Domains of Emotional Intelligence:
Domains of Emotional Intelligence:
 Maintaining Civility and Avoid Gossiping:

An outgrowth of emotional intelligence for interpersonal business communication is the

notion of civility.

Civility is a show of respect for the dignity and importance of others. It includes an
orientation toward achieving honest, open, and respectful dialogues and validating the
worth of others and their work efforts.

A recent survey of more than 2,000 people in the United States illustrated the extent to which
they perceive rudeness in society:
● 79% of respondents felt that a lack of respect is a serious problem for our society and that
we should try to address it.
● 88% of respondents said that they often or sometimes come across people who are rude and
disrespectful.
● 73% believe that Americans treated each other with more respect in the past.
● 37% say they are so affected by rudeness that they have thought about moving to another
community.
Aggravating Circumstances: A Status Report on Rudeness in America (New York: Public Agenda), retrieved November 25, 2019, from www.
publicagenda.org/files/pdf/aggravating_circumstances.pdf.
Common Types of incivility in the workplace:

Employees who are targets of incivility respond in the following ways:

● Half lose work time worrying about future interactions with instigators of incivility.
● Half contemplate changing jobs.
● One-fourth intentionally cut back work efforts.
● Approximately 70% tell friends, family, and colleagues about their dissatisfaction.
● About one in eight leave their jobs.
Maintaining civil communications at work:
Adopting an Audience-Centered Approach:

Focus on the “You” Attitude

 Emotional Intelligence

 Business Etiquette

What is important to your audience?

 Biases

 Education, Age, and Status

 Style

 Personal and Professional Concerns

Inside the Mind of Your Audience

How Audiences Receive Messages (sense, select, perceive)

How Audiences Decode Messages
How Audiences Respond to Messages
How Audiences Receive Messages

Consider audience expectations

Ensure ease of use

Emphasize familiarity

Practice empathy

Design for compatibility

How Audiences Decode Messages

Perception
Selective Perception
Cultural Beliefs
Personal Beliefs
Individual Thinking Styles
How Shared Experience Affects Understanding
How Audiences Respond to Messages

Must Remember Message

Must Be Able to Respond As You Wish
Must Be Motivated to Respond
Adopting communication to the situation and style of others:

• Forms of communication

• Level of formality

• Communicator styles
Communicating in an organizational context:

Formal Communication Network

General Forms of business communication:
Types of Communication:

Types of communication

Based on Based on Based on Based on other

parties expression/method/ organizational flow of
media relationship information

Verbal Non verbal Horizontal Vertical

Oral Upward
Kinesics (body movements)
downward
Written Crosswise/ diagonal
Proxemics (or closeness)
Internal Intimate (0-2 ft.),  Mass
Personal (2-4 ft), Communication
Communicatio Formal
Social (4-12 ft.)
n Public (more than 12 ft.) Communicatio
Group
External n Communication
Gaze (eyes)
communicatio Informal
n Personal
communicatio
Communication
n
Level of formality in communication:
Grapevine communication (informal communication):

• Single Strand Chain: The single strand chain

involves the passing of information through a
line of persons to the ultimate recipient. 

• Gossip Chain: In the gossip chain, one person

seeks and tells the information to everyone. This
chain is just like the wheel where one person
stays at the center and passes the information to
other employees

• Probability Chain: The probability chain is a

random process in which someone transmits the
information to others in accordance to the laws
of probability and then these others pass the
information in a similar way. 

• Cluster Chain: In the cluster chain, a person

tells the information to the selected people who
may in turn pass the information to other
selected people. 
Factors impacting the formality of business communication:
Communicator Styles:
Active listening:
Recognizing barriers to effective listening :

• Lack of time
• Lack of patience and attention span
• Image of leadership
• Communication technology
• Fear of bad news or uncomfortable information
• Defending
• “Me too” statements
• Giving advice
• Judging
Asking the right questions:
Avoiding the wrong questions:
The Social Communication Model:
 Principles of Communication:

Principle of the Principles Principle

constructive of of
and strategic Communication integrity
use of informal
groups

Principle of Principle Principle of Principle of Principle of Principle

understanding of brevity timeliness appropriateness of
attention (or rationality) feedback
What is communication Theory ?

Communication theory was proposed by S.

F. Scudder in the year 1980. It states
that all living beings existing on the planet
communicate although the way of
communication is different.

The universal law of communication says that all living

beings whether they are plants, animals, human beings
communicate through sound, speech, visible changes, body
movements, gestures or in the best possible way to make
the others aware of their thoughts, feelings, problems,
happiness or any other information.
Communication Theory Mechanistic
Framework: The mechanistic view point says that
communication is simply the transmission of
information from the first party to the second
party. The first party being the sender and
the second party being the receiver.
Psychological
Communication is simply not the
flow of information from the Systematic
sender to the receiver but The systemic view point says that
actually the thoughts, feelings of communication is actually a new
the sender which he tries to and a different message which is
share with the recipients. It also created when various individuals
includes the reactions, feelings interpret it in their own way and
of the receiver after he decodes then reinterpret it and draw their
the information. own conclusion.

Social
The social view point considers
communication as a result of Critical
interaction between the sender The critical view point says that
and the receiver. It simply says communication is simply a way
that communication is directly with the help of which an
dependent on the content of individual expresses his power
the speech. “How one and authority among other
communicates” is the basis of individuals.
the social view point.
Weber’s Classic Organizational Theory of Fixed Structures:

• The widely respected management theorist, Max Weber can be considered the
pioneer of organizational studies. His theory of bureaucratic organizations is the
first attempt to define organizational structure and give meaning to the
communication processes that happen within organizations.

• Weberian theory holds that organizations have clearly defined roles and
responsibilities and hence communication is hierarchical, structured, and
clear. There is no scope for confusion in the messages being sent from the top
(the theory is inherently a top down one) and hence organizations have rigid
machine like structures where each individual contributes by way of defined
and unambiguous roles and responsibilities.

• Of course, Weberian analysis gives a place of prominence to merit and the way
organizations work is by allocating work according to capabilities and seniority
determined by fixed notions of these concepts.
Tompkins and Cheney’s Organizational Control Theory:

• Control is defined according to the progression of the

organization from very simple organizational models to
pure bureaucracies to overly technical and finally an
organization where everyone knows what is expected of
him or her and has the purpose of the organization’s
mission and vision clearly etched within them.

• The point here is that Tompkins and Cheney posit a model

where control and communication is more than what
Weber had envisaged and less than what post modern
theorists say about organizational control and
communication.
Deetz’s Managerialism Theory:

• The evolution of organizational structure and models over the years has spawned
theories that reflect the changing organizational norms.

• Stanley Deetz’s Managerialism Theory is one such attempt to define how

organizational communication and organizational control happens in the
companies where classical notions are replaced with an acknowledgement of the
political and economic interests as well as the need to represent and give voice to
these diverse interests.

• The highlight of this theory is that Deetz goes beyond fixed notions of
organizations and instead, posits a view of organizations that take into account
the democratic aspirations of the people and the power centers in the
organization.
Thank you