communication process

Definition: The exchange of information (a message) between two or more people. These are many different models of the interpersonal communication process, but here are some of the key elements: the sender or communicator (the person who initiates a message) the receiver or interpreter (the person to whom a message is directed) the message (the verbal and/or nonverbal content that must be encoded by the sender and decoded by the receiver) the channel (the medium by which the message is delivered and received) the context (the setting and situation in which communication takes place) noise (anything that interferes with the accurate expression or reception of a message) feedback (a response from the receiver indicating whether a message has been received in its intended form) Effective communication takes place when a sender's message is fully understood by the receiver.

Examples and Observations:

Sender and Receiver "In the basic interpersonal communication model, the sender, also known as the source, is the person who initiates the communication process. . . . In dyadic, or two-person, communication situation, the receiver is the other person involved. In a public speaking or public communication situation, the audience is made up of receivers. The numbers can vary from a few to a few hundred. The speaker may use only his/her voice or may need a public address system. In mass communication, there could be literally hundreds, millions, or even billions of receivers. . . . "In dyadic communication or public speaking, the channel, or a means of sending or receiving information, is both verbal communication (the spoken word) and nonverbal communication (gestures and one's appearance)."

Interaction of Senders and Receivers "Because communication is interaction, participants take turns 'sending' and 'receiving.' Thisturn-taking is even true for mass-mediated communication, for instance, the process whereby an entertainment program is created, programmed, and aired for an audience's enjoyment. If the audience watches and enjoys the program, it is likely to continue to be aired. If the audience is not amused, the program is cancelled. . . . "Interaction means that both parties--persons or entities--can affect the other. In this way, both parties are senders and receivers. They are also copersuaders in that they may take turns trying to affect one another by sharing symbols."

Managerial Communication - Meaning and Importance Concepts

Why do individuals need to communicate with each other ? Information if not shared is of no use. Communication plays a pivotal role in information sharing. Individuals working together in the same organization need to speak to each other to keep themselves abreast with the latest developments in the organization. It is practically not possible for an individual to do everything on his own. He needs a medium which helps him discuss various ideas and evaluate pros and cons of proposed strategies with people around. Here comes the role of communication.

What is Managerial Communication ?

Managerial communication is a function which helps managers communicate with each other as well as with employees within the organization. Communication helps in the transfer of information from one party also called the sender to the other party called the receiver.
Managerial Communication helps in the smooth flow of information among managers working towards a common goal . The message has to be clear and well understood in effective communication. The team members should know what their manager or team leader intends to communicate. Effective managerial communication enables the information to flow in its desired form among managers, team leaders and their respective teams. Managerial communication is of the following two types:

Interpersonal Communication - Interpersonal communication generally takes place between two or more individuals at the workplace. Organizational Communication - Communication taking place at all levels in the organization refers to organizational communication.

Ways of Managerial Communication

A successful manager is one who communicates effectively with his subordinates. It is really essential for managers to express their views clearly for the team members to understand what exactly is expected out of them. Usually there are two ways managers communicate amongst themselves and with their subordinates: i. Verbal Communication Communication done with the help of words is called as verbal communication. No written records are available in verbal communication. In verbal communication individuals need to be very careful about their speech. What they speak and how they speak matter a lot. Managers must choose the right words to address their team members. Make sure you do not confuse your team members. One has to be loud and clear while interacting with employees at the workplace. Be very clear and precise. ii. Written Communication Communication is also done through emails, letters, manuals, notices and so on. Such mode of communication where written records are available is often called written communication. Managers must inculcate a practice of communicating through emails with their juniors as it is the one of the most reliable modes of communication. It is essential for the managers to master the art of writing emails. Avoid using capitals, bright colours, designer font styles in official mails. Make sure your signatures are correct. Body Language Managers must also take special care of their body language, facial expressions, gestures for effective communication. A manager who always has a frown on his face is generally not liked and respected by people. Being a Boss does not mean you need to shout at people. Be warm and friendly with your team members.

Organizational Communication
Organizational Communication is of the following two types:

i.

