Learning Outcomes

• Describe the perceptual process model of communication.
• Describe the process, personal, physical, and semantic barriers to effective communication.
• Demonstrate your familiarity with four causes of communication distortion between managers and employees.
• Discuss the primary sources of nonverbal communication and 10 keys to active listening.
• Explain electronic communication using e-mail, videoconferencing, and collaborative computing, and explain the related use of telecommuting.

Chapter Summary

1. Describe the perceptual process model of communication. Communication is a process of consecutively linked elements. This model of communication depicts receivers as information processors who create the meaning of messages in their own mind. Because receivers' interpretations of messages often differ from those intended by senders, miscommunication is a common occurrence.

2. Describe the process, personal, physical, and semantic barriers to effective communication. Every element of the perceptual model of communication is a potential process barrier. There are eight personal barriers that commonly influence communication: (a) the ability to effectively communicate, (b) the way people process and interpret information, (c) the level of interpersonal trust between people, (d) the existence of stereotypes and prejudices, (e) the egos of the people communicating, (f) the ability to listen, (g) the natural tendency to evaluate or judge a sender's message, and (h) the inability to listen with understanding. Physical barriers pertain to distance, physical objects, time, and work and office noise. Semantic barriers show up as encoding and decoding errors, because these phases of communication involve transmitting and receiving words and symbols. Cultural diversity is a key contributor to semantic barriers.

3. Demonstrate your familiarity with four causes of communication distortion between managers and employees. Communication distortion is a common problem that consists of modifying the content of a message. Employees distort upward communication when their supervisor has high upward influence and/or power. Distortion also increases when employees aspire to move upward and when they do not trust their supervisor.

4. Discuss the primary sources of nonverbal communication and 10 keys to active listening. Body movements and gestures, touch, facial expressions, and eye contact are important nonverbal cues. The interpretation of these nonverbal cues significantly varies across cultures. Good listeners use the following 10 listening habits: (a) staying with the speaker and listening between the lines, (b) listen for ideas rather than facts, (c) identify areas of interest between the speaker and listener, (d) judge content and not delivery, (e) do not judge until the speaker has completed his or her message, (f) put energy and effort into listening, (g) resist distractions, (h) listen to both favourable and unfavourable information, (i) read or listen to complex material to exercise the mind, and (j) take notes when necessary and use visual aids to enhance understanding.

5. Explain electronic communication using email, videoconferencing, and collaborative computing, and explain the related use of telecommuting. Email and vidoeconferencing help people working anywhere in the world to conduct business communication easily. Collaborative computing entails using state-of-the-art computer software and hardware to help people work better together. Information is shared across time and space by linking people with computer networks. Telecommuting involves doing work that is generally performed in the office away from the office using a variety of communication technologies.