Formal Communication Communication which follows hierarchy at the workplace is called as formal communication. Employees communicate formally with each other to get work done within the desired time frame.

ii.

Informal Communication Employees also communicate with each other just to know what is happening around. Such type of communication is called as informal communication and it has nothing to do with designation of individuals, level in the hierarchy and so on.

Direction of Communication Flow

i. Upward Communication Flow of information from employees to managers is called upward communication. Upward communication takes place when employees share their views with their managers on their nature of work, job responsibilities and how they feel about the organization on the whole. ii. Downward Communication Downward communication takes place when information flows from managers to the subordinates. Managers often give orders and directions to their subordinates as to what to do and how to do various tasks. Such type of communication is called downward communication.

Importance of Managerial Communication at Workplace

Before understanding the importance of managerial communication at workplace let us first go through a real life situation. Tim and Jack both worked with an organization of repute. Tim represented the marketing vertical while Jack was heading the advertising department. Tim and Jack preferred doing things on their own. The two managers hardly interacted with each other and never really bothered to discuss things and reach to better conclusions. The organization lost an important deal due to lack of communication between the two teams. Such is the importance of communication within the organization. It is essential for the managers to communicate amongst themselves and also with their team members. It is important not only to communicate but effectively communicate. Effective communication is the key to success in todays world.

Why is Managerial Communication Important at the Workplace ?

Communication is necessary for the exchange of ideas amongst employees within the organization . Healthy discussions must be promoted at the workplace for better and quicker results. A brilliant idea if not shared is of no use. Managers must communicate amongst themselves to reach to ideas which would not only benefit their teams but also the organization on the whole. Managerial communication is essential at the workplace to achieve targets within the desired time frame . An individual doing things all alone would definitely need more time as compared to employees working as a team. Managers must communicate effectively with their team members to make them understand their key responsibility areas and what all is expected out of them. Effective communication ensures proper delegation of work amongst team members. Effective communication also reduces duplicacy of work . A manager must know what the other teams are up to? One needs to keep himself abreast of the latest developments in the organization. This is possible only when an employee communicates effectively with other people in the organization. Managers must communicate with their team members to understand and address their grievances and problems . Queries should be resolved at the initial stages only to avoid critical problems later on. Team members should have the liberty to talk to their team managers. Communication can be done either through verbal communication or written modes of communication. Managers can communicate with their subordinates and vice a versa through emails, notices, circulars and so on. Emails are considered to be one of the most reliable sources of communication as one can always refer to previous mails anytime in future. Managerial communication also helps managers set goals and targets for themselves and organization . The objectives of a team cannot be set by a single employee. One needs to interact with all the related employees to assign targets for team members and also set goals for the organization. Managerial communication plays a crucial role at the times of crisis . During critical solutions each employee irrespective of his level in the hierarchy and designation needs to come on a common platform, communicate with each other effectively and help the organization come out of tough times easily. Effective communication in simpler words works as a lifeline during emergency situations and binds the employees together. Employees feel secure and develop a sense of ownership towards organization as a result of effective communication.

Types of Managerial Communication

Managerial communication refers to interaction among managers and their subordinates

within an organization. It is essential for managers to communicate with their team members and vice a versa to ensure maximum productivity and peace at workplace. Communication generally takes place as: Downward communication - Flow of information from managers to employees Upward Communication - Flow of information from employees to managers Managerial communication generally takes place through the following ways:

Verbal Communication Written Modes of Communication Body Movements Facial Expressions Gestures

Verbal Communication
Verbal communication is one of the most common ways of communicating at the workplace . Managers call their team members on a common platform and instruct them as to what is expected out of them. In verbal communication, team members are told about their roles and responsibilities orally through words. The addressee needs to be extremely careful about the choice of words whereas recipients need to pay attention to the speaker. The speaker needs to take care of his pitch and tone in verbal communication. It is the way you speak which is important in verbal communication. Make sure you are audible to all even to the person sitting on the last bench. Speak clearly. Stick to the topic and do not confuse others. Presentations, seminars, group discussions and so on are all forms of verbal communication. Verbal communication can take place through face to face interactions, communicating over phone or addressing a group of employees.

Body Language
Individuals need to take care of their body language while communicating. Make sure you exude positive body language while interacting with your fellow workers and team members.

Facial Expressions, Hand movements and Gestures

Do not carry a frown on your face. Smile more often. This way people would love interacting with you and pay attention to whatever you intend to communicate. Hand movements also play an important role in effective managerial communication. The speaker must not fiddle with things while speaking. It is essential for managers to make an eye contact with team members for the desired impact .

Written modes of communication

Communicating through emails is considered as one of the most reliable modes of communication. After communicating verbally with your team members, make sure you do send a mail to them briefing everything that was discussed at the meeting. Emails need to be self explanatory with a relevant subject line. Do not write stories in emails. Emails should be short, crisp and effective. Do not use capitals in emails unless required. Take care of your spellings, grammar and punctuation marks. Official emails should not have flashy icons and images. Keep it simple and avoid using stylish fonts. Official emails should ideally be written in Arial Font with text size 12. All related employees must be kept in the loop. The employees should also mark a carbon copy to their team leaders for them to know what is happening around. Communication also takes place through circulars and notices. Notices should be displayed on the companys main notice board for everyone to read Notices must have important dates and relevant information. Ask your office boy to get the circular signed by everyone.

Barriers to Effective Managerial Communication

Managers need to interact with each other as well as with their team members on a regular basis not only to get things done effectively but also to ensure peace at the workplace.

Effective communication at all levels within an organization helps resolve problems within the desired time frame. Let us go through various barriers to effective managerial communication at the workplace:

Partiality and workplace politics are the major barriers to effective communication at the workplace . Managers must not be partial to any of their team members. It is considered strictly unprofessional. Each employee should be treated as one. Do not ignore any of your team members just because you do not like him. A good manager is one who is impartial to all. Managers have a tendency to communicate with individuals who are their friends or say a yes to whatever they say. This indeed is a wrong practice. You must speak to all your team members and address their queries. Problems and misunderstandings arise when there is lack of communication and employees feel ignored. As responsible managers one must stay away from nasty politics at workplace. Politics leads to negativity all around and increases stress levels of employees. Do not believe rumours and prefer speaking to employees directly rather than finding out from others. Listen carefully what the other person has to say before jumping to conclusions. Being a patient listener helps improve managerial communication. Do not interrupt while the other person is speaking. One needs to very careful about his choice of words. Managers must ensure their speech makes sense and well understood by people around. Do not address your team members just for the sake of it. Take care of your pitch and tone . For effective managerial communication, one should be neither too loud nor too soft. Make sure you are audible to all. Address employees in a noise free zone. Noise is one of biggest barriers to effective communication. Employees fail to understand the speakers message and eventually dilute the meaning of effective communication. Do not address employees during lunch hours or when they are about to leave for the day . Employees are absolutely in a different frame of mind and fail to understand what the speaker intends to communicate. Organizations must have board rooms or conference rooms where employees come on a common platform and communicate effectively without disturbances. Prefer not to interact verbally. In verbal communication, employees tend to forget what was communicated to them a month ago. Managers must promote communication through emails at the workplace. Do not mark separate mails to team members. Mark a cc to all related employees. The emails need to be self explanatory and employees must be able to understand as to what is expected out of them. Emails must not be rude and ought to have a proper subject line. Do not communicate separately with your team members as information might not reach in its desired form . Transparency at all levels is essential for effective managerial communication. Communicating through middle men is unprofessional and affects communication.

Tips for Effective Managerial Communication

It is essential for employees to communicate effectively with each other for better understanding as well as increased productivity at workplace. Employees doing everything on their own are generally overburdened and eventually fail to deliver their best. Effective managerial communication enables the flow of information and knowledge among employees in its desired form. Managers need to interact with their team members to extract the best out of them. Problems remain unsolved if employees do not communicate with each other. Discussions go a long way in reducing confusions and also improve the relations among employees. Let us go through some tips for effective managerial communication at workplace:

Remember a managers task is not only to sit in closed cabins and shout at subordinates. He
needs to interact with his team members on a regular basis. Speak to your colleagues more often. Find out what they are upto? Treat all your team members as one. There is absolutely no harm in taking lunch with your team members. This way you tend to discuss lot many things apart from routine work

Promote the concept of morning meetings at workplace . Morning meetings help you interact with your team members on an open platform where everyone has the liberty to express his/her views. Communicate with your team members and help them plan their day. Let them come out with their problems. Walk up to their workstations once or twice in a day. Increase your listening skills. A good listener is always a good communicator. It is really important to listen to the other person carefully before speaking. Interrupting a conversation breaks the momentum and the message loses its impact. Working in a team leads to effective managerial communication . Employees working in isolation hardly interact with their fellow workers and superiors. Make sure your team members discuss things amongst themselves and work together. Instruct them to keep you in the loop as well. The employees must mark a cc to their immediate reporting managers to keep them updated of the latest developments at the workplace. Master the art of writing emails. Also train your team members how to write an official mail. There is a huge difference between a personal and official mail. The subject line needs to be relevant for people to open the mail. Do not call your team embers one by one for any kind of communication. Address them together. Think before you speak. Make sure whatever you communicate is relevant. Avoid using complicated words and terminologies in your speech. The message has to be clear and precise for effective managerial communication. Be straightforward and communicate clearly as to what you expect out of your team members. No communication is complete unless the message is understood clearly by the recipients . There should be absolutely no room for confusion in effective communication. Once you are through with your speech, give some time to your team members for them to ask whatever they have not understood. Never communicate at a noisy place. Choose conference room, meeting rooms or any noise free zone for communication.

Skills Required for Effective Managerial Communication

An individual needs to possess certain skills for effective managerial communication. Let us go through various skills required for effective managerial communication:

Body Language and overall personality of an individual play an essential role in effective communication . It is essential for managers to express their thoughts in a positive way. Remember shouting at team members and quarrelling with them lead to no solution; instead make the situation all the more worse. There are several other ways of expressing your displeasure. Make sure you do not lose your temper while communicating. Take care of your pitch and tone. Speak in a convincing way for people to understand what you intend to communicate. People generally like to communicate with someone who is nicely dressed and presentable. No employee would ever like to communicate with a shabbily dressed manager. Be an idol for your team members. It is really important for managers to dress well for co workers to look up to them. Clothes must be clean and ironed properly and you really need to create that much needed first impression. Take care of your facial expressions and gestures. A smile on your face will attract employees and they would readily come to you to discuss their problems. Be Honest. Pass on information to your team members in its correct form. Playing with information and data tampering lead to ineffective communication. Communicate directly with your team members rather than appointing middle men. Speak Relevant. The choice of words is really very important in verbal communication. Do not use slangs and abusive words in your speech. Loose talks must be avoided at the workplace. Be Focussed. Know what you intend to communicate. Managers must prepare their speech well in advance before addressing their team members. Do not communicate just for the sake of communicating. Deviating from the topic only confuses recipients. Managers must ensure their team members are able to understand them well. Be Confident. You must believe in yourself for others to believe you. Learn to stick to your words. It is really important for effective managerial communication. Never be low on self belief. The pitch and the tone need to be taken care of. Do not be too loud or too soft. A manager must know how to keep a control on his anger. Stay calm and composed. Do not overreact. As a good manager, you ought to be impartial towards all your team members. Giving special attention to one of your team members just because he is your friend is something which is not at all expected out of a good manager. As a manager you are responsible for all your team members and you need to interact with them on a regular basis. It is your duty to address their grievances and problems. Be available to them and let them express themselves. Know when to communicate. Avoid calling your team members at late evenings or early mornings. They would never pay attention to your communication and the message gets diluted. Prefer not to interact with them during lunch hours unless there is an emergency.

Role of Managerial Communication at Workplace

Communication in true sense is the lifeline of every organization. Individuals irrespective of their designation and level in the hierarchy need to communicate with each other for accomplishment of work within the stipulated time frame and also for better relationships at workplace. Half of the problems disappear when discussed. It is really essential for people to come out with their ideas and strategies. Let us go through the role of managerial communication at workplace:

Managerial communication plays a pivotal role in knowledge sharing. Managers must communicate with their subordinates to share whatever they know. A unique idea is of no use, if not shared. Managers need a medium which helps them interact with their immediate team members and vice a versa. Here comes the role of effective managerial communication. Managers need to communicate with their team members to make them clear as to what is expected out of them. Managerial communication helps managers to extract the best out of team members. Employees need to be told their key responsibility areas. Managerial communication plays an important role in completing tasks way ahead of deadlines . Individuals ought to work together in teams to complete tasks at a much quicker rate. It is really essential to discuss ideas, evaluate pros and cons of strategies to reach to something which would benefit not only the employees but the organization on the whole. Managers before implementing any new policy must sit with their team members and take their suggestions as well. You never know when someone comes up with a brilliant idea? Effective communication leads to transparency among team members. Employees who do not communicate are generally prone to stress and anxiety. Managerial communication enables the manager to delegate roles and responsibilities to their subordinates as per their interests and also allows the employees to ask whatever they have not understood. Managerial communication helps managers to know what their team members are up to and thus prevents overlapping of work. Managerial communication also goes a long way in motivating employees. A sense of loyalty towards work and organization develops if managers communicate with their team members on a regular basis. Remember problems if not attended at initial stages lead to critical situations later. Employees should have the liberty to discuss their grievances with their team leaders. Communication helps to sort out differences among employees in a healthy and positive way. Managerial communication also plays an important role during crisis and critical solutions . Managers ought to be in constant touch with their employees for them to deliver their level best. Managerial communication in simpler words gives a sense of security to the employees. Human beings are not machines who can work at a stretch. We need people around with whom we can discuss lot many things apart from routine work. If you do not communicate; you would never know what is happening around you. An individual working in isolation often treats his work as a burden. Communication keeps an individual abreast of the latest developments at the workplace. Managerial communication also plays an important role in stress management.

Ways to Improve Managerial Communication at Workplace

The exchange of ideas and information among managers or team leaders within an organization refers to managerial communication. Individuals need to communicate with each other effectively for better coordination and better relations amongst themselves. Let us go through various ways to improve managerial communication skills at workplace:

One of the best ways for managers to improve communication at workplace is to know their team members well . Address all your team members by their names and interact with them more often. Sit with them atleast thrice in a week to know what they are upto? Try to read their expressions and find out whether they are able to understand what you intend to communicate or not? Find out whether they understand their roles and responsibilities or any other work assigned to them or not? Taking proper feedback from people you interact on a regular basis helps you improve your communication. In effective communication, message needs to be understood by the recipients in its desired form. Cross check with people to ensure they are clear as to what you intend to communicate. It will definitely help you know where you need to improve. Be a good lisener. Improve your listening skills and it would automatically improve your communication skills. A patient listener is always a good communicator. If you listen carefully as to what the other person has to say, he would also pay attention to your conversation. Employees must patiently listen to what their managers have to say. Do not interrupt in between as it breaks the momentum. Note down your queries on a sheet of paper and ask only when the speaker is through with his speech. Learn to express your thoughts in a positive way. You need not to be rude with someone for him to understand your message. Know what you are speaking. Be precise. Use relevant words in your speech. Using complicated terminology does not make your speech interesting, instead confuses the recipient. Communicate with your team members on a common platform . This would reduce half of the misunderstandings and problems. Communicating separately with employees increases conflicts among team members and also spoils relation of team members with their bosses. A manager should master the art of keeping his personal and professional lives separate. Avoid giving special attention to someone just because he is your friend or picks your child daily from school. Each employee should have the liberty to express his/her opinions on an open forum without the fear of getting criticized or insulted. As a good manager one should learn to keep a control on his/her emotions. Be Focussed. Make sure your words do not hurt the other person. Take care of your pitch and tone. If you are too soft, no one would be able to hear you properly and eventually the message loses its importance. If you are too loud and shout on others your team members would really not bother to listen to you. One should know where to communicate. Not all places are meant for communication. Any kind of instruction given at the washroom or the lunch area would never be taken seriously. Avoid interacting at noisy places.